The Bible Truth about Holiness | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

If you have your Bibles and would join me in the book of Exodus, chapter number three, verse number one. Thank you, brother Wely, and praise team tonight for leading us in an anointed way into the presence of God. And thank you this evening, good people, for showing up on midweek matters. Amen. And I appreciate that so so very, very, very much. The book of Exodus, chapter 3, verse number one. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to whole river. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight." Everybody say, "Great sight." Greatight. See this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here am I." And he said, "Draw not nigh hither." In other words, don't come any don't don't don't come any closer. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet. For the place whereon thou standest is holy. Say holy. Holy. Holy ground. Moreover, he said, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you tonight for your word. Lord, I thank you, God, that your word has creative power, Lord. That your word is anointed by your spirit, Lord. That your word is powerful tonight. That God, it's it's it's not a lecture. It's not a sermon. It's not a history lecture on history. But God, it's your living word tonight. I open my heart. I open my mind. God, I humble myself. I humble every thought that I have. God, I allow your word to seep into my life, into my spirit tonight. Lord, bless these people in Jesus' name we pray. Everybody said, "Amen." Let's give him a hand of praise before we're seated right now, shall we? The Lord is great. The Lord is greatly to be praised. I want to continue our study on the Bible truth. the Bible truth about. And tonight, and probably I would probably safe to say it'll probably for the next at least four midweek services, we will be teaching on the Bible truth about holiness. The Bible truth about holiness. Now, it's interesting to note tonight, and it's the reason that I chose Exodus 3 1-6. It's the reason that I chose the story of the burning bush because it is the first, everybody say the first. It is the first time in scripture that the Bible mentions the word holy. It's the first time that it's mentioned in the King James version Bible. It's the first time that the word holy is mentioned. Now, I don't want you just I want you just to take a little sticky note and I want you just to write that in your mind, post it over here, and then I want to read a couple of more verses of scripture of which in the next four weeks we will be running reference on this. And I want to go ahead and give them to you now because I would like for you to study these verses even uh between now and next Wednesday night and the next Wednesday night. I'd like for you to know, hey, these are the outlines of the of the Bible lesson on on holiness. Leviticus chapter 19. Leviticus chapter 19 verse number one. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Fear. Ye shall fear every man, his mother, and his father. That word fear there means to respect and honor. You shall fear every man, his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbath. I am the Lord your God. Now, here is God telling not not not not suggesting but commanding, be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Now, just in case there would be anyone tonight that views holiness through a lens of saying, "Well, that was the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, grace came along and mercy came along and holiness went out the window." Well, just in case you've ever been fed that error of doctrine, I invite you to First Peter, chapter 1, verse 15. First Peter, chapter 1 is in the New Testament. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse1 15 is in the grace dispensation. The dispensation that we're living in right now. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse number 15. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. That word there is not just talking about what comes out of your mouth. It's not just talking about holy conversation. It's holy in all of your lifestyles that every lifestyle that you have, all of your lifestyles that you have. Yes, I even believe that you can have hobbies, but I believe they should fall in line of being holy hobbies. Can I get a witness tonight? And then he said that in verse 15, and look how he backed it up in verse 16. He told you he said, "Be be ye holy in all manner of conversation." Verse 16, why don't we read it all together? Because it is written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." So, doesn't doesn't that just put the nail in the ca casket of people today that want to say that holiness of the Old Testament went out when grace dispensation came? Not so. Not according to Peter, not according to the epistle that was written. It is be holy because I the Lord your God am holy. Now let's go back for a moment to our opening text. We find Moses. It's the first time the word holy is used. We find Moses keeping his father-in-law's sheep on the back side of the desert toward uh as he came which would be known which would come to be known as the mountain of God. And as he's there watching and keeping and tending to his father-in-law's sheep, he looks and the Bible says, the Bible says that he saw now he didn't know the angel of the Lord was in the midst of the burning bush. He didn't he didn't know that. He just looked in verse two of chapter three of Exodus. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire. He doesn't know this yet. out of the midst of a bush. Out of the midst of a bush. Now, we do ourselves a great favor understanding the ways of God when when we stop for a moment and and and uh we just ask oursel the question, okay, God, why did you choose a bush? Did you just Brother Art Sniter? Did God just randomly Did God just randomly say, "Oh, I I think I'll go I get in that bush there and it'll I I'm a flaming fire and the I'll cause the bush to burn with fire, but the bush won't be concerned." Or or could there by chance, you know, yes, there is a deeper meaning to why he would choose a bush. Why would God choose a bush? Well, for a little bit of history tonight, the Hebrew word for bush, the Hebrew word for bush is a thorny branch or a thorny bush or it can even be that it's it's a it's a thorn. It is a thorn bush. Uh, another root word, it means it it it would prick you. It's it's a thorn. So, we can go ahead and say that God chose a thorn bush to appear in. Well, why would God choose a thorn bush? Out of all of the plants that could grow, why would God choose an old ugly thorn bush? There's there's there's nothing beautiful about a thorn bush. There's there's nothing people you you you know, you might go to Lowe's and buy roses. The thorns come with the roses, okay? But I don't know anybody that goes to Lowe's and says, "Hey, I want a thorn busher for my front yard. I I I really I want one with I want one with long thorns. I I I want my grandkids to get tangled up in it. I I I I I want I want all of No, nobody does that. So God, now why did you of all the things you could have chosen? God, why did you choose a thorn bush? I believe that we can run a reference back to Genesis chapter 3 in verse number 17. Adam and Eve have failed God. they have sinned. And God is pronouncing judgment, the consequences of man's decisions to sin. And in Exodus 3 verse number 17, and God said unto Adam, he said, "Because thou hast hearkened under the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of a tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground." Everybody say, "Cursed." Cursed. Cursed is the ground. Didn't say blessed. Said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Verse 18. Notice closely. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of the field. Notice that thorn bush is the reminder of a sinful condition. It is a it is the reminder of a body. It's a reminder of a cursed condition. It is a reminder. It is a constant reminder. When Adam would go till the ground and the best he could till the ground, there would be thorn bushes that would come up and they would be a constant reminder of the curse that was upon the curse that was upon the ground. Thorns became a symbol. Hear me now. Thorns became a symbol of sin. When man would look at a thorn, when Adam would look at thorn, a thorn bush, it was a reminder I disobeyed God. It was a reminder that I'm living I'm living under I'm living under a curse. No wonder in John chapter 19, follow me closely, please. In John chapter 19 verse number one, then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple robe and said, "Hell, King of the Jews." And they smoteed him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, "Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him." Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto him, "Behold the man." You know why that crown of thorns was placed upon him? Is because he became the curse that you and I should have endured. He became the shame. He the lamb of God, the perfect lamb of God, the innocent lamb of God, became that curse. It wasn't a coincidence. Oh, no, no, no, no. It wasn't a coincidence that somebody said, "Hey, go outside and and and and and tie together someh thorns and let's put it." No, no, no, no. It was all to tie it all the way back in to the curse of the thorns. Turn with me to Luke 8 verse number uh 7. Luke chapter 8. This is a parable. This is this is a parable here. Luke chapter 8 verse number 7. Jesus said, "And some," and talking about good seed, "fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and what did the thorns do to the good seed? It choked it, right? It it it it it choked the good seed." Verse 14, go on down. "And that which fell among the thorns are they, which when they have heard, go forth and are choked." What chokes them with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. You see, we're living today when people want a Christ of pleasure but not a Christ of holiness. We're living in a day that that people and and I'm here to tell you something. If you want true happiness, seek after true holiness because true happiness is a byproduct of true holiness. But we have a world today that's caught up with pleasures of life and and uh the riches of this life. And what happens? The th thorns, the curse, the thorns, the curse choke out the good word. It chokes out that seed that can cause us to be holy as he it it begins to choke them out. So now I want to run reference back to why did God choose to appear in the midst of a thorn bush? Because he was going to show his power over the curse. He was going to show that this thorn bush should have consumed a long time ago. But because I, God, am in the midst of this thorn bush, this thorn bush will live and go on forever and ever. And I'm going to tell you something tonight. I want God inside of my life. I want God inside of me. Because you see, you you you can you can uh you can live once, die twice. You'll die a natural death, then you'll die a spiritual death of eternity, separation without God in a place called hell. But if I can, if I can be born twice, I may only die once if the rapture doesn't come. And when I because here I have life, but because I have him inside of me, I have life and I have that life more abundantly. I I think this is starting to take shape now of why he was in the thorn. But before we go back to that, let's read Isaiah 55 verse number five. Isaiah chapter 55 verse number five. Listen to listen to God talk about the church. He says, "Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God. And for the holy one of Israel, for he hath glorified thee." He's talking to Israel and he's he's saying the nations are going to be gathered to you and people that don't know that don't know you your your your identity are going to be gathered to you all because all because and I like that phrase and for the holy one of Israel. Can I tell you something that holiness is always attracting to the hungry in heart. When you know this old world can't satisfy you. Holiness is like a magnet that draws you in. When everything has let you down, holiness will turn things around and holiness will give you joy unspeakable. So here, this holy one of Israel is drawing. Verse number six, really pay attention to this closely. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. That's repentance. And the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God. For he will abundantly pardon. We serve a God of forgiveness. We serve a God of second chances. Verse number eight, listen to what God says. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returnneeth not thither, but waterth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sewer, and bread to the eater. So shall my word that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy. Now I'm tell I want to respond to God's word because God is not into death. God is into life. God is not into cursing. God is into blessing. He's a real real good father. Oh yes, he is. He's a good God. He's a loving God. He loves to bless his children. So when his word goes out, his word goes out with blessing. So here it goes. Here it goes. Verse number 12. For ye shall go out with joy. Everybody say joy. And be led forth with peace. Everybody say peace. And the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Now, stop there for a moment. You You see, when you really walk with God, God's going to give you peace. God's going to give you joy. And then God's going to work in your atmosphere. The atmosphere around you is going to have to recognize that you are a son of God. You are a daughter of God. You are a son and daughter of the most. I'm telling you, our surroundings have to recognize that. But look what happens in verse 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fur tree. Instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. You say, friend, I was living as a thorn. I was living as a curse. your neighbors, your kin folk, people on your job that knew you. They knew you in that sinful state. They knew you as that thorn, that cursed individual. But all of a sudden, something changes in your life. And all that they look and they say, "Hey, that's a fur tree." That there's some things changed about their life. That that that that's a change. And truly, God's word brings about a change. We never need to be afraid of holiness. We need to run to holiness. We don't need to shun holiness. Holiness doesn't need to be a bad word in the apostolic church. It needs to be a glorious word in the apostolic church. A fur tree. Well, just what good was fur trees in the Bible? Well, let's watch Solomon build the house of God. Let's watch Solomon build a place for the house of God. First Kings chapter 6 verse 34 Solomon's building here here's the materials and the two doors were of fur tree and two leaves of one door were folding two leaves of the other door were folding and he carved their own cherubams and palm trees and open flowers and covered them with gold fitted upon of carved work. Can I tell you something? When they got ready to build the doors, the entrance into the presence of Almighty God, they used a fur tree. They used that fur tree. But that's where God said, "You were a thorn. You You were just cursed. You weren't a door. You weren't You weren't a door to anybody. If you were a door, you were a door to sin. You were a door to destruction. But once you turned your life over to God and you embrace the holiness of God, then God turns your thorn, that which chokes us any longer is no longer choking us. We are choking it out. We're saying pleasures of this world, you're not satisfying me. Riches of this world, you're not satisfying me. Listen, there's not a house big enough to satisfy you. There's not a there's not a bed comfortable enough to give you a good night's sleep. But if you can embrace the holiness of God, you can live in a cardboard box and have the joy of the Lord all over you. Come on, break out into a praise right now. Now that I think that I've thoroughly exhausted the subject of why God chose a thorn bush, let's go back to the story. Now he sees the thorn bush. He sees the bush burning with fire, but it's not consumed. He turns aside and he says, "I want to see this now." Now, he had to be impressed, right? The man had to be impressed. Why? What? What did he call this? Did he call it a a small sight? Anybody remember the opening text? Did he call it a little sight? What do you call it? Somebody shout it out. He said, "I want to see this great sight over here. I I I want to see this thing. I I want to I want to see this. Why this is burning, but it's not consumed. I I want to see it. But can I tell you something? We will never see what God has intended for your life until you're willing to do this one thing. And when God saw that Moses was coming toward the bush, he said, "Moses," basically he said this, "Moses, don't come any closer. Moses, Moses." And when he saw verse number four, "And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, he called out of the midst of the bush and said and said,"Moses, Moses." And Moses said, "Here am I." And he said, "Draw not nigh hither." In other words, verse five, he said, "Don't come any closer. I've got your attention, but don't come any closer until you take off your shoes." Why? For the ground that you stand on is holy. It's holy because that's where God's at. Wherever God is at, you can mark it down. It's going to be a holy place. Moses, don't come any further. I know I've got your cur curiosity up. I know you want to know what's burning inside this bush, but I'll never tell you what I'm going to do with your life until you stop right there and you take off your shoes. For the ground that you stand upon is holy ground. According to Adam Clark, the commentary, putting off the shoes was an emblem of laying aside the pollutions contracted by walking in the way of sin. In other words, Moses, you've been walking in this desert. Moses, you got all kinds of dirt on your shoes. There's all kind of things clinging to your shoes. Maybe. And I and I I I don't have any scripture to prove this, but I think it could have been a possibility. He's tending a bunch of sheep and he might have stepped in something and that might have been on his shoe. And I have no scripture, but I a possibility, right? You believe it's a possibility, clap your hands. If you believe it couldn't have happened, leave. No, I'm just kidding. And so he says, Moses, you got things on your shoes and I don't know. I don't want what you've been walking through out there to be here where I'm at. Doesn't that make sense? We live in a polluted world. We live in things all over the world. Billboards, TV ads. The the the world that we the the the world that we live in is preaching sin, sin, sin. Come this way. The glamour and all of that. Come this way. And here we are, the church. We're walking in the world. We are in the world, but we're not of the world. But we have to realize that the presence of God, we have to take off that stuff that's on our feet. And when we come in the presence of God, we're going to come in the presence of God with clean hands and a clean heart that's not been that's not had that world attached to it. Take off your shoes, Moses. God was saying to Moses, "You must respect my presence. You must honor where I dwell." I'm I'm gonna say that again because in the weeks to come, you're going to understand. You must honor my presence and you must honor the place that I dwell. And if you claim that God dwells in your heart, then I got news for you. You got to have a holy heart. Wherever God dwells, there's got to be holiness. Moses is saying, God is saying to Moses, Moses is saying to God, I respect your presence. I will take my shoes off. I will stand in your presence. You You see, I I believe I believe right there. It would have been somebody else. We'd be preaching about somebody else, but not Moses. If Moses would have bowed up on God and say, "You know, I don't really understand. I I I just washed my shoes off back there at the well and and and I got news for you. They look pretty good. All right, God. They they look pretty good. And and and everybody else keeps their shoes on. Every Everybody Everybody else keeps their shoes on. And God, I I'm just tell I'm going to tell you, God would have said, "I'll find somebody else that'll be willing to do what I asked them to do without having a why attached to it." God, I'll just remove my shoes. Moses removed his shoes and God be to say, I've heard the cry of the children of Israel. I'm sending you and the rest is history. Israel did to the greater part. Israel did to the greater part. Sometimes they failed. But they did honor and respect the man called Moses. Because had not Moses been willing to yield to the holiness of God, Israel would still have been living in Egyptian bondage. Not glorifying the man. Not glorifying the man. Men are flesh and bone. But when men are given to the cause of holiness, they are men who preach a message of deliverance. They preach a message that is stronger than the curse that is around us. I know there's a lot of pressure. I know that we're living closer to the rapture as never before. And I know that hell knows that his time is short and he's emptying out everything possible, everything possible to make sin convenient, to make sin appear not to be sin. But I got news for you. If we can heed the voice of a man who is willing to embrace holiness when it's not popular. No wonder Paul said these words, Timothy, be instant in season and out of season. There'll come a season when people are applauding holiness preaching, but there'll come a season when holiness preaching will not be popular. He said, Timothy, keep on preaching it. First Apostolic of Mville. It doesn't matter what anyone else does. We must embrace holiness. We must embrace when people want to say, "Well, everybody's doing this and everybody's going here." We got to say, "That's a choking culture. That's a choking culture." But our God is a flaming fire on the inside of us. And our God is causing us to live. It all started with Moses who responded to the call of holiness. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse number 14. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse number 14. I want you to listen this closely. Here's God. Here's God pleading with Israel. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord. For I am married unto you. I will take you one of a city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion. I believe that he was talking about the current day Israel of that time when Jeremiah wrote the backsliden condition. I believe he was talking about a backsliden Israel when he was saying I'm married to you. I'll take one of you. I'll take two of you I if I could just get one out of a city. If I could just get two out of the family. But I believe verse 15 is prophetic. Verse number 15, he's talking about our day right here, right now. And he says, "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart." Now, notice that. Please underline that. I'm going to give you a pastor according to mine heart. He's going to have a man. He's going to It's going to be a man that's got my heart. Isn't David spoken of? Doesn't the Bible say something, Sister Satan, about David being a man after God's own heart? He said, "I'm going to give you men that are after my heart. I'm going to give you men that understand the wickedness of the culture. I'm going to give you men that are going to understand the wickedness of the times. But they're going to be men that are going to understand the value of holiness. I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding. I I just got news for you today, friend. When you look at some of the entertainment, not not not by choice, but sometimes you're just captive to some of the world's entertainment and you look at it and you say, and you say, "And we're weird." I was trying to enjoy some news and get a little information today, brother Pool. And I was enjoying some good news and all of a sudden they they had a they had a rock group. Uh they had a rock group there and they were doing a little song. It was the last tour and and I was subject to have to hear and hear here here men that have hair like women and and they're slinging it upside down and like playing their guitars and swinging it upside down, screaming and all that. And I just looked at my wife and I said, "And we're You see, that's what the culture would like to tell us. That we're weird when we get in here and begin to worship God. We're we're weird when we begin to do this right here. We're weird when somebody takes off running, but they can do it all to their false gods, and it's supposed to be acceptable. Call me weird if you want to, but it just makes good sense to live for God and to worship. I wish somebody really praise him right now with me. Woo! Hallelujah. I'll give you a man after my own heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding. Look at what happens in verse 16. And it shall come to pass, when you be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, sayeth the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Neither shall it come to mind, neither shall any shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore. I mean, the ark of the covenant's a big deal. The ark of the covenant's a big deal. They're still looking for the ark of the covenant right now. They just understand it's in heaven. All right. I talked to you after church, but it's in heaven along with the tree of life. All right? So, they can stop looking for it. And even if you could find it, you're settling for something that is substandard because God said, "I'm that's just a golden box with some cherubam on top of it. But what made it powerful was what dwelled beneath the cherubams and above the mercy seat, which was God. But God left that ark. And God put his spirit in man. He put his spirit in flesh. And now God has called men to preach his word and to preach holiness. And God said, "I'm going to give you something better than an ark with two poles on it. I'm going to give you a pastor and he's going to tell you what I love. He's going to tell you how to live. He's going to tell you what you ought to get excited about. Can you say amen tonight? In case someone again wants to say, "Well, that's the Old Testament, Brother Carpenter." Let me give you the New Testament then. Ephesians 4:10, he that descended, that's God, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens. God came down, became a man, suffered, bled, died, rose again on the third day, and ascended into heaven that he might fill all things. But then verse 11 happened. And he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. Can I tell you the ministry that preaches holiness is a gift from God. Listen to the Apostle Paul. Can I tell you that if Paul was living today, the social media trollers would have a heyday with him? Because he says stuff like this right here in first 1 Corinthians 11 and1. Here's what some here's what Paul says. Writer of writer of over half of New Testament. Be followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I have delivered them. Do you can you hear them now? Cult leader, egoomaniac. That's what they'd be doing. He's a cult leader. He's a dictator. Can I tell you the difference between a cult leader and a man of God? A cult leader dictates his own will. He has no Bible for what he says. He has no word for what he says. But a man of God, he is a dictator. But he is dictating the will of God. He is telling you this is what God wants us to do. when it's not popular, when it's when it when it's not acceptable in the culture, when we're not living in Mayberry anymore, and we're not living with John Boy on Walton Walton's Mountain anymore, the man of God gets up, he gets redfaced, he begins to preach, but he's trying to tell you that holiness is still right. Holiness is still right. Well, did he just say it once, Paul? Did you just say that once? Matter of fact, the Greek word, be ye followers of me. The Greek word f is imitators. Imitators of me. Did you just say it once? Oh no. 1 Corinthians 4:16. Wherefore I beseech you. Now he throws the word beg. The word beseech means the I beg you to do what? Be followers of me. Philippians 3:17, "Brethren, be followers together of me. Mark them which walk so as you have us for an example." 1 Thessalonians 1:6. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. 2 Thessalonians 3:9. Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. Friend, is he a dictator? Is he a egotist? Is he a a maniac of ego? No. He's sold out. He's had an experience with God. He's met him on the Damascus road. He's dedicated his life. He's dedicated his life to God. I believe I'm about to read you one of the saddest verses in the New Testament. I believe it's I believe it's one of the saddest verses. Oh God. Oh God, as long as you tar God, I pray tonight that this verse never fits this church. Oh God of heaven, as a current pastor of this place, of these people, oh God, I pray this verse never fits this church. Never. 2 Coronicles 15 and verse number three. To me, the saddest verse. 2 Chronicles 15 and3. Now, for a long season, Israel had been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law for a long time. Oh, God help us that our pullpit is always filled with a teaching priest. God help us that our pull pit is always bringing us back to the foundation of which we are built upon. A church never gets so so prosperous that it can't have a message on holiness. I got news for you that if we ever get members sitting on these pews that intimidate us to preach on holiness, the glory of God will leave this place. How many of you women would stay married to a man that could only know you in private but would not own up to you in public? How many of you men would stay married to a woman that could only know you when it was time to bring the paycheck home? Or it was time they could only know you in their home, but when they got out in public, they didn't want to have anything to do with you. I don't think that that would go with any of us in this room. And neither when we try to divorce oursel and water down the word called holiness to try to make oursel more appeasable and palatable of the world. God says you're not going to know me in the secret of my blessing but not own up to me in the world around you. You are the light of the world. You are a city set on a hill. That's what you are. Come on, First Apostolic Church. Don't you want to be holy? Come on. Don't you want to be holy? Come on. If you want to be holy, stand to your feet right now. I want to be holy. I want to be holy. Come on. I want to be holy, God. I want to be holy, God. Oh, I want to be holy. And I'm going to tell you, holiness starts in your heart. Come on, let's pray that right now. Come on. Let's let's let's pray that right now. I want to be holy in my heart, God. I want to be holy in my heart, Lord. I Oh, God. I want to be holy in my heart, God. I want to be holy. I want to be holy in my heart. I want to be holy in my heart, God. Come on, pray for a moment, would you please? Come on, youth group, pray for a minute. Come on, church, pray for a little bit. That's a simple prayer. God, I want to be holy, God. God, I want to be holy, God. Holiness is what I long for. Come on, brother Ericson. Holiness is what I long for. Holiness is what I need. Come on. Holiness is what I need. Come on. Holiness is what I need right now. Holiness is what I need right now. You'll never prosper. You You'll never go far in this life. You you you'll never really become much of anything unless you unless you say, "God, I I want the holiness in my heart. Holiness." Remain standing with me right now. Holiness. Holiness. Holiness. I I'm not going to get in a hurry on this series. I I'm not going to get in a hurry on this series, but I want you to know something. Holiness doesn't come from the outside in. Holiness comes from the inside out. Oh, just pray with me for a moment. I feel the Holy Ghost right now. Holiness. Come on, pray right with me right now. Blessed are the pure in heart. They shall see God. Our holiness cannot be based on what we see in others. But our holiness has got to be based on what we see in our heart. Now let me give you a little homework. Let me give you a little homework. I want you to read Exodus chapter 19. They are 90 days. They're 90 days delivered from Egypt. They are 90 days delivered from bondage. It's n it's been 90 days since they felt the whip of the Egyptian task masters. And the pillar of fire and the cloud leads them to Mount Si and God calls Moses. Just read it. God called Moses and told Moses to come up to the top of a mountain because Moses, I'm going to talk to you from the mountain. And when I talk to you from the mountain, the people are going to hear and they're going to believe you because you got a long journey to go to the promised land. And the people will never make it to the promised land if they're not willing to listen to a man that his journey with God started when he embraced the holiness of God. And there there's it's it's a 19th chapter. Won't you read it next week? We we'll we'll dive back into it next Wednesday night. But God took Moses to the top of the mountain and God gave Moses some things to tell the people. He said, "If you'll listen to me," he said, "If you'll listen to me, and if you not only listen to me, but if you'll do what I'm telling you to do, you got to don't just be hearers of the word, you got to be doers of the word." He said, "Sister Yates, God said to Moses," he said, "You go down there and tell them that if they'll listen to me and if they'll do what I tell them to do, they will become a peculiar people. They will become a people." My I feel the Holy Ghost. They will become a people like no other people. They'll become a treasure. They will become priests. They will become intercessors. Can I tell you something tonight? God has placed First Apostolic in Mville to be the priest of this county. God has placed us here to be the priest of this county. With all of our drug overdose and all of our pornography and all of our false religion and half religion, God says, "I've got me a people that me at 1331 William Blunt Drive. They have listened to my word. They have hearkened to my word. They are a peculiar people. They are a treasure. I close with this. He said, "Go down and tell the people. Go down and tell them that Moses come down the mountain." He said, "Hey folks, you got to listen to me. Hey, listen. Listen to me." Israel. God said if you'll listen to him, do what he tells you to do, he'll make a treasure out of you. You'll become a kingdom of priest. The people said, "All that God says to do, all that God says for us to do, we'll do." Moses tracked right back up the mountain, said, "God." They said, "Then do whatever you said." And God said, "I'll tell you, go down and build a standard around the mountain. Tell the people don't pass the don't don't even get close to that standard. Put a put a barrier around the mountain. Tell the people mountain's going to shake. Mountain's going to be on fire. But tell them if they touch that border, I'll kill them. If they let an animal loose and that animal goes and touches that border, I'll kill that animal. And then God said, "Moses, God said, Moses, go down and tell every one of them to wash their clothes." Now, you know what? It's real easy to read that say, "Yeah, I ought to do it." Just think if I come up with something like that. Just think if I come up said, "Hey, Saturday, we're going to have a move God Sunday. I want all of you to wash your cars before you get here. Y'all to be looking like He said, "I want you to wash your clothes." He said, "I want you to sanctify yourself. I want you I want you to get in a prayerful mood for two days. I want you to wash your clothes and I want you to get in a God mood. I want I want you to keep your mind on God. You keep your mind on God. The third day I'm coming down." Now, I'll just stop right there and tell you, people are no different back then than they are right now. I'm wondering how many people said, "Well, I just washed them last week." Well, I just did that. But I'm going to tell you something. If we're going to be the people God says for us to be, we got to listen to his word. We got to do his word. We're not going to bring his word in and say, "Well, this don't fit the culture right now." Because there's a lot of things you're going to hear the next three or four weeks that you're going to say, "Man, that don't fit culture." And then it's going to go like this. There's going to be some nice I'm going to mention some things and it's going to get a little tense and it shouldn't get tense because you're going to think, "Oh, there's some guests right over there. Boy, oh my good, we're making them feel real uncomfortable." I'm going to tell you something. When we get that mentality about us, it's not long till everything makes people uncomfortable. But really, who are we here to please? Our guest. I'm glad they're here. But I I'm not dedicating my life to please the guest. I'm dedicating my life to please him. And you know what? If our guests are truly hungry for God, they're going to know. They're going to look around and say, "Well, that's just what these people believe. Let me get in the Bible. Let me see what it says in the Bible." Brother Ericson, lead us in that course. Spend the next couple minutes just worshiping God. Put your hands on your heart and ask God to make you holy. Holy. Holiness is what I need. Holiness. Holiness is what you want for me. Come on, sing that out with me again. Sing holiness, holiness, holiness is what I long for. Holiness is what I need. Oh, holiness. Holiness is what you want for me. Come on, sing about righteousness. Oh, rightousness, righteousness is what I long for. And righteousness is what I need. Oh, rightousness. Rightousness is what you want for me. Oh, so take my heart and mold it. Take my mind transformed. Take my will conform to yours. to yours, oh Lord, and take my heart and mold it. Take my mind transforming to my will conforming to yours to yours. Come on, sing this verse. Brokenness. Brokenness is what I long for. Brokenness is what I need. Come on, sing a little bit louder. Brokenness, brokenness is what you want for me. Let's sing this chorus one more time. So take my heart and take my heart. Take my will. Come for me to yours. To yours, oh Lord. This is my desire to yours. To yours, oh Lord. To yours. to Lord. Come on, pray this prayer with me. Lord, help me, Lord, to be holy. God, give me the desire to be righteous, God. Give me the desire to be broken in your presence, oh God. Come on. As pastor has so well taught today, Father, I want it to be my desire, God. Not just your desire, but make it my desire. Not just your will, but make it my will. Jesus, conform me, transform me in Jesus name. In Jesus name, God is my heart, oh Lord God. From the heart to the outside, from the inside to the outside, God, make me holy for you're holy. I want to be holy for you are holy, Jesus. I want to be holy for you are holy, Jesus. In Jesus name, Lord God, help me, Lord. Change my character. Rearrange things in my life, Lord, that don't please you, God. God, let my mind, oh God, let my knowledge, my wisdom, oh God, let it be yours, oh God, take me, oh God, take me, oh God, take me, oh God, transform me, conform me into what you want me to be in Jesus name. Clap your hands to to the Lord tonight, the holy God tonight. If you believe what you've heard, if you receive what you've heard, if you're going to put into practice what you've heard this week, in Jesus name we pray. Let the church say, "Amen." Amen. Amen.