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OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD Based on Psa. 99:1f By Pastor Glenn PeaseEverett Fullam was in Libera in 1969 when the two Americans, Armstrong andAldin walked on the moon. He told the Gheo tribe chief this was happening, and theold man looked up to the moon and said, "There's nobody up there." He soundedangry and added, "Besides, that is not big enough for two people to stand on." Hehad no conception of the size of the moon. The result is, he could not feel the awe of those who knew the wonder of what was taking place.If you have a small view of reality, you will have a small view of the God whocreated it. That is why the Psalms are so full of the marvel and wonder of creation.The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.David gazes into the vast wonder of the universe and asks, "What is puny man thatyou are mindful of him? The more you grasp the magnitude of creation, the moreyou will gasp at the majesty of the God who made it.Astronomy is one of the greatest aids to worship, and when we study it in theBible we will see why it is that most astronomers are people who believe in God.Awe is an aid to faith. It is hard for an astronomer to think small and believesomething so vast and orderly can be an accident with no mind behind it. ThisPsalm we are looking at doesn't even soar into space. It stops earth bound, and stillit deals with a God who is truly awesome. He is awesome, not because of Hiscreation and what He has done, but because of His character, and what He is. He is,says David in this unique song, Holy, Holy, Holy. This is called the Holy, Holy, HolyPsalm because God's Holiness is the chorus that concludes each of the threedivisions of this Psalm.Verse 3 ends, He is holy.Verse 5 ends, He is holy.Verse 9 ends, our God is holy.This is the only Psalm where God is called holy three times. Keil & Delitzch, thegreat Old Testament scholars, call it Song And Praise Of The Thrice Holy One.There is no other attribute of God that is used like His holiness. In Isa. 6:3 theSeraphs around the throne of God call out, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the LordAlmighty." In Rev. 4:8 the Living Creatures never stop saying these words aroundthe throne of God: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." In both the Oldand the New Testaments we have this triune chant.God is love, but you never find it anywhere as a chant like-love, love, love is theLord God Almighty. God is light, but no where is there such a song as-light, light,light is the Lord God Almighty. You will look in vain to find any other of theattributes of God used in this triune way. God is an awesome God, and nothing
 
makes this more clear than His holiness.Many of you have seen the movie Raiders Of The Lost Ark. You saw in theconclusion a marvelous manifestation of the holiness of God. When the Germansoldiers dared to open the ark of the Lord-that ark that sat in the holy of holies forcenturies, and where no man but the high priest dared enter but once a year-thelight of God's awesome presence came out of that ark and melted them like a laserbeam would melt and ice cream cone. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almightywould have been an appropriate song to sing after that film.God's holiness means He is separated from all He has made. He is elevated aboveall that is finite and imperfect. He is in a different category of reality, and unless Hewills it not to happen, anything or anyone that comes into His presence will bedisintegrated, for anything that is not holy cannot exist in the presence of Hisholiness. God is a consuming fire, and your chances of getting to the center of thesun are greater than getting into the literal presence of the holiness of God. Heb.12:14 says, "Without holiness no one will see the Lord." That is why you will findwords like tremble and shake in the context of dealing with the holiness of God.This Psalm has many good points. I came up with a great outline for a six pointsermon:1. The Affirmation of His Reign.2. The Adoration of His Fame.3. The Accomplishment of His Aim.4. The Authenticity of His Claim.5. The Authority of His Blame.But I am going to take just one point for our focus, and that is:6. THE AWESOMENESS OF HIS NAME.The name of God stands for who He is, that is, His character. It is awesomebecause God is holy. That is the essence of this song, and our grasp of this is a keyfactor in our worship of God. The more we can grasp the holiness of God, the morewe can worship Him in spirit and in truth. Everything God is, is holy. His love isholy; His power is holy; His mercy is holy, and His justice is holy. We could go onand on, for His Spirit is the Holy Spirit. There is nothing about God that is notholy, which means totally transcendent and above all else in the quality of His being.Because the holiness of God is so different, it is mysterious and almost impossible toexplain. It is more easily conveyed to the emotions than to the intellect.We all know to some degree what it is to be afraid of the mysterious. Iremember the radio program that was popular when I was a kid. It was calledInner Sanctum. I loved to listen as that squeaky door would open and set theatmosphere for a scary story. Inner Sanctum means within the holy. The holy andscary are linked, for man is fearful of the holy. It deals with dreadful and awfulthings that are beyond the control of his mind and body, for the holy issupernatural. We are pulled toward the holy like a magnet drawing us and
 
attracting our soul, but at the same time we are repulsed by it, and we tremble andshake in fear. The holy is a paradox, for we love it and fear it at the same time.Kids love to gather around the campfire and tell ghost stories, and yet they shiverand scream and have nightmares because of them. This love-hate feeling about theholy is just what we see in the Bible. Rudolf Otto, who wrote the most famous bookon the subject, The Idea Of The Holy back in the 1950's wrote this:"The feeling of it may at times come sweeping likea gentle tide, pervading the mind with a tranquilmood of deepest worship. It may pass over intoa more set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing,as it were, thrillingly vibrant and resonant, until atlast it dies away and the soul resumes its profane,non-religious mood of everyday experience. It mayburst in sudden eruption up from the depths of thesoul with spasms and convulsions, or lead to thestrangest excitements, to intoxicated frenzy, totransport and to ecstasy. It has its wild and demonicforms and can sink to an almost grizzly horror andshuddering. It has it crude barbaric antecedents andearly manifestations, and again it may be developedinto something beautiful and pure and glorious. Itmay become the hushed, trembling, and speechlesshumility of the creature in the presence of-whom orwhat? In the presence of that which is a mysteryinexpressible and above all creatures."In a nutshell, any scary feeling due to a sense of the presence of the supernaturalis an experience of the holy. The old Negro spiritual says, "Were you there whenthey crucified my Lord? Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble."That is a description of experiencing the holy. It is an awesome feeling of being inthe presence of mystery, and that is scary because it cannot be grasped by the mind.Maybe some of you have tried to imagine what it is like to be dead, and for you tonot be in the world, and it is a scary and awesome thought, and your mind cannotresolve it, and your emotions feel strange. You are confronting the holy, the worldof mystery that is scary because it does not fit into our categories of reality. Theholy puts us on the borderline between a reality we can grasp, and one that isbeyond our grasp. We are attracted to that reality, but also fearful of it, for to crossthat border is to enter the twilight zone and be insane from the point of view of thenormal. A holy roller is one who has crossed the border and cares not for physicalreality, for his soul has gone crazy with emotions that are powered by his experienceof the holy.All of this stuff is scary, and so we prefer to keep our comfort zone well awayfrom the holy. We feel far more comfortable with the non-holy. That is not
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