The following message is a presentation of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where we're proclaiming the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life. More information about the NCFIC is available at www.ncfic.org. Is available at www.ncfic.org. Thank you. Good to see you.

It really is a privilege to be here with my family. I have the privilege of also spending the next hour just under an hour with you as we look together at the subject of holiness and thanks for coming along here. I know there are many options to choose from in these breakout sessions. And so my prayer this morning is that by God's grace that this is the right place for you to be. And at the end you don't say to one of your friends in the other rooms, you know what, you were right.

I should have been in one of those other sessions. Now if you haven't noticed already you've all got a funny accent or is that me with a funny accent? Well as I said I'm here in the States with my family my wife Becky so the back there with our one-year-old we've traveled all the way from New Zealand as part of a three-month one-off family ministry trip and a vision and purpose in coming here in addition to the privilege of being had to share at this conference has been to spend time as I said with lots of families, pastors, leaders for the purpose of gaining ideas, inspiration, encouragement and hopefully some wisdom that will benefit the ministries we're involved in back home. And we're seeking to do this by watching, by listening, by having lots of purposeful fellowship and conversation and it's been such a blessing so far both with the families that we already knew and Many of the new families that we've met since being here And we also really wanted our children who are aged 14 down to one to really catch More of the vision that we have as a family as they see other strange families do many of the things that we're doing.

Fighting the same battles, speaking and teaching about many of the same things that we are speaking and teaching about back home in New Zealand. In New Zealand I serve as one of the pastoral elders at our Church Redemption Church, a church we planted 14 years ago in the city of Christchurch. And in addition to this, we're also involved in a couple of other ministries that seek to encourage men, women and families to live wholeheartedly for Christ and to engage in the Great Commission. Of course, it's not all smooth sailing when you're traveling like this with seven children, it's something we haven't done much of before, not this far. So there's a sanctifying process that is occurring too as we travel for many hours in the same vehicle and live out our suitcases for three months.

I calculated that since we left seven weeks ago, coming here was the thirteenth time that we've packed and unpacked our suitcases, but it's all worth it. And now the phrase sanctifying process makes it sound more spiritual, but what that actually looks like is Dad getting stressed out and needing to repent every time we pull over to get gas for the car. And I'm thankful I have a forgiving wife and children. Now just over 21 years ago I was actually living here in the States in Los Angeles. I was here illegally as an overstayer having come out from the UK where I'm from originally to find fame and fortune as a musician or to try and find fame and fortune as a musician.

I was playing in a band, I was living a lifestyle that so many musicians live of promiscuity, of drugs, of alcohol in vain trying to do something purposeful with my life. And then in 1994, by God's grace, I heard the gospel for the first time from a Bible study tape that I took reluctantly from a friend who'd recently got saved. And after listening to it a few times, along with reading some other literature that spoke of the truth and the accuracy of the Scriptures the gospel did its work. The Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin and I turned to Christ in repentance and faith. Born again in Van Nuys, California.

Would you believe it? And I remember feeling so at peace that I'd finally discovered where I had come from, why I was here, where I was going. And there was of course a peace that came, but that peace came at the same time as having my eyes opened to the new spiritual battle that I now engage myself in. But I can say that after 21 years or so of being a believer, I'd much rather be a child of God in the battle with Christ than a son of Satan out of the battle. And to make a long story short, after I got saved, I went back to the UK wanting to do the right thing as I was here illegal in the US and after praying for a wife, shortly after arriving home I met Becky at a local church.

Becky's family were at that time seriously praying about moving to New Zealand and as the law began to draw Becky and I closer together towards marriage we got engaged. We eventually ended up all moving out to New Zealand, myself with Becky's family, which was great for accountability because we basically had no time alone, and a year later we went back to the UK for two weeks, got married, came back over to New Zealand. Never in a million years did I think that I'll become a Christian when I was doing my music thing back here in the States in 1994, but God's plans are always so much better than anything we can come up with. I'm so thankfully intervened in my life and led me to Christ. My involvement in music was something that shortly after coming to Christ the Lord led me to lay aside.

It was definitely still an idol and so I got out of the band just after we'd signed a record contract. I spent a couple of years paying off the legal fees and no one understood and I couldn't really expect them to. My parents were basically separated, pending and divorced, mainly due to financial pressure in supporting me in my attempt to make it in the music business and here I was throwing it all away. But that part of my life needed to be cut out and amazingly God placed in my heart a greater passion for the Word of God than I ever had for music. By His grace, after a season of a few years, the Lord led me back into the performing and recording of music.

Now with a very different focus and motivation and music is something we love to do as a family too. Now I share these things not to speak about myself but to give God the glory for saving yet another sinner. When we understand the background of someone it helps us to not look at them and think, oh that's the way you've always been. And I'm thankful for God's forgiveness, His redemption and for eternal life. And so the title of this session is The Beautiful Paradox of Holiness.

So far we've heard some great teaching on this subject of holiness, which of course is the main theme of this conference. And following this session we're going to hear more great teaching about the subject of holiness and so the way I want to present this session to you this morning is as just another shimmer of light or a tiny sparkle from the dazzling and awe-inspiring reality of God's holiness or just another little brick in the wall of the beautiful palace called holiness or as I was walking here a few moments ago seeing the waterfalls just another ripple of water flowing over And it's great to have so many young people at this conference. And back in New Zealand, we are one of two, possibly three, I don't know every church in New Zealand, so there may be a few more, but there'll be under five family integrated churches where you can come in and comfortably worship with your family. So it's a blessing to be here. It's a blessing to have these young people here.

And I hope and pray that you young people, you young children, really catch the vision during this weekend of how desperately this world needs young men and women growing up within the body of Christ, who fear God, who understand the holiness of God, not with your heads but with your hearts also. And that can start at a very young age. Think of young Samuel, think of young King Josiah and the way God uses young people. Like sometimes our children, if Becky and I have one of those heated discussions, the children have developed this gift where occasionally what they'll do is in the middle of that if they overhear, one of them will start singing, Jesus loves me this... There's nothing more convicting, or be careful little mouth what you say.

But you just don't like being reminded that way. But God uses children. Now let us all be encouraged as well to not get tired or weary or over familiar with the word holiness. How many times have we heard it taught and mentioned? Don't let yourself think for the remainder of this day, all right, I've heard enough about holiness now.

Can we get onto a different subject? If we have that attitude, we'll miss out on the point of this time altogether. And the reason that we're listening to the subject of God's holiness over and over again from different voices, different perspectives, different personalities, different teaching styles, different accents, is because the holiness of God is not some academic subject that we study until we know it perfectly and pass an exam. Or like some book that we read from beginning to end and then we're done with it. The holiness of God, like so many other aspects of God's character, is something that this side of heaven will only ever know in part.

And so I'm sure most of us here have been to at least one if not many firework displays. And as you may have witnessed when you get a well produced firework display it's an amazing experience And the people that do it well have a way of making it get even better just when you thought it couldn't get any better. Just as you think, well that must be the finale. Another burst of fireworks explode in the sky, fire exceeding your expectations. That's how we should be viewing our time here at the conference as we listen over and over again to the subject of holiness from many different angles all saying the same thing yet from a slightly different perspective.

The last thing you want to do is view this conference like that unfortunate experience that many of us have had when you print something on your computer and accidentally type 1, 000 copies instead of 10 copies and the same stuff just keeps coming out over and over and over again you can't seem to switch it off so you wrestle with a printer you pull the trout yank the cord out the wall and you do everything you can to make sure you don't see another one of those pages again. What am I going to do all of these? I didn't need 10, 000 copies. Now if that's how you've been feeling about hearing about holiness over and over again, take the time to confess that to the Lord And ask the Lord to give you a heart that is willing to be dazzled or struck and mesmerized by the continuous and beautiful reality of God's holiness. Now hopefully that is happening with some consistency for most of us.

As we've been catching more and more glimpses of the holiness of God from his word, the deeper we've been drawn into worship of God and the more we are desiring to yield our lives to him and to glorify his name. One of the greatest blessings for me personally from coming to last year's conference was that the thing that the Lord did in my heart more than anything else was give me a greater desire to know him, to love him more, to serve him more, to worship him more and the reason for that was that so many of the speakers were so dedicated in pointing people to Christ that in all they taught and shared much of the time he didn't come to the end of a message and say what a great message or what a great speaker as much as what a great God and I'm thankful that this again has been my experience sitting here under the teaching. It's been the prayer of many hearts in the lead up to this conference that what we focus upon and learn this weekend will first and foremost stir up our affections towards God, not just our intellects.

So with that in mind we're going to look this morning at the beautiful paradox of holiness. That was an introduction by the way. So if you turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 29. We're going to camp on a few verses and I'll bring some other verses in alongside that. But Psalm 29 we'll just read those two verses and then we'll pray and then we'll continue.

Psalm 29 verses 1 to 2. Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones. Give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the Lord the glory due his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Father we ask that in this time right now that it would count. Lord again it is just another little brick in the wall, another shimmer of light, but Father help us to Be attentive to your word, help our hearts to be open to your spirit, and I pray, Lord, that you would draw us closer to yourself.

We think we have the rest of the day, but Lord, Our last breath may be minutes away. May we be found with an attitude and a heart that desires to worship, honour and glorify you. Lord speak to us now. Have your way among us and I pray for all the other sessions that are occurring right now Lord that you would do the same we'd speak through those men that are sharing you'd soften hearts and you continue to build in the work that you are doing in us for your glory. Lord we are thankful beyond what we can see or experience that you're doing in our lives because we know that you're doing so much more than we can actually even comprehend right now and so we thank you for that and we give you this time we give you our hearts in Jesus name amen so as we look at these two verses in the Psalm 29, I want for us to really see how the beauty of God's holiness can and does affect our worship.

And then following on from that, I want to draw your attention to several beautiful paradoxes that we see in scripture that make the holiness of God even more beautiful, even more magnificent to us. And my hope and prayer that as we look at these is that we'll be dazzled afresh by the beautiful holiness of God, not because of man or because of the intellectual comprehension of a Bible teaching, but by the Spirit of God, as he works faithfully through the Word of God in our hearts as the people of God. Now let me just take a brief moment to define what I mean by a paradox. I'm not accusing anyone here of not knowing what it means, but at the same time, and I'm gonna assume that everyone knows what it means. Couple of definitions.

A paradox, by definition, is a statement or proposition that, despite sound reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable or self contradictory. Or another explanation I like is a seemingly absurd or self contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded in truth. And for the younger ones here it basically means something that sounds like it doesn't make sense at all but is actually perfectly true. How many of the guys here understood what I meant when I did the last one? Now as we'll see, it is the paradoxical nature of so many aspects of our relationship with God and so many aspects of the character of God actually serves to give God the most glory.

The truth of God's word does not need to be logical to be true. The truth of God's word transcends all logic. It has its own unique and majestic qualities that surpass anything and everything that comes from man. And as we ponder and comprehend the beauty of God's holiness, that should draw us deeper into worship, an adoration of all who God is, of all that he has done and all that he will do. And the words David uses there in the first few verses of Psalm 29 speak of that.

As David himself, in awe of the beauty of God's holiness, gives heartfelt praise to God and exhorts others to do the same. Whether he is speaking specifically to his mighty men in this context? I don't know but the emphasis here I like towards the mighty ones as he encourages them. Use all your strength, all your might and any spirit and passion you may have to give worship unto God. To make an effort in your worship, to use energy in your worship, to go beyond yourself in your worship so that it is truly giving on your part.

Now I'm not talking about anything weird or wacky or inappropriate or unbiblical in our worship of God but I think it's important for us to all be reminded that it is not a sin to be passionate, exuberant or enthusiastic in our worship of God. Have we not been reminded of enough things over the last day or so that declare to us he is worthy of that. However the flip side of that is that it may be a sin to worship God in such a way that if you are wired up to a heart monitor, a brain monitor, a motion detecting monitor and an audio monitor as you worship God that it would look just the same as it did before you began to worship God. In other words nothing about you changes and then you'd have to question was it worship at all. When I refer to the worship of God it is of course more than just singing songs.

It is our whole lives. It is our heart position towards God. It is a lifestyle of worship that God desires for us, not just moments of worship. And it is from that lifestyle of worship that all other spiritual activity should spring from. Family discipleship, family worship, our participation in the local church and evangelism.

Otherwise if those things are just isolated activities that are not motivated by or rooted in or established upon a lifestyle of worship, seeing yourself as first and foremost a worshipper of God, There'll be no authentic fragrance of Christ that permeates and filters through our homes. Instead, it will be like getting the spray can out and trying to spray the fragrance of Christ here and there. Spray a bit of modesty over here. A bit of family worship over here. A bit of catechism over here.

But holiness does not come in a can. And I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing worse than a bad smell that's been covered up with a good smell. Furthermore, there is a world of difference between a can of spray with a wild orchid and ocean breeze scent and actual wild orchids and ocean breeze. 2 Corinthians 2, 14 and 15. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place.

For we are to God The fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Is the genuine fragrance of Christ within our homes. And the point in that passage in 2 Corinthians is not just that Christ has conquered our enemies and is leading us in triumph but that Christ has conquered us. Has he conquered you? Is he conquering you this weekend?

Is he triumphing over you? Over your heart? Over your will? Over your desires? Over your emotions?

Over your decisions and your affections? I'm not talking about perfectly, I'm talking about consistently. That is what makes us worshippers of God. When we allow Christ to triumph over us we then worship him because he is holy and because he has captivated our hearts and that is the number one thing that we should be desiring for our young people, for our children, are not all our efforts to raise godly children completely and utterly in vain if it doesn't result in a young person who above all things is a worshipper of God and someone who is mesmerized by the holiness of God. That's the number one thing on my list when I think about the kind of husbands I want for my six daughters which is a few years off so back off.

I care very little about what skills you have, how many businesses you run, what your financial profile looks like or how well you dress and speak. If you have no passion for God and no attitude of worship within your heart, those other things mean nothing at all. What I want to know is, when no one else is around and it's just you and the four walls, is there anything there? Are your thoughts directed towards God? Is there praise in your heart at times when no one would ever know?

Do you ever praise or worship Him just because you can? When you are walking, when you are driving? Do you have a holy botheration? I had to look that word up because it sounded right and it is actually a true word. Are you bothered, troubled, concerned, and burdened about the things of God and his kingdom.

That is what the increasing awareness of God's holiness should do to a man. It should bother him. And more than ever before I believe we're in a desperate need of men who care deeply about the things of God because they are affected by the holiness of God. And so if any young man who comes knocking at my door in the future inquiring about my daughters turns up he's gonna have me lean towards him take a big sniff and say is that Jesus sent or is that actually Jesus I smell? And so let all of us both young and old consider whether there are some areas in our lives that we are perhaps more passionate about, enthusiastic about or interested in than we are about the worship of God.

For you ladies looking for men, husbands, looking out for a vision of who that might be. The guys will hate me saying this but make sure that there's no greater passions in their lives for things other than the Lord. If we do have greater passions about those other things then we can make a fairly confident diagnosis that somewhere in our life there is idolatry going on. And I'm not talking about personality, okay. Some of us are more outgoing and gregarious than others okay.

Some of us are very expressive and emotional and maybe a little loud. Some of us are more introverted and a little less expressive. But my point is, whatever your peak of expression or emotion is for your personality, make sure you reserve that for the things of God. So if you never raise your hands in a passionate worship either privately or in a corporate gathering, but if after you signed a great business deal you could be seen exclaiming your delight with great passion and emotion and hands lifted high, that is a sign of idolatry. And if you are the less expressive type and the peak of your emotion and exuberance, the absolute peak in your life is saying something like, Wow, that's amazing.

Make sure that when you do reach that peak, it is about the things of God. The question is, does the holiness of God peak your meter? Or is it peaked by other things of much lesser importance? I love the song written by a man called Jimmy Needham called Clear the Stage. I don't know if you're familiar with it.

Because it talks about this in such a clear and convicting way. Jimmy Needham is not a Puritan, but I believe if the Puritans were alive today they would shout a loud amen after hearing these lyrics. Just listen to the lyrics of this song. This is a this is a modern song, recently written song. Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze, if that's the measure you must take to crush the idols.

Jerk the pews and all the decorations too, until the congregation's few then have revival. Tell your friends that this is where the party ends until you are broken for your sins. You can't be social. Then seek the Lord and wait for what he has in store and know that great is your reward. So just be hopeful.

Because you can sing all you want to, yes you can sing all you want to, you can sing all you want to and still get it wrong. Worship is more than a song. Take a break from all the plans that you've made and sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper. Beg him please to open up his mouth and speak and pray for real upon your knees until they blister. Shine the light on every corner of your life until the pride and lust and lies are in the open.

Then read the word and put to test the things you've heard until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken. Because you can sing all you want to, yes you can sing all you want to. You can sing all you want to and still get it wrong. Worship is more than a song. We must not worship something that's not even worth it.

Clear the stage, make the space for the one who deserves it. Anything I put before my God is an idol. Anything I want with all my heart is an idol. Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol. Anything that I give all my love is an idol.

And we can sing all we want to, we can sing all we want to, and still get it wrong. Worship is more than a song. Doesn't that put it so well? I need to be reminded often to make sure I give the best to God in my worship of Him, not what's left. After my strength is given to other areas in my life with God just tagged at the end.

So I need to be encouraged and I want us all to be encouraged to give unto the Lord with all that is within us the glory that is due his name. He is worthy. What does it mean to give glory to God? It means to make Him look great. Now He's great whether we make Him look like it or not, but I'm talking about how He looks to others in our lives, in your life.

To glorify God means to magnify his name, to put him at the top of the list. The greatest content in our conversations, the greatest passion of our lives, the greatest affection in our hearts. Look again at Psalm 29 verses 1 to 2, give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory and strength give unto the Lord the glory due his name when something else takes that place of receiving the best we have to give and when other passions and affections begin to eclipse those we have or had for the Lord We find ourselves simmering down in our enthusiasm to love serve and worship God we find ourselves changing down gears easing off the accelerator Switching into cruise control, you know, one of the biggest blessings on this trip was when we were in Los Angeles we got a car we had to do a long drive, sorry from Colorado we drove to Tennessee and we had a rental car and it had cruise control and that was such a blessing. We're away. It's a blessing in a vehicle But we have to be very cautious of making sure we don't flip on the spiritual cruise control and our relationship with the Lord.

What does that look like? Well on the outside it actually looks very spiritual. Doesn't the person in a car from the outside with cruise control look just the same as the person that doesn't have cruise control on. I get up, I read my Bible, I pray, I attend church on Sunday, I serve in a ministry or two, I read a book about theology, and I do the same next week, and the same next week, and the same next week. None of those things are wronging of themselves, But if you're doing them without thought, without purpose, without passion, without intentionality, enthusiasm and energy, it might look holy, but please understand there is a huge difference between going down the higher way of holiness with the cruise control switch on.

Compared to going down the higher way of holiness with both hands on the wheel, feet on the pedals, eyes fixed straight ahead at Christ and thinking about what you are doing and where you are going and more importantly why you are doing what you are doing and why you are going where you are going. And so what's the chief characteristic and the main overriding aspect of God's nature that this is all bathed in and this all springs forth from and is motivated by? Look at verse two again. Give unto the Lord the glory due his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

It's the beauty of holiness. Because there is a beauty in holiness that puts beauty upon all acts of worship. Worship is the response of the human heart to God's beautiful holiness. And so right there we see the solution. If we found ourselves in that place of being dry, mechanical, economic in our worship of God, or if we've been convicted that our spiritual cruise control switch is on a bit too much recently on the highway of holiness the best thing we can do is get a fresh vision for understanding of and fresh appreciation for the beauty of holiness I'm not sure if you're aware but there's a conference about that this weekend.

What a blessing. Now when we really let it sink in what Christ has done as we saw over the last few nights and the glory of Christ that only makes the sacrifice of Christ so much more significant and breathtaking the response should be worship and yet the problem is I wish I didn't have to say those two words should be because when the response is genuine I don't think the main motivation is that I should be worshiping him as much as how can I not worship him Especially when because of Christ I get to worship him in the beauty of holiness? The holiness of God is attractive, it is pleasant, It is satisfying and awe-inspiring. Think of the beauty of the temple back in the Old Testament. And all the ornaments and the garments that were involved in the worship of God.

That presented the worshippers of God at the time a truly beautiful experience of worship. Giving some illustration to the beauty of God's holiness. But all of that was just a picture or a foreshadowing of the true spiritual beauty of holiness that is available to us in Christ. In fact it's quite hard for us to get our heads around the amazing privilege we have in Christ and because of Christ to come into God's presence and enter into the Holy of Holies and worship Him. Remember before Christ died a thick veil lay across the entrance to the most holy place in the temple and the high priest was the only one who could enter that place and only once a year at that.

Furthermore if his heart was not right before the Lord he'll be struck dead and dragged out by a rope attached to his feet. I guess that meant it wasn't the most popular job on the career seeking websites of the day. Imagine that, how about if Scott Brown asked one of you if you could come up to the platform tonight in the Maid or Notorium and lead us all in prayer. But before you did we just need to tie a rope around your feet so that if for some reason your heart is not right before the Lord and He strikes you dead we can just drag you off the platform without too much distraction. Any volunteers?

But even Now as I talk about that role the high priest had, I believe there are those of us in this room both young and old that just had a passing thought or two that reveals we're misunderstanding the holiness of God. When you think about the weight of responsibility upon that priest, how he needed to have such a right heart before the Lord before entering the Holy of Holies. How do you picture that? When I think about that, when I put myself in that position I realize how easy it is for me to fall back into a works mentality, to fool myself that I can make myself worthy enough to enter God's presence. Of course if I was going to enter the Holy of Holies that day I'd be up early reading my Bible, praying for longer than I would normally of course.

I would not involve myself in any trivial tasks leading up to that moment. I'll be quoting scriptures, I'll be singing worship songs and with all my heart I'll be trying to not willfully sin or have a sinful thought. And then right before I'm about to enter with all my robes on, imagine I see someone I know looking pretty angry So I go up to them with my most peaceful and calm holy kind of look on my face and ask what is wrong. With of course much more compassion and warmth than I would normally because this is the day I'm going into the Holy of Holies. The response I get surprises me as the person says, who do you think you are going into the holy of holies?

You're no better than us, you goody goody. And then I'm suddenly called off guard as I have a very angry thought back towards that person. In fact, I toy with the idea in my mind of making him suffer in lots of creative ways. And then it hits me. I've blown it.

I've kept things together all day and been the best Christian I could be. And Right now, before my big moment, I've got to mess things up. Well, as you've guessed, that's not at all the right perspective on how we come into God's presence. And yet we find ourselves falling into that performance trap more often than we think. It's a bit like that person who prays, Dear Lord, so far I've done alright.

I haven't gossiped. I haven't lost my temper. Haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm gonna get out of bed. And from then on I'm gonna need a lot more help.

Now I'm sure that any of the men here who preach and teach God's Word can relate to the experience of needing to confess a sinful thought or an attitude right before you go up to preach God's word. Or sometimes even mid-sermon. And this helps to remind us that we're just fleshly sinful vessels that somehow God uses for his purposes. So we need to be sensitive to the many ways in which we can misunderstand the holiness of God so we don't have an incorrect view of God's character. As the high priest went before the Lord into the Holy of Holies God was not looking for good works or self-righteousness or performance.

What was God looking for? David answers this for us in Psalm 51 verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. These, oh God, you will not despise. That is what God is looking for.

That's what he's looking for in an 88 year old. That's what he's looking for in a 56 year old. That's what he's looking for in a 32 year old, a 21 year old, a 14 year old or an 8 year old. And if there's really one thing I'd like us to take away from what I'm speaking to you about this morning and it's this. The path of holiness is not found in trying to be holy or seeking to produce holiness in our own strength but rather to come in our brokenness, in our weakness to the giver of life.

The one who makes us holy, Christ himself by his goodness, his mercy and his grace. Let me simplify that by saying it this way, in our brokenness he makes us complete. It's a process of holiness. In our brokenness he makes us complete. That's one of the beautiful paradoxes of holiness and so it may just be that if you're not feeling complete enough in your walk with the Lord maybe you're not willing to be broken enough.

Psalm 34 18 the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Isaiah 57 15 for thus says the high and lofty one the scriptures are purposeful in elevating God and declaring his holiness the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity you can't get greater than that whose name is holy I dwell in the high and the holy place. And yet look at the very next words that flow from here. I dwell in the high and holy place and then it says with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. What a paradox.

To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Isn't that beautiful? And it's so important for us to understand and especially for the younger men and women here as you are forming the foundations of your faith. That discipline, diligence, devotion, dedication are characteristics that should be in our lives but they're characteristics that should bring us into grace, not into self righteousness or any dependence upon our own works or worthiness. It was A.W.

Tozer that said before God can really use a man he must first break a man and it's so true that when a man or woman makes that spirit induced resolve to really be serious about the things of God and guess what a time like this weekend is a catalyst for that there'll be many many hundreds of people this weekend rightfully so through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, here in the Word of God, who will make that resolve and they will leave this place saying, I want to be more serious, that's it, I'm doing away with the trivial things, I'm dedicating myself wholeheartedly to God and to the holiness of God. That is right and that is good and I pray that happens. This kind of thing happens particularly when men step up in response to God's call to ministry. But we must understand when that happens, often the very opposite things happen to what we expect will happen. I like to describe it by using the analogy of a slingshot.

You're familiar with a slingshot. So come the end of the conference, you say, that's it. I just want to dedicate everything to Christ. And you pop yourself in the pouch and you think now that I've done that by God's grace we're going to press on to greater and better things and fruit and then what happens to a stone in a slingshot is that as soon as it's put in the pouch it starts to get pulled backwards and everything in the frame of reference of that stone instead of going the way that it thought it was going to go, goes the opposite way. Backwards, backwards, backwards.

I don't know what that looks like in other people's lives. I know what it's looked like in my life. Trials, misunderstandings, difficulties, hardships, failed expectations. And the worst thing that you can do when that happens, and I've seen people do this, is go this is not what I expected and hop out the pouch. Because when you let go of a stone that you've only just pulled back in a slingshot you know what happens it just falls down right in front of you but if by God's grace you cling to Christ and you say Lord I don't understand but I don't need to understand I don't like it but I don't need to like it.

All I know is I'm clinging to you. He will keep pulling back and pulling back and pulling back and pulling back for the very purpose of when it's right in His timing to let you go and fire the testimony of your life right into the heart of the enemy and achieve great works for the Lord. I've never seen a person who wanted to dedicate themselves to God who hasn't been through that process over and over again. I'm sure there are many of us as we come to the Lord in prayer or worship feel unworthy. Well that's a good and a right perspective because we'll never be worthy.

But something we have to avoid at all costs is trying to make ourselves worthy by doing something that we think makes us more right in the sight of God. Now I'm never saying, or I'm not saying that there's never a time to not do something or perform an action or a deed, because there is. But what makes all the difference is the heart in which we do that. Is it done by faith and dependence upon the merits of Christ or upon our own merits? We must understand that all of our righteousness, every bit of it, is as filthy rags before the Lord.

But it happens so easily. Let me give you an example. For example, reading our Bibles. Maybe you read your Bible 30 minutes a day. That's just what you do.

And you're consistent. 30 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day. One day you rushed for time, something happens, you only read your Bible for 20 minutes. And so you go into the day feeling a little bit less than you would normally. Because that's the standard you've set for yourself a little bit more condemned a little bit more unworthy but then come weekend not much to do maybe you read for 37 40 minutes and the temptation then is to get up from that time and feel a little bit like this is the day to pray about certain things because of course God's gonna look at my child you you went from 30 to 40 but Our standing before God and our favour from God has absolutely nothing to do with anything we do and everything to do with what He has done.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't not read your Bible, but sometimes it does us good to experience not reading our Bible to realize that wasn't reading our Bible that made us right before God it was his grace and then in that place of grace knowing that I don't need to read my Bible to be right with God guess what I want to read my Bible. The more we understand, accept, acknowledge and depend upon what He has done, the more we can do with a right heart before the Lord instead of relying upon anything within ourselves. And again there are things to do. We mustn't forget that. We can't use the phrase, it's all about Christ as some pseudo spiritual excuse for not walking in obedience.

There are imperatives in scripture. There are commands to be obeyed. But how that is done and the heart with which that is done is what concerns God the most. You know there is a subtle but significant difference between a heart that says I've got to obey God to keep him happy and a heart that says I get to obey God and make him happy. You haven't got to go to church.

You get to go to church. You haven't got to pray. You get to pray. You haven't got to read the word of God. You get to read the word of God.

Apart from Christ we could have no part in the things of God. Apart from Christ we could never come into the presence of Almighty God but now as believers in Christ we've been saved, we've been washed by his blood and by his grace we've been given the righteousness of Christ and we can enter in. So when Christ died as we know the veil of the temple that kept the people out of the most holy place was torn in half and this made a powerful visual statement to all who saw it and all who would read about it afterwards, that in Christ, because of Christ, redeemed sinners can freely enter the most holy place of God's presence. Hebrews 10 19 to 22. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Remember this is the same God we read about in 1 Timothy 6 16 of who it says he alone has immortality and that he dwells in unapproachable light and of whom no man has ever seen or can see. Again another beautiful paradox of holiness that by accepting that we are unrighteous sinners we receive the righteousness of Christ and enter freely into his presence. It's paradoxical. It doesn't make sense. That's why you can feel the worst that you've ever felt about some sin in your life and your own sinfulness before God and at the very same time feel the most loved that you've ever felt by your Savior.

It's paradoxical. Christ did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and so we're blessed to know that our God who dwells in unapproachable light who is so holy that none can come into his presence and live has called us in Christ to come not just into his presence but boldly in Christ but boldly So we do well anytime we feel unworthy before the Lord to remind ourselves that we'll never be worthy. But the wonderful news is as we come by faith in Christ we can rest in the fact that the Lamb is always worthy. And God sees us in Christ. Any effort on our part, any discipline, any diligence, any dedication or devotion should be to rid ourselves of distraction and to place ourselves at the feet of the Lamb of God in whom we find our rest.

Again it's a paradoxical truth but We strive to enter that rest. Children, don't just try to be good Christian children. Come to Christ. Tell him your great need. Ask for his help and strength to obey your parents.

Trust him and not yourselves. And so the more we see how holy God is, how unapproachable he is, how unworthy we are apart from Christ, the more we can appreciate and enjoy and be humbled and awe-struck by the degree to which he chooses and desires to draw us close to him. It's incredible. Picture two men on a beach enjoying the beauty of the sun and the sand. Maybe in one of those comfortable reclining chairs.

It's just a beautiful, beautiful day at the beach. On the outside, they both look the same and they both appreciate in what they have before them. One of those men however, gone in his car, pulled up, got the chair out, sat down on the beach, there he is. The other man did the same a little earlier in the day and decided to go for a swim first. As he went for a swim, he was out in the ocean, he got into trouble.

He got into real trouble. In fact he started to drown. He was struggling, he was fearing for his life and just as he was about to go under the water for the last time a hand reaches down and grabs him, pulls him onto the boat, rescues him, brings him back to shore, he dries off, they put him down and he's sitting in that reclining chair enjoying the sun and the sand and the beauty of the beach. Both men look to be in the same situation from the outside, but one of the men has such a greater appreciation for an experience of the beauty of the sun and the sand, because he knows what's been done to get him to that point. He knows what he's been saved from.

He knows how if he wasn't rescued he'd be dead and gone and he would have such a deep reverence or and respect for that ocean that everyone's paddling around in and laughing. A greater capacity to appreciate the holiness of God. And you know it does us good and I remind my children of this every now and again to stop for a moment when we come into God's presence or when we worship him to pause and remind ourselves that we only come because of the blood of Jesus Christ. You know I would love to do a whole sermon on Psalm 139 on the first letter. Oh.

Because I think there's so much to say about that. Gazing at the Lord and realizing that the only reason you can even begin to speak to him is because what Christ has suffered and done for you on your behalf. There's no merit we have in ourselves to approach such a holy God as this. He is the holy God and of course that is what is meant when we pray in Jesus name but it's not the words that God's concerned about because you can say in Jesus name and not actually have the position of a heart that recognizes you only come by the blood of Christ or you cannot say that and you can have the right heart. So we need a healthy fear of God.

But we should desire by the means that he's provided to enter into that holy presence. Again God calls us not to worship the beauty of holiness from over here someplace, but to worship right here in the beauty of holiness. It's not a beauty He wants us to adore from afar, but from within. The redemption that God has purchased through Christ tells us something very clear and that is this. God wants us to draw near to him.

He wants us close. When I read about Moses approaching the burning bush in Exodus chapter three and God says to him, Moses, take off your shoes for the place in which you stand his holy ground. I don't think the picture there is God telling Moses to be respectful about his holiness. In the culture at that time feet were considered more dirty than sandals So that was not a sign of reverence. The reverent thing to do would have been to keep his sandals on.

But I believe that what God was saying to Moses and showing Moses was this. Moses, I am a holy God, but I've called you to represent me. And so I want you right up as close as you can be to my holiness. Your muddy feet close because if you are not touched and affected by my holiness you will not represent me well. And as we've been hearing in various different ways the ways or the way that God's holiness becomes our personal holiness is by us living and being very close to Him.

You know what I love about Moses and his journey? Is that he spent 40 years thinking he was a somebody. 40 years realizing he was a nobody. And then 40 years experiencing what God can do with a somebody who is willing to acknowledge that they're really a nobody. That sounds a bit like my life but it's 40 minute periods.

The paradoxical tensions of God's condescension towards us in Christ just blow my mind. God says to me I'm utterly unapproachable but in Christ you can now approach me. God says to me, you are nothing like me but in Christ I'll make you like me. God says to me, you'll never be worthy of coming into my presence but in Christ I'll make you worthy. And how does this all happen?

And this is where I'll conclude, which is basically a preacher's excuse to speak for another five or ten minutes, you understand that? Sounds spiritual, but it's just... But Paul did it, so that's okay. How do we enter into these incredible blessings? By fixing our hearts and minds upon Christ and Christ alone and by surrendering to the paradoxical nature, the beautiful paradoxical nature of holiness that according to the scriptures looks like this.

The last will be made first Matthew 19 30. Humble yourself and you'll be exalted. James 4 10. And by the way if you want any of these notes I can email them to you easily enough. In your weakness you'll be strong.

2 Corinthians 12 10. Suffering will produce joy in your life James 1 2. Freedom comes by making yourself a slave Romans 6 18. If you consider all things as lost you'll gain everything you need Philippians 3 7 to 8. Lead others by being a servant to others, Matthew 20, 26 to 28.

Be willing to be a fool, then you can truly be wise, 1 Corinthians 3.18. To live, you must die, 1 Corinthians 15, 36 to 38, And if you lose your life, you will save it. Matthew 10, 39 and Galatians 2, 20. And then listen to the word to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6, 8 to 11. As he says, by dishonor and honor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

Do they sound like seemingly absurd or self contradictory statements? Absolutely they do. However when investigated or explained They're proven to be well founded in truth. It doesn't make sense, but it doesn't need to. It's not logical, but it doesn't have to be.

In our brokenness, He makes us complete. And we can accept that simply for what it is the beautiful paradox of holiness. Amen. Father we are thankful that you've drawn us to yourself. Lord I pray as we continue to hear from you and your word over this weekend that the vision, the understanding, the appreciation, the recognition of your holiness, your otherness, your separateness, your glory that is so different to us, but would just be magnified in our hearts and our minds.

And yet I pray at the same time the incredible, condescending love that you have for us because of what Christ has done that would also increase our vision, our appreciation, our recognition and our awareness of how much you desire and have made the way for us to draw close to you. Lord help us to not try to figure it out, not try to explain it, but just by faith to accept it. We don't understand how you being such a holy God can want us right up alongside your holiness. Dirty, sinful, filthy as we are but we thank you because the blood of Christ we've been washed, we've been made clean and we can enter in. We praise you Lord, We worship you.

We glorify you in Jesus' name. Amen. At www.ncfic.org where you can keep up to date on what is new, as well as find articles, videos, audio sermons, and much more at no charge. The NCFIC exists to proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture for both church and family life. You