WORSHIP: ENCOUNTERING THE HOLY
Isaiah 6:1-8
August 25, 2002
Introduction:
Raccoons go through a glandular change at about 24 months. After that they often attack their owner. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap, a zoo keeper felt compelled to mention the change coming to a pet raccoon owned by a young lady named Julie. She listened politely as he explained the coming danger. He never forgot her response. “It will be different for me . . .” And she also smiled as she added, “Bandit wouldn’t hurt me. He just wouldn’t.” Julie underwent plastice surgery just three months later for facial lacerations sustained when her adult raccoon attacker her for no apparent reason. All too often sin comes dressed in an adorable disguise and so we play with it. How quickly we find ourselves saying, “It will be different for me.” However, the results are predictable. (Gary Richmond, View From The Zoo)
There is nothing the church needs more desperately today than a fresh encounter with the holiness of God to make us aware of the dangers of playing with sin. When Isaiah experienced his encounter with the Holy he was in the temple seeking God. So those of you who have come to church today with hearts hungering for the holiness of God have come to the right place. Please follow along in your Bibles as I read Isaiah 6:1-8.
1. We Must Rediscover the Holiness of God.
Alfred the Great was the ninth-century king who saved England from conquest by the Danish. At one point during his wars with the Danes, Alfred was forced to seek refuge in the hut of a poor Saxon family. Not recognizing her visitor, the woman of the house said she had to leave and asked Alfred to watch some cakes she was baking. But the king had other things on his mind and did not notice that the cakes were burning. Upon her return, the lady unknowingly gave her sovereign a hearty scolding! (Today in the Word, April 9, 1992) This lady showed no respect for the king because she didn’t know who this man really was. In many ways 21st century Christians are just like this 9th century woman. We show no respect for God because we do not know who He really is.
Just as this woman viewed her king as a mere common man so we today have brought God down to our level. He is now no more than the “big guy up stairs.” Or perhaps we view Him as being “a jolly good fellow.” A young man was once asked by a pastor if he’d ever given any thought to what would happen to him after he had died and what he would be doing in eternity. This young man confidently replied that he would be lying around with a smile on his face just thinking about God. The Bible teaches something drastically different. The manifest presence of the God of the Bible struck terror into even the holiest of hearts and the Scriptures reveal that great men of God trembled and fell to their faces when they found themselves in the presence of mere angels. You may do many things in eternity, but entering into the presence of the Holiest Of All with a silly smirk on your face will never be one of them.
This dumbing down of God has negatively effected every area of our lives. This dumbing down of God has had such devastating effects because it is just as prevalent inside the church as outside. Steve DeNeff in his book Whatever Became of Holiness lists six side-effects of what he calls “God-shrinking.” I want to share these with you before we get into Isaiah.
The first side-effect of God-shrinking is that there is no law. If we are to impose laws on our society we must first have the understanding that there are certain absolute truths that apply to all people, at all places and during all times. Such absolutes must be based on a standard and that standard is God. If God is dumbed down to our level then He is less like a standard and more like us. If God cannot be relied on as a standard then there can be no moral basis for absolute truth and thus no foundation for any law of any kind. As a result those in power have the right to make laws they like and eliminate laws they don’t like. We are guilty of this in the church all the time. We like to here sermons that condemn horrible sins such adultery or murder or drug abuse, but we would likely squirm in our seats if such condemnation were applied to gluttony or gossip cleverly disguised as prayer requests.
The second side-effect of God shrinking is that there is no sin. If there is no law then there can be no violation of the law and thus no sin. Because of this we live in a society in which there is no sin, only “alternative lifestyles.” Because there is no absolute law, sin is only your opinion and not a fact. And of course we in the church have our weaknesses and our occasional slips, but we don’t sin. Do we?
The third side-effect is that there is no incentive to change our behavior. If there is no law and thus no sin why in the world would we go through the trouble of changing the way we live. After all we enjoy the things we do or else we wouldn’t do them. Would we?
The fourth side-effect is that there is no gospel. If there is no law, and if there is no sin, and if there is no incentive to change then the church has absolutely nothing to give the world because where there is no sin there is no need of of Savior. If our God is not a holy God then our opinion is just one among many acceptable opinions. Pay your money and take your choice. It is readily apparent that the church no longer believes in the gospel. If we really believed in the gospel we wouldn’t hole up in our little churches talking about how wonderful our opinions are, we would actually go out into the world and tell others. Wouldn’t we?
The fifth side-effect is that there is little commitment among those who call themselves Christian. If there is no law, and if there is no sin, and if there is no incentive to change, and if there is no gospel to offer to the world, then we Christians have nothing of significance to commit our lives to. The result is that our churches have become little more than social clubs where the members are more concerned about getting something out of it than they are about putting something into it. And so if our God is not a holy God then He must take His place along side the ACLU and Planned Parenthood and countless others as one among many ideas of how to help our society. And so the Christian has no reason to be more dedicated to his church than to the Boy Scouts or the PTA.
The sixth side-effect of God-shrinking is that the whole doctrine of God is disintegrated. Steve DeNeff writes: “From these consequences, it is evident that the Devil does not need to make atheists of us in order to win the day. He only needs to remove the idea of the holiness of God from our platforms, bookshelves, seminaries and consciences, and we will soon after make atheists of ourselves.” (Whatever Became of Holiness, pgs. 22-23) A Puritan by the name of Stephen Charnock pointed out that the holiness of God is the one attribute that is behind every other attribute of God. In other words, every attribute of God is based on His holiness and so if we lose the holiness of God, we lose all of God. For example, the omnipotence of God apart from the holiness of God degenerates to mere tyranny. The goodness of God apart from the holiness of God degenerates into random benevolence. And so apart from the holiness of God we have not another God, but no God at all.
The Bible paints a drastically different picture, however. The holiness of God caused Adam and Eve to hide from God in the Garden of Eden. When confronted with the holiness of God Moses covered his face and the children of Israel kept at a safe distance. When confronted with the holiness of God Job’s accusations turned into adoration. When confronted with the holiness of God the Apostle John “fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17). Peter was confronted with the penetrating gaze of the holiness of God immediately following his third denial of Christ, then “went outside and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62). “Whenever a man stares into the holiness of God, it is man who blinks first. The one thing he does not do is sit there ‘with a smile on [his] face, thinking about God” (Whatever Became Of Holiness, pg. 24).
When we encounter the holiness of God the way Isaiah did we will see “the Lord seated on a throne.” It is a throne of glory before which we must worship. It is a throne of government under which we must be subject. And it is a throne of grace to which we may come boldly. We will see “the Lord . . . high and exalted” and we will realize that He his wholly other. We will realize that He is of a far greater kind than the human kind and this realization will humble us as we have never been humbled before.
2. We Must Recognize Our Unholiness.
In that moment we, like Isaiah before us, must recognize not only the holiness of God, but also our own unholiness. In the next moment we fall to the ground crying out, “Woe to me! I am ruined.” Samuel Logan Brengle wrote of his encounter with the holy in these words: “I saw the humility of Jesus, and my pride; the meekness of Jesus, and my temper; the lowliness of Jesus, and my ambition; the faithfulness of Jesus, and the deceitfulness of my heart; the unselfishness of Jesus, and my selfishness; the trust and faith of Jesus, and my doubts and unbelief . . . I got my eyes off everybody but Jesus and myself, and I came to loathe myself.”
The problem is that we have not only dumbed God down, but we have also defined deviancy down. Many have come to believe that because they have been filled with the Spirit and made holy that they are faultless. The Bible teaches that we are not faultless, but blameless if we are filled with the Spirit and walking in the light. There is a difference. This difference is made clear when you examine your definition of sin. There are two definitions of sin and both are correct, however, most lean too far one way or the other. The first definition is the ethical definition. The ethical definition of sin says that sin is a willful violation of a known law of God. This is true. If you are not willfully, intentionally breaking God’s law, your transgression is automatically covered by the atonement and God finds you blameless.
Allow me to illustrate with a fictitious Old Testament story. There is an Old Testament law that says that an Israelite must not wear a garment that is made of two different types of material. No cotton polyester blends allowed back then. One day a man left home to do some work in the mountains. When he got up in the mountains he discovered that the mountain air was rather chilly and so he found a nearby village where he could purchase a jacket. What he failed to realize as he examined the jacket was that the buttons were sown on with a different type of material than that of which the jacket had been made. The jacket is a durable jacket and the man wears it for years without ever realizing that it was made of two types of material and therefore a violation of God’s law. When this man dies will he go to hell? No. Old Testament law is clear on this. Because the violation of God’s law was unintentional it is automatically covered by the atonement and the man is considered blameless in God’s eyes. The atonement was an Old Testament sacrifice that was offered once each year to cover unintentional sin. The New Testament teaches that Jesus death on the cross was our atoning sacrifice and so our unintentional sins are automatically covered as well. However, if we ever do become aware of our unintentional sin we must repent of it. Imagine if you will that when the man came down from the mountain his wife rushed out of the house to greet him. As she does she takes note of his new jacket and immediately realizes that two types of material have been used and she tells her husband of this. Now the man has a choice. He can remove the jacket and repent of his unintentional sin or he can continue to wear the jacket in which case his sin now becomes intentional and is therefore no longer covered by the atonement. The Old Testament is very clear that the atonement only covered sin that was unintentional. So there is then a sense in which unintentional sin isn’t considered sin in that it is automatically covered by the atonement and we are therefore considered to be blameless in God’s eyes.
The second definition is the legal definition. The legal definition of sin says that sin is any falling short of the glory of God. This is also true. The man in the previous illustration was considered blameless because his violation of God’s law was unintentional. However, he had still violated God’s law and is therefore not considered faultless. It is from this definition of sin that some derive the teaching that we sin in word, thought, and deed everyday and when properly understood it is true. This is why we can pray the Lord’s prayer everyday -- “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There is no such height of holiness possible in this lifetime that can prevent us from falling short of the glory of God and when we encounter the glory of God as Isaiah did we realize just how far short we have fallen even if it was unintentional and we hang our heads in humiliation. Therefore, it is evident that if we are content spiritually, it is a sign that we have not encountered the holiness of God anytime recently. There is a work of grace that can enable one to never fall short of the glory of God, but it is not sanctification, it is glorification and you have to die to get it. You see, in heaven we will never intentionally or unintentionally fall short of the glory of God and that is why it is called glorification. However, until that day even the holiest of men must recognize their unholiness for we compare ourselves not with the holiness of others, but with the holiness of God. And, like Isaiah,when we recognize our unholiness we must repent of it.
3. We Must Repent of Our Unholiness.
When Isaiah recognized his unholiness he immediately confessed it saying, “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” (v. 5b) When he encountered the holy he realized and confessed that he was a man of unclean lips. This reference to unclean lips refers to his spoken words and to the attitudes behind those words -- to the heart. Jesus taught us that we speak out of the overflow of the heart. In other words, what is inside of us -- what is inside our hearts -- is what comes out when we speak. And so when we get to the heart of the matter we see that Isaiah had a heart condition.
Because of this Isaiah was able to identify with the people of the world who had heart conditions as well. When we encounter the holiness of God we realize that in and of ourselves we are no better than the pagans of the world. Yes, we have been forgiven and cleansed of our sin, but that was by the grace of God alone and so we are no more deserving than the abortion doctor or the drug dealer. As this realization sinks in we humble ourselves and repent. An encounter with the holiness of God never ever leads to a feeling of spiritual superiority. In his newly humbled position Isaiah gladly received God’s cleansing.
4. We Must Receive God’s Holiness.
As soon as Isaiah had recognized and repented of his unholiness an angel was sent by God to take a live coal and touch it to his lips. This resulted in his guilt being taken away and his sin being atoned for. There is nothing that we can do about our state of unholiness. Just as we cannot save ourselves so we cannot sanctify ourselves. All we can do is receive the holiness of God by faith. Jesus died on the cross not only for our salvation, but also for our sanctification. As the author of Hebrews writes, “Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood” (Hebrews 13:12). And just as salvation is received by faith so sanctification is received by faith. Jesus said to Paul, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18). Once we have received God’s holiness into our lives by faith we are anything but finished. Their is a life long growth in grace that follows. We must continually be receiving God’s holiness and cleansing in our lives. The Bible says, “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The word “purifies” is in the present tense and indicates an ongoing, continuous purification. So we see that we need God’s cleansing to make us holy and we need God’s continuous cleansing to keep us holy. Then we begin to see that this cleansing is not the end of the matter. God does not make us holy so that we can beautiful trophies of holiness neatly placed on His mantle. No. God makes us holy so that we will be fit to carry out his work in the world.
5. We Must Respond to God’s Call.
Once Isaiah is cleansed from his sin and made holy he is in tune with God in such a way that he is able to hear the voice of the Lord in a way that he couldn’t before. Now he is aware of the fact that God is seeking someone to send out into the world on His behalf and Isaiah responds, “Here am I. Send me!” (v. 8) Isaiah realizes that there is a whole nation of people before him who are in desperate need of the same cleansing he has just received and so out of a heart filled with gratitude to God and compassion for the lost he willingly commits his life to God’s service. We are saved to serve.
Conclusion:
The man huddled on the cabin floor was slowly freezing to death. It was high in the Rockies in southwestern Alberta, and outside a blizzard raged. John Elliott had logged miles that day through the deep snows of the mountain passes as he checked for avalanches. As dusk and exhaustion overcame him he had decided to “hole-up.” He made it wearily to his cabin but somewhat dazed with fatigue, he did not light a fire or remove his wet clothing. As the blizzard blasted through the cracks in the old cabin walls, the sleeping forest ranger sank into oblivion, paralyzed by the pleasure of the storm’s icy caress. Suddenly, however, his dog sprang into action,and with unrelenting whines, finally managed to rouse his near-comatose friend. The dog was John’s constant companion, a St. Bernard, one of a long line of dogs famous for their heroics in times of crisis. “If that dog hadn’t been with me, I’d be dead today,” John Elliott says. “When you’re freezing to death you actually feel warm all over, and don’t wake up because it feels too good.” This is a powerful illustration of the deadly deceptiveness of sin. We will never be able to rouse ourselves out of our state of unholiness because we are paralyzed by its pleasure. We need a dramatic encounter with the holiness of God to rouse us out of our unholy oblivion before it’s too late.
In 1961 A.W. Tozer was given the opportunity to speak to a group of minister on a subject of his choice. Not surprisingly he chose to speak to them about the holiness of God. During that talk he said the following words: “I believe we ought to have again the old biblical concept of God which makes God awful and makes men lie face down and cry, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. That would do more for the church than everything or anything else.”
Prayer:
Benediction:
In verse 9 God told Isaiah to “go and tell.” Do you remember in grade school when you had show and tell. You brought something to school so that you could show your classmates and tell them about it. Without God’s holiness in our lives we have nothing to show the world, but once made holy we can show and tell.
Please email me if you use this sermon or a revision of it. Thank you.
Steve Dow
Heritage Wesleyan Church
www.forministry.com/80909hwc
heritagewesleyan@hotmail.com
