This is the transcript of the ACTUAL radio conversation of a US naval
ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland.
Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees the South to avoid
a collision.
Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again,
divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I SAY AGAIN, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call. (Pause)
Sometimes we aren’t as big or important as we think we are. This story illustrates that if we pay attention and follow the rules, we can avoid catastrophic hazards and save ourselves much embarrassment.
This brings us to our sermon topic today “Entering In.”
How does one properly enter into the presence of almighty God?
Perhaps we should ask - Is there a proper way to enter into the presence of almighty God?
Some people think that we can just wily nilly dance into the presence of God any time we please, and that God is happy to accommodate us.
The answer to the question, “Is there a proper way to enter into the presence of almighty God?” is, “Yes there is a proper way to enter into His Majesty’s presence.”
Too often we take for granted our privileges of priesthood. Too often we try to enter the holy of holies through prayer without having first prepared ourselves to meet with God, the King of the universe.
Isn’t God greater than our political dignitaries? (Yes)
We have to go through a whole series of steps in order to get an audience with a political dignitary like a governor or the President and his cabinet, yet we think nothing of rushing into God’s thrown room of grace and plunking down our demands without any prior preparation.
Fortunately, our God is a gracious God and He is patient with His people, even when they don’t adhere to protocol. God will hear you and answer your prayers even when you aren’t properly prepared, but I must tell you that your prayers will be much more effective If you follow a few simple protocols when approaching God in prayer.
Our instruction in this matter is Psalms 24 (Last Monday’s reading) and the Lord’s Prayer.
Psalm 24: A psalm of David
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.”
When Jesus taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer, what was the first sentence?
(Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.)
The New Testament Greek word for “hallowed” is hagiazo (hag-ee-ad’-zo) which means to make holy through ceremonial purification. To be consecrated, set apart as holy unto God.
When we say “hallowed by thy name” we are recognizing the absolute holiness of God Almighty!
When God revealed his name to Moses through the burning bush He identified Himself as “I am.” In Hebrew the word for the name “I am” is “Yahweh” It’s God’s Holy Name meaning “I am the existing one.” It means “I exist and I’m the real deal!”
The name “Yahweh” was considered so holy by the Jews of Jesus’ time that they wouldn’t even say the name. Instead they would pronounce the Hebrew vowel pointings under the letters which gives us the name “Adoni.” The name “Jehovah” is the English language derivative of the Hebrew name “Yahweh.” Most modern translators translate the name “Yahweh” as “The Lord”
So, whether you say, “Yahweh,” “Jehovah,” “Adoni,” or “Lord” all four names mean the same thing, God is the great “I am” the existing one.
Listen, because I want you to get this, Jesus refers to himself as the “I am” many times in the New Testament.
Think about that for a minute. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”
So, when we pray, “hallowed by thy name” we should stop there and think about who God is. How awesome is his holiness. How great his works are. How magnificent His creation that bows before Him. How majestic, how marvelous, how wonderful He is!
He created the heavens and the earth. The heavens means the universe which is a vast expanse of space that contains all of the matter and energy in existence. The Universe contains all of the galaxies, stars, and planets. The exact size of the Universe is unknown. The largest formations of visible matter in space are galaxies. According to NASA there are billions of galaxies in space. A galaxy is made up of stars (like our sun), gasses and dust which are all held together by a mysterious force known as gravity. Most galaxies have over a billion stars (like our sun in them). The smallest galaxies are a thousand light years across and the largest are a million light years across. To give you an idea of how large a galaxy is, a light year is the distance light travels in one year. 9.5 trillion miles which is 11 zeros for you math types. Our planet is a tiny pin dot in the milky way galaxy, which, by the way, is a spiral galaxy. Our universe is huge – Yet our God spoke it into existence! “Hallowed by thy name!”
When you bow before God, you are coming before the most powerful force in the Universe and beyond.
Start with this picture of God in your mind and turn your eyes on Jesus. You’ll notice that the things of this world will grow faintly dim in the light of His glory and grace. Aman!
This is the place to start when you come before God. It puts things in perspective. It helps you to begin to recognize the shear magnitude of who God is. Oh, we can’t even begin to comprehend the magnificence and awesomeness of God, but we can and should get clear in our minds that we are approaching the Lord of the universe – the creator of heaven and earth. There is none like Him, no not one!
With this in mind, we can go on to the next step of preparation:
Psalm 24 continues with an important question;
Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
Sin separates mankind from God. Scripture tells us that God is a holy God and sin cannot dwell in his presence. Therefore, unless we have a way of removing sin from our lives, we humans cannot stand in the presence of God in His holy place. Thanks be to God, that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son died on the cross in our place and shed His blood so that we might have forgiveness of sin and be able to enter into God’s presence.
Again - Psalm 24
Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Selah
Do you have clean hands and a pure heart?
Then you may ascend the hill of the Lord.
Do you not put anything else before God? Money, pleasure, work, relationships, grudges, hobbies, bitterness, addictions, etc.?
Do you not tell lies? Do you file accurate income tax returns? Do you bring your tithes into God’s church and give joyfully?
Listen, if you call yourself a Christian and aren’t faithfully giving your tithe to the Lord, you’re living a lie, not to mention the fact that you’re missing out on God opening the windows of heaven on your finances, health and well-being.
If you’re not faithful in bringing in the tithe, don’t even think about standing in His holy place.
If you’ve been a Christian over a year and you aren’t vitally involved in the work of your church (ask yourself – what jobs do I do around here). If you don’t support your church leadership and aren’t committed to loving and serving each other, then you’re a fake! You’re like this artificial silk plant – you look good on the outside, but there’s no life in you.
Don’t even think about entering into the holy presence of the awesome, living God!
Church, God wants a pure and holy church. A church without spot or wrinkle. A church that loves God and each other and this lost and dying world.
You may be thinking, “Preach it brother – these church hopping, artificial, think that they are doing God a favor by showing up on Sunday leaches need to hear this!”
Oh, my proud brother and sister, hear the words of Jesus in Luke 6:41-46
41 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, `Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
46 "Why do you call me, `Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Do you call Him “Lord, Lord” and yet not do what He says?
(Jesus follows up with the parable of the house built on the rock and the house built on the sand – the house on the rock survives the storm, while the house built on the sand is utterly destroyed.)
Jesus is coming back church, and He is looking for a pure church.
Before you go waltzing into God’s holy throne room you need to be pure. You need to take a bath in the blood of Jesus. What can wash away your sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (What can wash away your sin? Congregation response.)
Get under the blood church, repent of you sin whatever it is. Purify yourselves, get cleaned up and then humbly enter into the holy of holies.
In Monday’s reading of 2 Chron 29:1-19 we see King Hezekiah purifying himself and his people – getting himself and his people ready once again to serve the Lord.
29:1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5 and said: "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. 6 Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the Temple entrance and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore, the anger of the LORD has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. 10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense."
(moving down to verse 15)
15 When they had assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the LORD, as the king had ordered, following the word of the LORD. 16 The priests went into the sanctuary of the LORD to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the LORD’s temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the LORD. The Levites took it and carried it out to the Kidron Valley. 17 They began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they reached the Temple entrance of the LORD. For eight more days they consecrated the temple of the LORD itself, finishing on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: "We have purified the entire temple of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles. 19 We have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz removed in his unfaithfulness while he was king. They are now in front of the LORD’s altar."
King Hezekiah recognized that the lack of blessing in his life and the life of the nation of Israel was directly related to the lack of worship to God. The temple had been closed down and God had poured out his wrath on his people with a harsh result. That’s what happens when you’re out of God’s will.
Not giving your time, talent and money to God? No wonder your life’s a mess.
A majority of a pastor’s time and attention is given to people who don’t tithe, don’t work in the church and don’t contribute anything. They are takers and not givers. They wonder around in the wilderness of distress and confusion never entering the promised land of blessing because they will not submit whole heartedly to God’s plan for their lives.
They don’t know how to enter into God’s peace because they have not followed the appropriate steps to enter into God’s presence.
King Hezekiah knew that in order to get himself and his nation back into God’s good graces, he would have to take immediate action to correct the problem. His first order of business was to call the Priests and Levites together and begin 1st to purify themselves, 2nd the Temple and then they could begin the process of purifying the nation with sacrifices and worship to God.
King Hezekiah was right on in his leadership! His devotion to God resulted in great blessing to himself and his nation.
What happens when we enter the presence of the Lord properly prepared?
Psalm 24: 5&6 says, “He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.”
That’s it church! You will receive blessing and vindication when you seek God’s face with purity of soul.
Learn to seek His face and not his hands. What do I mean by that?
Most people just look to God for a handout and never seek His face.
They’re always taking and never giving.
Seeking God’s face means that you worship Him, adore Him, honor Him.
Seeking God’s face means taking your eyes off yourself and your circumstances and giving your full attention to Him.
Seek His face church, and He will take care of your needs.
“ “ “ and He will bless you.
“ “ “ and He will visit you in power and might.
“ “and He will put the enemy to flight before you.
“ “and He will move in your behalf to save your house.
“ “ “ and He will move mountains.
“ “ “ and He will do signs and wonders among us.
“ “ “ and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 24 continues:
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty--
he is the King of glory. Selah
You want God to show up in our services with healings, signs and wonders and powerful demonstrations of His presence? Then learn to enter into His presence with humility and humbleness of heart. He is the God who inhabits the praises of His people. He is Yahweh, the great
“I am” who is present among His people.
