Would you finish this thought with me? Lord, there is none like you, for you are holy, right? We learn through music and a good definition of holiness. I love Sunday nights of having the kids in here and what they're learning from the Bible, and that will be our theme tonight as we are starting hymn night. Pastor Bo is working on a sermon series on 2 Thessalonians on Sunday nights, and we'll see that later in the year. But when I'm given opportunity on Sunday nights, I'm going to look at different hymns and the theme from it. Isaiah asked me what my passage was before, and my passage is not the hymn. I won't be teaching from the hymn, but I'm going to take a theme that is taught to us through a hymn, like, for example, holiness, and look at how it's defined for us in the Bible. If you wouldn't mind, go to the song that we sung before the offering, the hymn that we sing often, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. And Grant has two microphones there. I'm going to read this through, and when I'm done, I'm going to give you an opportunity, something we don't often have to take time for, which is we're going to talk about why we like this song, and what is it about the song that you find enjoyable and it's helpful, because before we get into this topic of holiness, I just want to talk about the value of singing hymns. You may not have recognized it tonight, but when we sung this song, this is where we were the loudest tonight, because you come from different churches, different traditions, but most of us were taught this song at some point, and so we sung it. And I'm glad Stephen did that. I think he's lip-syncing sometimes, but every now and then, he has to prove to us this is live, all right? And he sung that, and we know that, and I could sing it with my eyes closed, meaning, why would that matter, right? Because I'm not looking at the screen. And so I know that, and I'm grateful for it. And so I'm going to just walk through it. Thatcher and I are going to walk through it. When I'm done, I'm just going to open up the floor, take a few moments, and ask you to name some of the reasons that you think this is a song worth singing for God's people. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our songs shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty. God in three persons, blessed Trinity, holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore Thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea, cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, which word and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see, only thou art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in power, in love, in purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity." Beautiful song. And what are some reasons that you think this is a song worth singing? I can't say there's no wrong answers, but I won't call you out if you give a wrong answer, okay? And so what would be one of the reasons? Daniel Cooper, I think his is hand raised. It's biblically accurate. The first verse is the same line that the angels sing to the Lord. So it comes from Scripture. It's a passage out of Scripture. That's wonderful. That's a good, worthy thing in a song. Anybody else in here? All right, we got Miss Rhonda, and the coach is going to play. All right, Patch didn't write this song, coach. I know you prefer the Patch the Pirate songs, but all right. Yes, ma'am. It is really a doctrinal lesson on the Trinity. And when we listen to a doctrinal message, it's really good. But when you sing something, it's like it becomes a part of you. And even if you're not intentionally paying attention, you're gonna absorb the lesson of who God is in the Trinity. So the whole thing is a lesson on the Trinity. That is wonderful. Let's see why Sam loves you so much. What a great answer, all right? That was fantastic. Yes, Coach? So in two parts, specifically, puts God in his proper place of worship and adoration. So my two favorite parts, casting down our crowns in front of God, and then all thy works shall praise his name. And so at the very end, it doesn't matter. you know, those who believe or haven't believed, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So, yeah. Amen. What a holy thought, what a reverential thought that at the end everything bows down to Him. And Ms. Wilson talked about it being Trinitarian. Not a lot of songs talk about that. A lot of, if you sung many songs and you never heard that, then kids wouldn't pick up on that. Like Ms. Rhonda said, you don't really know you're learning even though you're not fighting learning, right? Anybody else have anything? Yes, sir, David. Well, what I was thinking about is the fact that it talks about the power of God as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both in what He has done in the past, how He works in our lives in the present, and also has prophecy in it so the future is there as well. So God is still all-powerful in both the past, present, and future as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Picking up on that, he doesn't hide from anything about God, doesn't ignore the darkness that hides thee. It covers that. It's been brought to my attention that there's not enough songs that talk about that. A lot of songs can be always happy and light, but sometimes when you come in the church, you want words that can communicate how you're feeling, right? That though the darkness hide thee, that he's still there. Self-existent, exists outside of us. He is not a creation of our mind, but we are his creation. And anybody else? Any last person in here? You are so good at this. Brother Eric's down here, Grant. Gonna give Grant a workout. Quite good at this game here, all right? I would actually totally agree with what everybody's saying, so I'm not going to go against this. But on the other aspects, there's two aspects. One is you've got the words, but the other is you've got the music. In this song, the music actually not rides the words, but drives the words. So it's like a submissive undercurrent that builds the story that's being told through song. And I think that's probably one of the reasons we really remember it so well is that the music itself holds the words and carries them forth. Now, I say that because there's a lot of music that doesn't endure. It's good sound theology, but it won't endure because the music will not carry it through, too. So it won't catch. When we sing that at the end together, y'all should listen to that. Listen to how the music fits appropriately with the story that's being told. And so, what a beautiful list. And a few other things is, if we had more time, you might look at the choice of merciful and mighty, that balance there, that our God is powerful, but He's also merciful. If He was one or the other, He wouldn't be a God in which we could worship as a wholly separate one. And no words are wasted, simple timing, easy to memorize. A statement that's very sobering for me, but also exciting, is this. It's by Matt Boswell. He said, we live in a unique time where every church is now creating their own hymnbook. We live in a unique time where every church is creating their own hymn book. That's right. I don't know if I got it in there, but there's some slides where I show a hymn. This song we did. Yeah, there's one. All right. And so how many of you grew up in a church with a hymn book that read like this? All right. All you young people look around. All right. It doesn't take You don't have to be very old to know that was the only option. When this church started in 2006, a decision had to be made about purchasing many hymn books for everybody, or would we put the words up on the screen? And when we made that decision, which was in part financial because hymn books are expensive, also was practical because instead of having, if you really want to do it, you want to have all the hymn books, right? Remember, get the red book, get the blue book. How many of you at a church had multiple song books, right? And so there's great songs in all of them, and you really wanted every hymn book that there was, and so what a great blessing to do that. And I think about Greg Rochelle tells about how he had a projector, and his first person only had three fingers that would put the music up there, and he would put it up on a projector, you know, like cast it, and everybody, as they were singing the songs, you'd see them go, one, two, All right, as they were counting the man's fingers up there, all right? And so whenever we started projecting things on the wall, the church came to a decision of making our own hymn book. And I say that's exciting, but it's also sobering because a lot of work would go into choosing a hymn book and making one, and you would trust that. But now we have the opportunity to sing many songs. I'd be curious to know, somebody that's still in school right now, who is in the highest level of math class, all right? Who is taking, you think we're going with Darcy here? What is she in, some trigonometry, calculus? Does her book just say math on it? All right, no? What do we get? College algebra, okay. Any high schoolers going to compete? Austin? No? Okay. He passes on that. All right. David Burkhardt, I was asking him some questions about math, and I very quickly stopped understanding what he was saying. So I'm assuming there probably aren't many people. He does rocket surgery. No, I'm just kidding. He's a rocket engineer. And so his math, the master's level math was his next level. We're in here, coach has taken a lot of history classes. So no matter how, advanced level of these topics, you probably never had anybody talk to you about the holiness of God. It isn't going to be found in calculus. It isn't going to be found in a master class in history. So it belongs as a privilege to God's church to teach on the holiness of God. Or I should say it like this, God's people. In our homes and at church, it isn't going to be done by anybody else, which means that we need to use what's available to us to teach about the holiness of God. And so one of those things that we have our hymns that do just that. And so teaching, and so this is what our next song that we will look at, we will learn it. We wanted to sing a song that you go back to my sermon, if you will, but I wanted to talk about one hymn in which we already are singing together that you may not recognize as a hymn and talk about that for a moment. So, real quickly, here's a few reasons that hymns are unique and have a profound value in our Christian worship and daily life. As has been mentioned, it reinforces theology, the rich, biblically sound lyrics that help people internalize and understand theological concepts like tonight holiness. Young people, hymn does not mean old. There's nothing about the word hymn that makes something old. A song can be old and not be a hymn. A song can be new and it can be a hymn. When you think about hymns, you ought to think about the structure of a song. Actually, a better word is not old, just congregational. It was a song that was written for the church to sing together. Colossians 3.16 talks about we should encourage one another because Christ dwells inside of us, and we should do so by teaching and admonishing in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. So it's a gift here. And so this verse reminds us that the ministry of music in a church is a ministry of helping or admonishing people to embrace truth. It's a teaching ministry. We should desire to sing songs that are theological, and they're not just theological, but Brother Eric mentioned the music. They need to be beautiful. They need to be more than right, don't they? They need to be beautiful, congregational, singing together, and then also a word, missional. We gather as believers, but at any time, online or in person, we have unbelieving people with us. In 1 Corinthians, it would tell us and remind us of that, that we should do so in a way that is understandable, that the gospel ought to be communicated as we sing and as we speak. And so seeing these truths, they embed it, this doctrine, in a way that we won't forget, guiding us to understand God's characters. Let's play a little game here. I'll start a line, and you finish it for me, okay? Amazing grace. Oh, Lord, my God, when I. Great is thy faithfulness. Holy, holy, holy. Be thou my vision. When peace like a river. come thou fount of every blessing." All right, blessing, all right. In Christ alone, blessed assurance Wow, incredible. Most of you knew all those songs. Alistair Begg says, worship services prepare people to die. I like that quote. Here's a quote I don't like as much, but I think it's true. Songs are the sermons that people remember. When I heard that, I'm like, that's great. Then I thought, wait a second, all right. They're also a sermon in which people remember. And so we think about holiness, so much of what you have learned has been taught to you. There's a relationship. The pastor preached about how we ought to take all the alcohol and all the drugs and we ought to take them down and we ought to throw them in the river, all right? We ought to just take it on and we ought to throw it down the river. At the end of the service, the song leader said, let's all stand together and let's sing, shall we gather at the river, all right? Music can really undermine the teaching of God's Word, or it may be that some churches sing better than they preach, or they may sing better than anything else, right? Because they need to be working together, one together. It brings a unity in the congregation. The sound of Christian music is the sound of Christians singing. That's something that the Gettys have reinforced. What is Christian music? It's the sound of Christian people singing. We sound different here in Georgia than people in Maine sound when they're singing, but theologically we sound the same. Christian people, it engages your emotion, which is not a bad thing. Jesus speaks to this. A truth that's really known as fully embraced will change your affections. It strengthens faith across generations. Your kids are singing songs at the age you were when you were singing them. It encourages personal worship. They're portable sermons. You can take it with you. I won't need the projection in the screen for me to be able to sing holy, holy, holy, or that one song that we were singing here that has that, goes up and down. I sound like a hound dog when I sing that one, all right? That was beautiful about the word holy, holy. I can't even do it, but you know what happened. It was beautiful, all right? The song before I came up here. So let's look here, holiness defined. Holiness is foundational to our understanding. It's what makes God, God. It's an attribute that on two occasions that it said, holy, holy, holy, in Scripture, it's just triplicate in Scripture. It is, Thomas Watson said, it's the most sparkling jewel of God's crown. Dabney says, holiness is to be regarded not as a distinct attribute, but as the result of all of God's moral perfection together. What those men are saying, it's just echoing what Isaiah says in Isaiah 57, 15, for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place, with Him also that is of the contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. It's means to be set apart. That's how we use it. Absolute purity, total separation. Lord, there is none like You, for You are holy. We have a holy Bible, referred to Israel as the holy land, angels as holy, distinct beings, the holy ground, sacred places where people encounter God in Scriptures. Three to make case studies on holiness together. Isaiah's vision in Isaiah chapter number 6, we see there the majesty of the Lord, He's seated high, the seraphim proclaiming God's holiness. Those are two words that we sing in this song, cherubim and seraphim. The cherubim is what stood outside of the garden that's that protector. Seraphims are seen in worship as they're described constantly in the presence of God. You know, sometimes we have big words or hard words in songs, and we need them because these are big words and hard words in Scriptures that we need to understand. And so Isaiah 6 gives us this majesty of God, and then the worship of God, and then he gets a place of confession, and then Seraphim purifies Isaiah's lips, and all those things come together, and we encounter God's holiness, and it brings a self-awareness leading to confession and repentance. Lord, send me." Isaiah chapter number 6, this high view of God that leads to worship and confession and a cleansing in the presence of the Lord. Exodus 3 gives us another picture, Moses in the burning bush. Moses encounters God while tending to a sheep in Sinai. God gives a command in Exodus chapter 3 verse 5. He tells him to take off the sandals, you are on holy ground, and then from that we see that God is revealed, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses hides his face in reference. Here in this picture of holiness, we're recognizing God's holiness that cultivates a deep respect and awe when he is in the presence of God. And then the third picture. So the first picture we see in Isaiah is a self-awareness that leads to confession and repentance. It is a no longer holding on to my sin. It's when you come into God. It is when you have spoken to somebody until you're blue in the face and there is no desire for them to repent or change of their sin, but then the Holy Spirit convicts them, and then they realize they're standing in front of God and change happens. Or the burning bush that cultivates that deep respect and awe. And then lastly, a picture in 2 Samuel 6 is David and the ark covenant. David attempts to move the ark to Jerusalem, but he violates God's command. Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark, and he's struck down for his irreverence. And here we see that obedience and reverence are necessary when approaching God's holiness. Enthusiasm for God's work must be tempered with adherence to His command, that worship is coming to God upon His own terms. so there's a sacredness, there's a holiness. All three of those are pictures that help us in our understanding of holiness. The Bible defines its words. You don't have to go outside of the Bible to find it, and those are three pictures that ought to help us. Scripture tells us in Psalm 29 verse 2 that we give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto His name and worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. That's repeated through Scripture, Psalm 96, different places, and it speaks about the beauty of God's holiness. You know, singing about the holiness of God is a wonderful way to be reminded that it's beautiful. that His otherness, His out…is beautiful. And there's moments in a service when you have moments like Isaiah where there's confession. There's moments in worship before the Lord where there's a self-awareness. There's moments when you have clarity about your life, where you realize that God is big and different than us, and we recognize that, His presence. We recognize that we don't want to do anything to ruin that moment. that you want to stay in it, and then it drives us to want to be holy as well. And so God's holiness cannot coexist with sin. God abhors and ultimately will destroy it. So, believers, we must reject sin to align with God's holiness, and through worship we recognize the beauty of it. And so a few things that holiness will do in the life of a believer. It leads to wholehearted worship. True worship requires an awareness of God's holiness. It can occur anywhere, but it cannot be half-hearted. You can worship anywhere, your car, anywhere in the world. It can happen in a worship service. It can happen just anywhere, but it can't happen without an awareness of the presence of God in your life. And many treat worship with apathy, forgetting the holiness of God, and it's transformative in our lives, in our families, in our country. Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness, the nourishment of mind with His truth, the purifying of imagination by His beauty, the opening of the heart to His love, the surrender of His will to His purpose. All this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion which our nature is capable." So one, it leads to wholehearted worship. Secondly, it inspires wholehearted obedience. Respect for God and His name and His commands, this increased sensitivity to sin, a longing for purity, which goes on to touching our Christian life, reveals sin, and fosters humility. So, I want to give you a few specific ways in which our lives, the Bible tells us, be you holy as I am holy, as the Lord is holy. He calls us into the beauty of His holiness. so briefly here before we sing that song once again is this. You make holiness the purpose in your life. Some of you are mature Christians in here, but that statement just reminds you that oftentimes that we forget that it ought to be an intentional pursuit of our lives. I like to speak to teenagers in here, nobody's going to tell you that. Darcy, you're not going to learn that in your math class, okay? Nobody but God's people are going to remind you to pursue the holiness of God. 1 Peter 115, but as He which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. He calls us to holiness, not merely to be good people, but to be sanctified in Him. And so loving God means pursuing holiness. Our pursuit of holiness is a response to God's love and purpose for us. So all of us ought to commit daily to making holiness the ultimate purpose and pursuit in life. we'd ask God to help us to identify in what areas we've been apathetic or indifferent or quite possibly just been rebellious. Isn't it amazing that the first picture, the first sin that put man in that fallen state, every one of us would say, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it simply is a big deal because it's rebellion against him. It is not submitting to the Lord, which leads us to this next thing, which is don't resist the Holy Spirit. First Peter 1.2, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace, and multiplied." So, sanctification in our lives. Sanctification happens out of salvation. Someday in heaven they'll be the ultimate, but right now there's a continued work in our lives. And so that pursuit of holiness is happening as we yield to the Holy Spirit in our lives. And the Bible teaches us, Acts 7, 51, he's stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, do you always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. That it's possible for you to resist or quench the Spirit's work, but instead you should allow it to lead you into obedience and to Christlikeness and to holiness. So don't resist the Spirit, pursue it with your lives, and then the next point that would be naturally come is just commit to obedience. Hebrews 11, these heroes of the faith, they obeyed by faith. Holiness cannot exist without obedience, faith, and obedience go hand in hand. Jerry Bridges says it like this, obedience is the pathway, the holiness. Embrace daily obedience to the Lord. Holy, holy, holy, through the darkness hide thee, through the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see. We should sing this and we should live this and recognize that our lack of obedience is preventing us from seeing Him as He is. And right now, you have an opportunity to see more clearly than you may have seen all week, and what areas are needed of confession, repentance, and grace. The Bible is communicated to us with authority. When I teach it, when you teach it, when it's opened up, it speaks with authority. We sit, we listen, and when we do that, we allow God to examine our lives and should ask yourself, what is it that is hindering your pursuit of holiness in your life? pursue that, not just religious activity, but pursue holiness that is found in Him. Don't expect perfection to be constantly growing in your pursuit. Philippians 3.12, not as though I've already obtained either or already perfect, but I follow after that I may apprehend that which I have apprehended of Christ. Brother, and I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth on those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Growing up playing basketball, I got a lot of Most Improved Player trophies. Those are the hard ones to get. They only get one of those, all right? Most Improved, all right? If any of you have coached before, it's the great trophy and the box that you give to the kid, oftentimes, because you can't think what else is there for them. But it's the one I'll take the most pride in, the Most Improved here. And then some of, many of you in here are mature believers, but there ought to be continual growth in these areas. We haven't apprehended. We're not there. God should be doing a sanctifying work in our lives, and this should encourage us trusting God in the process. Lord, do the work, depend on God's power to continue, grow in holiness. And then lastly here, remember that you are loved. All this should be motivated by God's love, that pursuit of holiness, the beauty of His holiness. We love Him because He first loved us. Jesus told the woman at the well, go and sin no more, your sins have been forgiven. He told her her standing, and from that ought to flow correct behavior and living. So our motivation for holiness should be rooted in God's love for us. It's our loving response to God. If you love me, Father, we do, well then keep my commandments. So respond to God's love by seeking holiness, reflecting on His nature. for but as He which has called you, 1 Peter 1 15, so be you holy in all manner of conversation. Strive to become as holy as an act of love and worship embodying God's character." That's what I want to encourage you in. We sing this song, we're gonna sing it here, holy, holy, holy. But why don't you allow it to do the three parts in which we had seen in those stories. Allow it to create a self-awareness for you. As you sing it, ask, is there other times during the week that you are concerned about the holiness of God, or you recognize the holiness of God of there? Where are you at? Is it a time of confession, of repentance that needs to happen? Is there a darkness, is there sin in your life that is keeping you from seeing Him fully as He is? Are you trying to come to Him on your own terms? Are there some area of submission? And then we thank God for new songs, for old songs that remind us about the fact that we worship a God who is not like us, that there's none that is like us, that He is unlike us because He is holy. I'm gonna pray, and I'm gonna ask you for the stand, and we're gonna sing that song together, and listen for some of the things that your brothers and sisters told you in here, and think about it. But also, we sing it together as a church, but also remember that you're primarily singing it to the God of heaven. So make those words the words that you would say. If you're not able to say the words, don't say the words. Go to him in prayer as we communicate this to him. After we sing together, I would like to ask for some help. We've got to move the chairs out of here for Tuesday, and those that are able to help with that, we would greatly appreciate it. And then those that are going with Greg on activity, if you're going to be riding a church van, I'll be over here with him so we can work on that together. All right, would you stand with me? I'm going to pray, and then we're going to sing together. Heavenly Father, we recognize that you are holy. There is none that is like you. In all the earth, Lord, you're above every name. Someday, Father, we will gather with seraphims and cherubims and before that glassy sea, before your throne, in something that cannot be fully described to us, and we will bow down and we will worship you as the one, true, only God. But Father, until that time, we come into Your presence as people that reverentially love and fear You. Father, You have set Your love upon us, and we are so very grateful. If You did not love us, Lord, then we'd have no ability to love You or anyone else. Father, we want to enter into the beauty of Your holiness. Father, forgive us as a people and as a nation, Lord, in areas in which we have rebelled against You and we have not submitted to Your commands. Forgive us, Father, where we have pursued a worship of You, Lord, in a way that is not honoring to You. Father, we come to You with a self-awareness that we are sinners, but You are a great Savior. So, Father, we will sing to You tonight, Lord. and we will call you holy. And Lord, as we do that, Father, we want to meditate upon these thoughts so they go deep into our heart and our minds, transform our behavior in a way that is pleasing unto you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.