You can’t echo Gods holiness until you encourater him
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Worship was awesome. I want you to know first of all how greatr of a joy it is to be with all of you tonight!
I’m anticapting a great weekend together and longing for God to do more then we ask or imagine.
If you have your bibles go ahead and open to Isaiah 6 and in a moment we will just read verse 1 through 7
Before we read I feel like it’s important to set the stage for where we are going the next few nights.
The theme of camp this year is echo holy. It’s this idea that we have a holy god and we get to join in with all of creation in echoing his holiness.
We are told from psalms to romans, from gen to rev that their is a worship of God an echoing of his holy.
tonight we are going to talk about what happens when we have an encourter with God
then tommorrow night we will talk about who God is making us
and then the last night we are going to talk about how we actually Echo Gods holiness through the way we live.
and I tonight as we dive into the text we are going to see a Prophet named Isaiah having an encourter with God that will forever shape and change his life.
After his encourater with God his life is filled with increadible purpose and direction
I feel like it’s something I share in commmon with Isaiah. Escpically when I was in high school. There is that question ever person whose ever lived get’s asked from an early age which is
“what are you going to do with your life”
and that’s a reallly weighty question. Because maybe if you say what you really want to do people might think you are crazy. As a young kid I just wanted to play video games
as I got older I realized my dream was to be a professional basketball player.
Why? At my middle school the coolest kids played basketball. They were our influnceer. And I wanted to be in. I wanted to be popular I wanted to be loved and accepted.
So I set out for my mission. and worked day and night for it. and as I trained for this moment I would sing this song by the 1990s rapper skee lo
I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her
And a six-four Impala
Like that’s wierd right. Here is this middle school boy in the gym walking through the halls of challgne middle school, with facial hair and signing this song
and maybe it’s something we all have in common
maybe as you look at your life you long for something more, people ask you what you want to do when you grow up and for some you are locked in and whatever you are locked in on you chasing that so your life has real purpose
others you have no idea
and maybe it’s not I wish I was a little bit taller as your theme song
but maybe the lyrics for today are
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in
I wish that I could be like the cool kids
Like the cool kids
it’s something we all have in common. We want to know we fit, we want to know we have purpose, we want our life to matter
and tonight what I want to do for the next for mins is to look at Gods words and see how an encourater with God can change everything and give us that purpose, meaning we longs for.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and 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 thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was 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, having 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 atoned for.”
Prayer
Right here 740 years before Jesus life this vision shaped everything for Isaiah
The king had died. and he was the godly king they had had
He was a gift of grace
and now he is dead
questions, anxiets about the future and what was happening to his nation must have flooded his heart
Isaiah is unsure what to do next
but quickly he takes his eyes off his circumstances, of his anxieties, off his worries and he turns them towards God
He says He “SAW” the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up
so even thought the king of Isreal had died, the true King the living God was still ruling and reigning teaching us to remeber that no matter what comes our way, no matter what devestation and disater comes God is always on the throne
he is always high and lifted up
and then we see this amazing picture. His robe fills the temple
Seraphim stood
covering their eyes and their feet and crying
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of how; the whole earth is full of his glory
The serphim are echoing holy. WE don’t know how many were there but we know whatever they were doing was filling the atmosphere of where Isaiah was
the angels are crying Holy becasue the glory of God
the word glory means eight.
something perment. Something more substantial.
the important oppesd to unreal
and when the angels use talk about Gods glory they are talking about his eightiness, that compared to antying else
God alone is permanent
God alone is real
God alone matters
Let me illustrate it to you this way:
Imagine dropping your phone — not just any phone, but like the latest iPhone Pro Max — onto a glass table. The table cracks. Not because it’s weak, but because the phone has more weight to it — more substance.
Or think about doing a cannonball into a pool. The bigger the person, the bigger the splash. Why? Because the person has more mass, more impact than the water can just casually handle.
It’s the same with glory. When something — or someone — truly powerful shows up, things react. The weight of glory causes a shake. It demands a response.
See when you really encourter God, when the reality of who God is comes down into your life, everythning around you and in you begains to change
it’s what happens to Isaiah. His life is being rearranged, reimaged.
His view of himself, his view of history everytyhing has changed
and that’s constent every single place where Gods presence comes down. There is always some sort of quake that accompinies iExodus 19 at Mount sinai the mountain trembles
in acts 2 when the spirit comes we are told the room trembled and shook
acts 5 the people prayed and the place they praced was shaken
Compared to God, everything else has NO WEIGHT and whenver God comes down everything is shaken
sometimes I get it when it comes to God he is sometimes mabye a concept over reality
but if God is only a concept in your life he is lighter then you. You shape your life. You fit him into it
nothing really changes with in you
if you have an intellectual belief in God but it hasn’t changed you then He may just be a concept to you
If you just think. God must be real look at the ocean
or God must be real becasue I’d like to go to heaven
or God must be real so I can have more inspiration and strength in life
if you are just fitting God inoto your own agenda He is just a concept
but in order to have purpose, in order for life to make sense. God must become a reality to you
becasue when God comes into your life, when you actually encourter him things give way in your life to HIS GLORY
everthing is changed by his presence and His word because God has more glory than even your beliefs
and instead of trying to fit God into your agende he becomes your agenda
and more then anything over the next few days we all need an encourter with God. Where his glory becomes our reality
and anyone who God is real to can remember a time, that God went from being concept to reality
and God is glorious becasue of his holiness. he is infintely and perfectly beyond anyone else
there is a brillance and beatuy to the holyness of God
The seraphim aren’t worshiping God because they’re trying to get something out of it. It’s not like, “What’s in this for me?” They’re not doing the math to see if following God will make them more popular, powerful, or successful.
They’re worshiping him just because of who he is. They’re in awe of his beauty, his perfection, his holiness. They’re not thinking, “This is useful.”
They’re thinking, “This is glorious.”
For them, God’s holiness isn’t a way to get something — it is the something.
It’s like when you hear a song that hits just right — you don’t stop and ask, “Yeah, but what do I get out of this?” You just feel it. It’s not useful. It’s beautiful. It moves you. It fills something in you.
That’s how God’s holiness is — or at least, how it should be if we really knew him.
But then we get real and ask: “How could anyone actually find something like holiness — God’s totally different, infinite greatness — beautiful?” Like, how does that not just sound distant or overwhelming?
And that question? That’s the beginning of something big — because when holiness starts becoming beautiful to you, not just useful, that’s when your faith stops being about religion and starts becoming real.
I appercaite johnthan edwards thought on this. BTW some of you know johnthan edwards from the classical musical called hamilton. It’s there that aaron burr says my grandfather was a fire and brimstone preacher. That’s johnthan edwards and here is what he says
Jonathan Edwards -”
“”points out the power of God is something you could get excited about selfishly because it’s of benefit to you. “Oh, I have a powerful God.” The wisdom of God is something you actually can get excited about selfishly because it could be a benefit to you. “Oh, I have a God who’s wise, and he’s going to give me guidance.” You can even get excited about the mercy of God selfishly because it’s of benefit to you. “Oh, now I’m going to get rid of my ‘guilt-riddenness.’ ”
But Jonathan Edwards says holiness is of no use at all.
God’s holiness is of no benefit to you.”
It’s nothing but a threat and we see that in verse 5
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!”
all of a sudden encourater with a Holy God causes this increadible humilty to surrond Isaiah
I wonder if you’ve ever had one of those woe is me moments
maybe it’s an exam that you don’t know the answers to. Woe is me
maybe it’s a roller coaster and right before you go over the top you think I am ruined
for me it was a burritto swing last summer and we have a clip
I got to the top. I realized my daughter was about to pull the lever and I thought woe is me I AM RUNIED
but in a much more real and prfound way Isaiah is having a real moment
as he compares himself to the weight of glory he expects to die
He is a prophet of God
a friend of the King
Smart and communicative genious
and as much as the world around him was falling apart
He gets into the presence of the holniess of God and no longer is everyone else the problem
he’s the problem
He takes the best thing about him his lips and says even that compared to your glory is worthless
and this is the case when pepole encourter God
Job says, “I heard of you with my ear, but I see you now with my eyes, and I repent in dust and ashes.” Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am undone.” Peter says, “Depart from me, Lord! I’m a sinful man.
Here’s how you know you’re not just going through the motions — that you’re actually starting to encounter the realGod:
You stop pretending.
You start to see things in yourself you didn’t want to admit — how selfish you can be, how easily you get jealous, how quick you are to snap at people, how much you care about stuff that doesn’t even matter.
You realize, “I’m not as good as I thought I was.”
But instead of crushing you, it humbles you. And it makes you hungry for grace — because you know you can’t fix this on your own.
and the moment Isaiah confesses his sin God explodes into his life
an angel flies towards him
fire in his hand
you know what Isaiah thinks. I am dead. becasue fire so often represents Gods judgement in the OT
His wrath
He knows it’s over
and you knows it’s the fire of God because the angel doesn’t even use his hands. He has to use tongs
and it goes right to his mouth. the point at which he confessed
and instead of consuming it cleansed
a word of pardon
your guilt is taking away and your sin atoned for
what amazing. unbelievebable grace
and the very next verse Isaiah heres a voice saying Whom shall I send who will go for us
here’s what God is saying. one second ago you realized you didn’t desrve to live
you were more flawed
more sinful then you ever dared to belive
you are now more affirmed and vlaued and wanted than you could ever hope for
he had be broken and put back together on the spot
His life is filled with increadible purpose as he responds here I am send me
You may wonder how does God do this. Well centrius later the temple was shaken
there was an earquake becuase God came down
the veil was torn in 2
English Standard Version Chapter 27
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
English Standard Version Chapter 27
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split
Before Jesus dies on the cross in the garden of gesthemene he says my soul is sorrofol even to death
he is saying
Woe is me
I am undone
I am ruined
I feel like I’m coming apart
drops of blood and no agel came up to Jesus becasue Jesus was teh sacrifice for us
Jesus came not to bring judgement but to bear it
Tim Keller helped me on this
The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 1989-2011 The Gospel and Your Self
He was shaken to the depths so you and I could be unshakable, so our sin could be atoned for, so we could get the new self-image that comes from the self quake of having the glory of God come down into your life.
If it’s really true we’re accepted completely in him not on the basis of our performance, now the holiness of God is beautiful. You don’t serve God to get things; you already have everything. Then why serve God? Because of the beauty of what he is and what he has done, because you want to know him, because you want to resemble him, because you want to delight him
and when you realize that God moves from Concept to reality
Let’s pray
(CAR WRECK SPEECHLESS SONG)
