28 Jul God is HOLY

Isaiah 6:1-13

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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 hosts!” ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” ¹¹ Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, ¹² and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. ¹³ And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

A.W. Tozer writes, “What comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What we think about God is the most important thing about us because it determines everything else in our lives. Today we are on our third sermon on the series, “God is”. The premise of this series is this: When we know who God is, we know who we are. When we know who we are, we know how to live rightly. So, what we are doing is we are looking at one attribute of God each week, and how that attribute shapes who we are and what we do. The attribute of God that we are looking at tonight is holiness. What does it mean for God to be holy? And what happens when we are in the presence of the Holy God? And the answer is not what we typically expect. We often equate the presence of God with what we feel during praise and worship. “Oh wow, the presence of God was so strong tonight when we sang. I was in tears.” Or, “I had goosebumps when we sang that song. I felt God’s presence very strongly.” Maybe that’s true. I won’t argue whether what we feel is right or wrong. We can feel cold, warm, peaceful, goosebumps, cry like a baby, etc. But listen. The determining factor in whether we encounter the Holy God is not our feelings but our transformation. It is impossible to encounter the Holy God and remains the same.

Let’s say one day I was late for church. The praise and worship ended, and I wasn’t there. People tried to call me but there was no answer. Then suddenly you heard the front door open, and you saw me running to the front. I grabbed the mic and said, “I’m sorry I am late. You wouldn’t believe what just happened to me. I got into an accident on my way to church. A cat suddenly jumped on the street, and I had to hit the brake and the car behind me hit my car. Then when I opened the door, I didn’t see there was a bus driving in the next lane and the bus hit me and I was thrown for 10 meters. It was just one of those bad days. And I got up, picked up my bag, and ran all the way here. That is why I am late. So, if you have your Bible, open with me to Isaiah chapter 6.” Now, what would you think of my story? Would you think, “Awww, he went through all that for a cat”? No. You would think, “I didn’t know my pastor was such a bad liar.” Why? Because I can’t be hit by a bus and be fine. At the very least, I would have a few broken ribs and blood all over me. You would know without a doubt if I was truly hit by a bus. It is the same with encountering the Holy God. We will know for sure if we encounter the Holy God because it will leave marks on us that are evident to see. What marks? That’s what we are going to see in our text today.

What happens when we encounter the Holy God? Three things that we can see in this text: the vision; the transformation; the commission.

The vision

Isaiah 6:1 – In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

This passage begins with a statement of timing that is very significant. It sets up everything about to happen in Isaiah’s life. Isaiah was already a prophet during the reign of King Uzziah. If you know your Bible history, you know that most kings of Israel and Judah were bad. But not Uzziah. King Uzziah feared God and he was king over Judah for 52 years. During his time, Judah prospered politically and militarily and became a nation with great wealth and power. But Uzziah’s story did not end well. The Bible tells us that when Uzziah was strong, he became proud. Uzziah began to position himself above the law of God. He burned incense to God, which was unlawful for anyone to do but priests. The priests tried to stop him, but he refused to listen. So, Uzziah disobeyed God’s law and God struck him with leprosy, and he died not long after. At the same time, Assyria, a great power to the North of Israel began to make its move and started to conquer all nations around it. Assyria was making their way towards Israel and Judah when Uzziah died.

So, there was a national crisis happening. People were asking, “What are we going to do now that King Uzziah died? How can we face the future?” The future looked very dark. Isaiah must have wondered the same thing. “What am I going to do now that King Uzziah has died? What’s going to happen to this nation as Assyria is making its way toward us? What am I supposed to do as a prophet of God?” Can you feel the tension? This is the setting of Isaiah 6. So, one day Isaiah goes into the temple. There is nothing special about that day. Isaiah goes into the temple because he is a prophet. But when he enters the temple, he is utterly shocked because the last person he thought he would meet at the temple is God. Yet that is exactly what happens. Isaiah sees God. In the year that Isaiah loses his earthly king, he sees the eternal Sovereign King. Isaiah is in the presence of the Holy God. And this is the turning point in Isaiah’s life. This encounter changes Isaiah’s life forever. Let’s continue.

Isaiah 6:2-4 – ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

Don’t miss the beauty of what Isaiah sees. What Isaiah sees is no ordinary king sitting on an ordinary throne. What Isaiah sees is God himself sitting on a high and exalted throne. King Uzziah might have died. But what Isaiah sees is that above the throne of Judah, there is another throne. And that throne is so high and lifted up above every throne. There is no throne higher than this throne. It is the throne with no opposing authority. It is the throne with absolute power. It is the throne above all thrones. And that throne is not empty. The King of that throne is sitting on his throne. The human king might be dead, but the real King is alive. And this King is in control of history. This King is infinitely superior to all other kings. This King is sovereign over every molecule in the universe. But note carefully. When did Isaiah meet this Sovereign King? In the time of crisis. Listen. Do not despise crises in life because we will only learn to know God is in control when life is out of our control. Isaiah sees the Sovereign King in a time of crisis.

This King is so magnificent and great, that just the hem of his robe filled the temple. If the hem of God’s robe filled the temple, how big is God? Then above him stands the seraphim. What are the seraphim? We don’t know for sure. This is the only time they appeared in the Bible, at least, by this name. But we know they are not overweight Cupid who looks like a chubby 3-year-old in his underwear with a bow and arrow. The word seraph means ‘burning one.’ So, fire is their attribute. They are burning, they are bright, and they have six wings. And do you know what they do with two of their wings? They covered their face. From what? From seeing the glory of God directly. Can you imagine? Burning angels cover their faces with their wings because they cannot stand the full exposure of the radiant of God’s glory. They are overwhelmed by God’s holiness. Moses once asked God, “God, let me see your face. Show me your glory.” And God replied, “No one can see the fullness of my glory in my face and live.” Not even the seraphim can stand the full exposure of God’s glory.

It gets even better. Do you know what these seraphim are saying to one another? This is what Isaiah learned that day. Isaiah learns that God is holy. What does it mean? The word holy comes from the Hebrew word, ‘qadosh’, which means separate. It means to set apart, separate above, beyond, exalted infinitely above us. It’s talking about the God-ness of God. One preacher described it as when we come to the deepest end of our journey in trying to describe the beauty of God with human words, and there are no other words to describe his God-ness, we utter the word ‘holy.’ Holiness is what makes God, God. And there wasn’t, there isn’t, and there will never be anyone like him. He is in a class on his own. It is like comparing creation and the Creator. Everything we can see and taste, no matter how majestic they are, is part of creation. The spouse that loves you, the little adorable baby in your arm, the taste of KFC in your mouth, the beautiful sunset by the beach, they are all in the same category called creation. But God is in a class of his own called Creator. No matter how magnificent creation is it cannot be compared to the Creator. It’s like my one-piece figurine collection. I love those figurines and some of them cost a fortune. They have such a nice detail and complexities. Yet they are only figurines, toys. Their complexities and worth are nothing compared to actual human beings. That’s the meaning of the word holy. God is in a class of his own that none of us can fathom.

But God is not just holy. The seraphim are saying to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts.” Why repeat the word holy three times? In Hebrew, they express the idea of superlativeness using repetition. So, if you eat delicious food, you will say, “Yum.” If you eat a very delicious food, you will say, “Yum, Yum.” But if you eat a super-duper delicious food, you will say, “Yum, Yum, Yum.” So, God is not just holy, God is holy, holy, holy. And this is crucial. The Bible tells us many attributes of God. He is good, he is love, he is faithful, he is just, etc. But nowhere else we find God’s attribute tripled in quality like this. This is not one plus one plus one. This is perfection times perfection times perfection. In other words, listen. God is holy means God is not just in a whole different class from us, he is in a category beyond categories. No category in human limited wisdom and understanding can express the God-ness of God. He is beyond the beyond and above the above. That’s what the seraphim are saying. And they continue saying, “The whole earth is filled with his glory.” If holiness is God’s intrinsic worth, glory is the revealing of God’s supreme worth in the world. And when this Holy God shows up at the temple, the temple shakes, and it is filled with smoke.

Let’s get practical. What does it mean for us? Let me ask you a question. Why are you in church today? For some of you, this is what you do every Sunday. Every Sunday you go to ROCK Center for worship. You meet your friends, sing a few songs, listen to me talk for 50 minutes, take communion, and then go home or go to dinner with friends. And it is a good Sunday if you do not fall asleep during the sermon, right? But if that’s you, your view of God is too small. Do you know whom you come to worship? Do you know that God is a Holy God? Maybe like Isaiah, you come to church not expecting God to show up. You just come for inspiration, for encouragement, motivation, or fellowship. But the God of the Bible is far bigger than you think. Do you remember the story of Jesus calming the storm? One time Jesus told his disciples to go across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and they experienced a far bigger storm than they could handle. The wind was very strong, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was filled with water. It was a life-and-death situation. But while the disciples worked extremely hard to save their lives, Jesus was sleeping on the cushion at the back of the boat. The disciples were annoyed. Then in fear and anger, the disciples woke Jesus and said, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Do something about our situation.” So, Jesus woke up, faced the storms and cried out, “Peace! Be still!” And immediately everything stood still. No wind, no waves, nothing. Total silence. A great calm. How? Because the wind and the waves heard the voice of its Creator, the Holy God.

And look at what happened when the disciples experienced a glimpse of Jesus’ holiness. Mark 4:41 – And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Don’t miss it. The disciples were terrified at the presence of the storm. But now they were even more terrified at the presence of Jesus. Do you see? The presence of the Holy God is more threatening than the presence of the greatest storm. This is what it means to be in the presence of the Holy God. This is what Isaiah experienced. And this is the God whom we come to worship every Sunday. He is the Holy God. So, we don’t come to God with a casual attitude. We come with fear and trembling, awe and reverence. And when we encounter the Holy God, we will realize he is absolutely beautiful, absolutely perfect, absolutely pure, there is not even a hint of blemish on him. We might have 10,000 questions to ask God when we meet him. But when we meet him, we will be so overwhelmed with who he is that not one of those questions matters. We realize we cannot argue with him, we cannot complain to him, we cannot question him. A glimpse of his holiness is all we need to answer our 10,000 questions. This is our God. Let’s continue.

The transformation

Isaiah 6:5 – And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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 hosts!”

What happens when we encounter the Holy God? One thing for sure is we don’t get away from encountering this God and write a book about coming back from Heaven describing our encounter with God as heart-warming, peaceful, butterfly experiences. No, we don’t get to write that. Do you know what happens when Isaiah encounters the Holy God? He is traumatized. He does not say, “This is so cool. Hey, come and look at this. It’s awesome.” Instead, Isaiah says, “Woe is me!” The word woe is a proclamation of a curse. So, he does not say, “This is great. I’m going to write a book and make a TV show about it and make lots of money.” But rather, “I am cursed!” Isaiah curses himself when he encounters God. In the light of God’s holiness, Isaiah realizes that he is far more sinful than he thought. He says, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” Why unclean lips? The Bible tells us what comes out of our mouth is the reflection of our heart. Our lip reveals our heart’s true condition. An unclean lip is a sign of an unclean heart. Isaiah acknowledges that he is a sinful man living among sinful people. Notice Isaiah does not blame the people for their sins. He confesses his sins. He doesn’t compare his sin to others. He knows he is the problem. Barry Webb says it nicely. “In the presence of God degrees of sins become irrelevant. It’s the holiness of God which reveals our true condition, not comparison with others.” Here is how we know we are in the presence of the Holy God. Other’s people sins don’t bother us as much as our own sins. When we see the Holy God, we realize we are a sinner. We realize we are lost. We realize we are more capable of evil, more selfish, more prideful than we ever thought we were. When we see God’s holiness, we don’t boast in our holiness. We don’t compare ourselves with others. We confess our unholiness. Being in the presence of God is terrifying and it crushes us.

And it does not end there. The presence of God not only makes Isaiah repent of his sins but also repents of his strengths. The holiness of God leads Isaiah to repent of his righteousness, the thing he feels he does best. Isaiah says, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.” The phrase “I am lost” is better translated as I am ruined, or I am undone. And then he remarks that his lip is unclean. There is another reason why Isaiah makes a special reference to his lip. Because if there is any part of Isaiah that is supposed to be his strongest point, it is his lip. He is a prophet of God. What does a prophet do? A prophet speaks on God’s behalf. Isaiah’s lip is his number one strength. A lip to a prophet is like fingers to a guitarist, and legs to a soccer player. It is the best part of himself. Yet Isaiah pronounces the best of him as unclean. And I love the word picture of “I am undone.” Does anyone like to play Jenga? I hate playing Jenga because I always lose. If you are good at Jenga, you know you will reach a stage where you can’t remove any more blocks. But you have to because it is your turn. Whatever block you choose to take out, the tower will crumble. At that point, every block has become the strong point from which the whole tower stands. Remove one and the tower collapses. And what happens when Isaiah encounters God is the block is taken out and the tower crumbles. It shatters. It is undone. Isaiah’s life is undone in the presence of the Holy God and his strongest point proves to be unclean.

Can you see why the presence of the Holy God crushes us? All of us have that block, that strong point that holds our lives together. It is what makes us, us. It might be our good looks. It might be our achievements, our family, our bank account. We think we are good because of it. Do you know why we think we are good? Because we compare ourselves to people around us. We can always find someone worse than us. “Well, I might not be as good as him or her but at least I’m not as bad as…” So, in comparison to them, we are good. And if we can be honest, we don’t like to be around people who are much better than us. Why? Because we feel threatened by them. For example, in my role in CTC, I have to teach and train pastors who are far more senior and have far more experience than me. And I can honestly say I don’t feel nervous teaching and training them. But do you know what will change everything? If Tim Keller is among those pastors listening to me. I would be too afraid to speak. I would probably fake some sickness, so I don’t have to teach. Why? Because if Keller hears me teach, he will think, “Hmmm… that sounds very familiar.” I’ll sound like his broken record. And at the end of it, I’ll say, “Woe is me. For I am a man of unclean lips.”

If that’s what happens in the presence of a person much better than me, what do you think happens when I’m in the presence of the Holy God? I am undone. My ability to preach is unclean. Not only the content of my sermon is unclean, but the motivation behind my sermon has many traces of uncleanness as well. It is easy to say, “I am preaching for the glory of God.” But when I’m in the presence of God, all my hidden motives are revealed. I want people to like my sermons. I want to be acknowledged as a good preacher. I want more views and likes on YouTube and Spotify. I want fame and glory for myself. What I thought was a strength is unclean before God. Listen. The holiness of God not only reveals our sinfulness. The holiness of God makes us look at our greatest strengths and realize they are not strengths at all. Even the best part of us is ugly. The Bible is clear on this. Whenever someone encounters the Holy God, they start to hate themselves. There is not a single person who can stand in the presence of God and say, “God, look at what I’ve done!” We can only say, “God, what have I done!” The holiness of God crushes us. But God doesn’t crush us to kill us. Look at what happens next.

Isaiah 6:6-7 – ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

The presence of God crushes us, but it does not leave us there. The moment Isaiah sees himself for who he truly is before God, God sends one of the seraphim with a burning coal. Do you know what is in Isaiah’s mind when he sees that? Judgement. He thinks he will be judged for his sins. In the Old Testament, the fire of God always represents judgment. It never represents cleansing or purifying fire. So now that Isaiah has seen the reality of his sins, there is only one thing that comes to his mind. “This is it. I am going to be judged for my sins. Goodbye, world.” And if that’s the case, God is just. Isaiah deserved to be judged for his sins. Isaiah expected to be judged. The fire of God is coming for him. And this fire is not an ordinary fire. It is a holy fire of God. That’s why even the seraph cannot pick up the coal with his hand. He has to use tongs.

So here comes the seraph approaching Isaiah with the fire of God in his tongs. But pay attention. Where does the burning coal come from? The altar. What is the altar? The altar is the place for sacrifice for sins. It is the place of forgiveness. It is the place where the anger of God toward sin is satisfied by the death of a substitutionary sacrifice. So yes, the fire of God speaks of judgement against sin but at the same time, the burning coal is taken from the altar where sacrifice has been made. And when the coal touches Isaiah’s mouth, the seraph declares, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah’s sin is forgiven. Do you see? The reason God has to wound us with his holiness is so that he can heal us with his grace. Unless we see our self-righteousness, unless we see how sinful we are, we are not going to trust God’s grace. What the holiness of God shows us is not just the seriousness of our sins but also the seriousness of our best moral efforts to save ourselves. Our own righteousness is filthy rags before God. It is extremely dirty. He is disgusted by it. God does not need us to bring anything to the table for him to forgive us. The only trade he accepts is our sins for his grace. Nothing is the only thing we can offer God to receive his everything. And it is only when we have come to the end of ourselves that we are ready to be used by God.

The commission

Isaiah 6:8-13 – ⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” ¹¹ Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, ¹² and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. ¹³ And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

After Isaiah experiences the grace of God, he hears God saying, “I have a work I need to do. I have a mission in mind. I wonder whom I should send.” And immediately Isaiah replies, “Here I am! Send Edrick.” No, he does not say that. He says, “Here I am! Send me.” The grace of God transformed Isaiah radically. He was already a prophet before this encounter. But after he experiences the holiness and the grace of God personally, Isaiah becomes fearless. A lot of times, when we hear sermons on this passage, preachers stop preaching at verse 8. And they challenge people, “Who wants to go for God?” and people raise their hands and are sent to go for God. It makes a good ending to the story. But that’s not where the story ends. God has only said that he has a job for someone to do. He has yet to mention what the job is. No details about the job have been given yet. If we are offered a job, we want to know the details first, right? We want to know what sort of job it is, how much we will get paid, the benefits we will receive, etc. But not Isaiah. He immediately raises his hand without knowing the details, saying, “Here I am! Send me.” Only after Isaiah volunteers for the job, God reveals the job description. “By the way Isaiah, the job I want you to do is super horrible. You are going to preach my word for the next 30 years, but no one is going to listen to you. You are going to get frustrated. You will receive no invitation to speak at conferences, and no one wants to listen to you. Every time you post your sermon online, you will have zero likes and zero views. You are not going to experience any success in your ministry. And you will be persecuted for the rest of your life. If you agree to the terms and conditions, sign your name at the bottom. Oh wait, you already did.”

Imagine you are Isaiah. Would you say yes to this job description if you knew it beforehand? When we think of saying yes to God’s calling, we often think of a wonderful life. We think of blessing after blessing, favour after favour, success after success. We expect life to go well because of our obedience to God’s calling. But what if God’s calling leads us to the opposite? What if God’s calling leads us to pain and persecution? What if what lies before us are tears and troubles? What if saying yes to God leads us to be misunderstood, rejected, and accused? Would we say yes? This is what Isaiah agrees to. A lifetime of ministry with no success. But today when we read the book of Isaiah, many of us are in tears. But throughout Isaiah’s lifetime, there is not a single person who comes up to him and says, “Thank you for your sermon. It is really powerful. It changes my life. I can see God’s hand in your ministry.” None. Isaiah receives zero applause from people around him. Isaiah has a horrible life, but he is faithful to the end. He is not discouraged by the ministry of failure. Why? Because he has received the acceptance of the Holy God. God is no longer a concept but a reality for him. And when God becomes a reality, Isaiah no longer uses God for his agenda; God becomes his agenda. That’s why he can withstand a lifetime of fruitless ministry. Being in the presence of holy, holy, holy God transformed Isaiah.

Here is what we must understand. There is a big difference between knowing God as a concept and knowing God as reality. God as a concept is cute; it is heart-warming. It fits with our beliefs and wants. Do we want to be healthy? God is the answer. Do we want to be rich? God is the answer. Do we want to be happy? God. Do we want to prosper? God. Do we want a promotion? God. God as a concept function like a genie who fulfils our wishes. All we have to do is rub God by coming to church, reading the bible, joining MC, serving in church, and God will give us what we want. But God as reality is different. Listen. God as a concept function to serve our agenda. But God as a reality will not serve our agenda. Encountering the Holy God will make God our agenda. When the reality of God comes into our lives, everything is rearranged. Instead of trying to fit God into our lives, God becomes the reason for our lives. We don’t try to negotiate with God; whatever he says we do. This is what happens when we encounter God. When we truly encounter the Holy God, the only response we can make is to offer our lives in service to him. Do you see? If we experience what Isaiah experienced, God becomes our agenda. His will becomes our purpose. His glory becomes our drive. His praise becomes our joy. His love becomes our delight. It does not matter whether we are successful in the eyes of the world or not. We are not called to success; we are called to faithfulness. We know God is with us, he is for us, and he is enough. Just like Isaiah, we become fearless. We can stand up against the world.

The question is, how can we become fearless in living for God? The answer is we must experience what Isaiah experienced. We need to know that we are far more sinful in ourselves, and we are far more loved in Jesus. Think about Jesus. Do you know what happened when Jesus was crucified? Matthew 27 recorded that when Jesus died, the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The temple was shaken. At the cross, Jesus’ body was torn. He was ruined. He was literally undone. Why? Because Jesus took the consequences of God’s holiness for us. At the cross, Jesus not only said, “Woe is me! I am cursed”, but he became the curse. But there was no angel to bring him a burning coal from the altar. Why? Because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice on the altar. Jesus was undone in a way that we would never be. He absorbed every drop of God’s wrath against sin, and he died for it. Jesus was undone at the cross so that when we put our faith in him, we become whole. Jesus was shaken to the depths of hell so you and I could be fearless. And if we see how Jesus was ruined for us, that’s what enables us to be fearless for him. This is what turns God from a concept into a reality. We need to taste the sweetness of grace. But before we can taste the sweetness of God’s grace, we first must be crushed by God’s holiness. Until we are crushed by God’s holiness, we will not trust in Jesus. We might see Jesus as a good example, but we will not trust him as our Saviour until we have repented of our sins and our righteousness.

Let me close with this. There is one sentence that changes God’s commission for Isaiah into a message of hope. Isaiah 6:13b – The holy seed is its stump. This is what God is saying. “Isaiah, for the rest of your life things are going to get worse and worse. Israel as you know will be no more. It will be destroyed. Whatever hope and good you think you see will fall apart. It will be like a tree cut down. All that will remain is its stump. But that’s not the end because the holy seed is its stump. I will do my work from what remains.” Listen. It is from this holy seed that the story of Israel continued. It is from this holy seed that Jesus was born. It is from this holy seed that the church came to be, and salvation is offered to us. And it is from this holy seed that a day will come when all pain and tears will turn into laughter and joy, and the whole earth will be filled with God’s glory. But that day is not here yet. It is still to come. And until that day comes, God has a job for all of us. My prayer is we will say to him, “Here I am! Send me.” Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. God is holy, holy, holy. What are some implications of this truth?
3. What does it mean to repent of righteousness? Why is this important?
4. Explain the difference between God as a concept and God as a reality. How does this truth affect your life?
5. How does the gospel make you fearless in living for God?