Better Living: The Holiness of God

You know, we started a series last week. It was the first sermon of this series that, that we started that we're calling Better Living.

And this is a series that's going to be dealing with the topic of holiness. Holiness. And a lot of people when you start to talk about holiness nowadays, they say, oh, you're being legalistic. And they say all these things and they start to squirm in their seats, really, because it starts hitting close to home, right? But, but, but what I said last week, and I'll Say again, Today is, I want us to start to look at holiness and see it in a light and through revelation that causes us to know why we do what we do or, or why we live the way we live in accordance to God's word.

So, so really, holiness is not supposed to be just a list of do's and don'ts. And we follow that law, right? No, but it's an understanding of the truth, truth that makes us free. So everybody say this, say holiness. It's freedom, right?

We got to change the way we think about this. Holiness is freedom. Jesus said In John, chapter 8, verses 31 and 32, if you abide in my word, you are my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you, you free. Right? So when we know the truth or when we have knowledge of the truth, it actually makes us free.

And this is what we got to know, that the truth is ever present to us. It's available to us through Jesus Christ and through God's Word. But when you actually connect with it, when you take time to connect with it, that is when you become free. When His Word has a place in you, you. That's when we become free.

Everybody say this, I am free. I am free. That feels good, right? I'm free. And you're free because the Son sets you free.

And who the Son sets free is free indeed. Okay, so we left off last week saying that holiness will only ever be birthed through a heart full of life, love for God. Paul said this in Colossians, chapter 2, verses 20 through 23. This was from last week. We're gonna, we're gonna review just a little bit and then we'll get into what God has for us today.

It says, therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. So that's a lot right there. But what does that say?

I sum it up like this. What he's saying right there is, rules don't make you holy. And what he actually goes on to say is, rules can't even keep you from doing what your flesh wants to do. And so what this flesh wants to do naturally is actually go against the rules. And that Happens even from a very young age, right?

We see that in our children, as we were children. We see that this flesh wants to go against the rules. I was thinking about this, and I was thinking about this example. You know, we got two boys, but they're both past the toddler stage. But I remember when they were little, right?

And maybe you're a parent here and you got a toddler and so you can relate to. To this pretty good right here. But maybe you're trying to parent these kids to the best of your ability. But when they get to those terrible twos and threes is what they call them, right? Where they're just all over the place.

They're learning to walk and they're like, ooh, I'm gonna get this and throw this over here. I'm gonna get in these cabinets. I wanna stick this inside the socket. You know, all these things, right? They're all over the place.

But I was thinking about one of the most common things is you're trying to take care of your children and you're trying to get them a good hot meal, right? And you're cooking for them. And then there's these hot pots and pans. And you tell them, hey, don't touch that. That'll burn you.

You don't want it to burn you, right? And they'll look at you and they'll. Instead of scooting away from it, they'll scoot a little closer and then, nope, don't touch that until eventually they go, Right? How many have experienced that your kids burnt themselves after you said, don't touch that, it's hot, or don't eat it yet, it's going to burn your mouth, right? So that's the fleshly side of this topic, toddler.

And then what happens, though, eventually, right? If that happens, the next time you're cooking and you're preparing a hot meal and you say to them, they've been burnt, right? But you say to them, hey, don't touch that, it'll burn you. They're like, I'm not going to touch that hot stuff this time. What's my point?

The rule did not motivate that child not to touch the heart hot stuff. But once that child realizes the love that the parent has for them and that mommy or daddy was just trying to protect them, when they said, hey, don't do this, I'm trying to protect you. Why? Because I love you, then they learn and they're willing to listen and obey. Listen, this is what I want you to know.

If we walk in the reality that we belong to the Lord, that He is ours and we are his right, and that he loves us with an everlasting love. And if we walk in a loving relationship with him and have an awareness of God in our lives and who he is and how much he cares for us, when we walk in a way, we will begin to walk in a way that is pleasing to him, because we'll realize that the things he's put in His Word, there are guardrails to help protect us. Why? Because he loves us and he's just trying to protect us from. From what?

The hot stuff. Really? The hot place. He's trying to protect us. So we said last week, if we want to look and see what the standard for holiness is, we need to look at Matthew, chapter 22, verses 35 through 40.

Right? This is what it says. It says, then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, asked Jesus a question, testing him, and saved Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law. And Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is, like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So Jesus is saying, every standard, every law, every commandment can be now lumped and gathered into these two here. Love the Lord your God with everything you are, and then love your neighbor as yourself. All right, so that catches us up.

That's how I closed last week. And so now what do we have for this week? I was praying about this, and I really got the impression upon my heart today. Before we can go any further in this series and talk about holiness in our own lives, we must first understand that God himself is holy. God himself is holy.

Okay, everybody say that with me. God himself is holy. Okay, what does holy mean? The word holy actually means different. Different?

It means set apart. Can I just stop right there and say, there's no God like yah. There's no God like our God. There's no God like Jehovah. There's an old song that says, there's no God like Jehovah.

There's no God like Jehovah. Anybody remember that song? Okay. About five of us. Praise the Lord.

What y' all listening to? No, I'm just kidding. All right. There's no God. He alone is the holy God.

There is nothing and no one that can compare to Him. And so if you read this holy Bible, Right here. Holy. That means holy book. Holy Bible.

Bible actually just means book, okay? And they put the word holy in front of it because it's different. It's different than any other book. It's the word of God, right? It's inspired by him.

So when we read the Bible, we can find accounts where men had encounters with him and they were in awe of his holiness. Okay? In Exodus, chapter three, when God appeared before Moses on the mountain in the form of a burning fire bush, it says that Moses turned aside to see what was happening, right? So Moses is just taking care of the sheep. He's a shepherd on the side of the mountain, right there in the desert, and he's taking care of these sheep.

And all of a sudden, he sees this bush that is burning, but it's not being consumed. And so it wouldn't have been uncommon sometimes for them to see a burning bush. But what was very uncommon is that the bush didn't burn up. It was not consumed by the fire so much. Moses is like, what the heck's going on?

This is crazy. Let me go check this out. And as he approached the burning bush, he heard a voice call out to him, moses. Moses. This is what it says in Exodus 3:5.

Then God said to him, do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is what holy ground? Correct. So let me ask you something. What made this dusty mountain desert ground holy?

Right? It was the fact that God was there. Let me tell you this. Wherever God is, that place is holy. So let me take that a step further.

If you allow God access in your life, and the way that you live, your life will actually look different than the world, and you will live a holy life. Okay, I got three Amens. When Moses asked, right? So he has this encounter with God. And then Moses says, well, hey, you're telling me to go tell Pharaoh to let all these people go?

Let your people go. Who, when they ask me who sent me, who shall I say has sent me? And God says, hey, you tell them that I am, that I am has sent you. That's me. I am the.

I am. What does that even. What does that mean, right? It means I'm the one who was at the beginning. Because I had no beginning.

I am God. I'm different, right? I'm the one who appears before you now in a burning bush, and I'm speaking to you through a burning bush. I'm the one who will always be. I'm the one.

I'm whatever you need me to be when you need me to be it. Because I am God. I am the great I am. There is nothing and there is no one like me. I am that I am.

Here's another thing. The more we spend time with God in that loving relationship, the more different we become. Remember, holy means different. The more different we become. When Moses spent time in the presence of God and communion with him, when he spent time in his presence in the glory, the Bible says that Moses face began to shine very bright.

So bright that he had to wear a veil over his face. Don't take my word for it. Let's read it. Okay. Exodus 34, verses 29 through 35.

Now, it was so when Moses came down from Mount Sinai. And the two tablets of testimony were in Moses hand when he came down from from the mountain that Moses did not know. The skin of his face shone while he talked with him. While he talked with God. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone.

And they were afraid to come near him. His face was shining so bright, they were afraid to come close. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him. And Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the children of Israel came near.

And he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with him, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out. And he would come out and speak to the children of Israel, whatever he had commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses face shown, then Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went to speak with him.

Okay, let me jump forward to the New Testament. Just confirm this again, right? Second Corinthians, chapter three, verses seven and eight. But if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious, he's saying, hey, the law was glorious in its place and in its time. So that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because the glory, his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

You know what that's saying to us right here? We're in the ministry. We're in the ministry of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit's been poured out. What that means is because of Jesus and his finished work on the cross of Calvary, because he tore the veil and we have access into the holy of Holies.

We can boldly approach the throne of grace. Because of that, we can have an even more glorious encounter with God in our lives than Moses did.

That's enough. That should make you want to shout. We can have we read about these great things in the Bible, but you can have that encounter with God. Jesus gave you access. He gave you access.

Just as Moses face shone so bright to the Israelites, our lives should be shining bright in this dark and lost world. So ask yourself, am I shining bright? Is there something that looks different about me in this world? Job was another man who had an encounter with God, right? And God appeared before him, and he spoke to him through a whirlwind.

And these were Job's words. Job, chapter 42, verses 3 through 6. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Hear and I will speak.

I will question you, and you will make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore I despise my myself and repent in dust and ashes. Look what happened right here. I can tell you what happened.

The greatness and the goodness and the holiness of God. It calls Job to see his brokenness as a man. And he repented to a holy God. That's what happened. Isaiah had a similar experience after God appeared to him.

In Isaiah chapter 6, he says this Isaiah, Isaiah 6:5. He says, and I said, woe is me, for I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Now listen, this has happened to many of us in our lives. We've had an encounter with God that completely changed our lives. It happened to me when I was 16 years old, on my knees. Well, first time was on a Sunday night when everybody had left. I was sitting on the front row of a church.

And that's when I truly got saved. I said, lord, I don't even know if I believe you exist. I was questioning. I'd been raised in church my whole life, but I was questioning his existence. And I said, but if you do let me feel something, I'll give you my whole life.

I'll give you my whole heart. I'll give you everything. And I don't know how to explain it to you other than I felt something. I felt his presence and his love come over me. And I couldn't do anything but weep.

And then I've had encounters. Like I was so hungry for God, I would. I would. I would wait. I lived in a very small house.

There were six of us in a house. It was two bedroom, one bathroom. I shared a bedroom my entire life till I bought my first house. Because that's all we have, right? And so there wasn't a lot of privacy in that home, right?

Had to share a bathroom, had to share a bedroom with everybody, right? And so I remember I would wait till everybody would go to bed, and I would sneak into the kitchen with an old CD player and I'd cut on worship music real low. I'd get on my knees, I'd turn a kitchen chair around, and I'd seek the Lord. And I remember, man, I remember I got on my knees and I was praying. And the Lord just met me there.

In that case, kitchen, late in the night hour. And it filled me with the Holy Ghost and just completely transformed my life. I had an encounter with him that changed my life. So many of you have had an encounter with God. Maybe you haven't.

I'm praying you have it before you leave here today. But you've had an encounter with God that changed and transformed your life. You had a taste of the glory of God, of the majesty and the splendid of God. And so I'm praying that for every one of us today. And so we're.

So we started. When I had that encounter, I started to understand in a greater way the holiness of God. And so today I'm going to try to talk about that a little bit more with the vision that was given to Isaiah in Isaiah, Chapter six. So this is my main text today. That was all introduction and I got six points, but I'm going through them quick.

Okay? I promise you, don't walk out on me. There's some good stuff here. The Lord gave it to me. Isaiah 6:1:4, it says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up.

And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to 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 were shaken by the voice of him who cried out. And the house was filled with smoke. So those four verses, what can we pull from those four verses about God that makes him different? That Makes him holy.

I'm going to try to pull a few. I told you, I'm doing six. So if you want to write them down, write them down. If you want to follow along in the app, the notes are in there as well. But this is only going to be a decimal of the description of who God was really is.

Okay, the first thing that we can pull from this, these four verses is this. He's alive. He is alive. Okay? It says in verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died.

Let me tell you something. Uzziah is dead, but God lives on. Okay? Psalm chapter 90, verse 2 says, you are from everlasting to everlasting. You are everlasting God, right?

God was the living God when the universe came into existence and he will be the living God 10 trillion years from now, all the way into eternity. Buddha is dead, Muhammad is dead, Confucius is dead, but Jesus is alive.

You can go to where the tomb is and you can see that that tomb is empty. Feeling a preach. Come on me. National and world leaders. There is 100% turnover in those people.

Hundred percent turnover in national and world leaders, right? But I can tell you this, there ain't no turnover in the trinity. There is no turnover for the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. He will reign and rule forever and forever. He's always been and will always be alive because he is the living God.

That's point one. Here's point two. God has all authority. He has all authority. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne.

A throne. Listen, there's been no vision of heaven that's ever caught a glimpse of God plowing a field or cutting his grass, filling out reports or loading a truck. Heaven is not coming apart at the seams because of a lack of attention. God is never at his wits end with his heavenly or earthly realms. He sits and he sits on a throne and so all is at peace because he has complete control.

And the throne that he sits on is his right to rule the world. Matthew 28:18. Jesus, it says, Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority, all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. So this is what you got to know. He sits on a throne and he has all authority.

Here's my third point. God is omnipotent. What does that mean? It means he's all powerful. He's all powerful.

So the throne that he sits own is not just one throne among many, but it says that his throne is high and lifted up. I saw the Lord sitting Upon a throne, high and lifted up. So God's throne, being higher than any other throne, signifies God's superior power to exercise all his authority. Listen. No opposing authority can nullify the decrees of God.

What God purposes, he accomplishes. Isaiah 46, verses 9 and 10 says, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. What does that mean? I'm the holy God.

There's none like me. Declaring that you end from the beginning and from ancient times, things are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Daniel 4. 35 says, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done?

Done? He is the omnipotent, all powerful, all authoritative living God.

And you know what's amazing about that? In the middle of being all of that, he is still a refuge of joy, peace, love, all those things to all those people that come to him. Here's point number four. God is magnificent. He's magnificent.

It says, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. It filled the temple. I think we've probably all been in attendance at a wedding. Maybe it was our wedding.

I've officiated a lot of weddings over the years, but we've seen a wedding where the bride has this long, long, flowing train on her dress. Y' all know what I'm talking about. So she walks down the aisle, and she's got this long train that comes behind her as she walks down the aisle. And sometimes, you know, that's a sight to behold. There's some beautiful dresses out there, and it's just like that long, flowing dress.

And when I'm officiating, I'm always thinking, if that's the case, I'm always like, please don't trip over that. Anybody else ever think that at a wedding, don't trip over. Over the dress. Okay? So I'm the only one.

Y' all really gonna do that to me? Okay. There's some hands, courtesy hands. Thank you. But I get nervous because I'm up there and I'm watching them try to turn around, hand off the bouquet and all these things.

Okay? But that's a sight to behold, right? This long, flowing train of a dress. But think about this.

What if that train on that dress feels all the aisles and it covered all the seats, and it filled the whole facility or the church that that ceremony was taking place in. That would be a real sight to behold, wouldn't it? That'd be something crazy. Listen, That's God's robe. That's the way Isaiah described says.

And the train of his robe filled the temple and filled the entire heavenly temple. And to me, what that is saying is that God is a God of incomparable magnificence and splendor.

The fullness of God's splendor shows itself in many, many thousands of different ways. Does anybody remember? I'm sure you do. Anybody remember that old song that sung by Louis Armstrong, what a Wonderful World? Let me just read you the lyrics, okay?

It says, I see trees so green. Red roses, too. Actually, close your eyes. I want you to imagine this.

No peeking. I saw y' all looking. I see trees so green Red roses, too I see them bloom for me and for you and I think to myself what a wonderful world I see sky so blue and clouds so white the bright blessed day the dark sacred night and I think to myself what a wonderful world the colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by. I see friends shaking hands saying, how do you. You do.

They're really saying, I love you. I hear babies crying I watch them grow and they'll learn much more than I'll ever know and I think to myself what a wonderful, wonderful world. Now y' all can open your eyes, but let me say this. If that's the way the world is, the way God created, then how much more wonderful and how much more magnificent must the living God who thought it all up and spoke it into existence be? That's something to think about.

Here's point five, really. It's the foundation of this message. God is holy. He's holy. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim. That means angels. That's an angel, right? The seraphim, certain type of angel, each had six wings. With two he covered his face.

With two he covered his feet. And with two he flew. And one called to another and said, holy. Holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts.

Words are going to fall short when it comes to try to define the holiness of God. The root meaning of the word holy actually means to cut out or to separate. That's the root word or the root meaning of the word holy, right? So a holy thing is cut off or separated from that which is common or that which is for secular use. So earthly things and people are holy.

Holy as they are distinct or as they are different from the world and devoted to God. And so the Bible actually mentions a lot of things as being holy. We read it in Exodus, right? It said holy ground, right? Then it also says the Bible describes holy assemblies coming together, right?

It talks about holy days, holy Sabbaths. It talks about a holy nation. It calls in going through the law, holy garments, clothes. Then there's the holy city mentioned in Nehemiah. There's holy promises in Psalms, there's holy men in Second Peter, holy women in First Peter, holy scriptures in second Timothy, holy hands in First Timothy.

And really the list could go on and on. Almost anything or anyone can become holy through God if it is separated from the common and separated from the world and truly devoted to God. But what happens when you try to apply that definition to God himself? From what can you separate God to make him holy? The very Godness of God means that he is separate from all that is not God.

There's an eternal difference between creation, creator, who God is, and creature things that are created. So God in that sense is one of a kind. He is in a class all by Himself. And so in that sense, he is utterly and absolutely holy. His being and his character are not determined by anything outside of himself.

He's not holy because he keeps the rules. He wrote the rules, the law. The law was not holy because it was worse, but it was because God gave the law.

God is absolute. God is God, which no one else ever can be or will be. And so in that sense, God is holy because he is the only one. He's different. And so, as I said, in the end, words are going to fall short.

Words run out for me to try to describe that he's just in a class all by himself. I could never. I could sit up here and tell you how different God is than anything and everything in the world until I run out of words and my mouth goes dry and I fall over from exhaustion. But it still wouldn't be enough. Words fall short for that.

But you got to know he's hoping. Holy. He's different. There's no one like Him. No one like Him.

Here's my last point. Amanda, you can come.

Told you I'd go through them quick. God is glorious. God is glorious. It says holy. Holy.

Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. The glory of God is actually the manifestation of his holiness. Okay, so his glory is the display of that holiness. So when we say God is glorious, it means God's holiness has gone public, right?

When you experience the glory of God, it means God's revealed himself. In a way, it's gone public. So the glory of God is the open revelation and understanding, understanding of the secret of his holiness.

You know, the psalm says, I'll dwell in the secret place of the Most High. A lot of people want to experience the glory of God, but they never want to get in the secret place and get alone with God.

And I need to tell you, if you want to experience the glory of God, you got to have a personal pursuit to get in the secret place with Him. Right? We can experience a move of God in this house, and it's great and his glory will be on display. But if you want to walk in it, you want to live in it, you got to learn to find a secret place where you get along with him and his glory will be revealed to you and you'll go from one level of glory to the next.

This I'm going to read verse five again. I started out reading that. This is Isaiah, chapter 6, verse 5. After Isaiah experienced this encounter with God, seeing that he was a living God and that he was holy and magnificent and all these wonderful things, this is what happens exactly after that. Isaiah says in verse five, he says, woe is me, Woe is me, for I'm lost.

I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips. Lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

If anything, the holiness of God reveals to us the absolute need of a Savior. That's what it reveals. At the end of this chapter, you go to verse 13. Isaiah mentions a whole seed. You know who he's talking about.

He's talking about Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. In chapter 53, Isaiah goes into greater detail about this holy seed.

I'm just going to read it. Isaiah 53 says, who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the armor of the Lord been revealed? For he talking about Jesus grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces. He was desperate, despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him Stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, with his stripes, we are healed all. We, like sheep, have gone astray.

We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. And like a sheep that before it shears, is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring.

You know who his offspring are. Those that declare and believe in him. The children of God, co heirs with Christ. He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days.

The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. You know what that means? On the cross he was looking across. That's why he said, father, forgive them.

They don't know what to do. That's why he said, it is finished. Because he, out of the anguish of his soul, the heart moment he looked and was like, I'm bringing salvation to them all. He's satisfied. It is finished.

By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many.

And he makes intercession for the transgressors.

You know, I said last week, and I'm going to say it again, the greatest motivator for us to live holy lives has to be love. Love is what motivated Christ. His love for you is what motivated him to go to the cross. Cross for his people. It was love.

First John, chapter four, verse eight, says, God is love. I can tell you this. Never in the history of time has there ever been or will there ever be a greater display of love than what we see and what we receive through the finished work of the cross of Christ. He did it all for you and he did it all for me. Why?

Because. Let's just be real. We're a people of unclean lips, unclean hearts, unclean lives. And we needed him. Let me tell you this.

Though one drop, one drop of that blood, though our sins are many and are as scarce scarlet, dark as dark can be, right? One drop can wash us, make us clean and white as snow. That's enough to praise the Lord about.

One drop. I want everybody to stand to your feet.

I'm going to give you an invitation.

Invitation is going to be a little bit different. I'm not going to ask you to bow your heads, close your eyes. I'm not going to go through that today. I do that sometimes. Sometimes I don't.

I just feel. I go with what I feel. The leading of the Spirit that day. I'm just going to give you an invitation. Maybe you've never had an encounter with the Lord.

You've never experienced that soul cleansing where you're washing the blood of the Lamb. Where every. Every sin that you've ever committed washed away. How does that happen? Romans 10:9 says, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, that means you make him Lord of your life and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

You shall be saved. You shall be saved. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And from that moment the blood is applied, you're washed clean. You're in the righteousness of Christ.

God sees you as righteous as Esau. Jesus. Jesus Christ, who never sins. You're clothed in his righteousness. And then the Holy Spirit comes and will help you live a life in accordance to this word.

And that's pleasing. And I'll tell you what. If you're being led by the Spirit, it'll make you look different. Different than the world.

It'll create a holy life in you. It's a process. Sanctification. It's a process. Those things the Spirit will revealed to you.

But I want to give you an opportunity. Maybe you've never had that encounter. Maybe you have and you're just not where you used to be with him. You say, hey, I know I've veered off the path. I need to get back.

I need to get back to seeking the Lord and having a personal relationship with Him. But I'm also going to give you an invitation. This is what my heart is burdened for as well. Is that Just to come and bow in all awe and in reverence of a holy God. He's worthy of that.

He's worthy of that. He's worthy of it. You have that opportunity to do that. They're going to sing a song. I requested this song for Altar because it goes right with the scripture.

We're actually singing scripture. We're singing scripture. So as they begin to sing and play, would you come reverence and bow before a holy God? The invitation's open.