Knowing a Holy God

I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Revelation 15, verse 4.

Revelation 15:4

Does everyone have a worship guide?

If there's anyone that does not have a worship guide, please raise your hand.

I want to make sure that you follow along with us.

And by the way, all you that are watching by internet, welcome.

We have a great group that watches us all week.

But we have a great group.

We probably have, I don't know, 30, 40, 50 people probably tuning in right now.

Sometimes more than that.

But over the week we'll have six, seven hundred hits.

And so we praise the Lord for that.

So welcome.

You're part of our family too.

And in the afternoons, after I take my nap, I go home and take a nap.

That's kind of my routine.

But lately I hadn't even been doing that.

We've been doing other stuff and getting stuff done.

But then I always go to our site, Ben G, and see all the people that are had been watching online and comments that they make.

So in fact, a lot of them are watching right now.

They make comments as I'm preaching.

Amen, amen, amen.

So we praise the Lord for technology.

Don't you praise the Lord for technology?

I meant really.

It can be a blessing or it can be a curse.

And so when you're trying to text and drive, it's a curse.

Hello.

No, I mean it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

And uh nothing's that important till you can pull over.

Okay?

And uh I don't want you to get in a wreck, don't want you to cause a wreck.

So uh be a good citizen.

Today's message.

And boy, what a message.

I'm telling you, I the Lord has so spoken to my heart this week about the holiness of God.

You know, it's a shame.

Uh it really is, it's a shame when words that have strong spiritual connotations are used in everyday language as slang.

It really is.

And we've all been guilty.

Take the word holy, for instance.

Think about all the ways you've heard the word holy used.

Here's a few.

Holy smoke.

We've all said that.

Holy mackerel.

We've all said that.

How about holy Toledo?

Heard that.

Now I know we've all said this one.

You ready?

Holy rollers.

We've heard that.

So I can't understand, and I'm sure there are reasons for us using the word holy for other reasons, but I can't imagine what holy has to do with most of those words.

And it really doesn't.

All I know is that when we uh take this word holy and it's used as slang, people begin, and I really believe this with all my heart, stop wondering what the true meaning of holy means.

In fact, when we try to define holy, and I'll give you the definition of the Greek word for holy and hose, and it literally, I'll go ahead and give it to you.

Hoseos literally means free from wickedness and sin.

That's what it means.

It means divine character, it means total consecration to God.

That's what holiness means.

But as I was looking at this, J.I.

Packard, one of the great old theologians back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, probably one of the most deep theologians that I ever studied.

And it was so powerful, I wanted to read it to you.

Listen to what he said.

Even Christians, now this is back in the early 1920s, the roaring 20s, they called it then.

So that kind of sets the context.

Listen to this.

Even Christians have lost touch with the concept of holiness.

To listen to our sermons and to read the books we write for each other, and then to watch the worldly, quarrelsome way we behave as Christian people, you would never imagine that once the highway of holiness was clearly marked out for Bible believers so that ministers and people knew what it was and could speak of it with authority and confidence.

Many Christians, he said, view God the Father, our precious God as a lenient grandfather who winks at our indiscretions from his rocking chair in heaven.

Wow.

That's even relevant today, is it not?

The concept of holiness.

When's the last time you've really heard a message on what the holiness of God really is?

When I was a little boy, going to church with my grandparents and my grandfather, especially my grandfather in the assembly God, they preached about the holiness of God all the time.

I mean, you were convicted.

And sometimes, now I'm not talking about in legalistic ways, and I'll deal with that a little bit.

But I'm because back then they kind of equated holiness with the way you looked outwardly.

You know, you for you ladies, you couldn't wear a whole lot of makeup, you couldn't have short hair, you had to wear long dresses.

I mean, there was a lot of things you do equated with the holiness of God, which I got news for you.

Nothing outwardly has anything to do with the holiness of God in definition.

In fact, God sees not as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

It's an inward change in your heart, it's an urging and a longing for God Himself.

Now, when you have that and you're walking in the Spirit of God, the outward takes care of itself.

Amen.

So we see this.

Church history reveals, I went back and was looking at all the old revivals.

Listen, church history reveals, and I mean this, that the church was sparked and fueled by the concept of holiness of God, which brought real revival.

I meant literally, movements of God broke out and people's lives were changed, cities were changed because of the holiness of God.

So, in this study, knowing the God that we love, we're going to be looking at, and we already have a lot of his attributes.

But this is probably the greatest fundamental attribute of God called holy.

In Scripture, the word holy is really used more than anything else to describe God.

Someone has said that his arm of power tells us of his strength, his eye of omniscience tells us of his knowledge, and his heart of duration tells us of his eternity.

But are you ready?

But it's the beauty of his holiness that describes who God really is.

Holiness is God's beauty.

Write that down.

Holiness is God's beauty.

That's the best way to describe it.

No doubt about it.

The holiness of God, according to the scriptures, is his beauty.

Nearly every book of the Bible touches on the holiness of God in some way, form, or fashion.

And in order to regain a proper understanding of the holiness of God, we need to understand the biblical term.

Holiness involves a range of meanings, perhaps best summarized, and the idea of complete purity and goodness.

I want you to see this.

Turn with me in your Bibles, in your outline.

The first thing is 1 John chapter 1, verse 5.

1 John 1:5

We've looked at the definition, free from wickedness and sin, divine character, total consecration to God, Hose.

But again, I love, it's the idea of, we're going to see in 1 John 5, complete purity and goodness.

Listen to what he says in 1 John verse 5.

But by the way, our text today, Revelation 15, 4, says, Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name?

Because you alone are holy, because all the nations will come and worship before you, because your righteousness, your righteous acts have been revealed.

In other words, because of the holiness of God, we see his character displayed through his church.

The purpose of the church is to displace his holiness, to show the holiness of God.

Wow.

The message about the Father, God the Father.

Look at 1 John 1.5.

And it says, God is light.

God is light.

In fact, do we have it up there, Jason?

Can we pull 1 John 1.5 up?

And I want to read that and let the people see that.

In fact, he tells us this is the message which we have heard from him, God, and declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

None.

None whatsoever.

God's being light speaks of, least, I want you to see four great things about God.

This is the character of that holy God.

Number one, look at it.

The glorification of God.

Light speaks of the glory of God.

The Bible says brightness of his glory in Hebrews 1:3.

Hebrews 1:3

God's glory is great.

Great is the glory of the Lord.

Psalms 138, verse 5.

Psalms 138:5

The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens.

Psalms 113, verse 4.

Psalms 113:4

In other words, we see the glorification of God in his holiness.

His holiness brings glory to God.

When you and I are walking in the Spirit of God and we're living a holy life, we bring glory to God.

That's important to understand that.

We just don't go around trying to be a holy roller for anything, and I use the word on purpose.

Amen.

But it brings glory to God.

Notice the second thing: it brings purification.

Light speaks of the holiness of God.

There is none holy as the Lord.

1 Samuel 2.2.

He loveth righteousness, Psalms 33, 5.

Where sins abound, the light goes out.

He loves righteousness.

He loves goodness.

And when we live righteously, hey, and we're good in the sense of what Scripture teaches us to be like Christ.

It brings glory to Him.

It brings glorification to Him.

Purification.

Us being pure brings glory to God.

But then also light brings illumination.

Light speaks of the illumination from God.

Where there is light, people can see and know important matters of life.

In other words, God is light.

Thy word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.

Psalms 119, verse 105.

Psalms 119:105

So it reveals to us the truths and the righteousness of Christ so that we can apply it in our lives and be like Him.

And when we do that, it brings glory to God.

And then the last thing, animation from God.

Light speaks of life.

Life is light is necessary to have life, spiritual life especially.

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life.

Psalms 127, verse 1.

Psalms 127:1

So all this, us living in the light, brings glorification to God.

That's what part of holiness is.

And boy, is it so powerful.

It's so powerful.

The other thing we see is 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

Look at verse 17 and 18.

Well, wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Go back to 1 John.

I don't want you to miss this.

I was going to skip it, but I don't want to skip it.

Go to verse 6.

I want you to see this.

So we see, 1 John 1 5 talks about the message from the Father to us.

What brings glory to God the Father?

Us living in righteousness, us walking in the light.

But now notice also in 1 John, there's another message.

And in verse 6, in 1 John 1, he says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

Ooh.

So we see the message of the Father is to us to walk in light so we can glorify God in our actions.

But if we say we're Christians, if we say we love God, but we don't walk in the light, then he says we're liars and the truth's not in us.

Hello.

Now that's hard preaching, folks.

Because that takes your love label away from you and me.

You can claim to be a Christian, but unless you are a real Christian which walks in the light, not perfectly, but consistently, then he says we're liars and the truth's not in us.

When I'm dealing with, when I used to teach all those freshmen, I'd always take them to 1 John.

1 John, the little five chapters in 1 John is the true test of salvation.

You want to know whether or not you're saved, you go through those five chapters.

Underline the word no, OD or OD.

Underline the word, hey, every time you see it, I think it's used 33 to 35 times, and ask yourself, these things I've written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5.13, at the end of the chapter book, you go back and use that little word no, you'll see and you ask yourself the question, am I doing these things in my life consistently?

And if they're not being done consistently in your life, you are, you and I are liars and the truth's not in us.

Hello?

I heard Darren.

Where's Darren?

What are you doing way back there?

Are you have you backslidden?

You backslidden all the way to the back road.

Anyway.

I'm that close to him.

I can say that.

Alright, now what's this?

What's this?

Some of y'all didn't get all that.

Or maybe you did, and you said, ooh.

Is that not?

But that's the truth.

We have a lot of people that, hey, hey, profess they're Christians but don't possess the Holy Spirit of God.

Now watch.

Now watch this.

So the message, either we're in fellowship.

Are you ready for this?

Or we're fakers.

Now, what's the message of fellowship?

Verse 7.

Now watch verse 7 again.

If we walk in light as he is in light, we have fellowship one with another.

Here we are told that walking in light enables us to fellowship with God, for he is light, but walking in light means to adjust your behavior according to the light of the divine revelation.

In other words, we're walking and living in accordance to God's word.

I didn't say a three-minute devotion.

Hello.

That means you're spending time in fellowship.

Now, my wife and I love to fellowship together.

We love to fellowship with our church members.

We fellowship.

We spend time together.

We learn to like the same things together.

But we want to spend time.

Listen, if you're walking in the light, you want to spend time with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

You want to spend time in the book.

I can't go a day without spending some time in the book.

Have you ever I've missed, I missed a day or two every once in a while.

I feel dirty.

I feel like I've something's not right.

I just grab my books and start memorizing scripture to get the word in me.

I got, I am scared to death of your, hey, what your pastor would do if I didn't have the word controlling me.

Hello.

Don't look at me like that.

What about you?

Hello.

You wouldn't want to be around me if I wasn't in the word.

Why?

I'm selfish.

I want my way.

I want to win in anything I do.

I'm not a good loser.

If I'm not in the word, I'm not a good sport either.

Hello?

Oh me, come on.

And I'm not the only one.

Now bless God, we're gonna get.

Amen?

Hey, y'all gotta remember I know you too.

Amen?

I mean, knowing family, we know the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But what makes it good?

Walking in the light.

Staying in the light.

And we see that.

If we walk in the light, as he is in light, we have fellowship one with another.

And now, what's the compensations?

Let me tell you why you want to walk in the light.

Watch this.

Now go to 2 Corinthians 6, 17.

Let me show you why we want to walk in the light.

Now I'm laying the foundation.

This is important.

Therefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.

Now watch.

And I will be a father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

Now watch this.

This is good.

Watch the compensations of separation.

Separation for the things of the world are just blessed with these compensations.

Number one, you have favor with God.

He says, I will receive you.

Now I don't know about you, but I want favor with some of you or all of my family, church family, but I really want favor from God.

Don't you want favor from God?

You receive that favor when you're walking in the light.

When you're not walking in the light, you're not going to have his favor.

So what does that mean?

You're on your own.

And I'm telling you, that's a dangerous place to be.

But now notice what else we get.

Not only does he say, I will receive you, and by the way, the word receive there means to receive into favor or communion.

Favor from God is the greatest favor of all.

See, our problem is we fraternize with the world and we want the world's favor, and that favor doesn't do us any good at all.

When we ought to be fraternizing with God through his word, because that brings his divine presence, his divine glory.

And when you get his favor and glory, you are under his protection, you're under his power, you're under his personal presence.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Believers should want that.

My expectation is from God.

I can't get over that verse.

I used it last week for you.

Psalm 62, verse 5.

Psalms 62:5

My expectation is from Him.

It's just really resonated with me.

And now look, not only do we have favor, look, secondly, we have fellowship with God.

He says, He will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Now, this is not speaking of salvation.

We do not attain salvation by just separating.

From the world, but separation does indeed promote our fellowship with God so that we have a sense of his wonderful and delightful presence in our lives.

We're walking with him like I'm walking with my wife.

I have that same intimacy.

It's beautiful.

It's beautiful.

So we have favor and we have fellowship.

In fact, those who do not separate from the world, I've had people often complain, and me even myself, thinking about this in years past, when I'm not separated from the world, I kind of feel that God's not near to me, that there's a distance between me and God.

And it's the reason is I'm caught up in the worldliness and all the worldly things, but also what I'm I'm seeking the world's approval.

And don't even realize it sometimes.

And we do that.

It's our fleshly nature to do that.

You want to be the best at what you do, I hope.

Everybody wants to be the best at, well, not everybody, but most people want to be the best at what God's called them to do.

You want to be the best at your job, you want promotion, all of that.

You want your football team to.

Right now, we got a lot of sad Auburn fans.

Hello?

I'm sad too.

I don't like LSU.

But we all, we all seek that approval of the world.

What if we put that same energy and passion toward accepting his approval?

Wow! Talking about revival, talking about influence.

So, with that said, when we have little or if any fellowship with God through prayer and the study of God's word, we have a major distance from us.

So, with that said, the holiness of God, according to the scriptures, I want us to see is his beauty, his glory.

But let's look at Moses.

There's five people.

We may not look at every one of them because I want to get to the last part of it about how we can know the holiness of God's in our life and when we're walking in his presence.

There's there's a few things that are very evident that are so powerful.

But first of all, look at Moses.

Not going to spend a whole lot of time with Moses and Isaiah, even though they're here, because I've already preached on them.

Okay?

But remember Moses and the burning bush?

Well, go to Exodus 33.

Go to Moses, let me tell you, what Moses desired was unbelievable.

In Exodus 33, verse 18, Moses desired, look what he desires.

Exodus 33:18

And he said, Please show me your glory.

Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, but stay right there.

And he said, I want to see you glory.

What an unusual request.

Most of us, when we make requests, it's not spiritual requests.

Usually they're physical requests from God.

Hello?

Come on, let's be honest now.

Help me here.

Are you listening?

Help me with my health.

Help me with my job.

Help me.

I need bills.

I need this.

I need food.

I need clothing.

All the material things that God's already promised us in Matthew that He's going to provide for those.

If He'll take care of the spares, He'll take care of us.

My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4, 19.

Can I get an amen?

But those are the most things that we pray for.

But notice that's not what Moses prayed for.

He didn't even pray for all these miracles.

He had already seen them.

Sometimes we pray for the power of God.

Moses didn't pray for the power of God.

He had already seen the power of God through the Red Sea, through the Passover.

He had already seen all that.

You know what he prayed for?

He wanted to see something that the eyes really couldn't see.

And I had never seen this before.

He wanted to see God.

He wanted to get in the personal presence of God.

He wanted to see God.

He wanted to see God in all his glory.

But he really couldn't do that because if he did, he'd be dead.

No person could come into the presence of God and not be killed.

Now that's glory.

But God saw his yearningness, his passion to see him and to experience who he really is, other than outward miracles and outward power and personal needs being met.

He said, I want to see you, God, for who you really are.

When's the last time you prayed like that?

Boy, I'll tell you what, that brought me to my knees.

I had to confess and fess.

I'm still fessing.

Hey, we need soccer fields, we need this, we need this, we need.

I go down my litman, litmus list.

Have not because you ask not.

I have no problem asking.

But when's the last time?

I just paused and say, God, forget everything, but I just want to come into your presence.

I don't want anything but you.

Don't need anything but you.

He says, I beseech you.

Show me the glory.

Show me the glory.

Now what's this?

Look at verse 19.

Look at the plan here for seeing God's glory.

I had never seen this.

I had a Pentecostal spell when I saw it.

I can have one of those every once in a while.

Are you ready?

Look at verse 19.

Then God said, Are you ready?

This is God literally speaking to Moses.

Don't you miss this?

I will make all my goodness pass before you.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

Are you ready?

You want to see the glory of God?

You want to see what God just taught me this week?

I will make all my goodness pass before thee.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.

And then the last phrase says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.

Now let me tell you something.

When God says, I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, that sounds like to me there's some stipulations.

Can I get a amen?

And what are those stipulations?

Ready?

That you find favor and you find, hey, and walk in fellowship with God.

We just covered it.

Now watch the progression.

You see it?

When you have favor and you have fellowship, whoo, look it out.

Because here's what's about to happen.

The divine plan for displaying the glory of God is seen right here.

I had never seen it in this enlightenment.

It's right.

You want the glory of God bestowed upon you when you have favor from God and you are fellowshipping with God, three things are going to happen.

Watch it.

Here it is, black and white.

One, God's glory will be revealed in his goodness.

His greatness and his grace.

Look at it right here.

First, his goodness.

I will make all my goodness pass before thee.

God's goodness shows God's glory.

Woo!

When you are experiencing the goodness of God, you're experiencing his glory.

Can I get an amen?

And then notice secondly, his greatness.

Notice the phrase, I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.

The name of God glorifies God.

Notice in Exodus 3.14, remember what he said when I was preaching about Moses?

He says, I am, you go tell Pharaoh that I am, that I am.

There's glory just in his name.

That's why worshiping God, giving praise and honor to God is so important.

It's so important.

Man, that's good.

I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.

And then thirdly, not only do we see his greatness.

But we see his grace.

Notice the next phrase.

Will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.

Few things so show the glory of God as his marvelous grace.

His grace is sufficient, his strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Most gladly will we glory in our infirmities because when we're weak, he is strong.

Aren't you glad for the grace of God this morning?

So when we have favor with God and we are fellowshipping with God, we experience his goodness, his greatness, and his grace.

There's nothing more powerful, folks, than that.

Go to Job.

Number two.

Job 42, chapter, Job 42, verse 5.

Job 42:5

Job said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see at thee.

Wow.

Wow.

After Job had gone through his own life-changing experience of suffering.

Remember that?

Lost everything, his family, everything.

He experienced a revelation of God that changed him even further.

At the end of the book of Job, we read his response to what he learned about God.

Notice what he said.

And then he says in verse 6, Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Earlier he had said in Job 40, verse 4, Behold, I am vile.

Job 40:4

What shall I answer you?

I lay my hand over my mouth.

What do we see here?

Notice, first of all, the recognition of his discernment.

He is now has discernment about what he has just gone through.

He's got discernment.

He's understanding why he's going through this situation and this trial.

And you know why?

He says, I have heard thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see it thee.

The trial had affected Job's discernment in a positive way.

Now notice the place of the discernment.

He said, Heard of thee, seeeth thee.

Job's increase in discernment is in the spiritual area, especially in the knowledge of God.

There's no more important area in which we need to increase our learning to discernment and understanding than in the knowledge of God.

Listen, this is going to get good.

Listen to me.

As we are growing, 2 Peter 3.18, growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

When we go through these major trials, and a lot of you are going through some right now, major in your life.

I know it, I'm going through them with you.

But when you're going through there, you are now understanding that God is with you.

And you understand the goodness of God, the greatness of God, and you really understand the grace of God because you know, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to its purpose.

Man, that's good.

And you can't understand that, and you can't have peace in those tragedies unless you're growing in that grace.

You'll be, you'll be, you'll be a you'll be a mess.

You'll come apart at the seams.

Because there's no hope.

But when you're walking with him and you have favor with him and you hey, have fellowship with him, he's in the fire with you.

Can I get an amen?

He's in the lion's den with you.

And he sees you through.

Remember the disciples?

You're going to the other side.

Now, in the midst of the storm, they didn't believe they were going to the other side.

They said, ah, does he not even care?

We're gonna drown.

That's what he said.

And then they look up and here he comes.

They still didn't get it.

They looked out and said, Ah, it's a ghost.

If I'd have been the Lord, I'd had a good time.

I'd have scared the devil out of them.

Read your Bible, it's there.

Maybe not scaring the ghost out of them, but but now watch this.

This is so good.

This is so good.

When Job said now, I love the word now.

That means listen up.

Why was Job's discernment?

Hey, hey, why was Job's discernment regarding God now so increased?

The answer is that he was listening earnestly to the God's word and to the word of God.

God had just been speaking to Job, and Job had paid attention.

He started listening to God.

Can I get an amen?

You're in trouble?

Let me tell you something.

Hey, you quit trying to figure it out and start listening to God.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Jesus said.

Matthew 13, 9.

Man, that's good.

Man, that's good.

And then notice what happened as he grew in the likeness and knowledge of God, we see he recognized his depravity.

Look at verse 6.

Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Here Job recognizes his depravity before God.

Here Job is simply showing the reaction of getting close to God.

Now watch this.

When you and I, the closer we get to God, are you ready?

The useless we feel.

Or is fleshly speaking.

Amen.

You know why?

We see our selfishness, we see our vileness, we see our sin.

We see how wretched we really are.

No, there's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God, Paul said.

All our righteousness, to say it with me, is this what?

Filthy right.

So the closer we get to God, the more of that self we see.

And that's not a that's not a pretty person in Pastor Danny.

Look at the cause of this depravity.

Wherefore?

Takes us back to verse 5.

Job's learning about God.

Hey, from God's speech, Job increased in the knowledge about God, which greatly affected his attitude about himself.

Remember Moses?

He realized that he was not a somebody, you remember it, but he was a what?

First 40 years he thought he was somebody.

He spent 40 years singing he was somebody.

Next 40 years in the backside of the desert, he uh spent 40 years singing he was a nobody, and then the last 40 years of his life, he realized that God uses nobodies to do great things for him.

So the closer we get to God, we realize we're not a somebody, but we're nobody.

But the exciting thing about being, I'm not talking about self-condemnation and being insecure and feeling like I don't, I don't, I don't, I'm not worthy, and that's not what I'm talking about.

You're missing it.

What I'm talking about, the more you get to be like Christ, the more you walk in the light of Christ, the more you find favor with Christ, the more you realize it's all Christ and not you.

We're not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is in God, 2 Corinthians 3, 5.

Man, that's good.

I need that.

Because I'm pretty strong in my own spirit, in my own flesh, and my own guilt.

I'm the type of person, God, I'll get this done if I need you, I'll holler.

And there's a lot of you just as guilty as I am because I know you.

We're self-sufficient.

God's blessed us with talent.

God's blessed us, my wife, with brains.

She graduated summa cum law and I graduated, thank the Lord.

But now, watch.

He recognizes, he says, I abhor myself.

Let me tell you what that means.

The word abhor there means to loath.

It means to to to really, when we become acquainted with God, we will not esteem ourselves highly before God.

There is no room for self-esteem when you come into the presence of God.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

James 4.10.

Can I get an amen?

Then notice what?

Notice the contrition in this depravity.

He says, I repent.

It means to be sorry, to grieve over something, to change one's conduct.

You know what repent means?

It means you're going in this direction.

God stops you in your shoes, stops you.

He convicts you, you understand it, you know that, hey, without him, you're nothing, but you want him, you want that favor, you want that fellowship which becomes you are a son of God, but now your father has intimate fellowship with you, and you turn around and you say, Forget going my way, I'm going God's way.

Now that's true repentance.

There's not half, you don't half repent.

You totally repent.

Either you're for him or against him.

There's no halfway.

And that's what he means.

Oh, that's beautiful.

And then notice the conduct.

His conduct.

I repent in dust and ashes.

You know what that means?

Job's conduct of putting on dust and ashes reflected Job's change of mind, his conduct, verified his confession.

Job was not a hypocrite.

He was not a faker.

You and I don't put on ashes.

I understand that.

But I can tell you what we do put on.

We put on a new attitude and a new action.

There's a change.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things passed away, behold, old things have become new.

Now, quickly, Isaiah.

Not gone, we just preached about Isaiah in Isaiah 6.

Remember the vision.

He saw the Lord.

King Uzziah had died.

He saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up in verse 1.

Isaiah 6, 1.

It was God that is the prominent one here.

And by the way, Isaiah needed that because Isaiah had been putting a lot of trust in King Uzziah instead of God.

He needed that.

Sometimes God will put us in a situation where we have to totally depend on God and not the person that we were depending on.

But then when he saw him, it was God that was the prominent one.

Second, he saw his glory.

His train filled the temple.

Filled the temple shows the greatness and the goodness and the glory of the Lord that we just talked about.

And then notice the proclamation in verse 3: holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

Holy, holy.

Holy, holy, holy.

Let me tell you what that means.

First, it it talks about the purity in the proclamation.

Holy, holy, holy.

And the thrice, it was used three times.

Let me tell you something.

You notice he didn't say love, love, love.

Notice he didn't say grace, grace, grace.

He said holy, holy, holy.

Because it is his main attribute.

He's a holy, hey, sinless God.

And he wants us to get.

The importance of this attribute of God, his holiness.

And then he said, the whole earth, he says, when you come into that holy present of God, the whole earth is full of glory.

We not only see purity, but purity then brings praise.

You know, it's sad when you come in here and try to praise him with sin.

In fact, let me make another statement.

That was the wrong thing to say.

Because really, you can come in here with sin in your life and you can praise him, but that's a fake praise.

Hello.

But when you come in here and you are purified and you've asked the Lord to forgive you over your sins and you've turned for those sins, whoa, praise is an attribute coming through you to God that's pure and exciting and peaceful and reassuring of all that God is.

You're his child.

And you have access to the holy of holies.

I know that's deep.

Some of you, huh?

Remember revelations going into that holy of holies?

You can't do that if there's sin in their life.

We can't do it.

We gotta get it right.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Lord, I need that.

Lord, this pastor needs that.

I want to be pure in your eyes.

I want favor.

I want fellowship.

I want your goodness.

I want your greatness.

I want your grace upon my life.

Now that's worship.

Knowing that.

To be a fact because you're right with him.

Do you really get that?

Listen.

If you get that, that means you walk out of here any and everything that happens to you.

God's in charge.

God's got control, and he'll take care of you.

Wow.

The most important attribute of God, the whole earth is glory.

Then look, verse 5 and 7, the vexation.

What did he do?

You remember?

Woe is me, for I'm undone.

Undone means, hey, he knows that he is doomed because of his condition of defilement, because of his sin.

And the word undone, let me tell you what that means.

That's pretty interesting.

It speaks, I didn't share with this when I was preaching Isaiah, but it speaks of the destruction and ruin from judgment.

In other words, we're going to face judgment if we don't take care of our sin.

And then notice he says, My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.

Number four, Paul.

Acts 9, the road to Damascus.

Can I tell you something?

Paul's on his way to go to Damascus to persecute and kill Christians.

He is vehemently going after them.

He's ready to do away with Christianity.

But he forgot something.

He is going against the wrong person.

He's going against the church of God.

He's going against God.

Can I say something?

If you're walking with the Lord and you're a Christian spirit field, when somebody comes against you, they're not coming against you.

Listen to me, they're coming against God.

Now that ought to get you excited.

That's why he says, Avenge not yourself, for it is written, vengeance is mine.

I will pray.

You don't have to fight your battles.

God will take care of your battles.

Now that doesn't mean you wimp out and don't say anything.

It means you stand up for what's right and you speak out in a loving way, but you leave the judgment to God.

Amen.

That's why I'm not worried about America.

That's why I quit listening to all the garbage.

I know who's in charge.

And my Bible says in Isaiah, the government of this world's upon his shoulders.

And I'm on his side.

And I'd have read the last chapter, we win.

That's all that matters.

I'm not going to listen to the rest of the garbage.

Amen.

And I don't have to.

Y'all tell me what's going on.

Watch it.

Paul is going to arrest Christians in Damascus and on the road to Damascus.

Guess who gets arrested?

Paul.

He gets arrested by God.

And the big glory of God shines round about him.

Now watch this.

When he came into God's presence, bam, he hit the ground.

Now that's being slain in the spirit.

Some of the stuff I see, I don't think, I don't see the kind of glory of God.

But when you see the Bible, when God shows up, there, hey, Paul hits the ground.

Peter hit the ground.

John hit the ground.

And those 500 soldiers at the Garden of Gethsemane, they hit the ground.

That's what I'm saying.

Most of us don't understand.

It goes, glory of God.

Because when you really come into his presence, something's got to give.

Now watch.

He fell to the earth, verse 4.

Suddenly there shine round about him a light from heaven.

Sudden, shining, and shocking describes the phenomena.

I went back to my salvation.

That's how God got me.

I was up in the balcony and I was minding my own business, flirting with the cheerleaders.

Boom! Holy Spirit jumped on me, got my attention, and I said, if they sing one more stanza, I was trying to bargain with God because I didn't want to go down.

I said, if they do it, and I knew in the first Baptist church in Sylvester, Georgia, they'd never sing another stanza.

It was a chosen, frozen church.

And the pastor stood up and said these exact words.

I've never done this before, but the Lord told me to sing another stanza.

Next thing I know, I don't even remember it.

I'm standing face to face with the pastor, shaking in my britches.

He said, What do you come from?

I said, I'm not sure.

But God said, Come.

And I got saved, and a youth pastor came alongside of me for the next year and a half, discipled me.

And now you see what he what the results of that.

That's what I'm talking about.

It happened to Paul.

All animosity against the Christian.

Notice what he said.

Saw, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Now, do you got to see this real quick?

Then I'm going to jump on down.

We're going to end this thing, but you got to see this.

This is unbelievable.

Paul.

Have you ever?

Now yeah, I know you've not had those exact words, but when the Lord was dealing with me, the Lord kept saying to me, here's what he was saying to me, why are you running?

You ever had something like that speak to you?

Maybe not in those exact words, but the Lord kept saying, Why are you running from me?

Why are you running from me?

I can tell you why I was running from him.

I didn't want to have anything to do with church, really.

I had my plan.

I was going to play football, I was going to be a coach.

I don't have any problem planning out my own life.

You don't have to try to do that for me.

In fact, I got more thoughts and visions than probably ten of us put together.

I'm always, let's do this.

If I really told you what I was thinking, that'd scare you to death.

But now watch.

Watch.

Saul, why do you persecute me?

Danny, why are you running for me?

And then he goes on and he says, It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks.

You know what he said?

You can keep kicking against me if you want to, but you're gonna lose.

That word kick picks there is a stick with with uh nails in the end of it that are used to gourd oxen.

In other words, why why do you keep doing this to me?

Paul?

In other words, there was so much guilt in Paul, no doubt about it.

He was he was feeling desperate about killing Christians, all that was going on.

He couldn't, he was so messed up.

He said, Paul, you're running.

It's time to quit running.

You're mine.

Bam! He hits the ground.

Now, what's the two questions?

I'd never seen I had seen it, but are you ready?

Here we go.

I call it the asking salvation.

In response to this arrest by Christ, look what he said.

Two significant questions.

First, the who question.

Verse five.

Who are thou, Lord?

This is where I think he gets saved.

This is where salvation starts.

Who are you, Lord?

If you don't know who Jesus is, you can't be saved.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

He's the one that died for you and for me.

He says, Who are you?

This is where salvation starts.

We must know who Jesus is.

Now notice the second question.

You have the who question, then the what question.

What will thou have me to do?

Once we find out who Jesus is, the next question should be about doing his will.

Once you get saved, hey, now what's next question?

Lord, what do you want me to do?

When you get saved, the next question, Lord, what do you want me to do?

If you get saved, okay, I'm not going to hell, now let's just go do what I want to do.

I got something, I got a word for you.

That was nothing but an emotional decision.

That was a fake decision.

What would I have me to do?

Remember the disciples, every one of them, what'd Jesus say?

They said, Lord, what do you want me to do?

He said, Follow me.

Follow me.

Any man come after me, let him deny himself.

Take up his cross daily.

Follow me.

Wow.

And then notice the answers to the questions.

This is great.

Paul's two questions.

First, the who answer.

I am Jesus whom thou persecuted.

That was pretty shocking to Paul.

Now he understands what's happening.

He's he's hey, he is going against God.

He's not going against the Jews.

He's going against God.

He knew about God.

He was a member of the Sanhedrin.

He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

He had studied all the law.

He knew who Jehovah was.

Now he realized he's come face to face with him.

Wow.

Then notice the answer.

The what answer?

Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Now notice something here.

These orders were not spectacular.

But let me tell you what they teach us.

If you want to know more, and I really believe this, they still teach us, for they remind us, look, look, look, that God reveals his will one step at a time.

This is good.

If you want to know more of his will, now here's the key, I wrote the question to me.

Do what you already know to do.

Do what you already know to do, even if it is a simple task.

In other words, God's not going to tell you something else to do until you do what he's already told you to do.

Somebody say that's good, preacher.

Some of you right now, the reason you're not hearing from God, you're not doing what God's already told you to do.

That's the key.

I've been there more than once.

And it wasn't until I asked God to forgive me and I went back and did what I knew he wanted me to do.

Then he gave me illumination to go on.

And then we see if you want to know his will, you got to do what he's asking to do.

God does not reveal everything at once and requires obedience for us to learn more.

Is that not true?

And then I close with John.

And basically, he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day.

God took John up to heaven, showed him everything.

He was in the spirit, and he was, hey, let me tell you what's really important here.

When a watch this, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day.

Underline the Lord's day there.

Underline the Lord's day in verse 10, Revelation 1.

In other words, I can't help but always remember what David Wilson said.

And for you that are going through the covenants class, I walked in the covenants class the other night.

David was teaching the last lesson.

I couldn't stay long.

I just started weeping.

I miss him so dearly.

But he it resonates, but not just him.

What I've God has taught me and shown me is the Lord's day.

He's not talking about the day when the Lord comes back.

He's talking about the Sunday.

He's talking about worship time, being in worship, being in church.

That God reveals to you what he wants you to do.

That's why you don't miss church.

You come and you worship.

God's got direction.

God's got favor.

God's got, hey, hey, not just favor, but fellowship, but God's got a plan, and he reveals his plan through his teachings and to his people.

Whew.

That's good.

Now, let's close.

Our experience of the holy.

The more clearly we understand God's holiness, the more we'll, hey, the following will be true to us.

Okay.

This is good.

Here's your litmus test.

The more that you and I find in favor with God and walking in fellowship with God, this will be evident.

Number one, we will see ourselves as we really are.

Romans 3.23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

We're sinners that need a Savior.

We're sinners that need Christ.

Can I get an amen?

We see our own unrighteousness.

I used to hear a statement when I was in seminary: before you can get some people saved, first of all, you got to get them unsaved.

Now that does not mean they lose their salvation.

That just means that they got to come to the realization that they're lost and in need of a savior.

Most people, if they're doing good, they think they're okay.

Number two, we will understand the cross.

Once we see who we are compared to who God is, we understand the cross of Christ.

Remember Packer?

Listen to what he wrote.

I want to read this little paragraph to you.

Christ came into the world to provide access for sinful people to, hey, to meet a holy God.

If Christ had not died for our unholiness, we would have remained in our sins and been barred forever from the presence of a holy God.

We know our sins were actually upon Christ because God, in his holiness, could not even look upon his own son on the cross, who now carried upon himself the sins of the world.

He forsook his own son in order that we might be made holy in Christ.

What Christ accomplished on the cross was to weave a new suit of clothes for you and me to wear that we might be clothed with his own holiness.

So now, there's that word again.

When God looks at me, he does not see my sin, but the holiness of his son in which I am clothed.

That is the purpose of the cross, to provide that which the to provide that which the holiness of God demanded.

God took the life of his own son instead of our lives and gave us Christ's righteousness in exchange.

Wow! What a picture.

Who, his own self, bear sins in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.

Wow.

Number three, we will worship him.

There's definite connection between seeing God's holiness and worship, true worship.

All the biblical characters that we looked at that I've cited earlier in this message, worship God.

But when we see God's holiness, we do more than participate in worship on Sunday.

Our whole life becomes an act of worship.

We worship Him everywhere we go.

And then number four, we will cultivate the habit of holiness.

When we see God's holiness, we're motivated to become holy.

Be holy in all manner of conversation, for it is written, be holy, for I am holy.

Now watch this.

What is holiness?

It's divine virtue.

It is the character of God expressed in our life.

It is the opposite of sin.

It involves devotion to God, loyalty to God, and living like God.

Coming out and being separate, being different, not in weird ways.

Why be holy?

1 Peter 6, 17.

And 16 and 17, be holy in all manner of conversation, for it is written, Be holy, for I am holy.

And then verse 7 says, Because I will be the judge in the last day.

Here's why.

Why be holy?

God commands us to.

Number two, we are children.

Verse 14 in 1 Peter 1.

3, we are worshipers, 1 Peter 1.17, and we will be judged.

1 Peter 1.17.

That is why we're to be holy.

And then when we are holy, number five, we will be like him.

1 John 3.2.

For we will see him as he is.

Wow.

You got theology 101 on the holiness of God this morning.

What a challenge.

This has challenged your pastor.

And I mean this.

You know what's easy about us?

Let me tell you the sin that we most good Christians commit.

And I'm the first one to confess.

Okay?

Now I'm not saying that I'm a good Christian, but I try to strive to be as much like Christ as I can.

But let me tell you the sin, there's two sins we hide that I think stumble, keep us from coming into the presence of God.

I've been praying and I even fasted today over whether or not I wanted to say this.

And I've got peace to say it.

Because it's I'm guilty.

Okay?

Two things.

One our tongue.

We don't see gossiping and speaking negative about people as evil.

You say, Well, I don't talk really evil about people because it's the truth.

Hello?

So what?

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good, to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto its hears.

If it's not good, if it's not building up, hey, if it's not spoken graciously, don't say it.

Bad attitude.

You say, well, I don't I don't say a word.

Well, you don't have to.

We can see it all over you.

That's me.

My problem is I'll you see it and I see it.

You don't have to worry about what I'm thinking.

And that's not good.

We laugh about it.

The reason I'm laughing about it is because I'm so guilty of it.

But is that not true?

Those two things I'm convinced keep good Christians from really seeing the holiness and the shekun and glory of God.

I don't know about you, but I want to get rid of that.

I'm gonna keep my mouth shut and keep my actions right.

And even if I have to get me two toothpicks, I'm gonna walk around with a smile.

Amen.

I love you.

I love you, church.

And the truth we've heard this morning will separate us from just playing church and being church.

I'm telling you.

It'll separate us.

And that's the separation I meant to preach.

We want to be more than just a church.

We want to be a church that comes into the presence of an awesome God on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

Amen.

We just want to be like you.