Now, returning this morning to
the book of Isaiah, chapter 6, I feel an extreme, unusual amount
of pressure over this message. I've sought the will of God,
I believe, I've sought the mind of the Lord, I've sought the
leadership of the Holy Spirit, I've prayed about the message.
I believe God would have me deliver it. But it crosses the grain of today's
religious thought, preaching, organization, customs, worse than the doctrine
of election, worse than the doctrine of particular redemption. It will cause more conflict,
it will cause more problems, it will cause more battle if
you go out and preach this message than even the doctrine of hell
itself. I want you to listen to the message.
Because it puts 98 percent of today's religion out of business,
totally out of business. It's going to put some of you
out of business, too. In Isaiah 6, verse 1, let's listen to it. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. Now, let's just start with the
first word here. As far as I can determine, this
man, King Uzziah, was a most popular, prestigious, powerful,
influential king who reigned for 52 years. You can read about
him over in 2 Chronicles 26, 1-23, if you want to jot that
down. That's where it is, King Uzziah
in 2 Chronicles 26, 1-23. He started reigning when he was
16 years old. And he did what was right in
the eyes of the Lord. He did. And he raised up a mighty
army. He defended the name of God and
the honor of God and the honor of Israel. He was a powerful,
most popular king. And evidently, Isaiah was quite
enamored with this king, quite taken up with him. He thought
an awful lot of this man, an awful lot. But this man, Uzziah,
committed a dreadful, dreadful sin. Let's go over there and
read about it in 2 Chronicles 26. Now, this is so important,
2 Chronicles 26. And while you're over there,
just mark this so you can study it later today about King Uzziah. But it says here at verse 16
of 2 Chronicles 26. Now, you have it? And his heart was lifted up to
his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God. What
did he do? Well, he went into the temple
of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. And Azariah
the priest went in after him and with him 80 priests of the
Lord. Now, get the picture here. There
is the temple and the holy place and the Holy of Holies. And the
incense is just before the veil, that's the incense burned 24
hours a day, 365 days a year, is typical of the prayers or
intercession of Christ. And the only people who were
to dress the table of shewbread and keep the lampstand burning
and offer incense, keep it burning, were the priests who were types
of Christ. The king wasn't to do it, the
prophet wasn't to do it, the people weren't to do it. They
were not to touch it. They were not to go in that place.
That was the priest. See, it's a picture of Christ.
It shows the holiness of God, the unapproachable presence of
God, except through Christ, except through Christ's sacrifice, except
through his prayers, except through his blood. And no one but the
priest could do that. But this king was so popular,
so powerful, so influential, so vain. He just walked straight
into that holy place, and the priest, Azariah, said, Don't,
don't, wait, King. King Uzziah, don't do that. I'll
do what I please. He came in there, and 80 priests
followed him in. Now, listen, in verse 18, they
withstood him to the face. They said, It appertaineth not
unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That's the priest's
work, the Sons of Avon, that are consecrated. They are types
of Christ, they are pictures of Christ. They are the shadows
of Christ. Go out of the sanctuary, you
trespass. It's not going to be for your
honor from the Lord. And Isaiah was angry, and he
had the censer in his hand to burn incense. That's what the
priest did when he went under the veil, when he took the atonement.
And while he was angry with the priest, leprosy rose up in his
forehead from before the incense altar. And Azariah, the chief
priest, and all the priests looked upon him. Behold, he was smitten
with leprosy, and they thrust him out. They took him out of
the temple, because the Lord had smitten him, and Azariah
was a leper until the day of his death. Here was a man who
was just on top, here was a man prestigious, powerful, just good-night
influence, 52 years as king, reigning without competition. Everybody respected, admired
him, but his heart was lifted up. And why? Why he attempted
to go before God, to worship God, to approach God? in his
vanity, in his own righteousness, without a priest, without a sacrifice,
without a sin offering is unknown to me. But he died. Evidently, Isaiah was quite taken
up with him. Evidently, Isaiah saw perhaps
in him the restoration of Israel or the power of Israel or God's
great blessing. And he said, when he died, I
saw the Lord. Do you know what Isaiah saw? He saw the holiness of God. When he heard about that king,
his idol, his king, his leader, even his king coming into the
temple and God smiting him with such a humiliating disease of
leprosy, and the priest dragging him out of the temple, snow-white
with leprosy, went in there, handsome, strong, able man, and
he came out a dying piece of corrupt flesh. God just showed
his anger and his wrath, even a king. God is unapproachable
even by a king. God is unapproachable even by
a favored king. God is unapproachable even by
a popular, powerful king. Strict justice and holiness knows
no mercy, even on Azazel. the strict holiness and righteousness
and power of God knows no mercy even on a king. I saw the Lord.
Tell you something else he saw here. He said when this happened to
Uzziah, when Uzziah went into the holy place, the holy place,
the tabernacle, to offer that, to burn that incense, and even
that favored king, God smote him, God destroyed him, God killed
him, God humiliated him, because he usurped the authority of the
priest. He tried to come before God without
a priest. But he said, I saw the holiness of the Lord, I saw
the glory, I saw the majesty, I saw the justice of God, the
righteousness of God, the unapproachableness of God. But he saw Christ. Turn, if you will, to John 12.
He saw Jesus Christ. I've told you so often that in
all the scriptures there's Christ. In all the scriptures, even in
places where you don't expect to find Christ, there's Christ. Here Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
the Lord, Jehovah, Joshua, Savior. And look at John 12.41. These things said Isaiah, when
he saw his glory, and spake of him." Now, what things? Let's
go back. In verse 37, it's talking about
Christ. "...though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the
saying of Isaiah the prophet," that's who we're reading about,
"...might be fulfilled when he spoke, Lord, who hath believed
our report?" That's Isaiah 53. And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed," he talks about he was wounded by transgressions,
bruised by iniquities, that's Christ, Isaiah 53, "...therefore
they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, He hath blinded
their eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should not
see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
that I should heal them. And these things said Isaiah
when? When he saw his glory, and spake
with him." Isaiah, what does he say here? When Isaiah said
when King Uzziah was smitten, when King Uzziah died, when that
awful humiliating thing happened to King Uzziah, when they drug
him out of the tabernacle, I saw the holiness of God. I saw the
righteousness of God. I saw the unapproachableness
of God. I saw that justice hath no mercy,
righteousness hath no mercy, holiness hath no mercy, even
on a favored king. But I saw I saw the Lord Jesus
Christ. I saw our righteousness. I saw
him. Now, read on. I saw him sitting
on the throne. I saw righteousness enthroned,
holiness enthroned, hard lifted up, his train filled the temple,
his glory filled the earth. That's what he's talking about,
his glory filled the whole universe. Now, watch this. I'm going to
move quickly. Above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face,
with two he covered his feet, with two he did cry. You say,
who's that preacher? Well, let me tell you this. Now,
don't get bogged down on this, because if you get bogged down
on this, you'll miss the message right here. So often in the Old
Testament this is what happens to us. I frankly do not know
who the seraphims are. And I don't think many people
do. The word seraphim means burning, burning as with fire. It refers
back to Ezekiel, and you can go back and play with that all
you want to. But here is Isaiah, he said, when King Uzziah died,
when this awful thing happened to the King, I saw the Lord.
I saw the Lord. I saw his glory, his power, his
majesty. I saw him high and lifted up.
I saw his glory fill the Temple. And around the throne, around
the throne were seraphim. Something he saw, figurative
language, having six wings. Now, I can't explain that type
of thing. I just know that he saw something.
Some people say it was angels. Some people say it was heavenly
creatures. Some people say, and they have a pretty good point
here, because he's talking about ministering the gospel here.
Some people say they are ministers of the gospel, the true ministers
of the gospel. That's why some say they're true
ministers of Christ. Figurative language, of course.
You say, well, what is the significance of their wings covering their
faces? Well, that's modesty and humility. That's a true minister
of Christ before the Lord talks like Paul. I'm less than least
of all the apostles. I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle. I'm the chief of centers. Though I be not one whip behind
the chief apostle, I'm nothing. Who is Paul? Who is Apollos?
Who is Cephas? Nothing, nothing. We're nothing.
And those wings signify that even the true messengers of God,
even the true ministers of God, they're nothing. They don't take
high-sounding praises such as rabbi and doctor and reverend
and archbishop and bishop and cardinal and pope and all this
trash that's been invented in the world today. They're humble
men with their wings over their faces. That's just so. They're
not high, prestigious, ecclesiastical giants who require the people
to bow before them, who talk about clergy and laity. There
ain't no such animal in the Word of God. That's an era that God
hates. We've elevated the preachers
and given them high-sounding names, and everybody bows and
scrapes, and we've lowered the people, and they're all brothers
in Christ. These seraphims are the true ministers of Christ
who cover their faces in humility and modesty and know that they
are nothing, and then they cover their feet. What does that mean?
That means they are conscious of the imperfection of their
walk. If they were perfect, they couldn't preach to you. They
know the imperfections of their conduct. They know the imperfections
of their conversation. They say with the Apostle Paul,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? God did not ordain angels to preach the gospel because
angels don't understand the gospel. They've never entered into the
beauties and glory of the gospel. God has chosen men to preach
the gospel. He's chosen to put this treasure
in earthen vessels. He's chosen to give men the message
who know the message in their hearts. Paul called it, my gospel.
Your gospel, that's God's gospel, that's my gospel. I've been saved
by it, I've been redeemed by it, I've embraced it, I'm obsessed
by it, it's my life, so it's my gospel. And then he said,
with two wings they didn't fly. You see it there? With two, they
covered their face in humility and modesty. With two, they covered
their feet conscious of their imperfections, both of walk,
conduct, and conversation. And with two wings, they did
fly. That is, this denotes their swiftness and their readiness
to do the Master's will, their swiftness to preach the gospel
of grace, whoever they may have to preach to. They go forth swiftly
with a message. They fly immediately with a message
to wherever God is pleased to send it. They did fly. I may
have something there, I may not, I don't know. But I do know this,
King Uzziah died, and I know why he died. And I know that
Isaiah saw the Lord when King Uzziah died, when that took place. And he saw the Lord, he didn't
see the Lord in a manger, he didn't see the Lord on a cross,
he didn't see the Lord carrying a sheep on his shoulder and sitting
around a table. He saw him on a throne, high
and lifted up. And his train and glory filled
the temple, and around that throne, the seraphims, the ministers
of Christ, the true messengers of God, even they covered their
faces and their feet and did fly. And what did they cry? What
did they cry? Are you with me? What did they
cry? Look at it, verse 3. Look at it again, they cried
one to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole
earth is full of his glory. Where are you getting at? I'm getting at this. This is
not what preachers are preaching today. What is the message today? Come on now. God is love. Huh? God is love. The pulpit is out of a hundred
at the moment. But the message that will be written in the bulletin,
the message that will be written on the bumpers, the message that
will be preached in the pulpit, the message taught to the Son
of the Spirit of Christ, is a loving God. God is a loving God. God is love. Smile, God loves
you. The love, love, love of God. God is love, love, love. That's
not what Isaiah saw. That's not what the seraphims
cried. That's not what the messengers
cried. Watch out now. They said, God is holy, holy,
holy. Holy, holy, holy. Now, please,
before you get upset with me, hold on, don't get upset. Let
me assure you, I know God is love. I know that. Bless your
heart. Aren't we glad? Oh, my. Glad, glad. This message is not
on me. particularly the love of God,
though you can't preach God without preaching his love, all his attributes.
God is love. It says in 1 John 4, verse 8,
"...Beloved, let us love one another, for God is love." If
any man doesn't love, he doesn't know God, because God is love.
It says that twice. For God so loved the world, he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. Yes, God is love. Is that
clear? I believe that. I rejoice in
that. I preach that. God is love, just
like God is light. God is love, just like God is
truth. God is love, just like God is just. God is love, just
like God is light. God is love, just like God is
good. God is love. That's an attribute of God. The
love of God, how rich, how pure, how measureless, how strong,
it shall forevermore endure the saints' and angels' song. God
is love. Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth
a quill, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of
God above Would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain
the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. God loves, God is
love! But, my friend, that's not the
primary, essential attribute of God. God is holy. Let me show you that. Suppose
you operate and you preach on the platform of God is love.
That's your platform, and that's the world's religious platform
today, God is love. You don't see a sign on a bumper
saying, God is holy. You don't see in the bulletin,
smile, God is holy. You'd have to write, tremble,
James, God is holy. You just don't, but that love
is the platform. Love is the major, the major
attribute of God preached, but that's not his major attribute.
I'm trying to tell you. It's holiness. If you take the
love, take a wheel, all right, take a wheel, and here's the
main, here's the hub. Here's the main business part
right here. All the spokes go out from it. Here is God's main
character, God's main attribute, who God is right here. What are
you going to put there? Love. How are you going to explain
his wrath? Are you going to call it his
love and wrath? What about his law, his love and law? Who ever
heard of such a thing? What about his judgments, what
about his love and judgments? Tell Noah's gang about that.
You can't handle it, can you? No, you can't handle his law,
his judgments, his justice, his wrath with the word love. Put
holiness in here. God is holy, put it right in
there, holy. God is holy. His holy law, his
holy justice, his holy wrath. God's wrath is a righteous wrath,
it's a holy wrath. God's love is in accordance,
says Caesar, with his holiness. It's holy love. He can't love
any way than holy love. He can't love in a violation
of his holiness. His judgments are holy judgments.
His righteousness is holy righteousness, and you can take any attribute,
it's holy life and holy light and holy wrath. You see what
I'm saying, Charlie? God is holy! God is holy. This is so important.
Moses, first mention of the word holy in the Bible. Exodus 3.5,
Moses came upon the mountain, Moses shuffling along there keeping
his sheep. He was shuffling along there
keeping his sheep. He was real religious. He tried to deliver
Israel out of Egypt by himself without God. He was shuffling
along. He had been out there about 39
years and he was keeping those sheep. He was about 79 years
old. He still got along better than some of us do, got around
better. But he was shuffling along and
God spoke and said, Moses, Moses, Moses lifted up his ear, I love
you. Moses, God loves Israel. Moses,
God is love. Now, Moses! Take off your shoes! You're on holy ground. You'd better get straightened
up here. God is holy. Take off your shoes. You're on
holy ground. Turn to Psalm 99. Let me tell
you this, now, are you with me? Please, please don't misunderstand
what I'm saying, but please, if you can, lay hold of it, because
if we don't, we're not going to understand sin, we're not
going to understand our need of a Savior, we're not going
to understand God's justice, we're not going to understand
God's unchangeable righteousness, we're not going to understand
or appreciate Christ until we see God is holy, God is holy,
God is holy. You know something? God never
calls himself a loving God. Never, never, never. Find it. I am a loving God. Not that. How many hundreds and
hundreds of times by your concordance does he say, I'm holy? I am the
holy one of Israel. When the demons saw Christ, they
said, we know who you are, you're the what? You're the loving Savior,
you're the Holy One of God. Read Psalm 99, you with me? The Lord reigneth, let the people
tremble. He sitteth between the cherubim,
let the earth, let the earth stagger. That's that word, be
moved. The Lord is great in Zion, he's
high above all the people, let them praise thy great and terrible
name, for it is holy. Verse 5, exalt the Lord, exalt
ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool, he's holy.
Verse 9, exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill,
the Lord our God is holy. The Spirit of God is called the
loving Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The priesthood is called the
Holy Priesthood. The tabernacle is called the
Holy Tabernacle. The Bible is called the Holy
Bible. The outside of the of the tabernacles
called the Holy Place. In here where the Ark, where
God's presence was manifested, the Holy of Holies. Now, grab a hold of your seat.
Do you remember what L. R. Shelton used to say? Get you a hold of
your seat, we're going to jump a creek like you've never jumped
before. And I know what you'd better
do, you'd better run home this afternoon and get your Bible
out and see if you can prove the pastor wrong. And you can't
do it, not in this case. The Book of Acts is the account
of all the early sermons of all the early preachers. It's got
Peter's first sermon, Stephen's first and last sermon before
he went to glory, Paul's conversion sermon, Paul's testimony before
Felix, Agrippa, the foundation of the early church, all of it
is there in 28 chapters. The word love is not anywhere
in that book, not one single time. You look it up. What do they preach? I'll tell you what
they preach. They preach the gospel of God
Almighty's holiness in Christ, God Almighty's righteousness
in Christ. They didn't preach what we're
preaching. They didn't preach the Tommy Rot that you've had to
listen to all your life over television and radio. They preached
the holiness of God. I'm telling you the truth. The
word love is not in the book of Acts. One time, Jerry. Well, is the truth of God's love
there? Oh, yeah, in Christ. The truth
of God's love is in the tabernacle. amid the holiness, when God Almighty
suffered the priest to offer a sacrifice and to bring that
blood and put it on the holy mercy seat. That's the love of
God! But let me tell you something,
you can't have his love at the expense of his holiness. You
can't do it, Joe, at the expense of his righteousness. It's to
damn you. I tell you, preachers are literally,
absolutely damning their congregation. because they're bringing them
to worship a God who does not exist, a God who does not exist,
a loving, sentimental, emotional God who has no wrath, no hatred
for sin, no holiness, no righteousness, and they're damning their soul
because they're going to face at the judgment not a loving
God. A loving God doesn't say, bind
him hand and foot and cast him into hell. That ain't love, that's
wrath. It's not love that says, I never
knew you, depart from me ye workers of iniquity. It's not love that
says to those on the left hand, depart ye cursed into everlasting
fire, and there's some folks who are going to be bug-eyed
at the judgment. This is not the God we heard preached. This
is not it. We're confused. We expected to
find up here some sentimental, emotional old grandpa who's wringing
his hands and crying his eyes out because we wouldn't let him
have his way. Let me tell you this, and listen to me so you
can understand what I'm saying. There is no way you can account
for this world by preaching God primarily, exclusively as a loving
God. Now, this world is a awful place.
This world is a place of catastrophe. Everybody in here has had some
kind of tragedy, and everybody in here is going to have some
more. There have been wars, there have been hatred and greed and
sickness and death. Some young person, like my friend
John Riesinger said one time, young people have two awful faults.
Number one, they ask questions. Number two, they expect answers.
That's their fault. Bless their hearts. But these
young people come and say, Preacher, you say God is a living God. Yes, sir. And God reigns in this
world. Yes, sir, he Then why is it like
it is? Why is it like it is, if God
is a loving God? And the preacher, you know what
he has to do? He has to sacrifice God's sovereignty to explain
the mess he's got himself in. So he says, well, God wants to
do it and we won't let him. God's a loving God! God's a God
of love. God wants everybody to be healthy
and wealthy and happy, and God wants the world to prosper, and
God doesn't want earthquakes, and God doesn't want these things
to happen. God's a loving God. Nothing like
that happens. But here's the thing, he wants
to, but he just can't do it. He just can't do it. Now, wait
a minute. God is holy. God is holy. The God I'm preaching
this morning, he's holy, and therefore this world, like it
is, God hates sin. God permits evil. God permits
darkness. God permits the sin. God Almighty,
because of his holiness and his righteousness, leaves us to the
consequence of our iniquity. That's right. He lets men fight
it out and battle it out. He's holy, and he reigns in righteousness. He reigns in righteousness. He's
king. Otherwise you can't explain this
world. You can't do it. Let's read on here now. Isaiah
saw the Lord. Are you with me? Do you know
what I'm talking about? What I'm talking about is so important.
Isaiah said when King Uzziah, when he just talked in there
to the presence of God and got in his sinful hands, no matter
how powerful and prestigious and great he was, But he usurped
the authority of a priest and would have burned incense, God
smote him, God destroyed him, God killed him with leprosy. He said, I will be holy, and
I will be regarded as holy. I am holy. Now then, I tell you,
when the high priest came in there and came under the veil,
he's a picture of Christ, he's a type of Christ. And when he
came with a suitable sacrifice and the blood of atonement put
on the mercy seat, God is love. See that, Richard? God accepted
him. God turned Uzziah away. He came
on his own. God accepted the high priest.
He came as a representative of Christ, as a picture of Christ.
And God accepts every man in Christ. God loves every man in
Christ. God will do business in love
with men in Christ. But outside of Christ, our God
is a holy, just, righteous God who hates sin. And he'll blot
it out, he'll stamp it out, he'll destroy it, he'll put it out
of his universe. And it's not right for us to
tell rebels that God loves them. It's not right. And he said they cried, Holy,
holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
full of his glory. Verse 4, And the post of the
door moved, moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house
was filled with smoke. Then said I, O what do I say? What's the result of Isaiah seeing
the holiness of God? What was the reaction of Isaiah
when he saw the holiness of God? Well, I tell you, When we preach
this bit of sentimental, emotional, God of all love and no judgment,
holiness or wrath, I tell you, people hold God in contempt. They get overly familiar with
God, they talk about their goodness, they talk about what they've
done for God, what they've given up for God, how they've served
the Lord, these dear mothers are such good mothers, and daddies
are such good daddies, and old gray-haired folks are such fine
people, and preachers are such good leaders in the community,
and we're all just such fine folks, and God ought to be glad
that he's got us and he's fortunate that he's blessed with our presence
and he couldn't do without us and we can't spell church without
you and God has no eyes but your eyes and no ears but your ears
and no feet but your feet and we've been raised on that Tommy
Rot all of our lives because we've heard that nothing but
that that gushy a God of love and Isaiah said he saw I saw
his holiness he put me out of business because I ain't holy
I saw his righteousness, and it put me out of business. I
cried, Why is me? Brother, this was the apostle.
This was the leader. This was the fellow that was
doing the talking for the other fellows, isn't that right? This
was the man God ordained. This is the man God sent. This
is the man on whom God had put his hand. This is the man God
used to write the scripture. This is the only man in his day,
the only blessed creature in his day that wrote a book for
God, only one. And when he saw God's holiness,
he came apart, actually came apart. He said, woe is me, I'm
undone. I'm cut off! That's what that
word means? I'm cut off! I'm cut off. You ever cried that? I'm cut
off. I'm undone. There's no hope for
me, you, or anybody else. I saw the holiness of God. But
I'm in the right church. But I've had the right baptism.
We've played around with these things so long we've been convinced
they're right. I've tithed all my life, I know
the doctrines, I'm a Calvinist. Woe is me, I'm undone, I'm cut
off, I'm cut off. Because why? I'm a man of unclean
lips. He says nothing of the uncleanness
of his heart, nothing of the uncleanness of his mind, nothing
of the uncleanness of his thoughts, nothing of the uncleanness of
his imagination, only his lips. Why? That's where sin is spewed
forth. That's where it's revealed, out
of the heart, the mouth speaks. Our tongues and our lips are
a revelation of our hearts. We speak the wrong things about
God, we speak the wrong things about ourselves, we speak the
wrong things about others. Our mouths are cesspools of iniquity. The poison of asthma is under
our lips. Our tongues have used deceit.
Isaiah, when he saw God's immaculate, infinite, unchangeable, unapproachable
holiness, he cried, I'm cut off! I'm cut off! My mouth has cut
me off! I'm undone. I'm undone. I'm undone. All right, notice the next thing.
Not only am I unclean, but I dwell in the midst of a people whose
mouths are unclean also. Why? What made you see this? What brought you to this position? What revealed it? I've seen the
Lord. I've seen the King, the Lord
of Hosts. You'll never be the same if you
ever see him, not in his emotional, sentimental misrepresentation
that you're hearing today called love, love, love. But I'll tell
you, when you see him in his holiness, the reason we have
no conviction, men haven't seen God in his holiness. The reason
we have no, I'm cut off, I'm undone, depth of mercy, can there
be? Mercy is still reserved for me.
And can it be? The reason we don't know what
David meant when he said, I watered my pillow with tears, is because
we've never seen him in his holiness, never seen him. The reason we
have no deep love for Christ, no consecration and dedication
to Christ, is because we've never seen him in his holiness. They
told us a falsehood, they preached the wrong God to us. They preach
an emotional, sentimental God of love that does not exist.
He does not love in a compromise of his holiness.
Then flew one of the seraphim when I confessed my sins, when
I was brought down, when I was stripped, when I felt like I
was cut off. God Almighty commissioned one
of the seraphim. He said, Go to him. He's in shape
to hear some good news. He's in shape to hear the gospel.
He's down low as he can get, he's stripped, he's humbled,
he's broken, he's cut off. One of the seraphims was commissioned
by God to go to me, but not without a live coal in his hand. That's
the word of God, that's the gospel. Where did he get it? Off the
altar, off the burnt altar of sacrifice, where Christ died.
That's where he got it, David. That's where he got it. That
seraphim, this is typical language, figurative language, took the
tongue. He didn't put it in his oak. his old contaminated hands. He brought that pure gospel,
he got it with a tongue, right off the altar, burnt sacrifice,
right off the altar of Christ, right off Calvary. And he brought
that live coal of the gospel, that burning message, that grace
of God in Christ, that hope in Christ, that health in Christ.
And what did he do with it? He laid it on that old, contaminated,
unclean mouth of mine. And he said, this gospel, this
grace of God, this blood of Christ, has touched your lips And your
sin is purged, your iniquity is taken away. Come on to God. Open the door and come on in.
See what I'm saying? Your iniquity is taken away.
You see, my friend, Calvary is not just a demonstration of God's
love. Calvary is a demonstration of
God's holiness. And from it we see God's love. See, Christ didn't come to get
God in the notion of loving us, he came because God did love
us. He came because God purposed to save. But God Almighty's holiness
wouldn't let him save us without a sacrifice. God's righteousness
would not, could not, let him love us apart from Christ. You say, is there love? Yes,
turn to Romans 8. Where is it? It's in Christ.
The Bible says that. Outside of Christ is wrath and
judgment, condemnation, Romans 8. It says here in verse 33,
verse 33, verse 33, verse 33, Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ who died, yea, rather
who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who is going to separate
us from the love of Christ? Nothing. Look at the last line.
Who is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
our Lord? What's the preacher preaching
this morning? I'll tell you what the preacher is preaching. I'm
preaching that a most religious fellow, and I'm talking about
a man upon whom God had his hand. I'm talking about Isaiah. I'm
talking about a man who went about for a long time, this religious
business. You read Isaiah 5, and he condemns
everybody in the world. He says, Woe is you, woe is you,
woe is them, woe are they, five times in 5 Thessalonians. He was such a judge of men, he
was such a self-righteous type of fellow, he was so pious and
religious, and then And God lets you rock along in that boat,
and he will. He lets you rock right along
in your complacency, in your indifference, in your presumption. He lets you rock along. Some
people let them rock right on to hell, right on to the judgment.
That's right. And they wake up in the judgment, and they say,
well, oh, we did this, that, and I never knew you. He lets them rock right
on. He may let you rock on. He used King Uzziah and the death
of that great man, that powerful, prestigious man, to reveal his
holiness. And when that took place down
at the Temple, this is a King! It's just like if Ronald Reagan
got shot to death this morning, every blessed person in this
country would be affected one way or the other. And that King
Uzziah, it was worse. He committed suicide. He went
into the Temple of God against the law of God. And Yusuf, just
what preachers are doing today, and what folks are doing, they're
making baptism of the Savior, and the table of the Savior,
and the mourners bench of the Savior, and the church of the
Savior, and everything else, there's Yusuf in Christ's place
to it. And that king died, and Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
his holiness, his holiness, and I backed off. Even Isaiah, I
saw the holiness of God. The unapproachableness of God.
I saw the righteousness of God! God is holy, holy, holy! And I said, I'm undone! I'm cut
off! Woe is me and everybody around
me! And then God spoke in mercy and
love, James, love. But he told one of the seraphims,
he said, that boy is a candidate for grace. And he sent that lie
of coal that touched him and purged his sin and put his iniquity
away. He said, now in Christ you come
on. A holy God, a righteous God,
can do business with a holy man. You say, we're not holy in Christ,
we're holy. Righteous. God knew this, Mike,
with a righteous man. You say, I'm not right in Christ,
we're righteous. That's the gospel now. And I
told you before, they're not going to have it. You get it
preached to you here because I'm determined, come flame or
flood, I'm going to preach what this book says. If I lose every
support, every friend I've got, I'm going to tell the truth about
God. and about you and me and about Christ. And I'm going to
find somebody, somebody who, like Isaiah, has seen the Lord. And in seeing the Lord, he sees
himself. And in seeing himself, he sees his needs of Christ.
And in seeing Christ in his mercy and grace to him, he falls at
his feet and becomes his bond slave. And he hangs around there
until God takes him to glory. He's going to hang around at
the feet of Christ. I'm going to find somebody by God's grace who believes And
I'm going to divorce myself from this sentimental, emotional,
easy-believerism world of hell-bound religionists. That's all there
is to it. You go on and play games with
them. And you go on if you want to. But there's no salvation
in it. God's holy. Holy, holy.