The Holiness of God

How can a mere man begin to speak about such things as this; the holiness of the God of the Universe?  I know that God is so holy that He can’t even look at sin.  I know that holiness belongs to Jehovah, read Exodus 39:30, “And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, Holiness To The Lord.”

The Word talks about Jesus being holy in Luke 1:35, “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Then let’s take a glimpse at what takes place in heaven in Revelations 4:1-11, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Our God is so majestic and holy that in our finite minds we cannot comprehend such things or even begin to explain such things, at least I can’t.  Now read chapter 5:1-14, “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”  

I don’t think any of us here know the true meaning of true holiness and praise and adoration!!  Many of us give Him our feeble attempts, but to truly stand in the presence of God and His holiness we know nothing of these things but I, for one, want to know and I want to worship Him in spirit and truth.  Think about what Isaiah said when he saw the Lord in Isaiah 6:1-5, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

Job made a similar statement and also in Revelations 1:17 John had this experience, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last..”

Then there was Peter’s response in Luke 5:8, “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Another thing we can look at is in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

God is truly holy and we as believers know this but it is very hard to explain the holiness of God, like I said, but someday we will really understand this when we stand in His presence.  But even now we can say holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, and that is the truth, praise the Lord!!  I have given you something to think about and I hope you will.  And don’t forget to thank and praise Him, for He is holy and He is worthy!!  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!

Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is pretending to be something that you have no intention of being but pretend you are, although you are not.  The Pharisees and some of the scribes fit in this category.  They claimed to follow God’s laws although they had about three hundred manmade laws that they made up themselves for others to follow which they didn’t and couldn’t keep and they failed to keep God’s laws also.  They thought they were better than other people and much more religious and far more holy than them.  When they were invited to some banquets or other outings, they expected the best seats so that they could be seen as very important people.

Like so many today, they were full of religion but lacked what they needed the most which was a relationship with the Almighty God.  There are so many religions today but they will never get anyone in a right relationship with God.  Keeping rules and regulations, trying to do good works and look holy and righteous is not the answer, but there are so many that think these are the things that will get them in heaven someday and that is so far from the truth.  

I have heard many good messages before that help believers grow in their faith, and they are needed, but what about the seekers or the unbelievers that are in the congregation who are not believers and are also seeking the truth? They need to know their condition before the Lord.  I have heard that a person will never receive help until they acknowledge the fact that they need help and are ready to seek out that help; in many cases it takes these people hitting rock bottom before they think about their desperate need.

John the Baptist preached on repentance and also baptized for the repentance of sins before Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and when Jesus started His ministry He also preached about repentance.  This is what repentance means: 1. noun; deep sorrow, compunction or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like.  2. Regret for any past action.  I know that God’s Word says this in Romans 3:10, “…as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one…”

Read also Romans 3:23, “…since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

I think repentance is very important to the non-believer and I think it is very important to stress it in a sermon to non-believers.  If a person is not sorry for his or her sins, what will keep them from sinning over and over again?  Every time we sin, we are affected by it in some form or other.  Read 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 where Paul was talking to the church, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter.”

Repentance means to turn in another direction and do what is right.  It also means to be truly sorry for your sins.  In God’s Word this had to happen in the church and out of the church.  Read Revelations 3:19, this is also talking to the church, “Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent.”

So, like I said, repentance is very important and if you feel you need to repent, don’t hesitate, godly sorrow is very important.  Read what it says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

I can’t stress this enough, it is appointed that every man shall die and then the judgement and if your name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life you will be separated from God forever and you will be in a horrible, horrible place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  

Maybe this will help you with the weeping gnashing of teeth; in Jerusalem there was a wall around the city to keep the enemy out.  That wall was also a place where the people dumped their garbage over and late at night animals would come there and eat the leftovers that the people threw over the wall and some of these animals were lions.  The people also used it for this purpose; when a criminal was tried for a crime that they may or may not have committed, and the Magistrates couldn’t figure out if they were guilty or not, they would tie a rope around the man and hang him down where the garbage was and leave him there all night.  When the animals, including the lions, came out to feed on the food the man would be there also.  As a result, the man would be so scared he would weep and gnash his teeth and by morning his teeth were pretty much worn down and if he was still alive when they pulled him up they would figure that he was not guilty.  But, the problem was, even if the lions didn’t mall him he was usually insane because of the terror that he went through that night.  Hell is not going to be a nice place especially when you realize that you didn’t have to be there, but that is what you chose.

So, if you are just pretending to be a believer, or just full of religion, or if you are not a believer; repent and confess your sins and ask the Lord to be your Lord and Savior.  Please don’t take this lightly, this is so important and it is something you need to consider and think hard about.  My prayer is that you will make the right choice.  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!

PS I known this kind of message is not real popular, many people want to hear the inspirational speakers, but it is not always what you want to hear that is most important but what you need to hear.  And this is what we all need to hear!!

The Heart

I want to talk about the heart today.  Ravi Zacharias told a story about Richard Muggeridge that truly strikes at the heart of this problem, no pun intended, which I will tell you about later in this Tidbit.  This is some of what the Bible says about the heart in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?”

Question: Do you think man is inherently good?  What did Jesus say about this in the Word of God? Read Matthew 19:16, “And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?”

If you were to talk to this man and hear his answer today you would probably think that he was a very good man, but Jesus knew his heart, Jesus knew that this man loved his money more than he loved God.  In other words, he had an idol that he served and that was his money and he wasn’t willing to give it up for anyone, not even God.

Read what Jesus said about this in Matthew 6:19-24, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

We live in a very materialistic world where people are buying and collecting things and many of them will never be used.  I know this first hand and it has taken me a long time to realize it.  I think garage sales were one of my biggest downfalls.  Thank the Lord for helping me with this problem.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying they are bad but they can be addicting because you can get things real cheap at times and when you really need something they are a very good source to find most anything you might need.  But in my case, and I don’t think that I am alone in this, things were so cheap I couldn’t walk away from them whether I needed them or not, so many of the things that I bought just hung around in storage for long periods of time.  How do I know that I wasn’t alone?  Because going to garage sales as long as I did, I saw many things people were selling and no one needs some of the things I saw in the amounts I saw them and some of the things were brand new, never used.     

The man in the story thought that he had kept all the commandments that Jesus had spoken about, so he might have thought he had it made, but what he didn’t realize is that He had broken the first and second commandments. How?  First, by loving money more than God and the second by not caring for his neighbor, because he wouldn’t sell all he had and give to the poor and then follow Jesus.

What does the Bible say about loving money?  Read what it says in 1 Timothy 6:6-10, “There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.”   

Do unbelievers do good things?  Of course they do, and many of them think they will get to heaven by their good works, but they can’t because that doesn’t make them good in God’s eyes.  Read what it says in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.”

Their problem is a heart problem and until the Lord gives you a clean heart like David said and God renews a right spirit within you through the forgiveness of your sins, you are God’s enemy.  The Bible teaches that all have sinned, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God, and there is none righteous, no not one. 

But God made a way that all could be made right with Him.  Please read John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  

If you want to stand before God righteous, then you will have to be covered by His righteousness which can only be done through a new birth experience called being born-again.  If you want this relationship believe on the Lord and ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins because you are sorry for sinning against Him and then ask Him to come into your heart and to be your Lord and Savior.  And don’t be in a hurry, let Him fill you with His peace, love and joy, then you can shout Halleluiah, praise the Lord.  Then start growing in your faith.  He will take that stony heart and make it a heart of flesh and you will become a new creation in Him!!  Something to think about and have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!

Real Christianity

I read a book recently called “Dangerous Journey” which is the story of “Pilgrims Progress” by John Bunyan written in 1676 and I would recommend that every believer read it.  As far as I am concerned, this story is a story about life and will minister to every person that will read it with an open mind who is trying to figure out why we are here and what our purpose is in life.  It is a story that includes every person that has ever lived.  I have been a believer now for some 35 years and I could truly see my life unfolding in this book.  I have heard that “Pilgrims Progress” has been printed in more languages than any other book in the world; it is truly a very popular book.

I believe that the Word of God is the most important book that you will ever read and has been the number 1 best seller for I don’t know how many years.  It is a must read for everyone that will read it with an open mind, prayerfully seeking God for the truth and the real reason why we exist.  I have also read many other books that have helped me in my Christian walk and I believe this is one of them.  This book portrays what real life, and the Christian life, are all about which isn’t all a bed of roses, as some would try to tell us that it is.  

Christianity isn’t all about being rich, wearing fancy clothes or fine jewelry, driving fancy cars and having expensive houses, no, it is about taking up your cross, denying one’s self and following Jesus.  The way some people preach they make you feel guilty if you don’t have all these things in abundance.  I am not saying that anyone that is rich is going to heaven, I know that God blesses people, but if some people were rich it would ruin their lives and God knows that better than I do.  If everyone was supposed to be rich, then why did Jesus say this in Matthew 19:16-26:

“And behold, one came up to him, saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man said to him, ‘All these I have observed; what do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

Now read what Jesus told Peter in the following verses, in verses 27-30:

“Then Peter said in reply, ‘Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first.’”

It sounds to me like being rich would be more of a hindrance then a help for most people.  I heard that every person that has won the big lottery, it has done nothing in the end but ruin their lives.  I think we had better rethink carefully what we hear from the prosperity preachers.  

What about those that preach once you become a believer all your problems will be over?  If you never had a problem, you would never know that God could solve them.  The Christian life isn’t skating through life on cloud nine so to speak, and it is not all a bowl of cherries, sometimes it seems more like the pits, so to speak.

Jesus said this in John 16:33, “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Jesus was telling His disciples that they would face troubles and trials but they wouldn’t face them alone.  He would be with them in spite of their struggles and He will be with us also, no matter what we face if we belong to Him.  He will help us in the battles that we face and in all the struggles of our life, praise the Lord, and we can be sure that they will come in various forms.  But just like when Jesus was victorious when He walked the earth, we can also be victorious through Christ that gives us strength. I was reminded of this two weeks ago by my pastor, Pastor Lance; that we need to stop asking, “why is this happening to me Lord,” and start asking, “Lord what are you trying to accomplish through me in this trial!!”  

If you read the book I spoke about earlier in this message, “Dangerous Journey,” you will get a better perspective of how the Christian life, and life in general, is normally lived out but don’t forget the greatest book that was ever inspired and written and that is God’s Word, the Bible.  Study it and in it you will find out how to have a new life and a personal relationship with the Lord that loves you very, very much.  I have given you something to think about!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super, super day in spite of the trials you may face and remember the Lord is always with those who put their trust in Him, praise the Lord!!  And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!