It is very nice to see so many young folks in the congregation. It really is. It is a blessing to have so many here, and I would give thanks every day for them being here. If you would please join me and turn with me in your Bible, the passage is also going to be up on the screen, but I’m a big fan of actually using my book. It’s been given to me for a reason.
It’s a good question, it’s trusted, and I want to read something. The first person comes from the book of Isaiah, chapter six, verses one through seven:
‘In the year that king’s daughter died, each had six wings; with two, he covered his face, with two, he covered his feet, and with two, he flew. And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost, for 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, holding in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.”
When the carpenter returned to the gospel of Mark, chapter fifteen, beginning with verse 22:
‘And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means ‘place of a skull.’ And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him, they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! Come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah.’ And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, putting it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait! Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’
And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’ The word of God for the people of God. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Please pray with me. Lord, we thank you for the gift of your son, the gift of his story, and most importantly, we thank you for the gift of your presence. The fact that we are able to gather here and read your word and hear your word that has been given to us so that we may all grow in faith and come to know you better. This is the means of your revelation to us, and we ask that you be with us all now and that you open our ears to hear and our hearts to receive and understand what you have to say to us today. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
The humidity is a little bit lower than I’m used to, so my throat is a little bit more dry than it ordinarily would be. A moment. The prophet Isaiah may well be, and is certainly, the most influential writer of the Old Testament Scriptures following Moses. His ministry, prophecies, and writings covered the whole scope of redemptive history; from promises of temple rescue for God’s people, oracles of judgment against the nations and the wicked within Israel, offering God’s chosen people hope for the forgiveness of their sins, the gift of the Messiah to come, and who will come again, as well as the physical and spiritual work of this anointed servant of the Lord to be done on behalf of all of God’s elect.
The dual positive and negative expectations and over 85 or more times, which for Psalms being the only portion of Scripture more frequently quoted, Jesus, the incarnate Son of God Himself, displayed for those around him just how important Isaiah’s words were when he read from the Isaiah scroll in the synagogue, sat down, and declared, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Now, after 75 years of archaeological efforts digging around in the caves near Qumran in the Dead Sea, the only scroll, the only sacred Scripture that has been found preserved and recovered in its entirety, is the scroll of Isaiah. Coincidence? I think not. Today Isaiah and his writings still hold a strong significance for the Orthodox Jews. However, they do interact with the servant of the Lord and the suffering servant as being Israel and the whole of the Jewish people rather than the singular.
If the words of the prophet Isaiah are important to the Jews past and present, important to the apostles and other New Testament writers, and important to Jesus Himself, then I ask you, how important is Isaiah for us all now? The answer to that question has already filled countless volumes over the past two thousand years, and perhaps one day, you know, Lord willing, we may get to explore this question together more deeply. But today, I would like to answer that question from the point of a single foundation which is presented in our text this morning: the holiness of God.
See, the prophet Isaiah had the greatest understanding and appreciation for the holiness of God since the man Moses. He understood the simplest, most fundamental fact affecting all of creation: that God Almighty is holy and we are not. Before the Lord, and inspired to convey a message to God’s people, all that he did and wrote afterwards was driven by this understanding of God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness.
Perhaps this is why within his writings, we find so clearly displayed an outline of the Lord’s eternal sovereign plan for our redemption. The Holy Spirit has provided us a word map, as you will, through the book of Isaiah leading to Jesus Christ. The journey begins here with the holiness of God. But what is holiness? What does it mean to be holy?
We often define holiness as something that is set apart for a special purpose, but that’s not entirely correct. That’s not the whole of it. We might set apart an egg yolk from the white to make a meringue, but that’s not holy, even if it is tasty. But being set apart is only a portion of the whole. Yes, something about this sacred is something that is indeed set apart for God, but true holiness is something so much greater, so much more.
It includes moral purity and perfection. The holiness of God is transcendent, beyond and greater than anything within creation. It is the most absolute perfect perfection—something so pure and true that it must be singular. True holiness is unique and only attributable to God Himself. The closest thing or greatest height a human can attempt at purity, righteousness, or holy living, being God’s image bearers, is to seek holiness from him.
Apart from Christ, our best holiness is only an echo, a copy—imperfect and false, and thus unholy. When I look back from the Lord’s perspective, Isaiah was brought up in the heavenly temple where he saw this unearthly and transcendent sight: the Lord of hosts enthroned and seated at the entrance to the temple.
Now, we often as modern evangelical Christians consider us by that future time, that moment when we each will stand before His throne. I’ve been thinking that it will be more pleasurable and certainly a positive experience because of the grace we know that we have received by faith in Christ through prayer. As God’s chosen and adopted children, we expect that we would be wrong for the fact which Isaiah was neither welcoming nor comforting to him, nor do I expect that it will be for any of us.
His sin and his unholiness standing in the presence of the most holy one of Israel. The Lord was seated in the place of judgment, with His glory all around him, clearing the temple behind him and filling all of creation. Isaiah saw no advocate to stand in his defense; instead of standing before the throne, he quivered as he was confronted by the conviction of his own sin and the terrible knowledge of all of Israel—all of God’s people sinned.
Isaiah stood before the judgment seat guilty, and he knew it. He had no defense; he did not deliver any grace or mercy or even forgiveness. He only deserved condemnation and destruction. He and all his people. And this is the point which we, as believers in Christ Jesus, fail to often forget or minimize to our spiritual peril. That’s us too. We only deserve destruction.
The author of Hebrews reminds us of this, saying, ‘For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ And we will still stand in the judgment and give an account for our works and deeds. The apostle Peter also reminds us of this, saying, ‘It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?’
We must not forget—we must not make forgiveness or His love cheap, nor His grace while we live. We are all sinful people, every one of us. None of us are good, and none of us can measure up to the Lord’s expected standard of holiness and holy living.
Standing before the throne, how dare we? Thank you for the grace of God. Fear even the angels, with their faces and their feet. Henry, the English non-conformist and early Presbyterian, said of the angels in praising God, they even want words to express themselves. He is holy, holy, infinitely holy, originally, perfectly, and eternally so.
I ask you, if the angels respond to the Lord’s holiness in such a manner, then how much more so must we? We are so far below those more pure creatures. How dare we seek entrance into His presence? The angels proclaim and tell us why they fell before him.
The holiness and glory of God is inescapable; the whole earth and the whole creation is filled with His divine presence. We cannot hide from it or His judgment. We have no fig leaf to cover our sin and wickedness. No human endeavor, craft, or work could ever allow us to stand before His throne and not be convicted.
No matter how good or bad or evil a person is, or believes themselves to be, all of our righteousness and personal holiness is simply unholy apart from God’s grace. And how does the world respond to His holy presence? The way it tries to put God in a box; confine Him to a tabernacle, a temple, or our buildings.
Beautiful as they are, how often do we want our lives as if God is only inside here? How often do we ask as if God is only located inside these walls? The infinite cannot be, and will not be constrained by the finite. No creation can contain the Creator.
Isaiah knew this in that moment; he experienced this and sparked the full force of Him and completeness, knowing just what the judgment against him should be. No mere temple sacrifice of animals could truly remove or atone for his sin, or the sins of the people. An animal substitute cannot satisfy the Lord’s justice.
Man did the crime, so everybody must do the time. This experience before the throne destroyed Isaiah’s senses of self, his self-righteousness, his selfishness, his self-centeredness, and encouraged him for the moment of the idolization of self, of which every one of us falls into.
Instead of worshiping the true Lord, the foreign god that is not brought before the throne to be destroyed, he was being convicted. He was brought there to receive a message for God’s people to remember just who the Lord is, what His character is, and to give them hope in His mercy and grace. Following his confession of sinfulness, we have a seraphim from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips, saying, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’
Isaiah’s guilt was removed by the angel; he was purified and sanctified by the Lord’s will. He received the grace and mercy of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit applied through the flame. However, Isaiah does not record seeing our great high priest in the heavenly temple advocating for him, but God the Son was surely there.
The burning coal carried by the seraphim had the eternal effectiveness of the cross, applying Christ’s atoning works for the forgiveness of sin yet to be done in chronological time but still effective in that Kairos moment. The flames purified him for his mission, granting him his life instead of his deserved annihilation.
He was regenerated and sanctified; in that moment in time, Isaiah was born again, born of the Spirit, born from above. This encounter with the Lord must have seemed both a blessing and a truth to our faith. Like Paul’s fall on the road to Damascus, it’s that moment that altered the course for their whole ministry in life.
Unfortunately for us, it has become all too common within the American Christian culture to expect, call, or demand such a great confirmation that we are born again. Although truly, our moment of regeneration is as momentous for us as it is unique and personal, however this extraordinary transformation is not the norm for sacred scripture.
This desire was driven by many people like they chose Jesus instead of Jesus choosing them. So, we have to participate by emotion to reduce the sovereignty of God and His grace in their lives by elevating their own authority and efforts in their salvation. A void encounter before the throne should destroy everyone. From that perspective, the dead will not save themselves, but they cannot undo their failings. The unholy cannot make themselves holy; the sinful cannot make themselves sizzling. The dirty cannot wipe the filth off of themselves.
Because many hands only fear the mother without me. ‘Without outside help!’ A quote often attributed to Jonathan Edwards reminds us that you contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin which made it necessary.
Isaiah was confronted by the holy glory of the Lord; his sinfulness was assaulted by the Lord’s holiness. He had no choice but to confess his sin as he could not justify himself. Isaiah was shown unmerited grace and favor by the King of all, but his sin was atoned for and his guilt removed without any action on his part. This is clearly all the soul’s sovereign work of God—divine condemnation and forgiveness.
Isaiah was remorseful and repentant despite having no reason to expect, no reason to expect forgiveness or mercy. The experience with God, but instead of justice, he received mercy. Because of the cross, then he was sent out to proclaim mercy because of the Messiah God’s suffering servant to come.
Now when you look upon the question, what do you see? Do you see a couple pieces of metal or pieces of wood that are put together simply as a symbol or a memorial? Or do you envision the Son of Man and Son of God, high and lifted up, enthroned as the object of our faith and devotion? Can you see the Holy One of Israel offering you grace, mercy, and forgiveness?
The Jews described Jesus the highest in faith, and his gospel also tells us, ‘The earth trembled and quaked.’ All seeing how Jesus died, he declared, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’
When you look upon Christ in faith and devotion, do you see the Holy One who is in position to, yes, condemn, instead forgives you of all your sin by the covering of His blood? Do you get the power of His love, of His holy and perfect love?
Because of our sin, that sight of holiness will always move the regenerate heart to a posture of repentance. If you only believe, who can stand and not be moved? Seeing Jesus enthroned in glory, Him who has removed your guilt and covers your sin with His precious blood by suffering the judgment and condemnation which you deserve— it is because of our sins and transgressions.
While we were yet sinners, Jesus died that we may live: the righteous holy One, singular, for the unrighteous and unholy man. He has given us His Holy Spirit, granting us the faith and power to believe in Him, sanctifying and saving us.
In Christ, a Jesus people and the word’s treasured possession, we are given and clothed with Christ’s righteousness. We are identified with the founders of Christ because of the incarnation taking on ourselves to be known—numbered among transgressors—so that by His thoughts, we may be healed.
The Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification is His work to make us holy, His work to conform us to the image of Christ. His work in us may hurt, okay, but it hurts a whole lot less than we deserve—far less than how our sin offends God’s absolute standard of holiness.
It hurts for our life; remember we are created to be holy. In the Deuteronomy Scripture, the Lord says, ‘I am holy.’ He will give Him His holy life before us to our death so that we might live a holy life.
The more sin, the greater the grace that was poured out for us—the why promised to mention holy by the work of Christ because we are each and every one of us chosen by Him to be His holy people from before the foundation of the world. And now we are declared to be holy—holy in Christ Jesus.
He has rescued us from our worst nature in love to be holy for His eternal glory. Because of the prayer we stand there before the throne next to Isaiah, and we will receive mercy because of the.
As the author of Hebrews also wrote, ‘Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, we must draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.’
God’s Son, Jesus Christ, has chosen us to be His holy people, sanctifying us individually. Christ shall be presented to Him right and pure, totally holy, and no longer depraved.
But back to the question I asked at the beginning of our time this morning: why is Isaiah still so important for us as believers? Isaiah is still important because he helped to keep our hearts and minds focused on that central point upon which all of redemptive history turns: God is holy and we are not.
It’s the core reason for the entire world—His righteousness and His holiness. But now we are restored to a right relationship with our Father in heaven as His beloved adopted children.
Therefore, I want you to remember this: whenever you look upon the cross, when you consider and meditate on God’s plans and are confronted by your own personal unholiness, do not lose hope. Do not despair because of what you have done. Yes, not one of us are worthy or good enough to stand without fear before the Lord, but God our Father and Jesus our Brother love you and me so much that Jesus died for you—to make you holy, to justify you, and bring you into relationship with them.
If you believe, then you have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Let that belief drive you out into the world to do good works. Let the holiness of God bring you and me, bring us all to our knees in repentance so that we may respond to His love with these twin arms of evangelism: to share the good news of what Christ has done for us, for you, to those who might otherwise suffer His wrath.
Mission—serving as the hands and feet of Christ—by bringing His love to others. Then, as we progressively live more obediently and serve Him, we will grow into holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit. We will then live in a manner which glorifies God in all things.
So do not let the world drag you back down into the muck and mire of sin. Now that you have been raised up and are washed clean, so repent, believe, and know that both sins are forgiven. You are made to be holy, so live holy because our Father in heaven is holy. Then all that you do will be for His glory today, tomorrow, for all eternity.
The Lord is holy, so be holy. Holy, holy, holy!