We've been on God's holiness. To me, it's the number one attribute of God that's overlooked today in the church. And there has to be a reason for that. I think the main reason is we don't understand God's holiness. When you use the word holy today, people say, well, what you're talking about is being good and bad. I don't want to hear about being good and bad. Don't start quoting me a bunch of laws. Don't be legalistic with me. That's our normal concept of the word holy. To us, it's not a good word. We never go around saying to anybody, he's holy. We ought to say that because the Bible says, be ye holy for I am holy. But you never talk about a Christian saying, well, he's holy or she's holy. If you say that, it probably turns somebody off of them, wouldn't it? Well, I don't want to know anybody holy. I don't want to be around holy folks. So it seemingly has a bad connotation when we say God is holy. And yet the Bible says it's the beauty trait of God. It's the most fantastic thing that God has going for him. To be honest with you, I have learned this. If God wasn't holy, he wouldn't even be worth being God. Now, I think holy goes far beyond, and I'll repeat this, goes far beyond saying, well, God is a good guy. God doesn't sin. It goes far beyond that. The word holy just simply means God knows right from wrong. That gives me a whole new concept of holiness. God knows what is best and what is worst, what is good and what is bad. That's what holiness provides God. And that's why God considers holiness to be His most fantastic attribute. It's holiness that determines what God's going to love. It's holiness that determines how God's going to love. It's holiness that gives God all His wisdom. How can God say what is right or wrong if He doesn't have holiness to supply Him with that wisdom? In God's power, He only does what holiness tells Him is right to do, good to do, and best to do. All of your answers to prayer are going to be based on the determination of God's holiness. You ask God, do something, God said, well, is it a holy request? Meaning, is it good? Is it best? Is it right? If it qualifies those three things, God says, fantastic, I'll answer that prayer. Everything that you do in connection with God is based on holiness. Everything he does for me is based on holiness. He doesn't think, he doesn't act, he doesn't do anything unless it's based on what's right, good, and best. His whole life is a life of holiness. No wonder God says, be ye holy. or I am holy. It's everything of life. When God tells me to be holy, God just says to me, Billy, do what's right, do what's good, do what's best. That's a whole new concept to me. I get excited about that. I've never heard a preacher, I've never read a book that said this about holiness. Just obey the laws of God. But the laws of God today are thought bad of. That's because we don't understand the laws of God or God's expression of what's best, what's good, and what's right. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't practice. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't preach. If we could ever get this across to people, it looks like everybody would want to be holy. You want to do what's worst? You want to do what's bad? Yeah, put it that way. You want to do what's not good? Everybody says, well, no, I don't want to do that. Well, then be holy. Because just the opposite of holiness is doing what's not good, not best, and not right. Now, I believe that God's holiness means that God can never tell a lie. The Bible says He can't lie. He'll never come up with a better idea. As you hear sometimes on TV advertisement. He'll never find a better way. What I'm saying is that holiness has already enabled God to know the eternal right, the eternal best, and the eternal good. I don't want God to change His mind. I don't want God to change with the times. I don't want God to come out and say, well, I was mistaken. I found something now that's better than what it used to be. I don't want God to tell me that. I want God to be right. All the time, forevermore, I don't want God coming along and saying, well, this law is no good anymore. I say, but why didn't you figure that out a long time ago? It's kind of late to find that out now. But God's not going to say that. God's laws are eternally based on His wholeness. So when God speaks, what you get from God is truth. No wonder Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the law. That truth is underwritten or guaranteed by God's holiness. You can't get better truth or truer truth. I'm not sure that the people get really excited, though, when they are told God's always right. Maybe they don't get excited when we say, well, God always knows best. Man doesn't want to accept that fact. Or God always knows the good, Maybe because man won't believe God, God gets frustrated with him. I know I would. And I think this frustration is illustrated in an incident in the life of Jesus in John the 8th chapter. John the 8th chapter. I believe this incident here was just a common occurrence in the life of Christ. It's a frustrating occurrence that I believe all of you have in some way encountered. Maybe not in the same detail that Jesus did. Let's begin with verse 26 of the 8th chapter. Jesus said, I have many things to say to you. First he says, he that sent me is true. Or I could use the word, he that sent me is holy. Because he is holy, he's bound to be truthful. And he says, I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. Why did you say that? Well, you don't tell anybody something. You all tell them what's right and what's good and what's best. Jesus couldn't improve on what the Father told him. I don't have any better ideas, folks, than God has. I'll be honest with you. I don't have any better ideas. I can't give you a better plan for your life than God has laid down. I just can't do it. Maybe you've got one, but I don't have that ability. All right? Now verse 40. I'm just going to kind of jump through this chapter. Verse 40. After saying, I have come to tell you the truth, then he says, but now you want to kill me. And what's the reason? All I've done was I have told you the truth, which I heard of God. I've just told you what's right and what's good and what's best. And now you want to kill me. I think a lot of folks may want to kill some Christians because that's what they tell them. Why they persecute the church. It's strange. Alright? Then go on to Reverse 43. He says, why don't you understand me? Or put another way, why don't you listen to me? Why don't you believe me? The reason is, you've got hearing problems. You're not listening to me. You're not hearing me. You cannot hear my word. Then if you will, verse 45, because I tell you the truth, you won't listen to me. Verse 44, he says, they do listen to lies. That's strange. People would rather be lied to than tell the truth. That's, I don't know about, I mean, it's true. And then verse 46, he says, which of you will ever convince me of sin? How are you going to convince me of lying to you? He says, if I say the truth, why on earth don't you believe me? And then verse 47, he that is of God hears God's words, that's a good comment, and you therefore hear them not because you are not of God. To put it another way, you're not convinced that God will always tell you what's right, best, and good. That's why you won't listen to me. But I believe the whole sequence here depicts a frustrated Jesus. And then the last verse, 59, they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, went out of the temple, and passed by to another place. If I had God's ability, which I do not have, to always know beforehand what is right and what is good and what is best, would I be obligated to share that information with you if I saw that you were just about to make a tragic mistake? If I knew better, shouldn't I tell you what's better when you're about to do what's worse? Don't you sort of feel an obligation to people To give them your knowledge and your experience and your wisdom when they're about to make a stupid blunder? If somebody's about to step in quicksand and you know where the quicksand is and you know what quicksand can do to you, don't you think it's wise to tell them, hey, fella, I wouldn't step in that quicksand? Or do you think, well, let them make their own decisions? Maybe my idea's not the best. Maybe it's a good idea to walk in quicksand. How do you know better than that? And yet people got mad at Jesus because he tried to tell them the wisdom of God and give them the truth of God and share with them what was good and what was right and what was best. And they didn't want it. They may still not want it. My daddy was the first to impress upon me what later on I began to sense about myself that I had a know-it-all mentality. Have you ever met anybody like that? A know-it-all mentality? That's why as a child growing up I often found myself arguing with kids about things I had no idea what I was talking about. But I was always right. They were always right. They would say, yeah, you're a bunch of know-it-alls. None of you know anything. Well, that stubbornness in our lives as we grew up, that's the result of the same thing, a know-it-all mentality. If you ever said as a child, says who? Says who? Who do they think they are telling me what's right and what's wrong? Later on, it dawned on me as I grew up a little bit older that folks didn't listen to me. When I spoke to them, those nuggets of wisdom from my little brain, people didn't listen to me. I began to wonder, well, why is everybody butting in while I'm talking? I'm not finished with my sentence yet. But you know what they were doing? While I was talking, they were thinking about what they were going to say to me as soon as I showed up. And if I didn't show up soon enough, they'd go ahead and say it anyway. They didn't hear a thing I said. And that always frustrated me. I wondered, was I speaking good English? Or were they deaf? Neither one. The problem is, I had nothing to say that was worth listening to. That'll bring you down to the low level of nothingness. But I find that hasn't changed a whole lot. People still don't seem to listen to what you have to say, and not interested in what you know. Whether they're right, good, or best, they just don't care. Now, the frustrating experience of Jesus, I think, is multiplied a thousand times over in the frustration that God himself must deal with. People don't listen to him. Won't listen to him. In a sense, we find that people turn a deaf ear to God. Now, how does this sit with God? To put it another way, a lot of folks would be very upset to get a holiness telegram from the Lord. They're not eager to hear what holiness has to say. Well, how does God react to this kind of rejection? How does God react to this kind of frustration? How does God react when man seemingly puts his fingers in his ears? I don't want to hear what you have to say. Well, I've been talking about God is super sensitive to the way we treat him in certain areas of our lives. This is one of them. This is one of them. It's probably the only one I know in which we all can sort of identify and feel somewhat guilty. We've all done this in one degree or another. Look at Proverbs 28.9. Proverbs 28.9. It's a somewhat familiar text to many of you. He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination. Now I've been using that word abomination to point out the things that really upset God. There's not a long list of abominations in the Bible, but here we find another one that I think we ought to be aware of. It's a man that turns away deliberately his ear from hearing the law of God. Somehow we assume the right to sit in judgment on the words of God, on the truth of God, the will of God, the commands of God, the laws of God. Somehow we feel we have the right, after sitting in judgment, to deliver a verdict. The verdict is that what God commands is not right, it's not good, and it's not best, and I'm not going to do it. I have a better thing to do than what God has done. I think that frustrates God. Because in turning away our ear, what we're doing is saying, God, I disagree with what you have to say. A lot of people will tell you, I'm in no mood for a sermon. Another way to put that, I am in no way interested in what God has to say on this matter. In the time of man's creation, though, I think we need to understand this, God has given man precise directions. He did that. I mean they were precise. Keep your hands off the fruit of the forbidden tree. That's precise. Okay? It's not good for you. It won't give you what's best, and it's sure not right. That's the argument that Satan used with Eve. Told her it was good, it was right, and it was bad, best. And so she bet what this has to result. So God proved himself right, and Eve proved that he was right, and Satan was wrong, but man still repeats that same problem. So God, from the very beginning of man's creation, laid down definite laws for him to obey. has made specified numerous demands of man that he carry out. Now, God's holiness is what required him to make the demands, lay down the laws, give the instructions to the man he created. Why? Because man was not created self-sufficient. He was not created all-knowing, but he was created to be a dependent person, dependent on God for guidance, for counsel, and for commands. Without God giving man the benefit of his wholeness, man would never know how and what to do that would be right and good and best. And after the fall, God withdrew this counsel to a degree, and look at the mess man has made for himself ever since. Look at all the answers man has come up with that are wrong, and the end result is they're not good, they're bad. That's why we keep changing political officials about every two years. But what man looks at, he says, God's not doing me a favor by sharing with me his counsel from holiness, but he's meddling in my affairs. He's sticking his nose in what's none of his business. But God says, man, that is my business. I made you. I can't desert you. I can't leave you on your own because you don't have enough sense to know what's right and good and best. You're not God. You're not 100% holy. So I can't leave you because that wouldn't be right and that wouldn't be good and that wouldn't be best to me to do that. Whether you want or you don't want it, I'm going to do it. And man resents God for trying to help him. Man says, I'll find my own way. That's philosophy. That's psychology. And still God finds man to be unwilling to listen. He finds man saying, well, if I do listen, I want the right to vote, whether I agree or not. You know, when you turn a deaf ear to God, it's really an insult. It's really an insult. I think that's what frustrated Jesus. It was an insult. What is it? Well, the first place, if you turn a deaf ear, what you're saying is, God is not the truth. You're not telling the truth. That means you're calling God a liar. The one thing the Bible says God cannot do, when we turn a deaf ear, we're saying, God, I find better truth elsewhere. That's an insult. Not only that, but it implies God's not holy. For being holy enables him to be right, know good and what's best. So by turning a deaf ear, I'm saying God is not holy. For if he was holy, he would know right and what's good and what's best. But I know better than God, so he's not holy. Then that means you're holy. That means you know what's good and right and best. So that makes you superior to God. Now you're claiming deity and you've lowered Him down to humanity. That's an insult. The Creator has made Himself God and made the God of the thing created. That's an insult. In a sense, it says in another way, if the laws are considered stupid, then what does that mean about the guy that wrote the law? You're saying he's stupid. So when you turn it to F.E.A.R., the reason you turn to F.E.A.R., you say, well, that's a stupid law. That's a stupid idea. That's a stupid command. And the implication God takes is, well, then you're calling me a stupid guy to give you a stupid law. Now, that's an insult. Have you ever gone to God in prayer? Hey, God, you're stupid. I wouldn't do that. But we do it when we turn a deaf ear deliberately to the will of God, to the law of God, to the counsel of God. We're doing the same thing. I don't think God looks upon it with great joy when with one mouth we sing praise God, and the other mouth, God, you're stupid. God said, hey man, I don't buy that. I don't buy that. Now maybe another reason why a lot of people turn a deaf ear to God is thought about this. It's the best way in the world to keep a clear conscience. Many years ago, there was a person in the church who told me, I don't want to know any more than I know. I don't want to know any more of the laws of God. I don't want to know. If I don't know them, I don't have to keep them. Ignorance is bliss. I don't want to know the Ten Commandments. I don't want to know anything that God commands. So don't tell me. Because if you don't tell me, I won't know if I'm doing or not doing. And so I don't have to change anything if I don't know what I have to change. So don't tell me, thus saith the Lord. So it's a way of running and hiding from the laws of God. If I don't know what's good and right and best in the eyes of God, I can do what I want to. And then my conscience is clear because it won't tell me I've done wrong because I haven't yet learned it is wrong. That's why a lot of people say, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. Don't talk about God to me. Don't tell me what the Bible says. I don't want to know. They're so scared you might say what God says and then they're caught. Then they'll feel bad and they may not be able to sleep a couple of nights. So don't tell me. I really believe some people stay out of church for that reason. That's why they read their Bible either never or real casually. They can just sort of spot the command verses and just glide over them. Like a guy on an ice rink, just slide right down that verse to the next one. You know, you can read the Bible and not even know a word you've read when you get through with it, because your mind is somewhere else. It's very easy to do. I've had that problem a lot of time in school. I'd read the textbooks, but the thing I read when I had a test, I couldn't remember a thing either. If I'd read it. But I hadn't listened, you see. I deliberately didn't listen. You'd be amazed how I can speed read. I can go down a page. I finish that one. I can't even remember one word on the page. But I didn't want to read. I didn't want to read. I didn't want to write. I didn't want to listen to it. So I didn't. I call this willful ignorance. And that to me is no more acceptable to God than deliberate disobedience. There's no difference to God. Look at Proverbs 28, 13. Proverbs 28, 13. He that covers his sin shall not prosper. You know, the easiest way to cover a sin is to never find out you got it. That's the easiest way to cover it. Just never find out if you got it. Don't ever ask anybody, is this right or is this wrong? Don't ever ask. And that's a good way to cover your sin. What's in the pot? Don't know, I never look. Now, I never looked. You have a recipe that tells you all the ingredients? Don't want the recipe. Might have the wrong thing in the pot. Don't want to know what the recipe says. Don't want that. A lot of people like that. Then we go back to our original text, Proverbs 28, 9. We're right there anyway, just about. There's a double abomination mentioned here. He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, I think that's an abomination. And the second one is also, and his prayer shall be an abomination. The first abomination is making sure that I don't listen to what God says to me. And the second abomination is thinking that God is then going to listen to what I say to him. What God is saying here, hey fella, two people can play that game. You don't listen to me, I don't listen to you. You think what I say to you is an abomination. I think what you say to me is an abomination. How do you like that? I'll put the shoe back on your foot. You call me a liar. I don't have any interest in what you've got to say to me. Why is God so upset with the man who comes to pray who won't listen to Him? Quite easy. God will say, why should I tell you anything? Why should I help you? You say it's not good, it's not right, and it's not best. So why should I do anything for you? All you do is be critical of it. Why should I help you? It won't be the right help. It won't be the best help. It won't be the good help. Why should I help you? Now we're there, but I think God is saying here that a lot of people get the idea that He is more interested in being praised, and that's what prayer is now, in being praised than in being pleased. That, to me, is probably the number one misconception a lot of folks have about God, that don't care about His holiness. That He's more concerned in being praised than in being pleased. In being worshipped than in being obeyed. And God sets the record straight here. No way. No way. Look at Matthew 7, 21. Matthew 7, 21, Jesus sets the record straight. Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, now there's your worship, there's your praise. Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, and there's your praying, will go to heaven. But who will? It's the man that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Jesus is saying, obedience is better than worship. I'm not saying worship is not important. But God says, in priority, obedience comes ahead of praise and worship. Look if you will at Matthew 24, same chapter. He says, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, he's the wise man. Not the man that just goes around praising or praying or worshiping, but it's the man that does that plus does whatever I command of him. 1 Samuel 15.22 is a very familiar text. Samuel said, does the Lord have great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? That's worship. Does he have as great delight in that as he does in obeying the voice of the Lord? And Samuel sets the record straight. Samuel is God's prophet. God's mouthpiece of the hour. And he says, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. If you're going to neglect anything, you don't neglect obedience. You don't neglect what God has to say. You don't substitute what you're going to say that might please God for what God says towards us. There's no compensation to God for disobedience. Some people have the idea, well, a few kind gifts or a few charitable acts The word of praise here and there, they can eliminate all of the commands that God gives me. They can compensate God for all the times that I have disagreed with Him, and I have turned a deaf ear to Him, and I have refused to listen to Him. That will compensate and replace in God's mind what I have not done, or failed to do, or refused to do. This verse says no. You know, worship is an abomination if you consider my words to you worth it. In conclusion, when God speaks, listen, listen. If He doesn't have anything worth saying to you, He won't say it to you. Listen. And the second thing is, make an effort to be in the place where God speaks. You can think about that when you go home. Father, we're thankful this day. For the blessings that come from your holiness, blessings given to us in what you say to us, the words you have spoken, the laws, the demands, the precepts, the counsel. May we look upon this as more precious than anything in all the world, but truly that is exactly why it's given to us. If we did not need it, God would not give it. May we not be guilty of this abomination of deliberately trying not to hear what you say. But instead, may we put ourselves in that place where we can hear, where we show an interest in what is being said. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.