 Pastor, you muted. Thanks a lot. Yes. Yeah. Props 1, 7 and Props 9, 10. Talk about how knowledge begins with a reverence for the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom is what we learnt. And then in Props 9, 10 the latter part of the verse this is what it says. It says knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Understanding comes when we have a knowledge of the Holy One. And the Hebrew word used over here in the Old Testament for this word knowledge is the term Da'ath. Okay, so once we have a Da'ath of the Holy One then we will understand. So what exactly does this term knowledge, this term Da'ath what does it really mean? Now when the Greeks came along for them knowledge was all this high intellectual revelation where they would understand concepts which common man will not understand. And so for them this whole idea of knowledge was something very elite. But the Greeks were nowhere around when Props was written. And back then knowledge was something very practical. It is not just some theoretical thing that you conjure up in your brain and you boast that you are better off than others. Da'ath was a very very simple practical experiential personal thing. For instance when it says this word Da'ath is something that people would use in for everyday things. For instance a farmer when he says that he knows farming and he says that he Da'ath farming. He is not saying that he has gone to agricultural college and learnt about farming. It is something that he starts learning from the time that he is a child. He goes to the fields along with his father along with the elders of the family. He observes how they are plowing the field. He observes them and he also joins with them. They ask him to help. Even as he is little he starts following them and doing what they are doing. He begins to discover how this whole farming gets done. He observes in what seasons they are planting what particular seeds. He observes the weather conditions and he observes that the crops are responding to one particular kind of weather conditions. And then he asks himself what crop this year is better than the crop last year. What are the variables which have changed as the water supply has changed. The fertilizers which we have used this year have changed. All of these things he is examining this whole process of farming and experientially discovering personally for himself what farming is all about. The word Da'ath is a very practical word which means knowledge which is gained out of personal examination and knowledge which is gained out of experience. So you observe something in detail you examine it from all sides and then you begin to gain a revelation and understanding of what this thing is how it is done and so that very practical word Da'ath is used for knowing God as well. So here it is not at all an intellectual knowledge of God. It is you tasting the Lord on a day to day basis. As you are tasting him as you are experiencing him you begin to understand him more and you discover oh this is who he is is it. So your knowledge of God and Satan's knowledge of God are completely different. Satan can write a perfect wonderful thesis on the holiness of God and it will mean nothing to him because it is just head knowledge. You and I on the other hand we may not have as much brains as him because we were created you know indifferently but our knowledge is deeper, richer our wisdom is greater than Satan's wisdom will ever be. So because we are tasting him experiencing him learning him on a day to day basis and as we are doing that we begin to absorb his nature. His nature begins to rub off on us. So that is why it says over here so beautifully the whole process begins with a reverence for him. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and this Da'ath of the Holy One is understanding even as you begin to examine him and test him and taste him and find out about him and walk with him you will begin to gain an understanding of this Lord and it becomes a very personal relationship. So that leads to holiness because now you are gaining the Da'ath of the Holy One you also will start imitating him and becoming holy. So that is why it is very important to us how we see God different people depending on their needs will worship one type of God what do I mean if a person is in need for them God becomes mainly Jehovah Eire all they can think of is Jehovah Eire the other aspects of God do not really matter that much but he is the Eire he is the provider he will take care of my needs he will help me. So what happens is now they are focusing on just that one aspect of God and they miss out on all that he is their entire theology of God revolves around this provision God providing, God taking care God making meeting providing supplies he basically becomes a supplier or he becomes a Santa Claus and you do not really owe any allegiance to Santa Claus he comes he delivers his gifts and he goes you just have to say thank you to him and that is the end of the story you do not need to become a living sacrifice and offer yourself as a sacrifice to Santa Claus on the other hand if it is the God of the Bible that you are talking about a lot more is more than just him being Yehovah Eire he is also Khadosh Holiness he is very holy and so there is something more expected so a lot of Christians end up with this theology of God a God who is just a Santa Claus and so their allegiance to him is very limited he provides you say thank you you know you make a contribution to the church you give some money you give a few lakhs and say here Lord you did this for me now I am repaying you but which is why it is wrong it is dangerous to just focus on one aspect of God's nature now holiness is an aspect of God's nature which touches all of his other aspects because you see God is good and why is he that good because he is holy he will never be unfaithful God is all powerful how does he use his power does he use it to manipulate people does he use it to have his own selfish interests met no he is holy because he is holy he uses his all powerfulness only for the best purposes so all aspects of God's nature are coloured are shaded by his awesome perfect holiness so rather than you know just focusing on one aspect of God which you like or you know focusing on just one facet of his nature rather if we begin to embrace his holiness and begin to gain a dath of it then automatically we realise that his holiness in fact touches all aspects of his nature his goodness his omniscience you know his power all of it is touched by his holiness so he is excellent in all of his other aspects all of his other all the other aspects of his nature because he is holy and this can be very comforting to us you know because we talk about the faithfulness of God and then when things don't work out for us we've been praying for something for years and years and we still don't see it happening and we wonder why is God not answering why is God not fulfilling his promises we can remind ourselves and say his faithfulness is completely coloured by his holiness because he is perfectly holy he will be perfectly faithful it is true that right now it is the deliverance that I need but he is holy because he is holy his goodness is coloured by his holiness his love is coloured by his holiness his holiness means that he is perfect because he is perfect he will definitely do what he has promised he will keep his word so holiness is one aspect of him that literally cover and flavours the rest of his the other facets of his nature so it is so important for us to grasp this particular aspect of God's nature now what exactly do we mean by holiness when I post your notes later on in the day you will see that there is a list of things given about what holiness is holiness is absolute sinlessness it means that absolutely nothing sinful can even touch God because that is holiness holiness is complete absence of any kind of sin holiness is absolute truth not even one shade of deceptiveness or lies is there in God's character because he is absolutely holy so he is also absolutely truthful and then it goes on to say that he is absolutely faithful that is another aspect of his holiness holiness means being absolutely just absolutely no injustice in him holiness means that he is absolute love because no hatred can be there if there is any hatred in him except of course hatred towards ungodliness then it would mean that he is not perfectly holy so absolute love is an aspect of holiness absolute goodness because there can be no unkindness in God if there were even a little bit of unkindness in him it would automatically make him less holy but he is perfectly holy which means he is also perfectly kind so holiness is also absolute sacredness nothing profane can be part of that so basically holiness is absolute perfection our God is absolutely holy and absolutely perfect so all of his other characteristics are perfect because if he was lacking in any of those characteristics in any way it would automatically bring down his holiness by a notch because he is no longer perfect but that is not the case he is absolutely holy so he is absolutely perfect so which means all other aspects of his nature are perfect in every way so because he is that kind of a god we can really trust him we never have to worry that when we put precious things which are important to us in his hands when we sacrifice those things and put them in his hands and say ok lord have your way and not mine we can be sure that he will be perfect in dealing with that you know he will give us what is best for us we can have that deep assurance so John puts it this way in 1st John 1 5 this is the way he describes God's holiness even though he does not use the word holiness over there this is what he says in 1st John 1 verse 5 if we could have someone read out please 1st John chapter 1 verse 5 this is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you God is light and there is no darkness in him at all yes there is no darkness in him at all so it's like a completely spotlessly white garment even if there were one tiny little spot it would no longer be perfectly white so in God's case it's not that there is not even one little spot not even one little blemish in any aspect of his nature because if there were then automatically it would mean that he is not absolutely holy but scripture declares that he is holy so therefore we have to accept the fact that there is no lack in any aspect of his nature alright coming to this word kadosh what does it mean and how can it help us to understand the holiness of God better if someone could read out maybe exodus chapter 25 verse 8 exodus chapter 25 verse 8 and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them okay so over here the word used over here is kadosh which basically means holy so the word holy is used for God's nature he is in nature holy the place that he chooses to make his habitation that also has the same word being used the NIV will call it sanctuary and then some versions will call it holy place but it's the same word God is kadosh the place where he dwells is kadosh the when he sanctifies his people that also is kadosh so that word basically means something unique something that is set apart so the word kadosh literally means something that is other something that has been set apart so God is completely other he is something completely perfect not like the created things which he has created which have limitations, restrictions and all of that he on the other hand is unique, he is set apart he is perfect he is ultimate in everything in every way that is who he is so he is kadosh and the dwelling place that he too asks the people to make for him he asks the Israelites to prepare a sanctuary for him that also is literally kadosh, it is set apart it is meant to be perfect it's meant to represent him and then we the people whom he sanctifies the people that he sanctifies for himself in the same way they are also meant to be unique set apart for him they are not like the world they are not meant to be like the world they are meant to be like him so the word kadosh has this sense of something being completely set apart for him dedicated to him and we are supposed to be that the Greek equivalent of that is the term hagios and that word hagios is used for believers in English we keep using the word believers so if we were in Greece we would be calling ourselves hagioi so the believers that word believers it literally is the word saints so we are all either kadosh according to the Old Testament Hebrew or in the New Testament the believers the saints the word that is used for them is hagioi we are all supposed to be set apart to the Lord we are supposed to be the holy ones so we are supposed to carry in us the nature of God because the essence of God is holiness so there are so we have two kinds of holiness which is generally seen in the church there is true holiness and then there is cultural holiness what happens is a lot of people just end up with cultural holiness in the sense when they come and they join the church they look at the people around them and they pick up mannerisms they pick up speech from the people around them and so in the same way other people are behaving and acting they also try to imitate that so that they also can fit in and so they end up with a cultural holiness so when you meet another believer you are not supposed to say hi you are supposed to say praise the Lord brother stuff like that it is just something that you are picking up from the people around you so you look holy you sound holy but it is just a cultural holiness so if you are in a church where people are very spiritual and they are genuinely concerned about the things of God then the level of holiness in that church will be at a higher level and then you will have to maybe raise your standards a little bit to come up to that level so you cannot speak any way you want you cannot use curse words you cannot dress up in an indecent manner you cannot do all of those things but the church which you are attending has got a higher level of holiness being displayed and so you kind of readjust yourself to that so depending on which church you go to you end up with a certain brand of holiness but that is not at all the kind of holiness that God expects what God expects is that irrespective of the kind of culture based in you imitate him you choose to do what pleases him you live in a way that honors and reveres him so that would be true holiness where you are trying to have the nature of God you are not just readjusting yourself the way you speak the way you dress the way you present yourself just based on the cultural setting because that will keep differing you go to one church today the people over there are a particular way you go to another church over there holiness has got a different meaning there may be they need to take off their shoes holinesses you got to take off your shoes at the entrance and then enter and said that is holiness so these are all outward mannerisms so if you are only looking at the people around you and saying ok compared to them I am holy or unholy these are all just human standards and all you end up with is a cultural holiness which is of no use when it comes to your relationship with the Lord so we choose rather to make God our standard so we choose to have his nature and be like him now only if we are like him then we can call ourselves truly holy so the the extent to which I have my nature has become like his nature I am only holy to that extent it is not important whether I am removing my shoes or wearing my shoes and walking into the sanctuary it is not important whether I am dressing up in a particular way you know wearing only white clothes and then entering the church all of those things will not determine how holy I am only one thing matters the standard should be the nature of God what extent have I become participant in the nature of God only to that extent I am holy our standard should not be cultural holiness our standard should be the Lord the extent to which I am confirming to his character to his nature to that extent I am holy that is the way we would need to measure ourselves because if we start comparing ourselves with other believers then we end up with the wrong standard we may think okay fine they are in this particular way I am a little better than them so I am holy no that does not help at all we would need to have his standard we need to ask ourselves to what extent is my character like God's character and only to that extent I am holy that helps us maintain the right standard regarding holiness let's come to another aspect of holiness this is an introduction and we are just going through different aspects of holiness what does the scripture say about holiness in Exodus chapter 28 verse 2 if we could have someone read out Exodus 28 verse 2 please Exodus chapter 28 verse 2 make sacred garments for our own that are glorious and beautiful okay now if we were to come to NKJV I think not particularly sure which version I have written down over here probably NKJV where you have the more literal translation word to word translation from the Hebrew it says and you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother why should you make holy garments for him for glory and for beauty so that glory may be reflected by them and beauty may be reflected by them so holiness is something which displays glory and it displays beauty so when we look at the holiness of God we are seeing his glory and we are seeing his beauty Psalm 29 verse 2 if someone could read out Psalms 29 verse 2 give unto the Lord the glory due to his name worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness okay so here it talks about the beauty that there is in holiness so holiness is something beautiful okay same thing again in Psalm 96 verse 9 it says worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness tremble before him all the earth and so this is how we know the notes explain it we use different metaphors to describe different aspects of God's nature so the metaphor used in the scriptures for God's power is generally the metaphor hand of the Lord wherever it talks about the hand or the right hand of the Lord it's basically talking about his power where it says the eyes of the Lord it talks about his knowledge the eyes of the Lord they roam over the whole earth he knows everything he's all knowing in the same way the ear of the Lord is basically hearing our prayers and answering them so whenever it says the ear of the Lord we're talking about God hearing us and responding to our prayers and we say face of the Lord we mean the presence of God it talks about how he either causes his face to shine upon someone or he turns his face away from them in the sense he cuts them off from his presence so these are all the metaphors that we use and look at the metaphor that is used for holiness you know like we saw in the scriptures holiness the metaphor that is used is beauty so the beauty of God is called holiness so holiness is something that brings out his splendor it brings out his excellence and his grandeur and so it is the holiness of God which attracts people to him so more than anything else it should be his holiness his grandeur which attracts us to him so now what else can we look at there are so many things in the notes so I'm just trying to know figure out what to focus on Exodus 1511 it says who among the gods is like you lord who is like you majestic in holiness awesome in glory working wonders so here God's holiness is described as being majestic that is it is very high it's so high that we cannot attain it on our own okay so we see those things then yeah he's also perfect and just in all that he does we already looked at that then Romans 11 21 and 22 if someone could read out Romans 11 21 and 22 Romans chapter 11 21 and 22 for if God did not spare the original branches he won't spare you either notice how God is both kind and severe he's severe towards those who disobeyed but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness but if you stop trusting you will also be cut off okay so there's a balance between the kindness of God and the sternness of God why it's because of his holiness because he is holy he is kind he is merciful but because he is holy he must also punish sin so he also needs to be stern so because he is a holy God there is a balance between his kindness and his sternness so those who choose to repent and those who choose to follow him and accept correction from him he is kind towards them on the other hand if someone chooses to ignore his instructions and no they're choosing to rebel against his holiness he has to be stern with them because he has to maintain his holy standards he cannot ignore his holy standards and so we have to be conscious that when we're talking about the holiness of God we will experience both sternness and kindness depending on how we are responding to his holiness so obviously because he is holy we cannot ignore sin in our lives he does expect us to repent Romans 2 4 it says do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness forbearance and patience not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance so God shows kindness towards us in the hope that we will you know come to him accept correction and repent and when we refuse to accept this kindness of God and we go on abusing his kindness then of course it turns into sternness he is forced to punish us and discipline us now it's one question which people raise they say that you know if God is so loving and merciful and kind then why does he send people to hell eternally you know why not just for a few years let them out of hell because they would have suffered enough so if he is that merciful and good and kind why does there need to be an eternal hell you know it's the question which they ask but you know it's very clearly explained in scripture the whole background regarding hell if we were to look at Matthew 25 41 and yeah if you could have someone read out Matthew chapter 25 verse 41 Matthew chapter 25 verse 41 then the king will turn to those on the left and say away with you you cursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons okay so the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels it was never prepared for the humans that God created humans chose to go and end up in it but God never actually originally meant hell for you know humans whom he has created it was the eternal fire was created it was prepared originally only for the demons and and the fallen angels in the same way again in Ezekiel 33 verse 11 God says as surely as I live I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their ways and live so God does not desire to send anyone to hell but because he is holy because he cannot lower his holy standards therefore he must address sin so if people refuse his kindness if they refuse his patience and they continue to abuse his mercy then a time will come when he has to be turned with them if someone could read out as Psalm 85 verse 10 Psalm chapter 85 verse 10 unfailing love and truth have met together righteousness and peace have kissed yes so the righteousness the complete you know the holiness of God which he expects people to have in them that righteousness and on the other side the peace of God where he is willing to you know put up with imperfect people these two have come together in Jesus Christ so Jesus Christ he was able to give his perfect righteousness to us because we are imperfect on our own he gave his perfect righteousness to us and because he gave his righteousness to us now we can have perfect peace with God so in Jesus Christ righteousness and peace have kissed they have met together and so we can have perfect peace with this holy God even though we are imperfect because the righteousness of Christ has been imparted to us so any believer who chooses to mock this this righteousness which has been so freely given by Jesus Christ if they choose to continue living in sin continue abusing the you know the second chance that they have been given if they continue to do that Hebrews 10 verses 26 to 27 say this is what they say so if someone could read out Hebrews chapter 10 26 to 27 Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26 to 27 Dear friends if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover the sins there is only the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies okay so this is like a warning you know to all believers because of the holiness of God we cannot ignore sin we have to repent and if we deliberately keep on sinning and we are ignoring this righteousness that was so freely given to us and the grace of God which has been revealed to us if we ignore that then we would reach a point where there is no sacrifice for sins which is left so there is a kindness of God and the sternness of God are held in balance because God is holy and he cannot lower his standards now coming to the last portion we will look at some responses from scripture of people who had an encounter with God's holiness and to begin with Jacob he is going to his uncle's place and on the way as he is travelling he sleeps in some location and he has a dream and when he sees the dream he is very afraid and this is what he says Genesis chapter 28 verse 17 someone could read out 28 17 Genesis chapter 28 verse 17 but he was also afraid and said what an awesome place this is it is none other than the house of God the very gateway to heaven okay so language changes as generations go by so now the word awesome has highly positive connotations but over here if you were to look at another version which brings out the correct translation in a way that this generation can understand it he actually says and he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place when he caught a glimpse of the holiness of heaven he says how it filled him with dread it filled him with fear because he understood that God is extremely holy and then we see another example of a response that would be Exodus chapter 3 verses 4 to 5 where you have Moses God approaches Moses through the burning bush and in Exodus chapter 3 verse 5 God says take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground the same thing again we see with Joshua when he has an encounter with the commander in chief of the Lord's army which they say is probably Jesus who appeared to Joshua so Joshua 515 there the commander of the Lord's army says take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy and Joshua did so so these are all instances given in the scriptures where holiness is portrayed as something to be something that is so intense that humans find it frightening and God expects us to approach his holiness with a very reverential attitude so in two instances where he says take off your sandals as a symbol symbolically to show that you are respecting who he is okay so we also have Moses who catches a glimpse of God's back even as he is passing by when he requests when Moses requests that he wants to see God that would be in Exodus chapter 34 verse 8 and it says that God's presence passes by and even as God's presence passes by what is Moses immediate response it says in Exodus 34 verse 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once that's the word used over there he bowed to the ground at once and worshipped we also have examples of Ezekiel, Daniel, John who fall down as if they are dead that's the wording that is used they fall to their fall to the ground as if they are dead when they have a revelation of God so all of these responses basically why do people respond in this way because when they have an encounter with God they realize that whatever goodness they have achieved so far it is not enough it is nothing compared to um it is not enough it is not sufficient compared to the level of God's holiness and which is why you know Isaiah when he has this encounter in Isaiah chapter 6 he is overcome he must have been a very holy man because he was a godly person and God gives him this vision so he was a holy and good person but when he has this revelation this is his response in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 5 where he says, woe to me I am ruined so all of these people in all of their responses one thing that we see is the minute they have an encounter with God they realize that they are inadequate whatever they might have achieved so far whatever level they might have reached in their spiritual life they immediately realize that what they have is not enough so here is a man like Isaiah who must have been quite holy but when he looks at the holiness of God he says, I am ruined is the wording that he uses he says, I am destroyed because he is not perfect my computer is doing things alright so in Isaiah's case the revelation he sees is of God seated on his throne and he addresses him as Adonai, that's the word that Isaiah uses in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 he says, I saw the Adonai, I saw the lord exalted seated on a throne so he does not just see God as someone as someone who will provide for him and take care of his needs he recognizes the lord as Adonai someone who is a master someone who needs to be worshipped and he also sees that the train of his robe filled the temple we will maybe look into the details of that in the next class we will begin next class with a slightly greater elaboration on this whole Isaiah 6 passage you know what Isaiah sees how he responds the significance of some of the wording that is used over there and then from there we will get into part 2 of the holiness of God which would be next session so these 2 sessions have been devoted to understanding the holiness of God a little better and then after that we will talk about why we need to be holy no questions were asked during today's class but in the future please feel free to ask clarify any doubts that you may have regarding this subject and we will close now with the word of prayer let's just close with the word of prayer we thank you a lot for all the things that we could cover today we got a brief introduction into who you are your nature and Lord once we understand who you really are it would fill us with awe and reverence and we would become very aware of how inadequate we are before you in your presence so I pray Lord that we would always walk with this deep awareness of who you are so that all the choices that we make in our life will be once that honour you Lord so that you will be glorified in a way that you deserve so that and I pray Lord that you would begin to mould and shape each one of us a Lord all of the students all of us who are part of this course help us a Lord by beginning to shape and mould us into your nature I pray that this course will not just be an intellectual exercise but Lord it would have practical implications for each one of us where oh Lord you would lead us into a higher level wherever we are in our walk with you you would cause each of us a Lord to walk into a higher level with you so I pray oh Lord that by the time we finish this course at the end of 4 months we all would be truly changed and become better to that oh Lord for every one of us you make the lessons meaningful oh Lord let your presence oh Lord make a difference in our sessions so we call out to you oh Lord and we ask you to work in us to work in this course to cause this course to be useful we commit ourselves into your hands oh Lord thank you Lord in Jesus name amen amen thank you so much for coming till the end there were some who went away maybe they had other responsibilities for those of you who stayed up to the end thank you so much and see you next Monday thank you pastor thank you pastor