Lars Larson Live Stream

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Our Bible plays to Isaiah chapter 6, well we have the privilege of hearing
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Jason this morning and his subject is on the holiness of God.
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You don't have notes this morning, however let's ask God to help us as we give attention to his word and that the
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Lord would help Jason as he serves us God's Word. Let's pray.
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Thank you our Father for Jason and his service to you and to your people among us and we pray our
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Father that you would even now fill him with the blessed Holy Spirit and we pray that your word that is delivered to him would impact us
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Lord, our minds instructing us, our hearts to stir us and our wills to conform us to your most glorious will, your glorious word and so bless us now we pray in Jesus name amen.
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Morning everybody, sorry about the notes but I have to say you're probably better off without them.
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I'm not as eloquent and I'm not as good a writer as Lars is so there's lots of grammatical errors and things like that but God is gracious.
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Well we are glad to be back, we had a good week last week we were visiting my family in Ohio and last week we got to visit a church, can you hear me okay?
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Maybe you can turn that up. We got to visit a church that was started by a friend of mine from college, it was a church plant so we had a nice time being with them and fellowshipping but it's always good to be back home in our home church so let's go to the
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Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father we do thank you for this morning, we thank you for this church and just for the wonderful work that you've done in the lives of the people here and we pray
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Lord that as we continue our worship service that we would be mindful to what the word has to say, we pray that you would help us understand it,
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I pray that you would help me to relay the truths that I'm about to share in a way that's easily understandable.
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I pray Lord that your spirit would teach us these truths so that we might apply them to our lives so that we might live for your praise, glory, and honor.
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Thank you Lord in Jesus name, amen. A .W.
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Tozer in his classic book on the attributes of God wrote the following, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
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A right concept of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical
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Christian living as well. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying
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Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.
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Now Tozer is absolutely correct, no one will ever rise above their concept of God because your view of God directly affects how you live your life, it affects how you view your circumstances, it affects how you respond to those circumstances.
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Beloved the manner in which you behold God or your view of God will affect every area of your life but the most significant and the most important area that is affected by your view of God is your relationship with God.
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You see at its very core an improper view of God is an idolatrous view of God.
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An improper view of God is synonymous with an idolatrous view of God. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is something other than what
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He truly is. It is other than what He has revealed to us about Himself in the
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Scriptures. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is something other than what
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He truly is. So idolatry is really thinking incorrectly about God's person, about God's nature,
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His character, His attributes. It is to think something about God that is not true of Him.
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Simply put, idolatry makes the God who is into something that He is not.
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In the church today there are many who claim to accept the biblical view of God but in reality they have twisted
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God into something else entirely. The Lord God Almighty as He has been revealed in the
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Scriptures has been twisted into something else. It has been shrunken down and reduced to a more manageable size.
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A more compliant God. In other words, God is refashioned to fit our own sinful expectations.
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God is refashioned to fit our own selfish desires. The one true
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God as revealed in the Scriptures has been substituted for a lesser God. A God that makes us feel more comfortable.
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A God that makes us feel better about ourselves. Romans 1 .24
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says, Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the
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Creator who is blessed forever. The truth of God as revealed in the Scriptures is often exchanged for a lie.
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God Almighty is exchanged for a lesser God. A God of convenience. A God who is viewed only in terms of what
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He can do for us and not for who He truly is. This exchange and this perspective is referred to having a low view of God.
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A low view of God views God as less than what He truly is. It views
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God as less than who He truly is. Those who hold to a low view of God say things like,
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God really isn't that concerned about your sin. He's concerned about your happiness.
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As long as you love God, it doesn't really matter how you live. God is far too loving to send anyone to hell.
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Those who hold to a low view of God are often heard saying, well that's not the God that I serve.
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And quite right they are. The God whom they serve is not the God of the
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Scriptures, but it is a lesser God. A God that has been twisted and conformed to their own image and their own desires.
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And do you know what kind of thinking this fails to take into consideration? It doesn't consider the true nature of God as He has been revealed in the
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Scriptures. God is a Spirit who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
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Beloved, do you realize that your view of God will affect how others view
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God? A workman is known by his work, and God is known by His work.
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And whether we like it or not, when people look at us, they get an idea of who God is.
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They associate God with what they see in our lives, in our words, in our actions.
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Do you remember when David sinned against the Lord with Bathsheba and was confronted by the prophet
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Nathan? 2 Samuel 12, 13 -14, Nathan said to David, The Lord also has taken away your sin, you shall not die.
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However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the
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Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.
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The Lord God Almighty was blasphemed because of David's deeds. And likewise, the
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Lord God Almighty is blasphemed by our deeds. And it is our failure to know God, it is our failure to know
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His character, it is our failure to know His attributes that results in our sinful deeds, which ultimately results in God's dishonor.
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So what are we to do? How are we to restore a high view of God in our lives?
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How are we to ensure that our concept of God is right? How are we to ensure that we are in fact worshipping the true
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God and not a God of our own making, crafted after our own desires?
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Well, a high view of God comes from the study of His Word. It comes from the study of His revelation to us.
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It comes from the study of His person, His nature, His characteristics,
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His attributes, His works. It comes from intimately knowing the one true
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God as He has been revealed in the Scriptures. Please join with me to the book of Isaiah.
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Isaiah 6, verses 1 -7. This is Isaiah's vision of the glory and the majesty of God.
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Let's read the text together. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.
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And the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim, each had six wings.
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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,
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.
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And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of Him who called. And the house was filled with smoke.
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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.
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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 had been taken with tongs from the altar.
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And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
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Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. He prophesied during the reign of four of the kings of Judah.
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Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. For over a period of sixty years,
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Isaiah faithfully proclaimed the word of the Lord. During times of prosperity, times of national crisis, times of national chaos, and in times of moral and spiritual decline.
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We're given a glimpse of the spiritual temperature in the southern kingdom of Judah during this time in Isaiah 22, verse 12.
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He writes, In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth.
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And behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine.
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Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. That's quite a contrast, isn't it?
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Instead of weeping and mourning over their sins, instead of confession and repentance, instead of their surrender and their submission to the
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Lord God, the people of Judah were living life to their own advantage. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
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Isaiah was commissioned to confront these people of their corruption and to warn them of the consequences that would soon follow.
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Isaiah 1, verse 4, he writes, Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly.
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Verse 15, they have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are utterly estranged.
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When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen.
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Your hands are full of blood. It was also during this time that the northern kingdom
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Israel had been taken captive by Assyria. And the southern kingdom
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Judah was in danger of the same fate. So it was a time of war. It was a time of panic.
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It was a time of great instability and immorality. And it was during this time that King Uzziah died.
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Now this would have been extremely difficult to accept because King Uzziah had been a great king.
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He was the 10th king of Judah, and his reign lasted for 52 years.
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2 Chronicles 26 verse 4 says, And he did what was right in the eyes of the
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Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek
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God in the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as he sought the
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Lord, God made him prosper. In his later days,
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King Uzziah failed to seek the Lord. He was unfaithful to the
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Lord. He attempted to burn incense at the altar of incense, which was a task that only the priests were to perform.
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And he was rebuked and confronted by 81 priests. But in his pride and arrogance, he disregarded their rebuke and he became enraged at them.
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And God rewarded this action with leprosy.
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2 Chronicles 26 verse 21, And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death.
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And being a leper, lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's household, governing the people of the land.
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Now this was a very sad ending to the reign of an otherwise great king. During his life,
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King Uzziah had provided peace and prosperity and security to the southern kingdom of Judah.
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But now, the king was dead. And this is the backdrop to our passage this morning.
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Isaiah 6 verses 1 and 2, In the year that King Uzziah died,
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I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
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Above him stood the seraphim, each having six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
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Now who was it that Isaiah saw sitting upon a throne? Isaiah saw the
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Lord sitting upon a throne. Now notice the spelling of the term Lord in verse 1.
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It's an uppercase L with a lowercase O -R -D. Now anytime you see the term
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Lord spelled in this way, it's a reference to the Hebrew word Adonai.
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In Isaiah 6 verse 3 we again read the word Lord, but here it's in all caps, which is a reference to the
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Hebrew word Yahweh or Jehovah. Yahweh refers to God's essential nature, while Adonai refers to the
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Lord's sovereignty and His dominion. So sitting on the throne,
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Isaiah saw Adonai, the sovereign and supreme ruler of all the heavens and all the earth.
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What's interesting, the Lord who Isaiah saw sitting on the throne was the
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Lord Jesus Christ. In John 12 verses 39 -41, Therefore they could not believe, for again
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Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.
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Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
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According to the Gospel of John, the His glory and the speaking of Him was referring to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. So in the year that the earthly king died, Isaiah saw the true king, the real king, the heavenly king,
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Jesus Christ, Adonai, sitting on the throne. And His throne was lofty and exalted.
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Literally meaning it was raised to a superior position above all other thrones. And the train of His robe filled the temple, which speaks of God's incomparable splendor.
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God is the most glorious. God is the most magnificent. God is the most high.
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In no vision of heaven do you ever catch the Lord God in a plain or ordinary setting.
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You never catch the Lord God asleep or unprepared. The Lord God reigns.
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The Lord God is sitting on His throne. All is at peace and all is under control.
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So in the year that the earthly king died, when everything in the kingdom of Judah seemed to be falling apart, when tragedy was on the horizon, when captivity was inevitable,
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Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
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Beloved, this is a vision that many of us need today. Because we are surrounded by an exceedingly wicked world.
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We are surrounded with gross immorality, lawlessness, godlessness, pain, suffering, instability.
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It's inescapable. It's everywhere around us. And the state of the church isn't much better.
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We see false doctrine, false teachers, selfishness, worldliness, marital unfaithfulness, financial impropriety, disobedient children, depression, fear, anxiety, addiction, and abuse.
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What is going on in the world? What is going on in the church? How much worse is it going to get?
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Isn't it encouraging to know that when everything seems to be turned upside down, when the future looks dark and bleak, when we don't understand what's going on in the world, the church, or even our lives, when we don't understand why certain things are happening to us or to our loved ones, isn't it encouraging to know that the
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Lord God is on His throne? And that the Lord God is in control of all things.
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Isaiah 46, 9 and 10 Remember the former things of old, for I am
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God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying,
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My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all
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My purpose. What a marvelous comfort it is to know that the
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Lord God is sovereign. What a marvelous comfort it is to know that God exercises
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His supremacy as He sees fit, and that nothing that happens is outside of His immediate and direct control.
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There is no sickness. There is no accident. There is no death. There is no uncomfortable situation.
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Absolutely nothing happens apart from the will and purpose.
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Charles Spurgeon writes that there is no attribute more comforting to his children than that of God's sovereignty.
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Under the most adverse circumstances, in His most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all.
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There is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the doctrine of their
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Master over all creation, the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands, the throne of God, and His right to sit upon that throne.
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Like Isaiah, some of us desperately need to be reminded of this truth.
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And beloved, as God was then, so is God now. God is immutable.
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God does not change. God is always on the throne with all power, with all authority, lofty and exalted.
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And God will always accomplish His purpose. His plans will never be thwarted.
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So in your confusion, and in your turmoil, in your questions, don't get frustrated.
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Don't doubt in the Lord God. Rather, trust in Him. Take comfort in Him.
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View your circumstances through the lens of God's character. God is sovereign.
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God is good. God is faithful. God is just. God will always do what is right.
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And God is working in your life for your good and His glory. The Lord God uses our present circumstances, no matter how difficult, to conform us to the image of His Son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, for His glory. And while you may not understand all the ins and outs of your present circumstances, the
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Lord God most assuredly does. And it is the Lord God who is sitting on the throne.
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Well, in Isaiah 6, God on the throne isn't the only thing that Isaiah saw.
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What else did he see? Verse 2, Above Him stood the seraphim, each had six wings.
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With two He covered His face, with two He covered His feet, and with two He flew.
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Surrounding the throne of God, Isaiah sees angels identified as seraphim.
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Now this is the only place in the scriptures that these angels show up. And the word seraphim is plural for seraph, which literally means to burn.
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Isaiah describes the seraphim as having six wings. Two of the wings were used for flying and the other four wings were used for covering themselves.
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Two of the wings covered their faces and two of the wings covered their feet.
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Now why did the angels need to cover themselves? It's important to remember that these angels were flying around the throne of God.
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These angels were exposed to the full brilliance of the glory of God. You remember back in Exodus 33 when the presence of the
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Lord passed by Moses and the Lord God hid him in the cleft of the rock? Do you remember why the
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Lord God hid him? Exodus 33 verse 18 Moses said, Please show me your glory.
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And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the
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Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom
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I will show mercy. But he said, You cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live.
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I think this principle applies not only to men, but to any created being, angels included.
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There is no creature that can withstand the sight of the full brilliance of the glory of God, which is why the seraphim covered their faces with their wings.
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Well, what about the feet? Why did they cover their feet? Some commentators suggest that covering their feet was a sign of humility and modesty, or that it demonstrated an attitude of lowliness.
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I think it's similar to when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The ground that Moses stood upon became sanctified, and he was required to remove his feet, his sandals from his feet.
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In a similar manner, the seraphim, who surround the throne of God, need to cover themselves from the splendor and the glorious brilliance of the
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Lord God. Charles Spurgeon describes the seraphim, Thus they have four wings for adoration, and two for active energy, four to conceal themselves, and two with which to occupy themselves in service.
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And we may learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in His presence.
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Veneration must be in larger portion than vigor. Adoration must exceed activity.
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As Mary at Jesus' feet was preferred to Martha in her much serving, so must sacred reverence take the first place, and energetic service follow in due course.
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Now the most important description of the seraphim is not in their physical appearance, but in the words that they called out to one another.
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Verses 3 and 4, And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
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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 was filled with smoke.
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That's a dramatic scene, isn't it? It reminds me a lot of the living beings of Revelation 4.
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Although they're not called seraphim, there's certainly many similarities between these two passages.
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Revelation 4 .8 says, And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within.
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And day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. So the four living creatures of Revelation 4 call out holy, holy, holy.
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And the seraphim of chapter 6 call out holy, holy, holy.
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Well, what's going on in these two passages? What's going on is unceasing praise, never -ending adoration, the perpetual worship of the
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Lord God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts for day and night without ceasing, without stopping, without end.
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I don't think that you or I or anyone else will ever fully understand this kind of adoration.
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We will never fully understand this kind of praise, this kind of worship, because we don't fully understand the holiness of God.
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Well, what does the holiness of God mean? And what does it mean that our God is holy, holy, holy?
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Well, the Hebrew word translated holy refers to something that is sacred or something that is set apart.
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It also implies purity that is set apart from impurity. The Greek word for holy also draws from this concept and is often translated as moral purity or sanctity or consecration.
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Let me give you three passages that give a really solid insight into our understanding of the holiness of God.
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1 Samuel 2 .2 There is none holy like the
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Lord, for there is none beside You. There is no rock like our
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God. Isaiah 40 .25 To whom then will
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You compare Me that I should be like Him, says the Holy One.
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Hosea 11 .9 I will not execute My burning anger. I will not again destroy
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Ephraim, for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in Your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
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Now did you catch what idea each one of these verses imparts? Each one of these verses conveys the idea that God is completely set apart from everything else.
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There is none like the Lord God. There is none besides the
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Lord. There is no rock like our God. Nothing can be compared or likened to God.
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God has no equals. God is God and not man. God is the
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Holy One in Your midst. J. I. Packer defines the holiness of God as everything about God that sets
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Him apart from us and makes Him an object of awe, adoration, and dread.
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Thomas Watson remarks that holiness is the most sparkling jewel of His crown.
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It is the name by which God is known. His power makes Him mighty. His holiness makes
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Him glorious. The Lord God is entirely unique and His holiness is incomparable.
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The Lord God stands alone and it is His holiness that marks His unique divine nature.
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Exodus 15 -11 says, Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
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Psalm 111 -9, He sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever.
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Holy and awesome is His name. A.
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W. Tozer remarked that the only way to fully grasp the holiness of God was to experience the holiness of God.
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He writes, when you talk about the holiness of God, you have not only the problem of an intellectual grasp, but also a sense of personal vileness which is almost too much to bear.
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God cannot tell us by language, so He uses association and suggestion and shows us how holiness affects the unholy.
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In other words, the best way to understand the holiness of God is through observing those who have experienced it first hand.
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It's learning from those who have been confronted by it face to face, like Isaiah.
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And how did Isaiah experience, how did Isaiah respond to his encounter with a
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God who is holy, holy, holy? Isaiah 6 verse 5,
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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.
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For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. In the presence of a holy, holy, holy
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God, Isaiah pronounces a curse upon his own head. Woe is me,
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I am lost. Isaiah was utterly devastated and laid low by the holiness of God.
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Now why do you think he responded in this way? Why do you think he responded in such a dramatic manner?
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I mean, Isaiah knew God. Isaiah knew that God was holy. He was familiar with the book of Leviticus and all the laws that were associated with the holiness of God.
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He was familiar with Mount Sinai, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the sins of Nadab and Abihu, who were killed because they did not treat the
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Lord God as holy. Isaiah knew that he was utterly set apart from all creation.
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He knew that God was unique. So why did he respond in such a severe manner?
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Why the woe is me, for I am lost? Well, listen to how a few other men responded in similar situations.
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Moses at the burning bush. Exodus 3 And the angel of the
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Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
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And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the
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Lord saw that, He turned aside to see. God called to him out of the bush, Moses!
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Moses! And he said, Here I am. Then He said, Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.
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And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
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God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.
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How about the prophet Habakkuk? Do you remember how Habakkuk responded in the presence of the
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Lord? In the book of Habakkuk, he was second -guessing God. He was questioning
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God. He was complaining to God about the current state of the wicked world. And in chapter 2,
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Habakkuk says, I'm going to stand here and wait for you to answer. I'll keep watch waiting for your word.
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Well, God gave him a word. And in Habakkuk 3 .16, Habakkuk says,
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I hear and my body trembles. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones.
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My legs tremble before me. And Simon Peter had a similar response in Luke 5.
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And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
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And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets.
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And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
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And they came and they filled their boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying,
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Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. In the holiness of God, Isaiah cried out,
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Woe is me, I am lost. Moses hid his face and was greatly afraid.
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Habakkuk was a nervous wreck. His insides trembled. His lips quivered. Decay entered into his bones.
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And Simon Peter recognized his complete unworthiness even to lie at the feet of Christ.
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To come into the presence of the Lord God to know and to understand the holiness of God is to be utterly devastated because of our sinfulness.
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The holiness of God exposes our sinfulness. The holiness of God is like a giant spotlight that shines on our lives and reveals every one of our imperfections, our wicked thoughts, our flaws.
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So if we don't recognize the holiness of God, if we don't understand the holiness of God, we will never fully understand our sinfulness.
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R .C. Sproul writes that without the holiness of God, sin has no meaning, grace has no point, and faith has no content.
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Without the holiness of God, sin is merely human failure and not rebellion against God.
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I'm going to repeat that because it's so important. Without the holiness of God, sin is merely human failure and not rebellion against God.
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You know, as believers, there's often a tendency to view our sin as personal failure.
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There's a tendency to view our sin as disappointment. I'm trying to be more patient.
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I'm trying to be kind. I'm trying to obey, but it's really hard. Sin is not a personal failure.
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Beloved, what we need to remember is that the Lord God is holy, holy, holy. And what we need to remind ourselves is that our sin is rebellion against Him.
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It is rebellion against a God who is holy, holy, holy.
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Sin is failure to conform to the law of God. Sin is perversion.
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It twists into something that is good into something that is not. Sin is unfaithfulness.
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Sin is adultery. Sin is doing something that the devil desires. Sin is missing the mark of perfection.
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Sin is straying from the path. Sin is destruction. And as Isaiah's eyes gazed upon the
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King, the Lord of hosts, he saw his sinfulness and the sinfulness of his people, and it nearly destroyed him.
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In the presence of a holy God, our sinfulness is manifest. Our sinfulness is made completely obvious.
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In the presence of a holy God, our sinfulness stands out like a shining light in a darkened room.
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And beloved, God hates sin. And let me get personal for just a moment.
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The Lord God hates your sin. The Lord God hates my sin.
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Habakkuk 1 .13 says, Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil, and thou cannot look upon wickedness with favor.
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Sin is the barrier that separates us from God. Sin is the obstacle that completely hinders and disrupts our relationship with Him.
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Isaiah 59 .2 says, Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face so that He does not hear.
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This is something that we often forget. We forget that sin separates and hinders our walk with God.
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We get so preoccupied with other things, with the temporary things of this world, that we forget about God's holiness.
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And we forget about His hatred for sin. You know, it's easy to remember that God loves us.
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It's easy to remember that God has forgiven us. That God is patient and long -suffering toward us.
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That God has prepared a place for us. These thoughts are a great comfort and a great encouragement to us.
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But when we forget that the Lord God is holy, holy, holy, it inevitably begins to happen.
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We start to stray from God. And as we stray from God, our view of Him diminishes.
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And the high view of God that every believer should possess is exchanged for a low view of God.
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The thrice holy God who is over all is replaced with a God of our own making, fashioned after our own desires.
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But the more we strive to know God, and the more we reflect upon His holiness, the more we will hate our own sin, and the more we will strive to please
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Him. Early in his ministry, the Apostle Paul wrote to the
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Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 59, he writes,
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For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
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Later in his ministry, he wrote to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 3 .8.
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And he says, To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the
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Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And finally, towards the end of his ministry, towards the end of his life, he wrote to his true child in the faith, his beloved
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Timothy. 1 Timothy 1 .15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
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I am the foremost. Did you catch the progression in those verses?
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Paul went from being the least of the apostles to the least of the saints to the chief of sinners.
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What was happening in Paul's life? Well, as Paul grew in his knowledge of God, as he grew in his relationship to God, the more exposed his sin became.
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And the closer that Paul got to the light of God's holiness, the more sin and wickedness was exposed in his life.
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Beloved, what about you? Is your knowledge of God following the progression of the apostle?
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Does your knowledge of God and the guilt of your sin seem more magnified today than yesterday?
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Or last month? Or last year? Is your
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God holy, holy, holy? As you approach Him, do you cover your face?
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Do you cover your feet? God is holy. And in His holiness,
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He has called each one of us to be holy. 1 Peter 1 .15
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-16 But He who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your behavior, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.
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For those of you who don't know God. For those of you who have never confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that Jesus Christ is
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Lord, the holiness of God demands payment for your sin.
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And that payment is blood. That payment is death. That payment is eternal suffering.
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And there is nothing that you can do to gain favor with God. Even the good things that you do are as filthy rags in light of God's holiness.
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But there is hope. As Isaiah saw the Lord God, and as his sinfulness was exposed and his great fear gripped him, the
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Lord God took away his guilt. Look at verse 6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken out with tongs from the altar.
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He touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.
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Isaiah's confession and contrition was met with God's gracious provision of mercy.
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A burning coal was taken from the altar. It touched the mouth of Isaiah and his guilt was taken away, his sin atoned for.
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And just as Isaiah's guilt was taken away and his sin atoned, so is our guilt and our sin taken away and atoned through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Jerry Bridges writes, As Isaiah anguished over his newly discovered sinfulness,
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God sent one of the seraphim with a burning coal from the altar and touched his lips. In this good news,
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Isaiah heard the gospel and experienced both the deep conviction of his sin and the assurance of God's gracious forgiveness.
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Isaiah's response when he heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
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He responded, Here I am. Send me. Isaiah gave his life in service to God.
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He essentially offered himself as a blank check to be filled as God saw fit.
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With Isaiah, we see a three -step process. First, acute realization of one's own sinfulness in the light of God's holiness.
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Second, hearing the gospel that one's sins are forgiven. And finally, the response of gratitude, love, and surrender leading to action.
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And as we behold the Lord God, as we experience the saving power of the gospel, as we surrender our will to the will of God, our lives will also be progressively transformed from glory to glory, just as from the
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Lord the Spirit. In closing, I think there's an important lesson that can be learned from Isaiah's description of the seraphim.
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They used four wings for adoration and two wings for service.
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Well, what about you? Does your adoration of God exceed your activity for God?
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Does your existence revolve around the praise, adoration, and worship of God?
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As you come into the presence of the Lord, is your face covered? As you come into the presence of the
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Lord, are your feet covered? Do you come before Him in lowliness and humility?
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Or are you prideful? Are you self -absorbed? Is your view of God a high view of God?
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Or is it a low view of God? Beloved, our
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God is holy, holy, holy. And His presence is awesome.
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Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
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Isaiah saw the seraphim. He saw their worship. He saw their service. And after this vision,
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I suspect Isaiah was never the same again. And beloved, as we behold the
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Lord God in the Scriptures, we should never be the same either.
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So I encourage you, go to the Word of God and learn about Him.
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Intimately know Him. Not just an academic knowledge, but a true intimate knowledge of who the
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Lord God is. And God's character, His attributes will change you as His Spirit works through you.
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Let's pray. Our Lord, we've just read an amazing passage.
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Isaiah's vision of Your glory, of Your splendor. Lord, we are so grateful to know
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You. And we're grateful to have such a clear picture of who You are. That sitting on the throne right now is
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King Jesus, Adonai, who is over all things. Lord, I pray that You would give each one of us a very clear understanding of who
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You are. A clear understanding of Your majesty. A clear understanding of Your holiness.
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A clear understanding of Your presence. Because Lord, when we see
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You clearly, we will see our sin clearly. And Lord God, our sin is great.
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And we confess our sin to You. We confess our pride, our selfishness.
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We confess our self -reliance. Lord, we pray that we would have a right view of You.
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We pray that we would be changed because of who You are and what
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You've done. So Lord, help us in this. Increase our faith.
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Increase our knowledge of You. Help us to see You as You truly are.
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And Lord, we praise You. We thank You that You are holy, holy, holy. And Lord, we look forward to the day where like the angels, every moment of our lives will be to sing holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. Thank You Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.