Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six. So we're gonna continue our series of the attributes of God. We're in Isaiah six. Can anybody guess what attribute we're gonna look at this morning? What's that? Holiness of God. You know, this attribute of God is being declared, it is being ascribed to God daily around the throne. When you read in the scriptures in Revelation 4, 8, and the angels are crying out, what? Holy, holy, holy. Attribute is constantly being declared of the throne of God, but let's look in Isaiah six, verse one. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, and above it stood the seraphims, each one having had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. This word holy, holy, holy, it is the only attribute of God that is repeated. And in our English translation, no matter which translation you have, some things get lost. You know, sometimes if we are writing something, What are some things that we would do to emphasize something of importance? If you're writing a statement or typing a statement, what are some things that we do to show importance to that, maybe a particular part of that passage or that verbiage or the words we're using? You can make an asterisk, that's right. That's one way we show this is important. What else? But you could put it in bold print. We underline it. What's that? You can make an including remark about it. You know, sometimes it's italicized. Sometimes, you know, I don't know if you can see it on my, but here, like, I go through and I highlight my scripture references. You know, we highlight it. Well, in the Jewish custom, and then, that day and time, what they did, that something that was profoundly important, and all of the word of God is important, and all of God's attributes are important, so I don't mean to make them compete against one another, or overemphasize one over the other, but this is the only one that is repeated. And it's not just repeated once, or twice, but three times. And so, in that custom, to show the importance of something, it was repeated. And the Lord does this. When he was teaching, Jesus, remember, who can think of maybe a statement that Jesus repeated? Verily, verily, what does that mean, Wayne? Truly, truly, and I did not know this, but in the Greek, a pastor could tell you better than I could, he could pronounce the words and knows it much better than I do, but that word, it almost sounded in the Greek like our English word, and that's where we get our English word, amen. What does amen mean? So be it, or this is true. That's why when someone's teaching, or the pastor's preaching, and someone says, hey man, what they're saying is, this is true, or so be it, that is the case, that's why we close our prayers out with that. But Jesus, if you look at it, Where do we see that found in his statements? Not at the end, not after he's made the statement. He tells you beforehand, truly, truly, this is so, this is a fact, if you will. He says it in the beginning. And that's what a prophet would do. The language of the prophets, you think about that. I found this kind of ironic when you think on it. There was the prophets and the priest. And what was the role of the priest, the primary role? They had a lot of secondary roles. But ultimately, if you could sum it up, what was the role of the priest? What's that? Sacrificing, okay. A mediator. Anybody else have something they wanna add? Intercession. They would intercede on the behalf of men to God. So in essence the priest would speak to God for men. Now what did the prophet, what was his primary role? The exact opposite. It was speaking to the people on behalf of God. So therefore The prophets, much like the Lord, when he said, truly, truly, or so be it, he didn't say, you don't find the language of the prophets, when they get ready to make a prophecy or a statement in scripture, it don't say, well, in my humble opinion, or my preference is, but what do we see? It says, thus saith the Lord. And that's who is writing here. the prophet of all prophets to some degree. And we don't want, you know, we realize men are men, they are vessels of clay, and Isaiah was a vessel of clay. He was a fallen man, just like we are. But, humanly speaking, he was a righteous man, if you would. Nobody is righteous in the sight of God, but humanly speaking, he was upright. And when he's in the presence of a holy God, you find him saying, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips amongst unclean people. And so the angels are constantly saying, holy, holy, holy. So, you know, and I've said it, but God is truth. God is truth. God is wrath, but you don't see scripture say God is truth, truth, truth. God is love, love, love. But you see scripture on several occasions say holy, holy, holy. This is the essence of his being. All these attributes set God apart from us, but I believe that to some degree this separates God from all others like no other attribute does. What does it mean to say God is holy or the holiness of God? It's that he is holy, that he is holier than any of his creation, and he's the holiest of all beings. When it says holy, he's holy. It says holy a second time, he's holier than all of creation. And he says the third time, he is holier than anything else. As I said, you don't see the angels crying out, love, love, love, or truth, truth, wrath, but they say, holy, holy, holy. And you think about it, when you think of God being described, we see this attribute given to his description in numerous different ways. Mine doesn't have it, I don't know. Look at the front of your Bibles. I wanna know, what does it say on your Bible? Anybody have a title on the front of their Bible? Holy Bible, doesn't it? It doesn't say true Bible. It doesn't say love Bible or wrath Bible, but the holy Bible. What is the Bible, simply put? It's the word of God, but it's referenced as what? The holy word, if you will. Third part of the Trinity, what is it called? Not just God's Spirit, but what? The Holy Spirit. We look at Jesus, what was he? The Holy Son of God. And who is God? The Holy Father. His essence is holiness. God is identified in heaven by his holiness. God, the Holy Son, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Word, you find it in the Holy Temple, you find the Holy Mount there of Zion. What is the land? What was the land called that he was gonna give his people? Even to this day, what's it called? The Holy Land. See, this inscription ascribed to God like no other of his attributes. It is of who he is. Everything about God is marked by his holiness. Holiness pertaining to God, what is it? Well, there's two meanings, but there's a primary and a secondary. The primary meaning, the word holiness literally means separated. or to cut, to cut into parts, if you will, into two sides that are separate. And what is it that God, when we say the Holy Spirit, the Holy Father, the Holy Word of God, or the Holy, Holy, Holy, we're talking about God, really, that He is separated from everything else, that is what we mean, that He is unlike anything else. That He set apart from His creation, He set above His creation, and we are not on His level. That is the problem of our day and time. The primary problem of our day and time is that God that is preached, taught, that believed to be, especially here in the western side of the culture, is not much different. He may be separate from man, but that gap is here. Folks, I can't emphasize how large that gap is. It's infinite. God is totally superior above and supreme to us. And because people don't understand who God is and who they are is why we're in the mess we're in. And I know you've heard me say that, but that's a fact. People believe, you talk to people and they almost have this image of God being some little grandpa figure. They do not see the holiness of God. Go ahead, Wayne. Correct. Yeah, that's it, we're not on his level. And scripture, not only do we have to, can we know that by just recognizing the holiness of God? The scripture tells us that. Isaiah 55, eight and nine, a familiar passage when we start to read it here to you. But listen what the scripture says. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways. Your ways, my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. He says as much as the heavens are beyond the earth, that's how much greater his thoughts and his ways are than our ways. But we have, mankind has sought to make God much like himself. And if you try to understand God in a human reasoning, a human understanding, you will not see God for who he is. None of us will fully understand who God is. We don't have the capacity to. We'll spend all of eternity learning about who God is. But even trying to understand that, God is so much more superior and far beyond us. He's separate from us. He's on another level, if you will. He's elevated above us, he is distinct from us, he's superior to us, he's a cut above us, he's holier than us. And the scripture says he's high and lifted up, he's exalted, he's transcended, he's supreme in his greatness, his majesty, and royalty, you know? He is far greater than we are. Exodus 15, 11 talks about one of the first times we see the word holiness in the word of God, and it talks about his majesty, his awesomeness, the majesticness of, we can't truly look upon God and not see his holiness. You know, if you really, you and I, I won't say you, but if we see God for who he is, we can't do that. unemphatically. If we see God in His holiness, it's not going to be with boredom or with a yawn, but it's totally, you look at everybody that got a glimpse of the holiness of God and it totally transformed their life. You remember when Moses, there, went up on the mount to meet with the Lord and paraphrased, this is paraphrase, but remember he said, Lord, I've seen you part the Red Seas. He said, I've seen you in the burning bush. I have seen you do great miracles. I've seen you do all these things. But what did Moses say? Show me, what is it? Show me thy glory. Show me your glory. He said, in essence, I've seen all these miracles. I've seen the great works you've done, but I want to see your glory. I want to see your face. I want to see you, Lord. And you remember when God told him, he said, I'm gonna hew out a cleft of the rock and put you back here. And he caught just the backside, if you would, of God, because he could not see God and live. The Bible scripture tells us no man has seen God and lived. And yet when he did that, And he came down from the mountain. What did they tell them? Remember what they said? Cover your face. They couldn't handle even, and he was just a reflection. They're seeing a reflection and cannot handle it. The point being is this. When we encounter God, and see God in his holiness for who he is, you won't be the same. That's why the Bible says that you're a new creature in Christ Jesus. That's why a lot of people today that profess to have come in contact with a holy God, and yet there's no change. Something's wrong. We can't truly look upon him and not see his holiness. Someone has said that it's breathtaking, that it's stunning, it's all inspiring. Your majesty, he's dressed in splendor and he's on a throne. He's unique to all others. His holiness and majesticness, his enthronement, that he is enthroned. You know, you think of a king, These kings were known for being majestic. Their clothing, everything about them was majestic. There was a sense of awesomeness to it. But this is not just any king. This is the king of kings and the Lord of lords is what the scripture tells us. Now back to our text, Isaiah 6. We're gonna look at this just for a minute. Verse one, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. King Uzziah, probably not the greatest king in Israel's history, but was one of the greater kings in a sense. He was probably a top five, if you will. But here he's been ruling and reigning and he seemed to do enough good to keep the blessings of God upon him and upon the nation. But think about it. Anytime a leader dies, that organization or that kingdom or that nation struggles. I heard, I think it was R.C. Sproul or somebody had used the illustration, some of you may remember this, when J.F.K. died. And it does throw the nation into perplexity when the leader dies. And that's where the nation of Israel was. They were at a turning point of history here. Uzziah has died. There's uncertain times ahead. And that's when Isaiah is given this vision right at this moment. He says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. We talk about sitting upon a throne. He's actively presiding over all of creation. He is just, he's in control. He's sovereign over all. Think about, I thought the thought come to my mind, and just a simple thought, but People that have true authority, they don't necessarily have to stand there and whip people and force people into doing things, they have authority to do so. You think about it, you go in a courtroom, how does a judge handle that courtroom? They sit down, because that courtroom, they are the authority in that courtroom. They don't have to stand. They don't have to get in your face and slap you around. That carries a weight of authority with it. That's where God is, seated, symbolizing one thing, that it's finished. The work is done, and he is the king. He is presiding over all things, even being seated there upon a throne, symbolizing the throne of kingship, that he is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the one that removes kings, he's the one that raises up kings, he's the one that replaces, and he, at this moment, when this is penned, he has just removed Uzziah from the scene of king. He's taken him off the throne. And it says, I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up. He's exalted and loftily exalted. But notice the verbiage here, and he says, and his train filled the temple. Once again, because of our day and time, our customs, our Western culture, and we don't fully understand this, neither do I, but in the day and time when this was penned, A king was measured by his wealth, by the possessions he had, and that was symbolized in his garments. And one of the main symbols of the influence, the power, authority of a king was in the robe, in the train. We know what a train of a robe, a train is. It used to be that a lot of wedding gowns had a train to it. But a king was known, the longer the train of his robe, the more authority and the greater his kingship was. What does it say about God? What did it do? It filled the temple. There was no room for nothing else. There was no room for no one else. It wasn't, hey, you know, well, I'm gonna delegate to you or you. He is the king. And that is a high problem in our day and time. I thought, my mind came to, We talk about a lot of people that professed that He is, saved them, He's their Savior, but you can't have just the Savior. If He is your Savior, He is what? Your Lord, He is your King. There's not room for somebody else, for self or for sin or for Satan or anything else to sit upon the throne of your heart. It is that He is the King, that His glory, His train filled the temple. symbolizing his glory. So there's no room for anyone else, no room for a rival, no room for competition. He is king of kings and lord of lords. That his train, unlike any other train of kings of that day and time, they may have had long trains, but he has filled the entire temple. But look at verse two. And above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. You know, when God creates something, he does it with design. It's not just by happenchance. It's not just, you know, to do it. Think about it. God being the master creator, the master builder, he created fish with gills. Why? because he knew they were going to be in the water. He created birds with wings. Why? They needed the ability to fly. You say, well, Mother Josh, why do you bring that up? The seraphim, there's not a lot mentioned in scripture about them. There's little known about them, but we can see a little bit of their character. They had six wings, and that wasn't just, oh, well, I think I'll just put six wings on these beings. God done that with a purpose, and he goes to illustrate that purpose. He tells us what that purpose is. That says with two, he covered his face. Why, because even the angels, You can't be in the presence of God and see him as he is without being totally consumed. And he says, with two they covered their feet. And the feet symbolizing our creation or our creatureliness, our humanness, if you will. He says in another part in scripture that a man's feet are what? Just clay. What he's really saying, it's a submission of showing that God is holy, God is superior, and that you're a created being. And he says, with two they did fly. What does that indicate? Service, they were commissioned. You fly to go out, to go places. This was indicating their work for God. Kind of interesting, and maybe it's boring to you, but I hope not, but for me, I thought it was interesting. The seraphim, the meaning of that word means burning ones. And you say, well, what significance does that have? Why is that interesting? Where are they at in this text? Where are the seraphim at? They're in the presence of God. And so what this says indicates, I should say, it's impossible to be in the presence of God or to have been in the presence of God to see His holiness and not have a burning, not have a longing. We've used the old adage of being on what for God? Being on fire for God. And do you notice that most Christians, and including myself, and even those of you that I'm looking at, and I do love, I really do, I respect you. And I realize to some degree I'm looking at, and I mean this, as the cream of the crop of New Life Baptist Church. And yet we claim we know the Lord, and I'm not doubting that. I know that I know the Lord, and I trust that many of you do too. But if we truly know the Lord, and not only do we know Him, but if we're spending time with Him, in His Word, in communion, in prayer, Why is there not a burning? Why is there not a longing? Why is there not some spiritual fire within us? I submit to you that if we say that we're spending time with the Lord, we're communing with God, and there is no passion, there is no fire, there is no burning, then we're lying to ourselves and deceiving one another. But we're not deceiving God. It's impossible to be in the presence of God and not be totally transformed. Look at Moses, look at Peter, you look at the men and women, men that came in the presence of God, they were no longer the same. And these seraphim, literally meaning burning ones, on fire for the Lord. Go ahead. that he has a seal for the Lord's house. I mean, a lot of times I think that would be the same thing. It was just a burning desire to be with the Lord or do what the Lord wanted done. Service. Correct. You know, we're quick, and I've been guilty of it. We are quick to praise men. Well, look at that man. He just is devoted to God. He just loves the Lord. the epitome of what a Christian should be. And the Bible does tell us to give honor where honor is due. But you know the difference in that man and the person that seems indifferent toward the things of God? It's not something innate or special about that man or woman, it's where they've been. They've been in the presence of God and you will see that. It makes a difference. The difference is being in the presence of God, seeing God. It's God that makes the difference. You look through scripture and we, you know, men and women that seem to have had some zeal, some courage. You remember, I think of just, we always talk about men, but let's think of Rahab and the courage it took. Her life was on the line if she was found out to be hiding these spies. She would be killed for it. Where did that courage come from? She knew a little bit about who the Lord was. See, that's where courage comes from. We all want to kind of be patted on the back and praise that man, he's just bold, he's courageous. Well that true boldness, that true courage doesn't come from within, it comes from being in the presence of God. That's why we can read about some of these men and women that did great things. It wasn't that they were super-Christians or they were super-human. They served the same God that we serve. But they spent time with Him. They knew who He was. They communed with Him. They worshipped Him. They read and studied. They wanted to know everything they could about Him. They had a burning within them. They weren't satisfied with just mediocrity. And that's the problem today amongst even true born-again Christians. And I say this with all due respect, including myself. We are content with just mediocre Christianity. Where is a desire to see God's name exalted? To see the holiness of God on display? To see God do great things? Not just for the sake of witnessing them, but to see God being given the glory He is. Where is that at in our day and time? We don't have this burning. You know why? Because we're really not communing and spending time with Him as we should. It's impossible to be in his presence and not be impacted by it. It's not something you're just gonna, oh, I'm bored out of my mind. People, you don't find that in anybody that's been in the presence of God. And I don't say that to beat you up. I say, I mean, the seraphim. But look at verse three. Here they were covering their face, covering their feet, and they were being ready to be dispatched to do God's will. But what were they saying? And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy. They cried out, they worshiped God. You find in Revelation 4, 8, we talked about it earlier, but the angels in the presence of God, you know what they're doing? The same thing that these Seraphim were doing. The same thing we will be doing for all eternity is saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, is the Lord of hosts or the Lord of armies. It says, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. His royalness, his declaring his holiness. They're separated. His separated glory manifests in his holiness. But in verse four, and the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke. We read over that. I have done it numerous times. You're familiar with the text. But the thought occurred to me just this morning on the way to church here. We are created in the image of God. We are the grandest of God's creation, not because we are anything special within us, but who he has set his affection to. There's only one part of creation that he sought to save, and that's mankind and the souls of men. So would it not, being made in his image, would it not make sense for us to bow in reverence, to bow in holiness, to be moved? by this all stricken, holy, holy, holy God that is separate, that's different than all of us? Say, well, why do you even say that? Look at the verb, and the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Is there life in a post? In Adam and Isaac's. And yet they were in the presence of God. They couldn't even sit still. The air couldn't stay clear in the presence of God. It was filled with smoke. In one sense, and we know this to be just figure of speech because we know there's no life in a sense in the air there's no life in a wooden post or a bit but they had more sense than human beings do they were moved it shook them in the presence of God and yet we claim to come in the presence of God and be and just be humdrum no big deal It's almost like being right at the spot of a volcano that erupts. You think about that burningness. It shakes the ground. The heat starts and that lava starts to flow. And that's what takes place here that Isaiah sees when he gets this vision here. You talk to the average person today about a holy, holy, holy God, and they just make, oh yeah, he's so kind, he's so love, he, da, da, da, just all this just mediocrity and low speech. And yes, he is love. Yes, he is kind. I'm not diminishing those things. But there should be a sense of reverence, a holy fear of who God is. As I said, I don't know, the scripture don't tell us. But physically speaking, there wasn't many, if there was any, better than Isaiah in this day and time. And he, you don't find Isaiah, this righteous man, humanly speaking, you don't find him in the presence of God saying, man, I'm a little better than Wayne, or I'm a little better than Sister Doris. What do you find this man, humanly speaking, found his right, what do you find him saying? Woe is, then said I, woe is me. Accursed, damned is I. Too bad for me, because I'm a man of unclean lips. He had his complete attention. He, in essence, says judged or cursed is me. You know what happens when we come into the presence of God, truly, and start to see him and his holiness? He's got your complete attention, Wayne. You don't have time to look to the left, to the right, say, man, I hope she gets right, or he gets right, or this person does. I hope they were listening. No, no, no. You know what you see? Woe is me. And what does he say? In what area does he talk about? He says, I am undone, I'm unraveling, I'm coming apart. But because I am a man of unclean lips. Think about the thing that he considers himself to be undone, unclean in. His lips. What was his job? We just talked about in the introduction, you had the priest and you had what? The prophet. What did the prophet do? He declared the word of God. You know what, the people would have looked at this and said, wait a minute, Isaiah, you are the most pure speaking person that we have. Your lips is what God is using to declare who he is. And he says, no, even the very things that God has ordained to use, humanly speaking, are unclean. Go ahead, Wayne. Correct. So he didn't focus on others. All he could see, the best part of him, was nothing in the presence of God. And you know what, when we see God in his holiness, you won't see any of your righteousness. Even the things that are attributed to you for righteousness from the world's perspective, or even from your own perspective, will be seen as nothing. It changes everything when we've been in the presence of God. You remember Peter there on the boat? When they were out there fishing and the Lord told them to cast their nets out, and then when they went to pull them in, they couldn't do it for all the fish. They called for the other fishermen off the boat, and they started to sink the two boats, and what did Peter say? Depart from me. What's that, see? He said, I am a man of iniquity. I am a sinful man. John in Revelation 1, when he got the vision of God, what did he do? The Bible says amongst women there was no greater man than John. But what did he do? He fainted, fell as dead. And when we really come into the presence of the holiness of God, you know what? There's no place to go but face first. Prostrate before him. I have to hurry. That's why we have to have glorified bodies in heaven to be able to handle the presence of God. The problem of today is worship of a God that is on our level or not much above our level and not the holy God of scripture. He is transcended in holiness. And then that was the first meaning. The second meaning, and I'll give it to you in about one minute, is of his moral perfection. Perfectness, his sin, when you talk of the holiness of God, ultimately what the primary meaning of that is, he is separate, he's totally different, he's totally on a different level than we are. The second meaning of that is he's sinless, he's flawless, he's without blemish. All of his decisions, all of his judgments, all of his decrees are holy and perfect. And he is not neutral towards sin. He hates iniquity. He said, I hate all workers of iniquity. And he loves righteousness. Why? Because he's holy. So may we view God as who he is and not who we want him to be or what we think he is, but who he has revealed himself to be. And if we can get a glimpse of the holiness of God, you know what it will do? It will change your life. And I'm not implying you're lost. If you have truly seen Jesus Christ, what did that do? It changed your life. But I submit to you that we continually need to be repenting, we need to be getting to know the Lord greater, and we need to see a glimpse of the holiness of God. And if we would do just that, our lives would be changed and transformed. Like that. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. I pray that you'd help us to Does it have that burning desire to know you, to see you in a greater capacity, as Moses said, to show us your glory? But Lord, it may cost us. It may cost us everything. Maybe you'd be willing to pay the price. Give us the courage to do so. And thank you that we serve a God that is not like us, but that is holy and transcended above us in every way. In Jesus' name I pray, and amen.