THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS
By Winston Pannell
02/04/07
Psalm 96
At the request of Moses to see
God’s greater glory, God answered in Exodus 33:20; “Thou canst not see my
face, for there shall no man see me, and live.”
What is God like in your mind? If you were called on today, how would you answer this question? All of us by nature hold some concept of what God is like. As a child I thought of him as a gray haired old man sitting on a throne in heaven watching and rewarding sinners according to their obedience. As an adult, by nature I thought of him as a loving father, eager to bless all who accept Him as Savior. But what is God really like?
Jesus told his hearers in John 1:18; “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
This scripture says we can only know God as the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel reveals him. We can only know the true and Living God as we see him in Christ. Jesus said to Phillip in John 14:9; “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father”, because “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)
Since we
can only know God as we see him in Christ, then what is Christ like? None of us
have seen Christ face to face. The Apostle John said of himself in John 1:14; “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of
grace and truth.” But you and I have not seen Christ face to
face.
Except for the pictures of his suffering on the cross, he is
portrayed by man as a gentle, meek and mild person who loves all and is liked
by the majority. Most hold the christ of their mind in high esteem but the
image most in religion hold of “The Christ” contradicts the scriptures. Most
see Him as a personality who is well pleasing, well liked and someone whom you
would enjoy being around. Read Isaiah 53:1-4.
This scripture portrays a different Christ than what we imagine by nature. In these verses God describes him as undesirable to men. There is nothing about Him that appeals to the natural mind. John, the Apostle said of him in John 1:10-12; “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came to his own, and his own received him not.” We who are justified by his righteousness imputed know the fact of this rejection. Aside from the fact of our own rejection of him before regeneration in time, when we present Christ in his redemptive character as a just God and Savior, men bow up at us and accuse us of being mean spirited. It takes a work of grace in the heart to change a sinner’s mind about Christ’s Person and work and bring them into compliance with God’s testimony concerning who he is and how he saves sinners.
By contrast, the description in Isaiah 53:1-2 is not what the “Just” see of him. When a justified sinner “believes God’s report” (believes the gospel) and “the arm of the Lord is revealed” (they are made willing in the day of his power)” (Psalm 110:3), the Christ they behold becomes desirous to them. What is it about him justified sinners desire? What do justified sinners see in Christ that others do not see? What about him reveals to them the nature, character and purpose of the true God?
Our text for today, Psalm 96 answers these questions for us. I’ve titled this message, “The beauty of holiness” taken from V-9.
Four times in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit of God inspired David, King of Israel to write of this holiness, which defines and distinguishes the God we are commanded to worship, and the manner in which we are to worship him. We are to worship him “in the beauty of holiness.”
In 1
Chronicles 16, we have the record of King David recovering the Ark of God,
which had been captured by the Philistines and bringing it to the City of
Remember;
the
Where do we see “the beauty of holiness?” We see it in:
1.
The perfections
of God’s character. V1-6.
2.
The provisions
of God’s Covenant. V7-10.
3.
The possession
of God’s children. V-11-13.
For our consideration today I want us to
look at two aspects of the perfections of God’s character. These two aspects
are his Person and his works. This is consistent with his own
description of himself in Isaiah 45:21. “Tell ye, and bring them
near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the LORD? And there is no God
else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none
beside me.” The perfections of character of the True and Living God are
seen in his Person (a Just God) and His work. (Savior)
In his person, he’s a Just God. In
Ecclesiastes 7:20 God declares; “there is not a just man upon earth, that
doeth good, and sinneth not. In
Isaiah 64:6, God says of us all; “But we are all as an unclean thing, and
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
But,
of Himself God say; “I am a Just God.” Shall not the Judge of all the earth
do right.” (Genesis 18:25). This scripture declares that everything God
does is right. He has never done anything wrong. Men say that God can do
anything but this is not so. God cannot lie. He cannot change. He cannot do
anything inconsistent with his character. He must and shall do right; and He
will. He will bless the righteous BUT he will curse the unrighteous. Why:
because he is a Just God. He is a holy God.
In Isaiah 6:1-3, we have the
prophet’s description of this Just God. “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.” How did Isaiah see the holiness of God in
King Uzziah’s death?
King Uzziah ascended the throne in
To understand the significance of
Uzziah’s sin, we must know that incense in scripture is symbolic of prayer.
Uzziah sought simply to pray to God, as commanded by God. But to approach the
One True and Living God apart from His appointed High Priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ is deadly. It is an abominable sin, punishable by death.
Any sinner who approaches God’s Throne
except through Christ will be smitten with spiritual leprosy, which ends in
death. Jesus said in John 14:6; “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” For such a sin, the perfections of God’s
character demand eternal death. The perfections of his character reveal him to
be a Just God in his Person.
In His work, he is a Savior.
Moses wrote of this glorious Person in
Exodus 15:11; “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” God is holy. What does that mean? It means
that God is infinitely perfect in every attribute of his Deity. He alone is
glorious in holiness. His perfections of character display the beauty of
holiness. God is love; that love is holy love. God is just; that justice is
holy justice. He cannot dispense his love at the expense of his justice. He
cannot arbitrarily save sinners. He must be just when he justifies sinners
because he declares himself to be both “a just God and Savior.” (Isaiah
45:21) That’s why his love provided what his justice demanded for the salvation
of sinners: the very righteousness Christ earned by his obedience, suffering
and death and freely imputed by God at the cross. The Law of God, which demands
eternal death to the sinner who transgresses that law also demands eternal life
based on satisfaction to its penalty and precept. God can require no more or
demand nothing less.
Read Psalm 96:1. Here the Psalmist
instructs us how to approach unto this Just God and Savior. “Sing unto the
Lord.” This is the song of redemption. It is new to every sinner justified
by this Just God and Savior. . It is a song none of us knew before regeneration
and conversion under the preaching of the true gospel of Christ and his
righteousness imputed. It is the song we will sing throughout eternity in
heaven with all the saints. (Revelation 5:12) “Worthy is the Lamb (this
Just God and Savior) that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Here he commands all the earth to sing this
song. It goes without saying that the old song we sang in false religion, which
dishonored God and cast shame and reproach upon Christ is abandoned for this
new song. What was that old song? “Worthy is the sinner who believes and
repents.” When we sang that song,
and all do by nature, we knew nothing of a Just God and Savior.
Read
V-2: The fact that God repeats his command here is indicative of the
seriousness of his command. This is not a command to obey if we feel like it. “Bless
his name.” The lost sinner cannot
bless God. How do you bless God’s name? When we think of blessing, we
automatically think of receiving good things from God. This is true. The only really blessed people are those who
have been redeemed by the blood and righteousness of Christ. All others are
cursed. We bless his name by acknowledging of him all the gifts and graces of
salvation and final glory in heaven by the finished work of Christ on our
behalf. Lost sinners cannot do this. Do you bless his name? “Show forth his
salvation from day to day.” Let your
testimony and walk be that of grace and gratitude and not self-righteous
legalism. Plead his righteousness imputed alone as all your salvation, declare
that righteousness as God’s only means of justifying ungodly sinners and resist
Satan’s temptation to self-righteous, legal tendencies.
V-3: “Declare his glory among the heathen.” Declare His right to justify ungodly sinners based on Christ’s righteousness imputed. “Declare his wonders among all people.” The greatest wonder ever contemplated by man is how a holy God can justify ungodly sinners and remain just in so doing. There’s only one-way: God laid the sins of his people on Christ and extracted from him the just payment they owed and could not pay. God imputed the righteousness Christ established in his death to the account of every sinner for whom Christ died, thereby justifying them all there at the cross. (2 Corinthians 5:21) WONDER OF WONDERS. Why did he do this: because of the perfections of his character. He’s a Just God and a Savior. The promise He made to Christ to save a people has been fulfilled. His faithfulness to his promise has been accomplished. There’s an old song we used to sing in false religion, which we attributed to an idol the wonders of God’s grace.
“There’s
a wonder of sunset at evening,
There’s a wonder at sunrise I see,
But the
wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
Is
the wonder that God loves me.
O the wonder
of it all, the wonder of it all
Just
to know that God loves me.”
Now the
justified sinner can truly give glory to the True and Living God with this
song. How God is just to justify ungodly sinner truly is the wonder of all
wonders.
The Psalmist said of God in Psalm 50:2; “Out of
Why are we commanded twice to worship this Just God? V4, “For,” because of who He is. He is both, a Just God and a Savior: as such:
The
beauty of holiness is in the provisions of God’s covenant. V 7-10.
Our
God is a covenant God. He made many covenants with the nation
In the Everlasting Covenant of grace made before time, God the Father covenanted with God the Son to glorify himself in the full, free eternal salvation of a multitude of guilty, hell deserving sinners out of Adams fallen race. This was his predestinating purpose even before he created the world and set man as the caretaker of his creation. In this covenant, God gave this number which no man can number out of every kindred, tribe tongue and nation to Christ and conditioned all their salvation upon him. Christ agreed with the Father to come in time and satisfy all the conditions for their salvation by taking all the responsibility for their salvation upon himself. Read Galatians 4:4-5. “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Notice the word “receive”. The Greek word is “ap-ol-am-ban’-o” which means to receive what was promised. Salvation is a gift. It is not earned; it is not received by anything done by the sinner or in the sinner. It is not by anything you or I might be enabled to do. It is received as a free gift based on the promise the Father made to the Son before we were ever created. It is of free grace because it is not conditioned on the sinner in any way. It was ratified by the blood of Christ. That’s why it’s called a covenant of grace.
Read V-7. “Give unto the Lord, O ye kindred’s of the people.” This “kindred” is every sinner for whom the Father and the Son covenanted to redeem. It is those sinners of like mind concerning how God saves sinners by a perfect righteousness, worked out and established by Christ’s obedience, suffering and death on the cross and freely imputed by God the Father there at the cross. “Give unto the Lord glory and strength.” Only the justified can perform this. How do we give glory and strength unto the Lord?
Read V-8 “Bring an offering and come into his courts.”
What offering shall I bring? Read Micah 6:6. “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself
before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves
of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten
thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” How do we do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God?
By offering the sacrifice God appointed and approved, the one sacrifice for
sin, the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness imputed. We see that if God
were to judge us based on our best offering, even our bodies burned, He would
be just to condemn us. We see also that God is just to justify us based on
Christ’s righteousness imputed because Christ has satisfied law and justice for
us by his obedience, suffering and death on the cross.
This is the fulfillment by Christ of the
Everlasting Covenant of Grace, made before time and worked out by him in time.
In Christ’s Person and works we see our complete salvation, from Election in
eternity past, to justification at the cross, regeneration and conversion in
time and our sure and certain final glory in heaven in God’s time.
Read
V-10. “Say among the heathen the
Lord reigneth.” He will fulfill
every covenant promise. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. Tell them Christ must reign until God makes his enemy his footstool.
(Psalm 110:1) “The world shall be established.” The church shall not be moved. It shall
prevail. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew
16:18) “He shall judge the people righteously.” He shall judge all men by the righteousness
established and imputed at the cross. This is according to the Everlasting
Covenant He made with Christ and this God is a faithful God to keep his
promises to Christ. God is faithful, who made the promise; Christ is faithful
who fulfilled his duties under the covenant and all the faithful will bow to
the terms of this covenant.
The beauty of holiness is in the provisions of God’s covenant.
The
beauty of holiness is in the possession of God’s children. V 11-13.
These verses offer comfort and assurance to God’s children for they prophesy of the coming of the Savior of God’s people. Remember, this prophecy was made before the incarnation of Christ. “Let the heaves rejoice.” And they did; at the birth of Christ, Luke 2:13-14 records for us the reaction of heaven; “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” “Let the earth be glad.” And it is. There is a remnant out of the earth that rejoices in Christ. “Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof.” Let the isles wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:4) Even the remnant in the islands of the sea will declare his glory. “Let the heavens, the earth, the sea and the fields and everything therein rejoice at the incarnation of Christ, for he cometh.” (13) “He comes to judge the world with righteousness and his people with truth.” Christ judged the world with righteousness. When He came, he judged the world. His standard of judgment is righteousness. (Acts 17: 31) He judges them, even now by his Word. He will judge them according to strict law and inflexible justice and they shall be weighed in the balance and found wanting because they have not a righteousness which satisfies God’s holy law and justice. God will reject those who reject his righteousness for their own.
By
contrast, God will judge the people, called “trees” in V-11, “with HIS
truth.” Read Isaiah 61:1-3.
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon
me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he
hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the
LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto
them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for
the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the
planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”
God will judge his people with HIS truth. This truth will be taught to all for whom Christ came and died. The Father promised, “they shall all be taught of God.” He will judge all who are in Christ, (all who plead his righteousness as all their salvation) as justified, sanctified, holy, righteous, fit and qualified to all the benefits and blessings of eternal life. They will be taught his truth that He; (Isaiah 61:3d) “might be glorified.” They will be so blessed because God has revealed to them and they have seen the “beauty of holiness:”
· In the possession of God’s children. He is a successful Savior. He will have all his children. “All the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and his that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out but will raise him up at the last day.” He won’t lose one of his sheep.
I hope you have worshipped the Lord today in the beauty of holiness.
“Come; let us worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Let us fear before him all the earth.”