Isaiah chapter 6, verses 1 to 8, let me read that again. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With Twain, he covered his face, and with Twain he covered his feet, and with Twain he did fly. and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him they cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said, I woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king. the Lord of host. Len flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth, said, lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is purged away, and thy sin, thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Ben said, I, here am I, send me. Former Presbyterian pastor James Montgomery Boyce once spoke to a church group on the attributes of God. And he began the study by asking them to make a list of God’s qualities in the order of importance. And when he reviewed the answers, he found the first thing on the list of most of the people was God’s love, followed by wisdom and power and mercy and omniscience and truth. And he said at the end of the list, most people had put holiness. Boy said that did surprise me because the Bible refers to God’s holiness. above all his other attributes. Notice carefully, the Bible doesn’t refer here to God as loving, loving, loving, or wise, wise, or omnis, omniscient, omniscient. But the cry of the seraphim here is holy, holy, holy. And this should make you stop and think about the point. place that holiness has in the character of our God. The Bible often refers to God as the Holy One. In fact, I got like 20 of them already, you know, in the first 40 chapters of this book. It’s 40 times in Isaiah at least, as we still have, you know, 20 some chapters to go. you find the word the Holy One list. It’s constantly emphasized. Indeed, without holiness, God would not be the perfect being that he is. In fact, holiness in scriptures called the beauty of the Lord in Psalm 274. And the Bible states that God is glorious in holiness. in Exodus 1511. We might say that God’s holiness puts a particular luster on the rest of all his attributes that are mentioned in his perfections. Truly, it is the crowning aspect of his being. Revelation 154 says, Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only are holy. The prophet Isaiah here speaks of his encounter with the Lord. He has a vision with regard to the Lord God. From the New Testament, we see this was an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in this in this Old Testament passage. So I want to you to put your shoes, put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes this morning. I want you to think about what it would be like to meet the Holy God. For I tell you this much, one day you will. Now you must realize God is a holy God. And we see that in the first four verses. Now, there is a lesson here on the holiness of God. that’s found in verse 1. But we read about Uzziah, the king of Judah, dying. And of course, that had a deep effect upon the nation. King Uzziah, you’ll recall, was one of the better kings who ruled. He ascended to the throne when he was 16. And he reigned in Jerusalem for 52 years. Now think about that. I mean, we change president each four to eight years. Think how many presidents that would be? I mean, that’s a long time. Some people live their whole lives practically under this particular king. Uzziah began his reign in godliness, for we read in scripture that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He sought the Lord. The Lord blessed him. He was vigilant. victorious in battle over the Philistines and other nations. He sort of returned Israel or Jude, if you would, to the glory days of King David. For most of his long career, he was a great and beloved king. But the story of Uzziah ends on a rather sad note for the book of 2nd Chronicles, tells us that his brilliant career was marred at the end by pride. One day he boldly entered into the temple and arrogantly claimed for himself the right of a priest. And the priest of God attempted to stop him from burning incense in the holy place, which according to God’s law, he wasn’t. wasn’t allowed to go into. Uzziah was enraged. And as he was pouring out his wrath upon the priest, all of a sudden, he broke out with leprosy. And we read in scripture that Uzziah was a leper under the day of his death, was caught off from the house of the Lord. You can imagine Isaiah, thinking back. upon this time in this episode as he mourned the king’s death. What happened to Uzziah as a stinging reminder of the holiness of the Lord God. He doesn’t tolerate any violation of his laws of worship. Yes, even a good king like that of Uzziah was not exempt from the judge. judgment of a holy God. Well, this is a lesson which God would have you and I ponder carefully. As he has so emphatically stated, I am the Lord, I change not. That should make us realize that whatever God was in the Old Testament he is now, we must reverence and fear him. A holy God demands obedience and disobedience, brings us under his holy indignation. So here was a lesson on holiness of God just from Uzziah himself. Now we see something here about the revelation of the holiness of God in these first four verses. We see something about the sovereign king of the universe here. King Uzziah is dead. But he sees a vision, Isaiah does. of another king. He sees the vision of the true king of Israel, and that is the Lord God himself. The word Lord here is Adonai in the Hebrew, the sovereign one. It’s not actually a name of God, but it’s a title. It describes who he is. When Jesus is called Lord in the New Testament, it’s the equivalent of the Old Testament, Adonai. He is truly the king of God. kings and the Lord of Lords. God sits upon his throne high above the earth as the sovereign one. He, like a king, does whatever he pleases in heaven and earth as we saw last week. As we looked at that attribute of God’s sovereignty. Next, we see here something also about the holiness of God from the face of God and the seraphim that are before him around his throne. Do you recall how Moses at one point asked if he could see God’s face? Now, Moses had spent quite a bit of time up on top of the mountain in the presence of the Lord God. He was an eyewitness of God’s divine miracles, the plagues, the manna from heaven, water from the rock. He heard God’s voice. He gazed upon the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire provided by God. He saw Pharaoh’s army drowned in the Red Sea when God collapsed the sea upon him. still, he wanted to see God. God let me see you. Show me your glory. And God’s answer was that no man can see me and live. However Moses was allowed, you recall, to see the hinder parts, the back parts of God. But he could not see his face. When Moses descended from Mount Sinai, Being in the presence of God caused his face to shine. So much so that the people were frightened of him when he came down from the mountain. And he had to put a veil on his face. It was just too dazzling. Now think about this. It was a frightening experience merely to look upon a man who had close contact with God. Imagine what it would be like to see God face to face. that had to be something much greater. But you know what the scripture says? The final goal of every believer is to be allowed to do what Moses could not do. For the Bible says we shall be like him and we shall see him as he is in 1 John 3.2. But before this can happen, you must be purified and made perfectly holy. Blessed. are the pure in heart. For they shall see God is what the scripture tells us. Now, think about the seraphim here. They are not sinful human beings. They are God’s holy angels. You’ll notice even their reaction, however, to the holiness of God. even these angelic beings who occupy such a lofty place that they are around the throne of God, find it necessary. They shield their eyes from the holiness of God. Did you notice that their wings? They have two wings in which they cover their faces, it says in this passage. They have to cover themselves from the, majestic, holy presence of God. They covered their feet also with a pair of wings. Why is that? Do you remember what God told Moses at the burning bush? Take off your shoes. For the ground you’re standing upon is holy ground here in the presence of the Lord God. And so angelic beings who are not of the earth, they’re just mere creatures. They cover their feet too here with regard to God’s presence. Then we have the song of the seraphim here. Here is the crux, if you would, of Isaiah’s vision. The song of the seraphim reveal an awesome message that’s found in this text, and that is that God is a third. Christ, Holy God. The significance of the repetition of the word holy can easily be missed. In Hebrew, when God repeats something, it’s for emphasis. Now, in English, we may perhaps put it in bold type or italics or underline it or even at an exclamation point. But in Hebrew, they repeat it. the theme. They repeat the idea. You know, when Jesus says something really vital and important, he says, verily, verily, I say. Truly, truly. He doubles up the truilies. The emphasize, using the third degree, though, holy, holy, holy, elevates the importance of the statement even more, doesn’t it not? And only this attribute of God is so elevated like this. that. At the very sound of the voices of these angelic beings, the whole temple shakes. Think about that. It’s filled with smoke. You know, some people don’t go to church because they say they find it boring. I guarantee you, if you’re in the presence of a holy God, it can’t be boring. So you must realize that God is a holy God. That’s the lesson from Uzziah. That’s the lesson of the revelation here, this vision that Isaiah has. But let’s talk about your response to the holiness of God, to be confronted by a holy God. You’ll notice verse 5 here with me. Then said, I woe is me, for I am undone because I’m a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of glory. Woe is me. Evidently, the doors of the temple were not the only things that were shaking. We find here that Isaiah himself quivered in fear the presence of a holy God. When he saw the living God, the reigning king, the reigning king, of the universe displayed before his eyes and all his glorious holiness, it shook him. Woe is me. These are strange words. You rarely hear anyone use the word woe today. It’s not something we commonly use. But the full force of Isaiah’s exclamation is seen in how the word woe is used in the Bible. For example, when prophets, announced their message of judgment. They did so with the word woe. For example, woe to thee, Moab, thou art undone, numbers 21, 29. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with them, Isaiah 311. Woe unto thee, Corrism, woe unto thee, beseda, Matthew 11, 21. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, Matthew 2313. And then there’s the triple woe in Revelation 813, woe, whoa, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth or the land. Woe is an announcement of doom. It is an announcement of imminent destruction. In the Bible, when cities and nations and individuals are given a woe, God says, woe to you, that means eminent judgment. And it means doom. Thus Israel in the book of Revelation receives the triple woe to let you know that it is going to be undone. So what Isaiah is doing here upon seeing the holy God here is pronouncing doom upon himself, he finds himself deserving of the wrath and the curse of the wrath and the curse. of Almighty God. Anyone who is confronted with the holiness of God must say the same thing. You deserve punishment and the punishment of eternal hell for all your sinfulness. As you stand guilty before this holy God. Woe is me. And then he says, I am undone. Now here’s another rather rare word. We don’t use the word undone. very much. Modern translations have the word ruined. I think it’s weaker. I think it’s less expressive. Undone is a more vivid word, I think. To be undone means to come apart at the seams, to be unraveled, if you would. Now, when I was growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, and so we used the baseball. until the covers came off. You know, the seams would unravel and break because, you know, after a while they just got worn out. And then they would unravel and the stuffing would come out of the balls. He’s saying, you know, I’m coming unraveled here. The stuffing’s coming out of me. In comedy routines, sometimes someone finds a thread on someone’s clothes and they start pulling it. You know, the whole shirt comes off. you know, it unravels. Now in modern slang, we have the expression he’s got it all together. Or sometimes we say he’s falling apart. He’s falling apart. Isaiah thought of himself as perhaps a pretty good person. He didn’t see himself as a terrible sinner until now. And you’ll notice here one glimpse of a holy God and he’s shattered. All his perceived righteousness unravels, confidence in his integrity is undone. He finds himself exposed, naked, if you would, before the gaze of a holy God. Measured by God’s perfection, Isaiah doesn’t have any righteousness. It collapses. When you’re confronted by the absolute holiness of God, you come apart at the seams also. You might think yourself as a pretty good person. You don’t think you’re a bad person. Maybe you live even better than most people around you. You’re not a drug dealer. You’re not a bank robber. You’re not a child molester. You’re not a murderer. You may even be very religious. You may go to church every week. But, exposed before God’s holy gaze, all your personal integrity gets stripped away. All of it. For there’s not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin if not. As Ecclesiastity 720 says, I’m undone. He says also here that he’s a man of unclean lips. Now you might expect Isaiah to say I am a man of unclean habits. or thoughts. But he immediately calls attention to his mouth. In effect, he sees himself as corrupted by many of the things that come out of his mouth. You recall the words of Jesus? It’s not what goes into a man’s mouth that defiles him. It’s what comes out, what comes out of his mouth that defiles him. The Bible says that the tongue is a unlawful. unruly or a restless evil full of deadly poison in the book of James. And Isaiah realizes this about himself. How often we sin with the tongue. How often we’re guilty. And it corrupts your whole person. In fact, it’s not just him that’s corrupted. As he says, the whole nation is corrupt. The whole people. are guilty of the same thing. So he has now a new and radical understanding of sin. Perhaps what he didn’t even think about before, he now thinks about, I should never have said that, or I gossiped here, or I said something that that was cutting here, and he saw how pervasive it was in his own nation. For the first time, Isaiah understood who God was, and at the same time, he really understands who he is. The more of a glimpse of God’s holiness that you have, friends, we find it in the Word of God, if we read it, the more sinful you will see yourself to be. The more you study who God is, the more wicked you see yourself. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one, as Romans 3 tells us. So your response to being confronted by a holy God is you come unraveled. you see your wickedness, you see your perversity. Thirdly, your remedy is to be made holy by a holy God. We find that in verses 6 through 8. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this hath thawed. touch thy lips and thy iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. We find Isaiah here cleansed by the Holy God. Isaiah is trembling. No doubt. you’d like to find a place to escape out of the presence of such a holy God. Guilt and terror were a great weight upon him. And yet amazingly, this holy God is also God of grace. This holy God took immediate steps to cleanse Isaiah of his sin. The seraphim was a prophet was commanded by God to take a live coal off the altar. Recall that the altar was a place where sacrifices were offered. I think this is the altar in heaven. And I think he’s seeing this in his vision, though. But the seraphim moves swiftly, flying to the altar, and with tongs he takes off a coal, if you would. And from. this glowing coal that he took off, he flies to, from the altar to Isaiah. And what is he going to do here? He does a strange thing. He presses the coal against the lips of Isaiah. He purges the lips of Isaiah. Now, the lips are one of the lips. areas of the body. That’s why kissing, I guess, is popular. Perhaps Isaiah felt it. I don’t know what he felt here, but it’s a vision. And it’s a severe mercy. But in a sense, he’s taking away, he’s purging away, his unclean lips. And he goes beyond the unclean lips where we read that all his iniquity here is purged away. It’s forgiven. It’s cleansed. He’s refined by this holy fire. So he receives forgiveness that he might be acceptable on God’s sight. My friends, you’ll notice here that God demands more than, well, I’m sorry about that. We have to be cleansed of our iniquity. This is no cheap, you know, blue light special grace that God gives people. It’s when Isaiah was mourning his sin, overcome with grief, terrorized by the holy presence of God, that God sent an angelic being to heal him. Friends, forgiveness of sin is never a light thing in God’s eyes. God demands. repentance, godly sorrow, confession of your sins. As Psalm 51 talks about, wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin as ever before me. Have you ever been like Isaiah? Have you ever acknowledged how guilty and vow you are in the present? presence of a holy God? Have you ever confessed your sin to him? Have you ever asked for his grace and mercy? Cleansing from sin is possible. If you have seen your need of salvation from sin and you desire forgiveness and salvation, then you must have repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. Jesus Christ bore the awful punishment deserving of sinners on the cross. He was raised again on the third day, showing us that God accepted that sacrifice for sin. And he is the one that Isaiah saw in this vision, for he is the Savior. He is the one who forgives sin. He is the one who forgives sin. He is the one. it takes it away from us. And then we see, the only is he cleansed by God, but he’s called the service by God in verse 8. Now, after this point, Isaiah has seen the glory of God. He’s heard the seraphim cry out, holy, holy, holy. Now, for the first time, he hears the voice of God. After this point, he has just seen God. But he hasn’t heard God’s voice. It’s a loud voice, the Bible tells us in Revelation, like the voice of roaring waters. And God says, who shall I send, who will go for us? Notice the pattern here. God appears in holiness. Man quakes in terror. God forgives and heals. Then God calls the service. Isaiah understood the sending. to mean that he would be the messenger of Jehovah, a spokesman, rendering service to his creator and to his Lord. God was looking for a volunteer to take up the difficult task of being a prophet. And Isaiah says here, please send me, I am willing to do it. Now, we should realize that a holy God does a God. doesn’t just use anyone taking it random to do his work. He first prepares a person for the task. Isaiah wasn’t ready to preach until God first cleansed him. Now he’s ready to serve to hope. This is an experience which every believer should have. Being graciously forgiven by God. You should be anxious and willing to serve the Lord God who has cleansed you. Service may mean becoming a preacher or a missionary. It may mean simply speaking up for the Lord at home, at work in the neighborhood. It may mean serving in God’s church. It may mean helping a brother or sister in Christ in a time of need. It may mean just faithfully carrying out God’s commands in God’s. Your life as a faithful wife and mother, for example. But it means you serve the Lord. When little Will Halmina was crowned, Queen of Holland, the happy little girl was too young to realize the gravity of the situation. With thousands of people cheering her, she was unable to take it all in. And she said to her, to her, mother, Mama, do all these people belong to me? And her mother looked at her and said, no, my dear child, you belong to all these people. In the spiritual realm, God doesn’t belong to you to do your bidding. He’s not just some magic genie. You belong to him to do his bidding in your life. So we see your remedy is to be made holy by a holy God. You remember that nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty dumpy fell off this wall and cracked up. And he was ruined. Nobody could put him back together again. All the king’s horses, all the king’s men, couldn’t help him. Isaiah was undone by God’s holy presence. This is what happens to you when you have an encounter with the living God, you’re broken to pieces. But God put Isaiah back together so that he was able to take a person who was shattered and restore him to usefulness. Psychologists tell us that we shouldn’t say to people, you’re a rut into the core, that you’re a sinner. Well, that will destroy their person. That’s not good for them. The Bible teaches it’s necessary for God to bring. a person before they can be remade spiritually. God’s holiness cannot accept you the way you are. You need to be remade. God can make the foulest sinner into the most glorious saint. And he does this all the time. But we must recognize he’s a holy God. The first thing he’s going to do is show us our own wickedness. before he remakes us and puts us into service for him. Let’s close.