In this sermon, the speaker addresses a group of young men and women, emphasizing the importance of their role in solving the problems in their country. He encourages them to listen to the word of God and allow it to speak to their hearts. The sermon is titled "Hold it," based on 1 Peter 2:1, which urges believers to lay aside malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. The speaker also shares a powerful story of a man who stood his ground and called others to join him in resisting the enemy, illustrating the need for determination and courage in the face of opposition.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Well, praise the Lord. It's a blessing to be here at the beginning of this Bible School. You know, it's just such an exciting time. I come here with great expectation in my own heart for what God is going to do in my life. And I've come, and many of us have been praying and looking to the Holy Spirit to come and just put His Spirit upon this place. So, my encouragement, I was blessed by that flag, that idea of surrendering everything to Jesus. Oh, may we be able to sing that by the end of the week. May we be able to sing it truthfully. As Leonard Ravenhill said, we lie most when we're singing. So, I pray that it'll be truthful, that you've surrendered everything. Just listening to all these different rules and different things, I know that you're a serious bunch. You're a people who didn't come here to be frivolous. You're not a young people who came here just to get out of the house a little bit or something. But apparently, you're a serious-minded group of young men and young ladies. And it is a blessing and an honor to be up here in front of you. I know God wants to do great things in your lives. In many ways, I'm looking at, I believe, in many, the answers to many of the situations and problems that exist in our country, in our land, I believe can be solved by on-fire young people like you. So, may God speak to you, each individually. May the Word of God, which you'll hear a lot of the Word of God, may the Word of God speak to your heart. That you get that personal witness, that rhema from God. That you know, that Word was for me. That Word was for me. I made up this little pamphlet here. Does everybody have one of these? It goes through the session of the two kingdoms. We're going to be preaching on the two kingdoms. And my burden here is that I wanted something just to hang a little thought on. If you get a thought or something, it's my greatest, one of my greatest fears is that you get all inspired here. You walk out of these doors and everything just goes away. I'll be honest with you. My heart is that you are not just influenced, but that you leave here changed. You leave here with a clear understanding of which kingdom you belong in. And which kingdom God wants you to fight in. That's my burden. So, I have this little pamphlet here. Don't hold me to it too tight. I tried to have something else. I left a place for notes for all the different speakers that you can have there in the back. Feel free to write on that. Write all over this thing. Make it a tool for you. My hope is that you'll be able to pull this out in little key phrases or little key words. And you can think of that and say, okay, I remember that. So, you can look to that from time to time. God put on my heart very early on when Brother Mark asked me to preach. God put on my heart to preach about the two kingdoms. It is a burden on my heart. The basic definition of what this two kingdoms idea is, very simply, is that there are only two kingdoms that exist in this world. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world, or the kingdom that belongs to Satan. The kingdom that the Lord God made, which is holy and just and good. And the kingdom of this world, which is full of sin and the wickedness of the devil. And there is no in between. It is my desire during this week that we define, that we draw some lines, that we look at what's dark and light. Truth and lies. Black and white. To be dichotomous. No longer gray. To make a choice between these two. And I want you to make a choice. I believe God wants you to make a choice. The two kingdoms brings into it naturally, if we're going to leave one kingdom and come to another, the idea of separation. We're going to talk about separation. We're going to talk about what it means to be a people of God. It's going to talk about some certain definitions. Distinguishing of words. I don't want these things, as we talk about them, one of my burdens is I don't want these things to be just a list of loosely associated pet doctrines. Another one of my fears of this thing. And the reason, the burden of why this message today is what it is. I want you to understand this whole idea of the two kingdoms in a radical way. I want to give you an entire paradigm, if I can use that word, which means an entire way of looking at things. The entire paradigm of the holy scriptures, that I want the word of God to come alive to you, and that you get it. That makes sense. And if I look at just these different doctrines, if we just teach a bunch of different doctrines down the line, we can look at materialism. And if we look at materialism in isolation, it's just guilt manipulation a lot of times. If we look at modesty of dress and things, it just becomes phariseeism or legalism. If we look at things like music, and I start talking up here about music, and the different kind of music you listen to, well, it's just that I'm a killjoy, or I don't understand these different things, or that I don't understand the culture or something like that. If we understand, if we look at just non-resistance in isolation, it becomes a ridiculous fantasy. The idea of us living by non-resistant means and non-resistant terms, it's a fantasy. My heart is that we get all of this in the idea of a complete radical reformation in our lives. A radical reformation. That we see and understand the Bible in a new light. It is my belief, as I consider the church of America, and many places the church of the world, that I believe there are false gods rampant in the church. I believe many of you will, if you're honest, will confess at the end of this week that you bowed your knees to false gods. I would like to introduce to you the God of the Bible. The God of the Scriptures. And everything that He wants in our life, the faith that we see in the Word of God. You know, again, as I consider this country, my own country, as I consider my background and what I came from, it just puts this burden in my heart. And I look at this generation, these young people, I look at each one of you, and my heart is full with joy as I look at these earnest faces. And these are earnest faces. I bless the Lord for it. As we see the sin that is in the church, I stand on a promise this morning. In Isaiah, God says, So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun. The east. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against Him. You know what that means. A standard is like what they had there. You can see a picture of one there in the few pages back there. These Roman armies had these big standards and they would walk in there and everybody could see this is what a standard is. Here comes the army of God. And I believe that God wants a standard in your life, a life of holiness and a life in your life that can clearly be seen. And that as this country goes and this different thing happens, that they can see something different. I'll tell you this real quick. I was at a conference just a few weeks ago and there was a few young men, you're probably here today, came up and somebody was watching who's never been amongst our circles ever before. And he came to me and he was part of the recording of this and he said to me, he said, I have never seen people like you before. I said, well, what do you mean? It's pretty simple. He said, I was out in the hallway and I saw a bunch of young men being introduced to some young ladies. Okay. He said, they acted so gentlemanly like. I've never seen that. That little act was raising up a standard to him. That man was changed. He told it to me two times and wants to go back to Canada and wants somehow to receive that kind of and have that kind of thing to hold on there to propagate the holiness of God. A standard. Just a little thing. I wanted to say, you haven't seen anything yet. You haven't seen anything. You haven't seen anything. Praise God. Raise up a standard. So to look at these things, to get these things, instead of just listening to you, a bunch of doctors, I thought I have only so much time to be able to talk about all these important doctrines and all these important things. I have so little time to be able to get into your heart for you to get it. What do I start with? Do I start with non-resistance? Do I start with materialism? Do I start with modesty? Do I start with these things? only one thing came over and over again in my mind. Start with God. The holiness of God. So the name of this message is just one word. Holy. As we go through this week, I picked a Scripture. Turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 2, verse 1. I picked this Scripture to name the titles off of each, during the week. 1 Peter 2, verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil-speaking, that word there in the Greek is to like, just take it off like a coat. Leave it. Take it off. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious today? To whom coming as unto a living stone. That means a stone that's alive. It's the idea of a temple that's living and breathing. A living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. And you too, verse 5, as a lively stone are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. What was this holy priesthood here to do? To offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You're acceptable to God because of the merits of Jesus Christ. What are you to do? You're to put up spiritual sacrifices. Verse 6, wherefore also it is contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. That's a promise. Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. Is that your testimony? That's the final day there. We're going to talk about the sweetness and the preciousness of God. Is that your testimony? He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient, The stone which the builders disallow, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, Even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient. Whereunto also they were appointed. Verse 9, here comes the topics. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. A peculiar people means a purchased possession. That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you, listen to this, as strangers and pilgrims. That means you don't belong in this world. I'm beseeching you, I'm begging you, as strangers and pilgrims. Abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. Your citizenship there amongst the Gentiles being honest. That whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Hallelujah. I'm not gonna speak to you this week as children. I'm not. Every one of you are old enough to be held accountable by God. Every one of you are old enough to bring in radical changes in the places you've come from. I'm coming here and I'm going to talk to you in some ways as a prophet. I'm going to speak to you from the prophetic word of God. And if God speaks to you, listen. If He speaks to you, if it's the word of God, take it into your heart. I'm also going to in a way speak to you as a recruiter. As a recruiter. I believe the kingdom of God needs good men and good ladies. The kingdom of God needs it. I believe that you are the answer. God needs men and women that are sold out to Him to offer those spiritual sacrifices. So today, we're going to look at these things. I was raised in Texas. And in Texas, if there's one thing you grow learning about, there's the Alamo. And there's a story in the Alamo we were raised with that I'll never forget. I'll never forget as a little boy. There's one thing my dad raised in me is that kingdom of Texas. The kingdom of Texas was what kingdom I was of. And he took me to the Alamo and I was there and I'll never forget. My brother and I, we were there right at the beginning. And you come into the Alamo, it's sort of like a little foyer. And he stopped there. All the tourists are going around. He says, you know what this is? That's the grave of Davy Crockett. I mean, with all the serious and reverence and all that. That sort of kingdom and that sort of kingdom idea, the patriotism for that kingdom. It's amazing sometimes. But there's a story we were raised on there. That during that time in the Alamo, that they were there. There was a young man, 26 years old, who was a colonel. And his name was Travis. And this young man, after days of fighting, realized that he was being completely surrounded. That this Alamo, that there was no way, no way you're going to win this. And he knew it. So, he called up all the people there. He called them all in there to the center section there. And he said to them. Saturday afternoon, he gave them this speech. He said, we are all going to die. Every one of us are going to die. But our business is not to make a fruitless effort to save our lives, but simply right now to choose which way do you want to die. This is what this young man, 26 year old colonel, said to them. He said, I see three options. That we go talk to Santa Ana and we tell them that we surrender and face the firing squad blindfolded and shot to death. That's option number one. Option number two is we try to fight our way out of here and get butchered by all the different troops that we're going to be surrounded by. Or third. And he pulls out this sword and he goes there and he draws a line. The third is that we stay here. He says, we stay here and resist every assault and to sell our lives as dearly as possible. Now, I want every man who is determined to stay here and die with me to come across this line. Every man come across this line. I'll send this very young man. What's his name here? Hathley Holland. Young man jumped up and ran across the line and said, I'm ready to die for my country. This is their country. I'm ready to die for it. And then every single man that was there crossed over that line except one man who was a paid mercenary from France and did not cross that line. As a matter of fact, one man, Bowie, Jim Bowie was in a bed and he said, please gather me up and they brought him in his deathbed and put him over the line so that he could be there across the line and dying for his kingdom there. Now, as you all know, they were all killed. The only one that survived was that man who escaped Saturday night and made his way out and told the story. And that kingdom fell. What men will do for a kingdom is amazing. General Patton, for the Battle of the Bulge, talked to his men, he said, he gave them this frank discussion. He says, well, we're here. Just to a group of the drivers, he said this to them, get into a truck, drive down the road until somebody blows you up. So they did. They did. They got in the truck. And that sort of understanding, it's amazing what people will do if you just have a clear understanding of what your life is for. Now, that's the kingdom of this world. And what men have done for that kingdom, how easily we give our sons and our daughters, go off, go to this and give your life for this and that. Oh, but give your life as a missionary. Give your life as wanting to serve God here in America. Give your life for God. And you're looked at with great suspicion. But you've got to know where you are and who you are and what side you're on just as much as they do. Just as much. But at this beginning of this, I would like to, again, to focus on the word holy. Holy. To understand separation. To understand which kingdom you are in. To understand God. I believe you have to understand the word holy. You see, your understanding and idea of God is actually very important. You know, you could be worshipping an idol. Who is your God? Who is it? You know, in Israel, when they broke up between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Jeroboam went off and did all the different things that looked like all the worship they had in Israel. They did all the sacrifices, they did all the things. But you know what the core difference was? That at the very center of their worship was a false God. A cow. What's at the center of your heart? Who is the God you worship? Well, let's look at our God. We look at the word holy. You know, what does it mean to be holy? Sometimes we get this idea of, we try to imagine like a Puritan. You know, just sitting there and trying to be as still and quiet or something. Or we imagine some Quaker or something like this. We have all these ideas of what it means to be holy. Sometimes it looks at it just as a theological point. You think of, well, you talk about holiness preachers and holiness movements and all these. And you think about all these different theologies and our mind can get all messed up with all those things. But the word holy is a precious word. I asked a group of young people this morning, tell me, God is what? And you know, I would have said the same thing these people did. We seldom say holy. We say His love and amen. His mercy, praise the Lord. He's all these things. He's righteous. He's just. And amen. He's all those things. But the one thing the scriptures over and over again proclaim more than any other, holy. And that is the key to everything. It is the key to your Christian faith. It's the key to the two kingdoms, yes. It's the key to your understanding of God. He is holy. A.W. Tozer, in The Knowledge of the Holy, says this, it's a beautiful quote. Neither the writer, that's him, nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God. Quite literally, a new channel, listen to this, a new channel must be cut through the desert of our mind to allow the sweet waters of truth that will heal our great sickness to flow in. We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then rising it, the concept, to the highest degree possible capable of. God's holiness is not simply the best we know, infinitely bettered. We know nothing like this divine holiness. It stands apart. Unique. Unapproachable. Incomprehensible. And unattainable. Holy is the way God is. To be holy, he does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. Notice that. We talk about God, we usually talk about God in attributes. The word attributes, it means, in other words, if I act, let me give you a little definition here, if I act loving, he has a characteristic that is loving, he's being very loving today, or he's being very gracious, or he's being very kind today, God's different than that. An attribute of God means it's what he is. He is holy. He is just. He is love, yes. And when we talk about him as holy, it's not like he is just a standard. He is holy. Here's a poor example, but this is a meter stick. This meter stick, I measure things to see how many meters something is. Like this. Now, the meter stick is not measured. It is the meter. As a matter of fact, in the French Revolution, when they were wanting to switch the whole world to using the meter, and Napoleon was trying to encourage them, they went and they said, what we're going to do is figure out exactly how far it is from the equator to the poles on each side, and we're going to come up with a figure that's ten millionth of the distance between the poles and the equator, and we're going to call it the meter. And that's what they did. And they gave a man a task to be in charge of deciding what that is. And they told him this. They said this. You have the greatest task that any man on earth has ever had. That's what they said, these enlightened so-called people. And they came up with this meter. They made one out of solid platinum and put it in a science hall. Now it's in a museum somewhere in France. And there it is. Everything is to be measured by it. It is the meter. Nowadays, scientists have actually found out that they're wrong, but nevertheless, this stuck, and this is the meter. This is the meter. And that's the way it is with God. He's not to be measured. He is the measure. He is God. He is holy. You know, the holiness of God is different than all his other attributes. Because when we speak of God as holy, even His other attributes are compared to being holy like God. He is holy in His goodness. He is holy in His justice. Holy in wrath. Holy and majestic in holiness. Because His name is holy. Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, when He told us the Lord's Prayer, Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Isaiah 57 For that is what the high and lofty One says. Who lives forever. Whose name is holy. I live in a high and holy place. When we look at the Seraphim, when we look at those glimpses of Heaven, nowhere in Scripture do we see any other attribute of God being trumpeted like that. We don't hear Him saying, Love, love, love. Mercy, mercy, mercy. Justice, justice, justice. Only one thing is repeated when we get a true glimpse of Heaven. Holy, holy, holy. The very fact that they did that three times. You know, every idle word we're going to be held accountable to. They didn't repeat it three times just to show. In Scripture, when something is repeated twice, when Jesus says, Truly, truly, listen to me. Amen and amen. It's something to give an explanation point, an underline. But there's one thing in the Scripture that's repeated three times. It's holy. Holy, holy is our God. Holiness. The idea of holy, I have it written down there in your little notes. Hebrew word Kadesh and the Greek word Hagios have both the same basic root meaning. And namely, and literally, it means a complete and utter separatedness. A way above. An unapproachable. You know, sometimes, you know, have you ever gone to the mountains or you go to the ocean and somehow you're just there, you know? And just the majesty of it all shocks you and amazes you. There's a presence of being among something so majestic. God is so much infinitely more than that. He is holy. Literally, those angels, the seraphims, as they were singing could have in some way, in some part of the word holy, said separated. Separated. Unapproachable. It's just something that cannot be explained. And this idea of God, this idea of the particular holiness of God is a concept that we have to understand. It is a concept that has been destroyed in the modern church. Destroyed. Do you see how it's so fruitless for me to come up here and talk about clothes or to talk about modesty or to talk about filthy speaking or to talk about worldliness or to talk about all these different things apart from this. It just becomes someone's opinion. Where are you going to draw the line? How can I do this? Is this okay to be this and be a Christian? Can I do this and get away with it? Is this okay? You see how the whole thinking is wrong. If you understand the holiness of God, and that's the God you serve, it turns it all around. And then suddenly it's not what can I do? Can I drive a red car? Is that okay? Can I do this? Can I listen to that? It's God, you're holy. I want to serve you in holiness. I want to serve you in that way. There's two basic ideas of that separated holiness. One is just the idea He is high and lofty. The Scripture gives us this idea. The second is how holy He is above the moral character of the earth. In Job chapter 15, I have it written down there, if this accuser of Job is correct, it's a powerful Scripture, He says that even the heavens, even the heavens is not holy in His sight. That's God. The moral purity and holiness even of heaven compared to God, compared to God is nothing. It is nothing. Appreciate these words from David Wells. He says this, Divorced from the holiness of God, sin is merely self-defeating behavior, a breach of etiquette. What is sin? Sin is I just got caught, or sin is I just didn't go with the flow and I got this and that. It's self-defeating. I'm not what I could have been because I messed up. Sin becomes that. Divorced from holiness, sin is that. Divorced from holiness of God, grace is merely an empty rhetoric. It's a window dressing that we add to our lives. Divorced from the holiness of God, our gospel becomes indistinguishable from any of the host of alternatives of self-help doctrines out there in the world. You could have psychology. You could have Islam. You could have Buddhism. You could have Christianity. Apart from the holiness of God, it's just thrown there in the marketplace. Divorced from the holiness of God, our worship becomes entertainment. The holiness of God is the very cornerstone of the Christian faith. It is the foundation of every reality in our life. You think, brother, you're taking it too far. Let's go to heaven real quick. Turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20. I'm going to read to you the most terrible and awesome day this universe will ever experience. This is God. I'm asking you, is it your God? In Revelation chapter 20, verse 11. John, after he's seen many revelations, was taken to a higher place. Looking up in verse 11. And I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. John Wesley, speaking of that Scripture, gave us the idea. He said, what that is is that when God's face is finally shown in its entirety, the holiness of God is completely unveiled. The entire universe just melts away. Heaven and earth is melted away. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened and another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Second Peter 3 also talks about this. Look at that. Second Peter 3. You want to be in Second Peter 3 when you come to that day. Second Peter 3, verse 11, gives us the hope to stand in that day and an exhortation to how we live today. Seeing then, Second Peter chapter 3, verse 11, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, seeing that the entire heaven and earth shall be melted away from the presence of the look of God, what manner what seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening, looking forward to that day, unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens before being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we according to His promise look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless at account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Go to heaven with me again in Isaiah chapter 6. Let's look at that little glimpse there. You know, we can have a lot of dreams about about um we can have a lot of dreams about what heaven is like. We can come up with a bunch of different fantasies. We can paint pictures of it. Let's keep to what the Scriptures is revealing to us. In Isaiah chapter 6 we get another one of these rapture visions there. Verse 1, In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord setting upon a throne high and lifted up and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the throne of God. The throne of God. This is a special league of angels. Special. Their job is to continually praise God all the time. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face and with twain he covered his feet and with twain he did fly. God makes everything He gives to us for a purpose. Fish have gills because they're in the water. Birds have wings because they're in the sky. These were created for a purpose. Why did God make this creature look this way? They were made this way to fly before God. His feet. You don't know why. Something about this place like when Moses was there before God take off your shoes for the place that you're standing is holy ground. And somehow the place there that even these seraphims were covering their feet of the humanity or the non-godness that they were, were covering their feet. And with twain they covered their eyes. Even these beings that are constantly in the face of, in the presence of God. With two wings they were created just to cover their face. Because of that day that we just read about. The presence of God what it would mean even to these seraphims. With twain they did fly. And one cried to the other and said, holy holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And listen to this. Do you think heaven is a strong place? If you were to hit on one of these pillars here, I don't think it would move, would it? If I were to hit it with everything I had, I don't think it would move much. Listen to what happens next. And as they were shouting and praising and to God about His holiness, and the post of the door in heaven moved at the voice of Him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke. Now that's God. And what's His response? Woe is me, for I am undone. Woe is a curse. What am I? I'm a sinful man. How can I stand before this Holy God? What am I to do? 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. God, He made it, He understood. You know, sometimes the people where you come from, the very generations that you come from, sometimes you feel it in your very bones. Wanting to draw you back into the world, draw you back into their sin, draw you back. And He realized that it was inside of Him. Lord, I can't hardly help myself. It's who I am down to the core. It's who I am. And then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken off the tongues from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. Praise God. How do you act in the presence of God? Is that the God that you have met? Is that the God you serve? Is that the God you think about when you think about where and how to live your life? Is that the God you think about when you think about what you're going to do and how you're going to serve your life and what you're going to eat and what you're going to drink and how you're going to speak and how you're going to pray and what you're going to do with your life? Is that the God that you stand before? Because it will be one day. It will be. And there it is. But there's a way. God has given us in this understanding that He has these two kingdoms. The whole point that I'm trying to make is that our understanding of the separatedness of the kingdom of God is coming out of the attribute of God. That God is holy, pure, pure and holy. And He says in Isaiah 35 verse 8 when even in the midst of all this understanding, He shows us a way. And He says and a highway shall be there. Isaiah 35 verse 8 and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness. Now we understand that word holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring men, the fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. You know, oftentimes, turn your Bible to Ezekiel, Exodus, excuse me, 34. Oftentimes, I'm afraid that the God many times that we are bowing our knee to is not this God of the Bible. You see, many times we have this understanding of God that He's like a rich bread owner. Okay? And you're the poor person in town. And you're starving to death. So you go to the rich bread bakery and you steal a loaf of bread and you start running out and suddenly you get caught. And He says, I can afford it. Go ahead. Go ahead. You're just a poor man stealing bread for your family. Go ahead. I think that's the kind of way we think about God. That's the way we think about forgiveness. I can afford it. I mean, I'm God. I can afford it. Exodus 34 Another time, Moses said, Lord, show me your show me your glory. I can't show you my glory. It'll kill you. Lord, show me your glory. I can't. All right. Stand on the rock over there. I'll let you see just a glimpse of my back. And here it is given to us in attributes. Those things of God that are not something He does or tries. It's just who He is. And the Lord, Exodus 34 verse 5, And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Here it is. This is it. And the Lord passed by Him before Him and proclaim the Lord. He's king. Do you understand that? He is king. The Lord God. He's not only king. He's king of kings. Merciful. That's His attribute. Gracious. Long-suffering. And abundant in goodness and truth. Praise God for the attributes of God. Keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin. That's our God. That's who He is. But listen to the next part. And that will by no means clear the guilty. What do you mean, Lord? Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children and to the third and to the fourth generation. Well, how can you be completely merciful, but yet you don't just forgive sins? In other words, I'm not going to just say, it's all right. You're a poor man. Go ahead. Let me tell you something. There is no blood for mistakes. None. There's no blood for genetic problems or there's no blood for saying, well, it's just the way I am. There's no blood for any of those things. There's only blood for sin. And God has provided that for us. God has provided a way God has looked and given us away. Do you remember what happened on the cross? Do you remember? Turn to Psalm 22. Do you remember that story when our Lord and our Savior was there on the cross of very strange things with theologians, including anybody who's honest, scratches their head about and Jesus proclaimed on that cross. He said, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Let's find out why. Turn to Psalm 22 where that prophecy comes from. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hath thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? My God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hurtest not and in the night season and am not silent. Why? But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were delivered. They trusted in thee and were not confounded. I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despise of the people. God, because of His holiness, His holiness, could not look upon this. And then Jesus paid that price for us. In Isaiah 53, one of the most precious books in the Bible, He made it very plain. Well then, what do we do? In other words, you can't just forgive sin. In other words, there's no just turning over a new leaf in the church. There's no just turning over a new leaf with God. I did all these wickedness when I was young. I did all these horrible things, but I'm just going to start walking better now. I'm going to join the church. I'm going to get married. I'm going to start getting my act together. I'm going to start listening to a bunch of tape sets and I'm going to turn over a new leaf. No. No. No. No. I can't just overlook sin. It must be dealt with. The holiness of God must be dealt with. In Isaiah chapter 53, He gave us that. The sacrifice. The iniquity of us all was laid upon Him and by His stripes we were healed. He goes in there to tell us that His sacrifice for our sins was given to us. And now because of that beautiful sacrifice He has chosen, as the Scriptures we read at the beginning, a holy people. A purchased possession. There you were. Bought. Bought by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 12, Wherefore, lifting up holy hands which hung down, this is Hebrews 12, 12. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet. Lest that which is laying be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4, according He hath chosen us in Him before the foundations of the world. In Him. That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. That word predestination there does not mean He's making you be holy. It means that when you're in Jesus Christ, there is no way else but that the holiness of God will transform your life. As it said in Romans chapter 8. As it says in Romans chapter 8. You are being transformed. You are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what it's about. That there's no other way. According to the good pleasure of His will. 2 Corinthians 7 2 Corinthians 7 1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of all flesh and spirit. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We're going to talk about that promise there tomorrow. So, God is holy. Sin to God is something that you have to understand is not just a light thing. You read those hymns. We sing those hymns. And do you know why all those hymn writers are so excited? Do you know why? Do you know why they're almost seeming enraptured with the holiness of God and you read these words and they get such depth? I believe it's because they understood the holiness of God the price of their sin and was able to see that sin just completely taken away and the blood of Jesus Christ and it allowed that holiness to transform them more and more and more. That's why. That's why. And that's what God wants. Alright, coming to a close here. 1 Peter 1 Peter 1 14 as obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance but he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner and conversation all manner and all of your citizenship in this world everything you do in this world be holy because it's written be ye holy because I am holy you see you see how it's the foundation of this you see how it's the foundation of your Christian understanding be holy because you've got to understand that God is holy that he's holy and see how everything flows and if you call on the Father who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work pass this time of your sojourning here in fear for as much as ye know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain citizenship from your vain conversation received by the traditions of your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of the lamb without blemish and without spot who barely was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit and to unfeigned love of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently being born again not of corruptible seed if you have a false god on your heart you are born again of a corruptible seed this is the god of the scriptures but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is a flower of grass the grass wither and the flower thereof falleth away but the word of the Lord endureth forever and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you anything else is a false gospel the last thing on your pages there notice something about our view of separation the biblical view of separation and why I have as a burden to bring God in this first session separation is not just leaving that conversation that citizenship leaving those sins if we just do that we'll be like the Pharisees if we just do that we'll be dry and empty and useless to the kingdom of God we are to leave those things and we should leave those things but we should cleave to God look how it is here separation from Colossians 113 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son 1 Thessalonians 4 7 for God hath not called us unto uncleanliness but unto holiness 2 Corinthians 6 wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean things that's the New Testament and listen to this and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty from Leviticus for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people that you should be mine let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God 1 Thessalonians 1 9 ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God Romans 12 and be not conformed to this world don't be molded into this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and then up in heaven again unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins and his own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father so as we look at this idea of the two kingdoms we have to understand some dividing lines some we have to understand the separatedness of God the unapproachableness of God and that understanding he said be ye holy church be ye holy because I am like that so let's pray and ask God to show his holiness in our life as we go through this week listen it's a blessing to start off Bible school the very beginning getting right with God tonight when you hear the sermons preached tonight when you hear an altar call if you know right off that God is speaking to you answer today if you have had a false God in your heart and that doesn't mean we've all grown in our understanding of God and that's ok I've grown much more did I have the understanding of God in such a way that way when I was born again no but if your idea of God is that you just go live your life and add God to it you're not a Christian this morning God wants you as brother Mark told us total surrender let's pray oh God you are holy Lord I tremble even to say the word God let us see the eye let us understand that Lord give us a glimpse show us your holiness let us see your face oh God during this week transform us into your image of Jesus Christ thank you Lord in Jesus name we pray amen