Three Important Questions

Last week, I brought you a message
on the subject, He Called You by Our Gospel. Well, this week,
I'm going to bring to you as clear as I can that gospel by
which He called us and unto which He called us. And I really like
for you to have this tape. These messages are on the same
cassette tape. There's a 60-minute tape, 30
minutes on each side. And on one side, is, He called
you by our gospel. And on the other side is this
message I'll preach in a few moments on three important questions
I'd like for you to have. I'll tell you at the end of the
program about securing the tape. But let's go into the three questions.
Now, the Bible says in Psalm 99, the Lord reigneth. Let the people tremble. Exalt
the Lord our God. and worship at his footstool,
for the Lord our God is holy." God is holy. Now listen again. Habakkuk says, the Lord is in
his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. Zephaniah says, hold thy peace
at the presence of the Lord, for he is holy. Isaiah said, In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne high and
lifted up, and his train, his glory, filled the temple. And
the seraphims about the throne of God cried, Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty. And David wrote, Holy, and Reverend
is his name. And this book is called the Holy
Bible. And His angels are called the
holy angels. His presence is called His holy
presence. The Lord Jesus is called the
Holy One of God. And the tabernacle was called
the Holy of Holies. And when the high priest went
under the veil into the Holy of Holies to offer an atonement
on the mercy seat, he had written on a plate, a mitre on his head,
holiness to the Lord. What would you say is the chief
attribute of God? Well, you who know the Word of
God, who know the character of God, who know the living God,
will immediately answer, God is holy. God is holy. Now, I know today's religion
and today's preachers emphasize, overemphasize, if it's possible,
the love of God. And they would say the chief
attribute of God is His love, but not so. Not so. The chief
attribute of God is His holiness. His love is a holy love. God is holy. He must be holy.
God may show mercy, but He must be holy. God may be gracious,
but He must be holy. You see what I'm saying? Here's
my first question. Well, how holy is God? How holy is God? I'm talking
about the living God now. I'm not talking about the God
of our imagination. I'm not talking about the God as we think He
is. God's not who you think He is. God's who He says He is.
How holy is this God? I wish I could answer that. I
really do. I wish I could answer that question.
But I do know this. If I could, if I could answer
that question, how holy is God, there'd be no breath left in
me and there'd be no breath left in you. Paul went to the third
heaven and came back and couldn't tell him anything. He said, I
heard things it's not possible to utter. I can't, there's no
language that can contain or express or define the holiness
of God Almighty. God is holy. Daniel said, when
I saw the Lord, my comeliness, my strength just melted into
corruption. John on the Isle of Patmos who
had leaned upon the breast of the incarnate Lord. But when
he saw Him in His glory and heard Him speak, he said, I fell at
His feet as a dead man. The life had gone out of me. God is holy. How holy is God?
Well, I can suggest some things. I can't define His holiness.
I can't picture His holiness. But I can suggest some things.
I can tell you this. And these preachers talk about
seeing the Lord and God telling them things. He's so holy, Moses
couldn't look on him. Moses says, show me your goodness.
And God said, all right. But he said, I'll have to hide
you in the cleft of the rock and put my hand over you because
as I pass by, no man can look on me and live. And I tell you,
after God had called Moses, you listen to me now. Talk about
God's holiness, the strictness of God's holiness and his requirements
in Christ Jesus, his requirements of a perfect righteousness and
a perfect justice satisfied. After he'd called Moses to deliver
the people of Israel from Egypt and after Moses had gotten his
wife Zipporah and his son and started toward Egypt to do what
God sent him to do, God met him in the end. You'll read this
in Exodus 4, 24. God met him in the end and would
have killed him. Would have killed him. He took
hold of Moses and would have killed him. Why? He had not circumcised
his son. That was the token of the covenant.
That was the seal of the covenant. That was a picture of the rending
of the heart and the regeneration of the heart by the Holy Spirit.
That's a picture of our reconciliation, redemption in Christ. And Moses
had yielded to the wishes of his pagan wife and had not circumcised
that boy. And God was going to kill Moses
before he let him go to Egypt to lead the people out. And she
took a knife, verse 25, and circumcised that lad and threw the knife
at the feet of Moses and said, You are to me a bloody husband,
but God let him go. God let him. God's holy. You
say, I'll figure out some way to get to heaven, not at the
expense of His holiness. Well, I just believe it. I just
believe a loving God won't send a man to hell. A holy God will. I'm telling you, my friend, God's
holy. So holy that King Uzziah, when King Uzziah died, he tried
to go into the tabernacle to offer incense, to offer a sacrifice. He was a beloved king, but his
heart was lifted up with pride. And he went in to offer a sacrifice.
And the priest told him, it appertaineth not to thee to offer a sacrifice.
That's the priest's work. You see, that's Christ's work.
Christ is our high priest. Christ is our mediator. You're
not the mediator. You're not the priest. And he
did it anyway, and God killed him. And Isaiah said, when Uzziah
died, when King Uzziah died, under those conditions, under
the judgment of God for violating the holiness of God, I saw the
Lord. I lifted up. Uzzah just reached
out to steady the ark. God killed him. Nadab and Abihu
brought strange fire to the altar. And as Moses and Aaron, their
father, stood there and watched them, God sent fire from heaven
and burned them to a cinder. God is holy. God is holy. And I'll tell you this, He's
so holy. God is so holy. And it drains
the breath out of you to think of the holiness of God. God is
so holy that when his well-beloved, only begotten Son was hanging
on that cross, bearing not his sins, he had none. He knew no
sin, he had no sin. But bearing the sins of his people
by imputation, representation, God turned his back on his only
begotten Son. So much that Christ Jesus our
Lord cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God is
holy. And I'll tell you this, I know
people put a lot of emphasis on the love of God, and bless
your heart, the love of God is indescribable, indescribable,
unspeakable. God's love for sinners. Greater
love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends. Christ died for his enemies. I preach the love of
God, but I'm saying this, God's love will never be expressed
at the expense of his holiness. And I do know this, the book
of Acts has 28 chapters. 28 chapters. And in the book of Acts you have
the beginning of the church, you have the call of Paul to
the ministry, to Christ, you have the conversion of the first
believers after the apostles, you have the beginning of the
church and the beginning of the deacons and the ministry and
the sending out of the first missionaries, you have the The
messages of Paul and Philip and Stephen and Peter and all these
men. Pentecost, you have all their
sermons. The word love does not occur in the book of Acts. Not
one time. Not one single time. You say,
what did they preach? They preached the holiness of
God. The holiness of God. How it must,
God must be just. God must be holy. He will be
holy. You, am I overstating it? No
sir, I've understated it. God is holy. Holy. I'm not talking about a sham.
I'm talking about a purity, an immaculate, infinite, eternal,
indescribable, unchangeable holiness. Perfection. That brings me to
the second question. How sinful are men? How sinful
are men? Well, how sinful are we? Am I and you? How sinful are we? Well, when
we compare ourselves with ourselves, we don't appear to be too sinful. He said, you're they that compare
yourselves with yourselves. And he said, you're not wise.
And I tell you this, when we compare ourselves with the rules
of the churches, we don't come out too badly. Or when we compare
ourselves even like the Pharisees of old with the outward law of
God, thou shalt not kill, To my knowledge, I've never killed
anyone. I shall not steal." So forth and so on, you see. And
some of you say, well, and this is what Paul said, and that's
what the rich young ruler said, I've kept these from my youth
up, all these outward commandments. And Saul of Tarsus felt that.
He said, I was blameless concerning the law, so when we look at the
outward law, now I'm talking about the spiritual content of
the law, or the spiritual application of the law, or the thoughts behind,
I'm talking about the deeds. I shall not make unto thee any
graven image." Well, Saul said, I've never made a god. Shall
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Well, I've never
said GD or taken God's name in vain. And when you compare yourself
to the law, and Christ said, you're they that justify yourselves
before men. And he said, God looks on your
heart, not on your deeds, not on your acts, not on your claims,
on your heart. And that which is That which
is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God Almighty. He looks on the heart. Oh, that's
a different, that's a different story now. Talk about what I
am, what you see, and what others see, and what I profess to be.
But wait a minute, what am I? Well, I'll tell you this, what
makes this question difficult to answer, how sinful are men? How sinful is a man? What makes
it so difficult is that people know so little of the holiness
of God. And to really see sin as sin, you've got to see it
in the light of God's holiness. Not in the light of others around
you, not in the light of people worse than you are, not in the
light of some outward law, not in the light of some church rule,
but you've got to see your heart and your nature and your soul
in the light of God's holiness. You see, God's perfect. And when
I stand before the light of perfection, I'm imperfect. See what I'm talking
about? That's what I'm talking about.
Almighty God is spirit. I'm flesh. Almighty God is light. I'm darkness. Almighty God is
truth. I'm lies. It's difficult to tell
a thing just exactly as it is. God is life, we're death. God
is good, we're evil. God is love, we're hate. God is just and we're unjust.
You see that? It's impossible for us to do
good, God good. Good as God defines good. There's
none good but God. God said in Genesis 6, listen,
He said, every imagination of man's heart is evil continually. He said in Psalm 14, I look down
from heaven to see if there's any that did do good. And he
said there's none good. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Even his righteousnesses are
filthy rags. Isaiah says from the sole of
our feet to the top of our heads, there's no soundness in us. And
David said in Psalm 51, I was born that way. I came into the
world that way. It's my nature. You don't have
to teach children to lie. They're born knowing how to lie.
You don't have to teach them to be selfish, to be greedy.
You don't have to teach them to hate. You don't have to teach
them to fight. We're born that way. That's born
in us. Why do we have to beg and plead
with our children? Tell the truth now. Be honest.
Don't cheat in school. You know, don't hate people.
Love everyone. Why do you have to keep pulling
those? Do you teach them to hate? No, they're born knowing how.
You see, Jeremiah said the Ethiopian cannot change his skin. That's
his nature. The leopard cannot change his
spots. The elephant cannot change his
wrinkles. That's his nature. And neither
can you do good. Neither can I do good that are
custom born doing evil. When he talks about us, he talks
about we're in the depths of sin. Out of the depths, David
said. He talks about being in the dung
hill. Talks about being dead in sin.
Scripture says we're without God. We're without hope. We're
without Christ. That's us. Defiled, depraved,
dead. No goodness. Man at his very
best state. Vanity. Vanity. And God dwells in a light to
which no man can approach. You see that? You say, preacher,
you're overstate in sin. No, sir. No, sir. Believe me,
my friend, I'm not. I'm understating it. Just like
the holiness of God. If I could define and describe
the infinite, immutable holiness of God, it would just slay every
one of us. Because everybody in the Bible
that saw God in His holiness fell in the dust. They fell prostrate
and broken in the dust and thought they was going to die because
they'd seen the Lord. And if I could really define
and describe our wickedness, the wickedness of our hearts, the wickedness of our hearts,
it'd leave us without breath. We'd be like Isaiah. He said,
I saw the Lord and I cried, I'm cut off. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. What
about Job? Job said, I've heard of you,
Lord. Now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I hate myself. I put
my hand on my mouth. I'll never speak again. I repent
in sackcloth and ashes. Saul of Tarsus said, when I saw
the holiness of God, I died. I died. I cried, oh, I'm the
chief of sinners. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Okay, I come to the third and
awesome question. How holy is God? You need to
think on these things. How holy is God? No man had seen
God in any time. No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, that he to whom the Son will reveal him. No man can
come to God except Christ bring him as his mediator. But here's
the third question. Then, God being who He is, in
His holiness, in His righteousness, and our being what we are in
our corruption and defilement and inability, how can we be
clean? How can we be just with God?
How can we be saved? How can we ever stand in the
hill of the Lord or ascend into His holy place? How? Have you
thought about that? Job did. He asked it one, two,
three, four times. Four times. He said, how can
man be clean that's born of a woman? How can man be just with God?
Why, he said, the sun, the moon's not pure in God's sight. The
stars are not clean. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinks iniquity like water. David asked the question. He
said, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand
in his holy place? Who? And he answered him. He
said, he that hath clean hands, perfectly, immaculately clean
hands. That lets us out, doesn't it?
Don't even need to raise them, just hide them. He that hath
a pure heart. A pure heart? One who's never
lifted his soul to vanity, one who's never sworn deceitfully,
he shall receive the righteousness of God. Well, that's not you
and me and no other human being. How can man be just with God?
Well, some people have turned to the sacrifices and the ceremonies
and that won't work because it's not possible for the blood of
bulls and goats to put away sin. Some people have turned to Mount
Sinai and the law and that's not possible because the scripture
said, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Some have turned to works of righteousness and the scripture
says it's not by works of righteousness which we've done. Some have turned
to religious heritage and God says he's not a Jew which is
one outwardly. Some have turned to the human will and God says
it's not of him that willeth, it's of God that showeth mercy.
Some have turned to the duties of religion only to hear Christ
at the judgment say, I never knew you. Well, where do you
suggest we turn, Brother Mahan? Turn to Christ. Christ, He is
God's righteousness. He is God's righteousness and
redemption and sanctification. All right, watch Romans 3, 19.
Now listen. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, God's holy law, It says to them who are
under the law, that's you and me and every other son of Adam,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty
before God. That's the first place to start,
guilty. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. God be merciful to
me, the sinner. You with me? Are you there? Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight. Now, this is what we're talking
about, in God's sight, not in the sight of the church. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin, not the cleansing of sin,
the knowledge of sin. The law shows me what a rascal
I am. God's holiness shows me even
more. But now, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God. I'm not talking about this feigned
holiness of today where you wear certain clothes, that means you're
holy, or you don't go to the movies, or you don't watch television,
or you don't smoke a cigarette, or you don't dance, or you don't
play cards, and that makes you holy. That's an outward piety. That's not God's holiness. That's
not inward holiness. God doesn't look on the outward
countenance. He looks on your heart. There's where the holiness
of God must reign, and we're not holy in the heart. But now
there's a righteousness of God, the holiness of God, and that's
what we need. That is manifested being witnessed
by the Word of God, spoken by the prophets, It's the holiness
of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. It's faith in
Christ and the faith of Christ. And it's unto everyone that believes,
Jew or Gentile, there's no difference. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Being freely justified by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth to be a propitiation, that He might be just and justify
those that believe. What I'm saying is this. I'm
not holy. I must be. God is holy. I'm a sinner. If I'm going to
live with God, if I'm going to dwell with God, if I'm going
to go to God's heaven, I've got to have a holiness that matches
God's holiness. I've got to have a righteousness
with which God will be well pleased and I can't produce it. I'm not
going to be cleansed by going into a baptismal pool. My heart
and soul is not going to be cleansed by somebody sprinkling water
on me. I'm not going to be cleansed by walking down an aisle and
shaking hands with a preacher and praying a sinner's prayer.
Is that going to give me a righteousness? Is that going to cleanse this
defiled, polluted heart? Is that going to lift me from
the dunghill of sin and give me a holiness in the sight of
Almighty God? Will those deeds and duties and
performances and decisions and professions make me holy before
God? Who shall stand in His presence?
He that's perfectly holy, pure in heart, clean hands, who's
never sinned. And all this traipsing up and
down the aisle and rededicating and raising your hand and shaking
hands with the preacher, and praying at an altar and going
to a baptismal pool and joining a church is not going to make
you holy before God. You see, there's a law to be
satisfied, the unchangeable law of God. What the law saith, it
saith to everyone under the law. And God's law is going to be
obeyed or we're going to pay for it. And there's a justice
of God. The justice of God says God must
punish sin. God can't clear the guilty. He can't do it. And I can make
professions all day and raise my hand and join churches and
turn over a new leaf and do all these things, but I'm not gonna
change the record. The record's there, written. My sins are written
down in the books. And the law of God demands my
obedience, and I haven't done it. And the justice of God says,
the soul that sinneth, it must surely die. Not raise your hand,
die. Not be baptized, die. Now, join
the church and die because I got to pay for my sins. But God sent
his son into the world made of a woman, made in the flesh, in
the likeness of sinful flesh, took upon himself the form of
a servant, made of a woman, made under the law, and came into
this world bone by bone, flesh of my flesh, and as my representative,
as my surety, he obeyed God's law perfectly. His heart was
pure. He never lifted up his soul to
vanity. He never swore deceitfully. His
hands were clean. He did it. He actually did it.
He actually was tempted and tried and tested in all points by heaven,
earth, and hell before the holy law of God and the laws of men
and never violated a word. He did love God with all his
heart. He did love his neighbors himself. And by his obedience,
we have a righteousness. You see, by the disobedience
of one, we were made sinners. By the obedience of Christ, we
were made righteous. We have a holiness. It's not
a put-on holiness. It's not the length of my hair
or the length of my nails or the absence of jewelry. It's
not where I go or where I don't go outwardly. It's before God,
I have a righteousness, a holiness. I've kept the law. I've kept
the law. I've obeyed the law. I did not
sin. I did obey God's law. You say
you did not, preacher. I did in Christ. I did. And then I paid my debt. I don't
owe God anything. You paid your debt. I paid it
in Christ. He was my representative. He
went to the cross, and there the justice of God, taking all
my sins, laid them on Christ, and slew Him. He died for our
sin. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him by stripes. I am healed. You see that? You
see that? Can you see that? We have a righteousness. We've got to have one. You don't
have one. I don't have one myself. But
Christ perfected one for us. He obeyed the law. And that justice
has got to be satisfied. The law's not going to turn you
loose. until it's satisfied. And I'll tell you this, it held
on to him till he cried, it's finished. And he satisfied God's
law. That's the gospel, friend. And
this tape has two messages on it. One, you got to hear it.
And two, you got to believe it. Write for it. Here's the address.
Send $2 till next week. God bless you.

Three Important Questions

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Three Important Questions

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