Bishop Wayne A. Lawson
The Word Ministries, OKC
RevWLawson@aol.com
www.thewordministryokc.com
SCRIPTURE: REVELATION 4:8
8And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
TITLE: ALREADY IN PROGRESS
Before we can understand what it means to be holy, we must understand what it means to say that God is Holy. In many ways holiness is God’s Central Attribute . One writer actually defines it this way. "Holiness is that which makes God, God." Dr. Renald Showers calls it "the foundational truth of revelation." How important is it? Holiness is the only attribute of God mentioned in Triplicate.
• Two times the Bible tells us that God is holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8)
• Think about that for a moment
• If God says something about his character once, that’s enough to settle it
• When he says it twice, that’s emphasis
• But when he says it three times, that means it’s of supreme importance
• The Bible never says that God is love, love, love or mercy, mercy, mercy, or justice, justice, justice
• But it does say that he is holy, holy, holy
We can go a step farther and say that anything is Holy that is “set apart for God.
• That’s why we call the Bible the Holy Bible - it contains the Word of God
• We call Israel the Holy Land because it is the land He chose for his own people
• The angels are holy angels because they belong to God
• The sabbath is holy because He set it apart for Himself
• And when Moses stood before the burning bush, he was told to take off his shoes because he was standing on "holy ground" - ground that God had set apart for Himself
I am always disturbed when I am in church and hear a Worship leader call the Church to Worship. Or, what I find even more disturbing is when the Praise Team begins to admonish the church for not Worshipping as if Jumping and Shouting excites God. The Premise is the Church needs to be making some noise which in turn signals that we are now in Worship. We have missed a very important ingredient when it comes to worship my brothers and sisters. When we come into the midst of the Sanctuary on Sunday Morning and transition from Praise to Worship we must understand that we are not starting Worship because according to Revelation 4:8 – it is Already In Progress.
Let me see if I can help us to understand this concept this morning. Have you ever been watching one of your favorite TV and it was interrupted or perhaps watching a sporting event that went into overtime. When the game is finally over or in case of watching your TV show that was interrupted by a news Bulletin - When the reporter has concluded or that overtime game has finished you will hear an announcer say – now to the regularly scheduled program already in progress. This tells us that we will not join the program from the beginning, we have missed that part therefore we join the program at some other point. During that Overtime Game or Breaking News Event the program was not Paused for our convenience, rather it started without us.
Well, what are you saying Preacher? I just want to let you know, whether we Worship God or not, we are informed that the Angels Worship God 24/7, so therefore, what we are doing when we enter the sanctuary, or worship at home or wherever we might be, we are not starting Worship, we are just joining in with the Angels who understand and appreciate the value of Worship, so when we get out of self and begin Worshipping God, we need to understand that we are joining worship that is – already in progress.
The holiness of God is the foundation on which the whole plan of salvation sets. If we don’t understand what holiness is, we can never know what sin is and how God relates to it. On the flip side, unless we understand the true awfulness of even the so-called smallest sin, we will not be able to appreciate the majesty and glory of God’s holiness. These days we hear a lot about the fact that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. This is true, but the trouble is we often rush over the first part of the statement to get to the second. In order to be able to appreciate the fact that God loves a sinner, we’ve got to understand how much He hates sin. Unfortunately, our attitude toward sin usually tends to be soft. Our tendency is to play with sin, to rationalize it or discount it.
• Try to Politicize it -- Want to be Politically Correct
• Try to Rationalize it -- Just Born that way
• Try to Sensationalize it -- Well, God Knows My Heart
• Try to Materialize it -- big House, Money as sign of our Spirituality
We must understand that every time we sin we are doing something that God hates. We must understand that! He hates our lustful thoughts, our pride and jealousy. He hates our outburst of temper and our situation ethics mentality. The trouble is that we have basically learned to co-exist with Sin, but in the final analysis God and sin cannot co-exist. We must pray then, that God will put into our hearts the same hatred for sin that He has. Hatred for sin then is the secret and the condition of all true holiness. We will never allow Jesus to be our complete and total Savior until we put sin in its true light. Jesus’ very name shows how God relates to sin. The angel said, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Of all things in the world, man’s heart is the hardest to clean. No soap – detergent - solvent is tough enough to clean the sin, stubbornness and stain in his heart. Cleaning, however, is similar but not identical with cleansing. Both are necessary, continual and refreshing, but cleaning has to do with things and objects, but cleansing has to do with hearts and minds. Cleaning has to do with the outside, but cleansing on the inside. Most of all, cleaning is an act of men, but cleansing is an act of God. We see this in the various offerings and sin offerings found in the Old Testament. Blood, the vehicle and emblem of life, plays a large part in the major cleansings, in which propitiation for sin, as well as the removal of ceremonial defilement takes place.
John tells us in this Book of Revelation there are - Four creatures around the throne – this is not the first time that we see these four creatures in the scripture. Ezekiel views similar creatures holding the portable throne of God in Chapter 1, and again in Chapter 10 - he sees them again and he says that he realizes that they are Cheruubim. Most artist that have painted this scene have not done their homework. The cherubs in John’s vision are huge – Awesome and Fearful beings. The Apostle John did not just see in the throne room of the universe, but he heard songs by two groups as well. He first heard the song of the four living creatures (verse 8). They sang a song about the Holy nature of God and the Eternal nature of God. The second song he heard was the twenty-four elders song of praise (verse 11). They exalted God. They sang about the Worthiness of God, and the fact that He is the Creator and He is the Sustainer.
John says, “In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.” Their eyes speak to the all seeing God they serve, their faces speak of God’s majesty, strength, wisdom, and loftiness. In Isaiah’s vision in Chapter 6, the six winged creatures use two of their wings to fly, two to cover their bodies and two to cover their faces. – even as sinless, angelic creatures they feel the need to cover themselves before the awesome holiness of God.
• So here with uncovered faces all they can say day and night is
• "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
When we learn to worship and praise God as these in the throne room do, we are focusing upon the God who has the Power and the Majesty and the desire to lift us up out of our despair and hopelessness. That’s why the four (4) living creatures cry out: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." God has always been there in the past, He’s here in the present, and He’ll be there in the future when we need Him. He’ll never leave us or forsake us, even in our darkest moments. Yes my brothers and sisters Worship is- Already in progress.
Notice the angles praise God on a continual basis. There should never be a time when we do not praise and worship the Lord.
• In Sickness – Praise Him
• In Trouble – Praise Him
• In Distress – Praise Him
• In Joy – Praise Him
The four beasts took joy and pleasure in praising and worshipping God. If there is no Joy in Praising then we can not be found in Worship. Authentic Praise and Worship recognizes that God is the center of our Adoration. Authentic Worship comes from the heart and not from the Lips. ST. JOHN 4:24 “GOD IS SPIRIT: AND THEY THAT WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.” ST. MATTHEW 15:8-9 “THIS PEOPLE DRAWETH NIGH UNTO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOURETH ME WITH THEIR LIPS; BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN THEY DO WORSHIP ME.” Just as the 24-Elders bow down to Praise and Worship the Lord. We must humble ourselves to the point where we bow before the Lord. Not only must be bow physically, we must bow spiritually. Both Praise and Worship are action words, and whenever our actions are improper, so is our Worship. Don’t misunderstand me, Holiness is not actions – but a state of being holy. No matter what you do, you can not be Holy. It is Christ in you who is Holy, which sanctifies you and transfers the Holiness upon you. Through God you are Holy, just as through God you are saved.
Worship is having a continual attitude of worship. We see the Four Living Creatures doing this in Vs. 8. You can worship God away from the church building... did you know that. You can worship God at home – car- work – with family – any place you find yourself. God is not limited only to the church building. HEBREWS 10:25 does say, “LET US NOT GIVE UP MEETING TOGETHER, AS SOME ARE IN THE HABIT OF DOING, BUT LET US ENCORUGE ONE ANOTHER – AND ALL THE MORE AS YOU SEE THE DAY APPROACHING.” There is something about gathering to worship with one another and imagine the deepness of it if we have been worshiping Him all week. It is a solemn thing to hear the Word of God saying to us in HEBREWS 12:14 “WITHOUT HOLINESS NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD.”
So my brothers and sisters, our attitude towards God must be Holy. Our actions are to speak louder than our words. If we Love Him, we must show some Signs. We don’t always ask God for anything but we should just Sing His Holiness. Why should we Worship Him?” - Because there has never been:
• A Battle That He could not Win – He is Worthy
• A Burden He could not Lift – He is Worthy
• No Disease He cannot not Heal – He is Worthy
• No Loneliness He can not Comfort – He is Worthy
• No Doubt He can not Destroy – He is Worthy
• No Problem He can not Solve – He is Worthy
• No Pain He can not Relieve – He is Worthy
-- Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God, Almighty! -- Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee; -- Holy, Holy, Holy! -- Merciful and mighty! -- God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord, God Almighty! - All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea; -- Holy, Holy, Holy! -- Merciful and mighty! -- God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
(Close)
