Experiencing the Presence of God

And so God, in the midst of the crisis, to let Isaiah and his people know that all is not lost, makes a personal appearance. And Isaiah sees Him. And he sees Him sitting upon a throne. Isn't it great to know that when the whole world falls apart and everything seems to be going to pieces, God's still there on the throne? Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. It may sound foreign to nearly everything you've been taught about God, but indeed, God wants you, in fact, expects you to thoroughly, passionately enjoy Him.

But there's a problem. Before you can enjoy God, you need to know Him intimately and accurately. Question, how well do you really know God? When you think of Him, what comes to mind? A frail grandfather? A stern schoolmaster?

A far-off ruler who doesn't know much or care much about his subjects? We'll help bring your thoughts about God into clear, accurate, biblical focus as John MacArthur continues his compelling study here on Grace To You, simply titled, Enjoying God. And now with the lesson, here's John. Take your Bible and turn to the sixth chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 6. And I want us to see the holiness of God as Isaiah relates it to us here. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His robe filled the temple.

Now stop right there. I saw the Lord, he says. I saw the Lord. Incredible statement.

Think about the situation. You'll notice the word Lord there. Whenever you see in the Old Testament Lord with an uppercase L and lowercase letters, it's reflective of the Hebrew word Adonai.

When you see it, for example, down in verse 3 where all the letters are uppercase or capital, it is reflective of the word Yahweh. Yahweh has reference to God's essential nature. Adonai has reference to His sovereignty.

Now with that in mind, you'll understand verse 1. In the year that we lost our human king, I saw the real king. There never can be much panic set in when you know God is still on the throne. It may have looked to Isaiah as if the whole thing was falling apart, but Adonai is a title meaning the sovereign one. The human king was dead, but history doesn't depend on human kings.

But on the absolute monarchy, the Supreme Lord Adonai, God Himself, His kingship is infinitely superior to that of Uzziah or anyone else. And so God in the midst of the crisis, to let Isaiah and his people know that all is not lost, makes a personal appearance, and Isaiah sees it. And he sees him sitting upon a throne. Isn't it great to know that God hadn't abdicated?

That when the whole world falls apart and everything seems to be going to pieces, God's still there on the throne. Exalted, it says, high and lifted up, and His robe filled the temple. And this, of course, is a picture of His majesty and His exaltation, His glory and His power. And by the way, make a little note in the margin of that verse, write down John 12.41, because in John 12.41 the writer tells us that this was Christ, really a pre-incarnate Christophany, an appearance of Christ. Now look at verse 2. As Isaiah sees this vision, it says, and above it, that is above the throne, stood the seraphim.

Each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. Now what is a seraphim, or what are seraphim, since it's plural? They are fiery guardians of the holiness of God, incredible creatures. But the most incredible thing about them is not what they look like, it's what they said. It's what they cried, verse 3. And one cried unto another.

They had an antiphonal thing going, back and forth. And they said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Now can you imagine angels just flying around forever saying that? No, you can't, because you don't understand. The worthiness nor the holiness of God, neither do I.

But that's what seraphim do. Holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of your glory. Why holy, holy, holy? You say, well that's because that's the way the song is written.

No, no, no. The song came later. Why holy, holy, holy? Somebody says it's the Trinity, one for each member.

Certainly the Trinity is thrice holy. But the Jews had a figure of speech, a device they used. When they wanted to emphasize something, they had many literary devices they could use, but one of them they commonly used was repetition. And that can be illustrated many, many places in the Bible. Very frequently before Jesus would say some very important truth, He would say two words.

What were they? Verily, verily. Why didn't He just say verily? Or truly, truly? You know what that word is? Amen, amen. Amen, amen. You say, now wait a minute, you're supposed to wait till the end to say that.

That's right. In fact, in the Hebrew congregation, the rabbi stood up and the rabbi would teach and the people in response would endorse his teaching by saying, Amen, Amen. Jesus did not wait for such endorsement. He started out by saying, Amen, Amen, first. And then He spoke because He didn't need any humans to validate what He said. But when He said it twice, He was affirming by repetition the significance of what He was to say.

Emphasis is the issue. And when the Bible says holy, holy, holy, what it's trying to do is emphasize the holiness of God. We don't even know that God is holy, let alone holy, holy, holy. By the way, do you know that that is the only attribute of God in all of the Scripture that is spoken of in repetition three times? Never does the Bible say God is love, love, love. Never does it say God is light, light, light, truth, truth, truth, mercy, mercy, mercy, wrath, wrath, wrath. But it says He's holy, holy, holy.

This is an absolute priority, people. It is impossible to understand the fullness of it and yet you must understand as much as the Scripture gives us. The absence of a clear understanding of God's holiness is the reason for our shallowness. It is the reason for our impotence. It is the reason for our selfishness. It is the reason for our weakness. It is the reason for our disobedience. We don't really understand how holy God is, that's why we compromise.

That's why we are the worst kind of pragmatists who do only what fulfills our desires. One day the disciples came to Jesus, you know it. They said, teach us to pray. They said, here's how to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, what? Hallowed be Thy name. You know what hallowed me?

Holy. You want to pray? Start out by a recognition of the holiness of God. God is holy.

R.C. Sproul made an interesting statement, he said, any attempt to understand God apart from His holiness is idolatry. It's true. This is affirmed in the Ten Commandments where we are to have no other gods before us and under no circumstances are we ever to use the name of the Lord God in vain. He is holy, holy, holy.

The entire earth is filled with His glory and we have to acknowledge that. Now let's see how Isaiah reacted in verse 4. First of all, and the posts or the pillars or perhaps it's best the foundations of the door moved at the voice of Him who cried and the house was filled with smoke. Now this is getting pretty dramatic. The place begins to shake. The whole vision is like Mount St. Helens.

Everything begins to move. It's like an erupting volcano. The foundations of the place begin to shake and fire and smoke which could either be emanating from the altar or could be a manifestation of the fiery presence of God as at Mount Sinai. In other words, we begin to see a holy God of judgment. This is not a manifestation particularly of God's mercy, but of His tremendous, majestic holiness.

It is awful. It is fearful. It is like Sinai. It is a statement to Isaiah and his people that God is a consuming fire and you can't toy around with God. You'll be consumed. What was Isaiah's reaction? Verse 5. What was his reaction? Did he say, hey, I have had a vision.

I'm going to get myself a new wardrobe and go on the road. Well what did he say? Now what I want to do is analyze this thing. This needs some analysis.

You've got to think this through categorically. Or did he say, boy, now if you didn't think I was a true messenger of God, let me tell you now, folks, I've seen Him. None of the above was his reaction. Verse 5, then said I, woe is me. That's enough, folks. If he didn't say anything else, you get the whole picture. That's not just a sign of despair, although I think there's despair in it.

It's far more than that. You see, in the Old Testament, prophets gave pronouncements. They gave announcements, sometimes called oracles. And their prophetic announcements were very often preceded by the statement, Thus saith the Lord. And their statements could be positive or negative. When they were positive, they'd often say, blessed.

When they were negative, they would often say what? Woe...woe. Isaiah uses the word woe at least ten times in his prophecy to refer to God's judgment on others. Jeremiah used it. Ezekiel used it. Nahum used it.

Amos used it. Habakkuk used it. Hosea used it. Zephaniah used it. Zechariah used it. Micah used it. Jesus used it in Matthew 24. He said, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. And the angels of judgment in Revelation use it.

It is a word of cursing. And here is an amazing thing. A prophet of God pronounces a curse on himself.

Incredible...incredible. This is the best man in the land. This is a servant of God. But when he sees the holiness of God, he can but pronounce a curse upon his own head.

He can only see his defilement, not his goodness. And then he says this, For I am undone, nidn-methi, from a root word which means in the passive to be lost or to perish or to be annihilated or to be destroyed. I am destroyed.

I am devastated by the holiness of God. I'm wiped out. I'm falling apart. I'm coming loose at the seams. I'm disintegrating.

Why? Because he saw God. And when he saw God, for the first time in his life, he saw Isaiah. And he knew how wretched he was.

He may have been a secure fellow before this. Everybody honored him, patted him on the back. Everybody who was godly said he was the best of men, spiritual leader, voice of God, obedient saint, servant of the Lord. One glimpse of God's holiness and the man was a wretch in his own eyes. What was the most important element of a prophet?

What was the most important instrument of a prophet? His mouth, right? His mouth to speak.

Look what he says. I am a man of unclean lips. You know what that means? I have a dirty mouth. Me, the prophet of God, who should open my mouth to speak of God, I've got a dirty mouth and I dwell in the midst of a people who have dirty mouths.

How do you know this? Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, and for the first time I see myself. I'm a dirty man, have a dirty mouth. I've seen Yahweh of hosts. Beloved, no one can stand in the presence of God without becoming profoundly and devastatingly aware of his own wretchedness, sinfulness. That's why I'm telling you, if we don't understand the holiness of God, we don't understand our sinfulness and we don't understand how heinous it is and we don't understand the consequences of it. To see even the smallest glimpse of God's holiness is to be devastated...devastated.

No one ever comes before the holiness of God without devastation. Look at Luke chapter 8...Luke chapter 8, verse 22, came to pass on a certain day. Jesus went into a boat with His disciples and said to them, "'Let's go over to the other side of the lake.' They launched forth. As they sailed, He fell asleep and there came down a storm of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and they were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him saying, "'Master, Master, we perish, we're going to drown out here.' He arose, He rebuked the wind and the raging of the sea and they ceased and there was a calm. He took care of them and He said unto them, "'Where's your faith?' And they being...what?...afraid, marveled, saying one to another, "'What manner of man is this?' For He commandeth even the winds and water and they obey Him.'"

You want to know something? They were ten times more afraid when they saw His power than when they saw the sea raging because instantly they knew they were in the presence of God and that's cause for panic. They would take the storm rather than that. They were shattered because they knew their hearts were open books to His omniscience. Back up to chapter 5, verse 1, "'It came to pass as people pressed on Him to hear the Word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesert, or the Sea of Galilee, same thing, saw two boats standing by the lake but the fishermen were gone out of them, washing their nets. He entered into one of the boats which was Simon's and asked him that he would thrust out a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people out of the boat. When he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "'Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft.' Simon answering, he always had an answer, didn't he? "'Master, we've been fishing all night and we haven't caught any of them and there's no fish around here.

Nevertheless, it's your word, I'll let down the net.' And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish and the net broke. And they beckoned unto their partners who were in the other boat, they should come and help them and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

And Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees and said, "'Oh, thanks so much for the fish.'" Is that what he said? What did he say? "'Depart from me. Go away. Get out of here. Go away.'" Why are you telling him that? I'm a sinful man.

Oh, what? Lord, he realized in that moment by that incredible miracle that he was standing in the presence of God. He said, "'Go away.

I don't want to be so exposed.'" He was astonished. He knew God was there. Beloved, can I tell you something? It is literally the grace of God that you and I are not this moment consumed by the fire of His wrath.

People say, Oh, why is it that there's so much trouble in the world? If God is a God of love, why? Listen, if He weren't a God of love, only one sin by one individual, one time, would be the end of everything. We want a God who's non-threatening. That's not the God of the Bible.

They're afraid of Him. You want to know something? I have a godly fear in my heart. When I would fall into a sin, I sense God's holiness. He hates evil and I don't want to pay the consequence.

What happened now? Look at this, verse 6. This man is devastated.

This man is shattered. Is God going to leave him that way? We can't leave him that way, verse 6. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.

Now watch this. He laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged. You know what it takes to get to that point where you're purged? It takes a broken and a contrite heart in the face of the holiness of God.

He was there. No cheap grace here, folks. No easy believism. There is pain involved in true redemption, the lips sensitive, tender.

In fact, in expressing affection to one another, we use the lips because of their tenderness and sensitivity. And it is to that very part of the body that the angel places a live coal, sears the flesh. I believe that true salvation is painful. There is a wrestling, there is a pain, but his iniquity was taken away and his sin was purged. I always think about John Bunyan who said that before he had the sense of knowing Jesus Christ, he agonized over his sin for no less than 18 months. It was painful. It's not easy. It takes a broken and a shattered heart and the pain of giving up sin and embracing the sovereign God. But once it's done, then verse 8, this is so wonderful, "'Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send?

And who will go for us? Then said I," get this ambivalence, "'Here am I, send me. You, you're undone. You're woeful. You're wretched. You've got a dirty mouth.

You hang around with people with a dirty mouth.'" Yeah, but...but I've been cleansed, see? The last statement he made was a declaration of his lack of worthiness and now he says, Lord, do you need anybody? I'll go. I'll go.

The only way a man is fit to serve is when he's cleansed by the grace of God. I'll go. Verse 9, "'And He said...what?...Go.'" Let's stop right there.

He said, Go. A purged man. Beloved, I think all of this looks at the cross, don't you? I think all of this looks at the cross. I think the cross is the live coal that touches our lips. The cross is the thing that purges us. You see, you and I could never stand in the presence of a holy God.

We would be consumed. That's why the Pharisees had to kill Jesus. I mean, they had to kill Him.

He ruined the average. He came along and He was God and His holiness was so real that their supposed holiness was exposed and they had to kill Him. And when He died, He died not because they had to kill Him, but because God had to let Him die for our sin. The cross touches us.

It makes us pure. He died because God is holy and had to pour out His fury on someone. It was either you or Him.

He took your place. Is that cause for rejoicing? Let's pray. Oh God, we know You're holy. May we not be so foolish as to toy with Your holiness. We know also that there is no greater manifestation of Your holiness than at Calvary. We see a great hatred of sin that caused You even to take the life of Your own Son. May we see thereto Your grace. May we see the cross as that live coal that touches our unclean lips. It makes us pure so that we can hear Your call.

Speak to every heart. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, highlighting what Scripture teaches about the holiness of God and how His holiness should compel us to worship. Today's lesson is part of John's current study on grace to you titled Enjoying God. Now, thinking about what we saw today about God's holiness, and while I think many today would want a God who is non-threatening, I know that you would say, John, God's holiness is actually a refuge for those who know and love Him. Yes, God's holiness is a refuge for those who know and love Him because He has provided forgiveness for our sins.

If there was no forgiveness for our sins, God would not be a refuge, and God is not a refuge for those who are not forgiven because they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, yes, I think to realize that God is absolutely holy—holy, holy, holy—and yet we can, as the writer of Hebrews says, boldly enter into His presence, is an amazing expression of how much He loves us, because in order to receive us to Himself, He had to overcome the barrier of our sin by providing His own Son as the sacrifice who paid the price for our sin so that His holiness would not destroy us, but His love could receive us. We've been looking at what enjoying God means, and what it should mean for every Christian. Pursuing a deeper knowledge of the God who created us, who saves us, the God who sanctifies us, the God who one day will glorify us, the God who showers us with spiritual blessings, all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Learning about God and all that He does for the believers in the world, for the believers now and eternally, should elicit immense joy in every true Christian's heart. The world is full of false views of God, limited views of God. The Bible, however, reveals to us who He really is.

And as we look at the reality of God and how He loves us as a Father loves us, and loves us enough to send His own Son to take our place and receive the punishment for our sins so that we can be one day in His holy presence, made holy ourselves, is the great, great truth of the Christian religion. So let me commend the messages in this study again. You can avail yourself of them in two MP3 downloads available at Grace To You through gty.org website. Transcripts are also available there as well.

That's right, friend. This would be a great series to review with your family. And if you've benefited from John's series on Enjoying God, we'd love to hear about it. Your letters encourage John and the whole staff. When you have time, jot a note and send it our way. You can email your feedback to letters at gty.org or send your letter to Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. And here's our email address one more time, letters at gty.org.

And remember, at our website, gty.org, there are thousands of free resources available for you. Do you have a question about how to honor God or how to honor your spouse in your marriage or what the issue of sovereign election is all about or how to deal with the trials you face or how to minister to a loved one who is suffering? For all of those issues and countless others, you will find biblical answers in the Grace To You Sermon Archive. That's 3,500 full-length sermons available for free download right now. You'll also find daily devotionals and insightful blog articles and much more. Our web address again, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday and then be here next week when John starts a study on the incredible blessings you have in Christ. It's titled, Complete in Christ, and it comes your way with another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.