And the four beasts of them each
had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes
within and without, or within, and they rest not night and day,
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is to come."
I want to talk about the holiness of God tonight. One of his attributes,
dealing with another one of his glorious attributes. But you
know, it says the same thing over in Isaiah 6. The seraphims
there, there was three of them. One covered his feet with his
wings, one covered his breast with his wings, one covered his
eyes. And they cried, holy, holy, holy, when they saw the Lord
high and lifted up on his throne. And I want you to see this. Look
in Isaiah 57 with me just a minute. That God is holy, that God is
holy is a truth that most would acknowledge. In fact, there's a lot they know.
There's the Wesleyan holiness, and then there's people who call
themselves holiness people. Most would admit and acknowledge
that God is holy. But here in Isaiah 57, 15, look
what it says, "'For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity,' now watch it, "'whose name is holy. I dwell in the
high and holy place, and this is who I dwell with there. Him
also is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit
of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Most people, when they acknowledge
that God is holy, but what they say is that they regard it as
a standard, a standard that God set for Himself. And if we want
to be saved, we must meet that standard by the way we live. We have to live holy lives. We
have to live a certain way. And that's why so many wholeness
people, Wesleyan wholeness and people who are Pentecostals and
people like that, they say, you know, you can't have any sin. If the Lord comes back and catches
you with any sin in your life, you can't go to be with Christ. You know, so they're the ones
who decide what sin is. They're the ones who decide.
And they'll say, boy, I'm telling you, you'd better live right
if you're going to get to go to heaven. And holiness, I remember
I was preaching one of Floyd's brothers, I guess
it was Lloyd's funeral. And there was some of your people
on the front pew, you know, and they really holy people, you
know, they got religion, you know. And I got talking about
the holiness of God. Oh, amen, amen, amen. And then
I got talking about the justice of God. that he's so holy that
he can't overlook sin, that he's so holy that he must punish sin,
that he's so holy that he, you got, you know, he got to, and
man, I tell you, they just shut up like that. Holiness, as long
as the holiness meets their standard. And as your view of holiness
meets what they view holiness to be, and they view God to be,
they're all right with that. But when you deal with God and
the Bible, and what he says, he is holy. And when the angels
and the seraphims and the beasts cover their eyes in his presence
because he's of a, you know, he's so holy that they even cover
their eyes and just cry day and night, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God. Now God is holy, independently,
infinitely, immutably holy. He is called the Holy One. All
moral, all moral excellency. We as some people are more and
more moral than others. But none of us, all of us, have
some immorality about us. Whether we manifest it or not,
it's in our minds, it's in our lips, it's in our thoughts, it's
in our intents. But God's the only one, only
being in the universe, that all moral excellence is found in
Him. When our Lord Jesus Christ prayed in John 17, you know what
He called Him? Holy Father. Holy Father. He has absolute purity. Luke
led me over in 1 John, chapter 1. Absolute purity. John, chapter 1, verse 5. 1 John,
chapter 1, verse 5. 1 John. You know, He is And this is the way we want Him
to be. He says here in 1 John 5, chapter 1 in verse 5. This
then is the message which we have heard of Him. This is what
God taught us. This is the message that God
sent to us. This is the message we've heard.
And this is the message we declare unto you. Now watch it. God is
light. God is light. And in Him is no
darkness at all. None whatsoever. So you see,
He's absolute purity. His throne is called the throne
of holiness. I said in Psalm 47, He's clothed
with the beauty of holiness. The clothes that He wears is
the very beauty of holiness. People wear clothes and say,
boy, those are beautiful clothes. God's clothes are beauties of
holiness. We worship Him, the Scriptures
tell us, in the beauties of holiness. And so you see, beloved, God's
power, oh, we delight in His power. It's glorious. Oh, how
glorious it is that He can take dead sinners and give them life,
hard-hearted sinners and give them a new heart, take un-rebellious
sinners and change their wheels. And His omniscience sees and
knows all. And He's rich, so rich in mercy. He is as rich today in mercy
as He was the first time He extended mercy to Adam and Eve when He
brought them out of the Garden of Eden. And, O Beloved, He is
eternal in His duration. God is eternal for me, and He's
just eternal, the only eternal being. And, Beloved, but holiness
is His beauty. Holiness is His beauty. That's
what makes Him beautiful. That's what sets Him above everything
else in this universe. His name is called Holy. This
is what the seraphims and the spirits of just men make perfect
cry continually, thrice. That's what they mean that He's
thrice holy. Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit, Holy, Holy,
Holy is the Lord our God. God Himself says about it in
Psalm 89, 35, What have I sworn by my holiness? And we give thanks
at the remembrance of His holiness. And beloved, let me tell you
something. Holy can be put before every attribute of God. Holy can be put before every
one of his attributes. His holiness is the beauty of
his person. You know, we see people, and
we meet people, and we know people, that as far as physical beauty
and that, they may not have. They may be very nice looking,
but there's something about their personality, their character,
their nature, the way they conduct themselves, their spirit, that
just makes them shine. And they're beautiful by their
very nature and their character and the way they carry themselves.
And that's what makes God beautiful, is His holiness. That's His nature. And so this is, you know, this
is His beauty. And I tell you, you put holiness
before Him, and then you call His holy power. His holy arm
got Him the victory. His holy justice. We can say
that his wrath is holy, because there's no vindictiveness in
his wrath. There's no imperfection in his
wrath. There's imperfection in my wrath. The Scripture says,
Be angry, sin not. If I've ever done it, I don't
remember it. And oh, beloved, you call this,
his holy love. Oh, his love is holy. He loves
us with a holy love. That's why this love that makes
God love everything and everybody, that make no difference in a
man saying, I love every woman exactly the way I love my wife.
Well, what kind of man would love every woman exactly the
same way he loves his wife? You say, that fella's sick. And
that's why you say, he ain't got, he don't even know what
love is. That's why love is called God's holy love. And His grace
and His mercy are holy. He never expressed them at the
expense of His holiness. He gave us His grace because
He's holy. He gave us His mercy on the basis
of His holiness. When He told Moses to build the
tabernacle, He says, this will be My holy place. And when you
first walked in, it was the holy place. Then you know where you
went after that? Behind the veil? The holiest
of holies. You know what it says over in
Hebrews 9, that we come boldly and freely and confidently, where
at? Into the Holy of Holies! Huh? Oh my! You know where he meets
me and he told Moses, when he first met Moses, and Moses saw
him on the mountain, Moses drew near, he says, Moses, don't draw
near here, take your shoes off. This is holy ground. Wherever
I'm at, that's where holiness is. His angels are called holy
angels. What does that say right there? His word, we call it His holy
word. We call His will His holy will. And I tell you, beloved,
all of God's works are holy. All of God's works are holy.
Look with me at Psalm 145, just a minute. All of God's works
are holy. Psalm 145, verse 17. You know, if He is holy, if God
is holy, and His name is holy, His throne is a throne of holiness,
then holiness must be upon all that He does. Anything He does
must be a holy act. When He created, He created this
world and said, It's good, very good. And when He made man, the
Scripture says that He made man upright. But you know what else
it says? That man is the one that sought
out many inventions. But Psalm 145 and 17 says this,
The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His
works. Everything He does, every work
He does, He says it's a holy work. And you know holiness is
the rule of everything He does. There's no impure motive in his
works, no impure desire. Everything he does, he does because
it's a holy act. And let me tell you, let me show
you where he manifests his law. He manifests his holiness in
his law. I don't know if any of y'all have seen these people
from this Westboro Baptist Church that go and protest at all these
funerals and everything like that. Have you ever seen any
of them interviewed? Man, they're mean. Ooh, they're mean people. And they keep running to the
law. Keep running to the law. Somebody asked me the other day,
how much of the law have you broken? Oh, she wouldn't admit
to that. I ain't broken. But God manifests His holiness
in His law. The law, absolutely, the law
of God, absolutely forbids sin in any way whatsoever. You go through the Ten Commandments
and men will run to them, but it forbids sin in any way. Not
just in the outward grossest sins, but in the intent of the
heart and the mind. When you talk about love, God
said, love me. That deals with heart. That deals
with motive. That deals with your mind. That
deals with your affections. And those are things you can't
see. And beloved, when He says, love your neighbor as yourself,
when He said, have no gods before me, the very minute that we start
coveting something, we got an idol in the place of God Himself.
And so, guess what? The law absolutely forbids sin
in any way. Not only don't do the wicked
with your body, but don't even think wicked with your mind.
Huh? Paul says the law is holy, it's
just, and it's good. We know whatsoever the law saith,
it saith to them that they are under the law, and by the law
no man is justified. By the law is what? The knowledge
of sin. Now look with me over here to
Psalm 19. And oh, God manifests His holiness
in His law. And everybody wants to run to
those Ten Commandments. Oh, my soul, I want to run to
where they fulfill that. You know, I heard a preacher
preaching yesterday, Psalm 19, and he went over to Romans 3
and Romans 8, and he says, you know, the righteousness of the
law, he didn't say, well, it's fulfilled by us. He says, the righteousness of
the law is fulfilled in us. Who fulfilled it in us? Christ
fulfilled it in us. And I tell you, when I look at
the law, all I see is, no, no, no, no, guilty, guilty, guilty,
condemned. And everybody wants to run to
that and say, you know, God said, and they want to keep the Ten
Commandments, and that's wonderful. Go ahead and do it. But, ah,
my soul, if you don't see in them, in the law, the holiness
of God, and no hope for you by that law, except you find it
in Christ, you are blind as a bat. And there's multitudes of people,
blind as a bat. Look what he said here in Psalm
19, 7. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. That's what God said about His
Word, and that's why we delight in it. Not only is God's holiness
manifest in His law, but His holiness is glorified and manifested
at the cross like it is no place else. You won't find out how
holy God is. You won't find out, and all you've
got to do is look at His Son. Look at his son. Look at his
son from the first time he says, My hour has not yet come. Look
at his son when he started out and went out to the garden of
Gethsemane, and his soul was in such anguish. Look at him. Look at the Son of God when he
understands that his father is fixing to turn his back on him
and will not have anything to do with him, won't even let the
sun shine on such an awful that God Almighty is of pure eyes
to behold iniquity and is pure eyes to behold sin, and that
beloved, he would not even look at his own darling son, because
he is so holy that wherever he finds sin, his holiness demands
that he punish that sin. Huh? And nothing shows the holiness
of God. There we see the beauty of holiness.
God's beauty of holiness is manifested there. He would rather He would
rather punish his own son. He would rather pour his wrath
out on his son. He would rather punish his son
and let his son bear our sin. Let his son bear the burden of
a soul separated from God, as to let his holiness down one
aisle. Oh, here God upheld that holy
law. He said, I've told you I forbid
sinning. And this is what happened to
men who sinned? I told you I wouldn't do it.
I told you that I was holy and you wouldn't believe me. Now
do you believe me? My God! He said, oh, look at
Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Oh, God will not. And these folks
talk about holiness as something you can do with your own flesh,
by the way you dress, by habits you take up and quit. Oh, my, I'd love to get in one
of them holiness churches and preach now. They honestly think that holiness
is by the length of your skirt. Whether you wear your hair, whether
you wear makeup, or whether you don't, places you go, places
you don't go, things you do, things you don't do, car to car
you drive, car to car you don't drive. They think it makes them holy
because they drive a buggy. You imagine that fella driving
that buggy, driving down the road in his buggy with his black
hat on and his white shirt and his black pants, and he's thinking,
I'm so far above the rest of these heathens around here, and
God looks over at him and says, I see your heart. I see that
pride. I see that self-righteousness. You just as well be driving a
Cadillac as riding in that buggy, for all I see about you. That's
the way God looks at this out there. Everybody wants to think
their wholeness can be performed outwardly. God looks, oh, I don't
want nothing to do with a holy God outside of Christ. Psalm
22, look what he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Why are you so far from helping
me? Why are you from the words of
my roaring? Remember when he roared? He roared
and wailed when he cried there, with strong crying and tears.
Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't hear me? And I
was out there in the night when they come and got me, and I wasn't
silent. But here's why you didn't. You're
holy. Oh, that it inhabits the praises
of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee.
They trusted in you, delivered them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded." Listen, but I'm a worm. I'm a worm. And no man out of reproach of
men and despised of the people. Huh? God treated him the way we would
be treated had not God treated him that way. But why? Why? Because God is holy. He loves holiness. He hates iniquity. The faults of the wicked are
an abomination to God. He must punish sin. And oh, and
bless His holy name, since He punished sin, and sin can't be
in two places at the same time, and He cannot punish for the
same sin twice. that if God punished Christ in
your stead and my stead, then He'll never come punish us. He
cannot be in two places. And all but because God punished
sin, God for Christ's sake has forgiven us of our sin. Christ made an end of sin. Christ came and put sin away
by the sacrifice of Himself. And look in Ephesians 4.32. Oh my, ain't you glad these things
are in the Scripture? Oh my. I'm glad God punished
his sin. Oh my, if He didn't punish sin,
there would be no hope for me or you, if it hadn't already
been punished. If He hadn't been holy. If He hadn't been holy, you know, How could you trust him? What
would be the standard of wholeness if God were? What would be the
measure of it? Look what he says here in Ephesians
4.32, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, watch this, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. How can He forgive us? Because
sin has been paid for. And look what it goes on to say,
"...be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and
walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us," now listen, "...and
hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling savor. Even though the agonies of souls,
and he cried, My God, my God, thou hast forsaken me, he gave
himself as a sweet-smelling savor." And I say this, beloved, I say
believers, delight and rejoice in and worship God in the beauty
of His holiness. Let me ask you some questions.
Would you change God? Would you change His attitude
towards sin? Would you change His attitude
towards sin? Would you change His attitude towards sin to save
somebody you love? Would you change his way of dealing
with sin and the sinner? And oh, and I'll tell you something,
another thing about God's holiness. His holiness is proof of the
inspiration of scriptures. You know, the natural man would
not and could not conceive of the God of the Bible as He is.
He couldn't do it. He could not, would not conceive
the God of the Bible, just as He is. All you've got to do is
look at how He's talked about. I've seen this thing the other
day. Mary brought me in there and showed it to me. There's this big church. And I mean, boy, they have went
from just a half a dozen to now thousands. And it's a woman who
started it. And she says this, talking about
their Easter services. She said, I will even use a false
god to get them in, so I can get them to the real God. She
made that statement, and it was on the news, and the sound was
as if the newsman read it. And that's what she's talking
about. I'll use any, I'll use a false God if I have to. That's
what she said. I don't mind doing it at all. That's why, you know, people
cannot conceive of the God of the Bible. The only way you'll
ever acknowledge Him and know Him to be as the instrument to
make yourself known to Him. Just look the way He's talked
about. He's the old man upstairs. Just a little, let's just have
a little talk with Jesus. How He's presented to men. Oh my, he's so weak and impotent
and powerless. He's not holy at all. And look
at his intentions. He intends. He doesn't, you know,
something will happen and say, God couldn't have possibly been
in this. And you know of his intentions? What's God's intentions? God's intentions towards you.
If he's just got an intention, that's it. Oh my. But how would you know? Would
anybody conceive of God in the Bible as He is? Holy, righteous,
just, must punish sin, cannot clear the guilty, will not acquit
the wicked. The wicked get acquitted in this
country all the time. And the guilty get to go free.
Lots of judges and lawyers are in jail for taking bribes. And
I hope they get a bunch more of them. But I'll tell you something
you can't do. You can't bribe God. He can't
be bribed with anything you've got, any thoughts you'll think,
any acts you'll do or don't do. He's holy. And oh, God is holy. Let's bow
down before Him and reverence Him. Look at Psalm 95 a little
bit. Let's bow down before Him and worship Him. Stand in awe
of Him. Reverence Him. Adore Him. Psalm 99. What did I say
in Psalm 95? 99. 99 verse 5. Look at what it says.
Talking about bowing down before Him. Exalt ye the Lord our God. and
worship at his footstool, for he is holy. Just come and get at his footstool.
Oh, because he's holy. Exalt him, bow down before him.
And all of the eleven, let me tell you something. He makes
his people holy. This is why men can't conceive
of the Bible, God and the Bible. He's holiest, and what He is,
and what He demands for us to be, He demands for us to be holy.
And what He demands for us to be, He provides for us. He demands us to be perfect,
He makes us perfect. He demands us to be holy, and
He makes us holy. You know, 1 Peter 1.15 says,
Be ye holy as God is holy. Therefore, be ye holy as God
is holy. Now, you mean to tell me that we, by our actions or
anything we do, and that's what people interpret that to be.
I've got to be as holy as God is. So whatever God, however
God holds it, that's what I've got to be. Now, when I read that,
I read, Thou be ye therefore as holy as God, for God is holy.
The next line says, So therefore, pass your time assuaging you
in fear, if ye call upon the Father, God and Father, who without
respect of persons judgeeth every man according to his works. I'll
see that automatically, buddy. And if holiness has got to be
done by me, I'm going to go and get it. Huh? But listen, let
me tell you something. Without holiness, the Scripture
says, no man shall see the Lord. Well, where are we going to get
holiness at? I'm going to show you. Ephesians 1. I'm going to
give you a couple of things, and then I'll be done. Ephesians
1. We're positionally holy in Christ. You know, if Christ is holy,
then we're holy because we're in Christ. Is that not right? Ephesians 1.4, look what it says. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be what? Holy, and without blame, before Him
in love. Oh, look at Ephesians 5.27, talking about Christ and His
Church. It says in verse 26, by Ephesians
5, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without blemish." What? We'll show you one more in Colossians.
One book over, you've got Philippians in Colossians 1.22. Oh my! That's why we wouldn't change
God at all. He's holy. He demands that we
be holy. He demands sinless protection.
He gives us sinless protection in Christ. In Christ. Colossians 1.22, and the body
of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Now, bless his name. Ain't you glad
he's holy? And he makes us holy. Oh, what a Savior. What a God.
What a blessing of salvation.