1 Peter chapter 1. We're going to be spending a few Sundays on the subject of holiness. And I've titled this message, and it will probably go until next week, maybe the week after, The Holy and Holiness. The Holy and Holiness. And this will be our theme for the next two or three Sundays. 1 Peter chapter 1. Let's begin reading at verse 13, and we'll read down through verse 16. 1 Peter 1, beginning with verse 13. Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourself according to the former lust in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." Our Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for the grace of God that has brought to us salvation, that has revealed to us in our hearts the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the experience of justification, for the indwelling of the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit and all the wonderful gift that is given to us in His Spirit. Father, that today we may lay ourselves before you Prostrate ourselves, because Thou art the Holy One. Give us understanding as to what this implies, what this means, that we might give glory to You in the Son's name. Amen. Nothing shakes me to the bone more than the subject of holiness. It makes me nervous to preach on it. It's a hard subject to preach because when I think I'm doing okay in this world, then I start reading and studying about God's holiness and it puts a whole new spotlight on my sinfulness. When I understand how holy God is, I come to realize how debased, how corrupt I am. And as you know, some of you know I've been having problems with air conditioning on my car. I'm still having problems with air conditioning on my car. So I purchased a UV light, ultraviolet light. and I got it out yesterday morning, and I turned it on, and I started probing around on my AC system, and I think I found where the leak is. It's been in the shop three times, it's going back and forth. And I'm gonna show them where the leak is. Because it just illuminated, it, what is it? radiated with bright green because there was a leak there. And that's what holiness does to us. It shines on us and illuminates that part of our life that's sinful that we need to deal with. That's what holiness does when we study it and learn of it. So the holiness of God upon my sinful heart, and it requires that I address the issue. Unless I want to continue to leak AC, and I don't want to do it here in Oklahoma. It's got to be fixed. And when the holiness of God shines upon us and we see some sinfulness in our life, it's an issue we need to deal with. If you ignore it, it will eat away at your life until you do deal with it. You'll displease God because then you will be in disobedience to Him because He's revealed it to you and you have chosen to ignore it. That is not a good thing to do. This subject when preached is often deluded because it would result in mass exoduses from some of our churches, because no one wants to hear about holiness. If preachers would preach the holiness of God, it would shut down the entire contemporary Christian music industry. And the megachurches would go out of business. Preachers would be required to step down from their office, and Christian bookstores would close their doors. The pseudo-Christian would stop wearing a t-shirt saying, I love Jesus, and the clothing that would go with it, and false gospel preachers would have no message to preach. If men would preach holiness, it would end it. But oh no, there's the compromise. Another result would be that God's children would be manifested before all the world. The fakers would all leave the churches of the Lord Jesus and churches would be filled with men and women who mean business for the Lord. There would be weeping in the pews and revival in our hearts. Our churches would be clothed with the beauty of holiness and the Lord of heaven would be pleased to send unmeasurable blessings and gifts of the Holy Spirit to us to help us in our service for Him if we would preach and live holy lives. But we don't hear too many of these kind of sermons today. We seem to weary at the thought of holiness and hate the idea that we must deal with our sin. We like our sin. Let's be honest before God. We like our sin and we like it so much we're not willing to deal with it. We like sin too much. We tolerate it. We indulge it. And some of us even go so far as to love it. We seldom pray. The reading of the scriptures is occasional. If we spent 15 minutes a day reading and in prayer, do you know that we have spent 0.01% of the day with Him? 15 minutes. is equal to 0.01% of the day. Some of us don't even do that. Here's a fun fact. If you believe in tithing, if you believe in the 10%, then why don't you give 10% of your time, that's 2.4 hours a day, to the Lord. You see, it's easier to be entertained than to exercise our mind and discipline our thoughts on spiritual things. No wonder we lack holiness in our life and in our church. Why? Because we don't spend the time with the Lord. We let the world decide for us what is right or wrong. We mold our philosophies and we wonder why we have no power of God in us or in our churches. In this series of sermons, we're going to look first at the holiness of God. We must stand and look at the holiness of God, first of all, And when we see how holy God is, it reflects upon us our true condition. The problem is, is we don't look to the holiness of God and see who He is, and then see how we are in relationship to that holiness. If we don't understand how holy God is, how are we going to understand what the scripture means when it says, be ye holy, for I am holy. And after that, after I get through this section, we'll look at several things found in the believer that ought to motivate us to holiness and the results of holiness. In Exodus 15, 11, it says, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praise? doing wonders. This is a lofty description of the majesty and excellency of God in the whole of scriptures. It is a part of Moses' triumph song after crossing the Red Sea and then seeing the enemy, the Egyptian army, buried in the sea. It is a song of deliverance from Egypt and is typical of the glorious deliverance that God has given to his chosen people. I've got a short here. but the deliverance God has given to his chosen people in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and from our capacity in sin and worldliness and points to our future resurrection and new life in resurrected bodies. A wonderful song that Moses wrote. But this morning first, I want to look at the excellency of God's perfection, a portrait of His character. The excellency of God's perfection, a portrait of His character. Is God perfect? Do you believe He's perfect? Do you believe He's holy? Do you believe there's any possible imperfection in God at all? In Isaiah 57, 15, it says this, For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity. Think about that. The high and the lofty one. None higher, none loftier, none with more excellence than he. And where does he dwell? In eternity. Do you know eternity exists right now? There's no such thing as eternity past, eternity present, and eternity future. Anyone ever heard that term? Anybody ever had anybody describe that? How can you use past, present, and future time words and relate it to eternity? You can't. Can any of us here understand eternity, what it is? You know why? Because we're time, space, creatures, creation. We don't know anything of eternity, except for that's where God dwells. It is an ever-present tense. We can't even think like that, you know that? An ever-present tense. Everything is in the now. Everything exists in the now. God exists in the now. No past, no present, no future. He, it's, well, present, always present. What happened in the past exists in the present with him. What is happening in the present exists in the presence with him. What happens in the future is in the presence with him. Thus said the high and lofty one who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. What's God's name? Oh, it's God. No, it's holy. His 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 revive the heart of the contrite ones. Now, let me ask you, if God dwells in eternity, where do these contrite ones and humble ones dwell? Are we contrite and humble before the Lord? Then you dwell in a vital union with Christ and the Father in eternity. Right now, in the past, and in the future, we dwell together with him in the eternal present tense of God. It is not that God possesses holiness. We possess things. There are things about our character that we possess. God does not possess holiness. It is not a possession, but it is the essence of his being. He is holy and nothing else. It is His name. His name is holy. We say God is holy, and that's true, but God, His very essence is holy. It is holiness. It's who He is. In Psalm 119, He says, He sent redemption unto His people. He hath commanded His covenant forever. Holy and reverend is His name. What's His name? Holy, and to be reverenced. Luke 149, For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. That's who God is. Holy. Holy. I don't know, brother. I keep messing with this thing. It doesn't seem to work. We'll try not to bother too much here. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, how did he do that? What did he say? He said, pray like this, our father, which art in heaven, hallowed. Be Thy Name. Holy Be Thy Name. The first thing when we do is when we go to pray, we address the Heavenly Father, whose name is Holy, who dwells in the heaven. He's much higher than we, is He not? But what does it mean? I hope we shall get a glimpse of the holiness of God, though we cannot comprehend it in our mortality. Do you think God, who is so holy, can be this so infinite, so pure, can even begin to be understood by finite, corrupt minds? If you think you can grasp it, you're very arrogant. and you're not one of those humble and contrite ones. We can learn a lot about it, and it will humble us, but we will never comprehend it, not in this flesh. No name is sounded so loftily, so frequently, and so solemnly as this name. In Isaiah 6, verse 2 and 3, it says, And above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy. The name of God repeated thrice by the seraphims of heaven. Holy, holy, holy cried out in the temple. In the book of Revelation, there are four mystical creatures, and they began to cry out, and this is what it is that they said. Revelation 4, 8, and the four beasts had each of them six wings about them. Now, these are not seraphs. We don't know what these creatures are, because when they sing out, they sing about being redeemed. We hear nothing about the seraphs being redeemed, but these four beasts sing out that they are redeemed. It says, And the four beasts, each of them had six wings about them, and they were full of eyes within. And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and which is to come. Who are they speaking of? The Lord Jesus Christ. Which was and is, which is to come. Oh, listen, folks, that must prove that by Revelation 4, 8, the Lord had not yet come, because there are those who think that the Lord came in chapter 4, verse 1. We find no other of His divine perfections thrice repeated as His holiness. We do not find the angels crying out, eternal, eternal, eternal, or faithful, faithful, faithful. No, they cried out, holy, holy, holy. Because this faithfulness is a result of His holiness. His eternality is because He's holy. And how often do they cry? Day and night without ceasing. They are always crying out, holy, holy, holy, unending holy, holy, holy. What does this tell us about our God? He is holy! So much that divine beings continuously cry out, holy, holy, holy. Whatever of his other divine attributes, it is only this one that God has ordained to be repeated eternally. That's what will always be cried out. He singles out this one attribute to swear by. In Psalm 89, 35, it says, Once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. He swears by his own holiness. What does that tell you about the promise? What does that tell you about when God promises something? If he swears by his holiness, he will do it without fail. Because if he does, the angels will stop crying holy and God will cease to be God. In Amos 4, 2 says, the Lord God hath sworn by His holiness. He lays here His holiness to pledge for the assurance of His promise as the attribute most dear and most valued to Him. Nothing is more dear to Him and valued more than His own holiness. And it's so valuable that when He swears by it, it is assured it will happen. When the Lord swears by His name, He is swearing by the holiness, for holy is His name. It is as if He should have said, as if He had said, since I have not a more excellent perfection to swear by than that of my holiness, this is my security, and I bind myself by that, which I will never part if I be stripped of all. He will never fail in His holiness. Holiness is His glory and beauty. It is the most beautiful perfection of God. It is the most glorious. If you think of beauty and you relate it to God, you must look at holiness as being that beauty. Power is in His hand and arm. omniscience in his eyes, mercy in his bowels, eternity in his duration, and holiness is his beauty. In 2 Chronicles 20, verse 21, it says, And when he had consulted with the people, he had pointed singers unto the Lord, and that they should praise the beauty of holiness. Do we praise the beauty of holiness? Someone's living a godly, holy life, and do we say, bless the Lord, look at him live for the Lord. Oh, I wish I could live like that, and you could. Do we praise holiness? Or do we say, oh, he just thinks he's better than the rest of us. The holier than thou attitude. When a man lives godly, he lives godly. And you know what? If his godliness makes you look bad, what does that mean? That you're just not living up to the standard of holiness. You see, that's what holiness does to us. When someone lives a godly, holy life, we should desire that of ourselves. We should say, Lord, I want to live holy. And we ought to pray and ask God to help us to live holy and to put off the sins, the sin that so easily beset us and walk holy because it says walk holy in all manner of conversation. And that was your lifestyle, the things that you do. We'll get more into that. In another sermon or two. In Psalm 27, 4, once one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of holiness and to inquire in his temple. It was in the temple that God manifested his hatred of sin in the daily sacrifice. Holiness was in the beauty of the temple. It was a gorgeous place. But it was also a place where there was sacrifices every single day because of sin. And where did they take the blood on the Day of Atonement? Into the holiest of all! To lay blood on the top of the mercy seat! Because God is holy. In Isaiah 64 11, our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee. You see, the house itself where God dwelt was considered holy. Are we not built into a spiritual house? Does it not say in the holy scriptures that is the habitation of God in the spirit? This is where God dwells, among his people, and in your hearts to serve him. This is where it's at. Some people give no credit to the church. They come and go as they please. Oh, I don't feel like going to church today. Shame on you. You say, that's awful harsh, preacher. Listen, this is where God meets with his people. Every Sunday, every time of day, doors are open. This is where God meets with him. Do you not believe that you are lively stones built together into a holy habitation where God dwells? God dwells in the midst of his church and a special relationship. And with none other. He ordained it that way. He put his name upon it. And when the spirit of God fell, where did it fall? Upon the church to empower them to do gospel work. A holy, beautiful house joined together because the beauty of God dwelt in the sanctuary. Holiness being the very essence of God. It is his life. Did you know that holiness is his life? Without holiness, God would cease to exist. In Ephesians 4, 18, he speaks to the Gentiles, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. Because men are not holy, they are alienated from the life of God. His holiness is His life! Speaking of the opposite to it, the uncleanness and profaneness of the Gentiles. Holiness is his purity, and if stripped of purity, he would be stripped of life itself. God would cease to exist without holiness. His decrees, everything, His righteousness, His judgments are all because He's holy. And you know it's by His word that the world is held together. And if He ceased to be God, the world would cease. Holiness is the purity of God. When He swears by His holiness, He swears by His life. If God were not holy, He would be no more God than that which is made of sticks and stones. You might as well go carve yourself a stone or out of a wood and worship it if God be not holy. His divinity lost, his perfection marred, God would be dead if he had not holiness. But God is holy and his deity cannot outlive the life of his purity. His deity can't outlive his purity, therefore it is eternal. It is man that is deficient. It is man that tries to reduce God and the fool that he is, he tries to make God something less than what he is. Do we not in our mind create our own gods or our own God? In Psalm 50 verse 21 to 23, he says, these things hast thou done and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such as one of thyself, just like you. You think I was like you. How many of us want to create God in our image? You thought I was like you. But I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifyeth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation his life aright, I will show the salvation of God, the deliverance by the great hand and mighty and holy God that he is. In Psalm 97, verse 7 through 11, it says, yea, yet they say, the Lord shall not see. Isn't that something? You know why men do things in the dark? So that other men can't see, but they don't think God can see them either. Darkness is a covering. Yet they say, the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it or even care. Understand ye. broodish among the people, and ye fools. When will ye be wise? He that planteth the ear, shall he not hear? He that formeth the eye, shall he not see? He that chasteneth the heathen, shall he not correct? And he that teacheth man knowledge, shall he not know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. They are empty. They are worthless. God is holy and above all. I'm going to end my message now at this point because I'm going into, I got another point. And it's noon. I've already been preaching for 40 minutes. If I keep going, You might have to be here to at least 20 after. You see, we need to understand the holiness of God, and I don't want to go through this in a hurry. Next week, we're going to begin with holiness is the glory of God, and it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead. And we're going to start with that next Sunday. The glory, the holiness is the glory of the Godhead and it is the glory of every perfection of the Godhead. Everything about God is holy. I hope when we go home this afternoon that we consider the holiness of God and how it reflects upon us and our relationship, our manner of conversation, how we live in this world. Is it, are we living in holiness? Are we willing to deal with personal sin and shortcomings? I hope it is something that you will seriously consider this week as we continue in this series and learn more about the holiness of God and how it relates to us in our life. You see, people say, well, you preach a doctrinal message. What's that got to do with how to live? Because the Bible tells us to live holy. That's what it has to do with. And we begin by learning the perfections of God in holiness. And I hope that's been a blessing to you about this. All right, let's stand and we'll close in a word of prayer and some song. And brother, if you'll come and do that for us.