We're going to be talking about
God today, and there's no greater subject in the whole world than
God. And so, as you know, we're going
to be focusing upon the holiness of God. So in some ways, this
is going to be a heavy, this is a weighty subject for us to
weigh in on, but we need that because we don't want to be spiritual
lightweights, do we? So we need weighty truth. to mature us, and to also encourage
us, and to challenge us, and that's gonna be our focus today. I've called this seminar, Holiness,
the Crown Jewel of God's Diadem. So I want you to take your Bible
and turn with me to the book of Isaiah, just simply as a launching
point, because we're gonna be going through the whole Bible
today, and we're gonna put our arms around, the whole Bible. So, you brought your lunch, didn't
you? Yeah, we're just going to camp out right here. It was free
to get in. I've locked the doors. It'll
cost you to get out. So, Isaiah chapter 6, let's just
dive into this. It's a text with which you're
very familiar. Beginning in verse 1, in the
year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord. sitting on a
throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling
the temple. Seraphim, meaning the burning ones, the angelic
beings who are on fire for God, who have the closest proximity
to Him. Seraphim stood above Him, each
having six wings. With two He covered His face
because God is so holy. that those in His immediate presence,
these seraphim, cannot even look upon God in His blazing holiness. And with two, He covered His
feet, and that signified being a recognition of being unworthy
to be in the presence of One who is so infinitely, absolutely
holy. And with two, He flew. because
the holiness of God so energizes these seraphim that they are
like hummingbirds with their wings just flapping and they're
just ready to fly in a moment's notice to carry out the bidding
of this holy God. Holiness never produces passivity
in a believer or in an angelic being. but always ignites the
passion within the one who recognizes His holiness. And so, they are
ready to fly with whatever mission the Lord will commission them.
And verse 3, and one called out to another. And the idea here
is one side of heaven calling out to those on the other side
of heaven, and those on one side calling out to those on the other
side, volleying back and forth with their praises surrounding
the throne of God, crying out, holy, holy. Holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory. And from this, we learn that
the glory of God is the outshining of His holiness. The glory of
God is the radiation and the resilient splendor of His holiness
being manifested throughout His entire creation. So, I want us to lock in on holy,
holy, holy. In the Hebrew language, as this
was written, to express something in the superlative degree, you
would repeat it three times. meaning holy, holier, holiest. If they had just said holy, then
it would recognize that God is holy like many other creatures
are holy. If they had only said holy, holy,
then He would be holier than many. but to say holy, holy, holy sets
God apart unto a classification unto himself that no one else
is his equal. He is the singular most holy
being in the entire universe. As you have no doubt heard it's
taught The angels are not crying out, love, love, love, though
God is infinite, eternal love. They're not crying out, truth,
truth, truth, though God is the absolute author and source of
all truth. No, they have singled out the
one most important attribute about God. which is His holiness. It was A. W. Tozer who wrote
years ago, whatever comes into your mind when you first think
of God is the most important thing about you. In other words,
it is your thoughts of God and who you believe God to be becomes
the single most defining an influential reality that is in your life. You tell me what you believe
about God and I will tell you about the rest of your life.
God is that influential, God is that defining that what comes
into our mind is the most important thing about God. And according
to the Scripture, that which is first and foremost about God
is His holiness. Thomas Watson, the renowned Puritan,
has written, holiness is the most sparkling jewel of God's
crown. We can think of it this way.
The foundation of the throne of God is His righteousness.
The scepter in His hand is His sovereignty. Loving kindness
fills and floods His heart. Grace is in his hand extended. Omniscience fills his mind. Wisdom rests upon his brow. Truth is upon his lips. Omnipotence upholds his mighty
right hand. And the severity of his wrath
tramples underfoot all his foes. but atop His head is a diadem. The crown jewel that sparkles
with the most dazzling radiance is the crown jewel in the very
center of that diadem. And it is the diadem, the jewel
of His holiness. Holiness is the summation of
all that God is. It is the most comprehensive
word that encompasses the entirety of the divine being. There is
nothing outside of the holiness of God that pertains to who God
is. And in heaven, God is most recognized
for His holiness. And when we come to the book
of Revelation, in Revelation chapter 4 verse 8, and John is
taken up through a door into the very throne room of heaven,
as he steps into this celestial scene, he hears and sees the
very same, holy, holy, holy. Nothing has changed from the
Old Testament to the New Testament. And there is a crystal sea surrounding
the throne that even in heaven, God is set apart from His glorified
creatures and no one comes tripping up to the throne. There remains
eternally this distinction between the God who is holy. and those
whom He has elected and redeemed, regenerated, called, and secured,
there remains this distinction of His holiness. If God's holiness
is what is most recognized in heaven, then it should be the
same here upon the earth. Let us understand that God is
infinitely holy, absolutely holy, eternally holy, forever holy,
immutably holy, fully and wholly holy. As we look at this subject today,
I want to give you three headings. This should be easy to follow.
Number one, the basic meaning. Number two, the biblical passages. And number three, the believer's
responsibility. So let's begin. Number one, the
basic meaning. What does the word holy mean? And what does it mean concerning
God? I have four subheadings that
I want to set before you just so we can keep our thinking clear
and well-structured. So under the basic meaning, Number
one, the essential meaning. What is the essential meaning
of the word holy? H-O-L-Y. It is a Hebrew word
that is kadosh. And the word kadosh simply means,
watch this, to cut so that there is now a separation. It's what
the word holy means. that there is a separation. There
is now a distance. There is now a difference. There
is now a distinction. The two are not on the same level. There is a separation. That is
what the word holy means. It means the cutting of something
such that there are now two halves and there is an apartness that
separates the two. That's the essential meaning. Now, second, the primary meaning. As this relates to God, it means
quite simply that God is separated from His creation, that God is
totally distinct from His creation. It focuses upon His apartness,
that He's not on our level, and we're not on His level. In fact, there is an infinite
distance and difference between holy God and all of the works
of His hands. The word carries the idea of
transcendence, loftiness. We live down here in the gutter.
We live down here in the muck and the mire of this world, and
we are stained by it, and we are influenced by it. And in
different ways, because of original sin, it is a part of our being. But God is transcendent. He is lofty. He is high and lifted
up. And He is on a totally different
level and totally different plateau than you and me. He is unique. He is one of a kind. He is in
a classification all by Himself, and He vastly exceeds any and
all comparisons. He is wholly other than us. Isaiah 40 verse 18 says, "'To
whom then will you liken God?' He transcends all attempts with metaphors and analogies,
the reality of who He is far exceeds our ability to comprehend
Him. That is the primary meaning. It deals with His position. that He is regal and royal, that
He is majestic and filled with splendor. He is transcendent,
far above all of us. Now, the third aspect of this
meaning is the secondary meaning. It is His ethical holiness, His
moral holiness. This means that God is flawlessly
pure and perfect, that He is sinless. that He is free from any stain
of sin. He is entirely perfect. He never
errs in His judgments, in His representation of Himself. He
never errs in His dealings with us. Sometimes I hear a Christian
say, oh, watch out what you pray for, you may get it. as if God would do something
that is less than perfect in your life. It is impossible for God to lie. It is impossible for God to mismanage
your life. It is impossible for God to send
you down the wrong path. God can only do that which is
right. And because He is morally pure
and perfect, He hates all sin. And He has a holy hatred for
those who are outside of Christ, not just the sin, but also the
sinner. He hates all that does not conform
to His own character or He would be less than holy, holy, holy. And at the same time, God loves
all that which conforms to His own perfect standard. Because
God is holy, He must therefore both love and hate. He must love
that which is in alignment with himself, and he must reject and
loathe that which is unlike him. This is the ethical aspect of
the holiness of God. He is perfect in all of his words. in all of His ways, in all of
His will, in all of His works, flawlessly perfect. And then fourth, as we're thinking
under the basic meaning of holiness, there is a judicial element to
His holiness because God's holiness directly demands that all sin
must receive its due punishment. Because God is holy, there is
a direct and inseparable connection between His holiness and His
judgment upon all sin. Isaiah 5 and verse 16 says, the
Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God
will show himself holy in righteousness." Because God is holy, He must
judge and condemn all that which is unholy. There is no sin in
the history of the world that will be overlooked by God. There
is no sin that has ever been committed since the very beginning
to the end of time and the last sin that would ever be committed
that will go unpunished by a holy God. Every sin will either be
punished in hell forever or has been punished in Christ upon
the cross. But no sin will ever be swept
under the carpet. No sin will ever be excused. No sin will ever go unjudged. because God is perfectly holy. Every sin that you have ever
committed in your life are now presently committing or will
ever commit for the rest of your life will ever go unjudged by
a holy God. So everything about God is holy. His being is holy. His character
is holy. His name is holy. His word is
His holy word. His son is His holy son. His
spirit is the Holy Spirit. His actions are holy. His judgments
are holy. His pronouncements are holy.
His ways are holy. And it is this attribute of the
holiness of God that qualifies every other attribute of God. His truth is holy truth. His
righteousness is holy righteousness. His grace is holy grace. His love is holy love. It is flawless love, perfect
love, infinite love, abundant love. His wrath is holy wrath,
nothing held back. Every person of the Trinity is
holy. Jesus prayed to the Father in
John 17 11, Holy Father. The demons cried out and identified
Jesus as the Holy One of Israel. And almost 100 times in the Bible,
the Spirit of God is identified as the Holy Spirit. Everything about God is holy. It is the hub of the wheel and
every attribute is a spoke that comes out from the centerpiece
of the holiness of God. That is why the seraphim around
the throne day and night without ceasing are crying out, holy,
holy, holy because it encompasses the entirety of the divine being. So this is the essential meaning. When you think of God, this is
what must be first and foremost in your mind. And even His sovereignty
will be used in holy ways to carry out His holy purposes. Now second, The biblical passages. We talked about the essential
meaning, transcendent, ethically pure, judicially judging. Now, the biblical passages. And as you have your Bible, let's
do a walkthrough. A lot of verses. I want you to
come to the very first place in the Bible where the word holy
is found. I want you to come to Exodus
chapter 3, this incredible scene, the burning bush with Moses as
he is at age 80. He has spent the last 40 years
in the wilderness alone with sheep. and he approaches this
burning bush. And in Exodus 3, we read in verse 1, he led the
flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,
the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a blazing fire. from the midst of the bush, and
he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the
bush was not consumed." In other words, there was nothing igniting
the bush. The bush was autonomously and
independently burning with fire. nothing stoking the fire, the
fire was blazing in and of itself. And just a theological footnote
here at this moment, this represents the doctrine of the aseity of
God, the aseity of God. The last time I tried to spell
it publicly, I misspelled it, so I'm going to get close, A-S-E-I-T-Y,
and I know many of you will be Googling this and can hold up
flashcards in the middle of this. But here's what aceti, it comes
from a Latin root which just simply means to be. And later
in verse 14, God will identify Himself as I am who I am from
the same root word to be. That God is self-sufficient within
Himself. He has no needs outside of Himself. That God is dependent upon no
one and nothing outside of Himself and all of creation is dependent
upon Him. It is in Him that we live and
move and have our being. God does not need us for anything.
There were no holes in His holiness. He had perfect loving fellowship
within Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They loved each
other with perfect love and were satisfied and fulfilled within
their inner Trinitarian communion and fellowship. The acety of God means that God
is never increasing and never decreasing, that God is forever
the same, that He is the source of all things and He is the recipient
of nothing outside of Himself that He would need. And this
burning bush becomes an emblem of the acety of God. And so, we read verse 4, when
the Lord saw that He...or verse 3, so Moses said, I must turn
aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned
up. When the Lord saw that He turned
aside to look, God called to Him from the midst of the bush
and said, Moses, Moses, and He said, here I am. Then he said,
do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your
feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. Do not casually come into my
presence. as though we are the same. Remove the sandals from your
feet, emblematic of your unworthiness to be in my immediate presence,
because I am infinitely superior to you. And for the ground to
be holy does not mean that the ground was sinless or that the
curse had been removed from the earth in that small plot of land,
but that because God was there, this now became holy ground,
cut and set apart unto God in a very unique way. That is why Jerusalem is the
holy city. That is why Zion is the holy
mountain. That is why the Promised Land
is the holy land. because these have been set apart
in a special way for the purposes of God. Come to Exodus 15 and verse 11,
and the next time that we see the word holy as it refers to
God being used. In Exodus 15 and verse 11, we
read, Who is like you among the gods,
O Lord?" God, this is to say God is incomparable. There is no other God, there
is no other being, there is no other creature, there is no other
anything that can be likened unto God, that can be compared
to God. He vastly exceeds all comparisons
within creation. Who is like you among the gods,
O Lord?" It's a rhetorical question, the answer of which is so obvious
it does not even need to be answered. Who is like you? And now he defines
the uniqueness of God, what sets apart God as God, the godness
of God. Who is like you, comma, here
it is, these next three words, majestic in holiness. And this word majestic is a Hebrew
word that means glorious, superior above all else. It carries
the idea of regal nobility and royalty. on a higher level than
we are as a king would vastly exceed His subjects in the splendor
of His reign. Infinitely more is God majestic
in His holiness, dazzling, brilliant, radiant, glorious in His holiness. A quick survey through the rest
of Exodus, Exodus 19, the word holiness is not found there,
but the truth is as the people came to Mount Sinai, the mountain
of God, And they were told to consecrate themselves and to
wash their clothes as they approached the mountain of God, for no one
who is unpure and unclean can approach God. And the people
were told they cannot even touch the mountain because this is
holy ground and God is so set apart and God says to Moses,
you come up by yourself. And it becomes representative of just how holy God is. Whosoever will may not come as
they are, or you will die. That's how holy God is. In Exodus 20, we have the Ten
Commandments. which are a revelation of the
holiness of God. That God has the right to draw
a line in the sand and determine and define what is holy and what
is unholy, what is acceptable, what is unacceptable, what conforms
to His own standard of Himself, and what falls short of His own
standard. And each of the Ten Commandments
is a revelation of the holiness of God, that His name may not
be spoken in vain. There may be no other gods before
Him. because there is no God but this
God and no God like this God. And the Sabbath is to be kept
holy. One day of the week set apart
to God for His purpose, for His worship, for His glory because
He is holy. And every other one of the commandments
He's not to be worshiped with a graven image because no picture,
no statue, no tapestry can ever reveal how infinitely holy He
is. It would be such a cheap imitation
that it would be blasphemous. for any material representation
of this awesome God to be set forth. And because of His holiness,
you must honor your father and mother. Because of His holiness,
you must not bear false witness, because God loves truth, and
He hates error, and He hates lies. every one of those commandments. And then in Exodus 25 to 40,
the tabernacle, the dimensions are given for the tabernacle,
and in the very midst is the Holy of Holies where God dwells,
set apart unto Himself And it was to teach the people of God
that God is so holy that no person can go into the holiness of God
lest he be struck dead, and only the high priest once a year.
on the Day of Atonement could go into the Holy of Holies and
they would have to tie a rope around him and put a bell on
him because if he was unclean and not rightly prepared, God
would strike him dead and you would no longer hear the bell
ringing and they would just drag him out by the rope. You couldn't
even go in to get the body. And God through all of this was
teaching His people how set apart He is. And then we come to Leviticus
1 through 7, and the entire sacrificial system was made known by God
through Moses to the people. And the lesson of the first seven
chapters of Leviticus is very simply this, sinful man cannot
approach holy God. God's too holy and you're too
sinful. And therefore, there would have
to be a mediator. a representative, a priest, who
would act upon behalf of all the sinful people. And as he
would be appointed to approach God on behalf of the people,
he could not come empty-handed, but he would have to bring a
sacrifice for sin. the sins of the people in order
for Him to mediate on behalf of the people. And all of this
was to teach the people of God this very basic truth, that God is so holy that you
and I, in and of ourselves as we are, cannot approach this
holy God except by means of a high priest who would be our mediator,
who would bring a sacrifice for sin, a perfect atonement by which
we would now be able to approach the throne of grace with boldness
and confidence. All of this teaching the holiness
of God. An unsaved person would not even
want to be in heaven in the very presence of Him who
is a blazing fire of holiness. And then in Leviticus 11, the
signature text for the entire book of Leviticus, Leviticus
11 and verse 44 and verse 45, This really summarizes it and
it will be what Peter quotes in 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16 to lay
the foundation for the pursuit of holiness for all believers.
In Leviticus 11 and verse 44, God says, God is the speaker,
for I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourself therefore. That means set yourself apart
from the world unto Me. Consecrate yourself therefore
and be holy. Why must we be holy? For I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves
unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth,
for I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt
to be your God. Thus you shall be holy, for I
am holy." There it is very clearly. God is the holy God of heaven
and earth. He will repeat this in Leviticus
19 and verse 2. And by the way, most of these
verses on holiness are found in the Old Testament. But Leviticus
19 verse 1, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "'Speak to all
the congregation of the sons of Israel.'" In other words,
this is a message for all the people of God, not just for a
collective few, not just for some, but to the entire congregation
from the first to the least. "'You shall be holy, for I the
Lord your God am holy.'" And in Leviticus 20 and in verse
24 to 26, he says in verse 24, "'Hence
I have said to you, you are to possess their land, and I myself
will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk
and honey. I am the Lord your God who has
separated you from the peoples.'" This God of separation has separated
His people from the paganism and hedonism of the world and
set them apart unto Himself, and they are to live and we are
to live in a distinctively different way than the world, morally speaking. And in verse 25, you are therefore
to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean,
between the unclean bird and the clean. And what God is giving
is an object lesson that this is clean, this is unclean, this
is clean, this is unclean. Under the Mosaic law, it was
to teach them that God has the right to make a distinction in
this world between that which is acceptable to Him and that
which is unacceptable to Him. And it represented a far greater
reality than just a clean bird or an unclean bird. It represented
this is a clean practice, this is an unclean speech that is
unacceptable. And then in Leviticus, or excuse
me, in verse 26, in the same Leviticus 20 passage, then verse
26, thus you are to be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and
I have set you apart from the peoples to be mine." In Leviticus
22 and verse 32, we see it yet again, you shall not profane
My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel. I am
the Lord who sanctifies you. Now, that's an interesting statement.
God says, I have sanctified you, now you are to sanctify Me. I
have set you apart from the world unto me. Now, you are to sanctify
my name and speak my name with reverence and awe and praises
sanctified unto me." That's a remarkable passage. I will be sanctified
among the sons of men. I am the Lord who sanctifies
you. And we come to 1 Samuel chapter
2 and the prayer of Hannah as she prays concerning the birth
of her son. And in 1 Samuel 2 verse 1, then
Hannah prayed and said, my heart exalts in the Lord. And this
will be really the foundation of Mary's prayer. in Luke chapter
1, when she will give birth to a son. And so, Hannah prayed,
my heart exalts in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord,
my mouth speaks boldly against my enemies because I rejoice
in your salvation. Verse 2, there is no one holy
like the Lord. That's holy, holier, holiest. Indeed, there is no one beside
you. This speaks of the uniqueness
of God. Come with me to the book of Psalms, and we would expect in the book
of Psalms, which was the ancient worship hymnal that was compiled
to lead the people of God in worship, We're introduced to the holiness
of God early in Psalm 2 verse 6 when God says, despite the
raging of the nations that are in uproar and the people who
devise a vain thing, in verse 1, as the kings of the earth
take their stand and the rulers take counsel together, verse
2, verse 4, God in His holiness laughs, in derision. at the insanity of the world
to oppose Him In verse 5, he will speak to
them in his anger because this too is a part of the holiness
of God. There is this holy indignation
within God against all unrighteousness. I mean, that's what Romans 1
verse 18 says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. all ungodliness,
all unrighteousness, the wrath of God, present tense verb. Right
now, this very moment is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unholiness, which is another way of saying unrighteousness,
another way of saying unholiness. And then we come to verse 6 in
Psalm 2, but as for me, that is so emphatic. All of the world
together cannot tie the hands of God. But as for me, I have
installed my King upon Zion, my holy mountain." And this speaks
to the heavenly Zion, not the earthly Zion, the heavenly Zion
where Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of God the
Father, that place of highest authority in the entire universe. So, how will this holy reign
of the exalted God be carried out here upon the earth? We'll
come to Psalm 5. We're going to go to Psalm 5,
Psalm 7, Psalm 9, and Psalm 11. We're going to go to four psalms
in just rapid-fire succession. This is the holiness of God that
comes from the reign of the One who is installed upon His holy
mountain. And so, in verse 4, David, the
psalmist, writes, for you are not a God who takes pleasure
in wickedness. He can't. He cannot because He
is infinitely, absolutely, perfectly holy. He cannot wink at sin. He cannot chuckle at sin. He
can take no pleasure in sin. There's no entertainment value
for God in the muck and the mire and the corruption of this world. So he says, for you're not a
God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you, not
within God, not before God, not around God, upon His holy mountain. Verse 5, the boastful will not
stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. Please note, it's not just that
God hates iniquity. He hates the one who as a habitual
lifestyle pattern pursues iniquity. God hates that one. Utterly loves and rejects because
he is infinitely holy. And yes, God has demonstrated
His love toward us in that while we were sinners, Christ died
for us. That's what makes the love of
God so amazing, is that He loves those whom He hates. So look at verse 6. You destroy. those who speak falsehood." Why?
Because God loves truth. And if God loves truth, then
He must hate falsehood and He must destroy the one who practices
falsehood. The second line of verse 6, the
Lord abhors. That's a strong word. The Lord
abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. Why? Because God loves
life. He hates that which takes human
life. He hates abortion. He hates those
acts of murder. And he hates the one who performs
those acts because he is holy. There's a whole lot more to the
story than smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for
your life. A whole lot more to the story. It's called the Bible. Verse 7, but as for me, distinction
from those in verses 4 through 6, but as for me, by your abundant
lovingkindness I will enter your house at your holy temple. I will bow in reverence for you. When David enters into the presence
of God in the holy temple, David will bow, and when he stands
up, he'll sit up straight in the presence of holy God. Look at Psalm 7. In Psalm 7 and verse 11, God is a righteous judge. That is an extension of His holiness,
a necessary extension of His holiness. It is said if an earthly
judge ever knowingly, willingly passes over the transgression
of a criminal, then the judge becomes a participant in the
crime. And if the holy judge in heaven
and earth should ever just pass over an offense, God Himself
would become stained with that crime. So, God is a righteous
judge. Please note the next line because
there's a lot to judge here on the earth. and a God who has
indignation every day. It's not that God loves everybody
right now and then at the second coming, God will pour out His
wrath and suddenly now become wrathful on the last day. No. Every moment of every day,
holy God, this day has indignation against all sinners outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 12 and 13. If a
man does not repent, he, God, will sharpen his sword. He has bent his bow, referring
to God, and made it ready. Right now, this moment, the bow
is in the hand of God, the arrow is in. He has pulled back on
the bow. He has also prepared, verse 13,
for himself deadly weapons. He makes his arrows fiery shafts,
and as Spurgeon says, God never misses the target. He never just rattles the saber. He doesn't just hit the pulpit. He has made His bow ready with
fiery shafts because He has already filled with indignation every
day toward those who are outside of Christ. Let me tell you, it's
a big deal to be saved. It's a real big deal. Look at Psalm 9. And please note where these Psalms
find themselves in the Psalter. These are not hidden at the back
for just highly committed Christians to finally get to. These are
front-loaded. As soon as you walk into the
temple of praise in the 150 Psalms, they are intentionally placed
here. And please understand this as well. The Psalms are not laid
out in chronological order. Psalm 1 was not written first.
Psalm 2 was not written second. Psalm 3 was not written third.
The first Psalm to be written was Psalm 90. The last Psalm
to be written was Psalm 126. And there's a thousand years
in between. It's a book that took a thousand
years to write and compile, and it was compiled in five different
stages. Psalm 1 through 141 was really
what's called Book 1, and then Psalm 42 to the next division
is Book 2, etc. And there was a compiler. who
compiled the order of the Psalms after they were already written
by someone else, namely David. There's rhyme and reason to the
position of every one of the 150 Psalms. I wish I had time
to just like walk you through all 150 Psalms and show the building
argument and the strategic place. It's like a tapestry that is
perfectly woven together. But my point is this, Psalm 5,
7, 9, and 11 are intentionally front-loaded to sober worshipers
as they come into the house of the Lord to worship God. There was to be no casual, kicked-back,
cool worship, the ultimate oxymoron. And so in Psalm 9, we read in
verse 4, For you have maintained my just
cause, You have sat on the throne judging righteously." Of course,
he has. He is a righteous judge. You
have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked.
You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy has
come to an end in perpetual ruins and you have uprooted the cities.
The very memory of them has perished. So, devastating was the heavy
hammer of God in judgment. that His enemies cannot even
be found, they cannot even be remembered, they were so utterly
removed, try to take...try to get an airplane flight to Sodom
and Gomorrah. You can't even find it on the
earth. And it's been well said, if God
does not judge America, He's going to have to apologize to
Sodom and Gomorrah. So look at verse 7, but the Lord
abides forever. He has established His throne
for judgment. And He will judge the world in
righteousness. He will execute judgment for
the peoples with equity. And those who know Your name
will put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken
those who seek You. Verse 12, he who requires blood
remembers them, meaning those who have taken the blood of others.
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Those who commit murder, God
remembers and will judge. Those who are afflicted by these
murderers, God remembers and will comfort because He is a
holy God. And by the way, God has not changed
in the New Testament. He hasn't grown. He is the same. Look at Psalm 11, Psalm 11 and verse 4. Psalm 11 verse 4, the Lord is
in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, His eyelids
test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous
and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked he will rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and burning wind will be the portion
of their cup." They'll just drink it dry. For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness. The upright will behold His face
because God is holy, He both hates and loves. In my Bible,
I've drawn a circle around hates in verse 5 and loves in verse
7. I've drawn a word around holy
in verse 4 just so that even as I read this psalm, my eyes
can see that this holy God hates in verse 5 and 6. He loves in
verse 7. His holiness is a sharp two-edged
sword. It cuts both ways. Come to the book of Isaiah. I've just bypassed a lot. I've had mercy upon whom I will
have mercy. In the book of Isaiah, the principal
way by which God identifies Himself is by the name the Holy One. That's how you're to know me.
I am the Holy One. I am the One who is transcendent
and majestic and separated high and lifted up, infinitely pure,
and who hates iniquity and who loves righteousness, who rejects
sinners who receives those who embrace His Son. And so, in Isaiah
1 and verse 4, we see at the end of verse 4 how God is represented
by this name, the Holy One of God. A name is a revelation of
a person. A name means something. It becomes
a window into who they are, that you see who they are, yet it
operates the other way around. They make themselves known through
this window to us who are observing. And God wants His people to know
that He is the Holy One. And so, therefore, the prophet
cries out at the beginning of verse 4, sinful nation, people
weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly. They have abandoned the Lord.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away
from Him." To turn away from the Holy One
sets you on a course of unholiness. to pursue God puts you on a course
of holiness. So come look at verse 12. when you come to appear before
me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings
no longer. Incense is an abomination to
me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot
endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon
festivals and your appointed feasts. They become a burden
to me. I am weary of listening I'm weary of bearing them, so
when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes
from you. Yes, even though you multiply
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves
clean, remove the evil of your deeds from my sight, cease to
do evil, learn to do good. And then in verse 18, "'Come,
let us reason together,' says the Lord. "'Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they shall be white as wool.'" This holy
God demands holiness of His people, and He will not listen to the
prayers of unholy people. They weary Him. They don't refresh
Him. They are a burden to Him to have
to listen to such hypocrisy. Repent, humble yourself as you
come into the presence of holy God. Come to Isaiah 5, Isaiah
chapter 5. Again, we see this emphasis on
the holiness of God. And this is all a setup for Isaiah
6, by the way. So, Isaiah chapter 5 and verse
16, the holy God will show Himself holy. In verse 19, the Holy One
of Israel. In verse 24, the Holy One of
Israel. This is the big idea. This is
the dominant theme. This is the central thrust. the
holiness of God, the God who is holy. And there is contained
in this chapter six woes, verse 8, verse 11, verse 18, verse
20, verse 21, verse 22. The word woe does not mean, hey,
wait a minute. The word woe means cursed, judged,
and soon to be damned. In this chapter on the holiness
of God, God makes known His judgment upon that which is unholy. Look
at verse 16, but the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment. The word exalted there is the
idea of holiness, transcendent, high, lifted up, majestic, exalted
in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in how? Righteousness. And the word righteousness
means to give to every man as due. Verse 18, let the purpose of
the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass. Verse 24, here is indication
of the total depravity of man. Nevertheless, they rejected the
law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy
One of Israel. They love what they should hate
and they hate what they should love. And the new birth reverses that.
And you now love what you should love, and you now hate what you
should hate, because God loves what He loves and who He loves,
and God hates what He hates. In chapter 6, which I read at
the very outset, in verse 3, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. He's just on a level all by Himself. He is the most holy being in
the universe. Therefore, verse 1, He is lofty
and exalted. Do you see that? And He is so morally pure that
to be in His presence, Isaiah, who would be perhaps the best
of the believers of his day, in verse 6, Isaiah says, woe
is me. Cursed is me, judged is me, for I'm ruined. I'm unraveling
like a cheap sweater in the very presence of this holy God. Because
I'm a man of unclean lips, we go, Isaiah, wait a minute. That's
the best thing you have going for you. You're a prophet. If
anyone can speak for God, it's you. And Isaiah is saying, no,
you don't understand. When I'm in the presence of holy
God, I see how sinful I am. The closer you draw to the light,
the more you see your own imperfections. The further away from the light
you are, the more your imperfections are unseen. The strongest of
Christians here today are those who have a heightened sense of
their own unholiness and their own sin and are the quickest
to confess it and are the quickest to repent of it and are the quickest
to turn away from it. And those Christians here today
who are the furthest away from the light of His holiness are
those God has to take a golf club and just wrap you on the
head to get your attention because you're so insensitive to my holiness. What would it take to get you
to confess your sin, to see your sin? It takes being in the presence
of holy God. That's why in Luke 5 and verse
8, the miraculous catch of fish The light bulbs go on in Peter's
mind and he comes to a fuller realization that I'm in the presence
of holy God in human flesh like I've never seen it before. And
Peter responds, depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. I can't
bear up this self-audit and this self-examination when I'm this
close to the blazing light of Your holiness. That's what Isaiah is experiencing. That's what John, the Apostle
John, experienced on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1 when
he saw the vision of the glorified Christ in His blazing holiness,
His face shining stronger than the sun. The radiance of His
holiness just beaming forth like ten thousand suns in the sky
above. It says that John fell at His
feet like a dead man. You know what that means? He
just fainted. He went unconscious. He couldn't bear, he couldn't
stay conscious. in the immediate presence of
the glorified Christ. Listen, if those doors right
there suddenly swung open and the glorified Christ came walking
in here, we would all be on our face in
our unglorified state. That's why when we go to heaven,
God has to give you a new body. Because right now in your corruptible
body, you would just melt like wax before the sun. He must give
you and me glorified eyes that can even look upon Him in His
blazing holiness. God must give us glorified ears
to even hear His voice speak to us. God must give us a glorified
body perfectly adapted to our new environment in heaven to
be in the immediate presence of infinitely holy God. We couldn't take it. We couldn't
survive. How good of God to give us what
we need to be in His immediate presence throughout all of the
ages to come. It's no light matter to be in
the presence of God. Look at Isaiah 8 and verse 13. We'll have to do this again sometime
and we'll do the New Testament. Isaiah 8 and verse 13, it is the Lord of hosts whom
you should regard as holy, and He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. There
is a healthy, holy fear of God. that every one of us should have.
And it becomes the basis for our rejoicing in the Lord. There
is no rejoicing in the Lord until we first fear the Lord. No one giggles through the narrow
gate. We all come awestruck as we enter
into the kingdom. mourning over sin, Matthew 5.4,
as we see our own poverty of spirit, Matthew 5.3. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, and you know what? You never outgrow it. you just
grow deeper and deeper in it as you reverence God more and
more, as you set God apart increasingly in your mind and in your heart
as holy. And at the end of the book of
Ecclesiastes, he says the summation of all matters is this, fear
God and obey His commandments. You start into the kingdom with
wisdom by fearing God. The summation at the end of all
things is to fear God and everything in between. And so he says, you should regard
God as holy and He shall be your fear and
your dread. In Isaiah 29 and verse 23, and
we're talking about the diadem, the crown jewel in God's diadem,
His holiness. 29-23, but when He sees His children, the work of His hands in their
midst, they will sanctify My name, indeed they will sanctify
the Holy One of Jacob." That's really a play on words. That
as we behold the holiness of God, it should cause us to sanctify
His name. As we see how set apart He is
we should set apart His name and elevate it. Look at Isaiah 35 and verse 8.
Isaiah 35 verse 8, A highway will there be a roadway
and it will be called the highway of holiness. The unclean will
not travel on it and it will be for him who walks that way
and fools will not wander on it. All of the paths of God within
His will are paths of holiness. He will never lead us into sin.
He is always leading us away from sin. And the path that we
take in this world is always a highway of holiness and fools
will not wander onto it. and the unclean will not travel
on it, but those who have been sanctified by the Lord." Look
at Isaiah 57 and verse 15. Isaiah 57 and verse 15. This is a great verse. This is
an extraordinary verse. Isaiah 57 and verse 15. For thus says the High and Exalted
One." Now remember, the holiness of God, the primary meaning is
not His moral purity. The primary meaning is His transcendence,
His majesty, His glory, that He is a cut above us. That's
what verse 15 is saying in the first line. For thus says the
High and Exalted One. That's another way of saying
the Holy One. who lives forever. That's his aseity. He's without
beginning. He's without end. He's never
increasing, never decreasing. He lives forever, whose name
is holy. Do you see how the holiness of
God is repeatedly and continually being isolated by God? This is
how you are to principally know Me. I dwell on a high and holy place that is unreachable by mere men. But God will come down to dwell
with a certain kind of person and also with the contrite and
lowly of spirit. order to revive the spirit of
the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." God dwells
in two places. He dwells on a high and exalted
place and in the lives of those who are lowly and contrite of
heart. God is opposed to the proud,
but He gives grace to the humble. This is the holiness of God.
God will not put up with arrogant people. They weary Him. They are a burden to Him. God rejects peacocks who come
strutting into His presence. But those who humble themselves,
and the word humility carries the idea of lowliness of mind,
laying on the ground, not bodily but spiritually. The more we lower and humble
ourselves in the presence of this holy God, the more fully
He radiates His glory in and through our lives. So look at it. For thus says
the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is
Holy, I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite
and lowly of heart. Let's go to one more Old Testament
verse and then we'll wrap this up. Habakkuk chapter 1. I'll give you a second to find
it. Habakkuk 1 verse 13 and we'll
just wrap it up with this. Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,
and you cannot look on wickedness with favor. What was perplexing
Habakkuk is how God could take an ungodly nation and use them
as the rod of His anger against His own people who have fallen
into sin. And Habakkuk's argument with
himself is, God, they're worse than we are. I know You're holy. I know You cannot look upon evil
with approval. Why are You using them against
us? And the answer is because God
cannot approve the sin that was going on in His own people either. And God will discipline His own
people. And the Chaldeans and the Persians
and the Babylonians and the Egyptians, they are simply storing up wrath
until the day of wrath. But for us as Christians, we're
on a pay-as-you-go basis. Hebrews 12, which we would have
looked at if you had listened quicker, says that the Lord disciplines
every son whom He receives for the purpose of producing in us
holiness. We sin, we don't get away with
it. There comes a point God takes
us to the woodshed. They sin, nothing happens. But there's a payday someday
coming. They're storing up wrath until
the day of wrath. God loves us as we are, but God
loves us too much to allow us to remain the way we are. You shall be holy, for I am holy,"
says the Lord. Well, I need to wrap this up,
and I simply want to say this. The only way that you and I as sinful men
and women can come before holy God and find acceptance and to
be received is through the sacrifice for sin made by our great High
Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ died upon
the cross, He propitiated the righteous anger of God toward
all who believe. That means that through the death
of Christ, Jesus suffered the wrath and the condemnation that
is due you and me. Jesus bore it in His own body
upon the cross. He placated the wrath of God. He appeased the wrath of God. The wrath of a holy God towards
you and me has now been fully, completely satisfied in the death
of Christ as He bore our sin and bore the wrath of God upon
our sin. There is now, therefore, no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so now you and I may enter
into His presence before the throne of God with boldness and
confidence that we have full acceptance with God because Jesus
Christ has clothed us with His perfect righteousness. And He
has washed away all of our sins from the top of our head to the
bottom of our feet, past, present, and future. They have all been
atoned for through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so now we may call Him Father. And now His Spirit is crying
out within us, Abba, Father. And we now may have the joy of
knowing Him and walking with Him. But as we do, we must remember
that He desires holiness in us. And our joy will be greatest
when we walk in holiness. When sin moves into your life,
joy moves out. Joy and sin cannot dwell in the
same life and the same heart at the same time. And it's not
until sin moves out that joy moves back in. So, let us pursue
holiness. Let us walk in the light as He
Himself is in the light. And we will have fellowship one
with another. Let us pursue those things that
are pleasing to Him. As you find yourself here today,
if you've never called upon the name of the Lord, after hearing
this, if you've never believed upon Jesus Christ, how could
you not run to Him? How could you not fall down before
Him and say, have mercy upon me, the sinner? And I want you
to know He loves to receive sinners. He is the friend of sinners.
He's come to seek and to save that which is lost. He is a good
physician who has come not for those who are well, but for those
who are sick. Tell Him how sick you are in
your sin. Tell Him what a sinner you are.
He did not die for good people. He died for awful people, bad
people, corrupt people. That's who He died for. Tell
Him. Confess your sin and He will
gather you in and receive you and give you new life. And one
day when you die, He'll take you home to be with Him forever. It's the greatest news that's
ever been spoken. You'll never hear anything better
the rest of your life than what I just told you. You never will. Nothing will ever supersede it.
If you've never believed upon Jesus Christ, I urge you, I beg
you, I plead with you today if you hear His voice. Harden not
your heart. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold today is the day of salvation. Do not leave this room until
within your heart and soul you have believed upon Christ as
He would be convicting you of the very sin that is contrary
to His holiness. Let us pray. Father in heaven, how we thank
you that you are an infinitely holy God. And we praise you that
you have sent your Holy Son to make a way for us to come to
you and your Holy Spirit has caused us to be born again and
has given us the gifts of repentance and faith so that we may believe
in Your holy Son and come into Your holy presence. Father, we
praise You that You have not lowered the standard one bit,
but that You have raised us up by Your grace. In Jesus' name,
amen.