This morning I left one greeting out, just by mistake because I didn’t really think about it. And then even though of it this evening. And that is that we did have an opportunity, right before we went over to North Carolina to see the Monroes, to go see Sue and Tom Jertberg. And we had a chance to go out to eat with them. And Tom wanted us to drive over. It was a little bit further, and then we had to come back. But we had a good time with the Jertbergs. They all wanted me to make sure that I bore their greetings to the congregation of Fellowship Baptist Church. We got to see the house that he’s been working on. Tom has been a bad boy. Surprise, surprise, surprise. But he he’s been working on getting stuff out of climbing ladders, getting stuff out of the eaves and doing that sort of stuff and moving big the house double wide that they are in, been moving and building decks outdoors. And some of them are there was one there that was all rotted out. And it was at the front door. And there were a couple of good planks, but there were big holes in it and everything. And he told me that that’s the door they take all the Jehovah’s Witness to. It’s Tom, you know, it’s just Tom. But we had a great time of rejoicing with them.

Secondly, tonight, I would like to just thank you for your appearance here tonight. As I know very well that the Charlie Kirk Memorial is still going on. So don’t you dare complain about Pastor Ryan and me preaching till 12 and 15, you know, or to go on this long sermon. That is a lot longer. But you just want to say, wow. Being broadcast, it’ll be reviewed and rebroadcast. And you know anymore, I don’t believe hardly anything on the Internet But they said that they are going to broadcast it on maybe a couple of the main Television stations, I’ll believe it when I see it, which I won’t see it because I don’t even know how to find those on sling but I I can’t I don’t you know ABC CBS and NBC I don’t know where they are on my smart TV because my TV is smarter than I I But it is, will be, and has been a tremendous testimony.

And I’ve never heard anyone say this publicly, but I’m going to. And that is, it’s tremendous. And he deserves all kinds of praise. And I would hope that, you know, upon my death, that there would be, you know, just even a tiny fraction of the praise and of the result of a life lived for the glory of God. And I’ve had a lot more years than he to accomplish that. And that man was really smart. I’ve heard him talk about philosophy and a review or an interview with Levin, and he’s getting into philosophy and Sart, and I mean, just, he’s, and he didn’t go to college, and he was a profoundly intelligent man and deserves the praise. Got an honorary doctorate today, if you didn’t see that, from Hillsdale, both he and his wife. And I mean, what praise? And he deserves it. It was really great. And his faith for the Lord and so forth. The people praising him are mentioning that.

But I have a bit of a burden in my heart. There’s an awful lot of people that in some areas of their life, unless they’ve recently been converted, I’m pretty well convinced they’re not believers. And yet they’re acting like it. I hope and it would be my prayer that that would be genuine and true revival would come to our country. But we need to pray for all of those giving him praise. It is a I think a real testimony to the scriptures when it says that we should live peaceably and that we should have a good testimony, a good testimony from those are from without. And I think that I’ve seen that. But there can be some confusion, not over the confusion that Charlie Kirk preached about the gospel, but some confusion of some of the people that are trying to parrot him.

And that’s a bit of a concern. You know, that may go out. But the strong testimony and so forth has been awesome. And I want to go back and to see and just even some of the things concerning our president. that was there. I mean I had to leave before he spoke but our vice president had a tremendous testimony. He said he’s a lot more bold to mention Jesus Christ. Defense Secretary Marco Rubio. I mean what he said was pure gospel. It was really good. And so we want you know and I trust he really believes that and trusting him for that. So we want to just pray for this movement for the testimony I’m sure

These upcoming days are going to give us an opportunity to share our faith. And and I think that it, if anything, has done the the backdrop of my black shirt and black suit to my orange tie. You know that we can stand out as light and darkness and truth where there has been so much lying concerning history. and concerning some things in our country. So we live in interesting days, to say the least. What I want to do tonight is to continue what I started two weeks ago, and then next week I’m not speaking again because we have one of our missionaries, the Thomas’s, and then I’ll come back and speak again. But that’s OK, because all of these topics and things that I want to discuss concerning the doctrine of God or in theology can stand on their own and we can do that.

I thought it was interesting this morning when Pastor Ryan is preaching and he’s getting into the eternal begetting and begottenness. And he gets up there and he says, we’re going to go deep into theology. And I did appreciate his deep pond reference and so forth and the high quality of education that we that we have here in this church. But then I thought, he doesn’t know that this past week I’ve listened to R.C. on the aseity of God in preparation for this, reading Bavick, Burkoff, and a bunch of others, John Calvin, John Murray, and others on the holiness of God, the eternality of God, simplicity of God, And if you thought he was going into deep stuff, I thought, well, maybe I better lighten it up. But I want to just thank you for all of you coming, having sat all afternoon, or not all of you, but some of you watching this funeral service. And you’re kind of probably kind of tired being preached at. Well, I’m not going to get real deep into the aseity of God.

But to hear my mentor, R.C. Sproul, talk about the isness of God. and that God always has been and he’s never been not. And you might think that’s bad English, but actually it says exactly what I mean to say. There’s never been a time when God is not. And if, now he would correct me. He said, don’t say if, say since. Since there is reality and you exist And things are. Unless they are eternal, they were created somehow. And a few people, I mean, philosophers in the past have thought something, stuff, matter is eternal, but pretty much everybody knows it’s not now.

So there had to be a beginning. And so if there is anything, or since there is everything, And we have to determine where it came because if it’s all created, who created it? And when they created it, they were before creation and they were. And since they were, they are eternal. And so we could talk about the eternality of God, which I may choose to pick that as a subject in an upcoming week. But in the midst of what we’re going to look at tonight, last time I talked about that God is incomprehensible, but God is knowable. Tonight we’re going to talk about another attribute that it’s interesting that theologians can’t seem to make up their minds what this is, an incommunicable attribute or communicable attribute, meaning Some incommunicable ones we just can’t fully comprehend. Other ones we can have more of a concept of.

The love of God is one of those that would jump out there. But we really don’t know all of the love of God. So in some sense they may be communicable but not completely. Because God is knowable but not entirely. We’re created and he is not. And one of the differences that make that a reality is, is because of the, well, if it’s an attribute. I don’t I’ve almost gotten to the point I don’t know that I like that word because an attribute seems to have a parameter around the word of the word that we can talk about the love of God. But you really can’t talk just about the love of God or the sovereignty of God. What we’re going to look at is God is spirit that’s comprehensive and it deals with his essence. And last time the message was. Standing at the edge of mystery. and just to comprehend God, his aseity, eternality, his simplicity, his complexity, and all of that creates a sense of all.

But tonight, what we want to look at is a particular attribute of God that actually is an attribute, but it’s an adjective. It goes throughout all of the attributes. And it has been termed by theologians as God’s beauty. I love the old guys. I mean, they always say it in a way that I go, yeah, that’s that’s got some up to it. The beauty of God. Karnak said this, the power is God’s hand and arm. Omniscience, His eye and mercy, His bowels are eternity, His duration. But His holiness is His beauty.

You see, God is holy. We sang that right before them. Holy, holy, holy. We’ll go to the text in Isaiah. And I won’t be able to do better than, but I’ll try to do as good as Brother Ben did at Wednesday night on Isaiah six. It is cried out and constant worship and declaration of God. But you see, God’s sovereignty is holy. God’s omniscience is holy. God was holy for all eternity and his aseity before there was anything. As creator, he is holy. As a lawgiver, he is holy. So while holiness, it describes God, It’s it’s it can be a noun or an adjective because this is the one that beautifies, as it were, all of the attributes. In fact, John Howell in 1670 said this. This is the attribute of attributes. It governs all others. Rudolph Otto said this, and I’m going to use the Latin just because I like to. And and it just is one that will grip your soul. It is the mysterium tremendum. It is that which causes the awe of worship.

In Psalm 34, and in some selected verses, but the one I think for tonight I just wanna refer to, come and taste and see that the Lord is good. And we love that. And we bask in that. And we think that that is wonderful. And it is. And that our God seeks to have fellowship with us through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he desires for us to worship. But let me read you a passage. This is where the mysterium tremendum finds its own. Leviticus chapter 10 verses 1, 2, and 3.

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and put incense on it and offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. taste and see that the Lord is good. And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke, saying, hear the words of the Lord, quoted, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. And therefore, all the people must, and before all of the people, I must be glorified. So Aaron held his peace. He could not mourn the death of his two kids whom the Lord consumed because they did not honor his holiness.

Tonight, I wanna talk to you about the beauty of the Lord of holiness. Before we go to that passage of Isaiah 6, let me just read to you a series of passages to show you once again, this is a biblical doctrine and it’s not so much just of one passage, but rather this is a theme. And as we’ve seen, as we’re talking about God, that God who is A God who is incomprehensible has chosen to be knowable, but only as he chooses to reveal himself. And that revelation comes by way of general revelation. But you know, the heavens declared the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork. Romans chapter one, that it’s enough to hold a man without excuse, but not enough of the revelation to fully reveal him. But it is enough to judge him. and that the full revelation of God, book of Hebrews and Romans, for in him that is in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily or in bodily form. But just listen to these words and think about by those who come unto me, I must be regarded as holy. Exodus chapter 15 verse 11 says, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee? Glorious in holiness. Fearful in praises, doing wonders.

Now, I just want to look at that phrase again. Sometimes it’s kind of interesting not only to look at the noun, but a but a but an adjective or a modifier of what it is that you’re looking at. Who is like thee? And then I’m going to tell you who you are, like you are. glorious or full of glory. What is the fullness of the glory of God? It’s his holiness. We better really know what holiness is. And that’s, I guess, kind of the concern that some of the people who may be talking may not have any idea whatsoever about the glory of the truth. of the God that they’re trying to praise, but they’re doing it ignorantly. And again, at least it’s a step. I’m not trying to be critical at all because at least they’re saying something. And a lot of it from the truth of the scriptures. It’s true. And truth will bring forth fruit. Leviticus. Um, says this, it says, for I am the Lord your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves and ye shall be holy for I am holy. Now that shows why holiness is so important. And it is a communicable attribute because we can’t be it if we don’t understand it. But yet it’s still something he provides. But yet we are to strive for it. We’ll find that out in a minute.

But this is Leviticus passage that warns us that we can’t understand and this applies to us. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. For I am the Lord that brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. Ye shall therefore be holy for I am holy. Psalm 47 verse 8 says God reigns over the heathen. God sits upon the throne of his holiness. So that Isaiah passage we’re going to soon go to. When we see that about holy, holy, holy. His throne is holy. See there are objects that are holy. And we’ll see that many other things are called holy as well. But it’s his throne, the throne of his holiness. Isaiah 57 verse 15. For thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity. I love that. The aseity of God reference to their whose name is holy.

Now, we know that the names of God, Jehovah, Jireh, Elohim and the Yahweh, all of the other ones, Jehovah, Salome and all the other ones. All the names of God. How can you know God? It’s because he has revealed himself in creation. He’s revealed himself in his names. And guess what? And he’s revealed himself in his attributes. But his name is holy. That’s why I said it’s a it’s an adjective. It’s a noun, but it’s an adjective. It is. It describes all of the attributes. Thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

So this one who is holy is concerned about drawing people and having a people of his own. And he wants them to be holy. To say you want Christ as your Lord and Savior, but I’m going to live the way I want. See, it’s incongruous. I mean, you can’t say that. You can’t live that because God is holy and he wants holiness for those that he comes and ministers to. Well, those are some of the Old Testament passages. First Peter, chapter one, verses 15, 16. But as he which is called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation or in your manner of life. the way that you live, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

So this is Old Testament, New Testament, God saving a holy people unto himself. But the way where I like it and like to pay attention is when it gets to the book of the Revelation. And the four beasts, this is Revelation four, eight, the four beasts, which had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within. Sounds like Isaiah six. And they rest not day or night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And then later on in Revelation 15, for who shall not fear the Lord and glorify thy name for thou art. For thou only art holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you. for your judgments are made manifest. We’ve all, well, I don’t know all, but if you’ve been around here for very long, or if you have any ties to Ligonier ministry, you all know that whole thing about the holy, holy, holy.

God’s attributes are revealed in scripture, but none of them are exalted and stated three times. You see, nowhere does it say love, love, love, or God is spirit, spirit, spirit. But the attribute, whether adjective or noun, when it refers to holy, holier, and holiest. God is holy, statement of fact, reality, non-subjective, objective, truth. God is holier. That’s always comparative. God is holier than anything else. But holiest he is. And there is nothing higher than God in holiness. That’s why it’s known as the governing attribute, the one that kind of arcs over all with respect to however that we perceive in what we can comprehend in the communicated attributes. Holiness affects them all. Because you see, it shows us the beauty of God.

Take your Bible and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53. And as you turn to, I’m sorry, 53. Yeah, I’d like to go there too. Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six. Tonight, I’d like to quickly consider the holiness of God in three ways. The first way was by biblical testimony and that we have done. I think there’s only one other thing I want to say by that so that we can see it. And I prayed this morning on purpose, starting off with the Lord’s prayer, which is really a disciple’s prayer. You teach us how to pray. When he said, Hallowed or holy. be thy name. And we’re going to contemplate that this should affect every area of our particular lives. But what is the meaning of holiness?

We’ve got this testimony that is here and what does it mean? Well the English is in a sense means whole. It refers to the wholeness of something. Its usage means we usually say more popularly Holy, pure or a sense of moral sacredness, something that is sacred. The Hebrew means a Hebrew and the Greek actually mean separate or to set apart. It sometimes can refer to set apart for a particular purpose so that they had the holy utensils and the tabernacle and the temple. It’s a it’s a special place. One place, you know, I said it was three times holy, holy, holy, but you have the holy of holies. That’s just two. But what was that?

Now, that’s where Israel could go to worship God, the Ark of the Covenant. It is a place set apart only for the priest, for the Ark of the Covenant, for atonement to be made. It is a separate whole place where business can be done. The meaning of holiness, God is absolutely separate from all that is earthly or created because he created it. And the creator is greater than the created. So God is holy over us. He is sovereign. That’s why in the doctrine of salvation and the doctrine, you know, eternal decrees and Nothing happens that he doesn’t decree. And when people complain about it, they don’t know who God is. They’re actually robbing God of glory. And God shares his glory with no one. They don’t understand who he is. So it means in this idea that he is separate.

It says in Psalm 99 and Isaiah 57, there is the holiness and the theologians kind of refer to it this way. There is the holiness of God or the holiness of divine majesty. It is the only kind of holiness that he has. Last time I made mention of the verse, God’s ways are not man’s ways. God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts. Why? Because God is holy. He doesn’t do things like us. He doesn’t determine. If someone says, well, I don’t think that God choosing the elect before the foundation of the world, I don’t think that that is fair.

Well, God is holy and God’s sense of fairness and what is right and true and the majesty, the divine majesty makes it right because that’s what the scriptures declare. You don’t make God into your image. He made us into his image, but he is still far and above what we are because he is God. God is absolutely separate from all that is morally unclean. That’s called the holiness of moral purity. Psalm 99 verses four through nine. You see, can God sin? That’s always the part of a theological or Bible question for a game when it says can God do anything? Everybody wants to say yes. Answer is no. Can God lie? I mean the Bible says God cannot lie. Can God reveal himself the way he’s really not? No. Can God sin? No. And that’s why when we come to those passages when he repented that we sometimes struggle with those because it looks like he changes his mind. But we know that God in his word has said, I am the Lord. I changed not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Well, he doesn’t change and there’s opportunities, but the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. But does he deal with that ungodliness and that wrath? Yeah. So we can turn. But yet it looks like he can’t. They see there are ways to explain all this, but to properly understand it is, is that God is holy. And that means he is separated from all that is morally unclean, the moral purity of Almighty God. God, the holiness is the fundamental moral attribute controlling the other attributes.

It says in Isaiah 57 verse 15 that his name is holy and his dwelling place are holy. Isaiah 47 verse eight says that he has the throne of his holiness. It refers to his law is holy in Romans chapter seven. And verse 12, all works of all of his works are holy. Psalm 145, verse 17, his works of providence, the way he does things, his acts of grace and and working out his will and permissiveness and so forth is all according to his holiness. Theologians have divided it up and they have said this. There are four elements of God’s holiness first. is that element of majesty. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. The glory of his majesty. There is the glory of his will, which usually touches in the areas of jealousy and how he guards that which is his. There is the holiness of his wrath. The wrath that comes if it, His judgment and your sin is just simply ignored. His wrath is not diminished.

You go to the book of the Revelation. And because he is holy, sitting on a throne that is holy, and as he is going to bring in the future judgment that will bring destruction to this world. And it is the fierceness of his wrath and the destruction and all that is poured out and the winepress of the fierceness of his wrath and as it’s poured out. And people cry out for the mountains to cover them because they wanna do anything but not to stand before the moral perfection and holiness of God or the holy wrath of God. People will say, well, I don’t think it’s fair that God will send sinners to hell because it says that he loves them. But because of his holiness, he can’t tolerate sin and his presence. And it’s his holiness and his holy wrath that is poured out, and it is just, holy, and must never be ignored, as demonstrated by Leviticus 10, by Nadab and Abihu. And then there is this holiness of God that deals with righteousness. and a life of righteousness. Some talk about that which is ethical and that which is simply right. What God does is right.

I would assume, although I wouldn’t necessarily guarantee, that Charlie Kirk’s funeral is done. 31, he did not deserve to die that way. I hope some of you did not see that execution and that martyrdom in public because it was and I can be gross because I’m a biologist, but it was terribly offensive and gross. But God is holy. God was done with him. God called him home. I may hurt. I may have gut level upsetness. I may be repulsed. I may become angry. But the one thing I can never do is to accuse God of folly. Because it was the holy and right thing. I’ve heard of people getting saved. And again, I trust that that’s true. It probably is.

Does God have the right to kill one of his own to save someone else by the testimony of that one? Absolutely. Because God in providence, God in judgment, is holy. He is his thoughts, not our thoughts, his ways, not our ways. He’s holy, he’s separate, he’s another plane. He’s not a creation. He created, and above all, and always morally pure and right.

Now, the picture in Isaiah, chapter six, and usually the place that we automatically go, the only other place that I almost went and I wanted to read and make a few comments would have been Moses at the burning bush. You remember what happened? Moses sees the bush and goes over. And what does God say out of the bush? Take off your sandals because the land upon which you are standing is. It’s holy. It’s separate. No other place that doesn’t exist there now. But when you go and you stand before God and when God wants to talk to you. That is a holy place. It’s separate. It’s like no other place. In the year that King Uzziah died. Pause.

We have historical context. This happened really. And basically, Uzziah had been a king Mostly good, I think he died of leprosy if I’m not mistaken. And he, people were kind of concerned, like what’s the future? It was like I remember the day that Donald Trump was shot in Pennsylvania. My wife was watching TV and she’s shaking and crying. And and it’s like I don’t know if you remember this. This would have been the same kind of gut feeling that I had in my office when Emily and I were in the church office. And my wife calls and says, there’s planes been flown into the Twin Towers. And that sick gut feeling that you get, the turmoil, what’s happening now? Life is not the same. That’s exactly what these people were feeling at that point. Uncertainty, not sure, you’re just sick. That’s the feeling. And when we as God’s people feel that way, what do we need? We need a vision of God. And if we get a vision of God, that’s where God’s people find their strength.

Whatever the circumstances, raise your gaze and look to God. So in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting Not pacing, not wringing his hands, oh no. That’s a wowie zowie moment, no. What am I gonna do now? I better get a plan B. That’s not God. He’s sitting where he needs to sit on the throne running things. And that throne is high. and lifted up. So it’s exalted. And the train of his robe, the flowing garments of his robe, fill the temple, showing just how separated and high and holy he is. And above it stood the seraphim, hapax legomenon of the Old Testament is in reference to these are beings that are special. And there’s a lot we could say, but they got six wings to they cover their face to they cover their feet to they fly.

And one cried one to another. Love, love, love. Sovereignty, sovereignty, sovereignty. That might be might be easier in Hebrew or not, but you know, yeah, that’s not what they said. Mercy, mercy, mercy. No. Holy. Holy. Holy. That’s the picture of our God. You don’t, you know, when we die and we go before God, we don’t bebop into the special room for the big daddy upstairs in the sky. That’s blasphemy. You go into a throne room and you see him in the throne, sitting, ruling the nations, are drops in buckets and we’re nothing but a bunch of grasshoppers. That’s not an excuse for chewing tobacco because they kind of act like they’re doing that. No, that means we’re not really worth a whole lot. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.

You know, we can find it easy to complain, but this earth. As part of the demonstration of the glory of God. And it tells us of him. Mankind’s doing everything they can to mess it up. But this is the greatness of our God. The whole earth is full of his glory and the boast of the doors were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke. So the holiness of God is all-comprehensing. Holy love, holy wrath, holy mercy, holy creation. He is holy. This is the beauty of our God. It’s like nothing that we have or see. or can because it is found in one place. He is totally separate. And yet. He communicates himself to us in the word of God. That’s why it’s called the Holy Scriptures. It’s a book. But it’s a book like no other book. It’s a separate book.

R.C. would say that this is the book in its own genre. It’s its own kind. It’s got genre in it. It’s got Hebrew poetry. It’s got historical narrative. It’s got poetry. It’s got prophecy. And that includes different ways to interpret and try and choose. But God has communicated in a unique and separate way. It’s a holy book. And he has a holy plan that is working out because, you see, we have to have a response. And the response to a message like this, a response to the holiness of God we have clearly here in the text. Verse five, so I said, Isaiah says, woe is me for I am undone. He pronounces a woe unto himself. Now a woe is like, Self-condemnation, you’re judging yourself.

You know, like in the book of the Revelations, I love the book and in the book of the Revelation. And when those angels come and when they cry out to the world. There’s a bad day. This will be a really, really bad day. Whoa, whoa, whoa. And then everything falls apart. This world would refer to that was an action of Satan. and the bad place. No, it’s worse than that. It is the woe. Not of bringing hell up, it is the woe of God’s judgment, holy judgment coming down. Here he pronounced woe upon himself, judgment. You see, we cannot properly understand the holiness of God until we get what we aren’t, and that is we aren’t holy. And just you changing some of your habits doesn’t make you holy. You can’t get holiness that God requires. And Isaiah knew that. I am undone.

I can’t fix myself, another prophet, you know, that we are the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. We are undone, we are unholy, we are worthy of God’s judgment. I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And how do you address the Lord of hosts? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having his hand with a live coal in which he had taken from the tongs of the altar, and he touched my mouth with it. And he said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity. It’s taken away. Your wellness is no longer woe. Your wellness is now righteousness. and your sins purged because there was a work of God to do what you couldn’t. I also heard the voice of the Lord say whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said here am I send me and he said go and tell this people. And I’ll leave it there. That’s a full text and then to go commission. They won’t listen. They’re going to stay dead. But that is from the response of simple mankind and a holy God working out his plan.

Now, I left one thing out purposefully. You know, there is holy ground, holy Sabbath, holy place, holy seed, holy covenant, holy nation, holy jubilee, holy water, holy city, holy words, holy one and holy ones, plural. but there is another place where holiness really comes, and it is part of the element of God’s holiness. Because you see, the practical view of this doctrine is God’s holiness reveals our uncleanness. We need to be humbled. We need to see our unrighteousness next to his holiness and reverence. Worship is to be reflected with a holy attitude, with a holy respect. It guarantees the immutability of God’s covenants. God’s law is holy. God’s new covenant is holy. It’s God’s way of dealing with mankind. It reveals the character of the coming kingdom where holiness and righteousness will rule and reign. It reveals the desperate need of the sinful world. It demands holiness in God’s people.

1 Peter 1, we read those verses. Holiness teaches us how to hate sin and to learn to love righteousness and to strive for it. Holiness should cause the believer to hunger and thirst for righteousness. But holiness also clearly demands, the holiness of God clearly demands the righteous demands of the law. and the amount of holy love that God has for us, because the clearest demonstration of the holiness of God. We were in the text this morning. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. When God takes a sinless. Son.

When a father. Pours out his wrath. Upon the son of God, you want to know how big, how stern, how holy this is going to sound funny, but how holy God’s holiness is. When my sin was placed upon Jesus. God couldn’t even spare his own son. And poured his wrath out so that my savior had to cry out. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So he wouldn’t forsake me. And then as he did that for all those who would ever believe. And then he says. It is finished, because who was he talking to? Roman soldier? No way. Talking to the Jews there? No, he’s talking to his mom. No, he was talking to his father who had just poured out his righteous and holy wrath. upon him on that cross. And Jesus uttered to Telestai, it is finished. And then he dies.

God’s holiness is of another kind. God’s holiness is separate, above, beyond it all. But it comes with stiff commands. But it also comes with a tremendous invitation. Call upon the name of the Lord and thou shalt be saved. And he proved that Jesus’ atonement for his sin was accepted. How? On that third day, he rose again from the dead. And his holiness was demonstrated to produce fruit so that we might have life eternal. Were you there when they crucified the Lord?

Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven, we do ask that you might help us to comprehend at least in part your love but more than that, your holiness and stand in awe and to realize we have none. You require it, but you also provide it in one source, in one place, in your son. Father, I pray and ask that each one here tonight has been separated unto your saving grace by your holy call unto salvation. And even in the testimony of the song we will sing, may we rejoice that that’s true for us. For we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.