Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I invite you to turn with me
this morning in your Bible to Psalm 99. Psalm 99. And I wanna begin by reading
the end of the very last verse, the very last line of this Psalm. Verse nine, the end of it says,
for the Lord our God is holy. The Lord our God is holy. We open this word, this word
of God, And we preach and we hear what he has written for
the purpose of worshiping the Lord, our God. That's why we
look into these things. That's why we meet together. It's for the purpose of worshiping
the Lord, our God. And the only way we can truly
worship him is if we know who he is. That's the only way. The only way you can worship
somebody, and I'm talking about worshiping somebody, I'm not
talking about giving somebody a pat on the back or recognizing
somebody. I'm talking about worshiping
somebody. The only way you can truly worship
somebody is if you know who that person really is. Truly knowing a person is knowing
his attributes, his character. If you worship someone, you worship
everything about that person. If you worship him, you worship
who he is, not just in name, but in character, in character. This morning, we're gonna look
at one of our Lord's attributes. One attribute of his character. And by God's grace, we're gonna
worship who he is. The end of verse nine, we just
read it in Psalm 99, it says, the Lord our God is holy. He's holy. That word holy is
used three other times in Psalm 99. It's used in verse three,
it says, let them praise thy great and terrible name for it
is holy. His name is holy. It's used in verse five, it says,
exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for
he is holy. He himself is holy. His name is holy and he himself
is holy. Verse nine says, exalt the Lord
our God and worship at his holy hill. His hill is holy. These three things are holy.
His name is holy, he is holy, his hill is holy because The
end of verse nine says, for, and that means because, the Lord
our God is holy. The title of this message this
morning is Holy, Holy, Holy. Now here's what holy means. It
means sacred, clean, pure, sinless, and it means perfect,
perfect. God is perfect. Finding out that
God is holy is the most wonderful news a sinner could ever hear.
And the reason is because it means God is going to do right. He's gonna do what's right. Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? He does everything. He orders everything. He controls
everything. And everything he does is perfect. It's perfect. Isn't that relieving? That's so relieving. He controls
everything. And everything he does is perfect.
It's clean, it's pure, it's sinless, it's perfect. Everything he does. Look with me at Psalm 97. Psalm
97 verse 12, it says, Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and
give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Rejoice in the
Lord and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. When the Lord
allows us to remember just how good He really is, just how right
He really is, we rejoice in that, don't we? But our rejoicing is
only in and through and because of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. And the reason is because the
Lord God is holy. God is right. God is pure. And he will not bend the law.
He will not bend the law. If the law says I must die for
my sin, then I must die for my sin. Look at our text, Psalm
99 verse one, it says, the Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims,
let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion and
he is high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name for it is holy. It's holy. We should all tremble
at his name and fear his name because his name is holy, absolutely
holy. Turn with me over to Ezekiel
36. Ezekiel 36, look with me at verse
20. And when they entered unto the
heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they
said to them, these are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth
out of his land. But I had pity for my holy name,
which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither
they went, Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith
the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel,
but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among
the heathen, whither you went. What he's saying is, my people,
my very own people have profaned my name. And they should be punished for
that. but he's saying, I'm gonna have pity on him for my holy
name's sake. And tell the house of Israel,
I don't do it for your sake, I'm not gonna have pity for your
sake, I'm gonna have pity for my holy name's sake. Let us no more refer to him as
just Jesus. So many people these days just
refer to him as Jesus. You hear that everywhere, they
just call him Jesus. That's what those who have no
knowledge of his holiness refer to him as. He said, I am the
Lord. I'm the Lord. And that's what
we need to call him the Lord. Look at Psalm 103 with me. Psalm 103, verse one says, bless
the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His
holy name. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Let's take note. Let's instruct
our children. We don't refer to Him as just
Jesus. David didn't write, bless Jesus,
oh my soul. He said, bless the Lord. His
name is holy. He's been given a name that is
above every name. His name is wonderful, Isaiah
says. His name is counselor. The mighty
God, that's who he is. He's the mighty God. Jesus is
his name of humanity. It is. And what a precious name
it is. It means savior, but he is no
mere man. He's no mere man. So we call
him what he is and we call him what he's commanded us to call
him the Lord. He's the Lord. His name is holy. It's holy. All right, now let's
look back at our text. Psalm 99, verse four says, the
king's strength also loveth judgment. Thou dost establish equity. Thou executest judgment and righteousness
in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God and
worship at his footstool for he is holy. He is holy. His name is holy because he is
holy. That's why. Go with me to 1 John
1. 1 John 1. Verse five says, This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all, none, no sin at all, no wrong
at all. Whatever he does is right. He
can do nothing other than right. because he is holy. This says he is light, pure light,
brilliant light. He's so clean and so holy, no
man can look upon him and live. That's what he said, let me show
you that. Turn with me over to Exodus 33. Exodus chapter 33,
verse 18 says, And he said, that's Moses, Moses
said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Verse 20, and he said,
that's God, God said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall
no man see me and live. No man can see me and live. Why? He's too holy, that's why. He's too pure. He's too glorious. That's why, but that doesn't
even come close to describing his holiness, not even close
to describing his holiness. Turn with me over to Isaiah chapter
six, Isaiah chapter six. Listen to
this. This is amazing. Absolutely amazing. Verse one says, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne,
high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood
the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. and one cried unto another and
said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. The whole earth. Now, think about
this. Seraphims in heaven. In order for something to dwell
in God's heaven, it's gotta be perfect. It's gotta be sinless. Perfect seraphims can't even
look at him. They have six wings. With two
of them, they cover their face. Perfect seraphims can't even
look at him. Why? He's too holy. He's just too holy. Revelation
4 verse 8 says that those seraphims are going to be crying that for
the rest of eternity. They're never going to stop.
They're never going to stop for the rest of eternity. They're
going to be crying, holy, holy, holy. His name is holy. He is holy. And turn with me
over to Psalm 145. Psalm 145, verse 17 says, the
Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. Holy in all His works. When God
made the earth and everything in it, including man, God said
it was very good. He said it was very good. And
in saying that, he didn't mean better than average. It was perfect. It was holy. And then man fell. As God knew he would, he told
Adam in the day that you eat of that tree. He knew he would. Man fell and sin reigned over
man at that point. And man was no longer perfect.
He became the exact opposite of perfect. He was no longer
sinless. He became sinful. He was no longer pure. He became
polluted. He was no longer clean. He became
vile and filthy. Moses said, show me your glory.
And God said, I can't. You'll die. You'll die. But he said, but there is a place
I can put you. There is a cleft in the rock. And that rock is Jesus Christ. God said, if I put you in there,
When I pass by, you'll be safe. You'll be safe. There is a work
that God can do. And Psalm 145 verse 17 says,
the Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy, holy, holy
in all his works. They're perfect. They're perfect. Now go back with me over to our
text in Psalm 99. Verse one says, the Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble, but look
where he's sitting. It goes on to say, he sitteth
between the cherubims. Do you know what that means?
Those two cherubims were on the lid that went on top of the Ark
of the Covenant. And between those two cherubims,
that portion of the lid was called the mercy seat. The mercy seat. The Lord said, that's where I'm
sitting. I'm sitting on the mercy seat. I have performed a holy,
perfect work of mercy. Mercy. Do you know what Ephesians
2 verse 10 says? It says, we are his workmanship. All his works are holy and we
are his workmanship. You know what that makes us?
Perfect in Christ, in his work. It makes us pure in Christ, in
his work. It makes us clean as long as
we're in Christ. He said, be ye holy for I am
holy. God's people can be holy in Christ
because Christ is holy. The only way that could be accomplished
was through the greatest display of God's holiness. The only way
we could be made holy in Christ because of Christ is because
of God's greatest display of holiness, the greatest display
of holiness that's ever been seen. Turn with me over to Psalm
22. Psalm 22, verse 1. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking and He says in verse 1, 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. He says in verse three, but thou
art holy. Thou art holy. Why did God the
Father forsake Christ? Why would he not help him? Why
would he not hear him? Because he's holy. He's holy. His son was made sin
for his people. that his people might be made
holy. And even though my sin was found
to be on his own son, even though God saw my sin on his own son,
God is still holy. He is still holy and He must
punish sin. He must do what's right. He must. And therefore, because God is
holy, because God must punish sin, because God must do right,
He punished Christ because of my sin. And my sin suffered God's
wrath on Christ. The penalty for my sin was paid
for in Christ. And because of that, my sin is not on me anymore. Christ paid it. There's no more
debt on me anymore. Christ put it away. It cannot
be found on me anymore. You know what you call that?
Good news. Wonderful news. So look back
at our text in Psalm 99. His name is holy. He is holy. And because of Christ, because
of that perfect and holy work that Christ did, all because
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse six says, Moses and Aaron,
among his high priest, and Samuel among them that call upon his
name, they called upon the Lord and he answered them. He spake
unto them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies and
the ordinance that he gave them. Thou answeredest them, O Lord
our God. Thou was to God that forgave
them, though thou tookest vengeance
of their inventions. You took vengeance on Christ
for their inventions. You took vengeance on Christ
because of their sin, because of the sin they invented. All because of Christ. So verse
nine says, exalt the Lord our God. How could we not? Knowing
that, how could we not? How could we not glorify and
bless His holy name? Exalt the Lord our God and worship
at His holy hill. His name is holy. He is holy. And His people are holy. Isn't
that amazing? A sinner will hear that and say,
this is too good to be true. This can't be true. I'm vile
and I'm wicked. I've disobeyed God. There's nothing
good in me. And all of that's true. But in
Christ, because of what Christ did, all of God's people, God the
Father, he chose them and he gave them to Christ. And he sent
Christ to finish the work. And Christ said, I delight to
do thy will, Father. And he said, all that you gave
me, I've kept them all. And I haven't lost one except
the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. Because of Christ, God's people
are holy. That's amazing. That's amazing
grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. That's what that song means.
I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I
see. Why? Because of Jesus Christ.
That's why. Because of Jesus Christ. His
name is holy. He is holy and his people are
holy because the end of verse nine says, the Lord, our God
is holy. He's good. He's right. He's perfect. Aren't you so glad?
That's something worth worshiping, isn't it? We started this out
by saying we're gonna see one attribute of his character, of
our God's character, and by the end of this, by seeing this,
we're gonna worship him for who he is. He is good. And we worship
him for his holiness. Thank God for his holiness. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless his word. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.