Let's turn to Isaiah chapter
6. Isaiah the 6th chapter. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting. sitting
upon a throne. That which Isaiah saw in this
marvelous revelation of God's grace is the same thing that
Moses saw when he had erected the tabernacle and the mercy
seat in the Holy of Holies over the Ark of the Covenant. It's
the same thing that John saw in Revelation chapter four when
he was in the spirit on the Lord's day and caught up into heaven.
He saw the Lord Jesus Christ having accomplished redemption
as the sinner's substitute, exalted as Lord, sitting. Sitting on
a throne, a throne of absolute dominion, of total sovereignty,
ruling everything and everybody all the time because of his accomplishments
as the God-man, our mediator. Sitting upon a throne. a throne
of grace, a throne of sovereignty, a throne of holiness, high and
lifted up, exalted, majestically exalted above all creation. And
His train filled the temple. Above it, above it. You'd think that Isaiah is confused. He said in verse one, I saw the
Lord, and then he said above it. He's talking about the mercy
seat and that which is portrayed in the mercy seat. Above it,
above the mercy seat where the blood atonement was accepted
of God, where God said, I'll meet you between the cherubim
on the mercy seat. That is, he's talking about Christ
and redemption accomplished portrayed in that mercy seat. Above the
mercy seat stood the seraphims. Seraphims. These angelic creatures
made as one piece with the mercy seats, each facing the other,
looking down toward the mercy seat, wing touching wing over
the mercy seat. Each one had six wings. With
two, he covered his face in humility. With two, he covered his feet
with that same humility, reverence. With two, he did fly. He swiftly flew to do the will
of him who is the Redeemer, the Lord, the Savior. And one seraphim
cried unto another seraphim and said, holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. That's my subject this evening.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Now to give you some
sense of how utterly insufficient I know myself to be to deal with
this subject, This is the third time in my life I've attempted
to preach on the subject of God's holiness. I know I'm in waters
indescribably above my head. I won't pretend to expound my
subject. I simply want to declare to you
that which I know this book teaches concerning God's great holiness. We often in our thinking, confuse
holiness with righteousness. The two are not synonyms. Righteousness
primarily has to do with rightness of action. Righteousness primarily
has to do with rightness of action. Primarily, it's a legal term.
It speaks of being righteous before the law. A man may be
entirely right in his actions and yet be unjustly condemned
by the law. A man may be utterly, utterly
corrupt in his actions and yet be right before the law in any
civil state, but not so with God. Those who are declared by
God to be righteous are declared by God to be righteous because
God has made them righteous. That which they have done in
the sight of God and his holy law is utter righteousness. God says so, for it was done
for us in Christ the Redeemer. And all of God's acts are done
in righteousness, truth, justice, and judgment. All his acts are
right. Holiness, on the other hand,
has to do with character. Holiness has to do with character. Brother Allen just read in Revelation
22, let him that is righteous be righteous still. Let him that
is holy be holy still. It has to do with character.
Holiness is God's character by which God sets himself infinitely
above all his creatures. When Isaiah saw the Lord sitting
upon his throne, high and lifted up, he heard the seraphims continually
chanting one to another in unison, holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty, the whole
earth is full of his glory. Now these seraphims represent
God's messengers. prophets, apostles, evangelists,
pastors, and missionaries in every place in every age. In
every age and in every place, God's messengers are sent into
the world to declare to men and women who God is and what he
has done in the person of his son, that men and women might
know him, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
It is this knowledge of God, which is eternal life. And all
God's messengers have the same message. All God's messengers
have the same message. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
Jehovah, the triune Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, the Lord,
the almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory. Now let
me call your attention to three things, and then I'll get to
my subject. There are three things here that this message, holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts. There are three things declared
here. First, there are three persons in the Godhead. This
seems elementary to you. But there are many who have great
difficulty with the doctrine, the revelation of God concerning
the persons of the Godhead. We worship one God in the Trinity,
in the triunity of his sacred persons. God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Lord of Hosts is one God. But in that one God, there are
three separate and distinct persons. Turn over to Revelation chapter
four, Revelation four. All God's messengers and all
God's people are Trinitarians. Here in Revelation four, we have
the very same picture that you have in Isaiah chapter six, verse
eight. And the four beasts represented
in those seraphim, Each of them had 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, which
is, and which is to come. Turn back a couple of pages to
1 John chapter five. 1 John chapter five, verse seven. care to do a little bit of research
you will find that there is one verse of scripture, just one,
just one verse of scripture that is commonly omitted in every
modern translation in the English language since the revised translation,
just one verse. You have it before you right
here, I John 5, 7. This one verse is the only verse
in all of Scripture that plainly states the biblical revelation
of the Trinity. Now, it is taught throughout
the Word of God, as I'll show you in just a moment, but it
is stated in only one place, here in 1 John chapter 5 and
verse 7. The fact that all modern translations
omit this one verse of Scripture is reason enough to ignore them.
1 John 5, verse 7. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. That is,
the Father, and John, was inspired of God, rather than saying the
Son, to say the Word, because he's speaking specifically of
Christ, the incarnate Word of God, our Redeemer and our Savior,
by whom the triune God is revealed. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these
three are one. Now the fact of the Trinity is
declared and set forth throughout the Word of God. In the work
of grace, we see God the Father in election, God the Son in redemption,
and God the Holy Ghost in effectual calling in the new birth. And
that's stated very clearly in Ephesians chapter 1. At our Lord's
baptism, when our Lord Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist,
the Son of God is here on the earth in human flesh. The Spirit
of God descends in the form of a dove, lights upon him, and
abides upon him. And God the Father speaks from
heaven and says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
When our Lord sends his disciples out to baptize, He tells us to
go into all the world and preach the gospel, teaching them to
observe all things that He has commanded us, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So that the Trinity is set before
us throughout the Scriptures, particularly in the New Testament. And in the apostolic benedictions,
we're given this word from God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all, amen. Here's the second thing clearly
taught in the statement that Isaiah heard the seraphim make
before the mercy seat over the throne of God before the glory
of our Redeemer. This great and glorious triune
God is the sovereign ruler of all things. He's called the Lord
of Hosts. John gives it in this word, the
Almighty, the Lord of Hosts, that one who rules everything,
everybody, everywhere, all the time. The Lord of Hosts. Oh, wouldn't you God, I could
get just a tithe of that from here to here. He who is my God
controls your thoughts and your actions, whether you're
friend or foe, whether you reside in hell, in heaven, or on the
earth. He who is God, my Savior, rules
the universe all the time. He controls everything everybody
thinks, says, or does. And He controls it for the benefit
of His people and the glory of His own great name. For of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. And every messenger of
God Every man who speaks for God, like the seraphim Isaiah
saw, every prophet, every apostle, every pastor, every preacher,
every missionary who speaks for God, declares God's glorious,
absolute sovereignty everywhere in all things all the time. He
has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, He has
compassion on whom he will have compassion. He makes vessels
of mercy and vessels of wrath as he will. He gives life and
withholds it as he will. He sends the word of grace and
he withholds the word of grace as he will. He makes his word
effectual or he doesn't make it effectual to whom he will
as he will. He who is God is God indeed. and any imaginary deity, any
imaginary God, anyone that people call God and deny that he is
God, the almighty, the sovereign ruler of the universe, preach
a false God, a false Jesus, a false spirit and their idolaters. That
goes for everybody, everybody. All God's people acknowledge,
bow to, and rejoice in the fact that our God rules absolutely. Here's the third thing this statement
shows us. The whole earth is full of his
glory. The whole earth is full of his
glory. God's messengers see God's glory
everywhere. and declare it plainly, declaring
to men that everything in God's creation is but the reflection
of his glory and shall praise his glory. Arthur Pink, whose
writings were so greatly used of God in the middle of the 20th
century, particularly his sovereignty of God, one of the most important
books written in the English language. made it his business
not to involve himself in any of the affairs of any civil nation. I don't suggest that you follow
that. I consider it a civic responsibility and duty to vote in elections
and so forth. But there's something to be said
for Pink's behavior. God rules everywhere. Let men
do what they want to. They only do what God says. Let
men behave as they will. They only fulfill God's will.
Let men behave as they desire. They only accomplish God's purpose. Now, here's my point. There's
no point in fretting about it. No point in bothering yourself
too much about it. Shelby and I watch Fox News. They're too liberal, far, far,
far, far, far, far, far too liberal to suit me. I say that just in
case some of you hear that. But we watch Fox News, don't
pay any attention to the other stuff. And get a little upset
when you hear what's going on with politicians. I think Mr. Trump's right, oughta
drain the swamp. Just start all over from scratch, that'd be
all right with me. But having said that, don't pay too much
attention. Don't fret about it. The king's
heart is in the hands of God our Savior. Doesn't matter whether
he's Democrat or Republican. Doesn't matter whether he's liberal
or conservative or something in between. The King's heart
is in the hands of our Redeemer who is God the Lord. And he turns
it with her so ever he will. Always performing that which
is for our good, reflecting his glory. The whole earth is full
of his glory. All creation. All creation full
of God's glory. We just, we're in Alaska. And there's just aspects of creation
seen in Alaska you won't see anywhere else. Glorious displays
of God's handiwork. Marvelous displays of God's glory. God's providence is full of his
glory. reflecting his glory. But Brother
Don, I sure can't see how this thing shows God's glory, that
thing shows God's glory. No, I can't either. I can't either. Most of the laws that have been
passed in our society, I'm talking about in the United States of
America in my lifetime, most of them are laws that look to
me like are anything but the reflection of God's glory. Most,
I can't think of a single one that has been passed in my lifetime
that I would have voted for. Not a single one. Anywhere, national,
public, any of them. I can't think of a single one
I'd have voted for. But how can you say this is a reflection
of God's glory? Wait till he gets done. wait till he gets done, then
you will see this all redounds for His glory. And God's glory
fills the earth in His great salvation. God Almighty performing
all things for the salvation of His people. Look at Revelation
4 again. Here again the same vision that
Isaiah is talking about. Revelation 4 verse 8, no verse
9 rather. when those beasts give glory
and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth
forever and ever. The four and 20 elders fall down
before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever
and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. Now
watch this, for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure
they are and were created. All right, now back here to our
text, Isaiah six, verse three. My subject here is God's holiness. In all that we believe and preach
about God, the essence of it all is this, holy, holy, holy. the Lord of Hosts. Holiness is
not one of many essential attributes of God like mercy, love, grace,
truth, justice, and immutability. Holiness is the very essence
of God, the very essence of God. In Exodus 15, Moses saying, who
is likened to thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is likened to thee? Glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises, doing wonders. Holiness is God's nature. God is holiness, and holiness
is God. That is perfection. The whole
character of God, that's what God is. That's who God is. And that holiness is God's being. Brother Scott Richardson put
it this way many years ago. The holiness of God, H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S. has something to do with the
wholeness, W-H-O-L-E-N-E-S-S, of God. The holiness of God,
he said, is the wholeness of God. And the wholeness of God
is the holiness of God. So that God's whole being is
his holiness. God's whole character is his
holiness. When you think of God, the first
thing that should come to mind is holiness. And when you think
of holiness, the first thing that should come to mind is God. But what is holiness? Usually,
we attach the idea of moral purity and perfection to the word holy.
And certainly anyone who is holy is morally pure and perfect.
But moral purity doesn't begin to comprehend the meaning of
God's holiness. God's holiness is the transcendence
of his being. Now that's a good word, transcendence. That is the thing that sets God
infinitely apart from and infinitely above all his creatures. He's holy. He's holy. Holy. Holy. Holiness is the whole
perfection of God's being. Now let me make five statements. I won't say much about it. Just
five statements regarding this matter of God's holiness, and
I'll send you home to worship God in the beauty of holiness. Here's the first one. God alone
is essentially holy. The angels of God are holy angels. His saints are holy saints. That's what the word saints means.
But they are not naturally so. They are not independently so.
The angels are still angels though fallen under Lucifer's influence. And men are still men though
fallen because of Adam's transgression. So holiness is not essential
to their being. Holiness is not something that
they are made up of essentially. God alone is essentially holy. That is holiness is essential
to his being. He is called the Holy One. Now I recognize that I've already
stated more than I understand. Holy and reverend is his name. Holy and reverend is his name. I refuse to use the term, the
title reverend. I would just as soon you call
me his holiness, just call me reverend. Holy and reverend is
God's name, only his name, because that's what he is. John Gill
made this statement. God only is essentially, originally,
underivatively, perfectly, and immutably holy. The Puritan Thomas
Brooks put it even more clearly. Holiness in angels and saints
is but a quality, but in God, it is his essence. God's holiness
and his nature are not two things, but one. God's holiness is his
nature and God's nature is his holiness. Holiness is the luster
of his being, the glory, the harmony of God's nature and attributes. The beauty of the Lord is his
holiness. All that God is and all that
God does is holy, holy. If God is angry, His anger is
holy. If God is merciful, His mercy
is holy. If God is full of fury, His fury
is holy. If God is full of grace, His
grace is holy. If God saves, God's holy. If God damns, God is holy. God is holy. It's essential to
His being. Now here's the second thing. Because God is essentially holy. God requires of all men holiness,
even as he is holy. The holy Lord God demands holiness. Turn back to the book of Leviticus.
Leviticus chapter 11, just hold your hands there for a minute.
Leviticus 11. God cannot and will not accept
anything less than perfect, pure, flawless holiness. God won't
accept sincerity. God won't accept works of benevolence.
God won't accept repentance. God won't accept sacrifices.
God won't accept moral reformation. God won't even accept faith as
a substitute for holiness. God demands holiness. He says to all men, as he said
to Abraham, walk thou before me and be thou perfect. Follow peace with all men. We
read in Hebrews chapter 12, and holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. It is written, be ye holy for
I am holy. Look here in Leviticus 11 verse
44. I am the Lord your God. You shall
therefore sanctify yourselves. The word is make yourselves holy
and you shall be holy. You shall make yourselves holy
and you shall be holy for I am holy. Neither shall you defile
yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth, for I am the Lord that bringeth you up out
of the land of Egypt to be your God. Ye shall therefore be holy,
for I am holy. The Lord God says, sanctify yourselves. Make yourselves holy. Remember
he's writing through the mouth of his servant Moses in the days
of the giving of the law and he's telling the children of
Israel as they come to worship him, you've got to come to me
as a holy people. So sanctify yourselves, make
yourselves holy. Now obviously no man can do that. But ceremonially, through the
sacrifices and the cleansings that God prescribed in the law,
he portrays how sinners are made holy by the doing and dying of
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The slightest deviation from
perfect holiness ignites the fire of God's wrath against his
creatures. It was a deviation from holiness
that cast Lucifer out of heaven. It was a deviation from holiness
that drove the fallen angels into darkness. It was a deviation
from holiness that drove Adam out of the garden. It's a deviation
from holiness. It's called iniquity, transgression
and sin that drives men into hell. Hear what God says in his
word. It will take something more than
a decision on your part. Something more than walking a
church aisle. Something more than getting baptized. Something
more than saying a prayer. Something more than going to
a confessional booth. Something more than the exercise
of your puny imaginary free will to get you into heaven. It'll
take an act of God that makes you holy. God requires holiness. He won't have anything less.
Leviticus 22, 21, God talks about bringing the sacrifices. And
this is what it says, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein.
If you're gonna bring something to God, if you're gonna bring
something to God, it shall be perfect to be accepted. Perfect. Well, that's talking about sacrifices.
Yes, it is. It sure is. He's talking about
Christ the Lamb, yes sir, it sure is. He's talking about anything
you bring to God, it should be perfect to be accepted. That
means Rex Bartley, you come to God, you gotta be perfect or
you can't be accepted. You gotta be perfect or you can't
be accepted. Salvation then by the will of
man or the works of man, even the worship of man or faith that
men conjure in themselves is an impossibility because you
can't make yourself holy. And this is the third thing.
God alone can make unholy men and women perfectly holy. Holiness
is nothing less than the complete restoration of manhood to the
image and likeness of God in the perfect man, the God-man
Jesus Christ. Nothing less. Just before getting up here to
preach, I looked up to words made holy. Some 20 or 25 times
in the New Testament, or made whole rather, some 20 or 25 times
in the New Testament, when our Lord performed His wondrous works
upon the earth. Those miracles by which he healed
men and women in their bodily ailments. We're told he made
them whole. He made them whole. What a wonderful
word. He made them complete again. The man with the withered arm,
he said, stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it forth and
his arm was made whole. A woman with an issue of blood
touched the hem of his garment and she was made whole. That
woman who was healed by our Savior, his marvelous work of grace,
he said, your faith has made you whole. Made whole, made whole. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes
into the world to save sinners, he comes to make lost, ruined
sinners perfectly whole. Perfectly whole. This is the
purpose of God in redemption and grace. That we might at last
be holy and without blame before Him. Holy and without blemish
before Him. It shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish in
what you bring to God. The Lord God says, I've chosen
you in Christ my son, that you should be holy and without blemish,
without blame before me in everlasting love. God makes sinners holy. He makes sinners whole, body,
soul, and spirit, perfectly restored to the image of God in His Son. In order to enter into heaven's
glory, you and I must suffer the full
consequences of our sins. We've got to die. We've got to
die. We must satisfy the wrath of
God completely. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. We must have a perfect holy nature. We must have a perfect holy nature. And these bodies have got to
be transformed. and made like unto our Savior's
glorious body. How can that be? How can that
be? By three marvelous works of grace, redemption, regeneration,
and resurrection. In redemption, the Lord Jesus
Christ bear our sin in his own body on the tree. being made
sin for us, he suffered all the fury of God's holy wrath until
God said, that's enough. And he having suffered all the
wrath of God, fulfilled all the will of God by his obedience
even unto death, living in perfect righteousness, and he brings
in for us everlasting righteousness. And then in the new birth, God
the Holy Spirit comes and he creates in us a new man. We're
made to be partakers of the divine nature and he creates in us a
new man created in righteousness. Don't you love the way Paul says
this? And true holiness. True holiness. The Lord God creates
in his people a holy nature. but still we've got this body
of flesh. And this body of flesh must be
changed. When we see him, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. Randall, do you ever
wonder how the Lord Jesus must have appeared to Peter, James,
and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. That's how he appears now. Peter
said, we saw him in his glory. Here, seated on the throne, this
one that Isaiah saw, God in human flesh, having fully accomplished
redemption, now in his transcendent glory as the glorified mediator. And in the resurrection, these
bodies shall be transformed into his likeness. Paul uses language
that were it not written in the book of God, I'd look at it so
you can't use those words together. This mortal shall put on immortality. This corruption shall put on
incorruption. This natural body shall be raised,
a spiritual body. Well, those things are contradictions.
They are, except when God steps in. The Lord God, our Savior. shall at last bring us in resurrection
glory in the perfect restoration of manhood to the image of God
in perfect holiness, so that in body, soul, and spirit, we
who are gods shall be made perfectly, perfectly whole. Now, here's
the fourth thing. This holiness is revealed most fully in the
sacrifice of God's dear son when he was made sin for us. When the Lord God made his son
sin for us, God abandoned his son and his
son cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he
answered his own question. He said, thou art of purer eyes
than to behold iniquity. When God found sin in his son, his darling son, who was made sin at the apex
of his obedience, God Almighty poured out his wrath on his son
because God's holy, because God's holy. When God found sin on his
son, rather than compromise his character, punished his son for
sin, when God found sin on his son, before he could save his
people from their sin. He punished his son in the stead
of his people to the full satisfaction of justice, because the holy
Lord God will not cease from his holiness. Because now, here
in the person of his son, mercy and truth meet together, righteousness
and peace kiss each other, and the Lord God declares, here I
am, holy, holy, holy, the Lord of hosts. One more thing. One more thing. Turn to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians 2. I've said things indescribably
beyond the reach of my mind, but not beyond the reach of my
heart. And I'm going to tell you something else beyond the
reach of my mind, but not beyond the reach of my heart and not
beyond the reach of experience in the grace of God. Every sinner, every sinner, every
sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ is made by God in him
perfectly holy. perfectly holy. With his spotless
garments on, I am as holy as God's own Son. Near, so very
near to God, nearer I cannot be, for in the person of his
Son I am as near as he. Colossians 2 verse 9. In him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him. Ye are complete in him, made
whole in him. If you are gods, if you're born
again, if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're in Christ, you are unblameable in holiness
before God, even the Father. Unblameable in holiness before
God, even the Father. 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 13. That can't be. That can't be. Oh, it really is. Unblameable in holiness before
God, even the Father. so that God says it must be perfect
to be accepted. And the Lord God, by the marvelous
work of his grace in his darling son, makes us perfect, holy,
unblameable in holiness. There's not one of you before whom I can ever be unblameable. I've never had any dealings or
any connection with any human being for which I cannot bear
blame and guilt for my behavior, my thoughts, my words, never,
never. And Bill, I can't change that.
but I'm unblameable before God, even the father in Jesus Christ,
his son. And when our savior is finished,
he will present us unblameable before holiness. I'm sorry, unblameable in holiness
before God, even our father. What a blessed hope. Christ loved
the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might present it
to Himself a spotless Church, a holy Church without spot or
blemish or any such thing. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling. And to present you, listen to
this, faultless Oh, what a hope before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. Amen.