ONE IMPEDIMENT.

Yet, there is one problem. There is one thing which blocks men and women from receiving this unspeakable gift.

There exists an impediment to this process of experiencing this new life. There js something which bars us from receiving this life and, even if we have already received it, also inhibits us from being ever more full of this life.
This problem is called SIN.

You see, God is supremely holy. He is not just a little holy or partially holy. He is so intensely holy that a sinful person who somehow or another came into His presence would be consumed.

They would be in terrible agony. His holiness is so pure, so concentrated, so extreme that anything which was not holy could not endure His presence.

No one who is sinful can stand being anywhere near God.

God's life is holy. His life is righteous by definition. His life is as spontaneously holy as our human life is naturally sinful.

God doesn't have to try not to sin. He is not trying to resist temptation. He naturally abhors sin since it is contrary to His nature

His holiness is simply who and what He is. It is His very essence.

Of course this explains why sinners like to keep away from Him. This is the reason that they find every excuse to deny His existence.

Even the thought that God might be real already impacts the conscience of an unholy person.

To understand our God better, perhaps we could think of the analogy of the sun. The sun is actually a continual nuclear explosion.

It is so intense that we cannot look at it for more than a few seconds with unprotected eyes. Imagine then, not just looking, but coming up close to the sun.

A person would be consumed by its fiery intensity. Yet our God who created this is much greater still! He is much more powerful and the glory of His holy presence is still more intense.