The fundamental fact of our faith is God. And the fundamental fact about God is that God is holy. God is majestic. He is mighty. He is awesome. He is transcendent. When you explain the gospel, it's natural to focus on the benefits Christ freely offers to those He saves. But it also is critical that you understand and know how to communicate the measure of pain, even agony, that Christ endured to secure salvation. John MacArthur is considering the reason for that pain and ironically why it's a source of profound joy today as he continues the study called Foundations, Volume 1. Now this series is looking at truths that all believers need to understand. It's a part of this month's 49th anniversary celebration here at Grace To You. And now with today's lesson, here's John MacArthur. The central thing I want you to see about God is that He is holy. Isaiah chapter 6, the king is dead and Isaiah goes to the temple. Let's pick it up there. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His robe filled the temple. Now look at verse 2. As Isaiah sees this vision, it says, and above it, that is above the throne, stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly." Incredible creatures. But the most incredible thing about them is not what they look like, it's what they said. It's what they cried, verse 3, and one cried unto another. They had an antiphonal thing going, back and forth. And they said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Now let's see how Isaiah reacted in verse 4. First of all, and the posts or the pillars, or perhaps it's best, the foundations of the door moved at the voice of him who cried and the house was filled with smoke. Now this is getting pretty dramatic. The place begins to shake. The whole vision is like Mount St. Helens. Everything begins to move. It's like an erupting volcano. The foundations of the place begin to shake and fire and smoke which could either be emanating from the altar or could be a manifestation of the fiery presence of God as at Mount Sinai. In other words, we begin to see a holy God of judgment. This is not a manifestation particularly of God's mercy. but of His tremendous, majestic holiness. It is awful. It is fearful. It is like Sinai. It is a statement to Isaiah and his people that God is a consuming fire, and you can't toy around with God. You'll be consumed. What was Isaiah's reaction? Verse 5. What was his reaction? Did he say, hey, I have had a vision. I'm going to get myself a new wardrobe and go on the road. Well what did he say? Now what I want to do is analyze this thing. This needs some analysis. Got to think this through categorically. Or did he say, boy, now if you didn't think I was a true messenger of God, let me tell you now, folks, I've seen Him. None of the above. What was His reaction? Verse 5, "'Then said I, Woe is me.'" That's enough, folks, if He didn't say anything else, to get the whole picture. That's not just a sign of despair, although I think there's despair in it. It's far more than that. You see, in the Old Testament, prophets gave pronouncements. They gave announcements, sometimes called oracles. And their prophetic announcements were very often preceded by the statement, thus saith the Lord. And their statements could be positive or negative. When they were positive, they'd often say, blessed. When they were negative, they would often say...what?...woe...woe. Isaiah uses the word woe at least ten times in his prophecy to refer to God's judgment on others. Jeremiah used it, Ezekiel used it, Nahum used it, Amos used it, Habakkuk used it, Hosea used it, Zephaniah used it, Zechariah used it, Micah used it, Jesus used it. In Matthew 24 He said, "'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees!' And the angels of judgment and revelation use it. It is a word of cursing. And here is an amazing thing. A prophet of God pronounces a curse on himself. Incredible...incredible. This is the best man in the land. This is a servant of God. But when he sees the holiness of God, he can but pronounce a curse upon his own head. He can only see his defilement, not his goodness. And then he says this, for I am undone, nidmethi, from a root word which means in the passive to be lost or to perish or to be annihilated or to be destroyed. I am destroyed. I am devastated by the holiness of God. I'm wiped out. I'm falling apart. I'm coming loose at the seams. I'm disintegrating. Why? Because he saw God. And when he saw God, for the first time in his life he saw Isaiah. And he knew how wretched he was. He may have been a secure fellow before this. Everybody honored him, patted him on the back. Everybody who was godly said he was the best of men, spiritual leader, voice of God, obedient saint, servant of the Lord. One glimpse of God's holiness and the man was a wretch in his own eyes. What was the most important element of a prophet? What was the most important instrument of a prophet? His mouth, right? His mouth to speak. Look what he says, I am a man of unclean lips. You know what that means? I have a dirty mouth. Me, the prophet of God who should open my mouth to speak of God, I've got a dirty mouth and I dwell in the midst of a people who have dirty mouths. How do you know this? Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts and for the first time I see myself. I'm a dirty man, have a dirty mouth. I've seen Yahweh of hosts. Beloved, no one can stand in the presence of God without becoming profoundly and devastatingly aware of his own wretchedness, sinfulness. That's why I'm telling you, if we don't understand the holiness of God, we don't understand our sinfulness and we don't understand how heinous it is and we don't understand the consequences of it. To see even the smallest glimpse of God's holiness is to be devastated...devastated. Isaiah would never be the same, never, neither would anybody else. Let me give you some illustrations. Look at Habakkuk...Habakkuk, that wonderful prophet. If you can't find it, don't worry, just listen. Habakkuk was second-guessing God. Oh, we do that. God, you know, I've been for a long time with this burden and I keep telling you, God, to come down here and do something. Please, God, revive Your people. Come down here, God, and do it. I don't understand this, God. You're supposed to be a God of love, a God of mercy, a God of forgiveness. Come down here, God, and do something. In chapter 2, he really kind of gets to the place where he says, I'm just going to...I'm just going to sit here until God gives me an answer. Come on, God. So chapter 2 verse 1, I'm going to stand on my watch, I'm going to set myself upon the tower and I'm going to watch to see what He will say unto me and what I shall answer when I'm reproved. I know I'm going to get it, but I'm going to stick around for the answer. God, I want an answer. Verse 2, "'And the Lord answered me.'" God gave him an answer. You know what happened? When he got all done with the answer, Habakkuk was a wreck. That's right, because God was thundering like lightning and fire. in the recitation of the history of what He'd done and you finally come down to chapter 3 verse 16, God gives him this long answer and then you have Habakkuk praying and then you have this, when I heard...316...my belly trembled. When's the last time you trembled in the presence of God? My lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble when He cometh up unto the people and He will invade them with His troops." Man, he says, when I heard the voice of God and I heard Him speak, I shook from top to bottom and I longed to rest in the day of trouble. You know, it just...to me it is so superficial today when you hear all these people who sort of fancy that they would love to go through the Tribulation. That is the most silly kind of folly imaginable. Apart from the theology of whether we will or won't, that kind of silly preoccupation betrays the absence of an understanding of the holy wrath of God. Any of us that had any sense at all would run from that. Not seek it as if it were some glamorous experience. Look what happened. His belly trembled, his lips quivered. Why? Because God spoke. And when he knew he was in the presence of God, he almost fell apart. Look at Job. Job just before Psalms and eventually, you know, through all this book, you come to chapter 38, Job is finally to the place where he says, all right, God, what's going on? I mean, I've heard all the answers from all of these friends I've got, the total of which adds up to nothing. And I want an answer. Lord, what is the deal? Chapter 38 verse 1, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. You want an answer? Here it comes. God spoke. And then you know what happens, folks? Job gets the worst brow-beating in human history. God literally bats him from pillar to post. Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? What ignoramus stands before me? You better gird up your loins like a man cause you're going to get it in this answer. And I want one back. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Huh? Where were you when the morning star sang together? Who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth? And he does this chapter after chapter after chapter. Where were you? Where were you? And after a while he's saying, I was no one. And what am I going to say? Chapter 41, can you draw out Leviathan, the sea monster with a hook? Can you control the animal world? Can you control the rain, the clouds, the snow, the vegetation, the movement of the stars? Where were you? Can you do this? If you can't, Job, be quiet. When it was all said and done, chapter 42 verse 5. Job said this, "'God, I have heard about You by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sees You. I always had heard what You were like, now I know.' What's his reaction? "'I abhor myself, I repent in dust and ashes.'" No one ever comes before the holiness of God without devastation. Look at Luke 2 passages, chapter 8, verse 22, came to pass on a certain day, Jesus went into a boat with His disciples and said to them, let's go over to the other side of the lake. They launched forth. As they sailed, He fell asleep. There came down a storm of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and they were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him saying, Master, Master, we perish. We're going to drown out here. He arose, He rebuked the wind and the raging of the sea and they ceased and there was a calm." Took care of it. And He said unto them, "'Where's your faith?' And they being...what?...afraid, marveled, saying one to another, "'What manner of man is this? For He commandeth even the winds and water and they obey Him.'" You want to know something? They were ten times more afraid when they saw His power than when they saw the sea raging because instantly they knew they were in the presence of God. And that's cause for panic. They would take the storm rather than that. They were shattered because they knew their hearts were open books to His omniscience. Back up to chapter 5, verse 1, came to pass as people pressed on him to hear the Word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, or the Sea of Galilee, same thing. Saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, washing their nets. He entered into one of the boats which was Simon's and asked him that he would thrust out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people out of the boat. When he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft. Simon answering, he always had an answer, didn't he? Master, we've been fishing all night and we haven't caught any of them, there's no fish around here. Nevertheless, at your word, I'll let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish and the net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners who were in the other boat, they should come and help them and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. And Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees and said, "'Oh, thanks so much for the fish.'" Is that what he said? What did he say? "'Depart from me. Go away. Get out of here. Go away.'" Why are you telling him that? "'I'm a sinful man.'" Oh, what? Lord, He realized in that moment by that incredible miracle that He was standing in the presence of God. He said, go away, I don't want to be so exposed. He was astonished. He knew God was there. You remember Manoah? The angel came to Manoah, said to him, you're going to have a son? His name is Samson. And then the angel went up to heaven in a fire and glory. And Manoah cried out in Judges 13.22 this statement, we shall surely die because we have seen God. See, these people understood the holiness of God. Beloved, can I tell you something? It is literally the grace of God that you and I are not this moment consumed by the fire of His wrath. People say, Oh, why is it that there's so much trouble in the world? If God is a God of love, why...listen, if He weren't a God of love... Only one sin by one individual, one time would be the end of everything. We want a God who is non-threatening. That's not the God of the Bible. They're afraid of Him. You want to know something? I have a godly fear in my heart. When I would fall into a sin, I sense God's holiness. He hates evil. And I don't want to pay the consequence. All these people we read about just now, they're afraid in the presence of God and so should you be. And here we Christians come along and we say, well, the world doesn't like a God like that, you'll alienate Him. We want a God who's sort of nice. And so we come up with a washed out, watered down, inoffensive substitute for the gospel that is pervasively humanistic, doesn't speak about fire, wrath, holiness, vengeance, hell, punishment. Sure, men love darkness rather than light, so let's just not give them a whole lot of light because they won't like it. You want to know something? The light of God terrifies them just like when you turn over a rock and the bugs scurry. The holy has always and will always threaten the unholy. And even Christians, we want our little superficialities, we're constantly playing little silly church games, compromising all over the place, disobeying whenever we feel like it, right in the face of a holy God. Would to God that we could see Him. And if we saw Him once like Isaiah did, I question if we'd ever do it again. Let's go back and I just want to...I'll just wrap it up right now. What happened now? Look at this, verse 6. This man is devastated. This man is shattered. Is God going to leave him that way? We can't leave him that way. Verse 6, "...then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar." Now watch this, "...he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged." You know what it takes to get to that point where you're purged? It takes a broken and a contrite heart in the face of the holiness of God. He was there. No cheap grace here, folks. No easy believism. There is pain involved in true redemption, the lips sensitive, tender. In fact, in expressing affection to one another, we use the lips because of their tenderness and sensitivity. And it is to that very part of the body that the angel places a live coal, sears the flesh. I believe that true salvation is painful. There is a wrestling. There's a pain. But his iniquity was taken away and his sin was purged. I always think about John Bunyan who said that before he had the sense of knowing Jesus Christ, he agonized over his sin for no less than 18 months. It was painful. It's not easy. It takes a broken and a shattered heart and the pain of giving up sin and embracing the sovereign God. But once it's done, then verse 8, this is so wonderful, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I," get this ambivalence, "'Here am I, send me.'" You, you're undone. You're woeful. You're wretched. You've got a dirty mouth. You hang around with people with a dirty mouth. Yeah, but I've been cleansed, see? The last statement he made was a declaration of his lack of worthiness and now he says, Lord, You need anybody? I'll go. I'll go. The only way a man is fit to serve is when he's cleansed by the grace of God. I'll go. Verse 9, and he said...what?...go. Let's stop right there. He said, go. A purged man. Beloved, I think all of this looks at the cross, don't you? I think all of this looks at the cross. I think the cross is the live coal that touches our lips. The cross is the thing that purges us. You see, you and I could never stand in the presence of a holy God. We would be consumed. That's why the Pharisees had to kill Jesus. I mean, they had to kill Him. He ruined the average. He came along and He was God and His holiness was so real that their supposed holiness was exposed and they had to kill Him. And when He died, He died not because they had to kill Him, but because God had to let Him die for our sin. The cross touches us. It makes us pure. He died because God is holy. and had to pour out his fury on someone. It was either you or him. And that's cause for rejoicing. Christ reconciled man to God, paid the penalty that sinners owed, and now all who believe in him can experience the presence of God. That's the profound biblical truth from John MacArthur today, a part of his study called Foundations, Volume 1. Along with being the featured speaker here on Grace to You, John serves as president of the Masters University and Seminary. Now in this series on foundational elements of Christian living, what John said today about the presence of God is perhaps the most essential truth to be a Christian is to have a relationship with the living God. And of course, John, that relationship is fueled by prayer, a spiritual discipline that I imagine a lot of our listeners struggle with. And let me ask, why is that? What makes prayer, this basic aspect of communication with God, such a challenge? Well, I think prayer is always a challenge because it's the hardest discipline. It's a solitary discipline. It rises out of your own heart. And even Jesus said, when you pray, go to your closet and pray. It's not something that somebody else sort of stimulates you to do. It's the private cry of your own heart before the Lord. And I would say this, that your prayer life is probably the truest measure of your desire to commune with your Lord. Prayer, for some people, is a public formality, and we do pray publicly from time to time, and that's fine. The Bible says that we are to pray when we come together in our worship. We may pray in a prayer group, and that's good, too, as we share requests and the needs of people. But the solitary exercise of prayer is a kind of spiritual breathing where your prayers are really your soul reaching out for heavenly air. This is your breath coming before the Lord and seeking your life from Him. Whatever's going on in your life becomes a prayer. If it's positive, it's a praise. If it's negative, it's a petition. But living in constant communion with God, That's the stuff of a genuine heart. I did a message some time ago called, How to Pray. We have it on CD, How to Pray. We'll send it free to anyone who asks. That's right. Just let us know you want the free CD, How to Pray. Call, write, reach us by email. We're doing everything we can to put this kind of material in your hands so that you can grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and that your life can be all that God wants it to be for your own joy and the testimony of the gospel. Friend, this message contains practical, highly motivating principles for developing a fervent and effective pattern of prayer. The CD is called How to Pray. It's our gift to you if you've never contacted us before today. Please reach out to us. Send your request, along with your name and address, to Grace2U, Post Office Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Again, we'll send you this CD free of charge as a way of saying thanks for contacting us. Just call our toll-free number. You can reach us any time, 24 hours a day, 1-800-55-GRACE, or send the request by email to letters at gty.org. Also, remember, you can have the 10-CD album of John's current radio study. It's a unique best-of collection of John's messages. It's a crash course, actually, on what Christians believe. A great resource to share with a new believer. The title again, Foundations Volume 1. The entire series costs $44. Shipping is free. Order the CDs by calling 1-800-55-GRACE. or purchase the CD album. And remember you can also download all 10 messages from the series in the mp3 format at gty.org. And now for John McArthur and the entire staff, I'm Carl Miller thanking you for tuning in today. Would you invite a friend to join you here tomorrow at the same time? John will show you how to battle sin and weaken its grip on your life. That's a part of the next installment in the current series, Foundations, Volume 1. Join us at this time tomorrow for another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time, here on Grace To You.