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Holy, Holy, Holy
Isaiah 6
Do
you know what the first song recorded in Scripture has in common with the
final songs in Scripture? Well,
the first song in Exodus 15, and the final song in Rev. 15: 3-4 exalt the
holiness of God. Isn't that
interesting…today we are inclined to emphasize the love of God, or the grace
of God. But I would suggest that
you can never begin to appreciate his love or his grace until you
understand his holiness.
Our
message this morning might more appropriately be titled "The Trauma
of Holiness." Do you have any
idea why we would use the word Trauma when speaking of God's
holiness? John Calvin says this
when looking at the testimony of scripture: "Scripture uniformly relates godly
men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of
God." Whether it was Moses
and the burning bush, or Uzziah and the
incident of touching the ark of the covenant, or Isaiah and his vision,
or Peter as his witnesses the power of Jesus. Godly men were overwhelmed and even
struck down when in the presence of God.
The
word "Holy" is used more than any other attribute (over 600
times) in scripture to describe God.
If you want to know God you must begin with his holiness. When scripture want to emphasize a
point it uses the literary style of repetition…so you find Truly,
Truly I say unto you…Peter, Peter.
The repetition is saying to us…this is very, very important,
and we should pay attention. Only
once in scripture is something taken to the third level…it is not
God's love, his goodness, his grace or mercy, it is his holiness. Throughout all the angelic songs, no
other divine attribute is repeated 3 times. We do not observe the angels singing,
"Eternal, Eternal, Eternal" or "Merciful, Merciful,
Merciful," or "All-knowing, all-knowing, all-knowing," but
"Holy, Holy, Holy."
What
does it mean for God to be Holy?
Here’s a quote to begin with:
"God’s holiness and his nature are
not two things, they are but one. God’s holiness is his nature, and
God’s nature is his holiness. Holiness in angels and saints is but
a quality, but in God it is his essence." (Thomas Brooks)
The
puritan writer Charnock said:
Power is God’s hand or arm, omniscience
is his eye, mercy his bowels, eternity his duration, but holiness is his beauty."
The most common
understanding of what the word holy means is: "Utterly pure,
separated from sin." The Bible tells us that God hates sin,
and that he cannot tolerate sin in any form in his presence.
"Pink says that "Holiness is the
sum of his moral excellency" and that
"his holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or
defilement."
God
is perfectly unpolluted by evil and as such he hates all sin and that
which is evil. The Prophet Habakkuk says that "God is too pure to
even look at evil."1:13
But
there is another meaning to the word "holy", which I think is
more to the heart of the meaning of holy.
The word itself means
"to be set apart." A
thing is holy if it is set apart for a special use. Applied to God, holiness is that
characteristic that sets him apart from his creation. He is wholly different than anything in
creation….we are created…he is the Alpha and Omega…he
always been…we are the created…he has never been created…he
is the creator. He is wholly
different. There are many verses
that speak of God being "on high," "reigning,"
"in his holy temple," "sitting on the throne." These verses all picture God as separate
from creation …. reigning over it….but
separate, wholly different.
We use this definition of the word ourselves when we use it….such
as when we refeor to the Holy Bible….unlike
any other book. Even Christian are
referred to in Scripture as holy…because we are to be wholly
different
I
would like us to consider what God's holiness means for you and me and I would to do so by looking together at one of
the episodes where mortal man encounters the holy God.
A. Isaiah 6
The
episode comes from the life of the prophet Isaiah. It takes place early
in his ministry, "in the year King Uzziah
died" (v. 1). That note is
important because Uzziah was one of the best
kings Judah ever had. He had a heart for God unlike many of his
predecessors and successors. When he died, the nation was plunged into
turmoil….there was a crisis in sovereignty. Who would rule over the people and
protect them. In this moment of crisis, God reminds…and comforts Isaiah
by reminding Him that He is their ultimate King and they do not need to
fear. He reminds Him of His
sovereignty by showing Isaiah something of his holiness.
We
can summarize Isaiah's experience with four words: Majesty, Worship, Confession, and Cleansing.
1. Majesty v.1-2
I saw the
Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe
filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two
wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and
with two they were flying.
Again the picture is God
high and exalted…wholly other than that which is created….sitting
on a throne ruling all that he created…and
the Hebrew word for Lord…Adonia means
sovereign ruler. And His robe
fills the temple….a length of a sovereigns robe spoke of his
majesty and power…The Lord's robe fills the temple.
Above the throne were
seraphs, angelic creatures. Each of these had 6 wings. With those wings
they covered their faces, their feet; or from head to toe, symbolizing
the totality to which they were covered–and with two other wings
they flew. These spiritual beings
did not approach God uncovered; while they were not sinful…they
nonetheless were creatures…and their creatureliness
…which is a natural contamination had to be cloaked.
2. Worship v.3-4
And they were calling to one another:
''Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his
glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds
shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
So even
these unfallen creatures understand their duty
to offer perpetual homage to their divine creator and they give
expression to their feelings. They
call out to one another: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
Almighty." After this, the temple shakes and
creaks. The temple shaking being
filled with smoke is language used to describe that even creation
crumbles in the presence of the Holiness of God. And I want you to make sure that you
see Isaiah’s response to the presence of holiness. What does Isaiah
do, when he realizes he is around Holiness? He doesn’t whoop and holler; he
doesn’t dissolve into uncontrollable laughter, nor does he feel a
jolt for his self-esteem. To the contrary, look at how he reacts and how
he feels.
3. Confession v.5
''Woe to
me!" I cried. ''I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I
live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the
LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal
in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
Isaiah
says, "Woe is me. I am undone and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips." He recognized his inability; he was crippled by
the weight of God’s glory, and even small things like speech were
reflectors of our sinfulness.
He
is undone, disintegrated.
"No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than his
holiness." The closer we are
to God, the clearer our sinfulness is.
Isaiah’s
describes for us the normal trauma that occurs when a person meets the
living God. God shocks our system. He traumatizes us with holiness. He is not like any other. He is wholly different
.
You
see, we have grown quite accustomed to unholiness. We use such phrases oas
to err is human…to communicate that sinning while not right is
somehow acceptable. We come to
church as we get bored. Yet the testimony of scripture is that
when we come into the presence of God we too should become undone.
Cleansing v.6-7
With it
he touched my mouth and said, ''See, this has touched your lips; your
guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
But
this episode is not over. God’s grace is also apparent. R.C. Sproul notes: "The Holy God is also a God of
grace. He refused to allow his servant to continue on his belly without
comfort. He took immediate steps to cleanse the man and restore his soul.
. . . In this divine act of cleansing, Isaiah experienced a forgiveness
that went beyond the purification of his lips. He was cleansed throughout, forgiven to
the core, but not without the awful pain of repentance." (46-47, The
Holiness of God)
Of
all the things we might say about this magnificent passage, this one
thing should be remembered: When
Isaiah saw the Lord, he also saw himself! So it is that whenever we see God
for who he is, we will then see ourselves for who we really are. Therefore the proper response is: Holiness
leads to confession and repentance. And God offers us cleansing and
forgiveness through his Son, Jesus who died to pay for our sins, so that
we might purified, declared righteous and holy by the work of Jesus. If you haven't cried out, "I am a
man of unclean lips lately," it may simply indicate that you've not
seen the King lately.
III. Two Practical Applications
What
will it mean if we begin to take God's holiness seriously?
A. When we grasp
God's holiness, we will be moved to wholehearted worship!
If
God is holy, casual treatment or unthinking overfamiliarity
is ruled out. We must approach him in holiness. The very style of Worship
should reflect God’s holiness. Celebration in worship is one thing;
but it cannot be allowed to crowd out careful approach to the holy God…that
is marked by fear and awe.
Heb.
12:28-29 commands: "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with
reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
We
trample the holiness of God when we come to worship unprepared, or we act
casual or worse yet bored. A holy
God requires a holy worship.
During
the dark days of World War II, William Temple, then Archbishop of
Canterbury, in a radio address to the people of England, declared, "This world
can be saved from political chaos and collapse by one thing only, and
that is worship."
Now
listen to how he defined worship: "To worship is to quicken the
conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of
God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to
the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God." If that is what worship really is,
perhaps the Archbishop was correct. Only
worship can save us.
B. When God's
holiness grips us, we will respond with wholehearted obedience!
Holiness
in God demands holiness in us. There is an ethical connection between God's
holiness, our redemption in Christ, and how we behave. Scripture makes the linkage clear:
"Be holy, for I am holy."
The
key word is "for." There
is a link between God and his expectations for his people. We need to be
reminded: Whenever we sin, we are not committing some trivial act. We are doing what God hates, and
nourishing some habit/attitude that God despises. We are creating as one writer put it
"cosmic treason."
Jerry
Bridges writes: "We need to cultivate in our own hearts the same
hatred of sin God has. Hatred of
sin as sin, not just as something disquieting or defeating to ourselves,
but as displeasing to God, lies at the root of all true holiness. We must
cultivate the attitude of Joseph who said when he was tempted, ‘How
then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?’"
What
does wholehearted obedience look like. There
will be …
·
new respect for God and his name
·
new desire to please Him
·
new fear of God's judgment
·
new love for God's people
·
new desire for God's word
·
new hatred for sin
·
new humility
·
new desire to serve, worship, and pray
·
new desire to tell others about the Lord
·
Let me give you
seven benefits of holiness in the life of the believer. God's holiness
…
1. Exposes our sin.
2. Shatters our pride.
3. Awakens our conscience.
4. Redirects our will.
5. Stirs our emotions.
6. Prompts our obedience.
7. Ignites our worship.
Distinctively
Different
I
began this sermon by remarking that God's Holiness is that which makes
God God! In a sense, our holiness is what makes
us truly Christian. To speak
of an unholy Christian is ultimately an oxymoron. Holiness is the mark of God's children. When God's holiness becomes a reality
to us, we will never be the same again!
Tennessee's Temple University has a two-word motto that
it used in all its advertising. I have always thought it was a good
summary of what holiness is all about. Just two words: Distinctively Christian. To be
holy means that in every area of your life you are so aware of God's
presence that you are distinctively Christian. And consider
this: So "in love" is
God the Father with us that he sent Jesus so that he might buy our
holiness with his blood. Rom.
Let's
pray that God would catch a glimpse of the holiness of God, so that it
might lead us to be holy…distinctively Christian.
"Holy Father, open our eyes that we
might truly see You, and having seen You, to see ourselves as You see us.
We pray to be holy as you are holy, and to live up to what we already are
in Jesus Christ. Amen."
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