WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.239 Awakening. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:24.079 Great to be with you. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:27.440 Robbie, thank you for leading us in worship this morning. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:28.719 Absolutely powerful. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:30.719 Yeah, you can woo for that. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.320 We're in a series called Broken God. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:41.359 And we said this last week. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:51.200 As we look at the world around us and see the brokenness, it's easy to think if there is a God, he must be broken as well. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:52.960 And here's what we said could it be? 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:58.880 That it's not that God is broken, but our view of God is broken. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:06.959 And at the root, we said this last week, at the root of humanity's problems is a broken view of who God is. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:07.680 In fact, A.W. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:15.439 Tozer said it this way: what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:23.680 He'd later on and say that we tend, by a secret law of the soul, to move toward our mental image of God. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:31.120 And so, what comes into your mind when you think about God? 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:33.120 What is the picture? 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:41.280 Who is God is the fundamental, preeminent question before us. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.480 Here's what we said last week as we were wrestling with this. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:46.959 We said fundamentally that God is not like us. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:02:02.879 He's self-existent, self-sufficient, he's eternal, he's infinite, incomprehensible, and yet at the same time, you have been made in the likeness, in the Imago Dei of God. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:16.560 And a broken view of God, when we have a distorted view of Him, it's at the root of all of humanity's problems, of all of our relational problems. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:26.560 And so over the next several weeks, we're gonna be looking and discovering just a clearer picture of who God is. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.800 We're gonna be looking at uh different attributes of God. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:33.120 Today we're gonna talk about the holiness of God. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:39.280 Next week, we're gonna talk about the goodness of God, and the following week, we'll talk about the wisdom of God. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:44.879 Now, I want to, before we dive into the conversation today, just explain what an attribute is. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:47.039 What is the attribute of God? 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:48.479 How does that differ? 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.240 How is God like us? 00:02:50.479 --> 00:03:02.719 Because we tend to begin to, when we're trying to think about God, we start to use creature terms because those are the only terms we have, and yet He is the creator, and so our language is constrained. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.199 And so let me just define for you by A. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:05.520 W. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.840 Tozer yet again what an attribute is. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:17.199 An attribute of God is whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of himself. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:25.439 He does not possess them as qualities, they are how God is as he reveals himself to his creatures. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:31.759 Love, for instance, is not something God has and which may grow or diminish or cease to be. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:02.560 See, we can think of them separately, but we cannot separate them. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:08.240 All of God's acts are consistent with all of his attributes. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:14.879 Whether it's love or justice, it's one in the same of who he is. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:19.519 There is no conflict among the divine attributes of God. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:24.399 And so today we're gonna talk about the holiness of God. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:27.600 Why don't you go ahead and turn to your neighbors, say the holiness of God? 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:30.879 And I just got you situated. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:35.120 Uh, and so I might as well have you stand on back up. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.800 Why don't you stand up with me as we're talking about the holiness of God? 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.279 We're gonna be in Isaiah chapter six today. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.079 It's one of my all-time favorite passages. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:47.839 Uh, if you've been around awakening, you've heard it probably more than once. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.879 Uh, this is the very first passage I preached at 19 years of age. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:59.439 Uh and here's I want us to stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.680 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.560 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:22.720 With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying, and they're calling to one another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:27.680 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and the threshold shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:38.480 Woe to me, I cried, I'm ruined, for I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:44.480 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:49.120 With it he touched my mouth and said, See, this is touched your lips. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:53.040 Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:57.120 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:58.879 And I said, Here am I. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:00.319 Send me. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:01.519 Amen. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:04.160 You may have a seat. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:15.199 Heavenly Father, we ask right now, as we begin to talk about something that we can't fully express. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:19.920 You being infinite, we can't fully fathom. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.279 That you would speak to us and reveal yourself to us. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:28.560 That we'd know more fully of who you are. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:37.439 And in that we'd experience more of who you are for us and those around us and become more like your son Jesus. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:38.879 Amen. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:41.600 The holiness of God. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:48.160 As we're talking about and unpacking the holiness of God, I want you to wrestle with this question. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.759 How do we encounter God his way? 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:57.439 How do we encounter God his way the way he longs for you to encounter him? 00:06:57.680 --> 00:06:58.800 I don't know if you've thought about that. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:04.800 I know you walked in today and you got to see Robbie up here and praise God for Robbie and leading us in worship. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:08.560 And it's like, man, when it for some of you, man, when it's acoustic. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:10.399 Oh, that just blesses my heart, right? 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:18.560 I just encounter God, and then you're like, as I'm a drummer, so I'm like, when the drums, when we have drums, oh, that's how I encounter God. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.959 But how do you encounter God his way? 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:35.120 Uh, you know, next to my bedside table, uh, I have a little bit of, you know, two charging uh things for my Apple Watch and then for my phone, right? 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:36.560 And many of you have this. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:49.759 And so I have the Apple Watch and the phone, and the other day I plug in my phone to charge overnight, and I get up the next morning, and you've had this experience, right? 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:51.600 And it didn't charge. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:52.160 Right? 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:53.600 You had this experience? 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:54.240 Yeah. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:55.839 It's the worst. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.279 It's not the worst, but it feels like the worst. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:00.160 Right? 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.240 Like, are you kidding me? 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:13.279 I plugged it in, I remembered, I plugged it in, I did the right thing, and now it's not charged, and now I got a full day, and I'm not exactly sure if my phone's gonna make it through the day. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:19.439 And here's what happened this end was not plugged in. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:24.160 Like I did the right thing, it was plugged in, but it wasn't plugged in. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:25.839 You know what I mean? 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.800 Like it was plugged in, but it wasn't. 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:48.639 It looked like it was all set to charge, but because this one piece wasn't into the wall, then it wasn't connected to the source, and as a result, it would not charge the phone, even though on the outside and everything that looked like it, it looked like I'm charging my phone all night long. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:57.919 Now, here's the thing for us I think this is where we end up in church, in our relationship with God. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:12.399 Like we show up on Sunday and okay, I'm gonna worship, or I'm a part of a small group, and externally we have these things that all look like the right things, but is there power missing in your relationship with God? 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:23.600 Is like when we sing the holy, holy, and and like you begin to read how people encounter God, as is there a sense of like, man, there's something missing. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.519 I'm just not quite connected to the source. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.399 I have I have some of the right things. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:46.399 And I believe as we talk about the holiness of God, it's gonna help you and help us, not only in our worship gatherings, but in your personal life, connect to the source that is God. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:50.320 Well, the holiness of God, what how do we encounter him? 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:58.799 The very first thing we have to do is we have to look up and recognize we approach a holy God. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.759 Isaiah shows up into the temple. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:07.919 King Uzziah, who was a king for about 40 years, he was an incredible king. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.120 Isaiah is a prophet in the royal court. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.559 This would have been economic, political instability. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.039 This would have been personal grief for him. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.960 And where does he go in the midst of that? 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:24.639 He goes to the temple in uncertainty and he has this encounter with God. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:30.799 He shows up to the temple and it says, I saw the Lord high and exalted. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:39.440 And he has this picture of the king of the universe and these angels, these seraphim, they're like crazy creatures, right? 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:40.799 Six-winged. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:45.360 They're calling out one to another, holy, holy, holy. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:52.799 To encounter God his way, we first have to recognize we approach a holy God. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:55.039 Well, what does it mean that God is holy? 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:01.600 Well, the word literally means to be set apart, unique, holy other, a cut above. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:03.120 We get that with items. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.360 We have certain items that are set apart. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:13.120 Uh, underneath my dresser, I everything's about my room today, I guess, um where I keep my shoes. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.919 And I got a brand new pair of curries for Christmas. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:32.960 And I, because I tore my Achilles, I've yet to be able to play basketball uh, you know, in with our team people after church, but those curries are set aside for that court and they'll only be played on a wood floor. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:34.480 They are holy. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:40.480 We get to me, maybe not to you. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.559 We get that idea, set apart, unique. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:49.600 The word holy also carries the idea of purity or moral excellence. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:56.320 When it comes to God, what this means is God is completely set apart, wholly other from his creation. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:00.159 What we said last week, God is not like us, he is holy. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:04.879 There is nothing and no one like him, he's distinctly unique. 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:18.320 God's holiness refers to his majesty and moral purity, encompasses and defines all that is pure, whole, righteous, and healthy in the universe. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:23.039 Like his holiness is all that is healthy in the universe. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:29.200 When things are in alignment with his holiness, it means you're healthy. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:30.799 You're whole. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:34.080 I love this picture. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:38.159 When Isaiah saw God, he sees and approaches a holy God. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:39.840 Notice the few things that he saw. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:41.039 He first saw what? 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:43.440 God high and exalted. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:49.919 It means that he was the focal point, he's the center of the universe, he's above all else preeminent. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:57.360 Let me like help try to help us get this, because this is hard for us. 00:12:57.600 --> 00:12:58.960 Like, this is God. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:03.120 Think about this. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:07.840 We're sitting here at San Jose, planet Earth. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:12.879 Planet Earth is approximately 93 million miles away from the sun. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:20.000 The sun is approximately one of a hundred billion other stars in the Milky Way galaxy. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:31.600 The Milky Way galaxy, it if we were to traverse it, it would take about a hundred uh million light years to cross it. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:38.000 A light year is the speed of light is you're traveling at 186,000 miles per second. 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:39.279 That's pretty fast. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:52.000 You'd have to travel a hundred million miles at 186,000 miles per second just to traverse the Milky Way galaxy. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:03.600 And the Milky Way galaxy is one of a hundred to two hundred billion other galaxies in the universe, and our galaxy isn't really all that big. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:17.679 And God spoke, and all of that came into existence, and that he is high and exalted and above all of it, the center of the universe. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:21.840 And then Isaiah sees that he's seated on a throne. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.320 God is in control, he is sovereign king of the universe. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:33.120 And every time we see God in scripture on uh in the kingly picture, he is seated. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:40.639 You know, the only place we don't see him seated is when he welcomes a martyred one home. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.399 He's seated because he's in control. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:51.200 He's not thrown off here and there by what's happening in the world around us. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:51.600 Why? 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:55.519 Because he's all powerful, he's the creator, he's sovereign. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:59.440 And the train of his robe, think about that picture. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:01.679 Isaiah walks in, he sees this train. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:08.960 Now, a train in the ancient day uh represented the extent of power that a king had. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.279 And the train of his robe filled the attempt, the temple. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:15.600 What Isaiah's seeing is you know what? 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:25.360 Uzziah died, and he was a powerful and he's a good king, but here's what you need to know: I am the king, and my power extends forever infinitely. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:30.720 I am all powerful, even in the midst of the uncertainty. 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:32.799 And then you have these seraphim. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:34.879 You're like, what in the world are these? 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:36.559 These are angels. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:46.559 Seem to be charged at ministering in the presence of God, guarding his holiness, crying out one to another, holy, holy, holy. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:53.039 You know the attribute of God's holiness is the only this one is the only one that's repeated three times in scriptures. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:56.080 We just sang the song where it said, holy, holy, holy. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.960 That comes from Revelation chapter four. 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:05.519 And and what the author's telling us, anytime it's repeated, something's repeated three times. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.159 This is the way in Hebrew you use superlatives. 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:11.279 It's like good, better, best. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:14.879 He's holy, he's holy, he's holy. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.559 All of his attributes are holy. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:25.600 His love is a holy love, his justice is a holy justice, his righteousness, his faithfulness. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.120 Literally, there is none and no one like him. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:36.639 Set apart in brilliant perfection and righteousness completely other. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:39.759 Holiness is not something he does. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:41.919 Holiness is who he is. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:45.120 How do we encounter God his way? 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:46.480 We first have to look up. 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:48.240 We gotta see God for who he is. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:52.159 We recognize we approach a holy God. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:03.120 See, I think one of the reasons we're not like connected in is we don't look up enough to see the God that we're worshiping. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:10.319 Or when we do, I think I think it goes something like this. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:14.880 So I remember when my kids were little and we went to the zoo. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.640 What's the first animal you want to see when you go to the zoo? 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:21.599 The lion, yes, thank you. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:23.440 All of you else were wrong. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:31.519 Um The Lion! By the way, um, my nickname as a kid was Ryan, the lion. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.680 I I love lions. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:18:01.680 I remember one time we were at the zoo, and there was, you know, the lion cage, and there was the glass wall, and there was just a lion lounging right next to the wall, and one of my kids just starts tapping the glass, like trying to get this lion to do something, you know, just come on, move, roar, show me something. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:09.839 I think that's how it kind of is with God, is like we show up and we tap Him, come on, God, do something, move, work. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:24.319 A few years ago, I had the opportunity to go to South Africa with um for my friend's 50th birthday, he's South African, and uh his sister-in-law lives right on the edge of Kruger National Park. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.720 And so we went into Kruger National Park. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:40.240 I gotta tell you, just the idea that there's a lion out there made me not want to get out of the car, period. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:51.599 Like, not even seeing the lion, just the idea that there's lions out there and tigers and bears, oh my! That just the whole idea of it. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:58.559 Because there's a radically different way that you encounter a lion in the wild, isn't it true? 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.680 You're like, Ryan, we've never done that before. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:11.839 I've literally not right because if you came across a lion in the wild, you wouldn't be poking it, you wouldn't be going, hey, roar for me. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.839 I would I would love for you to do a trick. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:18.000 Why don't you chase that antelope? 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:18.960 That would be fun. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:20.880 Right? 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:29.200 You come across a lion in the wild, you're in his territory, under his domain, and you're responding to his movement, not the other way around. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:40.480 And so you begin to go, okay, I do and move, however you want me to. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:54.480 See, I think when we worship God, it's far more like a lion in the wild that we're looking up and seeing a God who is massive and holy and righteous and pure. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:57.359 There is none like him. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.920 And we have such a casualness and a flippancy when we worship, don't we? 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:10.559 Instead of going, when we just sang, and we just sang the words holy, holy, holy. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:17.920 Like there should be a sense of awestruck wonder in our hearts. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:26.160 I think one of the missing ingredients when we worship is we're like, hey, I wanna I want you to meet me. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.200 I want you to do a little trick, I'm just gonna tap on the glass. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.359 And there is no other. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:51.359 And so our response that we look up and recognize we approach a holy God, the lion in the wild is reverence, is the only proper response before holy god. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:52.720 Reverence. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:21:07.039 You know, I love by the way the picture of the lion, and you know, Aslan is the Christ figure in the Narnia, and Lucy asks the beaver about Aslan and says, Is he safe? 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.920 No, but he's good. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:22.480 And we have this incredible God, and he is deeply and profoundly good, but he is the all-powerful one where reverence is the only proper response. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:31.039 Every person who encounters God in scripture immediately gets low before him. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.319 Well, what does it mean to respond in reverence? 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:51.200 Reverence is an overwhelming sense of awe, respect, wonder, and honor originating from the interior of a person that is expressed through a person's physical posture in the presence of the one who's majestic in holiness. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:59.599 Like it's this overwhelming sense of awe that we look up and begin to get an accurate view of. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.720 God instead of just bringing him down onto our terms. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:10.720 And what we do is then we look in, and we our first response is reverence. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:17.759 You know, my buddy, umce went up to um half dome. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:18.880 He climbed half dome. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:20.160 That stresses me out. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:21.359 I don't think I'll do it. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.119 Um, heights, you know. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:36.480 Um, but he did half dome, and he's telling me, he's like, Ryan, as I got to the top and I was getting to the edge, instinctively what I did as I got closer and closer to this view is I just got lower and lower. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:46.480 Because as I got, I really wanted this beautiful view, but there's no way that I wasn't gonna get all the way down and he got all the way down on his belly to look over the edge. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:47.359 Because why? 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:50.480 He had reverence for the view and he had reverence for the drop. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:55.440 And he knew in the presence of that view he had to get low as he got closer. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:03.519 And for us, friends, as we worship and as we come into the holiness of God, reverence is the only proper response. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:10.319 As we get lower and lower in his presence, you will encounter him more deeply. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:12.319 And I love Isaiah's response. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:14.400 Did you notice his response? 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:21.920 He sees this incredible picture of God, and his first response is woe. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:28.160 Now, in the Hebrew, that's not like woe, um, like woe, man. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:30.160 Not not the way we use it. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:33.279 It literally means I'm as good as dead. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:37.279 That was that was like whoa. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:40.319 Like you ever said that and it was a close call? 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:44.720 Whoa! I thought I was a goner. 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:46.319 Woe is me. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.480 For my eyes have seen the King Almighty. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:01.119 And his response is then to confess who he is. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:03.440 You know, I like how A.W. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:04.640 Tozer said it. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:18.720 He said, until we have seen ourselves as God sees us, we're not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us, as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:25.519 We've learned to live with unholiness and come to look upon it as a natural and expected thing. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:35.680 See, what happens when we get into the holiness of God, when we begin to get into his presence, God's holiness begins to act like an x-ray on our soul. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:48.960 It begins to reveal the broken and the painful, the sin, the things that are creating unhealth in your life and those around you. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.559 It acts as this x-ray machine. 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:59.440 What we typically do is we look around at everybody else, see what everybody's doing, and say, cool, I'm pretty good, or compare, I'm actually doing better. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:05.119 When we get before a holy God, it's all of a sudden like exposing us. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:13.599 You know, um, a number of years ago, uh my son took a terrible bike accident. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:21.039 He was flying down this hill, um, he collided with another bike, he flipped two, three times in the air and just slammed down. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.640 He was like knocked out for a little bit, crying. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:26.240 I mean, it just was awful. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:32.400 We get to the uh ER, I mean, his shoulder, he's just in such pain the whole drive. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:37.759 And I remember the guy standing in front of us as we're, you know, he's finally kind of calmed down, Miles is. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.000 And the guy standing in front of us, like, what are you in for? 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.160 And I was like, I think he broke his collarbone. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:45.200 And he goes, Oh, you know, I used to coach little league. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.559 Why do guy us guys we think we know everything? 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:52.160 You know, it's like, no, I I I took a first aid class once. 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:56.160 Um, and and he goes and he like, hey, can you do this with your arm? 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.279 He does some of these sort of things. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.200 He's like, you're fine. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.319 Um, this is the x-ray of Miles's. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:11.440 Um I don't know if you see that, but those are supposed to be connected. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:21.200 See, a lot of the time, friends, we're just talking to one another, and what we're saying is, you're fine. 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:23.519 You're fine. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:25.440 Don't worry about it. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:40.799 And yet, when we get into the holiness of God, it acts like an x-ray machine and it shows the broken parts, and what it's meant to do is to design in such a way to bring healing, to diagnose you so that you can be restored. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.680 And we have we're walking around limping and broken. 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:54.880 And when we get into his uh into his holiness, we begin to see ourselves as we truly are. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:59.440 And Isaiah does this, he simply confesses. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.160 He's like, you know what? 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:10.799 My lips, my words, the things that I said they've hurt people. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:19.440 And actually, I come from a people that just don't say good things and they're breaking things around me. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:26.799 See, the response is a reverence that leads to a repentance, a confession. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:32.079 Confession, Dallas Willard said, is to own up to a condition of the soul. 00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:35.440 It's to recognize and realize, you know what, there actually is something broken. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:39.440 I'm not gonna take the guy in front of me at the ER's word for it. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:51.200 I'm actually going to stand in the holiness of God and realize that actually in his holiness, it's actually health itself and life. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:55.279 And it's revealing where the brokenness is in me. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:58.480 Confession simply means to agree with God. 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:05.920 Like I agreed with the doctor in the x-ray, not the man in the front of us at the ER. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:17.200 Love, 1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:25.680 Where will we stand in the holiness of God, allow it to impact our lives and reveal the areas, then it's not like sit in shame. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:28.240 It's not sit under a weight of guilt. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:32.079 It's not like, hey, you've been such a bad person. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:37.200 That's from the enemy. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:46.960 There is a conviction of the Spirit that's specific that this is a broken area, and you confess it, and Jesus forgives it right away. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:50.160 And that's for many today. 00:28:50.319 --> 00:29:05.920 You've been walking around with so much guilt and so much baggage, and we're gonna take communion at the end of the sermon, and where it's this you're gonna confess, and you're gonna go, God, the way I've been treating my spouse, God, the words that I've been saying, God, the things that I've been putting into my mind. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:06.480 You know what? 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:14.559 That relationship at work, I confess it right now, and he's faithful and just, and he forgives it like the great physician. 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.759 He mends you back together. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:24.720 Convession positions you to experience the grace of God in your life. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:32.960 I love that picture of the seraphim, these angels, these heavenly beings, says one of them flew to the altar. 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:38.240 The altar was the place where the substitute sacrifices were made for the sins of people. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:46.000 He takes a coal from that altar and he touches Isaiah's lip. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:53.680 By the way, sometimes part of the process as we confess and as we get things right with other people is painful. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:56.880 There's like that searing. 00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:01.200 He said, I'm not gonna leave you in that state. 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:03.519 See, this has touched your lips. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:07.680 Your guilt is taken away, your sin is atoned for. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:17.039 That's why he came. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:38.720 Jackie Hill Perry, in a great book on the holiness of God, called Holier Than Thou, writes, the cross reveals God's holiness and how the sinless son was judged on our behalf of sinful people so that when God justifies the guilty, he does so without compromising his righteousness. 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:41.200 How do we encounter God his way? 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:47.759 We first look up and recognize we come before a holy God, completely other. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:50.240 Look in. 00:30:51.440 --> 00:31:00.000 And reverence is the only proper response as we see God for who he is, then we begin to see ourselves as we truly are. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:04.000 And honestly, most of the time that's where we end. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:09.839 And scripturally, that's not where God leaves people anytime they encounter him. 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:18.079 Because every time someone encounters God, there is this looking up, there is this looking in. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:23.920 You can track it through the Old Testament, through the New Testament, and then there's always this looking out. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:30.000 In the presence of a holy God, we actually receive a holy calling. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:32.000 I mean, think about this picture. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:34.960 Isaiah shows up in the temple. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:38.880 He has this encounter with God that causes him. 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:44.079 He gets low, he cries out, Whoa is me! I'm a man of unclean lips. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:45.599 He thinks he's gonna die. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:49.759 He experiences the grace and the forgiveness of God in that moment. 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:52.799 And then God in this moment says, Whom shall I send? 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:54.720 And who will go for us? 00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:05.599 And Isaiah, who just experienced not only the presence of God, but his grace poured out. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.359 He says, Here am I. 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:09.839 Here am I. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:12.000 Send me. 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:26.559 The picture that always goes through my head, and this is an old one, every time I see it, because even in the text here, and I I apologize, um, but like, do you remember Shrek? 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:30.000 Yeah. 00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:31.920 And Donkey. 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:37.839 And Shrek's about to go on his big adventure, and he needs somebody to go with him. 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:40.000 Does anybody want to go? 00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:44.720 I can't do the Shrek accent, but and Donkey's just like jumping up. 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:46.240 Yeah. 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:57.440 I almost feel like after this moment, after all that experience, like he moved from this trepidation to like this jumping up, like, send me. 00:32:58.240 --> 00:32:59.200 Use me. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:01.599 Absolutely. 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:03.440 Are you kidding me? 00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:11.359 That I just met you and I didn't die, but I received grace and forgiveness? 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:13.599 You met with me? 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:15.039 Send me. 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:21.359 Jackie Hill Perry again says, if God is holy, then he can't sin. 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:25.359 If God can't sin, then he can't sin against me. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:31.839 If he can't sin against me, shouldn't that make him the most trustworthy being there is? 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:37.119 Yeah, drop the mic right there, Jackie Hill Perry. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:52.799 And the reason that we don't say, Here am I, sin be me, is we don't trust that God's will and plan and call in our life is good, and we think we have a better plan for our life. 00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.279 Next week we're going to talk about the goodness of God. 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:06.880 But his holiness, shouldn't that make him the most trustworthy being there is? 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.480 And we're like, no, I'm afraid he's gonna send me to Africa, Ryan. 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:18.400 I'm afraid that if I actually follow Jesus, he'll make me miserable. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.960 Well, what is God up to in the world? 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:28.639 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we actually sat with as a staff as we led up to Easter. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:36.960 And if you remember the three by five challenge, which I hope you're still doing, we as a team sat in this passage of what is God up to? 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:38.880 It's what he's always been up to. 00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:40.800 2 Corinthians 5, 17. 00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:44.880 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:47.039 The old is gone, the new is here. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:35:00.079 All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them. 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:01.519 What is God up to? 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:11.599 He's actively reconciling the world to himself through Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross. 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:14.320 And so, what is God inviting you into? 00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:24.239 And he's committed to us the message of reconciliation. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:32.400 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, though God were making his appeal through us, like you're his representatives. 00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:40.480 He's chosen you to make his appeal to reconcile and bring wholeness and restoration to a hurting and broken world. 00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:45.199 Be reconciled to God is Paul's uh calling on the Corinthian church. 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:53.920 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the very righteousness of God. 00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:57.280 Look out. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.079 In the presence of a holy God, we receive a holy calling. 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:14.719 And many of you have been doing that with the three by five challenge as you begin to look at your neighbors, begin to look at your coworkers and your friends, and you realize God has given you the ministry of reconciliation. 00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:24.400 We talked last week that God is self-sufficient, he does not need you. 00:36:26.960 --> 00:36:28.320 It's a humbling thought. 00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:31.119 He needs you in no way. 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:40.719 And yet, what's incredible is he chose to use you and me, and he delights in it. 00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:54.960 When my kids were little, um we'd do different projects around the house, and when we started awakening um, you know, 10 years ago, we didn't have any office space. 00:36:55.199 --> 00:37:03.119 Some incredible people in our church, uh, while we're gone on a trip, they actually helped turn my garage into an office. 00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:04.800 So I came back, it was what a treat. 00:37:05.039 --> 00:37:05.840 I mean, it was amazing. 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:06.800 I just was so cool. 00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:12.000 They spent time and they hung a light and uh I finally had a place to work. 00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:15.760 Uh and one of the things I love is whiteboards. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:17.840 Anybody else love a good whiteboard? 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:18.880 Absolutely. 00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:21.519 Um man, I loved a whiteboard. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:23.519 It's a little too weird. 00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:24.079 I know. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:24.639 Okay. 00:37:26.239 --> 00:37:31.760 And and so one of the we didn't have a whiteboard in there, and I was like, we didn't have any money. 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:33.360 I'm like, I'll make my own whiteboard. 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:35.280 There's whiteboard paint, right? 00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:45.280 And so I went to Home Depot, got one of those big uh sheets of plywood, and got whiteboard paint, and I grabbed my daughter Ella. 00:37:45.599 --> 00:37:47.840 I'm like, let's do this project together. 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:53.760 And so we're out there and she's painting, and I'm painting, and then eventually we hang it up. 00:37:54.639 --> 00:37:55.920 It was so fun. 00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:01.519 Now, here's the thing I did not need Ella's help. 00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:05.920 I was just fine doing it on my own. 00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:16.480 And yet, that memory of doing it with her so precious to me. 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:23.360 See, God doesn't need our help, but he delights it. 00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:33.679 That like we just get to come alongside our heavenly father and work with him and just show up, and he's going, like, hey, come on, I I have I have things for you to do. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:36.800 I I want to invite you into the work that I'm doing. 00:38:36.960 --> 00:38:46.400 And you have a heavenly father that says, I love you getting to be a part of what I'm doing, and you just get to join him and join him, and we get to join him. 00:38:48.079 --> 00:38:57.039 Would you, would you, when you encounter the Holy One, look up. 00:38:57.840 --> 00:38:59.519 See him for who he is. 00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:04.960 As we close in worship and we're going to partake in communion, would you look in? 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:11.760 Would you take time before we before you partake in the elements to look in? 00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:16.079 Is there anything in you that you go, I need to confess? 00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:25.760 And then would you look out to see the world that God loves, that God came for, that God died for. 00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:32.559 And you get in joy to join your heavenly father in the work that he's doing. 00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:38.960 It actually not only is amazing for you, it delights his heart too. 00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:49.760 We're gonna partake in communion together, and I want you to just take time to go through that progression, look up, look in, and then look out. 00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:54.639 And at whatever time you're ready to partake in the elements, you can come forward. 00:39:54.800 --> 00:40:00.800 This is his body broken for us, his blood poured out, that we have life. 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:08.320 And would you just go ahead and, you know, you can come down and maybe just go around the aisle so we don't get kind of like a backlog there? 00:40:08.480 --> 00:40:11.119 That would be great, Heavenly Father. 00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:13.599 Thank you. 00:40:15.519 --> 00:40:18.000 Thank you for revealing yourself. 00:40:19.280 --> 00:40:23.440 Thank you for showing us who you are. 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:32.800 Forgive us for when we bring you down into our world, when we think thoughts that are less of you. 00:40:34.159 --> 00:40:39.920 Would you help us to see you as high and exalted and holy? 00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:48.480 And the Holy One has invited us in. 00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:57.199 And you call us your sons, the daughters. 00:40:57.840 --> 00:40:58.480 Thank you. 00:40:58.719 --> 00:41:00.239 Thank you for your Christ. 00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:01.840 Thank you for your love. 00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:19.119 Jesus' name.com slash card.