God's Holiness is a Calling Upon Our Lives
Pew to Pulpit and Back • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsThis sermon explains the one dominant quality of God, and how that quality translates to us, His followers.
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Some visions certainly move you. Who hasn’t become inspired by seeing the Grand Canyon or Mount Kilimanjaro? Then there are those visions that change a life.
It started like so many evenings. Mom and Dad at home and Jimmy playing after dinner. Mom and Dad were absorbed with jobs and did not notice the time. It was a full moon and some of the light seeped through the windows. Then Mom glanced at the clock. "Jimmy, it's time to go to bed. Go up now and I'll come and settle you later." Unlike usual, Jimmy went straight upstairs to his room.
An hour or so later his mother came up to check if all was well, and to her astonishment found that her son was staring quietly out of his window at the moonlit scenery. "What are you doing, Jimmy?" "I'm looking at the moon, Mommy." "Well, it's time to go to bed now."
As one reluctant boy settled down, he said, "Mommy, you know one day I'm going to walk on the moon."
Who could have known that the boy in whom the dream was planted that night would survive a near fatal motorbike crash which broke almost every bone in his body, and would bring to fruition this dream 32 years later when James Irwin stepped on the moon's surface, just one of the 12 representatives of the human race to have done so? (Bill Hybels, Who You Are When No One's Looking, IVP, 1987, p. 35).
There was a man who had a vision that just about did him in. He actually saw God and lived to tell about it. His name was Isaiah.
We are given such an account in the prophecy that hears his name. The time is shortly before he is called into the ministry. The scene had a profound impact on the prophet; so much that it immediately altered his self-perception and changed his life forever. Seeing God will do that.
We assume too much concerning who He is or what He is like. But Isaiah was reoriented at a strategic time, when he was called to his life’s work.
This morning is another installment on our “Pew to Pulpit and Back,” series. Let’s look at the topic of God’s holiness and how that should affect our lives.
Understanding the holiness of God is critical. Billy Graham said: “Only when we understand the holiness of God, will we understand the depth of our sin.”
We learn several aspects of this vision of Isaiah’s, the first of which is...
The setting of Isaiah’s call
The setting of Isaiah’s call
1 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. 2 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. 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isaiah, having worked closely with King Uzziah, would have been overwhelmed by the grief he experienced. But God would have something more overwhelming for him, as he would show the prophet who the real king was.
Holy and glorious would be accurate words to describe what Isaiah saw. This was confirmed by what the angels said in verse three. Notice their declarative statement while hiding their faces before God’s throne. Isaiah 6:3
3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
The repetition of the term “holy” ought to attract our attention. It is what scholars call the “trisagion” or “three holies.” Some have thought that the thrice repetition might be an indicator of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Nicene Creed teaches us that the Holy Trinity is taught in Scripture:
“And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.”
It is possible that the trisagion refers to the Trinity. But more likely, this is what linguists call “emphatic repetition,” which is where one word is used more than once to add emphasis.
R.C. Sproul, in his book, The Holiness of God, states:
“On a handful of occasions the Bible repeats something to the third degree. To mention something three times in succession is to elevate it to the superlative degree, to attach to it emphasis of super importance (Sproul, 39-40).”
What does this term mean, “holy”? it is the hebrew word קָדֵשׁ qā·ḏēš. At this, the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament states:
The term qāḏôš becomes a key word in the book of Isaiah in part through the trisagion (6:3) and in part through the divine epithet qeḏôš yiśrāʾēl, “Holy One of Israel,” ... Yahweh is the terrifying God who fills Isaiah with the feeling of inadequacy and uncleanness. Here the reader seems to be closer than elsewhere in the OT to an ethical determination of holiness.
We may say “altogether different” as well. This characterization is mentioned in other places within Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah 57:15
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
The designation that trademarks the book of Isaiah is when he refers to, or God refers to Himself as “The Holy One of Israel.”
God’s holiness must have an impact on my life and yours. He cannot appear so familiar to us that we forget He is deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.
This presentation of God made a deep impression on Isaiah. God is not one who you can treat as just your buddy, that you can pay attention to one day and not the next, or only come to him when we need something. He demands your worship and adoration! And unless you are changed by His grace, your future is at great risk. Hebrews 12:14 is a sobering thought.
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Have you every seen something and it changed you? Such times are rare, but leave a lasting impact. What kind of picture would change your life? What type of experience? This vision of Isaiah’s invoked a certain emotion and a life-altering frame of mind for the prophet. He became self-conscious in view of God’s glory. Next we see...
The self-consciousness of Isaiah’s call
The self-consciousness of Isaiah’s call
Isaiah 6:5-8 records the response of the prophet:
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!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Notice that Isaiah, after seeing the Lord, is struck by a deep sense of self-consciousness.
Visual holiness does that to a person. Maybe this is what Peter experienced when Jesus first met him and caught many fish after the Lord instructed him to put down his net. Peter then said: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.”
Judah was in spiritual darkness at the time of this event. Isaiah reveals this when he said in verse five:
“I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
The term “unclean” is a unique in that it determines the ceremonial and ethical state of the nation of Judah.
The Hebrew term is used to describe something that is defiled or ill, ceremonially unfit. Such was the idea in Isaiah 59:3
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
It may be compared to what lepers were instructed to yell if anyone came near them in Leviticus 13:45
45 “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’
Here, the term is applied to one’s lips. The lips are an important part of the human body in that they testify, and bear witness to truth. But Judah is known as “A people of unclean lips,” possibly denoting the level of dishonesty in the kingdom in the 8th century B.C.
To remedy the uncleanness, the seraph takes a set of tongs and grabs a burning coal from the fire in the temple and applies it to the lips of Isaiah’s mouth, subsequently declaring him clean.
E.J. Young states that Isaiah 6 is a picture of forensic justification, much like that communicated in 1:18 where the peoples’ sin would become white like snow. Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Man’s greatest need is to be forgiven and restored. Forensic justification is a scene from a courtroom, when the guilty party is declared innocent, because of the actions of another.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which the apostle John hinted at in 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Isaiah is sometimes called the “Romans of the Old Testament” because it gives the clearest picture of the gospel. Read Isaiah 53, and you will see how he bore our sin and paid for our transgressions with His own blood.
2 Corinthians 5:21 comes to mind.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
God is holy and loving at the same time.
It is good news to know that regardless of the crimes you have committed against God, by turning from them and confessing them, we can be cleansed and made new.
For Isaiah, the forgiveness he experienced was the beginning of the rest of his life, a life of service to the Lord. Next, we see...
The substance of Isaiah’s call
The substance of Isaiah’s call
9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
God provided mercy through Isaiah’s preaching ministry, which functioned as a warning signal. But most of the people would remain hard-hearted. Although they would be responsible for their indifference, their obstinance fit into God’s ultimate plan. Verses 11-13 denote when this would happen: “until the land is desolate of its citizens and exile was complete.”
Jesus taught that the hard-heartedness during His ministry was an example of Divine sovereignty. In Matthew 13:13 we see
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Paul would explain it in this way. 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
From this we learn that God is the great Teacher. He teaches us through the Scriptures, through our experience and through the experience of others. He will send the lesson when it is time.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What has been your response to His good news? Does the message of God provoke you to worship and service? Or does it leave you in apathy and indifference? Are you one to say: “It’s not my thing.”
It changed Isaiah’s life, but it hardened the hearts of many in Judah. What does it do for you? The most important picture you can ever look at is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will change your life forever, if you have eyes to see.
Hymn writer Dr. Maltbie Babcock wrote many years ago, in the late 19th century:
No distant Lord have I,
Loving afar to be.
Made flesh for me He cannot rest
Until He rests in me...
Ascended now to God
My witness there to be,
His witness here am I because
His Spirit dwells in me.
