God isn't really
something to worship. He's just waiting to
destroy all of us. I guess there's a God
out there somewhere. I hope there is a God. God isn't really
something to worship. God is everywhere. Yes, he is everywhere, and
we're glad that he is everywhere and we're glad that
you are here today. And we're glad if you're
not only in the building, but if you're outside
viewing this we want to-- don't we want to
welcome them outside. They're sitting outside. Our way of saying
you're a part of us, as well as those who
are joining us online. Would you please
turn in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 6? We are working our way through
a great series on the character and nature of God. It's called 2020
Seeing Truth Clearly. We're going to be looking
at the great teachings of the scripture regarding
God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, et cetera. And we've been considering
some of God's attributes, one of which is highlighted
in Isaiah chapter 6. I suppose if ever there were
a religious sounding word, it would be the word
holy or holiness. When people hear the term,
they think of church stuff. I grew up seeing in my church
something known as holy water, and I think as a kid I, kind
of, walked around it because it just sort of spooked me. What is that all about? Holy water. And then when I was
8 years old, they put me through my
first holy communion. And then when people
grow older, they go through the ritual sometimes
known as holy matrimony. And some want to go
take a tour of Israel, but they say I'm going to
go visit the holy land. And we even worship someone
called the Holy Spirit. Now that word to some people
is a funny sounding word simply because most people
don't get it. They don't understand
the meaning of it, and/or they don't like it. There was a minister
who was at a yard sale, and there was a
lawn mower for sale. So he bought it. It was a good price. The guy said it worked. The minister took it home,
made sure gas was in it. The spark plug was in it. pulled the cord, it didn't work. Pulled it again, didn't
work, didn't work. Finally, the minister
went back to the yard sale and said to the man who
sold it to him, look, I paid good money
for this thing, and the lawnmower doesn't work. And the man who sold
it to him said, well, that's because you have to
curse for this thing to work. And the minister
look to him and said, don't you know I'm a minister? I'm a pastor. I'm a man of the cloth. He says I don't even remember
how to curse anymore. And the man smiled
and said just keep pulling that rope reverend. It'll come back to you. All of us are capable of
saying things that are not good or doing things that are
wholesome, but by God's grace, on the other hand,
we can do things that are awesome all because
of one trait of God, holiness. I know it's an
odd sounding word. In fact, one author said
the word conjures up images in his mind, words
like thinness or gauntness, hollow eyes, beards, sandals,
long robes, stone cells, no sex, no jokes, hair, shirts,
frequent cold baths, fasting, long hours of prayer,
wild, rocky deserts, getting up at 4:00 in the
morning, clean fingernails, stained glass, self-humiliation. Now those are images
that some of us carry with us when we
hear the word holy. I'll prove it to you. There's three words
in that little list that make us think of somebody,
beards, sandals, long robe. You think of Jesus. That's how we picture them. That's holy. If you were to try to picture
Jesus for a moment with faded blue jeans, a mustache,
riding a Harley that might not be able to
be something you could do, because you have the idea in
your mind of what he look like. We are in Isaiah chapter 6,
and I draw your attention to verse 1. "In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a
throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his
robe filled the temple. Above it stood Seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face,
with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another
and said holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
full of his glory. And the posts of
the door were shaken by the voice of
him who cried out, and the house was
filled with smoke. So I said, 'woa is
me, for I am undone, because I am a man
of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts.' Then one of the Seraphim
flew to me having in his hand a live coal with
which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth
with it and said, 'behold this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken
away and your sin purged.' Also I heard the voice
of the Lord saying, 'whom shall I send, and
who will go for us?' And then I said, 'here am I! Send me.'" There is another passage
parallel to this one. I'm going to read just a
couple versus, because you need to hear it in the
context of what we just read. It is revelation chapter
4, another vision seen by a different man by the
name of John, not Isaiah, but it's similar. In Revelation 4, John
writes "after these things I looked and behold, a door
standing open in heaven. The first voice which I heard
was like a trumpet speaking with me saying come up here,
and I will show you things which must take place after this.'"
Now we are told as we keep reading that immediately John
was in the spirit and he saw a throne, and one seated
upon the throne with a bright appearance of jasper
and sardias stone. There was a rainbow like an
emerald around that throne, and there were 24
thrones around it with 24 elders and four living
creatures, angelic beings. I'm picking it up again
in Revelation 4:8. "The four living creatures
each having six wings were full of eyes
around and within, and they do not rest
day or night saying holy, holy, holy, Lord God
almighty who was and is and is to come." God is holy. I call God's holiness his
most unpopular attribute, because most of us would rather
not dwell on God's holiness. There's other
characteristics that are far more attractive
Like his love, his mercy, his compassion, his
presence, his power. His holiness is a
little daunting to us, and for some it even bothers. However, holiness is God's
most noted attribute. Now listen to this. Of all the things God
is called in scripture, he is called holy most often. In the book of Isaiah
alone, 30 times the prophet refers to God as The
Holy One, The Holy One-- not the merciful one, not
the compassionate one, The Holy One. And all told, the Bible uses
the word holy 637 times. Only twice is it repeated back
to back three times, holy, holy, holy. That's Isaiah 6 and
revelation chapter 4. But notice that it's
not love, love, love. It's not mercy, mercy, mercy. It's not grace, grace, grace. It's not wrath, wrath, wrath. It's not justice,
justice, justice. It is holy, holy, holy. Now as we go through
this passage, there are four ways in
which God's holiness should affect us. And the first is just
understanding its meaning. Holiness means separation. Now we are told in verse
1, it says "in the year King Uzziah died
I saw the Lord." You say is that an important
piece of information to have in the year
that King Uzziah died? Well, if your name is Uzziah,
it is, or if you're Mrs. Uzziah, it's a pretty monumental year. Or if you're one of the little
Uzziah's running around, this a big deal. What you need to
know is King Uzziah who was the King of Judah
at the time had been raining on the throne of Israel
politically for 52 years, and they were for the most part
52 good years, godly years. The people felt stabilized. They felt good. As long as a good and godly
King was on the throne, it's almost like God would
give them a pass, right. They have a good
and godly leader. Everything's good. I suppose it's how people
feel knowing that there is a Christian in
the White House or a Christian on
Downing Street if you're in England or a Christian prime
minister like in Australia. The people feel, well,
as long as he or she's in that position,
we're good to go. And maybe even Isaiah the
prophet felt like that until the King died. After 52 years of being in
office, King Uzziah died. Now Isaiah being
a prophet knowing that the condition of
the nation of Judah was already deteriorating-- that's evidenced by
chapter 5 of this book-- the fact that now is dead
this prophet would have had these thoughts. Oh, no, we're sunk. Now the throne is empty. Who is going to
lead our nation now? There is no one on
the throne of Israel. So in the year the
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
seated on his throne. It's important to remember that. When the world seems
dark around you, when your country
seems crazy around you, when it's confusing on
the earthly scale, when things are really terrible,
listen, God is not panicked. He's not sweating. He doesn't ring his hands. He doesn't say, oh, no. God is on the throne. He's still got it covered. He's occupying the throne. As we like to say
around here, God rules the universe
with his feet up. It's easy for him, no sweat. In fact, Isaiah 66 God
says, heaven is my throne, and Earth is my footstool. There he is, feet up. This is one of the reasons
why doing what we're doing now is so important. Gathering together for worship
is such an important thing, because one thing it does is
it adjusts our perspective. We get enough bad
news out there. We hear it all day long. And in hearing it all day
long, it skews reality. So we need to get our
perspective adjusted. We hear enough woes
about the virus and about the economic freefall and the
wearing a mask, et cetera. We need to get our perspective
right and corrected. So look at the message here. The angel cries out
holy, holy, holy. Let's get a grip on
what that word means. The Hebrew word is [HEBREW],, and
it sounded like this [HEBREW],, holy, holy, holy. The word [HEBREW] means to
cut, literally to cut off or to be cut off. So the idea of holiness is
to be cutoff, to be separate or to be separated or to
be in a class of your own, to be utterly unique,
to be totally singular. It is a term given
to God in particular, but you also know that other
things and other people are called holy. You can have ordinary objects,
but if you cut them off and separate them
for a special use, they become by virtue
of that use holy. Example, in the
Old Testament there was a tent structure
that they worshipped at known as the tabernacle. And in the Tabernacle
were priests, were implements that were used. There were clothing
that was worn. There were dishes and
utensils that were employed, and they were called holy. I'm going to read to you out
of a passage of scripture in exodus 40. God tells Moses "you shall
set up the court all around and hang up the screen
on the court gate. And you shall take
the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle
and all that is in it. And you shall-- here's
the word, hallow, hallow means make holy-- you shall hallow it and all its
utensils, and it shall be holy. You shall anoint the altar
and the bird offering and all its utensils and
consecrate the altar. The altar shall be
most holy, and you shall anoint the laver and
the bass and consecrate it. Then you shall bring
Aaron and his sons to the door of the
tabernacle of meeting and wash them with water, and
you shall put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him
and consecrate him that he might minister to my people." So you've got
clothing called holy. You have articles that are used
in the tabernacle called holy, and it's not like they glowed
in the dark or anything. It's not like you
went in the room, and they just, kind of, hovered. Oh, those are the holy things. They were ordinary
things cut off, separated and used for one purpose only. Therefore, they are called holy. And when you think
of God's holiness if you want a better definition,
call it God's otherness or God's apartness. It is us acknowledging
that God is utterly unique and no thing and no
one comes close to him. In fact, Exodus 15:11 says
"who is like you, oh, Lord, among the gods. Who is like you glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." And by the way, do you notice
the angel does not say holy or holy, holy, but three times. He feels the importance
to say holy, holy, holy. This is known as
the [NON-ENGLISH],, or the thrice holy. And whenever something
in the Hebrew culture was emphasized three
times, it was for emphasis. It's to emphasize this
as the central core or character of God's being. If we were in high school and we
were with a Hebrew background, if there's a cool kid in
school, we would say he's cool. The Hebrews might
say he's cool, cool, or if he's like the coolest kid,
he's cool, cool, cool, right. That, sort of,
follows a pattern. Or if we want to say this
this little boy is handsome, but he's like really handsome. He's handsome,
handsome, handsome. Or the masks that we're
wearing, some feel they're safe. Others say, oh, no. They're safe, safe, and
others say oh, no, no. They're like safe, safe, safe-- ultimately safe. And others just think they're
annoying, annoying, annoying. I couldn't resist that. God is holy, and this
is the only attribute, by the way, of God,
the only attribute that is given a threefold repetition,
The only one of his attributes. I believe this
particular trait of God has been lost in the church,
lost on most Christians, again, because we
prefer to think of God's comfort, God's power,
God's graciousness, God's mercy. We like all those
characteristics that, perhaps, we
have lost the reality of God's transcendent holiness. God is not the man upstairs,
as some people refer to him as. He is not the big guy. I've heard people
say I was talking to the big guy the other--
who you talking about? God. He's not the big guy. He's holy, holy, holy. So that's what it means. It means separation. There's a second way God's
holiness should affect us, because it does to Isaiah. Holiness magnifies corruption. You see when you come
in contact with somebody like God, who is holy, holy,
holy, it does something to you. Look at what it does him. Down in verse 5, so
I said, whoa, is me. For I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips for
my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. This is Isaiah talking,
but even Isaiah, the prophet, he didn't go so I
said, wow, is me or wonderful is me. He says woe is me. I am undone, or
literally I am ruined. The new English Bible renders
it "there is no hope for me. I'm doomed." Wait what? Isaiah, why would
you say, woe, is me. You're Isaiah. You're a profit. You're famous. You sound pretty holy
to me given what you do. Why would you say woe is me? I mean, you could write
a book the day I saw God. You could go on Christian TV
circuit or Jewish TV circuit and talk about your
vision of heaven. Here's why. In seeing God,
Isaiah saw himself. In seeing God, he saw himself. The holiness of God
served to magnify the unholiness of Isaiah. So in seeing God,
he saw himself. Now he's not the only one. This happens to be a
theme throughout scripture of people who encounter God. I'll give you another one, Job. You know about Job. Job God called Job the
finest there is, right. The apotheosis of righteousness
as far as earthlings are concerned. Have you considered
my servant Job? He is blameless,
God said of him. But at the end of the book
of Job, Job confesses this. I have heard of you,
he prays to God, I have heard of you by
the hearing of the year. But now my eye sees you,
therefore, I abhor myself. I hate what I see. I abhor myself, and I
repent in dust and ashes. Yeah, it's one thing to be
Mr. Holy among your peers, but standing next to God I'm Mr.
Unholy, another one is Peter. Remember the day Jesus said,
Peter, let's get in your boat and go fishing. It was early on in
Jesus' ministry. Peter didn't quite understand
who he was dealing with and who Jesus was, so
he said let's go out. Let's go fishing,
and Peter goes, look, I've been
fishing all night and I caught that, nothing,
zero, zip, zilch, nada. So you're a preacher. I'm a fisherman. I know my business. We're not going to catch
anything, but I'll humor you. Let's go out. Nevertheless, at
your word, we'll go. So they go out fishing. You know the story. Jesus says toss
your nets over here. Peter does, and he catches
so much fish he can't even pull them in, right. The nets are about to break. Suddenly Peter changes. And he says depart
from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. Wait, you were Peter, the field
and stream guy just a minute ago. You were the great fisherman
of the Sea of Galilee. You fished all night
and caught nothing. But now he realizes
who he's dealing with. This is the Lord. Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. Here's another example. We just read it, or I read it
to you, revelation chapter 4. There are 24 thrones
and 24 elders gathered around the throne of
God, but all of them take off their
crown of authority and throw it down on
the ground submitting to that one on the throne. We might be something special
to be up here in heaven, but we're not like him. He is holy, holy, holy. So holiness
magnifies corruption. Think of it this way. You might fancy yourself
as a rock and roll singer, because you can
sing in the shower. But put you on stage next to
Beyonce or Ray LaMontagne, and you don't sound
that good in comparison. You might think you know
I'm a pretty good golfer but do around with tiger
and see how you do. You might say I was pretty good
at baseball in my college days, but get you on the
field with Mike Trout. It's a different ballgame
literally and figuratively. Max Lucado put it this way. You don't impress the officials
at NASA with a paper airplane. You don't boast about
your crayon sketches in the presence of Picasso. I mean, come on. It's Picasso. So show me a prideful
person, and I'll show you somebody who has never met God. Meeting God is going to
change you and do something in deflating your pride so
that even a prophet like Isaiah next to the purity of God's
holiness must cry, woah, is me. It's why I cringe
whenever I hear people, and I've heard people
say stuff like this. Well, when I see God I have a
few things I want to tell him. When people say
that to me I just, sort of, step back a few
steps, because I'm waiting for lightning anytime now. I want to be out
of the vicinity. I'm going to tell, God? Listen, when you see God you're
going to fall at your feet as dead. That's what happened to John
in the book of Revelation. When I saw him, I fell at
his feet as a dead man. You're not going to be
mouthing off to the holy one. So holiness means
separation, and holiness magnifies corruption. There's a third way that God's
holiness should affect us. Holiness mandates purification. Now follow my thinking here. When you understand who God
really is and then you suddenly compare yourself to that,
you don't want to-- you don't want to keep
it that way, right. You want to move
into the next phase to do something about
what you have discovered, and that is purification. So that happens here. Verse 6, then-- I love these little
connectives-- then, as if to say immediately
or to solve the problem that I saw in verse 5. "Then one of the Seraphim
flew to me having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken
with the tongs from the altar." Picture that. I know it's sometimes hard
to do, but picture that-- a live coal, a little hot,
red hot, white hot bricket that he took with the
tongs of the altar, and he touched my mouth with it. Ouch. It's a good thing
this is a vision. Ouch, that didn't
sound pleasant. I remember the first time
when I moved from California and sat down to a meal and
they asked me a question, do you want green or red? I don't even know
what that meant. Green or red what? And they explained
chili, and so I'm naive. I go, oh, I like chili. I grew up with chili,
beans and hamburger. That's Chili, right. Little did I know
this was chili. And so I said green. And I remember it
touched my lips. So sort of get this idea here. I took a live coal and [SOUND]. The idea here is purification. I think I was
purified that night. It cured everything
I came in there with. But notice this, he touched
my mouth with it, verse 7, and said, "behold, this
has touched your lips. Your iniquity--
that's sin, your sin-- your iniquity is taken away, and
your sin is purged or forgiven. This is symbolic of cleansing. It touches his
lips, why his lips? Well, he just said I'm
a man of unclean lips. I have a mouth problem. So God applied or
the angel applied the touching of the coal to burn
away the sin that he himself confessed. I got a mouth problem. I'm a man of unclean lips,
and I live around a bunch of foul-mouthed people. So the angel took the
bricket and touched his lips and said your sin is forgiven. Now why is that? Because here's the principle. Unholiness cannot
coexist with holiness. Unholiness cannot
coexist with holiness. Either God must destroy
that which is unholy or else God must somehow remove
the sin, and this happens to be the whole story
of the Bible front to back. It's all about taking
a coal and touching areas of people's lives,
their mouth, their hearts, their minds, their
decisions, and cleansing it and bringing forgiveness to it. Whether it's the Old
Testament tabernacle where you bring an animal and the
animal would die in your place so that your sin could
be forgiven, all of that anticipatory to the great
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross where he functioned as the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And in that moment, God
the Father and Jesus were separated. Jesus was judicially
separated from the Father so that the weight
of sin fell on him. He is purging our sins. He is purifying us
and taking it away. That's the message
of the gospel. The message of the gospel
is that a holy God has made a way for unholy people. That's why we're excited. Because the way
God deals with us, God's solution isn't
to destroy the unholy-- though, he will do that one day. He's not above doing that. But his solution for us is
not to destroy the unholy but to declare the
unholy as holy. So as soon as Isaiah
said, woe is me, and he confessed his
sin, unclean lips, as soon as he did that
that area was touched and a proclamation was given. You're forgiven. Your cleansed. Your purified. 1 Peter 3:18 neatly sums it up. "For Christ died for
sins once for all, the righteous for
the unrighteous, to bring you to God." There it is. "He0 died once for
all, the righteous one for the unrighteous one,
so that he can declare the unrighteous one righteous." That's the gospel
Isaiah understood that there is a gulf between
unholy me and holy God. That's why he said, woe is me. But then he was
shown by the angel that God's forgiveness
could bridge that gap. So Isaiah said woe is me. The angel comes and basically
says, yeah, woah is you but wow is God. Because you're sin
now is forgiven. You are purified. By the way, this
is the reason why so many people can
go to church, claim to be religious people,
oh yeah, I'm a religious-- I'm a Christian, and they'll
make that claim but their lives are not changed. It's because they don't
really believe or understand the great gulf between
holy God and sinful man. I've even heard people
pray something like this. Well, Lord, if I've sinned,
I just want to say I'm sorry. If you sinned? Excuse me. If? I mean, why are you even praying
about it if you're not sure. I've always loved the story
about Frederick the Great, who toured a Berlin prison. He was the king of
Prussia at the time, and he went through a
prison, and in the cells were all the inmates. And as he appeared in
his robes as the King, all the inmates, all of them one
by one claimed his innocence. I shouldn't be here. I don't deserve this. I'm innocent. Let me go, all of
them except one. There was one guy in a cell
alone with his head down who said nothing,
and the King stopped in front of that
little cell and said, I suppose you're going to tell
me you're innocent as well. And the man shook his head
said, no, your majesty. I am not innocent. I am guilty, and I
deserve punishment, the full extent of the law. Well, this surprise Frederick. He stood up, and then he
made this proclamation. Release this rascal
before he corrupts all these fine innocent people. What got him out of jail? The admission that
he should be there. I'm guilty, he said. Isaiah said, I'm guilty. God said, you're cleansed. You're forgiven. And that is why
self-righteous people, that is why just religious
people don't go to heaven, because they
never admit they have a need. I'm good. I try hard. I work hard. I go to church. I'm doing my best. How about there's nothing I
could do to ever deserve it. I'm a sinner. That's how you get there. God says, OK, you've
admitted the truth. Now I can cleanse you. And by the way,
that's what keeps us going back to the throne
of Grace is his holiness. 1 John 1:9, "if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness." it's a regular
practice of ours, is it not, to seek God's forgiveness,
because we blow it a lot. It's routine. So holiness means separation,
holiness magnifies corruption, and holiness mandates
purification. Let me give you a
fourth, and we'll close because it's in the text. Holiness motivates commission. Now you would
think after verse 7 that Isaiah could just go home. I mean, it's been a good day. He saw God. He saw how holy God
was, how bad he was. He asked for forgiveness. He got it. Go home now, Isaiah. You're a good prophet. You think about these things. You think about your life. That doesn't happen. It seems like God
has work to do, and he's looking for
a preacher to do it. So in verse 8, the
Angels have been speaking but now it's different. For the first time in the
text, God has something to say. "I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?" There's a whole nation out there
that needs to hear a message. "And then I said,
here am I. Send me." Notice how quickly
Isaiah volunteered. He wasn't coerced. Does that sound coerced? No, this-- he's not coerced. He's just cleansed, and he
gladly offers himself to God. Send me. I'll go. Some years ago, I was in a
grocery store in the checkout line, and there was a
woman in front of me with her groceries in her cart. I had mine. And we got to talking as the
checker was checking her out, and so she said
so what do you do. I said, I'm a pastor. She, kind of, winced like that. She looked at me, and then
she looked me up and down. And I thought I don't know
what that's all about. Maybe she thinks I don't
look like Pastor, which I always take as a
compliment, by the way, when people tell me that. You don't look like one. But she looked at me. She went and then she
said you're a preacher? You're a minister? I said yes ma'am. I am. And then she said this
simply she said why. Why? And I was struck by that. I mean, it was as if
she was saying really? You couldn't get a
job anywhere else. 7-eleven wasn't hiring, so you
joined the ministry, right. I mean, it was as if I had
been forced to do it rather than I've been called to do it. Here's the truth. Once you've been
cleansed, you're going to want to
be commissioned. That's just the natural
pattern of Christian life. Once you're cleansed, you
want to be commissioned. I see it all the time. Every pastor on this staff,
every ministry leader, who are they? They're all saved sinners
who met a holy God and now want to serve Him. It's as simple as that. Here I am. Send me. So God in his
holiness convicts you. God in his love cleanses you. God in his wisdom calls you, and
God in his power qualifies you. And you'll discover that if
God calls you, as soon as you go here I am, send me, as
soon as you step into that, God will give you a
qualification that comes with the calling. He'll help you do what
He's called you to do. And it's all prompted
by his holiness. It's how he makes us holy. I want you to listen to this. Think of it this way. His holiness leads
to our wholeness. His holiness leads
to our wholeness. You want to be a
whole complete person? Be drawn to his
holiness, because it happens to be an attribute
he wants to share with you. It's not like,
well, God, is holy. Let's just leave it at that. I'm unholy. God is holy. No, God actually wants
you to be like him. Leviticus 11 also quoted by
Peter in the New Testament, "God said, you must be
holy, because I am holy." I want you to be like me. I want you to share this
trait, this characteristic. Hebrews 12, "pursue
peace with all people and holiness without which
no one will see the Lord." Just in case you still
wonder if God's will for you is to be holy, I
Thessalonians 4:3, for this is the will of God
even your sanctification. It's a $.50 word for being holy. God wants us to be holy. So bottom line is this. A relationship with God is
always transformative, is always transformative. Once you meet holy God,
you'll never be the same. And what happens is you
start becoming holier. As somebody put it, God
loves you the way you are. But he loves you too much to
leave you the way you are. So he takes you just as
you are, but then you are transformed
by that encounter and it's a constant
transformation. So what the Bible says, be
holy because God is holy. Then the question, kind
of, comes naturally. So how do I know when I'm holy? Beards, long robes,
sandals, right. How do I know when I'm holy? Hair shirts, stone cells,
stained glass, nope. We know God is holy
because of two things. Let's make it real simple. God hates sin. God loves righteousness. OK, it's that simple. God hates sin. God loves righteousness. That's why he's holy. So how do you know
when you're holy? You're going to
hate what God hates. You're going to love
what God loves, right. That makes sense. You're going to find
yourself hating sin. You're going to find yourself
loving righteousness. That's the gauge that we go by. It doesn't mean
we're ever perfect, but it does mean we are
purposeful in our pursuit of God and in becoming
and pleasing-- becoming what God
wants us to become. I think the best single sentence
definition of holiness I found was given to us by Chuck Colson. Take a look at it. "Holiness is the everyday
business of the Christian. It evidences itself in
the decisions we make and the things we do hour
by hour, day by day." It's that simple. Everyday you and
I make decisions. Should we say that? Should we not say that? Should we do this? Should we not do this? Should we go with that
group or that person or not go with that? And you evaluate
hopefully, and you say what would the Lord want
me to do in this choice. And when you make
the right choices, you find yourself
growing in holiness. You're well on the way. So be holy, for I am holy. God is holy, holy, holy. By the way, I read
to you Revelation 4. We read together Isaiah 6. Did you notice the lyrics
of the song haven't changed? OK, so it's a scene in heaven. Isaiah hears holy, holy, holy. John has a vision of heaven,
same lyric, same song, holy, holy, holy. Now Isaiah wrote
around 7:40 b.c. John sees the vision
about 100 a.d. So let's just say there's
roughly 750 years between what Isaiah saw in heaven and
what John saw in heaven. And what's striking is they're
singing the same worship song. You don't hear an
angel going could we, like, update things around here? We've been singing holy,
holy, holy for 750 years. Can we just make things
cooler than that? No, here's the point. There are some truths that
transcend crazes and trends, and there are still
captivated by God and still captivated
by God's holiness. So they're still going
holy, holy, holy. And guess what? I think you're going to hear
that tune yourself in heaven. I want to close with a quote,
because I think it personalizes this truth for us. It's A.W. Tozer. "He said are we losing our, oh?" Now don't read that like oh. The ideas is oh. Are we losing our oh? "When the heart
is on its knees-- or when the heart on its knees
moves into the awesome presence and hears with fear and wonder
things not lawful to utter, the mind falls flat and words
previously as faithful servants become weak and
totally incapable of telling what the
heart hears and sees. In that awesome moment, the
worshipper can only cry oh." So when it's time
to sing, do you think I don't like that song? Or I like it when the
other worship leader sings that song or I like
it in a different key or I don't like it that loud? Or how about, oh,
I'm in the presence of the omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent, ineffable, holy, holy, holy God, oh. Are you losing your oh. One thing that'll get it
back, the holy nature of God. Come into contact with
the holy nature of God. Father, thank you that you
are so totally pure, so apart, so other. We rely on that standard,
because by you we see everything else. And in seeing everything else,
we see ourselves in that mix. And when we see ourselves, we
see that we have a great need. As Jesus put it, we see
that we are poor in spirit. And then we mourn. Blessed are those who mourn. We mourn over it. We say woe is me, and then we
start hungering and thirsting after righteousness. We find that flow,
that natural flow of encountering a holy
God, feeling bad about it in our own nature as sinners,
doing something about it, coming to Christ
and being forgiven, and then finally
being commissioned. I pray, Lord, that we will
never lose the wonder, the aw, the oh in your presence. In Jesus' name, Amen. We hope you enjoyed this special
service from Calvary Church. We'd love to know how
this message impacted you. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
