 Hey, welcome back Let's look at chapter one. What I'm going to do is really just go through chapter one page by page And you know, just so we understand The notes and you know all the information that's provided for us Okay, it's chapter one is titled holy God The revelation of a holy God Some 99 verse 5 and 9 it says exalt the Lord our God and Worship at his foot stool He is holy Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is Holy You notice anywhere where his presence is or anything that is set apart unto him is title holy Holy hill, okay, how you know What's that one in Andhra? Hey, there's a there's some Tirupati here Yeah, that's a So certain people it is considered like a holy hill isn't it they want to climb And whatnot. So and why because they consider that something divine is dwelling there. Yeah So the hill is holy why because he resides there our God resides there and You know and in the tabernacle of Moses every vessel And everything that the priest wore had this thing called and they had this inscription holy unto the Lord Holy unto the Lord a cup the lamp stand the table right the belt Everything had this inscription that said holy unto the Lord. That means what was set apart for God cannot be used for anything else So if you are set apart for God That means you are not available for anything else of the world or the flesh Okay, why because he is holy and you are his Are you with me, okay So there were various facets to the nature of God God is love we feel love. God is good. We believe in his goodness towards us and we walk in goodness towards others. Hopefully God is almighty all powerful that is he is omniscient No, it God is almighty and all powerful. We trust in his power God is wise all knowing But we lean on his instruction and follow him Like we looked at the verse in Proverbs chapter 3, right? And God is our healer our Jehovah Rafa. We trust him to heal us And there are so many facets like that and and God is holy God is holy So we must have this desire to know him pursue him and who is this God Psalm 24 says Open your lift up your heads oe gates be lifted up you ancient doors let the king of glory come in Who is this king of glory so strong and mighty? He's the king of glory and with those words When you read those Psalms those scriptures, it should do something to us. It should mean something Who is this king of glory so strong and mighty? Who is this king of glory? Right, you know, it's like a It's a question with with I want to know. Hey, who is this guy's I want to meet him You know, you speak so much about this person, you know Like hey, you got to meet this person. You have to meet this person You talk about a person so much. It creates this this a good interest in you. It's like, who is this guy? I want to meet him Right, it's like that kind of a question. Who is this king of glory so strong and mighty lift up your heads Oe gates be lifted up you ancient doors let the king of glory come in Right, and so we must we must have this burning desire to know him like A desire that is not easily quenched or you know or satisfied Like day and night day and night someone says meditate on his word day and night That means every day it doesn't say only one day Tuesday when you know, it says they meditate on his word Day and night. It doesn't say which day Great meditate on his word and who is the word? Yes Right that that that love for him that hunger for him that desire for him And uh, it's a beautiful beautiful place to be in right Um, you know, have you seen if you you know your parents or any of your friends or relatives You know who've been in Who a prayerful person, you know who've consistently Who consistently praise and they will always be in a posture, you know, they would kneel down and And my grandmother was one of them and I've seen I have a few friends, you know That posture of humility And just say lord, I love you. I want to spend this time with you. I want more of you And just by looking at that person Who is this god that she is worshiping? I want to know this jesus Right and so the hunger for god in you can burden hunger for god and someone else All right, so your desire should be so contagious That's why I use the word that you need to burn because you've seen forest fire, you know That fire travels at white a speed like 27 kilometers per hour. That's fast for a fire Okay, uh, and it also depends But your your burning desire should be so contagious that people around you should catch fire for him Are you with me right and so he is holy and you need Like who is this god? I want to know him is and and it's and I'm not just talking in an intellectual or a theological capacity Right, it's not just an intellectual understanding or a theological or academic pursuit Um, there's something much more deeper efficiency one verse 17. It's in the notes at the bottom of the page. I think Um page eight. Okay, it's all the same because I'm I'm scared to mention the page numbers because I don't know Which page number you will have so efficiency one verse 17 it says and that the god of our lord jesus christ the father of glory May give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of him It is the holy spirit Who reveals the father to us? Right now. Yes, all of this is good. We are academically. We are pursuing. We're trying to understand his holiness It's important right intellectually, theologically. We're trying to understand all of that is good But the only other person who can reveal the fullness of who he uh, you know our lord and savior jesus is the holy spirit In if uh, isaii 11, uh, I think verse two onwards. It says he's the spirit of god. He's the spirit of wisdom He's the spirit of revelation Uh, you know the seven spirits are mentioned there And so he is the spirit of wisdom Isaii 11 verse two Um, right and revelation in the knowledge of him The spirit of the living god. What's his first name? holy Right, uh, he's holy the bible says that he searches the deeper things of god To bring into life for us Okay, so first the revelation Of his nature comes to our hearts Then there is a response from us towards his nature Who god is okay, so let's just look at that first the revelation of his nature comes To our hearts revelation means what revealing unveiling If you have a dupatta around your face, that means you're covered. You've had there's a veil around you So as you remove the cloth Of your face, what is happening? You're unveiling, right? So there is the revelation of his nature. That means there's an unveiling Right, there's an unveiling that's coming to our hearts first and after that unveiling there is a response It's we are still in this isaii story a little bit, right? So isaii has this unveiling and then there is a response from um Towards the nature of god When then we then discover that he invites us to have his nature reproduced in us and revealed through us He invites us to be like him So our encounter with the lord of his holiness is not an encounter for the sake of an encounter So that you can write in your book and tell the friends is like, oh, you know, I had this encounter you had You know, so the thing the result is always this isaii has encountered with the lord of his holiness That's one thing and isaii responds To that go on to me where I'm a man of unclean lips and then he gets cleansed but His assignment came much later God Who shall go for me? What is isaii? I will go You know, here I am You know here are my KJV Here are my send me So Is that such a beautiful process right the correct revelation of his nature will evoke the right response from us to what god And draw us to the place where his nature is reproduced in us and revealed through us And that's the whole point of this is that you are encounter with the lord in his holiness if it's not reproduced and reflected in and through us Um Then you need to answer some questions Okay, probably step to nine verse 10. Are you are you all with me by the way? Oh, okay. No Okay Okay, uh I hope everybody online or is also okay. Um, okay. Great. Thank you I have not forgotten the for I have not I have not carved you Probably step to nine verse 10 the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom And the knowledge of the holy one is understanding The fear of the lord it simply means the intimacy with the lord That's what it is. It's not like oh my gosh fear him You know, it's knowing him to know him Right, it's in a very intimate language there. It it's a similar word It says when you read uh in matthew and in luke, uh, it says when Um When mary was pregnant with jesus it says for the time that she carried joseph did not know her That means he did not have any physical Um, uh Connection of contact with mary. That's what it is. He did not know her. That means it's an intimate language there Okay, so it says the the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom is that means to knowing him who he is He is the spirit of wisdom Obviously that's the And the knowledge of the holy one is understanding Right to know him in his holiness to have a revelation of holiness is really the fear of the lord just to know him Okay, um, and the couple of pages points from there on we again It's talking about isiah chapter six verse one to eight in those notes. Um, which we've already spoken in the last class Okay, so just before the scripture isiah six above that it talks about Um, what is an idol right anything that takes place of god is an idol any that misrepresents god Is an idol sometimes our theology misrepresents god to us and creates idols in our minds ideas notions and pictures of god That are actually unlike him We can spend a whole semester talking about all that right Right for so many years This is how I worship. Why should I change? Okay, hence it is important to have a correct revelation of god and hold every facet of his nature and character together All right, uh And guys, I believe that our first encounter begins with the word of god As in there will be other encounters. I'm sure but then his revelation. He's revealed. This is the reveal You know written word of god right Okay, so uh, we studied a little bit about his isiah's encounter with god and um What happens after that? So let's move on to the bottom of page 10 His nature reproduced in us That's peter chapter 1 verse 13 to 16 says Therefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and rest your hope Fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you to the revelation of jesus christ Okay, uh, which word stands out to you in that verse Which word? Okay Thanks. Yeah, so that's verse 13. Let's read verse 40 15 and 16 as well. Okay, so as obedient children Not conforming yourself to the former lusts As in your ignorance But as he who called you is holy You also be holy in your and all your conduct Because it is written be holy for I am holy Leviticus 19 to speak to all the congregation of the children of israel and say to them You shall be holy for I the lord your god am Holy Okay Wow. Wow. Wow. All right. This section is again titled his nature reproduced in us. Okay Verse 13 starts off by saying therefore gird up the loins of your mind And be sober Be sober when do we use that word sober? When we are not under the influence of another substance basically Okay, um, so a drug addict or an alcoholic Will will be asked this question or we'll say I have been sober for two years now That means for two years. I have not had taken any drugs or had any alcohol right It with me, right? So that's a word that is used to say that I am not I have not been under the influence of another substance or an external substance So here it's saying okay be sober I'm sure pastor 100% I don't do any drugs, you know But uh Are there other things in the in the world that influences us? Obviously, right, of course um Paul writes in efficiency efficiency 518. He says, um, don't be drunk in wine That's a commandment to not be drunk in wine We take that first half very seriously, right? Yeah, I was like, yes lord, you know, I'll write and give, you know, no wine even during Christmas. No wine for sure, you know Don't be drunk in wine. What is he saying? Don't be under the influence of something But the second half of the command is often forgotten, but be filled with the spirit Filled with the spirit um, so there's a little bit of water This flask right now There's about this much here here Uh, is this full? No So what if the water was up to here? Is it full? Till here? Is it full? Filled to the brim is it full? Not okay That's right Even if it's up till here to the brim It's not full The only way to measure fullness is when it's overflowing Right? Only when it's overflowing. So you're saying be filled with the spirit That means you're saying your life needs to overflow. It's as simple as that Right when we say in the script we saw in Isaiah chapter 6 the train of his rope filled The temple it's again It's saying that there was an abundance of his presence It was an overflow There was no end Okay, so uh be sober don't be influenced by anything else Be holy for I am holy leviticus chapter 19 is actually a very important chapter um There's a very famous verse in that chapter that is uh used for preaching about tattoos And the rest of the chapter is left out only that verse is taken It's okay if you don't understand the rest of the chapter guys, but this verse says thou shall not have any Yeah Anyways, by the way, I don't have any tattoos. Okay. I'm just saying so Just because the thing is I don't know what which one to get so I don't I don't want to regret later and then and then when I get old I don't want my skin to be hanging and with the tattoo looking there so Anyways Right god desires for his nature to be reproduced in us and revealed through us We looked at into that section, right? So, uh holiness. What is this? Holiness is absolute Sinless, okay, so uh Very quickly can someone look for the dictionary different definition of what absolute is And put it on the chat section if you will please Put it on the chat absolute just absolute Anything else any other definitions? Please feel free to share it. Okay, so I'm sure you've used these words. You're absolutely right. What does that mean? You're absolutely wrong to the lies it fully Yeah Would you say a murderer is wrong or absolutely wrong? Or partially wrong? What did you say? Hey, thank you right So we we don't look at a murderer or a rapist or a pedophile Serial murder, you know, we don't just say They're wrong When we use the why when to be used the word absolutely wrong is that means there's no turning back It's like there is that's the utmost degree to which you can kind of That in all totality, right? So that's the understanding it is holiness is absolute sinlessness Because anything that is sin cannot be part of holiness Holiness is absolute purity. Okay, how many of us here can say I'm absolutely pure Because anything impure or unclean cannot be part of holiness His absolute truth because anything that is untruth or a lie cannot be part of holiness Is absolute holiness is absolute faithfulness because anything that violates Covenant cannot be part of holiness holiness is absolute Justice or righteous because injustice cannot be part of holiness Holiness is absolute love because anything of hate Contradicts holiness love does not rejoice in sin there's a There's an appetite or a level of hatred that we need to develop towards sin right You need to hate sin only then you can love him, right? It won't me for I'm a man of unclean lips You need to know where you're at Okay, let's move on holiness is absolute goodness because anything unkind cannot be part of holiness. Holiness is absolutely Sacred because anything profane cannot be part of holiness. Holiness is absolute perfection Holiness is godlikeness This is god. He is holy. He is absolute in all of the facets that we just saw He is absolute In everything that we just read He is holy This is his nature it is his person That he is holy We have to say it many times in a day lord. You are holy You are holy You are holy God you are holy And maybe a hundredth time it might hit us Look who? you know one of my favorite and experiences by leading worship in 2011 we had a worship thing that was going day and night for seven days and I'm sharing this not because I was leading worship but then there was something beautiful that was happening in the room and this was 1 a.m in the night so there's 24 hours, right? So 1 a.m so I remember the time because I was on the it was just me on the keyboards and And there was a song again the chorus was Holy, holy, holy, there's no one like you Actually even forget the song now In the presence of angels is the name of the song that much I know in the presence of angels But so as we were singing the song we're just declaring holy, holy, holy and there came a time where I just didn't Stop playing and We just sang that chorus for three hours And just people just their voices. I was I didn't have to lead after a point It's one of my favorite memories. I should say yeah But there's something about his holy presence Standing in his presence standing with the people And singing the same thing with who all of us are having the same glimpse And that was just three hours. We will be singing for eternity right So holiness is the very nature of God. I am in now in page 12 Holiness is the very nature of God. God is holy. Holiness is the very core of God's nature The holiness of created things Holiness with God is his nature Holiness outside of God is a quality and a state that is bestowed We are holy because he calls us holy and makes us holy When God calls us to be holy what he is asking us to be Set apart to him the one who is Holy So if it was impossible God wouldn't have commanded he wouldn't say be holy for I am holy He's the very reason that he's given us the commandment Is that He knows that he is there to empower us to live a holy life Be with me, right? you know There was a there was a time I struggled with addictions teenagers, you know, whatever and and I'll be drinking smoking, you know, that's the usual teenager stuff I guess back then But I did not like it. It's not that I was enjoying the addiction And uh, and I have tried I tried a lot of things to get out of it That is step one do this step two step three five steps to recovery five steps to restoration In a seven steps, let's make it biblical seven steps To seven steps to be free out of this Um, I'm sure it works for people, right? It didn't work for me You see striving for living a holy life is not just Looking at See if an act of sin for example sin lying, okay You look at lying and say lying lying lying. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it I shouldn't do it Trying for being holy is you don't look at the sin that that's that wants to pull you down and be scared But instead it's the opposite You have just got to fix your eyes on the one who is holy It is his beauty that sets that set me free It is who he is that set me free Are you with me right? You know, I would okay from from for example, I'm I'm not sure how many of you can relate with me Okay, from this week. I'm going to stop doing this So one month One month Huh? Yeah One month, okay The next month gone back to square one and going back to the square one will be so emotionally draining like and then that will Hurt your identity And that you will look yourself in the mirror and say what a mess are you? You're absolutely worthless Roshan Why you want to lead worship? How can you lead worship? Right in your own efforts and let me say that and let me be emphatically very clear in your own efforts You can only try so much But it is us beholding him that sets us free Are you with me? It's also the same thing with hunger for god in my flesh because the flesh absolutely hates god It's fallen. It's sinful in nature Isn't it in my flesh I can only want so much of him Only he can birth a hunger in me to hunger for more of him Only he can put a desire in me to desire for more of him Right and then you come to that place and slow lord I desire for more of you holy spirit birth in me a hunger and a desire like only you can do And that is birthed in your spirit Because your spirit man connects to the spirit of god. He is spirit, isn't it? Okay All right, so holy a Hebrew for holy adjective kadosh. We saw that holy pure From its usage we derive the meaning of being devoted dedicated sanctified for a particular purpose Holy set apart Greek for holy in the in the greek the word Haggios meaning holy and its derivatives Haggiosmos translated holiness correspond to the Hebrew kadosh Believers are called Haggios saints sanctified Or holy ones. It's from there that greek word where we get words like sanctuary Sanctuary means the holy place in latin word with sanctus We heard that Sanctus it's from that sanctus we get sanctuary um Why do we in uh in christian weddings? We say we are gathered together for this holy matrimonial For each other exactly, right? Right, so the bride is saying of all the men that I can have in the world. I'm setting myself apart for you The groom is saying of all the women that I can have in the world. My eyes are only for you Holiness being set apart, right? They're set apart for each other Not set apart for the sake of being set apart Okay, so holiness god's glory and beauty Exodus 28 verse 2 and you shall make holy garments for aran your brother for glory and for beauty You shall make holy garments Um for aran your brother for glory and for beauty so We get a sense of what holiness is god wants holy garments for the priest for what purpose? to display glory and beauty Psalm 29 verse 2 give unto the lord the glory due his name Worship the lord in the beauty of his holiness Psalm 96 plus nine oh worship the lord in the beauty of of holiness tremble before him all the earth Okay, the words there are for glory and Beauty Okay, give unto the lord glory due his name worship the lord in the beauty of holiness Worship the lord in the beauty of holiness. So Let's go through those notes I'm going through these notes. I hope you understand because uh, these words are just put so well together. It's uh I I couldn't do justice to it. So and so just follow along with me. Okay The hand of the lord is a metaphor for god's omnipotence strength and power The eye of the lord is a metaphor god's omniscience is all knowing the year of the lord Referring to his ear hearing our prayer the face of the lord referring to his presence and also to his disposition towards a certain matter The the feet of the lord or his footstool is a metaphor for god's dwelling place and the place of his dominion The mind of the lord is a metaphor for god's thoughts god's wisdom on a certain matter wow So what is interesting is that we see holiness associated with beauty and the beauty of god is called holiness So that means it can be translated Worship the lord in the holiness of his holiness as well as no the holiness The beauty of god is called holiness. So Holiness is god revealing and expressing his beauty his glory his splendor his grandeur his magnificence his perfection His excellence We cannot stand in the presence of the holy one and not go back unchanged like, you know Superman's he gets his strength from the sun If you know anything about superman You know, but the one of the reasons why he's strong Is different from every other human being is that uh, it's not just because he's an alien Um, the comics case, okay So the earth's earth's sun is younger and so his cells have nourished and it gains and so because of that He has super strength and so he's in the presence of a sun and because of which he's changed He's not the same. He's very different, isn't it? So being in the atmosphere or an environment of something Supernatural like to be in the presence of god to stand before him and to think that nothing's going to happen to you Is uh, not wise Right, something is going to happen to us when we are in his presence. We are exposed to his atmosphere. We are exposed to this being And something's bound to happen and that's why chains break when he shows up, right? That's why bondages That's why people are set free. That's why addictions are broken They are all A result of his presence Are you with me, right? Yes, no, maybe. Okay Thank you. So Let's come down to the very last page of this chapter Actually the holiness and goodness of god the last second Romans chapter two was four Or do you despise the riches of his goodness? Forbearance and long suffering not knowing that he that the good goodness of god leads you to repentance Romans 11 was 21 and 22 It says four if god did not spare the natural branches. He may not spare you either therefore consider the goodness and Severeity of god and those who fell severity but toward you Goodness if you continue his goodness, otherwise you will also be cut off So there's a parallel that's being drawn here in these scriptures between the holiness and the goodness of god The holiness of god banishes sins as no unclean thing can gain favor in his sight The goodness and mercy of god who's the sinner Draws the sinner to himself Okay, the goodness and the mercy of god draws the sinner to himself But god's grace endows the sinner with the righteousness and holiness Making the sinner a saint fully fit to stand in the presence of the holy one He is our righteousness right I'll stop here. We can we can kind of stop here There are a lot of scriptures in the last page of this chapter docs from Genesis 28 to 17 Where it says jacob woke up from a dream where he heard god speak to him and his response was how awesome The word awesome simply means dreadful terror actually Strikes terror. So how awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of god We looked at this verse in the last semester The first place first time where the house of god is mentioned or the church as we call it Exodus 3 All the familiar passages moses encounters joshua's encounters joshua chapter 5 You know for the longest time my prayer was my prayer still is is I want to see what Isaiah saw I want to see what Ezekiel saw Ezekiel chapter 1 is considered To be one of those chapters that is So hard to explain even by the scribes If you come to the office library, there's this book the Hebrew Bible called the Tanakh It's the compilation of the Old Testament Uh, and so there's like the literal translation and the notes there I went to Ezekiel chapter 1 to see what notes has been given there. It's The scribes of those days found it very difficult to put it in words of what the vision of Ezekiel in the chapter 1 is It's it's incredible. You should read it if you haven't already talks about The cherubimms in this place Isaiah sees the seraphim and there are these other super angels that Ezekiel sees This beings had four faces right a face of a man face of an eagle face of Lion and a face of an ox all of that represents something Okay, and they went back and forth Like lightning That means they were traveling in speed Of lightning like it's not quite the speed of light, but they're traveling pretty fast. It's there in Ezekiel one. I'm not making it up. Okay It's not some science fiction book. It's not some mythical thing. This is uh, you know This is happening, you know, uh imagine with me for one moment as we close um Again forgive me if I have repeating this Imagine comes from the word image Yes or no Now if you've seen a horror movie Uh, whatever horror movie And then you get scared to sleep in the night alone or if you get scared to go into the dark room alone Why because the images of that movie Is running in your head so because of the images you're imagining Yes or no Right and so image imagine Leads to imagination nation of images Okay, and the word magic Comes from the same word image Actually image comes magic magi Magi from the east came Same word magic magi image imagine imagine imagination and so images this whole book is Full of images of god For us so that we can meditate and imagine imagination is one of the most powerful gift that god has given to us right, so Imagine a lion in heaven Roaring holy I want to go to heaven. I want to be in this thing. Is it like, oh Okay, yeah Wow, just just just imagine This god that we and I are worshiping is is beyond Something that can be put in words. We know that He is indescribable. We he is nothing like we've ever met or seen or heard He is holy All of heaven know that All of heaven knows that he is holy There's no one like him Yeah, he's he's just You know Sealed on the throne surrounded with the royal diadem of heaven surrounded with the sea of glass He sits and thrown he is holy Seraphims above his throne cherubims below Surrounded with the living creatures in revelation 4 his throne room Is magnificent because he is there The king of glory is there And we need to burn and our hearts need a really need to Not just intellectually, you know, as we mentioned, but We should want to know him For who he is There's a book called by john paul jackson. It's called seven days behind the veil If you can get your hands on it, you should Seven days behind the veil He talks about his encounters But anyways, okay So I hope there was something that you could take away from today's class and We will continue with this next week All right Thank you all for joining. God bless you. Have a lovely rest of the day