Before we turn to our time of prayer, I want to concentrate our prayer tonight on the country of Ukraine.
And before I do, I just wanted to share a little insight that I was given.
As Rachel and I work with Mission to the World, we had a Zoom meeting on Friday night
with some other MTW missionaries who work and live in Ukraine and have very close connections with the church there.
So I just wanted to share some information as we pray specifically for them.
The missionaries that we know there have all moved west to the city of Lviv,
where most of them are set up to help provide humanitarian aid.
But also spoke specifically of those two.
There was actually a pretty good group from Kiev, the capital, and Odessa.
And they spoke there briefly about their knowledge of the church there and the needs of the church.
And really some points of encouragement even that I wanted to make known as we pray.
They said about a third of the church, those within the church, have left to try to seek shelter elsewhere.
About a third are there staying, whether travel is too hard or they're there to serve.
And about a third are enlisted to fight.
And they said really the neat thing that's happened for those that have remained in the church
is that they've been able to use their church.
A couple of them actually are on a ground floor or a basement level where they meet.
And so during these bombing raids, they've had people come down into their church building
where they have stayed and sought refuge for a few hours at a time, several times a day.
And so to see blessing come from that, to see people coming into the church building
where they are served by believers, served tea and food as they wait to be able to go back into their buildings
has really been just a neat testimony.
Also to see how they've been able to serve through providing food and provision to those in need.
And so let's just focus our prayer for them tonight, continue to remember them in need.
I got an email last night that said the pastor in Kiev is still there
and had every intention of preaching at their church this morning.
So I haven't heard anything since, but we can know that there are believers in Ukraine
that continue to meet together and continue to praise the Lord despite their circumstances.
So let's pray together this evening.
Lord, we thank you again for this opportunity to meet together this evening.
We know that it is a blessing to have the Sabbath, a day set apart for rest,
a day set apart for worship, to remember your goodness and your involvement in our lives.
And Lord, we recognize the ease in which we can meet the blessings of this building,
the blessings of fellowship without persecution, without the threat of war,
Lord, we thank you for the opportunity for our youth to meet tonight.
We thank you for all the activities that we have throughout the week where we can build community
and share life with one another and dig into your word together.
And Lord, we know that that is a blessing that comes from you
and that there are believers around the world who don't have such luxury of meeting together openly,
who may not have church building, who may be under threat of persecution and even war.
So Lord, tonight we pray and we lift up the church in Ukraine.
We know, Lord, that you are sovereign and in control.
And so Lord, we pray through this fighting and this war that you may strengthen the faith of believers throughout Ukraine.
We pray that they may be a great testimony to their neighbors,
that they may offer physical aid,
but also spiritual aid to many who are hurting,
who are many who are confused and scared.
Lord, we think especially of the church in Lviv, in Kiev,
these places that there is humanitarian crisis,
there is a real threat of life and injury.
But Lord, we thank you for the blessing that their church building still remains,
that they can open up the doors to allow people their safe haven,
that they can offer tea and food and shelter and clothing to those in need.
So Lord, we pray that you give them energy for the task ahead,
that you give them boldness in being able to share faith with their fellow Ukrainians.
Lord, give them great resolve in standing up for what is right and in the fight against evil.
Lord, we pray that you grant them safety,
not only the church, but many in Ukraine who are willing to stand for freedom,
who are willing to fight the oppressor.
Lord, we think of the many families and individuals,
women and children who are seeking to flee the country,
to seeking safe haven in other countries.
And we ask, Lord, for great response from other countries to receive these people,
to provide humanitarian aid.
Lord, we pray for many governments who have difficult decisions to make,
that may make these decisions with great wisdom, with great compassion.
And Lord, we even pray for the government of Russia.
We pray for great repentance.
We pray for a turning from what is evil to the turning of what is good.
We pray that you may convict.
We pray that you may assert your power,
that you may show yourself strong and sovereign over all.
We know that countries rise and fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.
And so we pray with that hope tonight.
May that be the hope of your church around the globe.
Thank you again for the blessing of meeting tonight.
And as we consider your holiness,
may that be a truth that sinks in deep into our hearts.
As we consider your character, God,
to recognize how far we are,
how far we fall from your glory.
And so we come confessing our sins,
knowing that you are quick to forgive,
knowing that you give us the righteousness of Christ.
So may that bring us great joy this evening.
Lord, we ask that you open our ears,
that you soften our hearts to the receiving of your word.
May it be beneficial to us all tonight.
We pray that you guide and direct me,
fill me with your spirit,
that your truth may go forth in power.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
As I should have mentioned at the beginning,
for those who haven't been with us the last few weeks,
the evening service is a little bit different
than what you may normally be used to.
That service itself is somewhat abridged
in order to allow us time to meet after the service,
after the sermon,
to have a time of discussion,
to think about these doctrines that we've been going through
and how they apply to our everyday life.
So after the sermon this evening,
we'll sing one more song and we'll break into groups.
We'd love to have those who are willing and able to stay.
If you have to leave, certainly we understand that.
But we'll be dividing into three groups
in different parts of the sanctuary.
So feel free to huddle up in any group
if you are able to do so.
So as I mentioned tonight,
we're going to be considering the holiness of God.
And we'll be looking specifically at Isaiah chapter 6.
But before we turn to Isaiah 6,
I wonder if you've ever had an experience
that you've wanted to share with people,
but you just don't have the words to do it justice.
You know whatever you're going to say
is just not going to capture
just the experience that you had
or maybe something you saw.
I think a lot of times when we go on holiday,
we come home with pictures and stories
and we want to share with other people,
but it just doesn't completely translate.
Or maybe we may give a disclaimer
when we show our picture and say,
this is great, but man, you should have been there.
You should have seen how wonderful
or how incredible the scenery was.
I think there's probably been those stories
of those who have gone up to the highlands here in Scotland.
I think often of the United States,
that story is repeated.
I've heard it over and over again
when people have gone to the Grand Canyon.
I've never been there myself.
But people show me pictures, family or friends,
and they say, man, this just doesn't do it justice.
How vast it is, how wide it is,
how deep it is, the vibrant colors that you see.
And so I feel that I'm in a similar position tonight,
that I have this impossible task
of discussing with you the holiness of God.
And the thing is, the more that I feel like
I've prepared and studied this text,
the less equipped I feel to be able to communicate
the truth of this doctrine of the holiness of God.
Really, there's nothing I can say.
There's no emotion that I can express that.
I really feel like I can properly convey to you
the depth and the richness
and the glory of the holiness of God.
But that will be my task tonight.
And so when we think about the holiness of God,
you know, it's really not a controversial topic
within the church.
I don't think there's anyone here
that would question the holiness of God.
That's something we see in the scriptures.
That's something we talk about and sing about often.
But the thing is, I don't know how often
we really just meditate on that fact.
How well we really know what it means
when we say that God is holy.
And so that's what I want us to think about tonight.
I want us, even though we recognize the limitations
of our human mind and the human language,
for us to consider the holiness of God
and what that means for his people.
And so let's turn in the text, Isaiah 6.
We're going to be looking at the first eight verses.
It should be on the screen behind me.
In the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne.
And the train of his robe filled the temple.
Above him were seraphim, each with six wings.
With two wings they covered their faces.
With two they covered their feet.
And with two they were flying.
And they were calling to one another,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
At the sound of their voices, the doorposts
and the threshold shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Woe to me, I cried, I am ruined.
For I am a man of unclean lips
and I live among people of unclean lips.
And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
And with it he touched my mouth and said,
See, this has touched your lips.
Your guilt is taken away.
Your sin atoned for.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?
And I said, Here am I.
Send me.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will you pray with me again?
Lord, as we consider your holiness,
we see it seems to be an impossible task
and personally feel so ill-equipped to do it.
So we pray, Lord, by your grace,
you will give us understanding
that we may have your wisdom
to understand the depth of your glory and your might.
May we be overwhelmed by the reality of your holiness this evening,
we pray, Lord.
In Jesus' name, amen.
So what I want to do to this evening
as we consider the holiness of God
is consider a few things.
First, I want us to think about
what does that really mean, the holiness of God?
I want to define that term for us
and consider where we see it in Scripture.
So what does it really mean when we say that God is holy?
I want to consider and look at those features of holiness.
How do we describe it?
What effect does it have
in God's character?
And secondly, I want to look at the response of man.
What does that mean to us as believers
when we say that God is holy?
How does that affect our lives?
How are we to acknowledge it
and receive it and pursue it?
And so let's look first then at the holiness of God.
I think when we think about holiness often,
we may think about it in very simple terms
where we think about purity
or personal righteousness.
that when something's holy,
we think of it as being perfect.
And while that's true,
that is part of the meaning of this word.
There's a primary definition
that I think sometimes we don't always appreciate
that we see in the Scriptures.
This Hebrew word for holiness means to be separate,
to be cut off,
to be different.
And so that which is holy
is that which is other.
Something that is truly distinct and separate.
So when we call God holy,
we're saying that he is different
and totally unique from anything else.
He has no equal.
There is this absolute otherness
that he possesses.
And so we see this word holiness,
it's used not only to describe God
in the Old Testament,
but we see it elsewhere used.
If we look back in the Bible
when we think about the Ten Commandments,
the Fourth Commandment,
remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
God set apart the Sabbath.
He set apart this day as a day of rest
that is supposed to be distinct
and different than the six other days of the week.
If we think of the term holiday,
it's a compound word for holy day.
It's a day of celebration
or a day of remembrance,
a day that is supposed to be different
and distinct than all the other days of the year.
If you think about Solomon's temple
that was built,
there was this inner portion of the temple
that was called the holy place.
It was a place that was supposed to be different
from the rest of the temple,
a place that only the priests went to.
And within the holy place,
there was the altar of incense,
but then you actually had the holy of holies,
an even more special set apart place.
And so we see in this text,
it talks about the death of King Uzziah,
and it was actually part of what led to his death
was him not recognizing this distinctness of God
and this uniqueness of this place in the temple
because he and his pride went into this holy place
to offer a sacrifice at the table of incense himself
rather than allowing the priests to do it.
As a result, the Lord struck him with leprosy,
which quickly led to his death.
And so we see in the illustrated in the gospel
what this holiness really means.
It's this separateness.
It's the fact that God is wholly uncommon
from all of his creation.
And so then if we turn back at this passage,
we have this vision from the prophet Isaiah.
And we don't really know how he's having this vision.
It's not really explained to us,
but we see as if it's a peak that he gets into heaven,
as if God pulled back the curtain slightly
for him to be able to see the throne room of God.
And so what does he see?
At the very beginning, the Lord high and exalted.
Now I want to stop there
because I want to point out a difference here.
We see the Lord is different from the Lord
that we see later on in this passage.
This is capital L, lowercase o-r-d.
Later on in verse 3, it's capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.
There's a difference in those two Lords there.
When we see the capitalized Lord,
we know that's the name of God.
It's Yahweh. That's his proper name.
But here in verse 1, it's not the capital L-O-R-D.
It's capital L, lowercase o-r-d.
And so that's not referring to the name of Jesus.
That's referring to his title, Adonai, the Lord.
He is king.
He is the sovereign ruler.
It's a title that's almost nearly used
in reference to God in the Old Testament.
And so there's no doubt here what Isaiah is seeing
is the Lord God, the sovereign one,
seated on his throne in heaven high and exalted.
And so next we get a description of what he's wearing,
the train of his robe filling the temple.
I don't know if you've ever met anyone
that has a big personality,
maybe an extrovert or someone that's very loud.
You may have heard them described as saying
their personality just fills the room.
When they come to the room,
everyone knows that that person is there, right?
That's literally what we see,
a literal sense of this in here.
His train fills the temple.
It's a display of his immense,
unrivaled majesty.
It shows his transcendence and his supremacy
that fills the whole temple.
And so then we see after that,
this image of the seraphim,
these kind of bizarre angelic beings
with six wings.
And we're not told much about them
other than two wings cover their face,
two wings covering their feet,
and with two they fly.
So we know that they're created by God.
They're created to serve constantly
in the presence of God.
And yet still they have to use these wings
to shield their eyes from the glory of God.
It's something that they don't get used to.
It's something that is wholly different
from who they are.
And so it kind of may remind us
of other times in the Old Testament
where we see this shielding of the face from God.
If you think of the story of Moses,
he's helped bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
He's received the law on Mount Sinai.
And he asked God,
show me your glory.
And how does God respond?
He says, you can't see my face
for man shall not see me and live.
But we see what God does, right?
He puts Moses in the cleft of this rock.
And he tells him he's going to pass by him.
And as he does,
he covers Moses with his hand.
And as he passes,
he removes his hand
to allow Moses to see his backside.
For that's all that Moses could possibly
be able to see and live.
And we know that after this encounter,
Moses goes back to his people,
the people of Israel,
and he says,
he describes that his face is shining
because he had been in the presence of God.
So much so that he had to wear a veil
because he was scaring the other people.
He wouldn't approach him
because his face was so bright.
And so this is very similar
to what we see in this passage of Isaiah.
But it's not only the image of God
that Isaiah witnesses here,
but it's the announcement of the seraphim themselves.
Where they say,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
And so this is that word that we talked about,
holy, to be distinct,
to be unlike any other.
And this is the problem that we have
with our finite minds
and our finite languages
that we can't fully be able to comprehend
or describe an infinite God.
Whether it's in English or in Hebrew
or any other language,
the best way that we can do it
is basically by form of repetition.
So we see here the holiness of God
repeated three times.
Holy, holy, holy.
And this is the only time we see
in the whole Bible
the characteristic of God
repeated three times.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say,
God is love, love, love.
Or gracious, gracious, gracious.
Certainly those things are true.
But the emphasis on his holiness here,
not just simply holy or holy, holy,
but holy, holy, holy.
I think this difficulty even goes beyond
just language too.
It's difficult for us to be able to comprehend
with our minds the holiness of God.
I think often when we think about God,
we're tempted to think about God
as being on the same plane as us.
God is maybe just a bigger, better version
of us as humans here.
But this vision illustrates the fact
that this is not a correct way of viewing it.
Even though the passage starts with King Uzziah
and says in the year that he died,
Isaiah is not making the point
where this is an earthly king
who did some bad things,
but this is someone better we can turn to.
No, this is the king of the universe,
holy and set apart,
completely distinct from any earthly king.
And so likewise,
when we think about God's holiness,
there's a different way we need to think about it
because it's different than
how we may ascribe attributes to a man.
And so if I pick on Bob for a second,
we may say that, well, Bob is wise.
And I think most of us,
probably most of us can agree to that fact.
And when we say that,
we're saying, well, Bob typically has good judgment.
He is deep understanding in certain things.
And so we feel comfortable calling Bob wise,
but his existence is not dependent on Bob being wise
because Bob could gain more wisdom or lose wisdom
and that doesn't affect his being.
Bob will not cease to exist if Bob ceases to be wise.
Right?
In the same way,
Bob's wisdom may not necessarily relate
to any of his other attributes.
Bob may lose his wisdom,
but he'll still be a friendly,
affable human being, right?
It's not the same when we think about this attribute of God,
especially his holiness,
because God's holiness never changes.
He can't be more or less holy.
He is and will forever be holy to the fullest
because if he were to lose his holiness,
then he ceases to be God.
And similarly,
when we talk about his holiness,
it doesn't operate in isolation.
His holiness influences and affects
all the other attributes of God.
So when we talk about God's love
or his mercy or his power,
we talk about in such ways
that God's fully holy in his love.
His mercy is holy mercy.
His power is a holy power.
And so when we think about God,
he's not just a bundle
of independent individual attributes.
When we think about God's holiness,
it is not simply an attribute.
It is the essence of who he is.
It reveals to us everything that he does
and all that he is.
And so these are qualities
that are celebrated elsewhere in the Old Testament.
If we look at the song of Hannah
at the beginning of 1 Samuel 2,
she sings,
there is no one holy like the Lord.
There is no one besides you.
There is no rock like our God.
Moses and the people of Israel,
they sing this in Exodus 15.
Who among the gods is like you, Lord?
Who is like you,
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory?
Holy,
holy,
to the greatest degree,
unchanging and infinite forever.
And so what does that mean for us then?
If this is the God of the universe
who is holy,
holy,
what is the response of man?
If God is the reigning king
and is holy in all he does,
how does that affect us
as followers of Christ?
Well, unfortunately,
I think most of us,
most in society,
if they believe in God at all,
they probably have a tendency
to shrink their concept of God,
to lessen God's attribute.
Maybe they think that makes God
more relatable to them
if they make a God
that's more like themselves.
Because the thing is,
holiness,
the holiness of God
has serious implications
in our lives
because it's a standard
that we ourselves can't achieve
and most people recognize that.
Right?
If you ask a person on the street,
you go up to them and say,
are you a good person?
Probably most of them will say yes.
Right?
Yeah, I do good things.
I think I'm a pretty good person.
But if we were to ask the person,
are you a holy person?
I doubt very much
that many people would say,
yeah, I'm a holy person.
They'd probably say no.
And they'd probably be pretty okay
with saying no.
Because it's not a standard
that many people use anymore.
It's not a term that they know.
It's an archaic standard
that they don't live up to anymore.
People are very comfortable
with their imperfections
because their standard is relative.
Because we like to judge ourselves
based on others.
Right?
We can always find someone
who's worse than we are.
We might have done something wrong,
but did you see what that person did?
They're far worse than me.
John Calvin puts it this way.
So long as we do not look beyond the earth,
we are quite pleased
with our own righteousness,
wisdom, and virtue.
We address ourselves
in the most flattering terms
and seem only less than demagogues.
And so if we keep our eyes from God,
if our standard is one another,
then we have this false sense of security
that we can kind of perpetuate.
We can maintain this level of pride
and arrogance,
and that's what we see
in the world around us.
Because society really places
no importance on holiness.
That's not a level
or a standard for success
for everyone to say,
I want to be holy.
I want to be holy in my work.
I want to be holy in my relationships.
You say that on the street corner,
people are going to look at you
like you're crazy.
But when we look back at the text here,
we see just how central
God's holiness is to our lives.
How it can't be something
that we overlook or simply minimize.
Because look at verse 5.
This is the response of Isaiah
when he has encountered this holy God.
He says,
Isaiah is rightly terrified.
He is expecting his own destruction.
And why is that?
One, he has seen the true vision of God,
and because of that,
he has a true and accurate vision of himself.
He understands the gap that exists
between his humanity and God's divinity,
his corruption and God's holiness.
And so this is a pattern we see
throughout the Bible,
that when people come into the presence of God,
they do so with trembling and great fear.
If we go back to the creation story
and we think about Adam and Eve,
when they've sinned,
they recognize their nakedness.
And what do they do?
They hide from God.
They're fearful of his presence.
The prophet Habakkuk,
he's seen the suffering of Israel
and he asked God,
how long, O Lord, must I cry for help,
but you don't listen?
And God responds to him.
He states that judgment is coming
and he says that the Lord is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.
And he tells Habakkuk,
the holy justice that is to come.
And this is Habakkuk's response
when he hears this.
He said, I heard and my heart pounded.
My lips quivered at the sound.
Decay crept into my bones
and my legs trembled.
We even see this in the New Testament
when Peter, one of Jesus' disciples,
is out fishing all night
and he hasn't caught a thing.
And Jesus instructs him,
go further out in your boat.
Put your nets on the other side
and what happens?
Completely filled with fish
to the extent that it almost sinks two boats.
And what is Peter's immediate response?
He falls at Jesus' knees
and says, go away from me, Lord.
I am a sinful man.
See, when we experience the holiness of God,
we can't fool ourselves
into thinking that our morality
or our good efforts make us safe
because our unworthiness
and our depravity
is laid out before God.
And so likewise,
the holiness of God,
it also exposes
the seriousness of our sin.
That's the whole purpose
of this vision that Isaiah is having.
That God is commissioning him
to tell the people of Israel
the judgment that is coming
because of their rebellion.
God in his holiness
can't overlook sin.
He hates sin.
It is a personal affront
to his own holiness.
And so when we see
these redemption stories
in the Bible
where people have sinned
and they've turned back to God
asking for mercy,
begging for forgiveness,
it's very interesting
how they characterize
their own sin.
When King David
has sinned against the Lord,
he's committed adultery
and murder.
we see in Psalm 51,
he says,
Against you and you only
have I sinned
and done evil in your sight.
When we think of the story
of the prodigal son,
the son who has left his father,
he's dishonored his father,
he's squandered his inheritance
and decides to come home
and ask for forgiveness.
And what's the first thing
he says to his father?
Father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you.
So we need to recognize
when we serve a holy God
that every one of our sins
is a sin against God himself.
No matter how big or small,
whether it's an isolated incident
or it's a pattern of bad behavior,
it is a rebellious act
against a holy God
that's deserving of judgment.
I think often we just,
we try to lessen
the significance of our sin.
We want to minimize it, right?
Or justify it or ignore it.
How often do we,
as believers,
truly grieve our sin?
How often have we wept
over our sin?
Paul Tripp says this.
He says,
we cannot repent
of what we have not confessed.
We cannot confess
what we have not grieved
and we cannot grieve
for what we have not seen.
So let it be our prayer then
that we see
the seriousness of our sin,
that it is open rebellion
against a holy God.
Because when we do,
the passage shows us
what happens.
In verse 6,
it goes on,
then one of the seraphim
flew to me
with a live coal in his hand,
which had been taken
with tongs from the altar.
And with it,
he touched my mouth
and said,
see,
this has touched your lips.
Your guilt is taken away
and your sin atoned for.
And so we see
while God is holy
in his justice,
he is also fully holy
in his mercy.
Isaiah thought
his life was over,
but he receives
the purifying touch of God
and is forgiven.
His guilt
is totally removed.
And so this is foreshadowing
of the mercy
that is to come.
It's Isaiah himself
who prophesies later
in Isaiah 53
of the coming Savior,
one who is going to bear
the sins of his people,
who is going to
make intercession
for the transgressors.
So I mentioned earlier
when we were talking
about the holiness of God
that it doesn't change,
that it goes on forever.
So we see the holiness of God
being continued
through the life
of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God,
who not only lived
a sinless life,
but also fully
in conformity
with the holy
and perfect will
of the Father.
If we look at John 6, 38,
it says this,
For I have come down
from heaven
not to do my will,
but to do the will
of him who sent me.
And this is the will
of him who sent me,
that I shall lose none
of all those
he has given to me,
but raise them up
on the last day.
For my Father's will
is that everyone
who looks to the Son
and believes in him
shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up
on the last day.
You see,
it was the holy will
of the Father
who sent his Holy Son
to be a holy sacrifice
for the forgiveness
of our sins.
It's through his blood
that we have
the righteousness of Christ
and that we get to share
in the holiness
of God.
And so that may seem
like a fitting ending
for the evening,
to be able to rejoice
that sinners
have been given
the holiness of God
through the blood
of Christ.
But I don't want
to stop there
because the holiness
of God has another
implication for the life
of the believer.
Because when we turn
to the New Testament
over and over again,
we see repeated
a command
for us to be holy.
Let's look at
a couple of verses.
1 Peter 1,
14 through 16.
As obedient children,
do not conform
to the evil desires
you had when you lived
in ignorance,
but just as he
who called you
is holy,
so be holy
in all you do.
For it is written,
be holy because
I am holy.
Hebrews 12,
verse 14.
Make every effort
to live in peace
with everyone
and to be holy.
Without holiness,
no one will see
the Lord.
And so we may
be a little confused.
We may ask ourselves,
well, why,
if we have already
received the holiness
of God through
the blood of Christ,
are we then instructed
to make an effort
to be holy?
And so I think
we need to recognize here
these verses
aren't talking about
salvation.
We are not saved
by our works.
Holiness is not a condition
of our salvation,
but it is a part
of our salvation
that we receive
by faith.
And so,
though we receive
our holiness
through Christ,
we are also called
to pursue it.
If we look at the
very beginning
of 1 Corinthians,
Paul addresses
his audience
and he says this,
to the church
in Corinth,
to those sanctified
in Christ Jesus
and called
to be holy people.
That word sanctified
means to those
who have been
made holy.
So he's saying
the church,
you have been
made holy
by Christ
and you are now
called
to be holy
in your lives.
I don't know
if any of you
are big sports fans,
but I've enjoyed
the last few weeks
being able to watch
Six Nations rugby
and now that I've been
in Scotland
for a year and a half,
I feel like I can rightly
say that I'm a Scottish fan
and can cheer
for the home team.
And as I do,
as I identify
as a Scottish fan,
it's natural then
to want to watch
the games.
It's natural
to want to cheer
the team on,
to celebrate
when they win
and to feel bad
when they lose.
And so yesterday
when Scotland
played France,
if I decided,
well, you know,
I may root
for France today,
and they got
a better chance
of winning.
And I told you that,
you'd probably
very much doubt
the sincerity
of my fanhood
for my being
a fan
or a fanatic
of Scotland.
And so it's similarly
as believers.
If we call
ourselves Christians,
if we don't yearn
for this holy life
that is pleasing
to God,
we certainly
need to question
whether our faith
in Christ
is actually genuine.
because true
salvation brings
a desire
to be holy.
We should
naturally want
to imitate
the God
in which we
claim to follow.
And so we need
to ask ourselves,
really,
is this our desire?
I think a lot
of times we can
get caught up
with talking
about loving
others and serving
and being gracious
and those things
are wonderful
and needed.
But how often
do we truly
look and think
about our need
for holiness?
Because oftentimes
we think it may
just be too
unattainable,
right?
God's holy,
yes,
I can't be holy
in this life,
so let's like
just try to be
good and love.
No,
we are called
to holiness.
How does that
apply in our
everyday lives?
We need to think
how are we
to pursue holiness
in our parenting?
How are we
to pursue holiness
in our marriage,
in our work,
in our study,
in our finances,
in our free time?
These are
important questions
that we need
to ask as the
church because
the fact is
that this life
of holiness,
it requires
effort.
And the thing
is we're not
told to do
this alone.
We don't receive
the righteousness
of Christ for
salvation and
he shoots out
the door and
say,
good luck,
do your best.
No,
we are indwelt
by the Holy
Spirit.
Romans 8 says
that the Holy
Spirit lives
in us
and controls
us.
And so I was
thinking about that,
I was kind of
convicted because we
say Holy Spirit a
lot and we use
it as a name
and really don't
always think of
the significance
of it,
at least I
don't,
that he is
called the
Holy Spirit.
It's not only a
name, it
describes who
he is.
He's not the
loving spirit,
the encouraging
spirit, he is
those things.
But he is,
first of all,
the Holy Spirit.
It says this in
Philippians 2.13,
continue to work
out your salvation
with fear and
trembling for it
is God who
works in you
to the will,
to will and
to act in order
to fulfill his
good purpose.
So the Holy
Spirit is the
same God that
we see in the
vision that
Isaiah has,
with the same
majesty and the
authority of
God on his
throne.
That is who
indwells us to
give us the
desire and the
ability to be
holy.
And so that
brings us then
back to our
passage in Isaiah.
because this
pursuit of
holiness,
though it is a
personal thing
in relation to
our relationship
to God,
it goes beyond
that.
Verse 8,
And then I
heard the voice
of the Lord
saying,
Whom shall I
send and
who will go
for us?
And I
said,
Here am I,
send me.
Isaiah,
whose lips
had just been
touched by the
burning coal,
whose sins
had been atoned
for,
now readily
volunteers to
go.
It's this
incredible
transformation
of emotion
from fear
and trembling
to joy
and eagerness.
I think this
may be best
displayed in
children,
this quick
change of
emotion.
I saw this
yesterday.
If I can tell
a story about
Henry,
he was playing
football yesterday
and he was
on defense,
the game was
nearing the end
and he took a
ball straight to
the face.
And as the
tears welled up
in his eyes,
you could tell
the pain that
he was
experienced
and he
wanted to
just crumble.
He focused
that energy.
He kind of
went to the
next level
and ran
up the field,
made a couple
tackles and
within 30
seconds had
scored the
game-tying
goal.
We see this
transformation
from weeping
to rejoicing
and all because
of the work
of Christ.
And so
nothing in our
lives should
produce greater
joy in us
than to be
able to
share the
message of
God's grace.
How his
holy justice
is coupled
with his
holy mercy
in order to
provide salvation
for his people
who are deserving
of death.
And so to be
honest,
I don't know if
we always share
that eagerness
that Isaiah
had to
volunteer to
go and to
share this
message.
Oftentimes
we're good at
showing up.
We'll sit and
we'll sing and
we'll listen.
oftentimes we
can be more
consumers than
we are
participants.
But what
would it look
like if we
the church
truly were
ambassadors of
the holy
God?
If we
desired to
live lives
that were so
distinct and
separate from
the world that
it would
naturally attract
the attention
of others?
If we had
the desire to
show the
glory of God
that Isaiah
saw in this
vision of a
God holy,
holy,
sitting on
his sovereign
throne.
And so may
that be our
challenge and
our charge
tonight.
That we may
marvel and
meditate on
the holiness
of God.
That we may
receive it
through Christ
and that we
may pursue it
through the
Spirit and
that we may
share it with
those around
us.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Holy,
holy,
holy Lord
God Almighty.
We confess
that so often
we don't
recognize
how holy
and set
apart and
distinct you
are from
us.
and so Lord we ask for the truth
of this gospel message tonight
to sink in deep
to not only show us who you are
but to show us who we are
fallen, depraved, unworthy
but yet you have extended your love
and your grace toward us
you have given us your holiness
through the blood of Christ
and so God may that be something
that we're grateful for
that we desire to worship you for
and also to be able to pursue
that holiness in our lives
to know that we are empowered by your spirit
may that be our desire this week
and the days and months ahead
especially thinking of the activities
of this church
how we desire to bring people in
how we desire to reach our community
may be done by the power of your Holy Spirit
we pray this in Jesus name
Amen
and now we're going to sing our final hymn
Holy, Holy, Holy
we stand together