Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Good morning. I'm going to be reading from
the book of Isaiah chapter six. And I'm just gonna read the first
four verses and then try and bring you a message about our
Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter six and verse
one. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up. and his train filled the temple. 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. 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. Before I start, I wanna tell
you something. This may be a little different
than anything you've ever heard. but that's okay. The truth seems
to be a very rare commodity today, the truth of Christ. But I do
wanna tell you one thing before I get started. Any preacher,
any man or any woman who tells you that Jesus Christ needs anything
from you or anyone else is wrong. You understand, I wanna be coming
here from the fact that I'm going to try and preach to you the
Lord who is holy, holy, holy. The Lord of hosts. And I'm gonna
be brutally honest here. That's a nice way of saying I
may make somebody angry. But I'm going to be brutally
honest because this is a basic fact of the Lord, which is basically
unknown today. The unadulterated, unvarnished
truth about God and the Lord Jesus Christ makes most people
angry. You may say, I've never been
angry at the truth or the gospel of the words of Christ. Well,
to be honest, that may mean that you've never heard it. Let's
see what happens today. Isaiah started out with what
he saw. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high lifted up. Understand this, Isaiah was not looking for the
Lord to appear to him. The Lord came to him. Isaiah
didn't come to God here. God came to him. And he saw Adonai,
the Lord. And he saw angels. And they flew
and they covered their faces while they flew. They flew and
they covered their feet while they flew. While they flew they
cried out One cried unto another and said this Holy Holy Holy
Is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Folks
This is the cry of the angels of God Holy Holy Holy Now the
word means sacred or holy, hallowed, blessed, consecrated, venerated,
revered, set apart. Understand God is holy. The Lord
is holy. God is sacred. And folks, you
may not hear this a lot, but God is set apart from man. God is different than man. Man is creation. God is creator. How is he different? Well, he's
better. He's better. He is the potter and we are the
clay. And God, as Isaiah said here,
hearing the angels cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Now let's be clear. ask you to do something for me.
Think of the preachers you have heard. Think of the people you
know. Think of your family, your friends,
coworkers. How many of them have ever told
you of the holiness of God? Even preachers. How many have
even mentioned the holiness of God? I don't think many have. Last
question. What do you know of the holy
Lord of hosts? I'm willing to bet the answers
to these three questions are not many, hardly any, and not
much. Most people I know outside of
the Sovereign Grace Chapel rarely mention the Lord. And of those
rare mentions that I get, none have to do with him being the
holiest thing that ever was, and that he is right now, and
that he is completely and totally holy, holy, holy. Yet, here's the point, being
holy, holy, holy, I believe, for lack of a better term, is
the most basic attribute of God. What do I mean by that? Well,
I believe holy, holy, holy is the prime descriptive statement
of the one true God. This was the words of the angels
of God in his presence, crying out. Now you understand, There is
no way to separate one attribute of God from another. Like I said,
for lack of a better term, God is not broken into separate little
things. But however, we can only learn,
jot by jot, little by little. We can only learn a little bit
here and a little bit there. Because our minds are not capable
of comprehending God, period. So I'm gonna say this again.
God's prime attribute, his overriding characteristic is this. God is
holy, holy, holy. And everything about God is holy,
holy, holy. Now there are some books, and
some are good, written about the attributes of God. And I'm
not gonna go into them, I'm not gonna list them. I'm not gonna
go into them in any detail, but I do wanna tell you one pertinent
thing. One central, important detail. And I want you to do one thing
for me. Think of something that the Bible
says about God. See, you understand, I know how
most people think and I know how this world operates and how
it thinks. because I hear them. They have
this idea that God's basic prime attribute is love. It's not so. God is love, yes. And God's love
is what? God's love is a holy love. But I wanna challenge you to
do this. Think of anything. that it says in the scripture,
not what men say, not what your family says, not what preachers
say, but what it says in the scripture about God, and then
I want you to put the word holy in front of it. Think of the word righteousness.
God is righteous. And God's righteousness is a
holy righteousness. It works perfectly. God's mercy
is a holy mercy. God's justice is a holy justice. God's grace is holy grace. God's power is holy. God's judgment, oh, God's judgment
is righteous, yes, but God's judgment is also a holy judgment. You understand, in the Old Testament
it tells us that our God is a consuming fire. But you can put in front
of that consuming fire that our God is a holy consuming fire. You understand, God's not gonna
burn up anything that doesn't need to be burned up. It's not
gonna happen. He's talked about it in the New
Testament where there's gonna be wood, hay, and stubble, talking
about ourselves, believers, that's gonna be burned up, but that
needs to be burned up. You have to clear away the dross
to see the jewels, the fine metal, the gold, the silver. In order
to see it shine, you've got to purge away, burn away the other
stuff. Everything attributed to God
in the scriptures is holy. God is angry with the wicked
every day. That's a holy anger. I know people don't like to think
about this. God judges in holiness. God dispenses justice in holiness. Everything that God does is holy.
All of his words are holy, his scriptures are holy, his commandments
are holy, just, and good. and his actions are all holy. As a matter of fact, God's very
thoughts are holy, holy, holy. All of the time. I like to think that sometimes
I have good thoughts, but it's not very often. And it's not
consistent. God is perfectly holy. in his
thought, his words, and his deeds. What does it say? Shall not the
judge of all the earth do right? Well he's holy, holy, holy. He's
doing right. Now here's the thing, one of
the things I wanted to get to. I believe I told you at the beginning
of this, I wanted to preach to you Jesus Christ. And you may
be saying, you're talking about the Old Testament God now. I
tell you folks, there is no difference. If you don't know, there's no
difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God.
Jesus Christ is not a different God. Jesus Christ is God. But who is the Lord of hosts
that Isaiah saw? Have you ever thought about that?
Has it ever entered your mind? Who was this Lord of hosts that
Isaiah saw? Who is holy, holy, holy? Who did Isaiah see high and lifted
up? Well, I'm just gonna tell you
flat out who Isaiah saw high and lifted up. Isaiah saw the
pre-incarnate Christ, the Messiah, the holy one of Israel. Isaiah
saw Christ before he became God manifest in the flesh. Isaiah saw the holy, holy, holy
Lord Jesus Christ. So who's Jesus Christ? Yes, he's
the Lamb of God. but he's also the lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. He is the redeemer,
the redeemer. And yes, he is the Lord of hosts. Jesus Christ, in John one, tells
us the word was with God and the word was God. And he came down in the flesh, Jesus Christ is the creator The creator of all created things
including us So how can I say that Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus
Christ How can I say that Jesus Christ is the Lord of hosts?
Well Isaiah actually sort of tells us Isaiah 44 and verse
6 He writes this, thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, who's the Redeemer? The Lord of hosts. The Lord of
hosts is the Redeemer. I am the first and I am the last,
and beside me, what? There is no God. So the Lord of Hosts is the Redeemer. Isaiah 47 and verse four puts
it this way. As for our Redeemer, the Lord
of Hosts is his name. The Holy One of Israel. The Redeemer is the Lord of Hosts.
Isaiah saw the Lord of Hosts. Isaiah saw. the Redeemer, the
Lord Jesus Christ, before he came to this world. Isaiah 54
and verse five, another one. Excuse me. For thy maker, for
thy maker is thine husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. And thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel. Oh, look at this. Isaiah 54 and
verse 5 ends with this the God of the whole earth Shall he be
called? Scripture tells us who the Lord
of hosts is and the Lord of hosts is the Holy One of Israel The
Lord of hosts is the Redeemer. Oh This Bible is a book of redemption
And there is only one Redeemer Yes, his name is the Lord of
hosts. But who is the Redeemer? Paul
wrote in Galatians three and verse 13, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Jesus
Christ is the Redeemer. Jesus Christ hath redeemed us. Redemption is accomplished. And
the Redeemer, his name is the Lord of Hosts, which is the name
that Isaiah saw, who Isaiah saw. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Redeemer. The Redeemer is the Lord of hosts,
and Isaiah saw the Lord of hosts. Holy, the angels announced him
as that. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. Isaiah saw the Messiah the pre
incarnate before he came before he took on flesh Christ John told us in John 1 in verse
18 here's something you want to hear No man has seen God at any time
the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he
is hath declared him. What did Jesus Christ say? In
John 14, verses eight and nine, Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He, this is the words of Christ
now, not mine, he that has seen me has seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Understand, no man has seen God
at any time. Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate
Christ. He saw the Messiah. He saw the
Lord of hosts. He saw the Redeemer. He saw the
Holy One of Israel. You understand, Jesus Christ
didn't just show up 2,000 years ago when he was born in a manger.
He was God before he came, he was God when he came, and he's
God now, after he ascended. Oh my, he is. Jesus Christ, the one with whom
we have to do, is holy, holy, holy. The Lord of hosts. The only one seen in the Old
Testament and New Testament is the Lord of Hosts. Preincarnate
and then manifest in the flesh. Because here's the thing, Jesus
Christ is the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. He is the Lord of Hosts. He was
the Lord of Hosts. And he always shall be the Lord
of Hosts. What's it say? He is holy, holy, holy. What's Jesus Christ coming back
as? What's his title? Gonna be written
on his thigh and on his vesture. The King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords. Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen,
Jesus Christ is the one that Isaiah saw. Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts. Because Jesus Christ, what does
it say then? The whole earth is full of his
glory. The whole earth is full of the
Lord of hosts' glory, which is Christ's glory. It's a holy glory. God Almighty. Jesus Christ is God Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth. And here he tells us incredibly,
by him all things still to this day consist. Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer. Jesus Christ is God. He is the
Lord of hosts. He is the Holy One of Israel.
This is the Christ of the Bible. You understand? This is the Christ
of the Bible. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. I got a question for you. He met Isaiah here. Has he met
you yet? Do you know God manifests in
the flesh? If you do, I think you'll understand
what I've been talking about here. You understand, you can't preach
Christ too high. It's not possible. We don't have
the words. But here's the thing. When Isaiah
saw him, I didn't read this part, but we'll look at it just for
a minute. In closing, what did Isaiah say? When he saw the Lord,
and those angels cried out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Isaiah said, woe is me. Woe is me. Why? He just saw the holy Lord. And
he said, I'm a man of unclean lips. Whoa. I'm a man of unclean lips. What
does Isaiah say? I don't talk the way I should.
I don't say the things, I don't proclaim the holiness of the
Lord the way I should. My lips are unclean. You know
why your lips are unclean? It's because your heart's unclean.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ said. Isaiah just saw true holiness
for the first time, and Isaiah found out. And I hope you can
find out that he didn't have any holiness. Understand, what I said at the
beginning, anybody that tells you that Jesus Christ needs you
for anything, they're wrong. At best, they're wrong. At worst,
they're lying. Jesus Christ doesn't need you,
you need him. Why? Because he's holy, holy,
holy. Oh my. Think about this. Without holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. Wait a minute. What kind of holiness? This kind of holiness, the holiness
Isaiah saw. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The Lord is of pure eyes that
can even look upon sin. I read it. He's angry with the
wicked every day. And brothers and sisters, unbelievers,
everyone, we're wicked every day. The only source of holiness is
Jesus Christ. And he is made unto us by the
Lord, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The only holiness you can have
is to be found in Jesus Christ. Call upon his name. Call upon the name of the Lord. You understand? You're not calling upon just
some savior, Jesus. Because if he's not the Lord,
he can't save you. And he is the Lord of hosts.
Holy, holy, holy. You understand, everything, everything
done by our Lord Jesus Christ is completely and totally holy. You understand what I'm saying?
The Old Testament God and the New Testament God, they're the
same. Everything you've seen in the
Old Testament is Jesus Christ. And if you haven't seen Jesus
Christ in the Old Testament, you've missed the whole point.
Call upon his name. Call upon the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He'll save. He'll save. The only question is, will you
call?