Holy, Holy, Holy! - Part B

God in His holiness convicts you.

God in His love cleanses you. God in His wisdom calls you. And God in His power qualifies you.

And you'll discover that. If God calls you, as soon as you go, here I am, send me. As soon as you step into that, God will give you a qualification that comes with the calling. He'll help you do what He's called you to do. What do you picture when you think of God's holiness?

Monks wearing robes and living in monasteries? Well, that's not really what holiness is. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip continues to explore God's holiness and shares why it can transform your life. But first, we want to share about where you can hear even more encouraging Bible messages from Skip. Watch Connect with Skip Heitzig on the Hillsong Channel on Saturdays at 4.30 p.m. Mountain. Or catch it on TBN on Sundays at 5.30 a.m. Eastern. Be sure to tune in then to hear more solid Bible teaching from Skip.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Now, we're in Isaiah chapter 6 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitzig. Remember the day Jesus said, Peter, let's get in your boat and go fishing? It was early on in Jesus' ministry.

Peter didn't quite understand who he was dealing with and who Jesus was. So he said, let's go out. Let's go fishing. And Peter goes, look, I've been fishing all night.

And I caught that. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

Nada. So you're a preacher. I'm a fisherman. I know my business.

We're not going to catch anything. But I'll humor you. Let's go out.

Nevertheless, your word will go. So they go out fishing. You know the story. Jesus says, toss your nets over here. Peter does. And he catches so much fish, he can't even pull them in, right?

The nets are about to break. Suddenly, Peter changes. And he says, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man.

Wait. You were Peter, the field and stream guy just a minute ago. You were the great fisherman of the Sea of Galilee.

You fished all night and caught nothing. But now he realizes who he's dealing with. This is the Lord. Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man.

Here's another example. We just read it or I read it to you. Revelation chapter four. There are 24 thrones and 24 elders gathered around the throne of God, but all of them take off their crown of authority and throw it down on the ground, submitting to that one on the throne. We might be something special to be up here in heaven, but we're not like him. He is holy, holy, holy.

So holiness magnifies corruption. Think of it this way. You might fancy yourself as a rock and roll singer because you can sing in the shower. But put you on stage next to Beyonce or Ray LaMontagne and you don't sound that good in comparison. You might think, you know, I'm a pretty good golfer, but do a round with Tiger and see how you do. You might say, you know, I was pretty good at baseball in my college days, but get you on the field with Mike Trout. It's a different ballgame literally and figuratively.

Max Lucado put it this way. You don't impress the officials at NASA with a paper airplane. You don't boast about your crayon sketches in the presence of Picasso. I mean, come on.

It's Picasso. So show me a prideful person and I'll show you somebody who has never met God. Meeting God is going to change you and do something in deflating your pride so that even a prophet like Isaiah next to the purity of God's holiness must cry, Woe is me.

That's why I cringe whenever I hear people and I've heard people say stuff like this. Well, when I see God, I have a few things I'm going to tell him. When people say that to me, I just sort of step back a few steps because I'm waiting for lightning anytime now.

I want to be out of the vicinity. I'm going to tell God, if you listen, when you see God, you're going to fall at your feet is dead. That's what happened to John in the book of Revelation.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. You're not going to be mouthing off to the Holy One. So holiness means separation and holiness magnifies corruption. There's a third way that God's holiness should affect us. Holiness mandates purification. Now follow my thinking here. When you understand who God really is and then you suddenly compare yourself to that, you don't want to keep it that way.

You want to move into the next phase to do something about what you have discovered and that is purification. So that happens here. Verse six, then I love these little connectives. Then as if to say immediately or to solve the problem that I saw in verse five. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. Picture that. I know it's sometimes hard to do, but picture that.

A live coal, a little hot, red hot, white hot briquette that he took with the tongs of the altar. And he touched my mouth with it. Ouch.

It's a good thing this is a vision. Ouch. That didn't sound pleasant. I remember the first time when I moved from California and sat down to a meal and they asked me a question. Do you want green or red? I didn't even know what that meant.

Green or red, what? And they explained chili. And so I'm naive. I go, oh, I like chili. I grew up with chili, you know, beans and hamburger. That's chili, right? Little did I know this was chili.

And so I said, green. And I remember it touched my lips. So sort of get this idea here. I took a live coal and the idea here is purification. I think I was purified that night.

It cured everything I came in there with. But notice this. He touched my mouth with the verse seven and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity. That's sin.

Your your sin, your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged or forgiven. This is symbolic of cleansing. It touches his lips. Why his lips?

Well, he just said, I'm a man of unclean what? Lips. I have a mouth problem.

So God applied or the angel applied the touching of the coal to burn away the sin that he himself confessed. I got a mouth problem. I'm a man of unclean lips and I live around a bunch of foul mouth people. So the angel took the briquette and touched his lips and said, your sin is forgiven.

And why is that? Because here's the principle. Unholiness cannot coexist with holiness. Unholiness cannot coexist with holiness.

Either God must destroy that which is unholy or else God must somehow remove the sin. And this happens to be the whole story of the Bible front to back. It's all about taking a coal and touching areas of people's lives, their mouth, their hearts, their minds, their decisions and cleansing it and bringing forgiveness to it. Whether it's the Old Testament tabernacle where you bring an animal and the animal would die in your place so that your sin could be forgiven. All of that anticipatory to the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross where he functioned as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And in that moment, God the Father and Jesus were separated.

Jesus was judicially separated from the Father so that the weight of sin fell on him. He is purging our sins. He is purifying us and taking it away. That's the message of the gospel. The message of the gospel is that a holy God has made a way for unholy people. That's why we're excited because the way God deals with us, God's solution isn't to destroy the unholy. Though he will do that one day, he's not above doing that, but his solution for us is not to destroy the unholy but to declare the unholy as holy. So as soon as Isaiah said, woe is me and he confessed his sin, unclean lips, as soon as he did that, that area was touched and the proclamation was given.

You're forgiven. You're cleansed. You're purified. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18 neatly sums it up. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God.

There it is. He died once for all, the righteous one for the unrighteous one so that he can declare the unrighteous one righteous. That's the gospel. Isaiah understood that there's a gulf between unholy me and holy God. That's why he said, woe is me. But then he was shown by the angel that God's forgiveness could bridge that gap. So Isaiah said, woe is me. The angel comes and basically says, yeah, woe is you, but woe is God. Because your sin now is forgiven.

You are purified. By the way, this is the reason why so many people can go to church, claim to be religious people. Oh, yeah, I'm a religious person. I'm a Christian.

And they'll make that claim, but their lives are not changed. It's because they don't really believe or understand the great gulf between holy God and sinful man. I've even heard people pray something like this. Well, Lord, if I've sinned, I just want to say I'm sorry if you sinned. Excuse me. If?

I mean, why are you even praying about it if you're not sure? I've always loved the story about Frederick the Great, who toured a Berlin prison. He was the king of Prussia at the time, and he went through a prison, and in the cells were all the inmates.

And as he appeared in his robes as the king, all the inmates, all of them, one by one, claimed his innocence. I shouldn't be here. I don't deserve this. I'm innocent.

Let me go. All of them. Except one. There was one guy in a cell alone with his head down who said nothing. And the king stopped in front of that little cell and said, I suppose you're going to tell me you're innocent as well. And the man shook his head and said, no, your majesty, I am not innocent. I am guilty and I deserve punishment, the full extent of the law.

Well, this surprised Frederick. He stood up and then he made this proclamation, release this rascal before he corrupts all these fine, innocent people. What got him out of jail?

The admission that he should be there. I'm guilty, he said. Isaiah said, I'm guilty. God said, you're cleansed, you're forgiven.

And that is why self-righteous people, that is why just religious people don't go to heaven because they never admit they have a need. I'm good. I try hard. I work hard. I go to church. I'm doing my best.

How about there's nothing I could do to ever deserve it. I'm a sinner. That's how you get there. God says, OK, you've admitted the truth. Now I can cleanse you. And by the way, that's what keeps us going back to the throne of grace. Is his holiness. First John chapter one, verse nine.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's a regular practice of ours, is it not? To seek God's forgiveness because we blow it a lot.

It's routine. So holiness means separation. Holiness magnifies corruption and holiness mandates purification.

Let me give you a fourth and we'll close because it's in the text. Holiness motivates commission. Now, you would think after verse seven that Isaiah could just go home.

I mean, it's been a good day. He saw God. He saw how holy God was, how bad he was. He asked for forgiveness.

He got it. Go home now, Isaiah. You're a good prophet. You think about these things. You think about your life.

That doesn't happen. It seems like God has work to do and he's looking for a preacher to do it. So in verse eight, the angels have been speaking, but now it's different. God, for the first time in the text, God has something to say. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? There's a whole nation out there that needs to hear a message. And then I said, here am I.

Send me. Notice how quickly Isaiah volunteered. He wasn't coerced. Does that sound coerced?

No, he's not coerced. He's just cleansed and he gladly offers himself to God. Send me. I'll go. Some years ago, I was in a grocery store in the checkout line and there was a woman in front of me with her groceries in her cart. I had mine and we got to talking as the checker was checking her out. So she said, so what do you do? I said, I'm a pastor. She kind of winced like that. She looked at me and then she looked me up and down.

And I thought, I don't know what that's all about. Maybe she thinks I don't look like a pastor, which I always take as a compliment, by the way, when people tell me that. You don't look like one. But she looked at me. And then she said, you're a preacher.

You're a minister. I said, yes, ma'am, I am. And then she said this simply, she said, why? I just, why? And I was struck by that.

I mean, it was as if she was saying, really? You couldn't get a job anywhere else? 7-Eleven wasn't hiring, so you join the ministry.

Right. I mean, it is as if I had been forced to do it rather than I've been called to do it. Here's the truth. Once you've been cleansed, you're going to want to be commissioned. That's just the natural pattern of Christian life. Once you're cleansed, you want to be commissioned.

I see it all the time. Every pastor on this staff, every ministry leader, who are they? They're all saved sinners who met a holy God and now want to serve Him. It's as simple as that. Here I am.

Send me. So, God in His holiness convicts you. God in His love cleanses you. God in His wisdom calls you. And God in His power qualifies you. And you'll discover that if God calls you, as soon as you go, here I am, send me.

As soon as you step into that, God will give you a qualification that comes with the calling. He'll help you do what He's called you to do. And it's all prompted by His holiness. It's how He makes us holy. I want you to listen to this.

Think of it this way. His holiness leads to our wholeness. His holiness leads to our wholeness.

You want to be a whole, complete person? Be drawn to His holiness. Because it happens to be an attribute He wants to share with you. It's not like, well, God is holy.

Let's just leave it at that. I'm unholy. God is holy.

No. God actually wants you to be like Him. Leviticus chapter 11, also quoted by Peter in the New Testament. God said, you must be holy because I am holy. I want you to be like me.

I want you to share this trait, this characteristic. Hebrews chapter 12. Pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Just in case you still wonder if God's will for you is to be holy. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification. It's a 50 cent word for being holy. God wants us to be holy.

So bottom line is this. A relationship with God is always transformative. Once you meet holy God, you'll never be the same.

And what happens is you start becoming holier. As somebody put it, God loves you the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. So He takes you just as you are, but then you are transformed by that encounter.

And it's a constant transformation. So if the Bible says be holy because God is holy, then the question kind of comes naturally. So how do I know when I'm holy? Beards, long robes, sandals, right? How do I know when I'm holy?

Hair shirts, stone cells, stained glass, nope. We know God is holy because of two things. Let's make it real simple. God hates sin, God loves righteousness.

It's that simple. God hates sin, God loves righteousness. That's why He's holy. So how do you know when you're holy you're going to hate what God hates, you're going to love what God loves?

Right? That makes sense. You're going to find yourself hating sin, you're going to find yourself loving righteousness. That's the gauge that we go by. It doesn't mean we're ever perfect, but it does mean we are purposeful in our pursuit of God and in becoming and pleasing, becoming what God wants us to become. I think the best single sentence definition of holiness I've found was given to us by Chuck Colson. Take a look at it. Holiness is the everyday business of the Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and the things we do hour by hour, day by day.

It's that simple. Every day you and I make decisions. Should we say that? Should we not say that? Should we do this?

Should we not do this? Should we go with that group, that person, or not go with that? And you evaluate, hopefully, and you say, what would the Lord want me to do in this choice? And when you make the right choices, you find yourself growing in holiness.

You're well on the way. So be holy, for I am holy. God is holy, holy, holy. By the way, I read to you Revelation 4. We read together Isaiah 6.

Did you notice the lyrics of the song haven't changed? Okay, so it's a scene in heaven. Isaiah hears holy, holy, holy. John has a vision of heaven.

Same lyrics, same song. Holy, holy, holy. Now Isaiah wrote around 740 B.C. John sees the vision about 100 A.D. So let's just say there's roughly 750 years between what Isaiah saw in heaven and what John saw in heaven. And what's striking is they're singing the same worship song. You don't hear an angel going, could we update things around here? We've been singing holy, holy, holy for 750 years. Can we just make things cooler than that?

No, here's the point. There are some truths that transcend crazes and trends and they're still captivated by God and still captivated by God's holiness. So they're still going holy, holy, holy. And guess what? I think you're going to hear that tune yourself in heaven.

I want to close with a quote because I think it personalizes this truth for us. It's A.W. Tozer. He said, are we losing our O? Now don't read that like O. The idea is O.

Are we losing our O? When the heart is on its knee or when the heart on its knees moves into the awesome presence and hears with fear and wonder things not lawful to utter, the mind falls flat and words previously as faithful servants become weak and totally incapable of telling what the heart hears and sees. In that awesome moment, the worshiper can only cry O.

That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the Series 2020. Right now, we want to share about an exciting resource that will help you rediscover the power of prayer. Recent research has found that Google searches for the word prayer have surged worldwide alongside the spread of the novel coronavirus. In fact, Google Trends data shows that the search intensity for prayer doubles for every 8,000 COVID-19 cases. But is there a right way or a more effective way to pray?

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Connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig explores the doctrine of the Trinity and why it's essential to your spiritual life. The Trinity, the triune nature of God is foundational to our faith. It is essential to our faith. But I also know it is controversial. Make a connection Make a connection At the foot of the crossing Cast all the burdens on His word Make a connection Connection Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.