All right, if you have your Bibles, turn to the 99th Psalm, Psalm 99. You remember Psalm 93 through 100 is all theocratic psalms. It all talks about how the Lord reigns. It's talking about his sovereignty. It talks about how he is king. He is upon the throne. The Lord reigns. It starts out that way in Psalm 93, also in Psalm 97, and also in the Psalm we're looking at tonight, Psalm 99. The Lord reigns. And that is a comforting thought to God's people. As we look at this, I want you to, if you can recollect, last week we were in Psalm 98, and it talked about the fullness of celebration. It didn't talk about anything but other than celebrating and worshiping God. Talked about how it was a joyful psalm. Didn't talk anything about the heat. It talked about just worshiping God. And what Psalm 98 does, or what it did and showed us, it showed us the gulf that God had bridged. But when you get to Psalm 99, what it does, it kind of balances out Psalm 98 with that which should be reverence that is due unto him. It shows also the God who bridged the gulf. Whereas Psalm 98 shows us the gulf that God bridged, Psalm 99 shows us the God who bridged the gulf. So the emphasis is upon God, it's divided in three different parts, and it's marked by a refrain that declares, very simply, the holiness of God. In verse 3, we see He is holy. In verse 5, we see He is holy. In verse 9, we see He is holy. It mentions about the holiness of God four different times within these nine verses. The Lord His name is mentioned seven times. God Elohim is mentioned five times. There are pronouns that reference God 15 different times. So this psalm is consistently about Him. And to understand how to talk to someone or how you approach someone, you need to know something about the position and the character of that person. When you know a little bit about the character of a person or about the position that they hold, you can approach them so much better. just like one man that Lydia and I met that was in a little bitty barn-framed metal building. He was a broom maker. He was Amish, therefore we knew he was Amish. I knew somewhat how to talk to him and address him, and he was very responsive. He opened up about some of the Amish ways, and I learned a little bit from him. But you think about somebody in a prominent position. Someone maybe in a position that deserves respect. How do you approach them? If I could use a very loose situation, if the President of the United States were to walk into this building, how would you respond? Some might be flippant. Some might show respect. As God's people, we always show respect, at least for the position. I want you to listen to what it says over in 2 Timothy. Over in 2 Timothy 2 in verse 1, it says, well, it might be 1 Timothy, hang on just a second. 1 Timothy 2 in verse 1. The Apostle Paul says, therefore, I exhort that first of all supplications and prayers and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority. In other words, we as God's people, it's not an option whether we pray for the leaders that are in authority, whether they're good or bad, it doesn't matter. It's not an option. Here, Paul is exhorting us by inspiration of the Spirit. And the reason is that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. And the Word of God says, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. In other words, think back who was the king or emperor in Paul's day. It was Nero. Nero was a ruthless man, a bad leader in the time of Rome. And the Apostle Paul's saying, supplication must be made for him. Even so, whether you agree with one party or another, we are commanded to pray for leaders and those who are in authority. Now just with that thought in mind, I want to raise you up to a little higher level. How much more should we respect Him who we approach in prayer? If we respect a man or woman in a prominent position, how much more should we show that respect toward the Lord. In this Psalm, Psalm 99, it features one main attribute of God that actually separates God from man, from you and I. And that one attribute that is highlighted throughout this Psalm is the holiness of God. What does it mean to be holy? It means to be set apart It means to be separate. It means, it carries a connotation to it of being pure. God is absolutely sinless, pure, holy, separate from sinners. And this is talking about the distance between God and man. Think about you and I, all of mankind, we're all sinful. God is sinless. We're all imperfect. We're all flawed. God is perfect. The Word of God describes us as dead in trespasses and sins. He is the giver of life. He's the totally opposite. We are blind. He alone is the one who gives sight. Whether it is spiritual sight or whether it's physical sight, it is God that gives us eyes to see. I want you to notice He is light. The Word of God tells us we're darkness. Men love darkness rather than light. In verses 1 through 3 in Psalm 99, As we look at the holiness of God and the vast gulf between God and man, which only God can bridge, we see in the first three verses that He is sovereign. We have gone over this over the past few Psalms, but what we see here is God is sovereign, therefore He reigns. Notice it says in verse one, the Lord reigns. Because God is on the throne, God reigns. What should we do? It says, let the people tremble. He sits between the cherubims. Let the earth be moved. Because God is holy and he reigns absolute in sovereignty over all the earth, it says, the people and the earth, let the earth be shaken. Let the people tremble. That's talking about fear. This is a reverential fear for God's people, whereas for ungodly people it ought to be a scary fear. His reign is characterized in the next verse. Notice what it says, or in the latter part of verse 1. It is characterized by serenity. Notice it says he sits between the cherubims. God reigns, but God reigns sitting. In other words, there's nothing ruffling his feathers. There's nothing that shakes him. Nothing catches him by surprise. He's not jumping up and down in heaven. He's sitting between the cherubims. He's on the throne. You think about cherubims, what do you think about when you think about cherubims? God sitting between cherubims. This picture here, have you ever seen, we went into a few stores, we didn't see many of that this time in some of the stores we went into, but have you ever seen those little porcelain cherubs? Cute and cuddly, the pictures of what's supposed to be cherubs Let me tell you something, that's not a picture of cherubim. Not according to how the scripture describes the cherubim. I want you to notice just a few passages of scripture. One, you don't have to turn there, but over in Genesis chapter three and verse 24 is the first time the cherubim are mentioned, and it talks about how God placed them right at the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword. That's the first picture. not some little baby that looks like it's got fat cheeks and you just want to pinch them. You wouldn't pinch a cherubim if you saw one. I want you to look in the book of Ezekiel. Over in Ezekiel chapter 10, it gives a pretty descriptive view of cherubim. Notice in Ezekiel chapter 10 in verse 5, the Word of God says, This is kind of a lengthy passage of scripture, but it gives you a good view. It says, the sound of the cherubim's wings. Back up a verse. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, stood over the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with cloud. The court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory, and the sound of the cherubim's wings were heard even to the outer court as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaks. Their wings sound like the voice of God. It came to pass that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims. Now this is an allusion back to what Ezekiel saw back in chapter one in verses four through 28. There's that wheel within a wheel and a fire and it had eyes and I mean, it's just something that no man's seen this side of glory other than Ezekiel with this vision. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen, who took it and went out. And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under his wings. Here's a cherubim with a wing, but it's got a hand coming out of the wing underneath it. And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, another wheel by another cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a barrel stone. And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides. They turned not as they went, but to the place where the head looked, they followed it. They turned not as they went. and their whole body, their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and their wheels were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel! And every one had four faces." Listen, this cherub has got four faces. I've heard of somebody being two-faced, but here's a literal four-faced creature that God has, and it says the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third face of a lion, and the fourth face of an eagle. The cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Kibar. And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them. When the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood. When they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also, for the spirit of the living creature was in them. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims. The cherubims lifted up their wings, mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and everyone stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above." This is the living creature. that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Kibar, and I knew that they were the cherubims. He goes on to describe them. Very descriptive language of these cherubims, and in between these two cherubims is the throne of God. Wow. This is an awesome sight. Here is, you find in the Garden of Eden, or actually in the Book of Exodus, how the Ark had the cherubims with the wings overstretched facing one another over the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of Mercy. And that was symbolic of where the presence of God was. Here is God's throne. What we find about God's throne concerning these cherubim is that God's throne actually moves. It flies. We don't think of a throne flying, but here, it's between the cherubim. It's a fiery throne. Here's something that's hard for us to comprehend. In Psalm 99 in verse two, This tells us why we should be trembling and fearing, because God's holy, he reigns, he's sitting on the throne, the Lord is great in Zion. And he's high above all the people, he is the high and lofty one. He is above every leader, every person that has ever lived, he is above all. And verse three says, Let them praise your great and terrible name, for it is holy." His name is great and that word terrible is the word awesome. Don't use the word awesome flippantly. The word awesome means so terrible that if you were to see, you would literally tremble. That's awe-inspiring. You would quake. God's name is great and awesome. That means it causes fear and dread. And his name stands for his nature. Therefore, he is holy. Notice here it says, it is holy. And it's talking about God's name. Therefore, God's name is holy and God himself, his person, is holy. The Word of God tells us that we are to praise Him because of that. We're to praise God because He is holy. In verse 4 we read about His righteousness. He is righteous in verse 4 and 5. The King's strength also loves judgment. You do establish equity. You execute judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy. Because God is holy, he is righteous. We see his holiness in his righteousness, his uprightness. That is what we call equity. you do establish equity. In other words, he is upright in all of his ways. That's the inward principle of God. He is upright. And notice it talks about his judgment and his righteousness. What this is, the inner principle, that equity, that's what's inward. But what comes from that is judgment and righteousness. This is who God is. God always judges, judges righteously, and He always judges. Now back in that day and time, you think about it, all the nations that surrounded Israel, this is an attribute that was contrary to all the neighboring nations. This was an attribute contrary to all the rulers. They were ruthless, they were pride, full of pride, They were all about themselves. They were self-centered, much like rulers today. But here's an attribute concerning God that these rulers, it was contrary to. Therefore, because God loves judgment, Because he does establish equity and out from that equity he executes judgment and righteousness, therefore the Word of God tells us we are to exalt the Lord our God. We are to exalt Him. Now this is not just one person. This is a command for all people to exalt God. Everyone should exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool. Why? Because He is holy. Because God is holy. How do we exalt Him? first we must recognize God's throne is in heaven. The earth is His footstool. In other words, we humble ourselves before Him. We don't exalt ourselves, we humble ourselves, we worship at His footstool. You've got to see yourself at the foot of God. By lifting up his name in praise is how we exalt him. Very fascinating statement. I thought Brother Begg brought out this past Sunday, he talked about how there was a man who came to him for counseling, and this man who came to him for counseling wanted to give his wife a divorce because his wife was not happy. And he says, I want to make her happy. And I know God would want her to be happy, so I want you to help me get a divorce for my wife, because I know that's what God wants. Of course, Brother Banton's taken back by that. And he comes down to, what about what God says? You know, it's not what you think God says, and it's not what you think God wants. What does the word of God say? Here is our rule of faith and practice. It's what God's standard is, not what we think it is, or not what we desire for God's standard to be. So many people put God on a standard that they want their God to be. Therefore, they bring God down to their standard. And let me tell you, that's building false idols. That's going contrary to the will and the Word of God. He is holy. He sets the standard. We are to exalt Him by humbling ourselves and lifting Him up, lifting His name in praise. In verses six through eight, something different, as far as the writer is writing here, it seems like a different turn, because he mentions three different names out of the blue. And we're talking about the holiness of God. And then all of a sudden he mentions Moses, Aaron, and Samuel. Now what does Moses, Aaron, and Samuel have in common when it comes to exalting the holiness of God and explaining that God is holy? I want you to notice here it says, "...Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name." Now notice he lists three names here, and what they did, they called upon the name of the Lord. This passage of Scripture in verses 6-8, it shows the faithfulness of God. Because as God's people called upon Him, whether it was Moses, whether it was Aaron, whether it was Samuel, notice the Word of God says they called upon His name. They called upon the Lord Notice here, He answered them. All intercessors, as they call upon the name of the Lord, they call, He answers. Now why does God answer and why does the scripture give us Moses, Aaron, and Samuel as the examples? I want you to notice it goes on to say in verse seven, he's spoken to them in the cloudy pillar. They kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them. Now very simply, let me explain this. Here's why their prayers were answered as they interceded is simply because they were obedient unto God. Now here's how to get your prayers answered. Be obedient unto God's word. They kept His testimonies and the ordinance that He gave them. And verse 8 says, Thou, or you, answered them, O Lord, our God. You was the God that forgave them, though Thou took His vengeance of their inventions. They devised evil ways. You know what the Word of God says? God punished them. God forgave them. God punished. Here is God's holiness and God's love working in unison together. It's something that's not contrary. The holiness of God, if you've sinned against God, you deserve punishment. The love of God shows mercy. How does God mix that together? Notice what it says, you forgave them. Though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions, God pardons and God punishes. God pardons people, God punishes people. There is the holiness and there is the love of God at work. In verse 9, it goes right back to the worship part. And it says, exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill. For the Lord our God, you ought to have it by now, He is holy. Why do we worship Him? Because He is holy. He is separate from sinners, but He has bridged that gap that divides a holy God from sinful man by sending his son to die in our place. Christ Jesus came into this world. He knew no sin. He took upon himself our sin and the wrath of God, which a holy and righteous God demands. God provided the sacrifice. And for those who believe in Him, we are called to worship Him because that gap has been bridged through Christ. The only way to exalt Him is through Christ. The New Testament reveals this. Exalt Him, it says in the Old Testament, at His holy hill. Where do we exalt the Lord in our day and time? It's through His church. We exalt him as we gather together as a body of believers and we praise his name. We glorify him when we come together as a body of believers and it's through Christ what he's done for us. Can we lift up his name? Therefore, we can exalt him. We are to worship him and worship him alone. This Psalm, Psalm 99, it's all focused on the holiness of God. And once you realize how God is holy, He doesn't change. He doesn't adapt to your standards. God became man simply because He took upon Himself our sin. So in a way, He could have done that. It's not to lower the standard of God, but it's to bridge the gap between God and man. Therefore, let us exalt him even tonight. We're gonna stand and sing a song. It's found on page 68. I'm gonna ask you to stand and we'll go to the Lord in prayer, and then we're gonna sing holy, holy, holy. Father, we thank you for your word and how you reveal yourself through your word. Lord, there are many people that we have talked to through the past week, and all of them speak of you. Many, many, many speak of knowing you. Lord, we pray that you'd help us to be a faithful witness to who you are and how you've presented yourself through your word. Help us to hold to your standard and not try to appease people to make them feel good. But Lord, help us to stick to your word that we might exalt you as the one and only holy God who is worthy of our praise. And we'll give you the praise for it, for Christ's sake. Amen. So let us see, page 68.