We are dealing with a most important topic, that is, the holiness of God. I hate it if you missed this morning in Sunday School, Jim did a great job of giving us a systematic approach to this very topic, and so you're going to get a double dose if you were here early. We're in 1 Peter. That is the context. We are endeavoring to do a survey of this little book. this little letter, and we are sort of stopped dead still in this section, starting with about verse 13 of the first chapter, down through verse 21. Today, for the sake of time, let me just read verse 16 to you. It will be the verse that I will center my remarks upon. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 16. where we read, Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. We have in our day and time much misunderstanding concerning what it means to be holy. I have some rather humorous episodes in my past myself. I remember a young lady who was in our youth group down in Lancaster, Texas, south of Dallas before we went up to Wyoming. And this young lady said she had a Bible, but it wasn't a holy Bible. It was just the New Testament. She thought a holy Bible means it's the whole Bible. Well, no. Instead of a partial Bible, a holy Bible. That's W-H-O-L-L-Y, okay? And then, of course, out in my Wyoming days, we were out there among the Mormons, who among their many strange beliefs have their sacred undergarments, which we sort of irrevocably referred to as their holy underwear. And I made mention many times that I've got a drawer full of holy underwear at my house. However, that's H-O-L-E-Y. So there's all sorts of misunderstandings. In fact, it was interesting. Our first work group we took down to Mexico. A lady from over in Pine Bluff went with us, and she was asking my wife, said, Do they make a big deal out of Christmas here in Mexico? And Linda said, well, no, I don't think so. In fact, some of the Protestant churches don't even observe it. And she said, well, why do they have all these Santa Bibles? You know, it says Santa Biblia. They've got these Santa Bibles everywhere I look. Not quite understanding that Santa, of course, the Spanish word for holy. So there's all sorts of misunderstandings, and we can just go on and on. And you probably have in your mind what it means to call someone holy. In fact, most of us, we would sort of recoil from that if someone walked up and says, well, you're a holy person because we're used to using it in a regular, sort of a derogatory way. You're a holy Joe or a holy Jane. You think you're better than everybody else, a goody-goody two shoes. But what we have learned from our study is that, well, you better be holy. Because that is the very essence of what it is to be a Christian. If you're a Christian, you are holy. If you're not holy, you're not a Christian. It is a word that comes from hagios, that family of words in the Greek that means literally to set apart. To be set apart from something unto something. As I said, we think of that as maybe your fine china at home. It is set apart. It's special. used only on special occasions. If the preacher comes over, you get it out. Ordinary folks don't have that. My house, all you get is plastic forks and paper plates, but you get the picture. We have special things that are set apart for special uses. The Word itself really doesn't tell us what that means and what that implies to the thing that is set apart until you tell us to whom or what it is set apart. That's what's going to determine what it means to be holy. As we look back on our study thus far, my first point was to point out, and looking back in this chapter to verse 1 and 2, that holiness is not something you can do yourself. It is not a do-it-yourself project. You cannot make Holy yourself. I'm just going to be holy. I've decided I'm going to be a holy person. That holiness begins with a work of God. A separating, discriminating work by which God, and we see it defined in verse 2, has chosen us. He has sanctified us. He set us apart. Same word as holiness, by the way. Same in Greek. family of words, to be holy, to be sanctified, same thing, just different words in English. The Holy Spirit has set us apart unto obedience to Christ and the blood of sprinkling. We have been called out, notice the language in verse 15, the verse before our text this morning, but as he who hath called you is holy. In other words, you're never going to be holy unless God calls you to be holy. Now once you are set apart, put in a different category, and you say, well, what category is it? Well, it's the category of the saved rather than the lost. It's the category of those who walk in the light rather than those who are in darkness. It's the category of those who are now in a kingdom of life rather than the kingdom of death. There's many, many ways we can talk about it, but notice that's the definition of being a Christian. God has taken us from this place over here. He separated us from that, and He's placed us into this new situation over here. To use Paul's language, and I love the way he puts it in Colossians 1.13, God has translated us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. Do you see the work of God? Separating us from something, from an authority, a power that once dominated our lives and has separated us to something, into the kingdom of His dear Son. The church is a holy church. You say, how's that? Well, what does it mean to be a church? The word in Greek, ekklesia, is a called out assembly. You've been called out. That's what the church is. It's been separated. And therefore, no wonder that one of the favorite terms we find in the New Testament when we address the believers in a church somewhere. Look at Colossians, look at Ephesians, look at Philippians, how Paul addresses. He says, to the saints. That's that same word again, hageos, from the same word family. You holy ones there at Philippi. You holy ones there at Colossae. You holy ones at Ephesus. That's whose he's writing the letter to. In other words, a fundamental shift has occurred in the life of a Christian. He is now sanctified. He's now made holy by a work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our duty then, as our text tells us, is to now be holy because God says, I am holy. Now we are going to look, Lord willing, next week at the motivations for holiness. And we're going to find there's four of them here in our text. And this is one of them. Be ye holy because I'm holy. But we're going to lay that aside today and we're going to turn our attention simply on the words I am holy. What does that mean when God says that He is holy? Some of you might say, but wait a minute, does the definition you gave us, that holiness means I'm separated from something and I'm set apart to something, does that work in this case? And at first glance, we might be tempted to say, no, no. Because generally, and we would say universally, I should say, that when you're set apart to something, if that makes you holy, then the thing you're set apart to is greater than you are. You're going to need an example, aren't you? Turn to Matthew. Look at Matthew 23. I knew that wasn't going to cut it. Matthew 23. In verse 18, Jesus is pronouncing woes upon the Pharisees and the scribes and so forth. And here's one of the mistakes they make. Matthew 23, verse 18. He says, and whosoever shall swear... He's basically stating this is what you teach people. And they're talking about swearing. Now, they're not talking about cussing. They're talking about making oaths. And you swear an oath by saying, by this, I'm telling you the truth. You know, you go to give testimony in court of law, you put your hand on the Bible. What's the deal? You're swearing by the veracity of God's Word that what I'm saying is true. So you swear by something. Those oaths are very common, certainly in the area of Israel in Jesus' day. And that's what he's talking about. He's saying, this is what you guys are saying in verse 18, that whosoever swears by the altar, it is nothing. In other words, you can say, I swear by the altar that I will give you so much money tomorrow and you don't have to keep your word. That does not bind you. But whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, he is bound. Notice the idea is, is that one of the mistakes that the scribes and Pharisees made is they say you can swear by the altar itself and that will not bind you. You can break your word in that case, but if you swear by the lamb that's being offered on the altar, that's a different story. Now you're bound. And Jesus, to correct this, says in the next verse, verse 19, he fools and blind for which is greater the gift or the altar that, here's that Haggaios, that same family again, that sanctifies the gift. In other words, wait a minute, is it the gift that makes the altar what it is, or the altar that makes the gift what it is? He's saying that the altar is that which sanctifies, makes holy, the gift. That when you give this to God, it becomes a holy thing, you see. It's not the other way around, but notice that it all involves which is greater. Is the gift greater or is the altar greater? And since the altar is greater, it's the altar that sanctifies the gift, not the other way around. Okay, you got the principle? That when you say that you have been made holy from something to something, whatever that to something is, is greater than you are. That make sense? And so the problem, and I hope many of you are saying it here, is that, wait a minute, in this case, there is no greater than God, right? So how could God be set apart, if that's the idea of holiness, from something to something? What could it possibly be that is greater than God Himself? How could that definition function here in this context? Well, that's what we're going to look at. this morning. And let me give you three ideas of how to think about holiness this morning. Some of this will be regurgitating what you've already heard from Brother Jim this morning in the Sunday school class. But I want you to think about this statement. God saying, I am holy. It is not as obvious as we might like to make it. We need to think about what do those words imply. Number one, it reminds us that holiness is not so much an individual attribute of God himself as it is the sum total of all his attributes. Let me try to explain what I mean. If you study the attributes of God, you mentioned A.W. Pink, he's got a book entitled The Attributes of God, okay? Or you go to a systematic theology book where they list the attributes of God. A lot of times, for the sake of studying and learning, we divide God's attributes into two sets, two groups. One we call the communicable attributes. The other, the incommunicable or the noncommunicable attributes of God. Let me try to define what we mean. By noncommunicable or incommunicable attributes of God, what we mean is things like God's eternality. He's an eternal, self-existent being. You are not and you will never be. Your existence depends on someone else's. God is self-existent. His existence depends on nothing else than Himself. When we speak of God's omnipotence, Having all power. You will never have all power. You don't have all power and you never will. There are certain things that are peculiar to the nature of God. He does not share those with anybody else. His eternality, His immensity, His infiniteness. Okay? All of those attributes we have no part in. But there is another class of His attributes. His love. Do you have something in you that reflects that attribute? His mercy, His grace, His justice. You see, there is another set of His attributes that we, to some degree, some more than others, reflect those attributes. We're like God in that sense, and they are called communicable attributes in that we can share in them at least partially. Holiness, if we want to be strict, falls into that second category. It is something that we can share with God. Notice right here, be ye holy for I am holy. I want you to be like I am. That's what he's saying. And so in a sense, holiness is a communicable attribute in the sense that we can have some small portion of it as God has it. But we make a mistake. if we think that holiness is just another one of the attributes of God. It is what I would call the super attribute of God. It is that attribute that transcends all others and dominates all others. It is the sum total of all His perfections. That's what we mean when we speak of the holiness of God. You say, how do you know that? Well, number one, that when men come into contact with God. It is the attribute that transcends all others. You're familiar, of course, with Isaiah 6. And I say, of course, I may be assuming something I shouldn't assume. But in Isaiah 6, Isaiah writes that in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. high and lifted up. His train filled the temple and the cherubim were shouting one to the other, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. And what's Isaiah's reaction? Oh, I am undone. I am a sinful man, O Lord. Notice that what has awed Isaiah is not, he doesn't get the warm and fuzzies when he's in the presence of God. It's not that he's overawed by His mercy or His kindness. What awes him is this vision of the glorious holiness of God Almighty. That's what impacts him. Holiness is sort of the super attribute in that it taints and flavors every other attribute of God. His love is a holy love. His justice is a holy justice. His wrath is a holy wrath. You see that this one attribute is sort of the summation of the sum total of God's perfections. It's the one that trumps all the other attributes. And so first of all, think of holiness in that light, that it's not so much one part of God, one individual attribute, as it is the one attribute that is the sum total of all that God is. And then secondly, holiness needs to be thought of like this, is that it expresses the uniqueness of God's person and God's nature. When God says, I am holy, is He expecting us to understand that in the sense that, well, there's a lot of holy gods out here and I'm just one of them? Or is He expecting us to understand that when God says, I am holy, that He's one of a kind? We look at the idea of holiness, as I said, sets a distinction between one group from another group. I know we don't like the word segregation today, but that's what the word holiness means. You're segregated. You're separated. You're in one group that's not like another group. And so it is with the holiness of God, when God says, I am holy, He means for us to understand that He is in a class by Himself. He is set apart from all others. There is no being in the universe like God. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, think about the idea of the difference between creator and creature. Now, I hope this morning you know which category you're in. Are you in the category of the maker, or are you in the category of the thing made? You see, there's really two categories when it comes to this idea of creation. One is the Creator, one is the creation. Now, in the creation category, how many things are there? Well, there's you and me, Joe. Anybody else in that group? Well, yeah, in fact, everybody here. We're in the category of creature, aren't we? And every chair in here, every molecule of air is in that created category. It has been made. It didn't make itself. It has existence because God has created it. And so every person we know, every being we know, every thing we know is in that created category. Now let's go to the creator category. How many things or people are in that category? Just one. Just one. Our God stands alone, unique, in the creator category, in the maker category. There is one creator and maker, then there's a whole bunch of things that are made. I've coined a word, and it's not like one of my usual redneck expressions, but to try to define what God means when He says, I am holy. That the word holy means, and you won't find this in anywhere, until I write a book, you'll never find it in a book, okay? Nobody's going to quote me on this. This is my invention. But it comes as close as I can come to what the word holy means. It means the other-than-ness of God. The other-than-ness. You understand how you are? He's not like you. You're finite. He's infinite. You're temporal. He's eternal. You're limited. He is absolutely unlimited. Whatever you are, God is other than you. He's in a separate category. Now, it is that fact. figure out how do I get this across to you? Do you realize that all the rest of us, when you say we are holy, our holiness is derived. As I said before, it's because we have been separated by something else external to ourselves. But the holiness of God is not a derived holiness, it is intrinsic. It's related to who He is, His very existence, His very being. Well, I was trying to define this. We were talking about love one time, and everybody's got, you know, probably in your house up on a plaque, decoupage. It says, God is love. And we all love that expression. That's such a wonderful thing to say, but nobody thinks about what's that mean. And what it means is, is everybody else loves because. Right? We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. Everybody else loves because you love I love strawberry shortcake. Well, was that accidental? Is that just arbitrary? No, I love strawberry shortcake because I love strawberries. You men sitting here next to your wife, you love her for a reason, don't you? She can cook. She's good looking. Right? There was a reason why you wanted to be married to her and not somebody else. She pleased you. I mean, that's what old Samson said to his parents about that woman, that Philistine woman. Get her for me because she pleases me. That's how we love. We find something lovely. We find something agreeable to our nature and we love it. We love in response to seeing that which is lovely. Okay? God doesn't love that way. God is love. There is no because with God. It's not that He loves you and I because He saw us and we are just so cute and cuddly, you know, we're like a little puppy or a little kitten. They get over that stage in a hurry. But they're just so cute and cuddly. How can you not love this little puppy or this little kitten? No, that's not how God loved us. In fact, God loved us in spite of ourselves rather than because of ourselves. And in the same sense, We are holy only in a secondary sense because something has made us holy. But God is holy because He is holy. Do you see the difference? Intrinsically. It is this fact that brings into our consciousness, into our hearts, what we call the fear of God. Because when I truly understand what's going on, when I am confronted with God, I begin to understand that I, this space-bounded, time-bounded creature, I am standing in the presence of this God who is completely outside of time. He doesn't just have a lot of time. Time has no effect. All things are present before Him. My past, my future, all things. That's the God I stand before. I stand before Him with finite understanding, finite power, and I'm standing in the presence of this God who has infinite knowledge, infinite wisdom, Infinite power. I am this creature who am surrounded by an environment of constant change, constantly in the state of flux. And not only is my environment in the state of flux, unfortunately I myself am in the state of flux. And it's not headed in a good direction, folks. Things are falling out. They're not falling in, right? Things are breaking apart, running down. I am constantly in the change condition, and I'm standing in the presence of a God who is absolutely outside of change. We speak of His immutability, not only that He does not change, but absolutely incapable of change. He's the God who was, who is, and who shall be forevermore. I am standing. before a being that knows me. If suddenly all your clothing disappeared this morning, what would that be like? Well, it wouldn't be an erotic situation, would it? We would all be scrambling for cover, right? Do you understand that for me, finite creature, me, to stand before a God before whom all things are open and naked to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, what a fearful thing! He knows me. He's not learning about me. He already knows all there is to know. I think of the woman at the well when Jesus said, go call your husband. I don't have a husband. He said, yeah, you're right. You've had five and you're living with a man who's not your husband. And she said, how do you know me? And she goes back to her village and says, come see a man who told me everything I've ever done. Now, He didn't tell her everything he'd ever done, she'd ever done, but the point is she realizes This person I'm standing before knows me, knows every detail of my life. Do you understand? I cannot cover up. He knows me. He knows my most intimate secrets, my inmost thoughts. And I can't stop Him. I am helpless to prevent Him. None can stay unto Him what doest thou. None can stay His hand. Whatever He wants to do, He does. And you and no one else can stop Him. I can't stop Him from knowing. And I can't stop Him from doing. The condemnation of lost man boils down to his conception of God. In Psalm 50, verse 27, God takes lost man to count. And here's his crime. Listen to these words. God says to the heart of a wicked man, thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as thyself. Lost person, here's your sin. It's stinking thinking. It's how you think about God. That's what condemns you. Because the lost man in his conception of God thinks that God is like me. I mean, I like to sin it up a little bit, so God doesn't have any problem with that. I like these things, so God must like them. Do you understand? Our sin is imposing our thinking upon God rather than understanding God's revelation of Himself in His Word. God is the agnoston, the unknowable. You cannot get your mind around Him. You can't explore Him. The only way you and I will ever know God is in His self-disclosure of Himself as He chooses and pleases to show Himself to us. You'll never get a hold of Him with your hands. You'll never be able to put Him to an experiment to demonstrate His nature. You and I are utterly dependent upon God's self-disclosure of who He is. in His Word. Outside of that, we're just lost. He's revealed Himself in two ways, in creation and in His Word. A general revelation and a special revelation in Scripture. The man who experiences God, his testimony is, Thou art altogether other than me. And then thirdly, I want to go back to my definition. I say that holiness means to be separated from something, to something, and back to the difficulty. What is it that God is separated unto? Seeing there is none greater than He, and it is the greater thing that sanctifies the thing that is dedicated to it. Okay? That's what Jesus said. then what is it that God is separated unto? Well, we're dealing with a problem very similar to what the book of Hebrews describes in Hebrews 6, that God is wanting to impress upon Abraham the utter veracity of His Word, the fact that you can take His promise to the bank. And how does He do that? The writer of Hebrews in chapter 6 says, because he could swear by no greater He swore by Himself, saying, surely I will bless thee. Now I realize to say surely I'll bless thee doesn't sound like an oath to us, but it was to them and it was to Abraham. That God is swearing that what He has promised to Abraham will in fact be performed. What is He going to swear by? What does Jesus say? You've got to swear by something greater. something more solid, more sure than your word. So what is God going to swear by? Well, the Scripture tells us, because there was no greater than Himself, He swore by Himself. Now let that sink in. He is swearing by His own existence. It's in essence saying that should my word fail, it will mean that I, your God, have ceased to be. I am swearing on not my mother's grave, not my children's life, I am swearing on my life. And as certain as it is that God will never cease to be so His Word, Is that certain of its performance? That's the point of Hebrews 6. May I then say the same thing in regards to our statement this morning. When God says, I am holy, and the question is, what is He separated unto? And my answer is this, Himself. He is utterly and completely separated unto, dedicated unto, consecrated unto, His own being, His own self. May I say it? It sounds irreverent. And if I were to say it of you, it would be the sin that will send you to hell. But when it's said of God, it is absolutely certain and true that God is absolutely, infinitely self-centered. His first thought, His last thought is, how will this bring glory to me? Now, if we're dealing with you, I'd say you're an egotistical maniac. What do you mean? Do you think everything revolves around you? Well, God thinks it does revolve around Him. And it does. Do you see? He is infinitely self-absorbed, self-concerned with His own glory. He declares, I will not share my glory with another. And do you understand that it is right, it is good that God be infinitely self-absorbed and concerned about His own glory? What would be the highest sin in your life or my life is what we want it to be when it's God. It is that fact. It's the only fact that makes any sense of this world. Because you say, well, it's just fate. Just chance. Well, let me ask you, would you rather Have the destiny of the universe in the hands of this impersonal thing we call fate or chance? Or would you rather have it in the hands of a God who is both great and good? You see, something is in control. Something's determining what's going to happen. Something is shaping the future. What would you rather it be? You say, I don't like the idea that God has reserved all of this for Himself. Well, who else would you want to put it in the hands of? I don't want Tom to have it. I don't want Christian to have it. Who else? What other being out there would you say deserves to have all the honor, all the glory directed in His direction? Do you understand that what God is saying when He says, I am holy, is that I am one of a kind, I'm uniquely God, and I am utterly consecrated to myself, to my purposes, to my glory. I'm working all things to bring me glory. And it will bring Him glory. Let's read Romans 11 to get a handle on this. Romans 11, we've had since Romans 9 this deep, deep discussion of God's purposes. His election, His predestinations, His four ordinations, that He is the potter and we are the clay. And we come to the end of this in chapter 11, and starting in verse 33, Paul says these words, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. It's like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, except in this case, there is no bottom. This is deep. Yeah, he is a little deep, isn't he? He's a little too deep for you and me. He goes on to say, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Notice he's not saying it's difficult to figure God out. Some of you have a problem figuring God out, welcome to the club. Because Paul is saying here, not that it's just difficult, it's impossible. His ways are past finding out. You'll never figure him out. You'll never wrap your mind around him. You say, I just need to get a handle on him. You're not going to find that handle. He says, Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. Oh my, I could preach a whole message on that one verse. Whoever took the first step towards God. You say, I'm going to do something for God. How are you going to do something for God unless God first does something for you? You say, I love God. You love Him. Why? Because He first loved me. Over in Galatians, Paul says, You come to know God. And then he stops and says, I'd rather have been known by God. The only reason you know God is because you were foreknown by God. It wouldn't happen. We see in John 6, for instance, the only reason we come to Christ is because we've been drawn to Christ. Yes, we come, but why? In other words, if it wasn't God acting first, we wouldn't have anything to do with God. Who can ever make the first move towards God? That's what he's saying. That you can do something for God and now you've got Him in your debt. He owes you something. No. Whatever you have, I'm going to give this thing to God. How do you have it? Why do you even possess it in the first place? but that God first put it in your hands. You can never make the first move. And then lastly, in verse 36, think deeply on these verse. Very little, small words, easy to understand, but oh, the depth of this. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. What is that saying? Everything is of Him. He is the source. He's the maker. He's the creator. He's the one who originated all things. All things are by Him. They're through Him. They're being sustained by Him. And therefore, all things are to Him. That means you are to Him. You exist for Him. Not vice versa. We have this, I've stated it before, it's like a domestic cow god here in the United States. That you know, I've got chickens for eggs, I've got a cow for milk, and I've got God out here circulating around me. And will He forgive you? Of course He'll forgive you! What else is God for? That's why He's out there in orbit around me, you see? And what this is telling us, it is overthrowing that paradigm, that thinking of my mind. that somehow God is out there to do things for me. Instead, He's at the center of it all. And I am revolving around Him. He's not here for me. I'm here for Him. My purpose is to bring Him glory. I came of Him. I'm sustained by Him. And my goal, my end is to bring Him glory forever and ever. And since He is the source and the fountainhead of all good, I can say like old Asaph back in Psalm 73. Asaph, he's the one that said, my feet were almost slipped, I almost departed, I was guilty of saying, what good is serving God doing me? I mean, I serve God, and man, I'm just getting clobbered, and these wicked folks are getting fat and sassy. You ever had those thoughts? Well, you're alone if you haven't. Because everybody gets to looking around and says, wait a minute, I'm trying to serve God, and look at this, look at what's happened to me. Look at the things God has brought into my life. And look at that wicked fellow over there. Look at how God is blessing them. And he said, I was tempted to say, and I couldn't even share these things with my fellow worshippers. You don't voice these things, but I was thinking them. And he said, then I realized that that fellow is getting fat and sassy. It's sort of like the cow in the stall. Can you imagine? You and another cow are out here. You're having to eat your grass and find grass. out here in the hot sun. You look over here and the master's got one of the cows. He's in a stall and he's getting corn. He doesn't have to go out and get grass. The master's bringing him a bucket of corn, feeding him water every day. You say, oh, I'd like to be with him. And the other cow says to you, you fool, don't you understand? He's being fattened for the slaughter. And so Asaph said, then I realized, I see their end. I see where all this is going. And he ends that psalm with these words, it is good for me to draw nigh to God. That makes sense. If God is good. If every good and perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights with whom there is no shadow of eternity. Do you believe that? In other words, every good thing that you enjoy is a gift to you from a good God, then the most logical, consistent thing for you to do is get as close to that good God as you can possibly get. Get as close to the fountainhead of goodness that you can. That's my duty. Be ye holy. Be ye separated unto Me, for I am holy. I am infinitely separated to Myself. Now if I can share just two considerations, two conclusions as we close. When we think about this topic, the holiness of our God and what it means, it reveals and throws light upon the nature the character and the enormity of my sin. Because my sin is not against another creature, a created thing. My sin is against the infinite God. the God who formed me for Himself. You begin to see that my rebellion is not just breaking a rule, but it is shaking my fist in the face of the One who made me, who created me. I am daring Him to do something about it. He says, You will? And I said, I won't. He said, Thou shalt not? And I said, Yes, I will. It is utter rebellion in the face of my sovereign, of my King. And I am sinning against the very purpose for which I have been made. I am sinning against the very fabric of the universe, a universe that exists to bring God glory. And I am rebelling against everything. That is. Now, I know your answer. You say, but I didn't choose to be made. Do you understand, little creature? The Creator never asked permission of the creature! How could you? How can I ask the permission of the creature whether it wants to be formed or made or not? Because it has to have existence before it can give me its permission. Do you understand? You don't function that way. You're fixing to go home. Some of you ladies create a nice meal for your husband. It's Father's Day. You have this creation. Oh, I know it's just a secondary sense. You didn't make the ingredients, but you put them together. You rearrange them into a tasty form. And do you have to ask permission of the dish? before you make it? I hope you see the absurdity of this thing, the lost man saying, but I didn't ask to be put here. I didn't ask to be born. I didn't ask to be made. Of course you didn't! You're the creature! God did not ask for your permission. He did not ask for your advice. He does not ask for your approval. I don't like it here. He's God! You're not! That's what Paul is saying, "...shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?" He never bothers to answer that question because the question is out of place! That the thing would complain to its Maker how it's been made. Oh, I hope the power of this is hitting you right between the eyes. You know, I'm just so sorry for you that God didn't sit down with you ahead of time and explain. See if you'd vote for His plan. You say, but I will never ever glorify that God. Oh, yes, you will. Because the wicked shall glorify the attributes of God, his attributes of justice, his attribute of righteousness, If you pass from this world without Christ, without being reconciled to this holy God that you have offended, you will glorify Him forever in hell. You will be to the pleasure, His purpose of glorifying Himself. He will get glory from you. Oh, let it be. that we bring Him glory because, well, how does Paul put it in Ephesians? That we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace. You see, one way or the other, my friend, little created thing, you will glorify your Creator. One way or the other. You say, I won't. Yes, you will. Oh, yes, you will. I find several places in Scripture, and it scares me to think about it, but it's like the redeemed in heaven go on a field trip and glance down into hell. Here at the end of Isaiah, we go out to where this fire is burning, where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched, and they look upon these burning in hell. In the book of Revelation, the smoke of hell comes up before the nostrils of the holy angels. And do we see anybody saying, Oh God, how could You do such a thing? You know what you hear from the lips of the angels? Hallelujah! Lord God Almighty! You're just! You're righteous! And then, Secondly today, this consideration reveals to me the nature of this thing we call salvation, this thing we call grace. For this God, infinite self-existence, infinitely self-absorbed, self-centered, has in His mercy stooped, condescended to save your hell-deserving soul. You say, well, of course He did. I mean, look at me. I'm so cute and cuddly. No, He did it. You know why He did it? For His glory! Because this same God who will display His attributes of justice by the wicked perishing in hell forever and ever. You do understand this is an infinite God you have sinned against. His wrath is infinite wrath. That same God wishes to display His attributes of grace, mercy, love. How do you do it? By sending His Son into this world by sending His Son to a cross to take their hell on that Roman torture stake. He sent an infinite person in the person of His Son, made Him man that He might suffer and die so that my infinite crime might be propitiated, might be atoned for. This God has stooped Why heaven only knows. God only knows. Why me? Why you? All I know is something happened. We got segregated. We got separated. The mass of humanity all around us heading to hell as hard as they can go and God got us out of the herd. Why? Because This God would glorify His name in the salvation of wicked, hell-deserving creatures. He opens a door. He makes a way for a God-defying creature like me to be welcomed into His presence, to be received, to be reconciled. And that way is through His Son, Jesus Christ. This God has said that he will not share his glory with another. Would you turn one last place and we're through. 1 Corinthians 1. While you're turning there, I remind you of a passage you know better. Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9, by grace. Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God Lest. What follows? Lest any man should boast. In Greek, the word translated boast, same word translated glory. Lest any flesh should glory. Okay? In other words, God has intentionally designed salvation in such a way that the only one you can give glory and praise to because of it is God Himself. Do you understand now? That's what He's doing. You say, why? Because He's infinitely self-centered. His glory is what He's all about. And He's not going to share it with anybody else. So He has designed salvation in a way that you and I can't stand and say, look at me, look what I did. It is by grace through faith. It's not of you, lest you should boast. Read the same thing here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Look at verse 26. For you see your calling. There's that segregating, separating call of God. You see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh... In this bunch, I think I could say not any wise men after the flesh, but we'll say there might be one or two here somewhere. Not many mighty, not many noble... Queen Elizabeth said she was sure glad for the lack of an M in this verse. or the fact that there was an M here, because Paul didn't say, not any noble. He said, not many. Not many noble. He said, just look around at you. Look at who's here. Look at who has been separated unto Christ. Not many wise folks. Not many noble. Not many mighty. Because why? Verse 27, God has chosen a bunch of fools like you and me. He's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. He's chosen base things, lowly, humble things, and things, He says, which are despised. God has chosen things that are not to bring to naught, to nothing, things which are. Notice what God is doing. He's not taking the qualified. He's taking the unqualified. And He's performing His purpose through it all. Why does He do that? Look at verse 29. That no flesh should glory in His presence. You understand? He will not share His glory. The way He saves sinners is a way that will bring to Him all the glory. The way He performs His purposes. At the end of the day, all the glory will be His. Verse 30. Oh, it's an amazing verse. I wish the wording weren't so torturous and twisted, especially in the King James, and the others are not much better. But oh, if you'll let these words sink in. But of Him. He has designed it this way so that you cannot boast. But of Him. Of God are ye in Christ Jesus. Let that sink in. How did I get in Christ? It's of Him. He did it. If I go to hell, blame me. It's my fault. If I go to heaven, blame Him. It's all His fault. If you say, what's a rebel like Him doing in heaven? I don't know. It's His fault. You get it? Give Him the blame. That's what He's saying. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. How'd you get in Him? Oh, it was all of me. I just decided I wanted this and I'm better than other folks. I made a good decision. They made a bad decision. No, it's all of Him. And then He made Christ, who of God is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. He gave us everything in Christ. That according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That's it, folks. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about. Where are you? Are you one of those that shakes its fists in the face of its Maker, its Creator? Defies His law, His holiness, and not only spits in the face of His law, but you have spit in the face of His grace. I dare say there's not a one among us here who have not heard the gospel over and over. I mean, after all, we're here in the Bible Belt in the South. We at least know the fundamentals of the faith. We've been exposed. We're not out in the middle of the jungle somewhere. And we've not only spit in the face of His law, we spit in the face of His mercy. May God open your eyes that you see. Christ Himself in John 17 said this is life eternal. That they know Thee. The only true God. And Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. May God bring you to a saving knowledge of who He is. That in that light, you get a glimpse of who you are. and that the preciousness of the cross of Jesus Christ comes alive. Oh, now I see. Oh, once I was blind, but now I see. I see how it is that this holy, just, righteous God could save a sinner like me and not violate Mercy is justice in the process. I see how it is at the cross that all of God's attributes are all brought together. They meet and kiss. I see that God has opened a way whereby we might be justified and He Himself be just through the shed blood of His Son. May that mystery be unfolded before your eyes. May it become so precious to you that you won't stand for anything else. Let's pray. Father, we ask Your blessing upon Your Word that You might help us to get a glimpse of what it means that our God is holy. And that, Father, we would fear before You that even as we bask in Your light and in the consciousness of our acceptance through the blood of Your Son, yet, Father, we stand here blown away, awestruck by the thought of who You are and what You have done for creatures, sinful creatures, rebel creatures like ourselves. Father, I pray that if there is one in our midst who has not surrendered, who has not fallen on their face before this God, who have not laid hold of Your mercy and the blood of Your Son, who have come to Him for forgiveness of their sins, O Father, may You open their eyes that today might be that day. that they see as never before, that there is only one way for me, a sinner, to be accepted by this infinite Holy God. And that is through the work of His infinite Son on Calvary's cross. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.