Turn back with me to Psalm 99. Psalm 99. Let's look at the end of verse
9. It says, for the Lord our God
is holy. We're here right now to worship
the Lord our God. And the only way that we can
truly worship him is if we know who he is. That's the only way
you can worship anybody. is if you know who that person
is. Truly knowing a person is knowing
his attributes, his character. You know who somebody is? Yes. Well, is he nice or is he
mean? Well, I don't know him that well.
Well, then you don't know him. You know of him, but you don't
know him. If you worship someone, you worship
everything about that person. If you worship them, you worship who he is, not just
in name, but in character. You love everything about him
so much. You go so far as to say, I worship the ground. He
walks on this morning. We're going to
look at one of our Lord's attributes. One attribute of His character,
and by God's grace, we are going to worship who He is. Who He is. The end of verse 9
again says, the Lord our God is holy. Holy. That word holy is used three
other times here in Psalm 99. Look with me at verse 3. Let them praise thy great and
terrible name, for it is holy. His name is holy. Verse five says, exalt ye the
Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy. He himself is holy. And verse 9 says, exalt the Lord
our God and worship at His holy hill. His hill is holy. These three things are holy because
His name is, He is, His hill is, because the end of verse
9 says, for. That means because. For. The Lord our God is holy. The title this morning is Holy,
Holy, Holy. Now here's what holy means. It
means sacred. It means clean. It means pure,
sinless, perfect. That's what it means. Perfect.
God is perfect. He's perfect. What's he like?
He's perfect. Absolutely perfect. Finding out
that God is holy is the most wonderful news that a center
could possibly hear. Because it means he's going to
do right. He's perfect. He will do right. He's holy. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? He does everything. Everything
that happens, He does it. He orders everything. He controls everything. And everything He does is perfect. It's perfect. That's relieving. That's so relieving. Everything he does is clean,
it's pure, it's sinless, and it's perfect. Now the things
that are happening to us in our lives, is God doing that? Then it's perfect. It's perfect. Isn't that something? Look, it's
across the page in my Bible at Psalm 97 verse 12. Psalm 97 verse 12 says, rejoice
in the Lord, ye righteous 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, don't we? We rejoice
in that. But our rejoicing is only in
and through and because of Jesus Christ. And the reason is because
God is holy. God is right. God is pure and
He will not bend the law. If the law says, I must die, then I must die because of my sin. Look at our
text in Psalm 99 verse 1 says, the Lord reigneth. Thee, that means there's one. Lord, Lord, Lord. That's the word I want to point
out is Lord. Reigneth. Let the people tremble. He sitteth between the cherubims.
Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion and
he's high above all the people. Let them praise thy great and
terrible full of terror name for it is holy. We should all tremble at his
name and fear his name because it's holy. Turn with me over
to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. Look 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
you 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 mine holy names sake, which you have
profaned among the heathen, whither you went. Look at Ezekiel chapter
39 verse seven says, So will I make my holy name known
in the midst of my people, Israel, and I will not let them pollute
my holy name anymore. And the heathen shall know that
I am the Lord, the holy one in Israel. Let us no more refer to Him as
Jesus. May the Lord enable us to stop
doing that. We just sang some songs, and
in those songs it says, Jesus, and every time I see it I cringe.
And I've tried to think of ways to change it, but it doesn't
rhyme, and it's awkward. So I just try to remember that
when I read that, I'm doing it so the song will flow, but I'm
singing the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus
is what religion refers to Him as. It's what those who have no knowledge
of His holiness refer to Him as. He said, I am the Lord. And that's what we need to call
Him. Turn with me over to Psalm 103. Psalm 103 verse 1 says, Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me, bless
His holy name." Let's take note of this. And let's instruct our
children. Let's teach our children, honey,
we don't refer to Him as Jesus. We don't call Him that. Jesus is His name. His earthly
name. But David didn't write, bless
Jesus, O my soul. His name is holy. His name is
holy. He's been given a name that is
above every name. Wonderful counselor, the mighty
God, that's who he is. Jesus is his name of humanity. And it's his name of humility. But he is no mere man, is he?
And when the world calls Him Jesus, that's what they think
He is in their heart, and that's what they're calling Him, is
just Jesus, the man. But He's no mere man, so we call
Him what He is, and what He's commanded us to call Him, the
Lord. His name is holy. Look back at
our text in Psalm 99. Verse 4 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. His name is holy because He is
holy. Go with me over to 1 John chapter
1. 1 John 1. Verse 5 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. No sin at all. No wrong at all. Whatever He
does is right. He can do nothing other than
right. That's all He can do, is right,
because He's holy. This says that He is light in
verse 5. He says that God is light, pure
light. Brilliant light. He is so clean. He is so holy. No man can look
upon him and live. That's how holy he is. Go to
Exodus 33. I'm about to show us something
that was absolutely amazing to me. Exodus 33 verse 18 says, And Moses said, and he said,
Is it not? I'm in the wrong verse, chapter.
And Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Show me thy glory. Let me see
your glory. Verse 20, And God said, And he
said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me
and live. Why? He's too holy. He's just too holy. He is too
pure. He is too glorious. Outside of
Christ, If a vile, wicked sinner ever saw the perfect holiness
of God, just the sight of it would kill
him. There's going to come a point
where every eye is going to see him, right? Some are going to
see him in Christ, some are going to see him out of Christ. All
he has to do is appear, and his holiness as soon as they see Him. Oh may the rocks fall on us.
That's what it says they're going to say. Hide us from His holiness. Now that doesn't even describe
His holiness. What I just told you does not
even describe his holiness. I want to show you that. Okay.
It doesn't even come close to describing his holiness. Turn
with me to Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 says,
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. Psalm 47 called it the throne
of His holiness. High and lifted up, And his train
filled the temple. Now watch this. Above it stood
the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With Twain, he covered his face. 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. Seraphims are creatures of heaven. They live where God is. And heaven
where God dwells is a place where sin cannot be. It's a perfect
place and everything in it is perfect. Perfect, sinless and
perfect. Perfect seraphims can't even
look at Him. Isn't that amazing? They have
to hide their face and their eyes. And all they can do is
continually cry, holy, holy, holy. Why? He's too holy. Revelation 4 verse 8 says they're
going to be crying that for the rest of eternity. They will never
stop crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of heaven. His name is holy. He is holy. And turn with me to Psalm 145.
Psalm 145 verse 17 says, The Lord is righteous in all
His ways and holy in all His works. When God made the earth
and everything in it, including man, God said it was very good. And we just, in the Bible study,
looked at how the words that are used, we cannot enter into
what they fully mean. When God said, it was God said,
it was very good. He didn't mean just better than
average. What he meant was it is perfect. It is holy. And then man fell and sin reigned over man. And man was no longer perfect,
he became the exact opposite. He was no longer sinless, he
became sinful. He was no longer pure, he became
polluted. No longer clean, he became vile.
Moses said, show me your glory and God said, I can't, you'll
die. But, but, there is a place that I
can put you. There is a cleft in the rock,
and that rock is Jesus Christ. This holy God has provided a
place where He can put us. It's inside the broken cleft
of the rock. God said, if I put you in there,
when I pass by, you will be safe. There is a work that I can do. Right here in Psalm 145 verse
17 says, The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all
His works." All His works. Go back to our
text in Psalm 99. Verse 1 says, The Lord reigneth. It says, Let the people tremble. But look where He's sitting. He sitteth between the cherubims. You know where that is? You know where that is? Those two cherubims were on the
lid that went on top of the Ark of the Covenant. And they spread their wings toward
each other like this. Two of them, and their wings
almost touched like this. And between those two cherubims,
that portion of the lid was called the mercy seat. The Lord said, that's where I'm
sitting. I'm sitting on the mercy seat.
The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble, but I'm sitting on the
mercy seat. I've performed a holy, perfect
work of mercy." Do you know what Ephesians 2
verse 10 says? It says, we are His workmanship. That's what it says. And we read,
all His works are holy. We are His workmanship and all
His works are holy. You know what that makes us? As long as we are inside the
cleft of this rock that was broken, it makes us perfect, it makes
us pure, it makes us clean. Our Lord said, Be ye holy as
I am holy. The only way that could be accomplished
was through the greatest display of God's holiness. The greatest display of God's
holiness. Turn with me to Psalm 22. Psalm 22, our Lord Jesus Christ
said 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? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. and in the night season, and
am not silent, but thou art holy." Why did God the Father forsake
Christ? Why would He not help him? Why
would He not hear him? It's because He's holy. That's
why. 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, His very own only begotten
Son, God is still holy. Isn't that amazing? God is still
holy. Look back at our text in Psalm
99. His name is holy. He is holy. And because of Christ, verse
6 says, Moses and Aaron among his 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 answeredst them, O Lord
our God. Thou wast a God that forgave
them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions." Them. Him, them, His people are holy. So verse
nine says, exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill. His name is holy. He is holy
and His people are holy because, verse nine says, for. All that is so, because the Lord
our God is holy. He's good. He's perfect. He's right. And we worship Him for that,
don't we? That's what we worship. Who He is. He's holy. All right, let's stand together.