Michael Youssef - God's Holiness
Conformity and peer pressure is one of the great challenges, not only among young people but adults as well. If a young student in school dares to be different, he or she would risk being alienated, and bullied, and even worse. Many parents in our society in general would go to any length to ensure that their child fits in, that their child is accepted, that their child not being different at all. I will be emphasizing that word different for a very important reason.
Remember that word, different, because as I will show you in a moment, that different can be very good. I'm also aware of the fact that there are some amazing parents in this church who have encouraged, trained, discipled, and inspired their children not to conform or become bullied by their peers, specifically, if that conformity is for evil or wicked lifestyles, that is not glorifying to God. While society at large has bought into that fallacy, the godly difference is bad, that godly difference is rejected, that godly difference, they say, psychologically damaging, that godly difference is unacceptable, and yet different is one of the attributes of our God.
In the last message, we saw how the sovereignty of God is the axle around which all other attributes revolve. Closely connected to that, closely connected to that is the holiness of God, being wholly different from humanity. And the reason I'm focusing on the word different, different, different, different, different, different and not saying holy or holiness, because the word holy or holiness has really negative connotation in our culture today. That's why I need to give you a lot of explanation, especially for the younger generation. Listen to what the Word of God said. 1 Samuel 2:2, "There is no one like the Lord; there is no one beside him".
Listen to what Isaiah 40:25 says, "'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One". Beloved that tells us that God's holiness is totally different from human goodness. Ah different, here's that word again, totally different. The root word of the term hagios in Greek, or holy, the root word means difference. Different. It can mean being set apart. It means be set aside. It can mean, be transcended or transformed. Above all, when you say God is holy, we are saying that he is very different from humanity. He cannot be compared to anyone else. He cannot be parallel to anyone else. He cannot be placed side by side with anyone else. He is totally different. And that is why Holy difference is good.
My beloved friends listen to me please. God tells us in his Word again, and again, and again, and again that he wants his disciples to be different, too, just like he is different. Listen to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3, "This is the will of God for you". Some people running around don't know what the will of God is. Here's the will of God, "This is the will of God for you, your sanctification". I know that's a big word for some of our younger listeners.
So let me give you a Youssef paraphrasing of it. This is the will of God for you. You being different just as your Heavenly Father is different. Different from what you ask? Different from the godless and immoral people, difference from this fallen culture, different from those who are going along to get along. And that is why the rest of the verse says we must abstain from immorality, for God to be different from humanity. It means that He is different in purity. He is different in righteousness. He is different in his inability, inability to look upon sin, different in his inability to wink at sin. He's different in his inability to ignore sin. He is different in his inability not to condemn sin. He is different in his inability not to judge sin.
And my beloved friends, that's exactly why the world is enraged, enraged at the thought of God's holiness and the holiness of the disciples of Jesus. Why? Because they want a God who is like them, they want a God who approves of the lifestyle. They want a God whom they can manipulate. They want a God who is not wholly, totally different. Why do they reject and resent the holiness of God? Because it condemns their conscience, because it condemns the notion that God is okay with us no matter which way we live. It condemns the baptizing of sin into the church.
And because of their insistent that both God and His disciples must accept their sin, they will persevere, they will persist not because of their faith, but because of their determination for their sin to be accepted. You know, and I know there's only one way, only one way to remove, for the removal of God's condemnation of sin. Is only one way to remove God's condemnation of sin. There is only one way to remove the God's condemnation of sin, any sin in any one of us, and it is by repentance and the placing of that sin, any sin, all sin under the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.
God who is totally, completely, wholly different loves to welcome repentant sinners but not taking pride in anything, anything, for it is an abomination unto the Lord, and it's an insult to the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on Calvary. I'm gonna show you a short video in a moment. I wanna introduce it first. In the midst of all these highfalutin bishops debating a young man, a layman... And I want to do this to encourage you. His father is a dear friend of mine, the best known evangelist in England. And he sent me this short video from his son with courage to rebuke these bishops. Please play it.
What courage? How can the disciple of Jesus differ, like God is different? First of all, first and foremost, in fact, by obedient to the whole word of God, not the bits that we pick and choose, not the bits that we like and leave out the ones we don't like. Obedient to the whole Word of God. Secondly, by imitating Jesus who is and was obedient unto death. Oh my precious friends, when you choose to forgive the ones who hurt you and despise you, you are imitating Jesus and you're becoming different.
When you choose not to allow anger and bitterness to corrode your soul, you are different and you are imitating Jesus, and you are different. When you choose to reach out and love again and again and again, you are different like Jesus is different. When you choose to be sexually chaste, you are different. When you choose not to speak ill of others and gossip and back bite, you are different like God is different. When you choose not to hold the grudges against those who may have cheated you or maligned you, you are different.
When you choose to submit to the authority of the Word of God, and to those who faithfully uphold the Word of God, you are different. You are imitating Jesus. When you choose to faithfully and sacrificially give to gospel ministries, you are different and you're imitating Jesus. When you risk rejection by saying no to your friends who are doing the wrong things, you are different and imitating Jesus. When you choose to please God, first and foremost, you are different. When you risk being unpopular with this wicked and evil culture, you are different and you're imitating Jesus.
One of the passages in the scripture that pulls me literally from the inside out is found in Isaiah chapter 6. This is when Isaiah came face to face with the holiness of God, with the Holy God. He came face to face with the Holy God. God gave him a glimpse of his holiness. God showed him a vision of his true self as differently holy. And when Isaiah got a glimpse of God's holiness, he was knocked on his face. I beg you when you go home, take time, read that chapter, Isaiah 6. Read it slowly, read it several times, let it just sink in, because in chapter 6, verse 5, when he, Isaiah saw the Holy God, he said, "Woe to me," or, "Woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips, and live among people with unclean lips".
Beloved, whenever anyone, anyone encounter the holiness of God, far from accepting sin, whether it be in our lives and the lives of others, far from blessing sin, far from tolerating sin, far from feeling good about oneself. We get undone in our sense of unworthiness. To have an encounter with a totally different Holy God can transform us to the image of his Son. When Job saw the Lord, he cried out, "I repent in dust and ashes". When Peter had an encounter with the God who created the fish in the sea, he was knocked on his feet and he said, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man". Before the holiness of God, even angels are awestruck.
Isaiah saw the angels bowing down, and worshiping God, and adoring God, just as 700 plus years, almost 800 years later, John, the Revelator saw the same thing. Think about this with me. Think about this with me, angels who served the living God day and night felt unworthy to be in that place. Angels who are not stained with human sin, stand in holy fear and in reverence to the holiness of God. I'm absolutely convinced, this is my personal opinion. I always tell you ahead of time. Take it or leave it, that we will not see a true Holy Spirit Awakening, or Revival, call it what you will, until Jesus's disciples, until Jesus's servants begin to stand in awe of his holiness and not rationalize sin and rebellion.
When Isaiah was confronted by the holiness of God, it knocked him on his face. None of that smugness or self satisfaction. None of the smugness of self esteem, none of that smugness of self image, none of that smugness that God accommodates to us because we know that he is, we are evolving and he's evolving with us. God forbid. He fell on his face and he said, God, "I'm ruined! For I have unclean lips, and live among people with unclean lips".
Beloved, if we're encountering the holiness of God in worship, listen to me, whether it's personal or public, if you encounter the holiness of God and it does not overwhelm you with a sense of unworthiness and gratitude, chances are you don't know the holy God. In fact, it was Isaiah's brokenness before God, his recognition of his own impurity that moved God to do something, to empower him. That recognition caused the angel to bring a burning coal from the altar and place it on his lips, only then, only then he could be commissioned by God to speak for God.
I think most of today's preaching, and I know many of you will agree with this, it goes something like this. If you repent to a certain degree, you will be saved to a certain extent. That's sad. No, in a million, no. I just think, I'm saved. My eternity is secure. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to live a holy life. I don't have to live in sanctification. I don't have, no, in a million no's. Salvation is like a baby being born. A baby has to grow. A baby has to learn. A baby has to go through stages, otherwise we'll starve of malnutrition. And it works the same way spiritually.
D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, described the Christian who is not growing in holiness this way. It's like a sealed bottle, that's sitting under Niagara falls. Not a drop of that mighty volume of water going inside such a bottle. Please ask yourself the question, please for your sake, family's sake, ask yourself the question. Am I a sealed bottle bobbing up and down in the flood of God's holiness and grace, and nothing is going inside? If you are in this condition, let me ask you, no, no, no, let me plead with you, don't be afraid of being wholly different. Don't be afraid.
What are you afraid of? Is it rejection? Is it a change in your lifestyle? Is it wanting to be accepted at any price or wanting popularity at any price? Now, remember this, the God who sent an angel to anoint Isaiah's lips and gave him purpose and mission, is the same God who wants to do the same with every one of Jesus's disciples, whether be here or looking at me from around the world. He wants to do the same. He wants to do the same thing, now, today. Don't fear man, what can they do to you? Confess to the Lord, and he will give you a holy fire, and will empower you to be wholly different.