Thou art the King, Supreme, Ruler
over all. our great sovereign and we bow
before thee we pray that you would be with the services today
all that the preaching of thy word through the preaching of
thy word that you'd be glorified and magnified and that our hearts
would be turned away from this world and the things of this
world and the troubles of this world and the things going on
in our lives and that for this time oh lord for this time we
could just focus on thee keep our eyes upon thee and that ye
be glorified and magnified. May your people be edified, built
up in thee, Lord Jesus. We love you because you first
loved us. In Jesus' name, amen. We'll continue our study on the
attributes of God. Today's message is called The
Holiness of God. Turn, if you would, to Revelation,
chapter 15. Revelation, chapter 15. And then also put your finger
in Isaiah, chapter 6. Revelation chapter 15 and Isaiah
chapter 6. The holiness of God. The holiness
of God. Revelation 15 verses 3 to 4. And they sing the song of Moses,
a servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great in
marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord,
and glorify Thy name? Look at this. For Thou only art
holy. For Thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and
worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are made manifest. It says there, For Thou only
art holy. Now turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 6, and we'll read where Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up. And this is the Word of God,
the second person of the Trinity, in glory before He came to this
world. High and lifted up and upon the
throne. Isaiah chapter 6. We'll start in verse 1 and we'll
read to verse 7. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. Notice our Lord
is upon a throne. He's king. He's supreme. High
and lifted up. And His train filled the temple.
Now remember the length of a train established a king's dominion. And His train fills the temple.
Fills the temple. He has all dominion over all
things. 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, in praise to
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, is the Lord our host,
the whole earth is full of his glory. and the posts of the door
moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled
with smoke. Now, this is a vision that Isaiah
is having, and look at his response to this. Then said I, woe is
me. Now, in the previous chapters,
Isaiah had been saying, woe is you, and you, and you, and you.
And now he gets a glimpse of who the Lord is. He gets a glimpse
of the Lord Jesus Christ in his majesty. And he says, like every born-again
blood-bought sinner says, woe is me. Woe is me. Woe is me. Look at it, he says,
for I am undone. And I am a man of unclean lips.
He sees his own sinfulness. And then look, he sees the whole
depravity of man. He says, and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. And God's people by faith have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth
and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sins purged. And there's a picture of the
precious blood of Christ. Now the last time we met together,
we looked at the sovereignty of God in providence and in salvation. We saw that our God is absolutely
sovereign over all. He's absolutely sovereign over
all, over all things. In providence and He's sovereign
in salvation. Our God rules and He reigns as
a sovereign King. And we see that right there in
Isaiah 6, don't we? We see it right there before
us in the Scriptures. And today we'll be looking at
another one of God's attributes, which is the holiness of God. The holiness of God. Over there
in Revelation chapter 15, it said, for thou only art holy. For thou only art holy. And that's
in a reference to our great God. That's in a reference to our
King. And if you would, the Psalm 89 and then put your finger in
Luke. I mean, not Luke, Isaiah, Isaiah. We'll be going through a few
different scriptures in Isaiah. Our God is called the holy one
throughout the scriptures, the holy one. Look at this in Psalm
89, verse 18. For the Lord is our defense. And the Holy One of Israel is
our King. The Holy One of Israel. That's
our God. That's the one we looked at in
Isaiah chapter 6. That's the one who we saw proclaimed,
as thou alone, thou only are holy in Revelation 15. And then
turn to Isaiah chapter 12, if you would. And then Isaiah chapter
29. We'll just look at a couple places here. There's more in
the scriptures where he's called the Holy One. We'll just glance
at a few scriptures here. Isaiah 12, verse 6. Cry out and
shout, thou inhabitants of Zion. And we know Zion is a picture
of the church. For great is the Holy One of
Israel. There He is. The Holy One of
Israel. In the midst of thee. And then
Isaiah 29, Isaiah 29 verses 18 and 19. And in that day, verse 18, shall the
deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall
see out of obscurity and out of darkness that the meek also
shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men
shall rejoice in who? The Holy One of Israel. Who do
we rejoice in, beloved? We rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. We rejoice in our great God and
King. We rejoice in our Redeemer. And He is the Holy One. He's
the Holy One. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
Over there in Isaiah 40, verse 25, it says this, To whom shall
ye liken me, or whom shall I be equal, saith what? The Holy One. All through Scripture, look at
that, Isaiah 40, verse 25. All through Scripture, He's called
the Holy One. He alone is holy. He alone is
holy. And a believer in Christ is,
how are we made holy? Only in Christ. only in Christ,
in Christ alone. Isaiah 40, verse 25. To whom
then will you liken me, or who shall I be equal? There is no
equals to our God. He is so far above us. His thoughts
are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. He's
the Holy One. He's the Holy One. The Holy One. Now I'll go to Isaiah 43, and
then we'll go to Luke chapter 4. And this is just establishing,
and as I said, this is just a few of the scriptures. If you want
to look up more, just type in or get a concordance and look
at the Holy One and see how many times this is referenced. Isaiah
43, verses 14 to 15. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer.
That's our Redeemer. Who's our Redeemer? The Lord
Jesus Christ. What's he called? The Holy One
of Israel. The Holy One of Israel. That's
our God. That's our Savior. For your sakes I have sent the
Babylon and have brought down all their nobles and the Chaldeans
whose cry is in the ships. I, the Lord, I am the Lord, your
Holy One. The Creator of Israel, your King.
Now go to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. Do you know that
the demons proclaim that God is holy? that God is holy. Look at this in Luke chapter
4. We know that our Lord is God incarnate in the flesh. We know
that. So we've seen there in the book
of Isaiah some passages in that one in Psalm 89 where our Lord
is called the Holy One. Luke chapter 4 verses 31 to 35. We came down to Capernaum, the
city of Galilee. and taught them on the Sabbath
days. And they were astonished at His doctrine. They were astonished
at the doctrine of Christ. For His word was with power.
And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an
unclean devil and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us
alone. What have we to do with Thee,
Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Look at this. Art Thou come to
destroy us? They know He has all power. They
know He is all power. Look at this, I know thee who
thou art, the Holy One of God. In Isaiah, we saw Him called
the Holy One. In Revelation 15, only God is holy. The demons
know who He is. They know who He is. The Holy
One. God incarnate in the flesh. That's
our Savior. That's our Lord. Our Lord and
Savior is God incarnate in the flesh and here He's called the
Holy One of God. And the devils know and they
tremble. See, I remember when I was in
some religious groups and they talked more about Satan and about
his power. Satan is on a leash. God has all power. Satan can
only do what God allows him to do. We see that in the book of
Job, don't we? He says, you can go, you can
take these things, but you cannot take his life. Our God is in
absolute sovereign control. He is the sovereign king of the
universe. All things, visible and invisible,
are subject to Him. Subject to Him. And the one who they're subject
to, the Lord Jesus Christ, is our Redeemer. Is our Redeemer. What a hope we have. What a Redeemer
we have in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord is
not only perfectly holy as man, but infinitely and essentially
holy as God. He is the Holy One. He is the
Holy One. He is the fountain of holiness.
We are made holy in Him. In Him. In Christ and Christ alone. And
let us remember, too, that God is the only one who is holy,
and He is independently infinitely and immutably holy. We do not
change him. Our worship doesn't change him.
It doesn't add anything to him. Nothing at all. He is independently,
infinitely and immutably holy. He's called the Holy One, the
Holy One. Because holiness is only found
in him. All we are is sin. We're born dead in trespasses
and sin, aren't we? But we're redeemed by the Holy
One. We who are His people are redeemed by the Holy One. He
is divine, we are finite. Our God is great and glorious
in holiness. The Scripture declared that God
is light and in Him is no darkness at all. No darkness at all. Our God is absolutely holy. In
Habakkuk it says this, purer eyes than to behold evil and
cannot look, cannot look upon iniquity. Oh my. He is perfect, pure holiness,
the total opposite of what we are, the total opposite of what
we are. We're sin. Everything we do,
our best prayers are tainted with sin. Everything we do is
tainted with sin. Everything, he's absolutely holy. He's absolutely holy. Oh my. He is perfect, the holy one.
Second Chronicles says this. Second Chronicles chapter 20,
verse 21. And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise
the beauty of holiness. the beauty of holiness, as they
went out before the army, and to say, praise the Lord for his
mercy endureth forever. Oh, in the Lord and our King,
we see the beauty of holiness. He alone is holy, beloved. Stephen
Chinark, an old Puritan writer, says this of God's holiness.
Power is God's hand or arm. Omniscience, his eye. Mercy,
his bowels. Eternity, his duration. But holiness
is his beauty. Holiness is His beauty. Our God
is absolutely holy. Absolutely holy. Now think how
this renders our God absolutely lovely in the eyes of the redeemed
of the Lord. In the eyes of those who have
been purchased by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Delivered from the dominion, the penalty, and the power of
sin. Delivered from the curse of all
our sins. Delivered from the law of God,
having it fulfilled in Christ, in Christ alone. Think of how
this renders our Savior lovely in our eyes. Absolutely lovely. Is it any wonder then that the
Lord is called the fairest of 10,000 among his people? The
fairest of 10,000. He's absolutely lovely. Absolutely
lovely. To those He's redeemed. Our holy
God has made His people holy in Christ. If you're one of His
blood-bought people, you are made holy in Christ. Holy in
Christ. And you know why? So we can be
in His presence. Because sin cannot be in His
presence. Therefore the believer is clothed in that perfect, spotless
righteousness of Christ. And we can be in the presence
of Don't ever let it become commonplace. This is amazing. This is truly
amazing that sinners who are purchased by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, can stand
in the presence of a holy God, the Holy One, the Holy One, Scripture
says, the One who angels have to cover their face in His presence. This is a great redemption. We
who are His born-again blood-washed people, this is a great, great
redemption that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's look at
Isaiah chapter 6 again, just quickly. The holiness of our
God and the perfection of who our God is is proclaimed by the
seraphim before the throne of God. Isaiah chapter 6, we looked
at this in our introduction, but let's look at this again. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I also saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. And above it stood the
seraphims, and each one had six wings, and 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. And the posts of the doors moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke." Now, this is God. The scriptures here before us
are proclaiming who God is. He's not someone up there who
just hands out things to everybody and just, you know, people...
The way some people talk about God, He's their best friend and
He's just their buddy and all this stuff. God is holy. God is righteous. God is a king
upon a throne. And when a believer approaches
God, we approach God only because of the basis of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we approach him, as the scripture
says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. but
fools despise wisdom and instruction. But that fear is a reverent fear.
Look at who he is. It's not a slavish fear, but
it's a reverent fear of awe of his holiness, in awe of who he
is. He's God upon the throne. And
think that God upon the throne here became a man and redeemed
our souls. My, what condescension. What
condescension. And here the seraphims cry unto
another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The
whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah in a vision gets a glimpse
of the holiness of God. And here we have before seraphims
singing in unison the praises of the Lord. Praises of the Lord. Also take
note in Verse two, they have to cover themselves in the presence
of our holy God. 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. They
have to cover themselves, holy angels have to cover themselves
in the presence of the holy one of God. God on the throne. And then we see the perfect cry
out to the perfect triune God. God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. The three in one, therefore the
cry is holy, holy, holy. Again, God is independently holy. And our God singles himself out
in perfection. Psalm 89, 35 says, once have
I sworn by thy holy. He's absolutely holy. A.W. Pink brings out that God swears
by His holiness because that is a fuller expression of Himself
than anything else. He's absolutely holy. He's absolutely
holy. And what are the saints of God
exhorted to do in Psalm 30, verse 4? What are the saints of God
exhorted to do in light of this wonderful attribute, in light
of the holiness of our great God? What is the saint of God
exalted to do? Sing unto the Lord, all you saints,
and give his thanks at the remembrance of what? His holiness. Remember
how holy God is. Never forget that. How holy he
is. It'll leave us in awe, beloved.
Absolute awe of who our God is. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name. Bring an offering and come before
him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness. First
Chronicles 16, 29. And when he had counseled with
the people, again he appointed singers unto the Lord that they
should praise the beauty of his holiness. We are to praise the
beauty of the holiness of our God. the beauty of his holiness. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
29. Psalm 29. And then put your finger in Psalm
110. Psalm 29 and Psalm 110. The beauty of his holiness. Oh,
and he's absolutely beautiful to his people. Psalm 29, verse 2. Give unto
the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the
beauty of His holiness. Our Lord and Savior was absolutely
perfect. He's the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God. And we rejoice, don't we? We
who are His redeemed people. We who are His blood-bought people.
We rejoice in the beauty of His holiness. Of who He is. God incarnate
in the flesh. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God. Sinless. sinless the lamb without
blemish given to the lord the glory due unto his name it says
in psalm 29 to worship the lord in the beauty of his holiness
now think of this god's people are clothed in the beauty of
his holiness that's the righteousness of christ That's the righteousness
of Christ. It's given to us by the one who
we are to worship in the beauty of his holiness. We are given
the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ, that we may stand
in the presence of our great God. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
110.3. Psalm 110.3 is a verse we often
quote, often quoted from this pulpit, often quoted from grace
pulpits, showing us that God is the one who makes the sinner
willing to come to Christ. There's another nugget placed
in here, though, also. Psalm 110.3, it says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of whose power? God's power, thy
power. God's people are made willing
to come to Christ. In our natural state, we know
from Scripture, in our natural state, there's none that seeketh
after God, there's none righteous, no, not one. But it says in this
Scripture, thy people shall be made willing in the day of thy
power. We who have no ability to come
to Christ are granted faith and repentance to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ by the one who has all ability and all power.
God makes us willing to flee to Christ. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning. Thou hast the dew of thy youth.
Note in the beauty of holiness here, John Gill brings forth,
this speaks of the robe of righteousness, the robe of righteousness and
the garments of salvation, the best robe, the wedding garment. Remember the father said for
the prodigal son, bring forth the best robe. Singular, right? That pictures the righteousness
of Christ being given to us by the Father, the best robe, the
best robe, beloved, in the beauties of His holiness, which again,
pictures the righteousness of Christ. God's people, when they're
born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and made willing
to come to Christ, granted faith and repentance to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, they are clothed in the perfect, spotless
righteousness of Christ. Christ of Christ. Though we are still sinners.
Though we are still sinners, God looks upon us and what does
he see? Christ's righteousness, Christ's righteousness, and the
believer prays God is fully, freely forgiven, set apart by
God, set apart by God. All our sins are forgiven. Forgiven paid for We are redeemed
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and God will
remember our sin No more right as far as the east is from the
west. Oh My oh my what a save The believer's
sins were bought and paid for in full at Calvary's cross by
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what are we? What are we,
beloved? We are just simply receivers of this mercy and grace. Receivers
of this mercy and grace. And we love it. We praise our
great God, don't we? Because we know we never would
have sought him. We're just like that lost sheep in Luke 15. And the Lord has to come to us.
We never sought him at all. But He came to us, didn't He?
He found us when we were lost. We didn't even know we were lost.
We didn't even know. He picked us up and He was rejoicing. Oh my, born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Matthew Poole brings forth here
about the beauties of holiness again. in the beauties of holiness. He brings forth this, we're adorned
with the beautiful and glorious robes of righteousness and true
holiness, wherewith all new men or true Christians are clothed
with the various gifts and graces of God the Spirit, which are
beautiful in the eyes of God. God sees us in Christ, and the
only way we are beautiful before our God is in Christ, in Christ
alone. Clothed in that righteousness.
Stephen Chernock brings this forth again about the holiness
of our great God, Everything about our God is tied to His
holiness. Tied to His holiness. His justice
is what? A holy justice. That must be
satisfied. We know either in the sinner
or in the substitute. It has to be satisfied. It has
to be. His wisdom is holy wisdom. Holy
wisdom. His arm of power is called a
holy arm in Scripture. His truth or promise, a holy
promise. A holy promise. His name, which
signifies all his attributes in conjunction, is holy. We saw
that. He's the holy one. He's the holy
one. And the scriptures declare that
our God's holiness is manifest in his works. Look at Psalm 145,
17. 145, 17. God's holiness is manifest in
his works. Holiness is the rule of all his
actions, beloved. When he created the heavens and
earth, he pronounced that he had made them very good. If they were imperfect, he could
not have proclaimed this. Man at the beginning was made
upright in the image and likeness of his creator. The angels were
created holy, and those who fell, we are told, kept not their first
estate. Listen, Psalm 145, 17, the Lord
is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works. Holy
in all his works. So man at the beginning was made
upright before we fell. And we fell in
Adam, every one of us. Every one of us. Said of Satan,
it said of Satan, thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that
thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee. In the book of Exodus, chapter
15, verse 11, this is proclaimed about our great God. Who is like
unto thee, O Lord? Who's like unto our God? Who's
like? Nobody. Nothing is like unto
our God. O Lord among the gods, who is
like the glorious, what's he glorious in? Holiness. Glorious
in holiness. Fearful in praises, due in wonders. Our great God is glorious in
holiness. The essence of God's glory is
his holiness. Holiness is His nature. Holiness is not only one of God's
many attributes, like the fact that He's all-knowing and all-powerful
and omnipresent. Holiness is the essence of all
of God's attributes. Think upon this, the Bible, what's
it called? The Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures. Christ is,
we saw in Luke, the Holy One of God. The holy one of God. The law of God, what is it? It's
a holy law, isn't it? It's a holy, it comes from God.
It's a holy law. It's a holy law. And it's only
holy because of the one who gave it. The one who gave it. Morally
pure. The one who gave it is morally
pure and perfect. And the holiness of God brings
forth the supreme, absolute greatness of our God. That's what it does. It brings before us the supreme,
absolute greatness of our God. Who He is. Who He is. It's that with the holiness of
God is that what sets Him apart from all other things. It sets Him apart. He's so infinitely
above all His creatures and all of His creation. He is the Holy
One. And to think that man who's a
piece of animated dust thinks that God is at their beck and
call? That's why we beg for mercy,
isn't it? Because we've been showing that our God is holy. He's absolutely holy and righteous. And He is at no one's beck and
call. He does whatever He pleases,
whenever He pleases, with whatever He pleases. That's our God. That's our God. The Scriptures declare that the
law is holy. The commandment holy and just
and good. And the commandment of the Lord
is pure and light in the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean
and enduring forever. The judgment of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. Again, it's holy because of who
gives it. It's holy because of who gives
it. Let us consider that the place where the greatest manifestation
of God's love, Calvary's cross, for his people was on display
is the very place where the holiness of God is on full display as
well. It's manifested at Calvary's
cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of his people.
as their substitute. He died for the sins of his people
before God because we had offended his holy law and his holy justice. And it must be satisfied. It must be satisfied. Either in the sinner or the Savior. The atonement of Christ displays
God's infinite holiness in abhorrence of sin. Think upon how hateful
sin must be to God for Him to punish to the utmost and to pour His wrath out upon
our Savior when our sins were imputed to Him. Think of just how holy our God
is, and how holy His justice and law are, that they can only
be satisfied in the sacrifice of the perfect, sinless One,
the Lord Jesus Christ. My. And He did that for me. And
if you believe, He did it for you. My. God is holy and therefore He
hates all sin. He loves everything which is
in conformity to His laws and loathes everything which is contrary
to it. The Scriptures declare the forward is an abomination
to the Lord. The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination
to the Lord. God therefore must punish sin.
He must punish sin. And let us always remember that
we who are the redeemed are forgiven on the basis, on the grounds
of another. The Scriptures declare, without
the shed and the blood wash, there's no remission of sin.
None. Therefore, the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, The sinless one
dies before God as a substitute for God's people, and the proclamation
comes forth, beloved, the blessed words, it is finished. It's paid for. Salvation is done. Absolutely done. The work of
redemption is complete, and our holy God is satisfied in the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the demands of God's holy
law is satisfied in the life and sacrifice of Christ. And
the holy justice of God is satisfied having been poured out upon Christ. In the place of his blood bought
bride. Our God is the holy one and acceptance
with him is only through the Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. Acceptance on the grounds of
the creature. is impossible. But acceptance is only found
in Christ with God. Can darkness dwell with light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure
in filthy rags, which our righteousness are said to be? No, the best
that sinful man brings forth is defiled with sin. Blessed be God, that when His
holiness That what His Holiness demanded, He provided. He provided. His Holiness demands
perfection to the law, doesn't it? Absolute perfection. Christ
lived the perfect life for His people. Fully satisfying all
that God demanded. And those who have fled to Christ
as the only refuge of their souls are saved. The believers, therefore,
stands accepted in the blood. And that's why we say, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Because
acceptance is only in Christ and Christ alone, nowhere else.
The believers accepted by God in the blood. That's Christ.
That's Christ. The believers made holy in Christ,
and we can approach the throne of God only based upon his merit
and his righteousness. Oh, my. and the very peace of
God sanctify, which means to make you holy. And I pray that
God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
for this time that we've had together. We pray that You'd
be with us in the next service, Lord. Oh, we pray you be glorified
and magnified, and we pray as we take communion that, oh Lord,
we would just rejoice in the wonderful things that thou has
done for your people. Glory to you, Lord, and honor
and praise in Jesus' name. Amen.