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Exodus: Approaching The Holy
January 15, 2023 · 58 min
This week we discussed the holiness of God and why it is so important that we know His character if we are going to approach Him. In Exodus 19 we see the nation of Israel being introduced to the God who performed all the amazing works and wonders to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians. Here at Mt. Sinai, Moses is summoned to the top of the mountain to receive instructions for how this meeting is to take place. He returns and tells them how to prepare themselves for meeting the God of the universe. They are told to consecrate themselves for three days so that they will be ready to meet with God. They are also told to keep their distance when they approach Him. If they or anyone else or an animal crosses the boundary that has been established, they will be put to death. God arrives as fire on the mountain, and they experience an earthquake all of Israel is terrified! God is so holy that Israel needs to recognize He is unlike anyone or anything they have ever known. As Moses warns the people it is a reminder that we must warn people about the holiness of God. Without understanding God's holiness, we miss out on the fullness of the Gospel. May this week's message challenge and encourage you in your walk with Jesus Christ. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
January 15, 2023 · 58 min · BRAVE Church
This week we discussed the holiness of God and why it is so important that we know His character if we are going to approach Him. In Exodus 19 we see the nation of Israel being introduced to the God who performed all the amazing works and wonders to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians. Here at Mt. Sinai, Moses is summoned to the top of the mountain to receive instructions for how this meeting is to take place. He returns and tells them how to prepare themselves for meeting the God of the universe. They are told to consecrate themselves for three days so that they will be ready to meet with God. They are also told to keep their distance when they approach Him. If they or anyone else or an animal crosses the boundary that has been established, they will be put to death. God arrives as fire on the mountain, and they experience an earthquake all of Israel is terrified! God is so holy that Israel needs to recognize He is unlike anyone or anything they have ever known. As Moses warns the people it is a reminder that we must warn people about the holiness of God. Without understanding God's holiness, we miss out on the fullness of the Gospel. May this week's message challenge and encourage you in your walk with Jesus Christ. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less This week we discussed the holiness of God and why it is so important that we know His character if we are going to approach Him. In Exodus 19 we see the nation of Israel being introduced to the God who performed all the amazing works and wonders to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians. Here at Mt. Sinai, Moses is summoned to the top of the mountain to receive instructions for how this meeting is to take place. He returns and tells them how to prepare themselves for meeting the God of the universe. They are told to consecrate themselves for three days so that they will be ready to meet with God. They are also told to keep their distance when they approach Him. If they or anyone else or an animal crosses the boundary that has been established, they will be put to death. God arrives as fire on the mountain, and they experience an earthquake all of Israel is terrified! God is so holy that Israel needs to recognize He is unlike anyone or anything they have ever known. As Moses warns the people it is a reminder that we must warn people about the holiness of God. Without understanding God's holiness, we miss out on the fullness of the Gospel. May this week's message challenge and encourage you in your walk with Jesus Christ. Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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0:00 Father, would you just give us great opportunity today to serve you? And we thank you and bless you for who you are. God, we just ask in these moments that as we gather before you, that you would0:12 speak to us. Father, I specifically pray for your help today. Lord, today is 1 of those topics that there really are no words for that only you can speak. And so Lord, that's what we pray all the time is Lord0:24 speak for we are ready to hear. Lord, we believe that if this concept is understood and that we really grow in it and know it, that our lives will be radically changed and so will the lives of all of those around0:35 us. So God, now we give you all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. And for all of you who are gathered, who desire to hear the Lord speak, who will believe what he says when you hear him0:47 and who will by faith put into practice, will you agree with me very loudly this morning that you're ready to receive God's word by saying the word amen. Amen. This morning, I wanna talk to you about the0:59 holiness of God. The topic this morning is the holiness of God. And really when we talk about the holiness of God, we're talking about who our God is, what his character is. If there were only 1 word that1:11 we could use in our English language to summarize everything that the Bible says about God, we would use the word holy. Holy. So often the word holiness doesn't get much play1:23 in the church. We think holiness is for those radical disciples or those crazy people that give up stuff to walk closer to God, but it's not for everybody. But I'm here to tell you, when we study the word today, you're1:34 gonna see that holy is God's character and to understand his character and to know what he's saying will change you and all those around you. No doubt about it. I mean, I'm not even gonna
1:46 spend much time doing an introduction because this topic today really what I'm talking to you about? God. I'm telling you about God. I'm gonna invite you to open your Bible up to Exodus chapter 19. And as you're turning
1:57 there, there's been some amazing things happening throughout the scriptures. There's been some amazing things happening in this book that we've been studying. God has called Moses to be the deliverer of his people. Moses
2:07 has gone into Egypt, declared that God said, let my people go. We've seen 10 plagues. We've seen the exodus of the Israelites. We've seen the parting of the Red Sea. We've seen all those things happen. And now what's
2:18 happening is they've come to Mount Sinai. And when they're there, right before they get there, God starts instructing Moses through his father-in-law Jethro about he's gonna wear himself out because he's spending all day
2:30 seeking the Lord, teaching all the people, handling every single dispute. And his father-in-law Jethro says, you can't do it all. You seek the Lord, you teach the people and then give representatives that can handle all
2:41 the disputes. The big ones can come to you but delegate this thing out. And we saw throughout the book of acts in acts chapter 6, how this played out in other places too, that the job of a minister or pastor
2:53 is to seek the face of the Lord in prayer, to teach the word and to empower the people to go do it. That's the principle. And this is what brings us to where we are because right now they're getting ready to camp at
3:03 Mount Sinai. And what we're gonna talk about is when we talk about the holiness of God because this group of people, while they've seen God do all these things, they've watched God do all these things, they've heard
3:14 about this God that does all these things, they've never encountered this God before. They're gonna have an encounter with who this God is and what he's like. So if you have your bible open to Exodus chapter 19, we're
3:25 gonna talk about 4 requirements or 4 demands that the holiness of God brings. Hear the word of the Lord. Exodus 19 starting in verse 1. In the third month
3:36 after the sons of Israel had gone out from the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in
3:48 the wilderness and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. Moses went up to God. Pay attention to that. That's gonna be the first of 3 times he does it. He went up to the he went up to God and the Lord called
4:00 him from the mountain saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel. So here's what's going on. They're camping and Moses goes up the mountain to meet God. He does
4:12 what any good prophet's gonna do. He's gonna go hear what the Lord says and then guess what he's gonna do. He's gonna come down and tell the people what the Lord says. So here's what he does. He says, God tells him what
4:22 to say. He says, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my
4:34 covenant then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of
4:46 Israel. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words. He's gonna tell them everything which the Lord had commanded him. And all the people answered together and
4:57 said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud so that the people may hear when I speak
5:09 with you and may also believe in you forever. Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. So the first requirement or first demand of holiness is this. When it comes to the holiness of God, if you're gonna
5:21 understand God, if you're gonna know who he is, the holiness of God demands that you remember all God has done and all that God expects. You need to know all that God has done and
5:33 all God expects. So Moses goes up to the mountain and here's what he tells him. He says, you yourselves have seen verse 4 what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Remember
5:44 all that God's done. He tells Moses, you go down and tell them. Remember you were enslaved for slaves for over 400 years. Remember when I came to town and they took away the straw. You had to find your own straw to make
5:56 bricks. Remember how miserable it was for you. Remember how desperate you wanted to get out. Remember that our God visited us. Remember all of the 10 plagues that he probably recounted to them.
6:08 Remember when we left Egypt. Remember when we got to the brink of the Red Sea? Remember when it wouldn't open? Remember when we were hemmed in and thought we were gonna die? Do you remember how the Lord parted the sea?
6:19 Do you remember how he brought us across on completely dry land? Do you remember on the other side when we were there how God closed all of that in and swallowed up the Egyptian army? Do you remember when we got to the
6:31 other side and we sang a hymn of celebration? Do you remember when y'all complained there was no water and God provided it? Do you remember when you complained there was no bread so God gave it to you? Do you remember
6:40 when you complained there was no meat and God provided? Do you remember that God when you went to battle and you didn't know how to fight, God fought for you and you delivered? Do you remember all that our God has done?
6:50 Our God is awesome. That's what he's saying. Remember that. Now, why do we need to recount what God has done? Because if we don't recount what God has done, we'll forget about it in a moment where we need him. We'll
7:02 forget. Satan tries to steal at night what God gives us during the day. He's always trying to rob us so that when we encounter something new, the lie comes into our head. Where's your God
7:14 now? What's he ever done for you? Well, you have a history of he's done this and he's done this and he's done this and if you don't have that history yet and you're a new believer, make your way to a church that tells
7:23 stories about how awesome our God is and get around other people that can recount what God has done for them. Because when you're around others that can talk about how God delivered them and saved them and freed them and
7:33 healed them, it will change your walk with God. Holiness demands that you recall all that God has done, not just in your own life, not just in your own church, but throughout biblical history. Look
7:45 at what our God has done. When we read through the bible, every good and perfect gift comes from God. Every story you read about that we love, whether it's the flooding of the earth and
7:57 David slaying Goliath and fire coming down when Elijah called it or whatever. That's our God. That's the 1 we approach. Remember all he's done. That's what he tells us to do. So he's gonna go
8:08 recount and tell Israel when he comes down the mountain, let's just remember all our God has done because you need to see how big our God is because nobody but our God could do this. Then in verse 5 he tells them, now
8:19 then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine. Now what's he telling to do now? If you're gonna recount everything, now
8:31 you need to be obedient to everything that God says. The problem sometimes in our modern gospel presentations is we think that becoming saved or being saved is the end game when it's just the
8:43 beginning. God does save in a moment. God does deliver us in a moment. God does rescue us in a moment. God does bring us to himself in a moment for the purpose of what? So that we will hear
8:54 his voice earnestly that we'll obey him and do what he wants us to do. Sometimes I see when people share the gospel, applaud and we should. I mean Christmas Eve for us and we saw hundreds of people stand and
9:06 we all applauded. That's amazing. That's our God that does that. Nobody can save but God. But for what purpose? He didn't save them so they had a Christmas Eve encounter and then went and lived their life. He saved them
9:18 so that they would understand and hear his voice and learn how to grow in obedience and continually yield to him. God created you so unique, so special that when he saves
9:30 you, he has a unique purpose for you. Part of understanding the holiness of God is not only recounting all he's done, it's desiring to do everything that he wants you to do. And this is where we sometimes lose it.
9:42 See, the Bible says you must be born again. Born again is entrance into the kingdom, which is worthy of celebration. But when we enter the kingdom, then we're in the kingdom. Now God wants us to live as
9:54 servants of the kingdom. We wanna pray, let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven because I'm a representative of you. I'm an image bearer of you. Bring your kingdom in and through me. So
10:05 if you wanna experience the holiness of God, if you wanna rightly respond to the holiness of God, it's not only recalling all that God has done, it's obeying all that God commands. Even Jesus in
10:17 the Great Commission says teach them to what? Obey everything I have commanded you. Not some of it. Not just go share the gospel. Teach the people that
10:29 you're sharing the gospel to everything that I taught you and I'll be with you always to the end of the edge. So 1 is recalling all that he's done. 1 is presently doing all that he expects. And then number
10:41 3, notice verse The end of verse 5 and 6, he says, then you'll be my own possession among all the peoples of For all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words
10:52 that you're to speak to the sons of Israel. In other words, if you recall everything that I've done and you're living and hearing my voice and doing what I say, then I'm setting you apart. God had a special way of
11:03 setting apart Israel. God had a plan all along to form the nation of Israel where they would be a blessing and a light to all the other nations of the world. God was using them to get out the glory as to who he
11:15 was. He says, if you recall everything I am, if you know what I am and you'll listen to me and do what I say, I will bring you together as a nation and do through you as my family more than I ever could
11:27 anywhere else. Now we know Israel's history and they haven't been perfect at keeping it out or walking it out, but that hasn't changed God's love for the nation of Israel. It's why they still exist because God has his
11:38 hand on the nation. He's still gonna do something with the nation. But what does that mean for us? It means after Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, the formation of the church started.
11:49 And what does God tell us in our relationship with him? When we recall all he's done by sending his son and dying and rising from the dead and we turn from our sins and believe in him and we live out the gospel and we do
12:00 what he wants, then he brings us together in what's called the church and we're a family for you are a chosen nation, a royal priesthood. You belong to God. You're his
12:12 possession. You belong to him and understanding those truths set the foundation for what the holiness of God demands. So Moses comes down and tells them
12:24 these things. Moses comes down and tells them, remember all God has done, obey and do what he's telling you in the present and you'll become everything he says. The way I like to think about it is this. You gotta
12:36 recall all that God has done. You need to obey all that God demands and you need to expect all that God says. Somewhere along the lines, we kind of abort this process.
12:48 We might believe that God saves but we don't believe that he requires us to do everything he wants us to do. And for many of us, we certainly don't believe we can become everything the Bible says we can be. Growing in
12:59 the holiness of God is understanding all 3 are equally true. In the same way God can save, he'll give you the grace to obey and he'll give you the grace to become everything that the new testament calls you to be.
13:12 I mean think about this. Jesus said what? Follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Well, Jesus ascended into heaven. Now what are they saying? Paul said, follow me the way I follow Christ and what you have seen and what
13:22 you have heard and what you have watched and what you have witnessed, put it into the practice and the God of peace will be with you. Right. Recall all that he's done. Second, do all that he says. James 1
13:34 22 says what? Do not be merely hearers of the word but what? Doers of the word. You're put this into practice. You're just gonna listen to it. You have the ability at Brave to just be a hearer of the word. You're gonna
13:44 hear it when you come. What are you gonna do with it? Are you gonna put it into practice? Are you gonna trust God to You can actually step out in faith. And then third is become. If God says this is who you
13:56 are, if God says this is what you can become, do you believe that? Do you step out in faith believing God is making me into this? It's nothing of my own doing, but God wants it to be. That's the foundation of holiness.
14:07 It demands that. Now, if you study this and you're sitting there as any normal person, don't know if I can do that. That seems really hard. But it's interesting what Israel said because when Moses came
14:19 down and he called all the elders and all the people together, well, how did the people answer? What did the people say? You notice what he said in verse 8, 1 of the most ignorant statements in the entire Old Testament.
14:31 Here's what Moses basically says. You have to understand everything about God. You have to do everything he says and you have to believe everything he'll ever do. And they say in verse 8, all that the
14:42 Lord has spoken, we will do. It's like hearing a message on Sunday and you leave like, oh, never sin. I mean, this is the prayer you pray on a Sunday morning when you're like, God, I promise if you get me through
14:54 today, I'll never do this again. This is the prayer you pray right before a test you haven't studied for. God, if you get me through this test, I promise I'll never ask for anything else again. I mean, that's what
15:04 they're saying. God, we'll do everything. Whatever the pastor says, if the word says it, we're in. You can't do it. You can't be holy by yourself. It's impossible.
15:17 And yet Israel doesn't realize how impossible it is. So they just answer, yeah, we'll do it all. So God tells Moses, I'm gonna come visit you in a thick cloud. I'm gonna speak to you face to face and then the people,
15:27 they will hear that I speak to you and they'll believe in you forever. It doesn't mean they're gonna believe that Moses is a God forever. It means they're gonna believe that the God that Moses said that he represented is
15:38 the God that's speaking to him for their entire life and they'll know for all eternity that Moses was God's representative in this season. So that's where they are. So if you wanna experience the holiness of God, if you
15:49 wanna understand who our God is, you need to remember all that he's done and all that he expects. Secondly is this, the holiness of God also demands this, that you respond with
16:01 a desire for a sanctified life. You must respond with a desire for a sanctified life. I can't make you respond with a desire for a sanctified life. I can't change your will.
16:12 Heard the statement many times. I know Dave Ramsey makes this statement. Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still. I can't change what you want. You can give lip service to anything Jesus says but
16:23 if there's not a desire in your heart to respond the way he wants, nothing will ever change. You have to respond with a desire for a sanctified life. Sanctified means growing in holiness.
16:35 Doesn't mean being perfect. It means growing in it progressively or growing in it increasingly. Notice what he says in verse 10. The Lord also said to Moses,
16:47 go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and let them be ready for the third day for on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight
16:58 of all people. He says, in order for your people to be ready to have an encounter with me, they need to get ready. They need to consecrate themselves. They need to prepare their heart
17:10 for what they're about ready to witness and experience. Coming into God's presence is not a cavalier experience. You're gonna see that later. You're gonna hear the word of the Lord later. So God tells Moses, they gotta
17:22 get ready. You've gotta get them ready. You gotta tell them for the next 3 days to get ready for what my presence is gonna be like when they witness it and when they see it.
17:34 Consecration is getting ready for the move of God. Joshua says before he takes people in the promised land, consecrate yourselves today for tomorrow the Lord will do great things among us. Get ready. It's not a cavalier
17:45 thing. Get ready for what God wants to do. Now, do they have to get ready? Notice verse 12, you shall set bounds or boundaries for the people all around saying, beware that you do not go up on the
17:57 mountain or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. No hand shall touch him but he shall surely be stoned or shot through whether beast or man,
18:09 he shall not live. When the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people
18:21 and they washed their garments. He said to the people, be ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman. So he's telling them to be ceremonial clean, ceremonially clean. He says, be ready. In 3 days, you're
18:32 gonna witness the God that performed all the things you saw is gonna come and you're gonna experience it. So we're gonna set up boundaries. Now let me explain something to you about this God. He's not like you. He's
18:44 holy. He's untouchable. He's other. There's really no English words to describe God. There's none. The only word I can think of in our English language would be awesome.
18:56 I mean beyond words. Another 1 I thought about this week was woah. I mean maybe that word describes him a little bit. I mean it takes the very life out of us if we see him. So he says to Israel,
19:08 you need to do this. You need to tell your men, your women, and your children, do not go near the mountain. Don't try to cross over it. If there's a boundary there, don't try to step your foot. Don't do anything. Anybody
19:20 that does that, man, woman, boy, girl, or animal, even your pet dog, they're gonna get shot through with arrows or stone. You cannot be in my presence without penalty. This
19:31 is where we have a hard time with God because sometimes we only share half the truth of the gospel. Sometimes this is what we share the gospel is. You know what? I know
19:43 you're broken. Can I tell you something? Everybody's broken. I know you got some problems. I'm gonna tell you, everybody's got some problems. But I'm gonna tell you, God's a God of love and he loved you so much. He sent
19:55 Jesus and Jesus came and died for you and he rose and if you wanna experience that love, you can just place your faith in him and you're saved. That's how we present the gospel a lot. But when we don't talk about the
20:05 holiness of God and how unapproachable and untouchable he is and uncompromising he is, we miss out on what true love really looks like. Is God loving? 100 percent God's loving. The scriptures proclaim he's loving
20:17 but he's really loving when you understand how holy he is and how you can't be in his presence and how you can't come near him and that God is the God who in love sent his son. Think about it like this.
20:29 If you think about the gospel, the gospel is not God loves you. He does love you. I've told you that many times. He loves you but that's not the gospel. That's not a complete gospel. The gospel
20:41 is that God is holy. That God is holy. This is where we run into trouble sometimes. This is where we have a hard time presenting the gospel. This is why if you don't share the gospel, this may be
20:53 the reason why you don't share it because of the only thing you have to share is, well, I don't know if they're really looking for a God and I don't really know if they need the gospel and I'm don't wanna I'm not good at
21:03 talking to people and I'm not good at sales and what if I tell them and they reject me and all this. It's because you're too focused on horizontal relationships and not nearly on the holiness of God. See if it starts
21:14 with God and let me tell you something about God. God has eternally existed in 3 persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is holy. The Son is holy. The Holy Spirit is holy. The Father is not the Son of
21:26 the Spirit. The son is not the father of the spirit, the spirit is not the father of the son. They are all of 1 essence with 3 distinct persons. Ask me to explain that and here's what I'm gonna say, holy. There's no
21:38 other god like our God. And guess what he was doing before he created the heavens and the earth and eternity past. He was enjoying himself because there's nothing more enjoyable than who he is. There's nothing
21:49 more perfect than who he is. There's nothing more glorious than who he is. There's nothing more holy than who he is. So what's the Trinity doing? Enjoying themself. Enjoying himself. That's what he does.
22:02 Because by himself, he's completely sufficient and doesn't need anything. But in love, he created the world. And why did he create it? Because he wanted to make us image bearers.
22:15 1 of the reasons he wanted to make it is so we could be image bearers. 1 of the reasons he created so that we could enjoy his holiness so that we could love him in the same way that he loves himself. You say, well, that
22:25 sounds like an arrogant God, kind of a megalomaniac. Why wouldn't he be? There's nothing better than him. If your view of God isn't that, your view of God is too small. There is no other God,
22:37 none. So when we share the gospel, here's what we're sharing. The holy God of the universe who didn't need anything created everything out of nothing in 6
22:49 literal days and on day 6, he created male and female in his image. Human beings are image bearers of God. So he created Adam and Eve so they could reflect his
23:01 glory and enjoy his holiness. That's why they were created. But here's the problem, they sinned. You You know what they said? We know God since eternity past that you've enjoyed yourself and you're great but we
23:12 think that we can be a God too. We can be like you. We'll do our own thing. And so they sinned by going against what God said and when sin entered the universe, guess what happened to the human condition?
23:25 We're still image bearers of God, but we're marred image bearers of God. We don't represent the image of God the way he wanted us to represent it And that's a problem. And here's what the problem is. God won't
23:36 let people who are imperfect in his perfect presence. That's the message of the gospel. If you don't get that, you do not understand the gospel. If you don't get that, you don't have a
23:48 need for Jesus in your life. The reason you will not go to heaven, the reason you will not spend time with God is not because you're a bad person or not because you did bad things or not because brokenness is in your
23:58 life. It's because God is holy and you're not. And you continue to build a resume of why you are not. That's why you're not going to heaven. Make no mistake about it. The same God that we're
24:10 talking about today is the same God we're reading about in Exodus 19. I mean, this is God. You can't come near. You you can't be in my presence. I'm I'm a consuming fire. I'm an unapproachable light. You don't
24:22 know who I am. The way I would say it is this, however big you think your view of God is, it's not big enough. And the problem here in our generation is God is a God of love. But the God
24:34 of love comes out of God's holiness. If you understand that God could never ever take any human being, then the gospel begins to make sense. And why did God send his
24:46 son? I've heard people say stuff like this. I probably said it in a sermon and to some degree it's probably true that even if you would have been the only person on the planet, God would have sent Jesus for you because
24:55 he loves you so much. I would say it this way. Even if you were the only person on the planet, God would have sent his son to do 1 thing and 1 thing only to restore his glory.
25:07 You robbed his glory. You dishonored his character and now you're a marred image bearer and for all eternity, God can't handle that. God had to have his glory restored. So he sent his son
25:19 first and foremost to restore his glory. Secondly, in that process, then he was able to redeem humanity too. First, he had to finish what he came to do. That's why Jesus on the cross, his last words
25:31 are, it is finished. It's done. Data restored your glory. I mean if you study the person of Jesus, he loves everybody he meets. But what he's most concerned about during his earthly
25:43 journey, what is he focused on? His father. I only do what I see my father doing. My father and I are 1. I just wanna do what he wants. Dad, if there's any other way for me than to go into the
25:55 cross, tell me. But I wanna do what you want because, dad, I love you, and I wanna restore glory to you because it was robbed by humans. And I wanna make sure that we now have all the glory that was ours to begin with.
26:07 That's why God sent his son. That's why first John 4 10 says, this is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son as a
26:19 propitiation for our sin. So not only when Jesus came, did he restore the glory to his father, but through his death and resurrection, then he offered life to anybody that wanted in on who?
26:30 God. God is the gospel. Some people think, well, did I pray the prayer right? Did I do this? Did do Who cares about the prayer you pray? Do you want the holiness of God in your life? Do
26:42 you realize you can't have it apart from Jesus? Do you realize if he didn't shed his blood and die, you couldn't have it? Do you realize if he hadn't arose, you couldn't have it? Do you realize there are no other gods?
26:52 Do you realize the father, son and holy spirit are holy, holy, holy? Do you want that God? Because if you don't, you don't have a relationship with a living God. That's the gospel
27:04 and that isn't preached nearly enough. Like we look back in history a couple hundred years and we read sermons by Jonathan Edwards or John Wesley or whomever. I mean Jonathan Edwards wrote 1 with the Puritan sinners in
27:14 the hands of an angry God which spurred on revival and we read that now and we say, oh man, back then they were so into the mean God. Friends, he hadn't changed. It's a great sermon. Go back and
27:26 read it. The pendulum has swung so far in this direction that we think of Jesus sometimes as just our mere buddy or friend and that when we get to heaven, it's just gonna be cozy warm hugs and soft
27:38 blankets. No, it's the holy, holy, holy God of the universe that you will meet. And if you're not ready, you will be terrified. I promise you. My my goal today
27:49 is not to do anything other than persuade you and do my best through God's word to convince you to get right with the holy God of the universe because you will see him face to face. And only 1 of 2 things
28:01 will happen. Either you'll be welcomed in hearing the words, well done, good and faithful servant, or you'll hear the words, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. And if you've not trusted Jesus, you
28:11 will hear the latter. But it's not because God doesn't love you. It's because God's so holy, he can't embrace you apart from repentance and faith in his son, Jesus Christ. That makes sense? I
28:23 mean, if we're gonna understand holiness, we need to respond with a desire for a sanctified life. The gospel proclaims that God is holy. It's
28:35 who he is. Now here's the problem. When we come to church, we all come to church with our own issues. Everybody's got them. Sometimes we're celebrating a promotion or a wedding or a new kid being
28:47 born. Sometimes we're devastated by our own sin. Sometimes we're just not enjoying life circumstances. Sometimes our marriage is out of whack. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes our kids are great. Sometimes not so great.
28:57 We have all these different things and we think the answer is pastor, I hope you have a sermon about exactly what I'm going through. Today's sermon is exactly what you're going through.
29:08 If you understand the holiness of God in whatever you're going through, you'll respond differently. Some of you that have been cavalier about your sin and confessing it and asking forgiveness and confessing and asking
29:20 forgiveness and confessing and asking forgiveness, it's because your God's too small. If you see him as the holy terrifying awesome God of the universe, you won't play games with your sin.
29:33 Hey, just pray for me. I'm still struggling with porn. I'm still anorexic. I'm still this, still drink. I still do this. If you see God for who he is, there's a fear factor that takes place. There's the fear of the Lord.
29:44 Now I know I'm talking to all different ages here today. I'm talking more from my generation. But when I grew up, when it came to authority figures, there was a fear factor that was involved. In my generation, we didn't
29:56 get timeouts and therapeutic hugs for our self esteem. We didn't. Everybody older than me just clap because they know what I'm talking
30:08 about. My parents took a time out. My coaches would take a time out and it often was more than just words. It was a physical reminder you don't wanna do that again. Now
30:20 for some of you that are younger that that hasn't been part of your life, that's part of the problem. You think falsely that you can walk in to the eternal holy God of the universe and all your sin and just be
30:32 welcomed home. You're wrong. You are wrong. And I love you enough to tell you that because God is holy. That's who he is. So
30:44 the question is, do you wanna respond with a desire for a sanctified life? I mean, when it comes to your sin, if your view of Jesus is, well, he loves and he forgives, then you can pray
30:56 the same prayer over and over again. I guess if he wants to fix my porn problem or my masturbation or my lust or any other sexual sin I have, I guess he can do that. Lord, I'm sorry. Take me to heaven or my anorexia or
31:07 bulimia or gluttony or whatever the hell, Lord. It's not a big deal. Thank you for forgiving me. Take me to heaven Or my laziness or my pride or we can make a list as long as you want because the Bible's replete with
31:17 hundreds and hundreds of sins that would touch us all. But when you know that you're gonna answer to that God about that thing, you will change your behavior here on earth to get ready to meet him. The
31:29 reason some Christians and all non Christians don't is because their view of God is too small. I'm telling you, you need to respond with a desire for a sanctified life. Respond with a desire
31:41 for a sanctified life. Third is this. If you're really gonna be a person who remembers all God has done and all he expects, you're gonna respond with a desire for a sanctified life. The third and probably most important
31:52 is this. You need to know and honor his holy character. You need to know and honor his holy character. Holy, we use the words he's set apart. Yes, he is. He's different. Yes, he is. But but
32:04 how do you describe his majesty? Like like, how do you describe his glory? Like, how do you describe who he is? I'm telling you all week as I was preparing this message. I'm like, I don't know how to do this part, God.
32:15 So I wanna give you some background. I I think and I hundred percent believe that God has a way of communicating better than I can. So I wanna read 3 different sections of scripture as a
32:27 backdrop for this and just let you hear the God that you're talking to. Just let you know about the God that you're praying to. So when you're complaining that God doesn't answer my prayers
32:39 or you're wondering why isn't God working or you're saying, okay, Lord, I don't know that I wanna be generous or what. I wanna tell you who you're talking to according to the word of God. Some of these you've heard many
32:50 times, but I want them to wash afresh over you. I want you to hear what God is like and what it's like when you're gonna meet him. What it's gonna be like that day. Christian or non Christian, you will stand
33:01 before this. You will see this with your own eyes. So I invite you to 3 different scriptures. First is this, Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 to 8. I'll try to add limited
33:13 commentary as we read. I'm gonna try to let the word of God just speak over you because I believe the word of God true. I believe if you'll listen and hear what God says, you'll get a bigger picture of who our God is.
33:25 Notice what it says in chapter 6 in verse 1. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe
33:37 filling the temple. Seraphim which are beings in the heaven that we don't totally understand. Seraphim stood above him each having 6 wings. With 2. He
33:49 covered his face and with 2 he covered his feet and with 2 he flew. So picture this, the prophet Isaiah who definitely knows the Lord. I mean, we're not talking about non believer
34:01 here. We're talking about all believers here. They're gonna see these things. A believer here sees in the year that king Uzziah died, who was his king at the time, the lord. He's in the temple. He sees the lord high and
34:11 lifted up. Now he sees Seraphim flying around all over him. There's 6 wings. 2, they're covering their eyes because God's too glorious to look at. With 2, they're covering their feet because God's too holy for them to be
34:22 able to step on the ground. Remember when God called Moses at the burning bush, what he tell him? Take off your shoes, place your standings holy. And with 2, they're flying around. See, I've never seen anything like
34:32 that. Maybe in a movie, not up close and personal. Now the seraphim start talking and 1 called out to another and said, now notice what they're going to say. They have all the language. They've been
34:44 instructed by God himself and here's what they say. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory. Holiness is who he is. Glory is his refracted character
34:56 and blessing out on the world. Right? And notice this, and the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke.
35:08 So as the Seraphim are saying, holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty, the heavens and earth are filled with his glory. All this sound is going on. It's super loud. Now there's almost like a mini earthquake because the
35:19 thresholds are shaking. Now what would you do? You're a believer, you know the Lord. Here's a believer that knows the Lord that's a prophet of God that's being obedient and here's how he responded. Then I said, woe to
35:31 me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. I've seen the Lord.
35:44 I've been around the throne. I've heard the voices sing. I've seen the ground tremble and I know who I am and I know who he is and I don't belong here. I'm ruined.
35:56 Gave you a side note. If you don't get to that spot, you don't have a need for Jesus. Jesus is not an insertion in your life so that you can live a better life. Jesus is your entirety when you
36:08 realize that you are broken and ruined. That's what Isaiah said. Then 1 of the seraphim, 1 of those beans flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had
36:20 taken from the altar with tongues. So now you got this bean flying right at you. I'm not a big bird lover, but you know, I mean, you get this beam flying right at you, right, with with a hot coal and he touched
36:32 my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. What was Isaiah's problem? I got unclean lips. I'm hanging out with all sorts of people that are
36:44 unclean with their lips. So what's God forgive? His lips. What's God willing to forgive? Whatever that area is in your life that's dirty and unclean, that doesn't deserve to be around him. Whatever
36:56 you're thinking saying, God can never accept a person like me because I'm this or I've done this. That's what God's willing to cleanse. That's what he's willing to forgive. So his
37:08 sin was forgiven. So in the moment he saw his holiness and was terrified at the same moment, he's like, I'm welcome here. Notice verse 8. Then I heard the voice of Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will
37:19 go for us? And how does he respond? Here I am, send me. You know what the gospel does? It puts Jesus in the center of everything in your life. If I don't belong with him and I
37:31 can't be with him and there's no way to get to him and I can't have a relationship with God and I see his holiness and I see I'm ruined, but I learned that there's forgiveness and grace and I'm totally in and I'm
37:43 forgiven, and I hear God say, I want you to do something. Here's my response. When? Where? How? How long? Nothing's too great for me, God, because you saved my life. We call
37:54 everybody here is on mission when you leave here but sometimes we're kinda cavalier like, don't if I wanna do that and I don't know if I feel like giving that. I don't know if I feel like doing that. Jesus Christ saved
38:05 your entire soul forever. He should be central to every single decision you make from this moment on and forevermore. What's greater than Jesus? Okay, that's 1. Let's go to book of
38:17 Revelation chapter 1. I taught this book a few years ago, love teaching it. But in chapter 1 we get a picture of the resurrected Christ and who he is. In revelationShow more
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