Turn back with me to Psalm 99. Psalm 99, we're going to look
at another one of our Lord's attributes. I've been enjoying
this so much. So far, we've only looked at
them in our Bible studies, but I felt led to look at this next
one tonight. I didn't want to wait. Psalm 99 verse 5 says, Exalt
ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy. Don't you love that? Don't you
just love that? He is holy. That means he is
absolutely pure and he's right and he's good. That's what it means. He cannot not be pure. He cannot not be right and not
be good. He's holy. He's holy. 1 John 1 verse 5 says, God is
light and in Him is no darkness at all. I love that. I'm a fan of light. I'm already
ready for the time to change. No darkness at all. No darkness
at all. Only perfect, pure, beautiful
light. Beautiful light. One of the old
writers said, and when I read this, I thought, wow. See if
you can enter into this. He said, power is God's hand. Omniscience, his eye. Mercy, his bowels, his heart. Eternity is duration, but holiness
is his beauty. Holiness is his beauty. You think
about that. When David said, this is one
of our favorite, one of my favorite verses, when David said, one
thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after. that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."
That beauty that he's talking about is his holiness, his holiness,
his perfection. David said, I cannot wait to
see his perfection. I cannot wait to see his purity. I can't wait to see absolute
purity in His purest form. Holiness. Absolute holiness. Look back just one chapter, Psalm
98, verse 1 says, O sing unto the Lord a new song, for He hath
done marvelous things, His right hand And his holy arm hath gotten
him the victory. His arm is holy. His arm is holy. His arm is perfect. His arm is beautiful. It's beautiful. I love how Isaiah
52 says, the Lord hath made bare his holy arm. Don't you love
that verse of scripture? The Lord has made bare his holy
arm. I've told you this before, but
I love this illustration for that. I can remember as a kid,
I used to, all of my shows involved superheroes, muscular superheroes. And when they were done, I'd
walk around the house like this, you know, and I'd ask my dad,
show me your muscle. Let me see your muscle. And he
pulled his t-shirt up. The Lord has made bare His holy
arm. His beautiful, pure, holy arm. And we love seeing it, don't
we? We love seeing it. It brings so much comfort to
us. So much. Look back in Psalm 99
at verse 9. Psalm 99 verse 9 says, Exalt
the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill for the Lord
our God is holy. His hill is holy. His hill is perfect. His hill
is absolute Absolute beauty. The place where He dwells. The
place where His people dwell. It's a perfect place. It's a
holy place. A holy throne. A holy God. He is holy. Look at Psalm 103. Verse 1 says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul. And all that is within me, bless
his holy name. His name is holy. His name is
holy. Let's not refer to him as just
Jesus. Let's not refer to him as just
Jesus. Let's try to, if that ever happens,
let's acknowledge that that is his name of humility. that was the name given to him
during his humility. And oh, how we thank God for
his humility. It's our salvation. Don't we
thank God for his humility. We love that name. We honor that
name. So in fear and in respect and
in reverence, we surround his holy name with Lord and Christ. Lord Jesus. Jesus Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse one says, bless the Lord. David didn't say bless Jesus. He said, bless the Lord. Bless
the Lord. Oh, my soul and all that is within
me. Bless his holy, holy name. The Lord, our righteousness. Can you? God is holy. He demands righteousness. If we're going to be in his presence,
he demands righteousness. It must be right. It must be
perfect. It must be pure. That's not me. But the Lord is my righteousness. The Lord our righteousness, that's
what God said his name is, Jeremiah 23. His name is the Lord our
righteousness. So his arm is holy. His heel
is holy. His name is holy. Look with me
at Psalm 105. Psalm 105 verse 42 says, for
he remembered his holy promise and Abraham, his servant, his
promise is holy. His promise is perfect. It's
good. It's pure. It's right. It's beautiful. What is his promise? What is his promise? Hold your
place right here. We're gonna come right back to
Psalm, but look with me at Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 31 says, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant, a promise, with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break, although I was in husband unto
them, saith the Lord. but this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and
write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall
be my people." Can you imagine when the day comes, you know
what this, out of the heart, the mouth speaks, right? And
when it comes to this flesh, it's not good. It's not good. Out of the heart proceeds things. That brings us so much shame.
He just said, there's going to come a day when I'm putting my
law in their heart. That's the only thing that'll
come out of this mouth. That's the only thing. Out of the heart,
the tongue will speak and every word will be the law of God.
Can you imagine that? I'm going to put my law, I'm
going to write it on their hearts. And I'm going to be their God,
and they're going to be my people. Verse 34, and they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. What a promise. What a beautiful, beautiful promise. Go with me back to Psalm, this
time, 145. Psalm 145. Psalm 145, verse 17 says, The Lord is righteous in all
his ways and holy in all his works. All of his works are holy. All of them. Everything that
he does is holy. Even the things that we mean
for evil, God still means them for good. He has to. He has to. He must mean it for good. He's
holy. Everything he must do right.
He must do good in everything. Romans 7 says thy law is holy. And it is. This law that God
has given us, this law that we can't keep and we don't look
to for salvation and all those things, this law is holy. This
law is perfect. It's good. It's perfect. On the
cover of this book, mine says, Holy Bible. What that means is this book
is pure. This book is good. This book
is right. This book is beautiful. This
book is the most beautiful thing we have on this earth. This is
the most beautiful thing we have on this earth. Listen to this.
I've read this to you before. I kept this. This was an article
that I read. and I kept it in the cover of
my Bible, it's Author Unknown, and the title of it is A Good
Description of the Bible. This book is the mind of God,
the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners,
and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy. Its precepts
are binding. Its histories are true. And its
decisions are immutable, unchangeable. Read it to be wise. Believe it
to be safe. Practice it to be godly. It contains
light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer
you. It is the traveler's map, the
pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword,
and the Christian's character. Here, paradise is restored, heaven
opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand
subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule
the heart. and guide the feet. Read it slowly,
frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise
of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts and it will
lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in
Christ. Yes, to glory itself for eternity. Isn't that wonderful? David said,
Oh, I love thy law. Thank God for that law. It's
so holy. This is God's word and it's holy. So holy, so perfect. We see God's holiness in everything. Who he is, what he's done, the
heavens declare the glory of God. All of creation cries with
the seraphims, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. But nowhere,
nowhere do we see God's holiness more clearly than at the cross. Nowhere do we see it more clearly
than at the cross. Turn with me to Psalm 22. Because God is holy, He hates
all sin. I love that. Oh, I love that. Aren't you so glad that sin cannot
ever creep in and ruin again? It will never defile ever again. Not His holy hill. God is holy
and He hates all sin. Proverbs 3.32 says, The froward,
that means the crooked. Those that have turned aside,
they are an abomination to the Lord. He hates them. Proverbs
15, 26 says, the thoughts of the wicked, just the thoughts
of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. He hates them. He
hates them. Nahum 1, verse 2 says, the Lord
will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his
enemies. Psalm 5 says, Thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. Psalm 7 says, God is angry with
the wicked every day. And here's the thing. God is
holy. What that means is he must deal
with it. That's what it means. He must
deal with it. Darkness cannot dwell with light. The spotless one cannot take
pleasure in filthy rags. He cannot do it. For him to accept
the slightest blemish would be for him to deny his holiness.
So what did he do? What did he do with us? Here's
the answer. For God so loved this sinful, wicked world, he
gave his only begotten son. And he made him to be sin for
us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, the law lifted up Christ. And in my place, bearing
all of my wrongs, God did to Christ what had to be done to
me. And in that exact moment, he
cried right here in verse one, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring,
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and am not silent, but Thou art holy. Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest
the praises of Israel. Thou art holy. The whole time
God dealt with His Son in wrath, in anger, in judgment. pouring
out our punishment on him, the whole time our substitute was
crying, thou art holy. The whole time, you're holy,
you're just, you're good, you're right, you're perfect, this is
just right, you're holy. The whole time, he cried, you're
holy. Even so, Father, amen. Even so, amen. God is holy. God is holy, but His holiness
is the beauty and the glory of our salvation. His holiness is
what saved us because God in His holiness dealt with Christ. He will never have to deal with
us. God's punishment was a perfect punishment. It was a holy punishment. Christ's sacrifice was a perfect
sacrifice, and with His stripes, we truly are healed. We truly
are healed. Psalm 30 verse 4 says, sing unto
the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness. Give thanks every time you remember
His holiness, at the remembrance of His good, right, perfect,
beautiful dealings with us in Christ His Son. Every time His holiness demanded
something from His people, Christ our substitute supplied it in
all of his perfection, in all of his beauty, in all of his
right, in holiness every single time. Go with me to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy. You see that? that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. Now, because God
is holy, and because of what he did for us in his holiness,
he deserves our utmost reverence when we come before him, doesn't
he? He deserves our absolute reverence. Psalm 89 says, God is greatly
to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in
reverence of all about him. He's worthy. He is worthy. Don't turn back, but our text
said, exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool. for he is holy. We sinners must
come to him. We must come to him, but we must
come as lowly as we can. God told Moses, take your shoes
off. I love that. Moses, you're not
low enough. You can lower yourself that much
more. Take your shoes off. You are
standing on holy ground. Holy, holy ground. This scripture says that the
angels and all the hosts of heaven fall on their faces before him. Perfect beings in heaven all
fall on their faces before him. And any sinner who comes to Christ
must come the exact same way. If God draws a sinner And that's
how the sinner will come. That's exactly how he will come.
He'll come down to God's footstool. That's the only place he'll want
to come. Lord, let me come down. Let me come down. He'll come
to the footstool of God Almighty. He'll come covered in the blood
of Christ crying, Thou art holy. Thou art holy. Based on this
scripture we just read. It's for this purpose right here.
Look with me at first Peter chapter one. 1 Peter 1 verse 15 says, But as he which
hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,
because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Do you know what that means?
That means if God in His holiness punished Christ for our sins
then He has made us to be brand new creatures. He has done something
to us. He did something for us which
did something to us. He took all of that wrong off
of us and when all the wrong was gone the only thing left
was right. That's all that was left. He's
made us brand new creatures and as Christ is, so are we. That's amazing. That's amazing. As Christ is in all of his perfection,
in all of his purity, in all of his righteousness and his
goodness and his beauty, everything that he is, so are we. So our text said, exalt ye the
Lord. That's all we can do. That's
all we can do. Exalt ye the Lord our God and
worship at his footstool for he is holy. He is perfect. He is good. He is pure. He's right. He's beautiful. We have a beautiful, beautiful
salvation. God's people have a beautiful
and holy, holy salvation, and we exalt him for it, don't we?
You know that's why we're here again tonight. I was sitting
there just a minute ago thinking, here we are again. We're already
here. Why are we here again? I'll tell you why. We're here
to one more time say, oh, thank you. May Christ be
exalted. May God be glorified. You made us holy. You've made
us kings and priests. You've redeemed us back to God.
We exalt Him, don't we? By God's grace, by His Spirit,
we exalt Him. He's holy. Let's all stand together.