Knowing a Holy God (Pt. 2)

God’s Word dwells more on His holiness than any other attribute, so its not
surprising that many encountered it in the Old and New Testaments. Dr.
David Jeremiah takes a closer look at what they experienced and shares how you
can touched by God’s holiness in your own walk.

And thank you for joining us again today for the Tuesday edition of Turning Point.
I want to remind all of you before. I do anything else that we are going to Alaska in July.
And I need to tell you, we are almost sold out on this cruise.
We’ve never had anything like this. I think a lot of people are just ready. Covid’s over.
They’re trying to get back to normal and you know, Alaska is a great place to go.
We’re gonna have a great group of people, great music, great guests, a great event and if you haven’t already registered, I hope you will do it.
I’m not gonna be able to talk about this much more because we’re moving in a direction.
I’ve never seen anything like before. We had 70 and 80 reservations each week.
So I hope you’ll take time today to make your reservation and join us in Alaska.
The dates are July 15th to the 22nd and uh we’ll have more about that as we get closer, but we don’t want you to miss out, take time today to make your reservation and join us in July when we go to Alaska.
Here’s part two of knowing a holy God.
Probably the most famous encounter with the holiness of God had happened with a man by the name of Isaiah.
Once again, a little background, Isaiah was one of the greatest kings of the Old Testament.
He came to the throne when he was 16 years of age and he reigned over Israel for 52 years.
He was the only ruler that most of the people in Israel had ever known, including the prophet Isaiah.
And this king Isaiah, the Bible says, he did what was right in the eyes of God and served God wonderfully till he got old.
And when he got old, he got arrogant and one day he went to the temple and when the priests weren’t available to minister to him, he grew irritated and he decided he didn’t need a priest.
He usurped the functions of the priest, which was an abomination to God.
And the Bible says, he immediately broke out in leprosy.
And from that moment, he lived in a separate house under quarantine, never being able to be around others.
And when he died, the whole nation mourned, that’s when Isaiah went to the temple, the prophet went to the temple to pray and ask for God’s direction during this transition.
What do you do when a man who’s been the king for 52 years finally dies, what happens next?
And when he arrived at the temple that day he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Isaiah six.
Tells us that in that in the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above it stood se of him.
Each one had six wings with two, he covered his face with two, he covered his feet and with two, he did fly and one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.
So Isaiah said, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips.
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts and one of the Seraphim flew to him having in his hand, a live coal which he had taken from the altar and he touched his mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged.
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
And I said, here am I send me?
Isaiah went to the temple to mourn the loss of the king.
And he got a vision of the heavenly King, the ancient Hebrew language had no way of emphasizing words like we do, you couldn’t push a button on a computer and have your words changed in style?
They didn’t italicize or underline or type in bold print when they wanted to highlight something, they doubled it.
Remember how Jesus would often say, truly, truly, I say unto you, that’s Jesus saying underline this, this is important.
This is in bold. This is my way of saying this is critically, critically important.
Very seldom do we see triplicates and never of any other attribute of God.
Is there a trip in the Bible?
But when Isaiah was in the temple, beholding the Lord high and lifted up, the angels were crying holy, holy, holy, the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah was stunned and the Bible says, he saw himself as he really was.
And then along with job and Moses and Isaiah, there’s Paul, remember Paul on the road to Damascus all of a sudden he sees a bright light from heaven and it was brighter than the noonday sun and it knocked him to the ground.
And when he experienced the holiness of God, he was blinded as though his eyes had been burned out by the infinite brilliance of the savior on his throne, his spiritual and physical eyes were open and his life was changed through that experience.
Saul of Tarsus became Paul the apostle.
And finally, there’s John if you read the book of revelation, you know, it was written by the Apostle John.
And Revelation gives us perhaps the most understandable picture of what God might look like to us.
If he were to manifest himself, read the first chapter of revelation.
And it will tell you that when John looked into heaven, he saw the enthroned Lord whose hair was like blinding snow, his eyes were flames of fire.
His voice was like the sound of many waters and his countenance was like the sun shining in all of its strength out of his mouth.
Came a two edged sword and John said, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead encountering the holiness of God.
I rather think if you and I would have any experience like one of these five guys, we would do the same thing, don’t you?
We’d put our hand over our mouth, we’d fall on our face.
We would say whoa is me for I am undone.
When you see the holiness of God, it has an incredible impact on you.
And we know that maybe that’s why we’re a little bit timid about even exploring this subject.
How am I impacted by the holiness of God today?
Is this just something I need to have in the hard drive of my mind so that if somebody ever asks me about it, I can give them an answer.
No, it’s much more than that.
Let me see if I can help us get our arms around that, what are the takeaways for you and me when we know what the holiness of God is all about?
Well, let’s talk first about association.
When we understand how Holy God is, we see ourselves in the light of that holiness.
I read a book recently again that I had had for a long time, a book by Billy Graham.
How to be Born again In this book, he tells about a time when he was going to be interviewed at his home, knowing the show would appear on nationwide television.
His wife Ruth took pains to see that everything looked nice.
She vacuumed and dusted and tidied up the whole house and had gone over the living room with a fine tooth comb.
When the film crew arrived with all the lights and cameras, she felt that everything in that living room was *** and Span Billy said we were in place along with the interviewer when suddenly the television lights were turned on and we saw cobwebs and dust where we had never seen them before.
It was in the words of my wife, I mean that room she said was fastest tuned with dust and cobwebs which simply did not show up under the ordinary light.
The point is of course that no matter how we think we have our lives in order when we see ourselves in the light of God’s holiness, all the cobwebs and all the dust shows up.
The standard of all morality is God’s absolute perfect unsullied holiness and anything that falls short of that can never measure up for fellowship with the Holy God.
That’s why Jesus Christ had to come to this world because we could never be holy enough to know God.
We had to borrow our holiness from God’s son.
The cosmic disconnect between God and man can only be understood in a real way by our next point, which is appreciation, understanding the cross as a picture of God’s holiness.
While we may never fully understand all that took place on the cross of Calvary, we will better appreciate it when we understand the holiness of God.
Christ came into this world as God’s sinless, only begotten son. And he lived a sinless perfect life.
His life reflected the holiness of heaven.
And when he came to the cross, he came as the spotless lamb of God.
He had never sinned in any possible way.
And he went to the cross and he died and gathered upon himself that day, all the sin of the world and gave up his life so that the penalty of sin could ultimately and finally be paid.
He was the only one who could have done that because he was the only sinless person who ever lived.
And the Bible tells us that when God, the father looked down out of heaven on his son, hanging there between two thieves bearing the sin of the whole world.
The Bible says, God, the father turn his back because He could not bear to see the putrid iniquity of all mankind reflected in His son.
And you hear the words of Christ on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
If God could have answered that? He would have said my holiness is so great.
My standard is so high that I cannot look upon my own son, knowing that He is not sinful himself, but that He bears the sin of the world.
My righteousness and my holiness demand that I look away. The cross of Jesus.
Christ is the greatest picture of the holiness of God.
You will ever see in that moment when Jesus paid the penalty for our sin.
Something wonderful happened when he came down from the cross, he took his holiness and he wove it into a suit of clothes and he offers the suit of clothes of his holiness to anyone who will believe in him and accept them as their savior.
So if we’re Christians today, we walk around and we’re wearing the holiness of Jesus.
What God the Father looks at us though, we are sinful. He doesn’t see us.
He sees the clothes we wear the holiness of the blessed savior who paid the penalty for our sin on the cross of Calvary.
So we come to Him in prayer. And how do we pray in Jesus name?
That’s our entry into the holy place of God. And it all happened at Calvary.
And then along with association, seeing ourselves in the light of God’s holiness and appreciation.
Understanding the cross as a picture of God’s holiness.
Here’s the third takeaway adoration, worshiping God in the beauty of his holiness. Did you know that?
The first recorded hymn in biblical history is Moses song. Here it is.
Who is like you, oh Lord, among the Gods who is like you glorious in holiness, fearful in praises doing wonders.
According to the Bible, the holiness of God is beautiful and we are called to worship God in the beauty of his holiness.
First chronicles 16 puts it this way. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.
Psalm 29 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due to his name.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.
Psalm 96 9 will worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Tremble before him.
All the earth theologian Son Kirkegaard once said, we’ve gotten confused a lot about worship.
We’re confused about who is doing what we think of worshipers as the audience, pastors, as the entertainers and God as the prompter.
But in all reality, worshipers are the performers. Pastors are the prompters and God is the audience.
When we gather for worship, we perform a drama with different parts, speaking and singing and praying and giving money and baptizing, eating bread and drinking wine.
All for the delight of one person almighty God.
And at the end of the show, the only applause that matters comes from God.
We worship the beauty of his holiness.
Arturo Toscanini finished conducting a brilliant performance of Beethoven’s fifth symphony.
And the audience rose to its feet and applauded, shouting its delight.
But Toscanini waved his arms violently for it all to stop.
And he turned to the orchestra and shouted hoarsely. You are nothing.
He pointed to himself and shouted, I am nothing.
And then he shouted, Beethoven is everything, everything, everything.
When we worship, we must say God is everything, everything, everything.
When we don’t do this, worship gets all undone.
Let’s never forget what worship is all about.
It’s not about those of us on the stage, not about those in the choir, not about those in the orchestra pit.
It’s about almighty God. We play it out before him and then let me talk about application.
We see ourselves in the light of God’s holiness. We understand the cross as a picture of God’s holiness.
We worship God in the beauty of His holiness and we cultivate habits of holiness in our own life.
It is God’s will that we be holy.
And the Bible says that God created us and called us for that reason.
We have been chosen to be holy just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy.
God’s purpose for us is that we cultivate holiness in our life. We have been commanded to be holy.
It says, but as he has called you as holy, be holy in all your conduct because it is written, be holy for I am holy.
We cannot be holy like God is, we cannot approximate the perfection of God’s holiness.
But that doesn’t mean we should give up on the idea of cultivating holiness in our own lives And let’s face it folks.
This is a frightening thing and intimidating to all of us because most of us don’t feel all that holy.
Most of us don’t including your pastor.
But here’s what I know and here’s what I gain from this in life for all of us.
There are always choices. There is a good choice and a bad choice for us.
We face them every day, you face them every day, every day. You’re confronted with what to do.
Do I do the right thing which we might call holy or do I do the other thing which might be more beneficial to me and more comfortable for me and we forget, do we not that whatever choice we make those choices, bear Children.
When we make a holy choice, it bears holy Children.
It helps us to make other choices that are likewise holy.
When we make other choices that benefit us, pragmatic choices that make us feel better or get us further down the road.
We have decided to follow those choices also bear Children.
What can we do when the Bible tells us to be holy?
We can understand that every day, we face challenges. Every day, we face choices and we pray every morning.
When those choices come, dear God, help me to take the holy road, help me to take the right road.
Don’t let me get caught up in the reasoning and pragmatism of the world and go down this road.
Because when I go down that road, it not only affects me, it affects so many others as well.
We are called to be holy.
Let me end all of this with the brightest moment of all the study and the word here is the word anticipation.
Here’s what I want you to know.
We are given the opportunity to look forward to the day when we will all be as holy as God is one day.
You and I who are Christians are going to be as holy as God is first.
John says it this way, behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we should be called the Children of God.
Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him, beloved.
Now, are we the Children of God? And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.
But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is and everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself as He is pure.
One day soon, God is going to touch us. He’s going to touch you.
He’s gonna touch me and all sin will be gone and we will be made holy just like Jesus.
And the Bible says that when we are made holy, this will grab hold of some of you.
We will also be made beautiful. Holiness is God’s beauty.
When He makes this holy, he’s going to make us all beautiful. Amen.
I guess it’s all right for guys to be beautiful in the eyes of God.
And throughout eternity, we will worship God.
And revelation 48 repeats the praise holy, holy, holy Lord, God Almighty, who was and is and is to come the holiness of God.
There’s an old tale about a man who died and faced the angel Gabriel at heaven’s gates.
And the angel said, here’s how this works.
You need 100 points to make it into heaven. This didn’t come from the Bible.
You tell me all the good things you have done.
I’ll give you a certain number of points for each of them.
And the more good there is and the work that you cite, the more points you will get for it.
And when you get to 100 points you get in. Ok.
The man said I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her.
Even in my heart, Gabriel said, that’s wonderful. That’s worth three points.
Three points said the man incredulously.
Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my money and my service terrific.
Said Gabriel, that’s the point one point.
Said, the man with his eyes beginning to show a bit of panic. Well, how about this?
I opened a shelter for the homeless in my city and I fed needy people by the hundreds during the holidays.
Fantastic. That’s good for two more points. Said the angel two points cried the man in desperation at this rate.
The only way I’m going to get to heaven is by the grace of God.
And Gabriel said, welcome home.
You will never get to heaven except by the grace of God because we’re as far away from heaven as that man was from 100 and no matter what we do, we can never do enough good things to measure up to the holiness of God.
We now know what that is. It’s perfection.
I tell you all the time here that God does not grade on the curve.
He grades on the absolute percentage basis.
And the only one who ever passed that test perfectly was Jesus Christ, the son of God.
And here’s the good news. One day.
He said, I will go to the earth and take the test for all who will put their trust in me.
When you get Jesus, you pass the test and you can go to heaven.
That’s what happens when you receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you invite him to be your substitute test taker and he does it and he forgives you of all your sin and gives you all of his holiness and makes some clothes for you to wear the holiness of God.
And you have a relationship with the only perfect creature, the only perfect being in the whole universe.
And you know what I talked to him this morning, I did and so did many of you.
So here’s the question now that you understand, why, why you need Jesus, what is there that’s in your way from receiving Him today as your savior.
He wants you to go to heaven. He loves you.
God loves you and he’s done everything that can be done to make heaven available for you.
But you have to make the decision if you’ve never put your trust in Jesus Christ.
I want to boldly ask you today, why haven’t you?
And what is keeping you from putting Jesus Christ in the right place in your life?
He wants to take your test. Let him do it. Amen.
Well, there’s no way to circumvent the holiness of God.
You have to come straight at it through his son, Jesus Christ.
And when you accept Jesus Christ into your heart, a marvelous thing happens, Jesus takes your sin away and he gives you his righteousness.
When makes it possible for you to have a relationship with his holy father.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to do that. You can do it right now.
Wherever you are, you can invite Christ into your life.
Tell him that you’ve sinned and you’re sorry for your sin.
You repent of your sin and you want to be forgiven.
You want Jesus Christ to come and live within your heart and give you a new life and he will do it.
How do I know that? Because it happened to me and I see it happen every week at Shadow Mountain Church.
And through turning point, God is continuing to change lives and he wants to change yours.
Give him the opportunity, pray today and invite Jesus Christ into your life and don’t forget to join us tomorrow.
We are studying the nature of God and his attributes and we’ll continue that journey right here on this good station as we meet together for the next edition of Turning Point.