Holy To Yahweh // Exodus 28:31–43

In Exodus 28:31–43, Pastor Josh Thompson explores the meaning behind the high priest’s garments and what they reveal about God’s holiness. This sermon confronts outward religion without inward transformation and shows why God must be approached with reverence. Ultimately, it points to Jesus as our perfect High Priest, who makes us acceptable before God and calls us to live set apart lives.

Series: Leaving the Darkness - Legacy City Church

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Transcript

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We're going to be in Exodus chapter 28 in our Bibles. Exodus chapter 28. We'll be covering verses 31 to 43 in our Bibles. We're working through a series through the book of Exodus I've titled Leaving the Darkness. And this is sermon number 74 through the book of 74, yes. The title of the message today, if you're taking notes, is Holy to Yahweh. While you're turning there, how about a little story? I heard of a story of this unemployed man. He was offered a job at the zoo. Their old gorilla had passed away and they could not replace it. The job was to dress up like a gorilla and entertain the visitors, and he agreed and started to work immediately. He climbed in the trees, he ate bananas, he scratched his belly, all the amusement of the people pointing and laughing at him. They loved it. One day while he climbing in, he slipped and fell right into the lion's den next to him. The old lion got up and started moving towards the confused man. He started to panic and he started yelling for help in this gorilla suit, and the lion came right up to him and said, Shut up, you idiot. You'll get us both fired. Stressed up. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to look right on the outside while something deeper can be wrong underneath on the inside? You know, we can smile but still be wary, huh? You can say, I'm good, but we're not all good. Uh you can show up to church, say the right words, sing the right songs, not at the right moments, and still carry a heart that can be cold or have be distracted or compromised, maybe just exhausted. And if we're honest, there is something in all of us that wants to be accepted by appearance. We want people to like us. Um we want to look spiritual, we want to sound mature, we want to give the impression that things are well. And sometimes we assume that if we can look the part, then uh we're good enough. But the God of our Bible, the God of creation, he is not, of course, impressed by us being polished. Uh he's not fooled by image, he's not moved by presentation, uh, he sees deeper than what other people see. He does not see as a man sees. He sees through what we project and what we perform and what we try to hide behind, and that's what's found here in Exodus 28. It matters. We see God giving theology through clothing, through garments. We see the high priest in his robe, in his garments, and what he is wearing. But it is not so much the outer showing as is important as the inward working within the high priest. For he could wear the right garments, but if the heart wasn't right, he would be struck down, dead. And that would be a reflection on the people of Israel. So God is preaching through these garments today. He's showing his people what it takes for sinful people to draw near to their holy God. We're in Exodus 28. Can we stand for the reading of God's word? We always stand for the reading of God's word here at Legacy to pay honor to him, to bless the Lord who has given us his word, to pay honor to him, to say thank you, and to remember whose word it is. Not my story, not my words, they truly belong to him. Exodus twenty-eight, starting in verse thirty-one, we will read to forty-three. This is God's word. It says, You shall make the robe of the ephod entirely blue, and there should be an opening at its top in the middle of it, around the edge of its opening, there should be a binding of woven work, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not be torn. You shall make on it a hem of pomegranates of blue, and purple and scarlet material all around on its hem, and the bells of gold between them around, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, and all around the hem of the robe. It shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he comes into the holy place before Yahweh, when he goes out, so that he will not die. You shall also make a plate of pure gold, and shall grave it on it, the engravings of the signet holy to Yahweh. You shall fasten it on the blue cord, and it shall be on the turban, it shall be at the front of the turban, it shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel set apart as holy, with regard to their holy gifts, and it shall continually be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. You shall weave the tunic of checkered work of fine linen, you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash the work of a weaver. For Aaron's sons you shall make a turn tunic, and you shall also make sashes for them, and you shall make caps for them for glory and for beauty. You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and you shall anoint them, and ordain them, and set them apart as holy, that they may minister to me as priests. You shall make for them linen garments to cover their bare flesh, and they shall reach the loins even to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tent of meeting, or when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. I shall be a perpetu it shall be a perpetual state to him and to his seed after him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word today. We thank you for the details of the garments and what they are to wear as they approach you in the holy place. So please now, God, bless us, Lord, speak to us, illuminate the text, open our eyes and our hearts and our ears that we might hear what the Spirit is saying to the church today. Manna from heaven, good for today. We ask that you would speak to us, show us your word, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. We have been working through this book of Exodus. We saw Moses lead the people out of the hands of Pharaoh, out of Egypt, out of slavery, through the Red Sea, into the promised land. He's on his way, on his journey. They've gone through the Red Sea, now transitioning into the wilderness. And there into the wilderness, Moses goes up on Mount Sinai and he gets the Ten Commandments from God, the moral law, how we are to treat and how we are to take care of each other. Then he starts to go into very specific details about society. This is how you're going to love and serve and take care of your neighbor. Then he starts going into worship and the priestly work. We see this zooming in on the tabernacle, this tent that sat in the middle of the encampment of Israel. And we've been zooming in on this tabernacle and all of the details of it. If you're just joining us, we're going to put up on the screen here the wide shot of the tabernacle. This, remember, I found in Israel about 20 years ago on a journey down to Elot, the most southern part of Israel, we stumbled upon a full-size setup of the tabernacle. And of course, we walked in there and we got to experience the whole thing. But you see the outer gates there, you see the altar is the uh where they threw the animals for the burnt offering, that square thing there, and then you see the basin where the priests would wash their hands. Then the tent, you open the tent, you walk in, table of showbread, menorah, altar of incense. Aaron the high priest is there, the holy of holies. You pull back the veil, and there is the Ark of the Covenant. And in the Ark of the Covenant, you remember is the Ten Commandments, Mana, and Aaron's rod. And uh we're gonna zoom in on the high priest today again, and we have looked at the um the thermum, we've looked at the uh the the uh the onyx on his shoulders of the twelve tribes of Israel, but today we will zoom in on the blue and and the hem of his robe, what he wears, and then we will also zoom in on the turban on his head. Here is a nice picture, a full illustrated picture of everything that would be on the high priest. And uh and so we will we'll look at this closely and we'll leave that up on the screen there, and then we'll zoom on on the turban in just a moment, uh, the hats. Uh point number one, if you're taking notes, God must be approached in holiness. Exodus 28, 31. You shall make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue. It says blue. I love the color blue. I love blue. Really, I mean, and I always wondered why, but it was like sense of what's your favorite color? And I was like, it's just blue. Like I just like blue, and I do my favorite, my very specific blue that I like is is the ocean blue. It is the it's that blue meets green, the it is the ocean color blue, and when the the sunset hits it and that thing glows, it's like uh the the iPhone made this color ocean blue one year, and uh I got that thing, and I still have the phone. I'm not selling out because I just like the color of it. Doesn't work, it's dead, but I don't care. I like the ocean blue. But the robe is entirely blue, not partly blue, not mixed with other colors entirely blue, and that matters because throughout the tabernacle, blue is associated with the heavenly realm. Points upward into the sky. It reminds the priest that what he is doing is not common, it's not casual, and it's definitely not ordinary. He is not stepping into an ordinary room to perform an ordinary task. He is entering the place where the holy God meets with his people, into the tabernacle. He puts on this blue robe which connects with the heavens. Then verse 32 says there is to be an opening in the middle of the woven binding around it so that it will not be torn. Even that little detail matters. The garments must be strong, secure, carefully made, and there will be no renting of these clothes. Around the hem of the neck, the priest isn't gonna be poking his head through and he rips the linen at the top. That's not gonna happen. And I thought it was interesting that they're gonna double, they're gonna double weave this thing around the neck to make sure that it cannot be torn. This is the this is the Holy of Holies garment. This is the priestly garment that he wears when he goes in on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Carefully made, there will be no renting of these clothes. Then in verse 33 and 34, it says, You shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, and the bells of gold between them all around, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate. I love that God literally has Moses write down golden bell, pomegranate, golden bell, pomegranate. Don't you dare go, pomegranate, bell, bell, pomegranate. That's not what I said. I said, pomegranate bell, pomegranate bell. The details. I almost titled the message Bells and Pomegranates, but I couldn't get there. I could the picture is great, but it doesn't necessarily say everything that I wanted to say. So holy to the Lord, holy to Yahweh is better. You'll see why. But all the way around the hem, what are we meant to see in these bells and pomegranates? The bells would sound as Aaron moved, he would jingle. His entrance into the Holy of Holies would be heard. There would be an audible testimony to his movement before God. The priest would not bargain into God or barge into God's presence casually or thoughtlessly. Coming in exactly as he has said. And the pomegranates most likely symbolize fruitfulness, fullness, abundance, life, fruit. They're beautiful. They're not there by accident. We I planted a pomegranate tree last year and I got one pomegranate this year. This last year. It was great, beautiful. Really, really bright red on the inside. You get it on your fingers, it'll stain everything. They're beautiful. They added beauty, the same color as beets. Have you juiced a beet recently? So rich. The best thing for you to clean your whole blood, all of it. My grandma used to cook them and eat them. And I'm like, grandma, what are you doing? Now I get it. These things add beauty, but they also had meaning. God's servants was not to be hurt, not only to be heard, but to bear the mark of life of fruitfulness. So taken together, there's a picture here. This is this it sounds right, it's bearing fruit. It's a life that is sounding and entering into God's presence. And it is a life ultimately that bears fruit, a life that approaches God in his way. But there's also something else there. Verse 35 points it out, the weight of this, it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he comes into the holy place before Yahweh, and when he goes out, so that he will not what? Die. The bells are there ringing true. It says that he will not die. And there it is. This is life and death. This is not just religious decoration. God is teaching Israel that he must be approached in holiness and in reverence. And those bells shaking were telling the people outside he's still alive. And if he's still alive, then that means that they are still alive. But if that high priest dies and God does not accept the offering, guess what? He is going to crush the people, he's going to judge the people. It meant that no one strolls casually into the presence of God. The priest had to come in God's way, clothed as God commanded, ministering as God prescribed. Because the God he was approaching was infinitely holy. We've been talking about this theme through the tabernacle over and over and over again. I can't emphasize it enough how holy and awesome God is. If he treated the holy things lightly, if he came carelessly, if he presumed upon God's presence, he would die. I think because we can just walk into God's presence so freely today, we don't consider the weight of what the priest was experiencing when he was going into the presence of God. God will strike you dead. And we actually see it in the Old Testament. God actually does strike people dead when they have done it wrong. And that may sound severe to modern ears, but that is because we have such a light view of holiness and such a soft view of sin. The problem is not that God is too serious about holiness, the problem is that we are not serious enough. And sadly, a lot of the young generation are looking for a more holy church. That's why they're going off to the Orthodox Church and to Catholicism because the modern church of today has become so relax in their approach to God. Jesus is my homeboy. No, he's not. R.C. Sproul said it well, the holiness of God is not simply the best we know infinitely better. It is other, it is different. It is beyond us. It is beyond what we know. It is not what we know infinitely better, it is beyond what we know infinitely better. It means God is not changed at all. Hebrews 12, 28, therefore, since we receive a kingdom by which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. The fear of the Lord, fearing God, is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom. And I do think we need a bit more fear of God in our church and in our nation. There's a whole movement that was so nervous to preach that we should fear God. Because maybe there were a lot of bad fathers in the world. And so we don't want to have that abusive, angry God in the sky. That's not who he is. We can have reverence and honor and glory and see him as holy, and that is a good thing. Instead of just strolling into his presence and you know kicking your feet up on his throne, we can actually bow down and worship him. Did you know that? You can go to your knees, you can lay your hands out. What do you mean? It's not awkward. That is the posture before God. If you ever stand before him, and you will, I promise you, that will be your posture very quickly. Oh, come let Psalm 95. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. He is still holy. He is still not to be approached casually, He is still worthy of reverence and honor. Do you guys want me to put on the robe with the bells and the pomegranates to come in here? You'd be like, oh wow, uh Josh is dead serious, man. I'll grow the beard out to here for you. You can't see me smile anymore, you know? Y'all be scared to death of me, no doubt. When I grow the beard even out to here, I'm telling you, I walk around on the streets, people move out of the way when they see me. This guy is like, he's just intense. I already forget to tell my face a smile. I have to work on it. And so I'm telling you, when that beard comes out and the robe comes out and the jingles start happening, this place will change very quickly. How can I how can I compel you towards making God holy and having reverence for Him, and I get to remain casual at the same time? How do I do it? The heart posture must be right, church. We can come in in shorts and flip-flops, that's fine. Let the heart posture be a thousand percent. You're holy, you're awesome. When the worship starts, it's time to worship our God. It's not time to mess around. When the word of God opens, Lord, speak to me, your servant is listening. The New Testament makes plain that we do not come to God by inventing our own approach. We do not come by sincerity alone. We do not come by effort, we don't come by morality, nope. We come through Jesus. He said what? John 14, 6, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. When we enter into worship, when we enter into his word, when we enter into the tabernacle, we enter into the temple, we come in through the Lord Jesus. We approach our King and we enter in through Him. So anytime you approach God, remember you're walking and meeting face to face with the Lord Jesus. Say thank you. Be grateful. Bless your King. Kiss His hand. Kiss His feet. There is no spiritual backdoor into the presence of God. We apply it by remembering that God is not impressed with this outward religion if the heart is far from him. Some people have bells without pomegranates, you know? They make spiritual noise, they say the right things, they know the right words, they can sound mature, but there's little fruit in their life. Little tenderness, little holiness and transformation. Others can have the pomegranates without bells. Their lives are, you know, decent, they're quiet, they're respectable, but there is no clear testimony to Christ, no confession of him, no boldness, no audible love for his name. But God wants both. Really, that life that speaks, a life that bears fruits, a life that approaches him in reverence. A.W. Pink said, a holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they only shine. Lighthouses. They shine. Matthew 15, 8. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Isaiah 29, 13, therefore the Lord said, These people draw near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are very far from me. They worship the their worship of me is but rules taught by men. God doesn't care about the rules. Don't you get it? He cares about the heart. If he gets your heart, he's got all the rules. If you go after the rules and law keeping, you never get the heart. If you go after the heart, you get both. If you love me, you obey my commands. I love you, Lord. I love to obey your commands. Ezekiel 33 31. So my people come to you as usual, sit before you and hear your words, but they do not put them in practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain. We gotta ask ourselves, does my life actually reflect the God I claim to worship? Do I approach worship casually and rev or reverently? Now do I treat holy things lightly? Am I more concerned with appearing spiritual than actually being holy internally? If God must be approached in holiness, and we are not holy in ourselves, then how could this Israel, this people, ever be accepted? And how could any sinner ever survive in the presence of our holy God? Point number two God provides holiness through a holy one. Praise God. Exodus 28, verse 36. You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it like the engravings of a signet, holy to Yahweh. We come to the high point of this section. A plate of pure gold, engraved like a signet, place at the front of the turban right on the forehead. We're gonna put the priest up there. There he is. You see that gold plate on his head? That says holy to Yahweh. Holy to the Lord. And it was solid gold. And it was engraved. Can you imagine walking around with a gold P a gold crown on your head that just says, holy to the Lord? It's kind of scary, huh? Like I don't know if I want to put that on. I'm gonna be holy to the Lord. Eee! Can't put that on my head. Holy to Yahweh on your forehead. That's a declaration, man. That's a message. That is the whole point of the priestly ministry summed up in one line. Like it is the statement, it is the motto, it is the declaration. When he walks up, it's like this guy, holy to the Lord. Verse 37 says it is fastened by a blue cord and placed at the front of the turban. In other words, it's not hidden, it's not tucked away, it's not discrete, it's fully visible front and center. It's the first thing you see when you see the high priest. I can't even, it says it in Hebrew, but if you saw it in English, like the dude walks up, like here we go. I walk out here, I got my jingles, and it just literally says a giant band on my head, holy to the Lord. It's like, oh my gosh. Like I'd be nervous putting that on in the back room and trying to come out here. You know what I mean? Verse 38 explains why it should be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things with the sons of Israel set apart as holy with regard to their holy gifts, and it shall continually be on, continually, continually, continually be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Yahweh. It's one of the most glorious lines in the chapter. The people brought their gifts, they brought their sacrifices, they brought what God had commanded, but even their holy things needed atonement. And their offerings were touched by sin, their worship was imperfect, their best was defiled. Aaron, as their high priest, bore that iniquity so that they might be accepted before Yahweh. Their acceptance before God did not ultimately rest on the perfection of the people. It rested on the priest God had appointed to represent them before Him. Verse 39 through 41 remind us that not only Aaron, but his sons are also clothed in tunics, sashes, and caps for glory and for beauty. They're anointed, ordained, and they're set apart, sanctified, set apart as holy to minister as priests. And it meant that Israel needed a holy priest to stand for them, their worship, their offerings, their approach to God, all of it required mediation. They could not simply wander into God's presence on their own terms. They needed someone appointed by God, marked as holy, to bear their guilt and be their representative before God. The words holy to Yahweh on Aaron's forehead meant that he belonged to God and that he ministered on behalf of the people in a way that God would actually accept. He was embodying all the people and he was trying to do this single right act for all of the people. It points, of course, directly to the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, our high priest who did this for us. The high priest Aaron was not the final answer. Aaron was a shadow, right? Jesus is the real thing. Hebrews 7, 26, for it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. That's our priest. Jesus does not merely wear holiness on a plate across his forehead, he is holy in his very being, perfectly, complete, and eternal. 2 Corinthians 5.21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus was wearing this gold crown holy to the Lord spiritually, as he was wearing the crown of thorns physically. Think of that. There is a high priest making atonement, wearing a crown of thorns physically, what you visibly see, but spiritually it says holy to Yahweh. There he is, entering in, making atonement, the representative for the people, for us. And we are not holy, but he is, praise God. This is the gospel, this is the good news. He bears our guilt, he carries our shame and our iniquity, he represents us before God, and through him we are accepted before Yahweh. This picture is seen in Zechariah chapter 3 by a high priest named Jeshua. Some translations call him Joshua. Zechariah chapter 3, verse 1, it says this: Then the angel showed me Jeshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and the accuser, Satan, was there at the angel's right hand making accusations against Jeshua. And the Lord said to Satan, I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you, Satan. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire. Jeshua's clothing was filthy as he stood before the angel, the high priest, his robe. So the angel said to the others standing there, Take off his filthy clothes. And turning to Jeshua, he said, See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these new fine linen clothes. Then he said, They should also be placed, they should also place a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by. Then the angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Jeshua and said, This is what the Lord of heaven's army says if you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here. Listen to me, O Joshua the High Priest, and all the other priests. You are symbol of the things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant the branch, the high priest. And he clothed him in new robes. Isn't that beautiful? Hidden in Zechariah chapter 3. Can't even remember reading that. I've read it, but I can't remember reading that. That is salvation. Not self-improvement, not moral polishing of our exterior, not spiritual cosmetics. Look at how great I am. God removes guilt and clothes of sinners and he gives them clothes of righteousness. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, My hope lives not because I'm not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died. I belong to Jesus. And that's where my hope is found. The way we apply this is by stopping our endless attempts to make ourselves acceptable to God. We gotta stop. You're already accepted. So just get on loving Him and worshiping Him and walking with Him. You don't have to earn anything, it's already done. Jesus did it already. He's the high priest, He's got the Holy Holy to the Lord. He's got it all finished. It's done. You just get to enjoy. I call it the grace jacuzzi. You know what I mean? The grace jacuzzi. You just got to get in and enjoy. Water's nice, it's really nice. We're always trying to work. Always trying to work. And that's a heart posture, huh? It's so interesting. It's literally just one click to the left and we're off. We're doing it for our own. It's one click back to the right. I just want to do it because I love you. Because I'm thankful for what you've done in my life. Some people live under constant spiritual exhaustion because they're always trying to clean themselves up enough for God to receive them. They think if they pray enough, serve enough, improve enough, cry enough, promise enough, then maybe God will accept them, but that's not the gospel. Calvin said we are not righteous in ourselves, but only because Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. So we've got to stop looking within for the holiness that can only be found in Christ. We don't need to rest in our performance. Let's not measure our standing with God by our latest week or our latest failure or your latest success. Look to your high priest. It's done. It is finished. Tetalesti. You do not need a slightly improved version of yourself. You need a perfect representative. And if that is the case, it's already been finished. That is exactly what God provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm trusting Christ's righteousness for my own effort, and I'm resting in his finished work. Living as though acceptance depends not on me, but on him. We will either live in pride or despair. Pride when we think we are doing well enough. Despair when you know you're not, but the gospel frees you from both. As we fix our eyes on Jesus, we're literally freed from both. Pride and despair. Because it's not about us. It's about him and what he's done. And you're free. Now go live life in that abundantly. Our last section, point three. God calls his people to live as those set apart to him. This is verse 42 and 43. You shall make for them linen garments, undergarments to cover their bare flesh that they reach from the loins even to the thighs. Now, at first glance, this may feel like the least important part of the whole chapter, linen garments. Um why end there? It matters because God is teaching something essential under the robe. When when no one what no one else sees matters, God is still looking at the heart. Verse 30 43 says, And they shall be on Aaron and his sons, and they come into the tent of meeting when they approach the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a perpetual state to him and to his seed after him. So there again is the language of life and death. And this matters, the hidden garments, there is hidden garments, this underwear, this hidden garments that they wear under the robe. The pagan priests of the nation were often marked by sensuality, exposure, uh, fleshly display, but Yahweh's priests were to be marked by purity, modesty, order, and holiness. And it meant that God's priests were to be set apart in every way, including what is hidden from the public view. They were not free to divide life into public holiness and private carelessness. They were consecrated men. Consecrated touched even the unseen places of their lives. It literally gives this description of these undergarments that go from their waist all the way down to their thighs, that there is something covering them under their garments, so lest they never be exposed. And God was very specific about this. The same essential principle stands today that God sees what no one else sees. 1 Samuel 6, 7, 17, for God sees not as a man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart. 1 Peter 1 15, but like Yahweh, the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in your conduct, because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. Think about this. The priest could have just not worn the undergarments, and nobody would have known. He's got the robe on, he's got all the garbs on and all this stuff. But no, when he's getting ready to go into the most holy place, he will put on the undergarments required by God, the garments that only God will see. God is looking deeper into the uniform, into the garments, and he says, You're gonna wear this, and that is a sign to me that you're set apart, that you care about what I care about. We've got to care about our conduct and what's going on under the garments. Not just what people see, not just your church conduct, not just your public conduct, not just your ministry conduct, it's all of it. That means holiness is not merely what happens in front of people, it's what happens when no one is looking, it's what you tolerate in secret, it is what you excuse in private, it's what you entertain in your mind, it's how you act when the lights are off and the room is empty and no one knows but God. That's exactly what this is. No one would know except God. And God is requiring that of the priest as he walks into the tabernacle, and only God would know if he was wearing the undergarments or not. And if he wasn't wearing those undergarments, guess what? He'd be struck dead. It's life and death. We apply it. We apply this by taking our private holiness seriously. If you belong to Christ, then holy to the Lord is not just a truth about your standing, it becomes the pattern of your life. Again, I love the Lord and I want to obey his commands and I want to reflect holiness. Trust me, you can't be perfect even if you try. But I hope that your aim is to become more holy because he is holy. And that there the Holy Spirit is active inside of you, and that your conscience is screaming to you and says, I cannot do that thing. My name is Joseph, and I will not do that with Potiphar's wife, even if she accuses me. He holds the line. John Owen said, Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. It's strong, but it's true. There's no neutral zone in the Christian life. Sin is not sleeping, it's coming after us. Temptation, it's not passive. The flesh does not retire. It's amazing. I remember asking, I was like 20 years old. I remember asking like a 70, 75-year-old guy, said, Does it get easier up there? You know, and this he said, Absolutely not. I'm like, ah, I'm doomed. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ, who's providing a way of escape and has given me his Holy Spirit. The same spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives in you, Romans chapter 8, verse 11. There is no neutral zone. The believer must take holiness serious. I'm telling you, as you do, the fruit just starts pouring from your life. Not because I have to, but because I love the Lord. And I want to do what is right. Sin destroys my relationship. Sin tears down the fruitfulness of my life. It's a cancer that eats away at the tree. God, rip this from my life. The believer must take holiness seriously. You who are in private is who you are before God. And that is a needed word in the world obsessed with the image in our exterior. We know how to manage perception. We know how to show what we want to be seen and hide what we do not want to be exposed. But the crazy thing is, God sees the undergarments. He's always seen it. And he rewards those based upon those things, those who diligently seek him. And so when we walk in that way, we step outside of the flow of God's blessing. It's pouring out, no doubt. It hasn't stopped. We're stepping away from it. God's not strolling through our lives one day at a time. He just sees the whole thing. We've got to ask ourselves, what does my hidden life look like? What compromises have I let go that no one else knows? Am I pursuing holiness in the private places? Am I treating sin lightly because it's secret? Because the Lord who clothes us, he also calls us to be set apart. And why does he want to do that? Because he wants to hurt you? He wants to mess up your party? Oh no. He wants to give you pleasures forevermore. At my right hand are pleasures forevermore. He wants to bless us, right? And we've experienced that before, those seasons when you're walking in holiness, not because you have to, because you want to, and you just can't believe the abundance of fruit and what God's doing in your life. You feel free. And we've experienced seasons of just being in the mud, tearing people down into all the negative, all the filth, all the sin, all the lust, all the hatred, all the anger, all the things. It just feels terrible. God doesn't want that for us, He wants the best for us. Holiness is happiness. It's really true. God must be approaching this holiness. It leads us straight to Christ. So I want to close with this. Are you still trying to dress yourself up before God? Perform, manage the outside, trying to carry what only Jesus can carry for you. That's the best part. You don't even have to come in trying to look holy. You just come in as you are. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. The man fell on his knees and beat his chest. And Jesus said, God hears that prayer. One day every mask will be gone, every image will fall away, every performance will end, and what matters is not how spiritual we appeared, but whether or not we were clothed in Christ. If everyone around you is expecting you and looking to you to be this giant external figure, but internally, you know you can't do that. But you're being honest before God. You're just coming to Him with your broken pieces. Christ honors that far more than this perfect external image. Those who try to project the perfect external image will fall the hardest. And I've seen it in the church too many times. So it's far easier for me to say, I am a sin I am the chief of sinners, my friends. Saved by grace, I will fail you every single time. Christ will never fail you. I try to dress nice for you. I try to look okay, but that's not what it's about. Who really cares? What's important is our posture before Christ. Amen. Galatians 3 27, for all of you who were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ. Now in Jesus' name, walk in it. We're going to pray and close. And we're actually going to have a time of prayer this Sunday. Ben and the band are going to come on stage. We're just going to sing a couple worship songs as we close, and we're going to lift the needs of the church. We're going to ask you to come forward. We'll have the leadership of the church. Stand up here. We want to pray for your needs. We want to lift your needs to the Lord. We've left some time here at the end of the service to do so. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer now. Father, we worship you in this place and we thank you for the work that you're doing in us. So happy that you don't judge us on our external, but that you actually look at the heart, and that's all that you've always wanted. Because we can't look perfect. As much as the society wants to look perfect, you're so much more concerned about the heart. And so, Lord, we come back to the heart of worship. It's all about you. And we're sorry, Lord, for the things we've made it. I pray for everyone in this place, both The person may be visiting, coming in here, trying to figure out what's going on here, that they would see the work of the Lord Jesus. They would turn to him with all of their heart. They would call upon him to be saved. They would say, God, forgive me of my sins. I believe in your death, burial, and resurrection, and I want to follow you from this day forward. I'm turning away from living a sinful life, and I'm going to turn to you with all of my heart in this moment. God, anyone who's prayed that prayer in this place, would you save them? Would you forgive them? Would you help them raise them to new life? And I pray for every mature believer in this place. God, that you would help us to cut out the sin of our lives and that we would be holy set apart to you for your glory. We need your help. We can't do it on our own. Forgive us for trying to act like we can do it. That we would fully surrender and throw ourselves upon you. And that is where the great, beautiful work begins. We love you, Lord. Holy to the Lord, holy to Yahweh, the banner on our heads. We give our lives to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.