Holiness is Radical Cleansing
Isaiah 6
Review:
Sermon One : Holiness equals Perfect Love
Sermon Two : Holiness is found in a person- The Holy Spirit
Sermon Three: Holiness is a Extreme Surrender - Mans Part
Today: Holiness is Radical Cleansing - God’s Part
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. 2 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. 3 And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said: "Woe 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." 6 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. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged." 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."
I A Traumatic Event v1a
-The Death of the King - He had reigned 52 years a good king, started at 16, Greatest since Solomon, Judah’s zenith of power and prosperity, young patriot prophet, His hero
But in a moment of Pride the king went into the temple to offer incense -priests tried to stop, God who is holy struck with Leperousy, NO ONE gets away with sin and rebellion (2 Chron 26
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. 18 They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God." 19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the Lord had afflicted him. 21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house--leprous, and excluded from the temple of the Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
-Now died and Isaiah heartbroken, world collapsed ..
-for John Wesley -The American Failure to convert the Indian heathen led to his subsequent conversion and Spirit filling.
-Randy Clarke - was Burnout in church plant -He went to a Rodney Howard Browne meeting and got touched and in 1995 began a four day revival in Toronto that lasted over 5 years touching so many around the world it was named the Toronto Blessing
-Charles Stanley - said it was his Mothers death that caused him to seek the Spirit for a greater filling, and has preached without notes since.
- For David it was the Bathsheba Event - He didn’t realize he could sin so bad as to sink to adultery and murder.
-Something shows us our previous experience is insufficient for the present crisis and we must seek God for more.
II A Terrifying Encounter v1b-5
A. He saw the LORD JESUS on a throne (John 12:41) High and exalted -earthly throne empty
B. The Train of his robe filled the temple- describing under him
C. The Seraphim -burning ones - around him - Could not look on the majestic holiness of God
D. Heard “Holy, Holy, Holy, not love
E. Felt - Temple quake
F. Saw -the smoke - the Shekinah glory of God - veil his radiant holiness
III A Touch by the Eternal God v6-7
A. His RESPONSE -Isaiah Cries out with the awareness of his sinfulness -
-Unclean lips - Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks - (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45) The cleansing of the lips symbolized the cleansing of the heart
- Remember this is not a sinner - but a prophet of God already as Isaiah 1 shows. And compared to the other people he was really holy, but compared to God he was dreadfully lacking.
“Isaiah’s confession here is not essentially a confession of rebellion, of active and conscious disobedience against God. That problem has been settled when he became a prophet. His problem here was not what he had done, but who he was: unclean by nature when measured in the light of God’s holiness.” p63 Exploring Christian Holiness vol. 1, Purkiser
B. God Holiness shows our own lack of Holiness.
But he says “Be holy for I am Holy” “Be ye therefore perfect as your father in Heaven is perfect”
C. . God never diagnosis’s what he cannot cure. He has a remedy
“Thine iniquity (vacillation) is taken away. (Hebrew term indicates the quality of being up and down) (Beacon Bible Commentary vol. 4, page 51, foot note 17
“Thy sin (wickedness) is purged (Hebrew term includes sins of weakness as well)
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D.. The Two fold nature of sin.
1. Sins of commission and omission
2. Sinfulness in our nature
Revival in New Church Building p86 Hermiz
James 4:8 Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded.
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.
Davids cry in Psalms 51
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
“Is it possible for God to cleanse me from all sin and enable me (for any extended period of time) to live above known, willful, and conscious sin?” A young lady asked, who had been raised in a holiness church. Dr Hermiz asked two questions. Is the atonement of Jesus inadequate to enable us to live a victorious life above willful sin? She said no. Then can God cleanse and empower you to live 5 minutes without willful rebellious sin. "Yes" "Then How about 5 hours?" I guess he can she said. See God is getting bigger all the time. Hermiz p63
Young Lady p 66
In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior.” He goes on to say, “It is revival without reformation, without repentance.”
IV A Terrific/Terrifying Task - To Speak for God v8
A. After his heart is Pure he can hear God’s voice clearly Calling
B. He volunteers for Service
C. God accepts him, for he is know ready.
Conclusion: This account was recorded for us. For our benefit. To help us understand the burning holiness of God and his burning desire to make us holy as well. This is God’s part. Our part is surrender and his part is cleansing.
page 64 Hermiz, Asbury College Student
A student came to Dr Hermiz after a revival at Asbury and said, "I didn’t believe in Holiness, so I went to the liabrary with my bible to prove you wrong. But I couldn’t so back in my room I prayed to God. "If this is real give it to me, or if its not show me so I won’t be bothered anymore." After several hours God took my attention back to a revival in my home church 3 years ago. I left it depressed because I had a sin I couldn’t get victory over. So I Prayed and told God I would do anything he wanted and be anything he wanted if he would just free me from this sin. And he did. "Dr Hermiz, could God have sanctified me, even though I never heard a message on it?" Dr Hermiz said I wouldn’t dare criticize your experience. He could do that for sure.
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold
Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within
Story: A woman was driving through a school zone when a policeman pulled her over for speeding. As he was giving her the ticket, she said, “How come I always get a ticket, and everyone else gets a warning? Is it my face?”
“No, ma’am,” said the officer. “It’s your foot.”
How often do you justify sin in your own life? You say, “Well, times have changed. It used to be considered sin but now it’s OK.” We say, “It’s not so bad.” We say, “well, if that person gets to heaven, I KNOW I will.” Sin had become “old hat,”-- NO BIG DEAL.
Story: A research project was set up to study the behavior of children. The researchers stood behind a one-way mirror observing how the group played together. For the most part they acted like normal children, but sometimes they were cruel with one another. One girl hit another girl over the head with her doll. They started fighting over the toys. Then some of the boys pulled things off the shelf and threw them all over the room. There is pushing and name calling, hair pulling, and kicking and yelling. Then one of the researchers accidentally hit the light switch.
All of a sudden the kids realize they are being watched. They immediately stop what they are doing, and become very quiet. They are embarrassed and ashamed that they have been caught red-handed.
“Woe is me! I’m in big trouble now. We’ve been bad and now we’re going to get it.”
2] Folks, how is it that so many Christians are so flippant about their unkindness, dishonesty, casual attitude about church attendance and serving God? I submit to you dear people that it’s because God, in all His awesome holiness, has faded from view.
[3] Too often these days folks have the attitude, “Well, God is a good ole God, and He understands how I am.” And that statement is essentially true. But nothing will ever change the fact that God is holy. And His holiness says to us, “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy” (Lev.11: 44a). A lot of folks are worried these days about America’s enemies attacking her. But folks, I agree with the following statement from some years back: “The greatest enemy of America isn’t Russia. It’s God.” (Leonard Ravenhill).
