Just one man, just one man walked
upon this earth in perfect righteousness, in absolute obedience to God. Just one man always did the will
of God. Just one man always pleased God
with every breath he drew. And yet, when that one man came
to die, he said, the bulls of Bashan had beset me, strong bulls. They've gnawed at me like ravening
lions. He said, the assembly of wicked
men have compassed me about. and cries out to God, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from
helping me and from the words of my roaring? This one man,
the only one who ever lived for the glory of God, when he died,
died under the horrid wrath of God like no other ever has, or
ever shall, or ever could. He died under the horrid wrath
of God like no other ever has, ever shall, or ever could. Should all the damned in hell
be gathered as one and all the wrath they suffer through the
endless ages of eternity be gathered in one great mass. None ever died like this one
holy man died. Now, how do you explain that? How do you explain that? How
do you explain the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross, under
the horrid wrath of God, being put to death by the hands of
wicked men who did exactly what they wanted to do, performing
all the will of God, fulfilling all the prophecies of the Old
Testament Scriptures? Wicked men of Rome, and wicked
men of Jerusalem, Jews and Gentiles together, priests and prostitutes,
drunks and preachers, all gathered together at one time in a hellish
party and put the Son of God to death and laughed while they
did it. And all this was according to
the will of God. How do you explain that? The
title of my message tonight is The Only Explanation. Turn to Habakkuk chapter one
and I'll show you the explanation. The Lord God told his prophet
Habakkuk, behold and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your
days which you will not believe though it be told you. And then
he showed his prophet how he would take wicked men, wicked,
idolatrous, godless men, men who had no knowledge of God,
no knowledge of righteousness, no knowledge of truth, men who
worshiped stumps instead of God. He told his prophet he'll take
these wicked men and use those wicked men to execute his judgment
and his justice. upon his chosen. I'll raise up these ungodly men
and I will send them to execute judgment and justice upon my
chosen. And he assured his prophet Habakkuk
and assures us that in the execution of his judgment by wicked men
performing his will, the Lord God Almighty was accomplishing
the salvation of his people. How can this be? Then we come to verse 13. Verse 13. I've been sitting on
this a while. Long, long time ago, I was fully
convinced This is a prophecy, a declaration of the accomplishments
of our God in the redemption of our souls by Christ Jesus.
But I believe God's giving me a message from it for you now.
Habakkuk 1, 13. Habakkuk says, Thou art of pure
eyes, and to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Now that answers the question
as to why Christ was forsaken. When he was made sin for us,
God, who is a purer eyes than to look upon evil, turns his
back upon his son, abandons his son, and pours out his wrath
upon his son. But read on. The prophet asked,
wherefore lookest thou upon them, them, notice that plural, that
deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked, these
men and women, devoureth thee man. One man. When the wicked, like
ravening lions, devour me, the Savior said, when the wicked
devoureth thee man, that is more righteous than he. How is it,
God? that you do so, because this
is the only way God Almighty in his pure being, in his holy
character can save your soul. You see, the Lord Jesus lived
not as a private man, but as a public man. He lived not as
an isolated individual, but he lived on this earth as a man,
as our representative and substitute, performing all the will of God
in our stead. But he also must suffer and die
under the wrath of God for the satisfaction of justice, else
God Almighty could never justify his people, could never save
his elect. I want to show you how that God's
holiness demands these things. Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore, lookest
thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue, when
the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he.
Moses saying when he made his song of redemption, God is glorious
in holiness. And that's the essence of his
character, the essence of his being. Brother Lindsay, Sunday
morning teaching lesson, emphasized that two or three times. Holiness
is the essence of God's being. Holiness is the sum of all his
attributes. Holiness is God's nature. Holiness is what God is. It's not one of God's many attributes,
like omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. Holiness is
the essence of what God is. Brother Scott Richardson, I've
told you many times, made this statement some years back. Made
it from this pulpit. He said, the holiness of God,
H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S, has got something to do with
the wholeness of God. W-H-O-L-E-N-E-S-S. God's holiness is his whole being. That means that everything God
is, is holy. Everything God does is holy. And the only way God can deal
with you and deal with me is as we come to him in holiness
and are accepted of him in holiness. He cannot deal with us in grace
except to deal with us in holiness. Holiness, someone said, is the
transcendence of God. Here in this book of Habakkuk,
the prophet identifies God's solitariness as God in three
different ways. He first speaks of God's solitariness
in his eternality. He said in verse 12, aren't thou
not from everlasting? Oh, Lord, my God, mine holy one,
we shall not die. Oh, Lord, thou hast ordained
them for judgment and almighty God, thou hast established them
for correction. God, the everlasting, the eternal
God stands distinct from all that men call gods in his eternality. In chapter two, verse 20, we
see the solitariness of God in his sovereign majesty. He alone
sits in the heavens. He says here, the Lord is in
his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. and the solitariness of God as
God is seen in his holiness. Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Thou art holy, O
thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. All right, now let
me make five statements concerning this matter of God's holiness
as Habakkuk describes it and as it's described in this book.
First, understand God alone is holy. God alone is holy. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. That's how our Lord taught us
to pray. Lord, sanctify your name. That is, show yourself
to be holy. God alone is holy. In all that he is and all that
he does, the Lord our God is holy. John Gill said, God alone
is essentially, originally, underivatively, perfectly, and immutably holy. Holiness what the psalmist has
in mind when he speaks of the beauty of the Lord. He's glorious
in holiness This is one evidence of the divine inspiration of
this book The God who spoken of here and
revealed here the God whose name is set before us on the pages
of Holy Scripture is not such a God as as men develop in their
own brains. All the gods of men through the
ages are made like men. All of them had the character
of men. All of them display the qualities
of men as well as the weaknesses of men. This holy Lord God, set
forth in the book of God. He alone distinguishes himself
from all others in his solitary character, the eternal, sovereign,
holy Lord God. Not just one who acts holy, not
just one who does things that are holy. He who is in his very
being holiness, the God of the Bible, unlike the gods that men
imagine. is not some good old man in heaven
who is very indulgent. Maybe he has no personal sin,
no personal corruption, but being the very indulgent, kind, gentle
God that he is, he indulges the sins of men and overlooks the
crimes of men and overlooks the offenses of men. Not the God
of this book. He says, I will by no means clear
the guilty. He won't do it. I heard a fellow
some years ago preach a sermon and the title of his message
was God doesn't forgive sin. Pretty strong statement. God
doesn't forgive sin. Well, that's really wrong. If you understand the scriptures,
God speaks constantly of forgiveness. But Mark, God doesn't forgive
sin like you and I do. God can't forgive sin like we
do. We're compelled to forgive one
another because we're just like each other. God says he will
by no means clear the guilty. He will not simply forgive your
sin and act as if you didn't do what you did. Oh, no. And
yet he that one who says, I will impute the iniquity of the children
of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation.
I'll never clear the guilty. Yet the Lord God says, I am the
Lord God who forgiveth iniquity, transgression, and sin. How can
that be? How can that be? He forgives
sin by putting away sin, by satisfying justice, by fully punishing the
offender. All his works are works of holiness
and creation. God stamped his holiness on everything. So that every man born in this
world, every child of Adam born in this world has a moral consciousness
of God. so that he, by that law of God
stamped on his heart in creation, by nature, does what's right. That is, he knows the right from
the wrong, and men establish laws in their own societies based
on that very God-consciousness stamped upon them. So that every
man knows it's wrong to steal, wrong to murder, wrong to commit
adultery. Every man knows it. I don't care
what they say, they know better. It's stamped on their conscience.
And men have a sense of guilt when they break the law of God
stamped on their conscience. In Providence, God shows His
holiness. I know this mealy-mouthed generation
of preachers is hesitant to say God's acts of providence are
acts of judgment. The AIDS epidemic that concerns
all the world around us and rightly concerns you and me ought to.
We ought to be sympathetic and caring for diseases of men's
bodies even when caused by themselves. But there is no question at all. that it is a stamp of divine
judgment on society. It is as much a stamp of God's
judgment as fire and brimstone poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah.
The floods, the tsunamis, the tornadoes, the hurricanes, the
sickness, the disease constantly experienced in this world are
just precursors of everlasting judgment. And when they come,
the first thing men think of is judgment. First thing to think
of. Men go under the knife to go
into surgery, first thing to think of is judgment. First thing
to think of. Men are involved in an accident
and they are just teetering between life and death, it appears, first
thing to think of is judgment. Because God stamps his holiness
on all his works. And certainly in our redemption
by the blood of the Lord Jesus, above all else, in our redemption,
God shows his holiness. The God of heaven is so perfectly
holy, so infinitely holy, so immaculately holy that he will
not forgive sin. He will not, come on up and take
your seat, son. He will not forgive the sins
of his people except by the sacrifice of his own dear son. Justice
demands it. He's holy in all his exercise
of grace, making his people new creatures in Christ, giving us
a holy nature, making us partakers of the divine nature, creating
us in righteousness and in true holiness. And God is holy in
his acts of judgment. So that when he sits upon the
throne, the great white throne of judgment in the last day,
When all men are gathered before him, he will grant eternal life
to his elect in Christ Jesus. He will sentence the wicked to
eternal death in hell, and he will do it on the grounds of
strict justice. On the grounds of strict justice.
When the wicked are cast into hell, It will be because God
loves righteousness, what the book says. And when the righteous
are gathered into glory, it will be because God, the righteous
Lord, loveth righteousness. And what he does is right, always
right. The Lord God Almighty will always
act in holiness, justice and truth, always. In the book of
Leviticus, I think I can find it, I was reading earlier today.
Yeah, Leviticus chapter 9, the Lord, you don't have to turn
there, the Lord God gave commandment to Moses and he brings Moses
and Aaron together to bless his people. so that the blessing
that comes upon the people is not just from Aaron and the sacrifice
as a act of mercy, but it is from Moses and Aaron with God's
sacrifice, declaring that God's mercy is an act of justice. Because God's holy, he hates
sin and will punish it. He declares that the thoughts
of the wicked are an abomination to him. Even the plowing of the
wicked is sin. Folks say, well, God loves the
sinner. He hates the sin. You can't divide
the two. Sin's what you are. And God hates
the wicked. He delights in mercy. But when
God will not forgive sin at the expense of his justice, he punishes
sin in the exercise of his justice. Because God is holy, acceptance
with him on the grounds of your own works is an absolute impossibility. Our righteousnesses, all our
righteousnesses, the prophet says, are as filthy rags in his
sight. All our righteousness, filthy
rags before him. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Arthur
Pink wrote, a fallen creature could sooner create a world than
produce that which would meet the approval of infinite holiness. You could easier create a world
than do something God would accept. That's just not going to happen.
Because God's holy, all who approach him must do so as he commands
with reverence. He said to Moses as he gave the
law to Israel, he said, I will be sanctified of them that draw
nigh me. Nadab and Abihu thought they could come to God any way
they wanted to because they had the priest's garments and they
were the priest's sons and they brought strange fire into the
Lord and God killed them just like that. And he said to Abraham,
now don't you cry for them. Don't you make any lamentation.
You show the children of Israel that you sanctify me. I will be sanctified of them
that approach me. Had in reverence of them that
draw nigh me. Perfect holiness. will be the glory of God and
the delight of God's people in heavenly glory forever. All right,
here's the second thing. God is holy. Second, God requires
holiness from you. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 14. I want you to know God. I want
you to have everlasting blessedness and acceptance with God. What
does that take? What does that take? I recall
the first time Brother Mahan had me preach for him, I was
26 years old, I reckon. I walked in and one of the charter
members of the church, Ruth Adkins, she and her husband, Anne, were
the first ones there. After I got there, she walked up and introduced
herself to me, and she said, Brother Fortner, how good do
you have to be to get to heaven? And you know, I'd never been
asked that question before. I had asked it, but I'd never had anybody
ask me that question before, and I was a little bit taken
back by it. And I said, as good as God. And she beamed. I could see a smile on her face
right there. Oh, she beamed. She said, that's
it. Good is God. As good as God. Look at this.
Hebrews 12 verse 14. Follow peace with all men. And holiness. Holiness. Holiness. Dominere, that's not
the best you can do. That's not living as good as
you can live. That's not trying to be holy. That's holiness. Holiness. holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord." What are you saying, Brother Don?
Are you saying we've got to have perfect holiness? You know that's
so. You can find it everywhere in
this book. It's verified in your conscience. Only perfect holiness. Brother Joe read about Job back
in the office. Job was a declared by God, I
think, four times in the first chapter of Job to be a perfect
man. A perfect man. Perfect man. Well, that means complete. That's
what holiness is. Perfect. Complete. Follow peace
with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Be ye holy, for I am holy, God says. Turn back to Matthew chapter
5, Matthew 5. For our purposes tonight, and
I know the difference between righteousness and holiness, but
for our purposes tonight, read righteousness as holiness. Verse
20, our Lord Jesus says, I say unto you that except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no wise or in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. The scribes and Pharisees, they
paid tithes on everything they had. I'm talking about not just
the money in their pockets, they paid tithes on the gardens. They
paid tithes on everything. They prayed three times every
day. They fasted twice a week. They were religious as all get
out. They were the folks that everybody
looked at and said, if anybody goes to heaven, surely he will.
And our Lord says, except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you're going to
hell. What's he talking about? You've got to have a righteousness
that men can't produce, a righteousness that only God can give. If you
would enter heaven's glory and live forever with God, you've
got to be as good as God, perfectly holy. Now, here's the third thing. God alone can make you holy. God alone. Faith doesn't make
you holy. Doing good doesn't make you holy.
Going and serving as a missionary doesn't make you holy. Last week
or so sometime, they're talking about this former old man in
Rome, Pope whatever his name was, he's almost achieved sainthood. One more miracle, they put him
on the fast track to sainthood. What tomfoolery. No, even miracles
accomplished in your name won't make you holy. No. You can't be made holy but by
grace bestowing holiness on you, creating holiness in you. This
is how God makes his people holy. In redemption, By the sacrifice
of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ has put away our sins, satisfying
God's holy justice. The debts in the record books
against us had been marked out by the red blood of the Son of
God. But more than that, they had
been altogether cancelled by His blood, so that there is no
debt to be paid. Can you get hold of that? No
debt to be paid. Nothing owed to God. For those
sinners for whom Christ lived and died, God makes his people
holy. Not only in redemption, but in
regeneration. He causes us to be made partakers
of the divine nature. He comes in and puts a new man
in you. Christ Jesus the Lord makes you
to have that holy nature that walks before God in uprightness.
That nature that's born of God that John says cannot sin. But
Brother Don, we have this warfare within us. That's because of
the two natures. That's because there's an old man called flesh,
a new man called spirit, an old man called Adam, a new man called
Christ. And the two war constantly against
one another. But the new man can no more sin
than the old man can do good. We live by Christ living in us
before God in perfect holiness and soon in resurrection glory. I honestly don't know how. I don't pretend to know how.
These bodies, these bodies that shall be sown in the grave, a
natural body, shall be raised a spiritual body. this corruptible made incorruptible
so that even in our bodies in the resurrection we stand before
God holy perfectly holy even as Jesus Christ our Lord exactly
conformed to the image of God's dear son holy. Turn to Ephesians
1 This is the whole purpose of God in the whole scheme of redemption
and grace. Verse three, blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.
Watch this. This is the reason He chose us, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him. Holy and without blame before
Him. Well, that means that the Lord's
chosen us so we'd live a holy life. Well, I strongly urge you
to do that. But you can't. And that's not
the object of God's election. David, it is that we be holy
and without blame before Him. Holy and without blame before
God. Ultimately, at last, exactly
as Christ the Lord. Now, men love to talk about what
they call practical holiness. There are all kinds of books
written about practical holiness. I just saw a book review today.
A new book has come out. One of these legalists has written
a book. The title of his book is called The Doctrine and Practice
of Holiness. It takes some more kind of a
pompous horse's rear to stand in front of a group of people
and pretend that I can show you how to live holy. Now, which one of you will take
that task on? I wasn't meaning to set myself
up as an example. Why did you write the book then? Why are you talking about it
then? That's exactly the purpose. And we love to hear it taught
so we can compare ourselves with ourselves and we can say, I ain't as good as I ought to
be, but buddy, I ain't like Derrick Duff. I've got a ways to go before
I stoop that low. And that's exactly the reason men love to
hear it talked and preached. The book doesn't speak of such
nonsense. The book speaks of us seeking
to follow the Redeemer and to live by faith in the Redeemer,
walking in his steps, certainly pursuing that which is right
and good and holy and just and true. Not in any way excusing
sin, you know better than that, but to talk about you doing something
holy is foolish. It's just, it's worse than foolish.
It's blasphemous. It's totally contrary to the
gospel. In fact, over the first John chapter one, first John
chapter one, what, what, what does it gotta be to be holy?
What's it gotta be? Holy. When they brought a sacrifice
to the Lord, a holy sacrifice, what was it had to have? no blemish,
no spot, no sickness, no disease, no weakness, holy, perfectly
whole. What's it take to be holy now?
What does it take to be classified as a holy being? Something that
has no blemish, no fault, no spot, no weakness, no scar, no
trace of sin of any kind. Look at 1 John 1, verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Lots of folks
talk like that. They don't have any sin. Well,
they're blowing smoke through their heads. They know better.
If we confess our sin, confess our sins, open your heart up
before God and acknowledge what you are. Everybody who does is
forgiven. He's faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Now watch this. If we say that
we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in
us. Say, I did this and that's holy. Now, I did that, that's holy.
This is how I live. That's early. You make God a
liar. His word's not in you. It's not
in you. Well, how far do you take that,
brother? Just as far as language takes it. That's what it says. You make God a liar. His word's
not in you. I recall so many conversations
and Folks taking this thing to task, folks have the idea that
somehow or another we, in sanctification, we make ourselves more and more
holy until at last we're ripe for glory. Nothing could be further
from the truth. No, sanctification is done by
God's grace. We're sanctified by the purpose
of God, by the blood of Christ, and by the new birth. not gradually,
progressively making ourselves holy. God comes and puts a holy
nature in us. We're perfect in Christ Jesus,
the Lord. Here's fourth thing. This is
God's work. And the supreme revelation of
God's holiness. Is in the sacrifice of his son
at Calvary. Here it is that mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Here is the reason why God Almighty
takes the wicked and uses the wicked to compass the righteous. The wicked multitude to crucify
and murder the holy man, Christ Jesus the Lord. because God is
just and gracious. What is holiness? If ever you
discover the meaning of substitution, you'll find out what holiness
is. The cherubs are described throughout the scriptures. You
remember when Moses was commanded to make the mercy seat said it
on the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubs were formed with the
mercy seat, looking, facing one another, looking down on the
mercy seat, looking down on the place of atonement, looking down
on the blood sacrifice, where God met with his people and revealed
his glory and showed himself glorious. This is where God shows
his glorious holiness, when God found sin on his son, and made
his son sin for us. He cried, Awake, O sword, against
the man that is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd. And God
spared not his own son." He didn't spare him anything. Not one speck of mercy. Not one speck of kindness. Not one speck of grace. But rather God took his sword and buried it forever in the
heart of his darling son. in all his fury. He slaughtered his son in justice
and now declares fury is not in me. Justice is satisfied. One more
thing and I'll quit. Every sinner who believes on
the Lord Jesus is perfectly holy. perfectly holy. Every sinner
who believes on the Lord Jesus is perfectly holy without sin. He says, I, even I am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions as a thick cloud thy sins and
will not remember thy transgressions. That's God. Every sinner who
believes on the Son of God is perfect before him. Ye are complete in him. Complete in him, so that with
his spotless garments on, I am as holy as God's own Son. Near, so very near to God, nearer
I cannot be, for in the person of his Son, I am as near as he. Yes, dear, so very dear to God,
dearer I cannot be, For in the person of his son, I am as dear
as he. Holiness is imputed to me because
Christ took my sin. Holiness has been imparted to
me in the new birth Christ formed in me. And holiness is promised
me forever in resurrection glory. who is likened to thee, O Lord,
among the gods, who is likened to thee, glorious in holiness,
fearful in praises, doing wonders. All hail, atoning Lamb, whose
offering once for all, appointed by the great I Am, redeemed us
from the fall. Your efficacious blood by power
divine applied makes perfect all the church of God by free
grace sanctified. No condemnation now against the
chosen race. Perfect forever, Lord, we bow
and triumph in your grace. Here then my soul shall rest
with Jesus blood applied, redeemed and perfect, ever blessed in
him. I'm satisfied. So I will make
my boast in Jesus crucified, perfect in Jesus' holiness. I shall be glorified. I told the men back in the office
last Sunday, but R.J. Coots, pastor for many, many
years, Pine Grove Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, Church Brother
Walter Groover and his wife, Betty, been members of all these
years. R.J. preached Sunday afternoon about
3 o'clock. He had finished preaching. He was preaching in his daughter's
house. And he sat down. And went to glory. Perfect. Perfect. Holy. Holy. Holy. You won't unless you're made
holy here by God's free grace. Believe on the Son of God and
go home tonight having done what God commanded all the priests
in Israel to do. You know what he commanded them
to do? In order to serve him in the
holy place, they had to wash themselves. They had to purify
themselves. They had to sanctify themselves.
How can you do that? Believe on the son of God and
you are washed and sanctified and justified and holy, holy
before God himself and holy forever. Amen.