Well, Shelby's been married to
me for 49 years, and she's just beginning to find out what she
got into. This would be a real good opportunity
for you to be sure you've turned your cell phone off if you haven't
already. My reputation always precedes me. Folks think I'm
terribly mean and they don't like disturbances and stuff,
and I don't, not when I'm preaching. But back years ago when the church
in Danville first called me as pastor, it would be 39 years
ago in March, same time a very dear friend of mine, Brother
Bob Pruitt and his wife Carol moved to Lexington to start a
mortuary business. Embalming and shipping business,
kind of strange mortuary business, but at that time, back in those
days, there were 10,000 people a year who died in Lexington,
Kentucky, who were from out of town. And they had to be shipped
back to wherever they were from after they were embalmed. So
Bob started that business. And this was back before the
days of cell phones. He had a pager. And every now
and then he'd jump up and run out. That pager went off. He
jumped, run out, page went off. He apologized to him. And I said
to him one day, I said, Bob, of all the businesses in the
world, yours is not an emergency. So whoever's calling you, that's
not an emergency. What you're about to hear is. I asked the Lord that I might
grow in faith and love and every grace. Might more of his salvation
know, and seek more earnestly his face. T'was he who taught
me thus to pray, and he, I trust, has answered prayer. But it has
been in such a way, it's almost drove me to despair. I hoped
that in some favored hour at once he had answered my request,
and by his love's constraining power, subdued my sins and give
me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry powers of hell
assault my soul in every part. Yea, more. With his own hand,
he seemed intent to aggravate my woe. Crossed all the fair
designs I schemed, blasted my gourds, and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling
cried. Will thou pursue thy worm to
death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and
faith. These inward trials I employ
from self and pride to set thee free and break thy schemes of
earthly joy that thou may find thy all in me. I walk by the grace of God in
this message to convince you of two things. First, your utter
sin, your utter depravity, the utter corruption of your heart. I'm talking particularly now
to you who are believers. I pray God will do this for you
who have never seen your sin, but I want by the grace of God
to remind you of and convince you of the utter depravity of
your hearts. My dear friend Gene Harmon, I
know of no man I more highly esteem, is just as depraved and corrupt
and vile as you were when first you came into this world. In the new birth, God does not
change the old nature. It does not happen. It does not
happen. I used to hear ladies, this pastor
lady who said to me, I was talking about this subject one time,
she said, she said, well, when God saved me, he took the tip
out of my toes. I don't want to dance anymore.
And I said, well, I used to be a pretty good dancer. I could
cut a rug. And I still can, not with these feet, but I can here.
But I hear pretty good music. I still have a tip in my toes.
And that's just the light side of things. Nothing has changed. All the lust, all the coldness,
all the enmity against God, all the unbelief, all the sin, all
the iniquity, all the transgressions only get worse. Tell me, you who know God, is
there anyone here who would dare to say otherwise? And I want also to convince you,
you who are gods, of your perfect holiness. Perfect holiness. altogether
sinful and altogether holy at the same time. That new man created in us is
created in, what does the book say? Righteousness and true holiness. In the new birth, God does not
repair the old man. In the new birth, God puts a
new man in you. It makes you partaker of the
divine nature, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And yet while
we live in this world, we struggle constantly with this warfare
inside us, flesh and spirit, the old man and the new, the
carnal nature and the spiritual nature that are ours as believers
in the son of God. how we lament the sin that's
in us, the sin with which we attempt
to worship and serve our God. Our hearts mourn the fact that
evil is mixed with everything we do. Our souls are heavy with
the burden of felt iniquity. When we read, or pray, or sing,
or hear the word, or preach the word, or try to worship God,
we're compelled to lament with Newton, sin is mixed with all
I do. I would love to be able sometime
to pray like I want to pray. I can't sing a lick, and I recognize
that. I just said that those of us
who can't sing, when we sing, sing real loud. I learned to
whisper in a sawmill. Brother Rupert Ravenbark, I went
down and preached for him when he was pastoring down in North
Carolina every year for better than 20 years. And I'd sit right
over there, and Rupert led the singing. He's a good musician.
And after several years, I noticed that when singing, he'd hold
his hand over this ear, and so he couldn't hear me. Because
I can't do anything quietly. But, oh, I'd like to sing God's
praise. And I wouldn't care how it sounded
to anybody else, like I want to sing His praise. I'd like just once to preach
like I want to. But sin mars everything. Everything. Turn with me to Exodus
28, verses 36, 37, and 38 will be my text. And I want to talk
to you about this sad fact and this glorious reality as I preach
to you tonight. Exodus 28, verse 36. In this portion of scripture,
God the Holy Ghost shows us another portion of Aaron's priestly garments.
that stood as a constant representation of every covenant worshiper's
condition before the Lord God. As the worshiper stood before
the Holy Lord God in the person of his appointed priest and mediator
Aaron, this portion of Aaron's garments, this part of his dress,
displayed two things. both the personal iniquity and
the perfect holiness of all who draw near to God. The personal
iniquity and the perfect holiness of all who draw near to God. Exodus 28 verse 36. And thou
shalt make a plate of pure gold, engrave upon it like the engravings
of a signet. holiness to the Lord. And thou
shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the miter,
upon the forefront of the miter it shall be. And it shall be
upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the
holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all
their holy gifts. And it should be always upon
his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. The iniquity of the holy things. That's my subject. The iniquity
of the holy things. The children of Israel would
come and bring their gifts. But as they brought their gifts,
these are sinful men, sinful women bringing their gifts to
God. And they would present them to
Aaron. And Aaron would carry the gifts to God's altar in God's
tabernacle with his priestly garments. But here is one part
of the garment that his sons didn't wear. This was Aaron's
garment. On his turban, on the mitre,
right in the front, he had this gold plate engraved with crystal
clear letters. Holiness to the Lord. And as
Aaron brought the gifts of the sinful worshiper before the Lord
God, by Aaron bringing the gifts, giving them into Aaron's hands,
they hallowed their gifts and sanctified their gifts. And they
were accepted of God because Aaron stood before God, holiness
to the Lord. Now try to get the picture. Here
comes an ancient Israelites. He comes to worship the Lord
God at the tabernacle. He comes because his heart is
full of gratitude and praise. He's an Israelites. There weren't
many. He was one of God's chosen people,
a people favored of God above all people, especially favored
of God, his covenant people. A people brought out of Egypt
by the hand of the Lord through the blood of the Paschal Lamb.
A people who had triumphed by God's power over Pharaoh and
his armies. And he comes to bring a gift
just because he wanted to. Just because he wanted to. He
wasn't there to try to get God to make him have more cattle
or have a bigger tent or have more camels than somebody else
had. He was there bringing a gift of gratitude. And as he brings
this gift, he understands the meaning of what God has done
for him on that great and glorious high day in Israel called the
Day of Atonement. He understands and appreciates
and rejoices in the slain Passover lamb. Those men in the Old Testament
who were true believers, those who worshiped God, those who
knew God, they believed the same things you and I believe. They
trusted the same Christ we trust. They looked for him to come who
would put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Him to come, the
woman seed, who would crush the serpent's head. Him to come,
who is God in the flesh, who would bring in everlasting righteousness
and make an end to transgression and put away sin. And when that
Passover lamb was offered, they said, that's the one coming.
There's one coming who will be God's lamb. That lamb represented
back on Mount Moriah that John spoke about this morning. And
my son, God will provide himself a ram for a burnt offering. They
said he's coming. This one who's coming, he is
Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us. He understood the meaning
of that symbolic scapegoat. Abram would sacrifice the one
lamb, the Lord's lamb, and then he would come out and lay his
hands on that scapegoat and thereby transfer the sins to the scapegoat. He had already transferred them
to the paschal lamb, but now he transfers them again to the
scapegoat. And the scapegoat goes by the hand of a fit man
out into no man's land and bears away the sins of the people. Oh, he comes to God. Oh, my God. What can I do? To express my
gratitude and praise here, I bring what I can bring. But he brings
it understanding himself to be a sinner. He's got to bring it
to another man, by the merit of another man, through the mediation
of another man, a man who is called holiness. A man who is
holiness. And that man is represented in
Aaron, God's great high priest in Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the priest typified. He understood when Aaron would
come out and lift his hands over the people and bless them and
say, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon you and give you peace. That was more than just a way
to conclude a service. That was more than just a pronounced
benediction. He understood that Aaron came
out by God's command on the basis of God's sacrifice and said God's
blessing has been commanded upon my people. Oh now, I come to
give thanks to him. He comes with this gift of praise,
of thanksgiving, something he wants to give to God, his savior,
just for his glory, just for his praise, just because he wants
to. Ceremonially, the man I've described
to you is a picture of every saved sinner seeking to walk
with God and worship God and serve God. Ceremonially, he is
a picture of every redeemed sinner, born of God's spirit, seeking
God's glory in this world. Forgiven, accepted, sanctified,
justified in Christ Jesus the Lord. Still, we recognize, and
we're the only people in the world who recognize this, we
can't come to God except by the merit of another, except in the
person of another. We cannot come to God without
a mediator between us and God. We cannot come to God without
an advocate. We cannot come to God without
a daisman. We cannot come to God without
a priest whom God has accepted, whose sacrifice God accepts,
and one whom God has blessed with blessings forever to give
to his people. We come and we bring our gifts
to that one who is holiness to the Lord. And thus, he takes
the iniquity of our holy things, bearing them constantly before
the Lord that we may be accepted before the Lord. Oh, how lovely
Christ our priest is. He will be the joy of heaven
when we behold him as he is. And he's the joy of our hearts
now, beholding him as he is by faith. What was it that made
Israel's high priest to be so majestically, so royally adorned? I've asked you to read this 28th
chapter describing the garments of the priest and his sons. Why
did God make such meticulously, detailed, beautiful, glorious
garments for these men. I'll tell you why. No, let me
have God tell you why. Such a high priest became us. It's becoming to us to have such
a priest. And it is becoming according
to God's purpose that our high priest be decked out in gold
and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen with a turban
on his head and with an insignia of holiness to the Lord in gold
on his forehead. as Israel of old had need of
one to bear the iniquity of the holy things. You and I have need
of one to bear the iniquity of our holy things. Do you ever
dare, when you're sitting here like this, when you come in those
doors and you come to worship God, you come to bring your gifts,
you come to sing God's praise, You come to hear the word, to
read the word, you come to listen to your pastor declare the word
of God to you. Do you ever sit and consider all the evil that just presses on you all the time? All the evil. All the evil. How can I take the bread and
wine? Remember the Lord at the table. How can I confess him
in believer's baptism and call myself his child? How can I lift
my voice in prayer to God and lead his people to the throne
of grace? How dare I! How dare I, such a man as I am,
stand here and speak to you in God's name, in God's stead. There's not one here more unfit
than the one talking to you. But you just sang it, you ladies
did. He made me worthy. He made me worthy by his blood,
by his righteousness, and by his grace given to me in the
new birth. How I thank God that he who is
the unceasing, everlasting representative of this sinful wretch, he by
whom alone I come to God, by whom alone I offer my services
and sacrifice and life to God, is that one who has emblazoned
on the forefront of his miter holiness to the Lord. holiness
to the Lord. Try to picture Abraham. He goes
into the holy place. He goes about where those holy
things are. And he's got a gift to bring.
And all the while he's working, walking before God, the bale
and pomegranates on the hem of his garment. Bale and pomegranates
on the hem of his garment. Why were those there? Bale and
pomegranates. He took them off when he went
into the Holy of Holies. There he went in with just his
white linen breeches and his white linen garments on. This is in the holy place. He's
doing business before God. He's sitting there. And he's
got to wear these bellied pomegranates lest he die before the Lord.
Why were they there? Do you know what bells do? They
make music. They make music. Oh, what sweet
music. Here he is. going about his business
in the holy place, and he's got some sheaves. He's got turtle
dove, he's got a lamb. He's going about his business
in the holy place, and he's making music, and God's saying, oh,
I love the sound of this. Here come my son. Here come my
redeemed ones. They come to worship me in the
beauty of perfect holiness. and the beauty of perfect holiness,
holiness to the Lord. Now let me show you just two
things in this message. First, let me remind you of the
iniquity of our holy things. And then, by the grace and power
of the Spirit of God, I want to show you the holiness in which
and by which We were accepted before God, the holiness in which
and by which God Almighty, God, by which God can and will
and does accept our efforts at serving Him. by which God can
and will and does accept our service to him, by which God
can and will and does accept us in the totality of our lives
as a sweet-smelling savor before him. First, let me briefly but
plainly identify again for you something of the iniquity of
the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in their
gifts. Even a casual scrutiny of our
most saintly needs discovers the leprosy of iniquity popping
out in every aspect of our lives. If we say that we have not sinned,
Denise, you just got through singing that hymn. You ladies
just got through singing that hymn. John, you just got through
leading us in the worship of God. Great, great song service.
But if we say we haven't sinned, like the harlot who had her mouth
shut, I'm not sinning. We say we have not sinned. We
deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. And we
make God a liar. Believers are men and women who
recognize that their very best deeds are utterly corrupt. Utterly corrupt. Our apparent loveliness is horribly
unlovely. Our greatest sanctity is evil. We have need to pray over our
prayers, weep over our tears, repent over our repentances,
and confess our confessions. We read the word. I have a privilege that you men,
other men, don't have for the most part. I've had the blessed
privilege to spend my life, every day of my life, studying this
book. Because of the generosity of
God's people, maintaining my wife and my family and our livelihood,
I can give myself all the time to study. And I have a confession to make.
Most of the time, I read this word and hardly even read it. Most of the time, most of the
time I try to read the scriptures, I say, God, please let me hear
your voice. Give me some understanding in
this word. God, please push out of the things and let me focus
my mind and my heart on my redeemer. I try to pray. I try to pray. I'm not sure that I ever have. I try to pray. But tell me, my
brother, tell me, my sister, when you pray, what do you pray
for? I'll tell you what you pray for
all the time. Me and mine. All the time. All the time. We ask, and we have not, because
we ask that we may consume it upon our own lust. That's just
sad fact. That's just sad fact. We try
to devote time, efforts, energies to God, and we're constantly,
constantly, constantly reminded of our selfishness, our corruption,
And yet, these things are holy things still. Isn't it amazing? The Lord God says, whoso offereth
praise, glorifyeth me. Whoso offereth praise, glorifyeth
me. So that the sinner, saved by
God's grace, washed in the blood of Christ, looks to Christ and
says, thank you. He glorified me. He glorified
me. We come here to God's house because
God has established certain ordinances of divine worship. And those
things that God has established as ordinances of divine worship
are holy things. Holy things. This building's
not holy. This, we call this a holy desk.
It ain't holy. It's just, I think it's oak.
It might be plywood covered over with oak. I don't know. But it's
not holy. It's not holy. It's just a piece
of wood. It's just a piece of wood. But we come together as
God's house. As God's people come together.
When we come together, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17. The Spirit of God
comes with us. And God says you are the temple
of the living God. Here we are. Do you know what
God says this local church is right now, this hour, this minute?
An habitation of God through the spirit. Don't tell me that
ain't holy. It's a holy thing still. In spite
of our corruptions, in spite of the sin we bring with us,
the sin that sent us, we seek God's honor. It's called holy
things. This work God gives me the privilege
of doing and the responsibility of doing, preaching the gospel
of his grace, that's a holy thing. That's a holy thing. It requires
all of a man. And though the man doing is nothing
but a sinner saved by God's grace, a wretch from top to bottom,
inside and out, just sin. And yet, the service itself is
called a holy thing. A holy thing. was saved by God's
grace just before I was 17 years old. And I'll tell you something
I've done. Folks can take you wherever they
want to, so I've been chewed at for a time or two, but that's
all right, I've been chewed before. But I'll tell you what I've done. Since I was not quite 17 years
old to this day, I'll tell you how many times I've missed attending
church house. Gathering God's people to worship.
Tell you how many times I missed when I was in bed and couldn't
get out. That's all. That's all. Just
flat, could not get up and go. Just couldn't do it. Just couldn't
do it. Comes time for me to preach. That's my responsibility. I'm
going to do it if I can. If somebody will help me in the
pulpit, I'm going to preach. I don't care if I'm sick as a
dog. I want to preach. That's my responsibility and
my privilege. I count it my high honor and
great privilege to meet with God's people in his house It's
called holy worship. I've only got one child. Thank
God for her. Thank God for her. But I couldn't
be engaged in many things she's growing up with. All the activities
at school involved being taken away from the house of God sometime
or another. And where she was allowed to
be involved in them, I couldn't often go because I had something
more important to do. It's called studying to preach
the gospel of God's grace. They started something a couple
of years ago. I told some of y'all earlier that we watched
our grandson play ball. Today was the first time, yesterday
was the first time, and again today, I've seen that boy play
a basketball game since he's seven or eight years old. Of
course, I always play on Saturday or Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.
I ain't going. Oh, but man, he may be the star
of the day. He may win a trophy today. They're
going to honor him today. I've got a God to honor. is second
to my God. That's just the way it is. Because
that's the way I want it. And that's the way it ought to
be for you too. That's just the way it ought
to be. These are holy things still. Though all the time stained
with iniquity. Now, here's the second thing.
Look at our text again. In the very same sentence in
which the Lord God speaks of the iniquity that is ours, the
iniquity by which we pollute everything, he speaks of holiness,
perfect holiness, holiness to the Lord. Oh, how instructive. And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet, holiness
to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on blue
lace, that it may be upon the miter, upon the forefront of
the miter it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's
forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things,
which the children of Israel shall hallow, that is, sanctify,
consecrate in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always
upon his forehead, that they, these sinful wretches we are,
may be accepted before the Lord. Christ, our true Aaron, he who
made full atonement for our sins, for the iniquity of our holy
things, and the miter that he wears on his head, making both
us and our offerings accepted before the triune Jehovah, is
holiness to the Lord. I can only think of a few things
in our King James translation, and if you've got another one,
you ought to throw that away and get one of these. But I can
think of only a few things that are written out in the scriptures
in all capital letters. Call his name Jesus. J-E-S-U-S,
capitalized, put an exclamation point by it. He is Jehovah, our
Savior! He shall save his people from
their sins. This is the name by which he
shall be called, all capital letters, the Lord our righteousness. And here, our Savior bears in
his forehead all the time, all the time, holiness to the Lord. all capital letters, engraved,
blazoned as it were, on a plate of gold, pure gold before God. Let me show you how we are declared
to be holiness to the Lord in the scriptures. Listen to this.
In Jeremiah chapter two, you don't need to turn to these passages,
I'll read them to you. In Jeremiah chapter two, when Israel was
in the wilderness, When Israel was in the wilderness, you remember
Israel in the wilderness, don't you? They grumbled at the waters
of Marah. They griped until God gave them
manna from heaven, and then they griped about the manna. They
murmured because they didn't have water, and Moses smoked
the rock. God sent a river of water running
after them, and that rock followed them through the wilderness.
They started griping again, and God said, Moses, speak to the
rock. And Moses, in anger not to God but to Israel, smoked
the rock again. And God said for that, because
you didn't sanctify me before Israel, you will die in this
wilderness. Now listen to what God says about
that Israel. Are you listening? Israel was holiness to the Lord. Israel was holiness to the Lord. I'll tell you what, you go back
and read the history of the children of Israel, given from Exodus,
well, go on back to Genesis 12, just go on back to Genesis 12,
and go all the way through the historic books, and tell me what
there is about that group of people that you'd call holiness. Tell me, what did they do that
you would call holiness? I mean, they did some impressive
things, but every impressive thing they did was outnumbered,
would not calculate. You would call it holiness, but
God said Israel was holiness unto the Lord. Holiness to the
Lord. The word holiness means sanctified,
consecrated. That's what the Lord God declares
us to be in Christ. Holiness to the Lord. He did
this before the world was. Jude says we were sanctified
in Christ Jesus. Sanctified by God, preserved
in Christ Jesus and called. Sanctified, he got the order
just right. From everlasting, God said, this
is my holy people. For we were accepted in the beloved
before ever the world was through the merits of the lamb, slain
and sacrificed and accepted of God before ever the world was
and blessed of God in him and preserved. Preserved through
Adam's fall. preserved through the ages of
time, preserved in God's providence, preserved for thousands of years,
preserved until the day appointed by God called the time of love
and then called. Our experience of grace didn't
make us any more holy than we were before. We were holy in
Christ from eternity. You know that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate. Those are those fellows lighting
the loafers. You'll get it in a little while. Nor abusers of
themselves of mankind. Now I know, folks, that we're
not under the law. If you break the law, you still
break the law. That's right. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God, and such I love this, were some of you. What? What? Were? Which of you is not an adulterer,
fornicator, murderer, thief? Covetousness is theft. Look on
a woman who lusts after her is adultery. To be angry with a
man without a cause is murder. Which one? Which one's not guilty?
I'll sit down and let you talk to us. But God says, such were
some of you. What made the change? But ye
are washed. Washed in the blood of God's
dear Son. Ye are sanctified, made holy
by God giving you a new nature, putting in you that holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. But ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Christ is our holiness. So that God Almighty imputes
the righteousness of Christ to us in free justification. That's
a good term, imputed, imputed. Abraham believed God and it was
imputed to him for righteousness. He, believing God, trusting the
Lord Jesus Christ, the promise of God concerning him, trusting
Christ, his righteousness was imputed to Abraham. God spoke
to Abraham in his conscience and said, you're justified. Enoch was translated. You remember
Enoch? He was translated before he died
that he should not taste death. Because before he died, he had
this testimony that he pleased the Lord. Oh, I sure do want to have good
testimony. Now, please understand me. I
want to live and talk and dress in a way I want to behave in
such a way in all the affairs of my life that my daughter is
honored for me to be her dad. And my grandchildren honored
for me to be their granddaddy. And this woman honored to walk
down the streets with me. And my neighbors counted a privilege
to live next door to me. I want to live that way. But
I'm not interested much in whether you think I'm godly or don't.
I'm just not much interested in that. I want a good testimony
from God. From God. How do you get a good
testimony from God? He comes in the sovereign grace
and power of His Spirit and sprinkles your conscience from dead works
with the blood of Christ and says not guilty. That's what the experience of
justification is. When we are born again by God's
Spirit, the righteousness of Christ is imparted to us so that
we are created new in Christ. We have a new nature, that which
is born of God and cannot sin. That which is born of God cannot
sin. That which sins is of the devil,
who's a liar, a liar from the beginning. But he that does righteousness,
he's of God. The new man in you, altogether
righteous. The old man in you, altogether
sinful. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians
5. This is what sanctification is.
It is that holiness by which God Almighty identifies us as
his own, claims us as his own, and puts in us as his own. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Now watch what
it says. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things
have become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling his elect wherever they're found in all the world.
That's just what it means. Reconciling the world of his
elect unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed to us the word of reconciliation, Now then,
we're ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's name,
be you reconciled to God. Quit fighting and fussing and
acting like you're at war with God, because that's what you
are by nature. Lay down your sword, lay down
your pop good, and quit fighting God. Be reconciled to God, and
all this is yours. Read on. For he hath made him
to be sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Brother Don, are
you saying that God's people in this world are already holy? I wouldn't think about saying
that, but God did. I've never seen anything I thought
was holy. Have you? I've never heard anybody,
oh, he's such a holy man. But God says you're holy, because
you really are. He made you so. Listen to the
scriptures describe this gospel age in Zechariah 14. In that
day, all the horses' bridles will have bells on them, just
like the bell of a pomegranate on high priest garments. Horses. Horses are animals of labor.
They pull the plow, or they pull a carriage, or they pull a fine
coach. But they're animals of labor.
And those horses, in this gospel, they're going to have bells on
their bridles. Now, for you folks who still have this idea of a
literal millennial kingdom, and you're interested in that, I'll
give you that. You can look forward to the day when you've got horses
with bells on their bridles. But I've got something better.
Here I am laboring for God. And I smell a whole lot worse
than a horse. But there's bells on the bridles, making music
to God. He's not like that. That pleases
me. That's called holiness to the
Lord. Bells saying holiness to the Lord. And every pot in Israel,
every pot, He'd go out to the garden and you pick some green
beans and you put them in a pot and you bring them inside and
you break them up and you put them in another pot and you wash them and you
put them in another pot and you set them on the stove and put
some water in them and you put some ham hock in there and some
salt and pepper and all that good stuff that folks don't eat
anymore and you fix a mess of fresh green beans. Every pot
in Israel is holiness to the Lord. What? That pot, you let it get up in
the morning, you fry your husband some ham and eggs and maybe some
grits in the pot and a little red-eyed gravy and some homemade
biscuits. And God says, that's holiness to the Lord. Now, God
doesn't accept things like that. I beg your pardon. God Almighty accepts us, Mike,
in the totality of our lives as his own dear son. In the totality of our lives,
even the pots are as holy as those golden pots that sat on
the table of showbread and were around the altar in God's tabernacle. Holiness to the Lord! So that God Almighty takes you
and me, his people, and says, look at that. There he is again. Don Fortner, look at him. Come look at him. Gabriel, come
look down here, look at this. Look at these people out there
in that church building in the middle of nowhere in Rescue,
California. Look at these folks, look at them. Holiness to the
Lord. Watch them when they get up Monday
morning and drive off to work. Driving down the freeway with
the angels sitting on the fender, guarding them. Holiness to the
Lord! Watch them when it pushes the
time clock. Holiness to the Lord. Watch them. Didn't get enough? Gotta get back to midweek. Gotta
get back next time. Holiness to the Lord! Everything. Can you imagine what I'm telling
you, my brother? Can you imagine what I'm telling
you? In Christ Jesus, we are holiness
to the Lord. Amen. All the time. Amen. So much so that our sins
are so thoroughly forgiven when the Lord God on the day of judgment
opens the books. And there's Don Fortner, standing
over there with a little sheep on her right hand. What are you
doing over there? You belong over here. Well, let
me see. Let's see. Don Fortner. Hey, there's his name. I see
it right here in this book. There it is. There it is. 67 years old. There he is. 67. He said, you remember? You remember
what he did yesterday? I'm looking. I'm looking for
something different. I'm looking for some singing.
I'm looking for just one transgression. Call. Well done. Our good and faithful servant.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For iniquity is not found in
him. Isn't that wonderful? Iniquity
is not found in him. Oh God give you faith in Christ.
Go out that door rejoicing and sing holiness to the Lord. Amen.