We're turning to the book of Isaiah, the chapter number six. The book of Isaiah, the chapter number six for our Bible reading. It'll come as no surprise to you if you are following even our hymns today. We're continuing our study on the doctrine of God. And so we're coming to Isaiah chapter six and we're reading from the verse number one. 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 seraphim, each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. One cried on 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 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. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Though this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Amen, and we'll end our reading at the verse number 10, and let's just pray with the word before us open. Let's seek the Lord together. Our loving Father, we desire, O God, that thou will come and instruct us from thy word. We pray that we might become aware, O God, that thou art thrice holy. Lord, we pray that in being aware of that, that our behavior and our conduct might be governed and regulated by the truth that our God is a holy God. Come, dear God, and bless us, we pray, around the book. Grant, O God, the help of thy Spirit, for both preacher and hearer alike. We pray these, our petitions, in and through Jesus' most precious name. Amen. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. In his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. It is to that fourth communicable attribute of God, His holiness, that God has brought us to consider today as we continue to behold our God in our series of messages on the doctrine of God. Out of all of His attributes, His holiness is the one that is predominantly affixed to the being and to the nature of God. While God is wise and infinitely so, rarely is He referred to as the wise God in Scripture. While God is just and eternally so, few are the references that refer to Him as a just God. But multiple times in the scriptures we find this attribute of God's holiness attached to the being of God. I am told that in the scriptures God describes himself as holy approximately 800 times. Now that does not mean that the other attributes of God are to be seen as lesser, more insignificant attributes than the attribute of His holiness. It is simply showing us something of the mind of God that he wants to relate and to convey to the reader of Scripture in the revelation of himself within those scriptures, namely that he is above all things holy. He is holy. The theologian Louis Burkhoff remarked concerning the holiness of God, It does not seem proper, he said, to speak of one attribute of God as being more central and fundamental than another, but if this were permissible, the scriptural emphasis on the holiness of God would seem to justify its selection. In other words, if it was possible for us to, as it were, level or to as it were, bring to our minds each attribute and place them into areas of prominence or into a level of prominence, Birkhoff believes that holiness would stand at the very top of the list. Now as I come to speak of the holiness of God, I believe that I feel myself to be most, most inadequately prepared to do so. As I speak of God's holiness, I feel myself to be an individual that cannot convey to your heart as much as it even can convey to my own soul how holy our God is, how holy He is. I begin with some kind of definition. How do you define God? That cannot really happen, but we begin with a definition of God's holiness. God's holiness has been defined as the eternal uniqueness, purity, completeness and majesty inherent in His character. In simpler terms, God's holiness means that He is separate from sin and is seen to be so when we consider the very word holy that is used within the Scriptures. That word holy that is translated in the Bible is the Hebrew word qadesh. It is a word that denotes strict Uniqueness. It can be translated to be cut off. We would say a cut above the rest. That's the idea that we have in the Hebrew word kodesh. He is a cut above the rest. He is separate from everything else in the created universe. God is one who is separate. cut off from sin, one who has no sin within his own being and one who cannot even countenance sin. Those truths are affirmed over there in the following biblical statements. God being a holy being is without sin. 1 John 1 verse 5, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Darkness or light in the scripture is an emblem we know of purity and holiness and truth, while darkness is seen to be the complete opposite. In God there is no darkness of sin whatsoever, only the pure light of absolute sinlessness and glistening holiness. As a holy being, God cannot countenance sin. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Just as light cannot coexist with darkness, fire with water, heat with cold, sweetness with bitterness, so sin is found to be an incompatible partner with holiness. Holiness and sin cannot coexist side by side. God, who is infinitely holy, cannot countenance sin. Now much has been written on the holiness of God, and I want to quote just a number of men before we get into the meat of the message today of what they said about this attribute, this perfection of God, that he is holy. It was A. A. Hodge who said the holiness of God is not to be conceived as one attribute among others. It is rather a general term representing the conception of God's consummate or total perfection and total glory. It is His infinite moral perfection crowning His infinite intelligence and power. Jonathan Edwards described God's holiness as the very beauty and loveliness of Jehovah himself. He said that God's holiness is the excellency of his excellencies. It is the beauty of his beauties. It is the perfection of his infinite perfections and the glory of his attributes. Thomas Watson said, Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of God's crown. It is the name by which he is known. Robert L. Dabney wrote, Holiness is to be regarded not as a distinct attribute, but as a result of all God's moral perfection together. And Thomas Brooks said, God is infinitely holy. transcendently holy, superlatively holy, constantly holy, unchangeably holy, exemplary holy, gloriously holy. This is our God. He is a holy God. As we consider and come to consider the holiness of God, a study that in no way will be exhaustive, I want to draw your attention to a number of things. I want to firstly bring to your attention inspired statements that affirm God's holiness. Inspired statements that affirm God's holiness. As I've said in my introductory remarks, the holiness of God is frequently referred to in the pages of Holy Scripture. God has determined it to be so. to place chief emphasis upon this perfection, this attribute of God, above every other perfection within the special revelation of himself within Holy Scripture. Stephen Charnock said, God is oftener styled holy than almighty. and set forth by this part of his dignity more than any other. This is more fixed on as an epitaph to his name than any other. You never find it expressed, he said, his mighty name or his wise name, but his great name and most of all his holy, his holy name. If you consider some statements of scripture, you can turn so that you can see it for yourself in black and white. We turn to Exodus chapter 15, first of all, and the verse number 11. Exodus chapter 15, the verse number 11. You'll know that this is the following chapter after the children of Israel have crossed the Red Sea, God has given them the victory, and they stand on the other side and they sing a song. Within that song there is emphasis on the holiness of God. Exodus 15 verse 11, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? There is a glory to the holiness of God that exceeds the glory of every other perfection that distinguishes the being of God. If I were to ask you to define God in one word, if I was to ask you to summarize the essence, the nature of God in one single word, you would have to use the word holy if you were to be biblically accurate. Now God is love. God is wise. God is just. But if you were to summarize God in one word, it would be that He is holy. His nature is holy. Leviticus, the chapter number 19. We're going to the right-hand side each time, so we're trying to do it chronologically. Leviticus 19, verse Number one and two, and the Lord speak on to Moses saying, speak on to the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. Now we have seen Paul do this throughout his epistles. He argues from the greater to the lesser or from the lesser to the greater. Sometimes he takes different approaches on how he's going to argue for something. And here Moses is using the same method, the same language with respect to holiness among God's people. And he's arguing that we should be holy because God is holy. He argues from the lesser or from the greater to the lesser. God is holy, therefore if I am a Christian, I ought to be holy. I ought to be living a holy life. It is an evidence that I am a Christian, that I have experienced the new birth, that I have been born again, converted. The evidence is that of a holy life and so the argument God uses, and remember Remember, it is God. Yes, I've said Moses, but God is speaking here through Moses. He said, speak to the children and let them know this is from me. You shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy. The language then used, the argument that God uses for his people is that he himself is holy. And if we are to be his image bearers, and we are, then we ought to be holy as he is holy. What an idealist to strive after, after his holiness. To be as holy as is possible, for a pardoned sinner to be, that's what Maxian prayed. That ought to be our prayer, holiness Oh, we tut-tut and we defeem those who focus on holiness within the church of Jesus Christ, but, oh, child of God, get it into your heart. Oh, we believe in holiness. We believe that the believers should live a holy life, a life that is separate from sin. And you'll know if you're a member of this congregation that you have taken to yourself that very vow. That very commitment that you are to live a life that is free from scandal and live a life that is holy and God-glorifying in this community. So we believe in holiness, deeply believe in it. And we believe it because God is holy and His children ought to be holy. 1 Samuel chapter 2, 1 Samuel chapter 2, the verse number 2 here, And Hannah prayed, verse number one, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like unto our God. Now I'm going to read a verse from Revelation 15 in the verse number four. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thy only art holy. For all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. Now I've grouped these two verses together because they carry and present the same truth, namely that God is exclusively, uniquely holy. He alone is holy. God is the only being. who is intrinsically, personally, and perfectly holy. Now, you may say to yourself, well, are the angels not holy? And you would be right. We read about the holy angels. in the word of God. You may say, are the people of God not holy? Of course they are. That great verse in the book of Isaiah, they shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. You may say, well, you have said that God in his being is the only being who is intrinsically, personally, and perfectly holy. And that is true because the holiness of the angels and the holiness of the saints is derived from God. It is given to them by God. Remember this is a communicable attribute. And in some way we know of this holiness. We don't know it in an infinite way, in an eternal way, but we know something of the holiness of God. We become the holy people. God's holiness is derived from no one or nothing outside of himself. He in and of himself is holy. His holiness is an underrived as it is an independent holiness. Our final verse, Revelation chapter 4. We're in the New Testament this time. Revelation, the chapter number 4, verse number 8. Revelation 4, verse number 8, and the four beasts had each of them six wings about them, and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. That three-time repeated word, holy, in this text is seen also in Isaiah 6, in the verse number 3, where the scene again is a heavenly scene. There the winged seraphims are heard to cry and saying to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with His glory. You know, if God says something once about His character, it's enough. It settles it. but he repeats it twice, placing emphasis on the matter at hand, but now we have it three times. It suggests to us that there is supreme importance upon this very attribute. It does not say in the scripture that God is love, love, love. We do not read mercy, mercy, mercy. We do not read, said of God, justice, justice, justice, but it does say that God is holy, holy. I could spend the rest of today and tomorrow and Tuesday, Wednesday, going through the scriptures from the book of Genesis to the book of the Revelation, quoting verse after verse of scripture that refers to the holiness of God, but these, I believe, suffice. Show us from scripture that the God of the Bible. But let me say, folks, our God. Not just placing God at a distance from us, but our God. Our God is primarily, first and foremost, He is Holy God. Holy God. Now you may think that to be a very obvious truth. You may think that to be a truth that the so-called Christian church would wholeheartedly agree upon. But you'll find today that apostate religion, and when I speak of apostate religion, I mean those that have irreversibly departed from the truth, because that's what an apostate is. Someone who departs from the truth and cannot be recovered. That's what apostasy is. Those that believe or those that follow apostate religion and those who adhere to false religion, they choose to emphasize the love of God at the expense of the holiness of God. in their presentation of God. God is love. 1 John, God is love. We do not disagree with that. But can I say that God's love is a holy love? God's good, I do not disagree, but his goodness is a holy goodness. God is just, but His justice is a holy justice. His truth, God is truth, but His truth is a holy truth. His holiness permeates and governs everything that He does towards His creation, and thereby He cannot love sin. He can only love that which is righteous and that which is true. God is holy. As we consider the holiness of God, I want to, in the second place, in the second instance, bring your attention to where one can view the holiness of God. Where one can view the holiness of God. Where can one behold the holiness of God? Well, the first place that we can go to behold the holiness of God is heaven. Heaven itself. Now, God is on my present, that we know. But heaven is described as God's dwelling place. And it is in the Trinity of His sacred persons where the fullest revelation of His holiness is to be found. Each person within the triune Godhead is attributed with this attribute, this perfection of holiness within the Scripture. God the Father is said to be holy. He was addressed by His Son. as Holy Father. In his high priestly prayer in John 17 verse 11, Jesus Christ in prayer, he said these words, Holy Father. Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. He is known as Holy Father. And can I say by means of just a little caveat, a little bracketed statement, can I say he's the only Holy Father, not the Pope of Rome or any moderator. He alone is Holy Father. that he alone ought to be addressed as such. Holy Father. God, the Son is said to be holy. You'll remember the apostles prayed in Acts 4 verse 27, they referred to the Son of God in these terms, for of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus. And thou was anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, referred to the Son of God as the Holy One and the Just. Acts 3 in the verse number 14. So the Son is holy, God the Holy Spirit is holy. Need I say that? It's evidenced clearly in the fact that the term holy comprises part of the name of the third person of the Holy Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. The name Holy Ghost is used 90 times in the scripture, while the term Holy Spirit is used 7 times. But whatever term you use concerning the third person of the Trinity, he is either Holy Spirit or he is Holy Ghost. He's not spirit, he's not ghost. but he's Holy Spirit and he's Holy Ghost. So God's holiness is displayed in heaven in the sacred persons of his trinity. God's holiness as it is displayed in heaven is also seen in the residents that occupy the heavenly land. I've said it already, we're told in the scriptures about the holy angels. They find residence in heaven along with the spirits of just men made perfect, like for like. coexists with each other. Holy God with his holy created beings, they live together in heaven. Any other type of being cannot coexist with a holy God. And so even the residents of heaven in, as it were, a secondary way show us, shed light on the fact that God is holy because they have to be holy to dwell with him, to be with him. Heaven itself is also referred to as the holy city. the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 in the verse number 2, while God is said to dwell where? In His holy temple. Psalm 11 verse 4, the white robes those who are in heaven. The pure river that runs through the street of that great city are also indicators to the purity and the holiness that permeates all things in heaven because of the Holy One who dwells there. It is a holiness that is derived from a holy God. Listen in to the praise and worship of heaven. And as you do so, you'll get some understanding of the holiness of God. We see angels. Remember, the angels never fail, these angels. And yet these holy angels who never fell, who stayed in their state of purity and holiness, even when the devil rebelled against the Christ and against the God of glory, taking with him some of those angels. These angels did not. They did not fall. They knew nothing of sin, these angels. Sin has never come into their lives, has never, as it were, appealed to their hearts and to their consciences. No, these angels have always been holy, and yet what do we find them doing before their faces, before the Lamb? Because the one before them is thrice holy. We hear their worship, we read the verse in Revelation chapter 4, the four beasts, and each have six wings, that they cry, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, which is, and which is to come. The glorified saints, they speak of God's holiness as they worship and praise around the throne. Now we're going to come at the end to concluding remarks, how God's holiness ought to affect our worship, but we have it here. A holy God must be worshipped in a holy way, not in some giddy way, not in some type of way whereby glory is brought to the singer or to individuals up at the front, but rather that the worship is given all to God and it is to be done and it is to be marked by holiness. The second place that we can behold the holiness of God is on earth. In a sinful world, yes, even in a sinful world, God's holiness can be viewed. God's holiness appears in his work as creator when he formed man. How did he form man? Well, we're told that he formed man in perfect uprightness. Adam came forth from God's hand in a state of pristine innocence. God could only have created such a being. A holy God could only have created a holy man. This holiness is also seen in the new creation. When the old man is put off, the new man is put on. The latter, according to Ephesians 4 verse 24, is created in righteousness and true holiness. That's the new man. That's who you have put on. If you're a Christian, you've put off the old man, You put on the new man and that man is marked by true holiness. That suggests to me that there is a counterfeit holiness, that there's a false holiness, that there's a holiness of the Pharisees who went about thinking that they were holy and pretending to others that they were holy and being pious and being religious and saying all the right things, but their hearts were full of dead men's bones. Maybe that's the holiness you have. I pray it's not. Yes, and so God's people. The saints are exhorted to be holy. They are referred to as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. 1 Peter 2, verse number 9. I've quoted the verse, Isaiah 62, verse 12, speaks of God's redeemed ones and refers to them as the holy people. And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called sought out, a city not forsaken. And so in God's sins, God's holiness is seated. Another place on earth that God's holiness ought to be manifest is in His house. His house. Psalm 93 verse 5, Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. Why is holiness befitting? That's what the word becometh means. It's fitting, it's right, it's suitable. Why is holiness befitting God's house? Because holy God has promised to meet with his people when they gather into such a meeting place. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them? Who is in the midst of us today? Holy God. Holy God. Albert Barnes said, as heaven is pure and there shall enter there nothing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, so in the place where we seek to prepare for that holy world, the sanctuary of God, Nothing should be allowed to enter that is impure and polluting. Nothing that tends to corrupt or defile the soul. Holiness, brethren and sisters, in God's house. Holiness. It ought to be marked by those within this community that there is a holy people. who worship here in God's house. But there is a sacred spot on earth where the holiness of God was clearly manifest. That was on the hillside where the cross of Jesus Christ was erected. That's where we see God's holiness on earth fully manifest. When God the Son became sin for us, He knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God's holiness is seen at Calvary. Let me quote a few men. I do not believe that I could better in what they said, so I try. A.W. Pink remarked, God's holiness is manifested at the cross. Wondrously and yet most solemnly does the atonement display God's infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. How hateful must sin be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it was imputed, reckoned, given over to His Son. Stephen Charnock, he wrote something similar when he said, never did divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Savior's countenance was most marred in the midst of his dying groans. This he himself acknowledges in Psalm 22, when God had turned his smiling face from him and thrust his sharp knife into his heart, which forced that terrible cry from him, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 21 and the verse number one. He adores this perfection, but thou art holy in verse number three of that Psalm. Octavius Winslow wrote, go to the cross, learn the holiness of God, contemplate the dignity of Christ's person, the preciousness of the Son of God to the Father's heart, the sinlessness of his nature, and then behold the sorrow of his soul, the torture of his body, the tragedy of his death, the abasement and the ignominy, the humiliation into the fathomless depths of which the whole transaction plunged our incarnate God, and let me ask, standing as you are before this unparable spectacle, can you cherish low views of God's holiness or light views of your own sinfulness?" Calvary shows me that God is holy. The third place that we can behold the holiness of God is hell. The punishment of the sinner eternally in hell is evidence of the fact that God is holy. God's judgments are manifestations of His holiness, and what greater judgment is there than the judgment of God upon the damn sinner? God's holiness Oh sinner, get this into your heart and into your soul. God's holiness insists that the unrepentant sinner must be punished in hell. It insists it. So I address you, you know not God, you have obeyed not yet his gospel. Knowing that God is holy, that His holiness demands and will demand your everlasting punishment in hell. Why? Tell me, sinner, why? Why do you continue to live the way that you do? Why do you continue to live in your sin? Why are you living consciously in rebellion against God? Do you know why you live in such a way? Do you know why you live such an unholy life, a sinful life? I'll tell you why you live such a life. You live such a life and in such a way because your conception of God does not correlate to the biblical revelation of God. Because if it did, you would flee from wrath to come, and you would flee to the arms of infinite mercy this very moment. That's what gripped the hearts of the individuals who listened to Jonathan Edwards as he preached that great sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and that is how it's paraphrased. He gave it a different title, but we know it as such. The holiness of God so gripped the soul of the sinner that they realized that they were going to hell, and rightly so. They became aware of the holiness of God. Are you aware of God's holiness? Octavius Winslow wrote, hell is full of the divine holiness. Holiness in the manifestation of justice, holiness in its most glorious exercise. How fearfully are the lost now learning this truth? Sinner, may you never come to experience the outworking of God's holiness, in the execution of his justice, in your eternal damnation and hail. I close. I try to do so quickly. I trust that you have come to understand in some way that God is holy, infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably so. But how should that truth affect our lives? What should the realization of this truth that God is holy produce in our lives? Could I say, first of all, it should produce awe and reverence. Awe and reverence. And the seraphim came into the presence of God and cried, holy, holy, holy. And Isaiah 6, we're told that they did so what with veiled faces and veiled feet. When Moses comes to meet God, he does so there at the burning bush on holy ground. What does he do? He removes the sandals from off his feet. He hides his face in a reverential act before the God of heaven. He finds himself lost in awe. Stand in awe and sin not, the psalmist said. Stand in awe of who? The preacher? No, your God. The psalmist Ethan in Psalm 89 verse 7 said, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Where is the awe? Where is the awe in the house of God today? Why is it that there's such a lack of reverence for God within his house? Why is it that God is no longer greatly feared in the assembly of his saints? It is because God's people have forgot the fundamental truth that God is holy. That's why. We have forgotten it, folks. God is holy. So all in reverence should fill our hearts. Humility, as we view our sinfulness in light of God's holiness, humility should flood our souls. Why should we be humbled by the fact that even though we are so sinful, even though we have failed Him repeatedly, or sorry, we should be humbled by the fact that even though we do fail Him, The holy God still wants to own us as his own in our fellowship with him. That causes humility. Isaiah 57, 5, for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also. that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite one. Are you a proud Christian? Are you a proud backslider? Are you a proud sinner? May a heightened awareness of the holiness of God drive you and I to our faces, into the dust, and may the cry go up from your heart, woe is me! For I am undone, or as Peter said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Oh Lord, oh the humility that this thought, this truth that God is holy should produce in our lives. Thirdly, true worship. The realization that God is holy should produce true worship. One Reformed preacher, as he preached on the holiness of God, he says, without such a vision of God's holiness, true worship is not possible. Worship is not giddy. It does not rush into God's presence unprepared and insensitive to his majesty. It is not shallow, superficial, or flippant. Worship is life lived in the presence of an infinitely righteous and omnipresent God by one utterly aware of his holiness and consequently overwhelmed with his own unholiness. He went on to say, if you have never worshipped God with a broken and contrite spirit, you have never fully worshipped God, because that is the only appropriate response to entering into the presence of Holy God. for worship that is governed and regulated by awareness of the one that we worship is holy. Finally, it should produce personal holiness, holiness of heart, holiness of life, holiness in our behavior, holiness in our dress, holiness marking what we watch, what we listen to, where we go, and what we place the emphasis upon in our lives. Personal holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4.7, God hath not called us on to uncleanness, but on to holiness. Hebrews 12.14, follow peace with all men and holiness. Why? without which no man shall see the Lord. Are you hoping to see the Lord and living an unholy life? Well, you may leave your hopes dashed on the ground, because I tell you, it is the holy man, the holy woman that will see the Lord. So as I close, let me ask you, as I ask myself, are we living holy lives? Because folks, the only way that this world knows that our God is holy is through, yes, his word. They'll not read the word, but they'll read you tomorrow. They'll read you this week. They'll read my life. They'll listen in to our conversation. They will form an opinion of God. And the opinion that they should form of God primarily as they watch your life and they watch my life and listen into my conversation and your conversation is that the God that we love and we serve is holy. May today, folks, we behold our holy God. And may from this moment it regulate our behavior inside this house, and outside this house. May God help us to remember that holiness becometh his house and holiness becometh his people. Oh may God challenge my heart, may he challenge your heart. May God lead and guide us as we continue to behold our God, the God of the Bible. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our loving Father, O God, we bow before Thee. We bow before Thee, aware, O God, that our spirits are so insensitive. O God, Thou art holy and we know so little of it. We do not live our lives in light of the truth of it. O God, from this moment give us grace and resolve and help. to live a holy life, to be a holy people. Grant, O God, therefore, thy spirit and grace to help us in this. May we, dear God, may we be lost in wonder and awe of thee. May we know a sense of thy holiness, even in this place. that all that is said and done in every ministry, in every meeting, O God, that it may be marked by a sense and awareness that God is holy. O come by, Lord. And as we gather around the elements for a few moments, Lord, O may we realize that holy God has done so much for us sinful men and women. Answer prayer and take us, Father, and use us in thy service, we ask these, our petitions, in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen. Let's turn to 695. I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I see, but this is the dearest, that Jesus loves me. 695 will stand to sing, and while those who have to leave us can do so, others remain for the communion service, please.