I am speaking to you this morning
from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 6. This message is really
a continuation of last Sunday's message from Acts 17 on the unknown
God. The Apostle Paul in that chapter
had arrived at Athens, Greece and was upset by all of the idolatry
in that city, or the worship of man-made gods. And the apostle
began preaching to them the unknown God, or the true and living God,
the God of the Bible. Well, here in Isaiah chapter
6, we will hear the prophet Isaiah declare this same God, the true
God, and he will declare him with one word. Now, if I were
to ask you to give one word which you think best describes God,
what would you say? Now, again, it does not really
matter what we think, but what God's word says, what God says
about himself. Now, most everyone, with few
exceptions, would use this one word, they would say, love. God is love. And that is what
1 John 4 verses 8 and 16, or at least part of those verses,
say. And while love is a blessed part
of God's person, a wonderful thing to think about, yet you
cannot truly understand God if you only think of him as love. You cannot begin to understand
God if you begin with love. The love of God will not enable
us to understand death, sickness, disease, calamities, disasters,
judgment, hell, the cross of Christ, No, you cannot know God
at all. He will be an unknown God to
you unless you first understand something of his chief attribute
or characteristic. Now listen carefully. The prophets
of old, men who were sent by God to declare God to men and
women, never stood up and declared or told anyone, God loves you. Never. The apostles of the New
Testament and pastors and elders and preachers never stood up
in their public preaching and told people, God loves you. Never. The book of Acts, which
is all the recorded public preaching in the early church, in the book
of Acts the word love is not found one time. Does that shock you? It should
not shock you if you know the true God of the Bible. What shocks
me today is that I rarely hear anyone, especially preachers,
speak of God in his chief characteristic or this one word which is used
in the book of Acts alone nearly 50 times. to describe God. Let's listen to the prophet Isaiah. In verse 1 of chapter 6, he says,
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne. I saw the Lord the year this
king died. Now, King Uzziah was a powerful
king whom Isaiah admired greatly. And one day the king decided
he was going to offer a sacrifice to God. He took some incense
into the holy temple, which God forbade anyone to do except the
high priest. And when he did this, God smote
the king with leprosy and he died alone a leper. And Isaiah saw this and said,
When that happened, I saw the Lord. I saw His essential character. I saw Him as He is. In verse
1, it says, He was sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. Now, when Isaiah says, The Lord,
he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who is Lord. And
he said, He's sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. Most preachers
today would have us think that God is walking the floor of heaven
over us, that Jesus is knocking at everyone's heart's door. When
Scripture says time and time again, He is seated. He is sitting
down. He is sitting on a throne, reigning,
ruling with the word of His power. He is seated. When you sit down,
that means your work is finished. When you sit down, that means
you're satisfied. And Scripture says that his feet
are propped up on this world, that it's his footstool. He's
not wanting, he's not wishing, but he's waiting. God is expecting
his purpose to be fulfilled. God Almighty, Christ the Lord,
is seated on a throne. And it says he's high and lifted
up. High and lifted up. Now, he became
a man once. The Lord of glory came to this
earth as a lowly man once, meek and lowly, he said, but is now
high and lifted up. He lowered himself once to become
a man in order to die as a man for some man or some person,
but he is no longer meek and lowly. but he is high and lifted
up. And like Isaiah, those who know
him, those who see him high and lifted up, never speak of him
as simply Jesus or in that lowly name of humanity as merely a
man, but they worship and declare him as Lord. Lifted up Lord,
lofty Lord. The psalm says, Make mention
that his name is exalted. Don't put his name on your bumper
sticker. Don't put his name down where
the exhaust fumes and the blasphemy of man can use it, but exalt
his holy name of Lord. And the Scripture says, His train
filled the temple. His glory was everywhere to be
seen. And then look at verse 2. It
says, Above the throne stood the seraphims, or angelic creatures,
and each one, two of these seraphims, had six wings, each one. With
twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and
with twain he did fly. Two wings he covered his face.
as not being able to look upon this lofty Lord. With two he
covered his feet in humility and modesty, and with two he
did fly. And look at verse 3. It says,
this is what they cried one to another. They declared the true
God, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. for this essential character
and glory of God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hope. This, my neighbor, is the one
word which best describes the God of the Bible, the true and
living God, the unknown God to many. God is holy. Three times they declare this,
for God is holy. the thrice-holy God. God is the
Holy Father. He is the Holy Spirit. He is
the Holy One of Israel, or the Holy Son. Listen to the psalmist
David, whom God himself said of David that he was a man after
his own heart. David knew God, the true God,
the living God. Listen to David in Psalm 99,
and count the times he says this. Psalm 99, verse 3, he says, ìLet
them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy." Verse
5, "...exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool,
for he is holy." Verse 9, "...exalt the Lord our God, and worship
at his holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy." Holy, holy,
holy, David said. Listen to Revelation. In the
Revelation Chapter 4, verse 8, listen to this. It sounds just
like Isaiah's account. In verse 8 of Revelation 4, it
says, "...the four beasts had each of them six wings about
him, and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day
and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which
was, and is, and is to come." The Lord is holy. God is holy, people. And if you
would know and worship the true and living God, you must know
him as holy. One ignorant so-called preacher,
in response to this, said, Why, everyone knows about the moral
purity of God. Well, that man revealed to me
his ignorance of the holiness of God. The holiness of God is
far more than moral purity. Listen to these verses. I'm about
to read you some verses of Scripture. I advise you to jot them down
and listen to them. Read them for yourself. Ask God
to reveal them to you. And if he does, then and then
only you will understand something of the holiness of God. Listen
to Hebrews 12, verse 29. The Apostle Paul declares, Our
God is a consuming fire. Fire is not only pure, but it
will consume anything that gets near it. Listen to him in 1 Timothy
6, verse 16, speaking of the King of kings and Lord of lords,
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Listen to this. He says, He dwelleth
in light which no man can approach unto. whom no man hath seen,
nor can see." I don't care what these people say when they say
they've died and seen a light and they were drawn to it and
so forth. They're lying because the Bible says different concerning
God. In Job 25, verses 5 and 6, listen
to this. Job 25, verses 5 and 6 declare,
the stars are not pure in God's sight. how much less man that
is a worm. God is holy. Now, someone may
say this or ask this, what is the point in all this, preacher?
What is the point in what you're saying here? The point is God's
glory. That is the whole point in everything. The whole reason this world exists. The whole reason the Bible was
written, the primary reason, that is, the primary reason or
purpose in preaching is to glorify God, to declare who He is. And this is what is missing in
present-day preaching, the holiness of God, God's glory. And consequently,
if this is missing, then something else is missing, the fear of
the Lord. Paul said in Romans 3.18, there
is no fear of God before their eyes. Speaking of the natural
man, no fear. Why, that's even a popular present-day
slogan, isn't it? That people wear up on t-shirts,
no fear. Well, that accurately describes
those who do not know God. No fear. They used to say of
people that knew God, they called them God-fearing people. Well, listen to Isaiah in Isaiah
chapter 6. Listen to him after he sees this
God. Listen to what he says in verse
5. He says, "...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." When he saw the Holy God, he feared Him.
He confessed his own sin. And then, and then only, God
told him the gospel. And later on, in chapter 53,
he declares Christ crucified. I urge everyone who hears this
to search these scriptures I'm about to give you, this one scripture,
to look it up and go learn what it means. Proverbs 9, verse 10
says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and
the knowledge of the holy is understanding. If you would like
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send it to you free of charge until next Sunday. Good day. Thank you very much.