The greatest motivation for personal holiness is to get a glimpse of the great holiness of our God. When we contemplate the beauty and majesty of Jesus Christ in his glory we will be changed. If we see Christ exalted we will be like Isaiah when he saw the enthroned Son of God and immediately humbled and recognize the severity of our sin and at the same time be drawn to his holiness. As we meditate on his perfect holiness and his exalted glory we will love him more and desire to become like him reflecting his holiness.

The following message is a presentation of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where we're proclaiming the sufficiency of scripture for church and family life. More information about the NCFIC is available at www.ncfic.org. Is available at www.ncfic.org. Before we turn to Isaiah 6, I would like to turn for just a moment to First Timothy. And while you're turning there, I would like to make a few disclaimers.

No, in the passage that Brother Brown preached on the highway of holiness, that God would not allow the fool to wander. That is one of the greatest consolations to me. So many times throughout my life and Not just when I was young, but now that I'm older. I have found myself on my knees crying out to God, Lord. I'm such a fool.

Our Lord. I acted so foolishly. Or to my wife, forgive me, I acted like a fool or to my children, forgive me, your father was foolish. And it's almost as if through this text, I hear the Lord not dismiss my claim, but even affirm it. Yes, Paul.

You are at times a fool. But my grace, my sovereignty, my power, my love for the my covenant. Will not allow even a fool like you. To wander so as to be lost. That is a great comfort to me.

Another thing that I want to say. Let me just read, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or evil, therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. The word here that I want to touch on for just a second is appear. Appear. Fonerau, I must appear before God, But in a way, unlike just simply standing in his presence, would be something like dissecting an animal, opening up a shell to see what's inside, being gazed through.

One day I will stand before God and I believe that not only God will see me As I am. But you will see me as I am, all the pretense of spirituality. All the claims to holiness, all the times I allowed someone to think higher of me than I actually am, that that will be exposed and crushed on that day. This afternoon, we preached in a thing called the burning of your heart, how what's burning in your heart, and so I could say that missions is burning in my heart and therefore I could get up and I could I could preach boldly. But tonight, I can't do that.

When Brother Brown said that I would take us To the throne room tonight. You would probably get there quicker riding on Balaam's donkey than on my words. Who am I? Who are any of us to speak about the holiness of God? I remember reading a Puritan and I don't have the mind of Dr.

Bicke, so I don't remember who it was. But he said there were some things that we would speak of that we should only speak with a trembling lip. And that is true of holiness. Now, before I go. To say a six, I want to look at one other thing just to set the stage for today and tomorrow and it's first Timothy three, verse 16.

By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness, he who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. But the spirit explicitly says that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience, as with a branding iron. Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. You might say, what does any of that have to do with our great theme this this weekend? It has a great deal to do with holiness.

First of all, let me point you to verse 16 by common confession in the church of that day and throughout the true church of the ages, by common confession, great is the mystery. That leads to true godliness and godliness here is a word that is summing up everything that has to do with being God word. Devotion. Reverence, love, loyalty, holiness. Just by common confession, great is this mystery that leads to godliness, that leads to true Piety.

Of what it means to be truly devoted to God. So what is this mystery? They can make a man, a woman, a child, pious, truly devout, truly holy. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ, he goes on to say he who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit, his incarnation, the work of the spirit in his life, ending in in the resurrection, seen by angels, his exaltation proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory. What is the thing, sir, father, that will make you holy, pious, a greater comprehension of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sister. Mother, what will truly make you holy? It's not a book on five principles of holiness. It's a comprehension, a greater comprehension of who this marvelous person is. And what God has done for you in him, it's the thing that captivates the heart and squeezes out all other competing loyalties.

And then we go on and look in verse one of chapter four and realize that when Paul wrote this, there weren't chapter distinctions, but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience, as with a branding iron. Now, after we read this. I mean, this is unusual language, the spirit explicitly says we don't find this anywhere else that I'm aware of in the New Testament or the Old Testament. Paul is setting the stage here for something dramatic. It's almost as though we think that in verse three, he's going to reveal to us the Antichrist and the great apostasy.

We hear his words, doctrines of demons, hypocrisy of liars, deceitful spirits. And we brace ourselves for verse three, thinking what on earth is he going to unleash on us? And he says, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from food. Well, that doesn't seem that bad. And after all, we in America, we're not doing either one of these things.

We're marrying and we're certainly not abstaining from foods. So how could any of this have anything to do with us and why such a great warning in verses one and two? Why should he set us up that way only to tell us something that really doesn't pertain to us? But in fact, my friend. This pertains to us.

And it pertains to you in this auditorium tonight, probably more than the rest of evangelicalism. This pertains to you here tonight more than it does those so-called worldly churches outside. This pertains to you. Those of you who have attempted to take the word of God seriously, those of you who have attempted to conform your life to the great principles and commands of scripture, this text pertains to you. In what way?

What Paul is saying is this. Anything. And he says it almost with a severity, like a mother about to scold a child in the most severe manner, listen to me. Anything. Anything in your life.

Anything in your church, anything in your preaching, in your thought life that takes preeminence over the gospel of Jesus Christ is a doctrine of demons. Teaching on marriage. When it becomes the core of your church, teaching on family, when it becomes the core of your church and life. Teaching on homeschooling. Measuring The length of clothing.

Do you have a TV or do you not? Do you eat organic food? Do you use essential oils? Do you go to the doctor? All these things that seem to become so important among people like us can quickly become doctrines of demons when they take precedent over the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And how can you know they take precedent when you think of them and speak of them more than the gospel of Jesus. Sometimes when I'm taking my wife to a church with me, she'll always ask me this question If we're traveling, what kind of church is it? What should I be prepared for? She prepares herself as she goes through the doors like a warrior ready to run the gauntlet. The first question always asked, why do you only have three children?

Why don't you have more? Don't you think God wants to bless you with more? Do you homeschool? What curriculum do you use? Do you practice courtship or do you do dating?

Do you have a TV? And if you do have a TV, you don't have cable, do you? I can't tell you how many times my wife has run that gauntlet in churches, maybe just like the ones you attend, and maybe it was someone just like you who came after her. Like a beagle on a rabbit. Now, I'm not trying to be coarse or crude.

I just want you to understand something. True holiness has a lot to do with the commands of God. The precepts of God, the wisdom of God, because we do not know properly how to love God except through what is written. But my dear friend, the only way we can be a holy people is to be a gospel people. I sometimes feel like I'm I'm afraid to take a step one way or the other.

I know I do not want the highway of the world. I know it's destruction and it's death. But sometimes I'm afraid to walk the highway of holiness. Why? There's an old preacher by the name of Conrad Murrell who used to say this, to walk in falsehood is easy.

You can walk a thousand miles that way and a thousand miles that way and be in falsehood. But to walk in the truth, to walk in holiness is like walking on the edge of a razor blade and you can fall off either side. Antinomianism on one side, and it is deadly, taking away from what God has said. And legalism on the other side is just as deadly adding to what God has said. And I have found that the only way I can make it through this course.

Is keeping my eyes fixed on Christ. Every command, every precept, every bit of wisdom given by the scripture is interpreted to me and illustrated to me by Jesus Christ to follow Christ. And when I follow Christ, I see a holiness as he walks toward Jerusalem and I don't even want to interrupt his thoughts for I'm afraid of him. And yet I see him bowing to pick up children or allowing a filthy Prostitute of a woman to touch him. And I see only in him the perfect example.

That holiness. It's manifested in love toward God and love toward everyone else. And he is not only holy in his holiness, but he's holy in his love. He's not just holy in his justice, he's holy in his mercy and his grace. The same grace that has caused him to bear with a fool like me for over 30 years.

I want to be holy. But I want to make sure I know what that means. I know the motivation for holiness. It is Christ. I know the example of holiness is Christ.

I know the goal of all holiness is Christ and Christ as he is so greatly revealed in the gospel. Let's go now to Isaiah 6. I feel as though I have most nothing to say. Almost nothing to say. Verse one in the year of King Uzziah's death.

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple. King Isaiah had died. He wasn't a great king, he wasn't the worst of kings, 52 years he reigned, The nation knew great prosperity, but dark clouds were forming. It seemed like all was coming to an end and Isaiah was left alone. What did Isaiah need to do?

He saw that his country would fall apart, his people would be all but destroyed. He saw that everything that was built up would be ruined. And What did Isaiah need to form a committee to join a political party? To marshal the army, what did he need? He needed to see the Lord.

You know, throughout your life, there are going to be so many questions that you can't answer. Why did my child die? Why did my friend have to hurt so severely? Why was this good brother maligned? And you're not going to have an answer, but you don't need to have an answer.

If you know the Lord. If a man that I greatly trusted ran into this building right now and said, give me the keys to your car, I would pull out my keys and throw him the keys and not ask him what he was going to do with my car because I would know his character. In the same way, I don't have to know what God is doing, why God is doing it or how long it will last. I just need to know who God is. I just constantly find myself in need of a greater vision of God.

When I am loveless, I need a greater vision of God. When the world pulls at me and I want you to know it does. I need a greater vision of God. For every melody, I find a cure, a greater vision of God in Christ, in the gospel of Christ. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.

Now, the word here is Adonai. But when we get to verse three. He speaks of the Lord again, the Lord of hosts, and he uses the word Yahweh. We know that the one he is speaking of, the one he saw was God in the fullest and strictest sense of the term he saw God. Now, we have a theological problem here when we see that, because we know that no man can see God and live.

But there is no contradiction in scripture for what you need to understand is that the prophets are always careful to put something of a screen between themselves and what they see. Isaiah is not seeing the full essence of all that God is barely a spark of the sun is he seeing. Listen to Barnes as he says this, a manifestation or vision of Jehovah, a striking symbolic representation of him, a symbol of his presence. Now, listen to the words that are used a vision, a symbolic representation. Great theologians and the prophets of the Bible are always very careful.

To let us know that although what they are seeing is a manifestation of God, it is the smallest of manifestation. Sharnak says this. The prophets of old saw not the essence of God, but some images and figures of him proportion to their sense of imagination. The essence of God, no man ever saw or can see. Calvin said this, we ought to be aware that when God exhibited himself to the view of the fathers, he never appeared such as he actually is, but such as the capacity of men could receive.

There was therefore exhibited to Isaiah such a form as enabled him, according to his capacity to perceive the inconceivable majesty of God. And thus he attributes to God a throne, a robe and a bodily appearance. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. What Isaiah saw was enough to make the seraphim bow. What Isaiah saw, the tiny minuscule fraction of a vision, of a tiny portion of the glory of God that he saw was enough to disintegrate both heart and mind.

And here, I think we have among the seraphim, as I will say later, the greatest of all created beings in the category of angels, we have the greatest and yet they bow. Before this one on the throne and in the category of men, we have one of the greatest Here is a prophet who has proven himself in devotion to Yahweh, a prophet who tradition says will later die sawn into with a wooden saw while proclaiming forth the word of the Lord. And yet when he comes into the presence of God. He's broken, he's disintegrated. He declares himself to be nothing.

Nothing. Now. He saw God. But whom did he see? John 12, 41, speaking of Isaiah six, says these things I say as Isaiah said.

Because he saw his glory and he spoke of him, he saw the son's glory. This manifestation of God upon the throne is the sun. And the reason why I'm taking this text is because tomorrow I'm going to show you how the sun humiliated himself in order to make a people holy for himself. But you cannot understand the humiliation of the sun unless you understand his previous incarnate exaltation. It is absolutely impossible.

So I want you to see the glory of the sun Before he ever became man. Now, we should not think it is strange that we would see the son here. For the father created the world through his son. The father sustains the world through his son, the father reveals himself through his son. The father redeems a people for himself through the Son and will one day judge the world through the Son.

What I want you to see is that the one who was given is the Lord of glory and he is the apple of the father's eye. He's everything. Everything was made by him, everything was made for him. And that is why to have any other thoughts in your religion preeminent over the sun is to entertain doctrines of demons. There is nothing but the sun.

All other things, as Flable says in the Medatorial Glories of Christ, all other things are twisted and dark, even sun, moon, stars, flowers, roses. They're all twisted, bent and dark compared to the sun. Before the world was ever made. He was everything to God. And that is why God did not make you because of some need.

But the father was fully satisfied in the sun and the sun delighted in the father. You were made out of an overflow of God's super abundance. And his desire to manifest the love he had for his son. To a multitude of undeserving sinners, this is the son. Listen to what James Montgomery Boy says, one of the finest men of our generation.

Listen to this, I love this man. What Isaiah saw was the closest thing in all Jewish writings or tradition to an actual portrait of the living and holy God. Yet that vision, with all its breathtaking splendor, John applies to Jesus. Without questioning, it would seem John takes the most exalted vision of God in the Old Testament and says that it was a portrait of a carpenter from Nazareth who was about to be crucified. So great is John's opinion of him.

This is astounding. That someone like that would humble him to such, humble himself to such a degree to save someone like me. Is beyond overwhelming, it's beyond breathtaking. It is mind destroying. What a beauty is found here.

You see, when you get your mind around this, holiness flows from it without even a teaching. It just grabs you and carries you along. You can't send in light of this. You hate self and its exaltation in light of this. And you join the chorus of all of creation and saying nothing, nothing but Christ.

And then you're on the highway of holiness. Now, how is the sun described? We know him. In a right way, as a lamb, weak and bleeding. But you're wrong to think that that was his eternal state.

He became that for us, But prior to that and as he is now as a man, where do we find him sitting on a throne, settled, settled, undisturbed sovereignty? He did everything. Everything according to his will in the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. He is the one who works all things according to his own counsel. He's seated upon a throne and he is lofty and exalted.

Now, when we hear of words lofty and exalted, Sometimes we are prejudice with regard to the attributes of God. We seem to think that lofty and exalted pertains only to those more severe attributes. He's lofty and exalted in his sovereignty. He's lofty and exalted in his justice. He's lofty and exalted in his infinite power.

Yes. But have you thought about this? He was above all things lofty and exalted in his beauty. He was above all things lofty and exalted in his joy. In his grace.

In his grace. If you were to see. The smallest fraction. Of the Lord's beauty. Without being strengthened in your inner man.

It would kill you. Have you ever watched a sunset? Or a sunrise, you walk out not knowing it's there, you come around where there's an opening in the trees and there it is and you can only say It took my breath away because it literally took your breath away. My goodness, that's beautiful. You would be suffocated.

Your mind would disintegrate, your heart would explode, Such is just the smallest fraction of his beauty. You will have to be fixed in glory, you will have to have a body fashioned superbly to be able to even gaze upon the smallest bit of his glory. And that's what's awaiting us. And that's at the end of the highway to holiness. So it's not about rule keeping.

This is about searching out glory, pressing on to know the Lord. Matthew Henry writes, this throne is high and lifted up above all competition and above all contradiction. This is the Nazarene. The one who had no place to lay his head, this is him. Says the train of his robe was filling the temple, it seems to portray the expanse of the son's majesty and the extent of his sovereignty.

It reached everywhere and filled everything. There is no place you can put your foot. That it does not belong to the son, that it has not always belong to the son, there's no place you can run to be beyond his jurisdiction. Free fills all in all day, which writes, he saw the Lord and what more he saw was the all filling robe of the indescribable one as far as the eye of the seer could look at first, The ground was covered by this splendid robe. There was consequently no room for anyone to stand.

Even in heaven. He's everything, Matthew Poole writes, his glorious robes reached down to the bottom of the temple and were spread abroad in the temple. And the Puritans have a way of saying something so precise and so powerful. He says This was an evidence of a more than ordinary majesty. I love to read about my savior in Gethsemane, although it kills me.

But I also love to think about my savior who's taken his place again, but not only as God, as my elder brother. Raining supreme over all things. This is the one who died. For us. Here we see the seraphim.

This is the only passage in the Bible where the seraphim appear. Their name literally means fiery ones. Or burning ones, and I believe because of their proximity to the throne of God, we can say that they are the greatest and holiest of all created beings. As we know so many times in the Old Testament, one angel comes down and devastates hundreds of thousands. I suppose these angels could swallow up our world.

And yet in the presence of Christ. They can only bow their heads and cover themselves. Now, let's look. Stanley Horton writes, their purity was indicated as they reflected the dazzling brilliance of the glory of God, the sun to such a high degree that they seem to be on fire. What did the sun look like?

If his attendance Only in a fraction, only in a minuscule way reflect his holiness and his glory. What was the appearance of the sun? I suppose you could venture a look. If you had already said in your heart it would be worth it to see it for just a fraction before you were killed. Such glory, Charles Spurgeon writes, I love this passage on Spurgeon, you ask me to tell you something about these seraphim.

How can I? They have covered their faces and covered their feet since nothing is to be seen. What can I tell you? Neither would it be right for us to speak concerning them for manifestly it is their desire to be hidden. Who will violate their wish to be concealed?

They cover their faces, they cover their feet and therein they did good to say, look not on us, but look on him who sits upon the throne, whose attendance we are. You know, I have known a man, especially in the 70s and 80s, when there was so much talk about, I guess, eschatology in the Book of Revelation and Israel and all so many things, so many theories. And I knew of men who had dedicated 30, 40 years of their life to only studying things such as numbers and symbols. The Japanese say. That a cherry blossom and I've seen them are of such beauty that it is not a wasted life for a man to spend his entire life contemplating the beauty of a single flower.

When we hear about seraphim, our flesh is so quick to want to discover who these creatures are. What did the throne look like? But those are the thoughts of the petty and the immature. We should fix our eyes only upon one thing, the one who sits upon the throne. Him.

And it is not a wasted life for a man to even go preaching opportunities and everything else that comes his way to simply sit in the presence of Christ With an open Bible crying out, I must have more. Above him stood the seraphim. Now, a possible translation here is above it stood the seraphim, not above him, but above it, meaning the robe. Dalish writes this, the seraphim should not indeed tower above the head of him who sat upon the throne, but they hover above the robe, belonging to him with which the hall was filled." Now, I understand what Delitzsch is seeking to do, but I don't think it's necessary. You see, it wouldn't matter where those seraphim were, whether they were below him and only above the robe, or whether they were flying in the skies above his head.

When you walked into the throne room, you would not have one question in your mind who was king. And who was God and who was most glorious? You know, I have heard of rulers that were short in stature and they would set up certain boxes to stand on and they refused to allow anyone else in the kingdom that was taller than them to stand beside them. Everyone had to stand on a lower level. It just shows how puny men are, how insecure their reign.

How slim their confidence. We hear of kings who were men of narrow shoulder and feeble body, even the priest of the Catholic Church in ancient times would wear These glorious, glorious robes. Why? Because they had no glory of their own under those broad robes reaching down to the floor under that golden glory was nothing but a spindly legged old man. But that's not the case.

I believe that the sun is robed here. Not to give himself glory. But to conceal it, lest it consume the existence of everything else around him. His glory is his own, it's inherent, it's not external, it's borrowed from no one. Let's go on each having six wings, let me read from Rolison here, He says the general idea of the six wings was probably rapid flight, the carrying out of God's behest with speed swiftly.

But in the divine presence, the wings were applied to a different use. One pair veiled the seraph's head from the intolerable effusions of divine glory. Now when you think intolerable, that his glory emanating from him was intolerable, You must think in some way it was severe or painful or dreadful. I do not believe that was the case. I'm talking about an intolerable glory, an intolerable beauty.

Have you ever been times in prayer when you had to say, Lord, turn your back to me? I can bear no more. Whereas beauty will kill you. Such Beauty awaits the believer at the end of the highway of holiness. But a limited manifestation of such beauty can accompany at times the believer on the highway of holiness.

And it's the pursuit of Christ. That we seek him, him. Christ and Christ alone. I want you to note that these seraphim who are obviously very wise, Two thirds of all their activity was given to worship. To adoration, to reverence And only a third sustained them and gave them flight to service.

And my brothers and sisters, we have such a glorious opportunity before us, no generation in the history of the church has said such an opportunity to reach so many people of this world with the gospel. And we must work ourselves, work ourselves, but never forget you were not primarily made to minister, but made to worship. It was when they were ministering to the Lord that Paul and Barnabas were separated to the work of the Lord for missions. Great ministers are great worshipers. And the devil, The world, your fellow ministers will even tell you like they told John Hyde, you're being lazy, you're hiding away.

Why do you spend so much time alone? Why are you alone in that closet? There are needy souls, but they knew better. We're no good to anyone. Unless like the seraphim, we reflect his glory and the only way we can reflect his glory is to spend time in his presence.

With two, he covered his face to covers, one's face was a symbol of reverence, humility. Bashfulness. Even shame. Listen to Matthew Poole covered his face out of profound reverence as being so sensible of the infinite distance between God and him that he does not presume to look directly upon him and judged himself neither able nor worthy to behold the brightness of his glory. I've had sinners tell me, no, on that day of judgment, I'll stand toe to toe with God.

And I said, oh, sir, no, you will not. You will melt before him like a tiny wax figurine before a blast furnace. But for us also. Rushing in, falling on our knees, quick to speak, slow to listen, rambling, not taking the admonition of even the Old Testament prophets to be careful with our words. You have come to pray in the presence of God.

And don't think this mediator is just a little lamb. Seeking to chase you around and feed out of your hand, he's the Lord of glory. He's the Lord of glory. John Gill writes, they were unable to look upon the dazzling glory and infinite perfections of his being, and so they did as Elijah, who wrapped his face in a mantle when he heard the still small voice of the Lord and his Moses before him did being afraid to look upon God. John Calvin, even angels cannot endure God's brightness and that they are dazzled by it in the same manner as when we attempt to gaze upon the radiance of the sun.

Matthew Henry, though angels faces doubtlessly are much fairer than those of the children of men, yet in the presence of God, they cover them because they cannot bear the dazzling luster of the divine glory and because being conscious of an infinite distance from divine perfection, they are ashamed to show their faces before the holy God. George Swinock, he is so excellent that even angels veil their faces in his presence, the excellent cherubims and seraphims who are spotless in their natures and faultless in their lives, who are the highest and honorablest and ancientest of houses of creation, who has his special friends and favorites are allowed to wait on him continually to behold him face to face and to enjoy him fully and perfectly perfectly. Yet these angels veil their faces before him, as it were ashamed of their starlight, ashamed of their starlight in the presence of the sun and their drops in the presence of the ocean to cover the face is a sign or fruit of bashfulness, as in Rebecca, the face of an angel is void of all spots and wrinkles, it is full of beauty and brightness, a most excellent face.

Yet this face is excellent as it is. They cover, as it were, ashamed of it before the God who alone is excellent. I wanted to read all that. Because I want you to see something. This is not only a description of his pre-incarnate glory.

But we can take this as something of a description of what awaits us. So many believers have this idea, maybe because of wrong preaching, that the First thing they see when they look in their face, the face of their master will be a scowl. He did not die on Calvary so that the first time you see him, he might scowl at you. Beauty awaits. I've often said, people have asked me, what would you do if you what do you think someone ought to do a Ph.D.

And Said. Beauty. Just beauty. Beauty. I mean, spent most of my life hunting squirrels in the woods, I did not really culture.

But I know beauty. When I see it. And it draws something out of me. The first time I heard the three tenors sing this, I cried. Because it was beautiful.

Even in someone like me there's a longing for more than just rules, more than just morality, more than just ethics, more than just everybody marching in a line. There's something out there calling. It is His beautiful face. And in that face will be joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable.

And every day of heaven, A new revelation of his beauty every day so that the day before will seem like you never saw anything. It will just keep going and going. The reason why heaven is not boring is because his beauty is infinite. So that every day it's something new. That will enrapture your heart, my dear friend, streets of gold and gates of pearl, their attraction only lasts for a few days, But the face of the sun, infinite beauty that awaits us, that's an attraction for an eternity.

With two, he covered his feet, it's another gesture of reverence to God. Some believe, as RC Sproul, that it was an acknowledgment that is great, as these angels appeared to be, they were only creatures and not God. And that's the one thing you need to see about holiness above all of the things is the fact that God is holy, holy, holy means that he is in a category all to himself. It's not that he is like us, just bigger and better, He's not like us at all. Dear RC Sproul, my life was changed by listening to his years ago, his video series back then of the holiness of God.

And when he asked this question, what's more like God? The great seraphim in heaven or a worm? And he said the answer is neither. Neither one of them is like God. There is no one like the Lord, that's why anything you can conceive in your mind is not what he is.

He's far greater. That's why any attempt to replicate him either in picture or statue is a defamation. It is a twisting. It's like years ago, someone told me a missionary was handing out tracts in India and on the track it had a picture drawn on the back of an artist rendition of Jesus's face. And they handed out this this track to this young Indian girl who had become a Christian a few weeks before and she took the track, thank them and walked off.

She came back about 10 minutes later, weeping, broken, crying. And this is where he said, what's wrong? And she turned the track around and showed the picture and she said, Oh, sir. I thought he was much more glorious than this. That's why even the prophets are so careful, you hear of a robe, You hear of a throne, you hear of attendance, but little is said about him because he can not be comprehended or conceived.

He just keeps going. Thomas Boston writes, even the confirmed angels cover their feet with their wings, as if they would tell us that perfect created holiness is but a dark and smoky light before uncreated holiness. Now for you young people, what is Thomas Boston trying to tell us? Why is he talking about perfect, created holiness and uncreated holiness? Well, listen to Eliphaz in Job 15, 15.

Behold, he that is God puts no trust in his holy ones and even the heavens are not pure in his sight. Is is the Bible teaching us that that the heavens are unclean? Or that these attendance of God are somehow soiled? I don't believe that at all. But what you have to understand is the holiness of any creature, any created thing is not an inherent holiness.

It is a derived holiness. If something is holy, it is only because God made it holy and keeps it holy. Even in heaven, one day we will be holy, but only by continued givings of his grace, he maintains us in holiness. We are not holy unto ourselves. He alone is holy without effort.

Without exercise, he is holy. You know, when we talk about God's omniscience, it's not just that he knows everything, he knows everything instantaneously, exhaustively without putting forth effort of calculation. When we say that he is holy or when we say that he is or he exists, he's not like us, he does not have to will to exist, He does not have to work to exist. He simply is. Existence is an attribute.

In this case, holiness is not something he has to work at, that he has to maintain. He is holy. And You can enter into a covenant with someone like that. You can trust someone like that. So the one that died for you.

It's holy, holy, holy. Let's go on And with two, he flew. I just love to say this, the angels, the great. Think about this. Think about the Nazarene.

Think about the babe born in Bethlehem. Think about the boy, the child being dragged to Egypt to preserve his life. Think about the 12 year old in the temple teaching the priests. Think about think about the carpenter of Nazareth. Think about Gethsemane.

The cruel trial. Think about the cross. And then think this, the one who did all that for me. The glorious God of heaven in thrones and every angel from the highest to the lowest order was at his back and call. It was their privilege.

I would I would believe that they were constantly looking toward the throne, not in dread, but in hope that he would call them forth to do something for him. And yet this one. Who had all of creation as a servant becomes a servant. That we might be joined there together with him now. In Isaiah three and four, it says this, And one called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. The idea here is that is communicated as one of continuation. One kept calling to the other, as we see in Revelation 4 eight day and night, they did not cease to say holy, holy, holy. Dalish writes this, I think he has the best explanation. Whilst these seraphim hovered above on both sides of him that sat upon the throne and therefore formed two opposite choirs, each arranged in a semi circle.

They presented antiphonal worship to him that sat upon the throne. The meaning is not that they all lifted up their voice in concert at one and the same time. But there was a continuous and unbroken antiphonal song. One commenced and the other responded. It would be like singing in a round where we would do something like sing hallelujah to the sing Hallelujah to the.

Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. Wouldn't you just. Beg a glimpse. Beg a glimpse from him, Lord, let me see more than I have seen. Let me be enraptured, Pronounced before his throne, the wickedness of your own heart, it will do you good.

Lord, I am a man of many passions and my heart is like a sea Wild. Tame it, Lord, with a glimpse of your glory. Tame it. Conquer it. I don't want this passion killed.

I don't want it killed. I don't want the fire. Put out. I want it conquered. And then breathed upon to be more passionate than it could have ever been for the things of this world.

We don't need milk toast, cold hearted men. Wild and burning men with a bridle in their heart, fastened by the reins of God's love. But they might be driven like wild horses to the end of the earth to do what he demands for his glory. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy.

It is the strongest superlative in the Hebrew language. We see it in the book of Proverbs with what we call Hebrew parallelisms. I'll make one up for you. The wicked shall not live in the land. The wicked shall be cut off.

It's saying the same thing twice, a little bit different each time to add emphasis. We see these Hebrew parallelism in pairs, but we rarely see this Holy, holy, holy. Notice that the Bible never says God is love, love, love or merciful, merciful, merciful. But it says that he is holy, holy, holy. Now, before you go astray with what I've just said, you need to realize something.

It never says God is love, love, love. It says He is holy, holy, holy. But that does not diminish His love because His love is holy. He's holy in all His attributes. He's holy in the attribute of his existence because there is no one Trinitarian as he is Trinitarian.

He is holy and is justice because there is no one justice, he is just he's holy in his power because there's no one that has power. As he has power. He is holy, I believe, Louis Berkhoff hits it perfectly when he says this, In its original sense, holiness denotes that God is absolutely distinct from all his creatures and is exalted above them in infinite majesty. This aspect of holiness may be called the majestic holiness of God, but the holiness of God also has a specific ethical aspect in scripture. The fundamental idea of the ethical holiness of God is also that of separation.

But in this case, it is a separation from moral evil or sin. If man reacts to God's majestic holiness with a feeling of utter insignificance and awe, his reaction to the ethical holiness reveals itself in a sense of impurity and a consciousness of sin. And I want you to see that because so many people, when they hear the word holy automatically, they think sinless and you're missing the point. Holy, the Word in its Hebrew root means to cut. Imagine a woman with a cutting board and she has a carrot and she cuts.

And then as the carrots pile up, she separates. It means to cut and separate. It's something distinct. And when you think of the holiness of God, That's the first thing that should come into your mind. He is distinct.

He is separate. He is in a category all to himself. There is none holy like the Lord. Now that holiness, that distinctiveness, because we are a fallen people, manifests itself in great measure in his purity. He is not like us.

He is clean. He is pure. And to be holy doesn't just mean you seek to be sinless because that in itself, if left alone, will turn into legalism. You must first say this for me to be holy is to value God as separate in a category higher than all others and attribute to him the worth that he attributes to himself and give my heart to him completely in devotion, in love, in intimacy, in relationship. And then from that flows out the ethics of it.

Do you see that? If you don't look at it that way, you'll become a legalist. A nitpicky rulekeeper. You will not be able to gospelize people, you will only be able to legalize them. Charles Spurgeon, being pure in heart, they, the seraphim gaze on the Lord with opened eye and adored his holiness, their whole souls were filled.

With the contemplation of that one, all embracing attribute and in responsive song, they said each one to his fellow Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. This is the supreme glory of Christ that in him is seen the holiness of God. Do you realize that last statement of Charles Spurgeon is blasphemous if Jesus is not God? Because God's holiness cannot be manifested in any other than God. Now it says, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts here, the title of Lord is Yahweh.

And he is called the Lord of Hosts, Tzabah, and it can refer to an army of men, it can refer to an army of angels, it can refer to an army of planets and stars. Of heavenly lights, It's possible that it refers to the entirety of creation being at his beck and call, and he can call it at any time to come to his command. Our Lord, that meek lamb. Buffeted. Beaten in the head with a cane, pushed around and dragged through the streets of Jerusalem.

When he sat upon his throne. On his throne. If every army, every enemy of earth and hell came forth. In a mast itself against his throne, it would be like a tiny gnat beating its head against a world of granite. He would sit in the heavens and scoff.

The contradiction, the difference, the humiliation to go from who he was, to what he became and to do it for a people. I've heard much from theologians, especially the younger ones, saying he did it all for his glory. Yes, absolutely yes, But do you never forget that he did it out of love? He doesn't just somehow forensically and coldly love a people. He did it because he loved his pride.

He loved her. The whole earth is full of his glory, we're going to have to move on. Albert Barnes writes, all things which he has made on earth express his glory, his wisdom and goodness, his power and holiness are seen everywhere. The whole earth, with all its mountains and seas, streams, trees, animals and men lay the foundation of his praise. Just think about this.

I love the outdoors. I love the outdoors and the sunsets and the morning and the moon and the stars, the trees, the animals, the brooks, the rivers. It's one of the reasons why I love the Irish hymn so much before the coming of the gospel. They all worship those things. And then when they found out with the gospel that those things were made by God, they worshiped that God with an intensity that dull hearts like ours can hardly understand.

To think of the beauty that I even saw here today as I was driving through the highways, the Appalachians, the Smokies, everything that I saw, the leaves turning, such a glorious beauty and it is nothing but a profane and twisted reflection of the smallest spark of the beauty of the Lord. And that's waiting me. That's awaiting me. I know most of you will probably when you get there, go to some homeschool conference in heaven. Or do something, not me, just open up a breach because the wild man will come running, screaming and leaping.

With all his might. For the beauty that has now captured me, not in part as it is today, but the beauty that has captured me now, holy and forever, Never to sin against him, never an awkward thought. The foundation of the threshold trembled at the voice of him who called no commentary writer is sure whether the the thing trembled because of the power of the voice of the seraphim. Or as I believe, the truth that they proclaimed, God is holy. It shook the very foundations of heaven.

And I believe, my friend, that if there is any shaking to be done in our lives as individuals, if there's any shaking to be done in the church collectively. It is a shaking that must be done by a greater comprehension of the holiness of God. And I pray that's what happens here. That is, we learn as we comprehend more about the holiness of God, it literally shakes the foundations of our lives, if necessary, that it disintegrates us And then reconstitute us into something more glorious than when we came. That is my my prayer.

Says, while the temple was filled with smoke, here we see both the revelation of God and the mystery of God. We know that we have a similar instance that happened when the temple was being dedicated by Solomon and the presence of God came in there and the priests could not even minister in the temple. But I think so much more is being said here to Isaiah. Isaiah, I give you a glimpse. But only a glimpse in the greatest revelation of God, there is still a shield.

We still, as the apostle Paul said, we look as one looking through a smoky ancient mirror. This is the marvelous thing. Entrance into the throne room of God is by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith that can even be granted to a fool. Faith that can be given to the smallest, the tiniest faith that's not given only to the great intellect, but to the imbecile.

The greatest men and women that ever walked this planet only saw a fraction of his glory, And there is no disclaimer in scripture where it says we should cease from seeking more. Every one of us are invited, This is not in the case with Xerxes and Esther. We do not have to wait for a scepter to be extended to know that we can come in. We have been invited in. Every one of us.

Joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Press on to know the Lord, press on to know the Lord. Now I'm going to finish quickly here in Isaiah six, five, then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. I'm just going to read something I've written here. This is the cry of a man filled with an overwhelming sense of despair.

The phrase I am ruined is translated from the Hebrew word Dama, which means to cease, cut off, destroy or perish in the presence of God. The prophet Isaiah is reduced to nothing. As one who ceases to exist, who is cut off, destroyed, he is broken into pieces by a glimpse of the glory of the sun, And we shouldn't think this unusual in light of the response of the seraphim. If the seraphim must bow their heads and cover themselves, then will not this mighty presence of the sun crush a jar of clay? And it does, Stephen Sharnock writes, a deep consideration of the holiness of God cannot but be followed with a deep consideration of our impure and miserable condition by reason of sin.

We cannot glance upon it without reflections of our own vileness. Adam no sooner heard the voice of a holy God in the garden, but he considered his own nakedness with shame and fear. Much less can we fix our minds upon it, but we must be touched with a sense of our own uncleanliness. The clear beams of the sun discover the filthiness in our garments and members, which was not visible in the darkness of the night. Impure metals are discerned by comparing them with that which is pure and perfect in its kind.

You see. I hate to be simplistic. I was questioned today about how do you grow in holiness? And I said, meeting with the Lord in the word of God and prayer. I'm often asked, well, what else?

Nothing else. Meeting with the Lord in the word of God and prayer, the more you see him. The more you will see yourself in light of him. But for you, it is not a case of terror, for you it is not a case of dread, for you it is an invitation to ask more grace of him. More mercy, more power, more life.

In Christ, your darkness is revealed only that greater washing might occur. We have great incentive to seek him, they let writes the seer who was at first overwhelmed and intoxicated by the majestic sight now recovers his self-consciousness to stand here in front of Jehovah of Hosts, the exalted king to whom everything does homage and to be obligated to remain mute in the consciousness of deep uncleanliness excited within him, the annihilating anguish of self condemnation. And this is expressed in the confession made by the Con trite Seer. I'm amazed at how so many people can supposedly enter into the presence of God in corporate worship and cry out, God is certainly among us, but then it doesn't lead to that great glory they claim to be seeing, reflecting on their lives and exposing sin. Calvin writes, there was no feeling in him which was not overpowered by the presence of God.

So that like one who has lost his senses, he willingly plunged himself in darkness or rather like one who despaired of life. He of his own accord chose to die. Now, what can we take away from this? Because I don't want the believer crying out to the Lord. With his eyes closed and his teeth clenched, waiting for God to smite him with a scepter.

I want the believer to see this, I come into his presence through the study of his word. Through crying out to him in prayer, through communion, Christ's communion with other believers, through reading good books, through all the common graces that God has given us. I participate in those things. I exercise my life in those things. And as I'm shown greater and greater revelations of who God is and as He exposes greater and greater darkness in me, I do not despair.

I look to Christ. The very one who reveals my sin is the very one who died for my sin. And I go to that throne of grace and I cry out, help me. Help me. Hoping and knowing that he is faithful.

To cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to forgive us our sins. To lift us up. More of his grace. More of his spirit. More of his life.

So one thing I marvel at, especially in Ian Murray's book, Pentecost today, which has been so helpful to me. That the old saints believed they had the spirit and yet they cried out for greater and greater manifestations of the spirit. They believed they had life, but they cried out for a greater feeling of that life. They believed they had grace, but they cried more grace, more grace, more grace. And that's why they were overflowing.

They were always asking, always asking. I'm going to finish with. I've got a. A whole lot of stuff here, but let's just finish with. Octavius Winslow.

Has your knowledge of God overwhelmed you with a sense of your sinfulness? Have you seen the divine purity, the immaculate holiness of his nature as would compel you to exclaim, woe is me for I'm undone because I am a man of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts, wherefore I abhor myself and repent and dust and ashes. Has your study of his law forced on your mind the deep and solemn conviction that you are a fallen, ruined, guilty, condemned sinner lying at this moment under the wrath of God and exposed to future and everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power. Has it laid you beneath the cross of Christ? Has it brought you to his blood and righteousness for pardon and acceptance?

Has it led you to renounce utterly all trust, confidence and boast in yourself and to accept Jesus as made of God unto you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption? If it has not led you to this, your knowledge of God is only as a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. Tomorrow, we will attempt To go from this throne room to Calvary. To see what this magnificent, magnificent, marvelous. King.

Has done for his bride, has done for you, and I hope that that will take you and motivate you to walk on this highway of holiness. So that if someone says, young man, young lady, why do you walk this way? You say. I'm following him. Who is the one you follow?

My lover who died and rose again. The beauty that is there. That's why I walk on this highway. I want to be with him. Do you take great pride in being holy, holiness, sir, doesn't matter much to me, except as it is related to him.

I do not want holiness for holiness sake, I want holiness for Christ's sake. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Please, father, work in my heart. Please work in the hearts of my brothers and sisters. Please work in the hearts of those who are here that do not know you. Whose ears have heard of the.

But whose eyes have not beheld the. Grant them grace. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you for listening to this presentation of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. We invite you to visit our website at www.ncfic.org, where you can keep up to date on what is new, as well as find articles, videos, audio sermons, and much more at no charge.

The N-C-F-I-C exists to proclaim the sufficiency of scripture for both church and family life.