Holiness is essential for followers of Christ. At the core of holiness is the understanding that we are set apart from the things of the world and are consecrated to the things of God.
Isaiah 6:1-3 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!”
We see here that holiness is the God-quality that is being lauded and praised in Heaven. It is the holiness of God that is the content for Heaven’s worshipers. The worship of Heaven is perfect because the worshipers fully know what God is like. Their worship reflects it.
Holiness begins with a recognition and reverence for the holiness of God.
We are to relate with God based on the revelation of who He is and what He is calling us into. He isn’t calling us into a casual or occasional relationship, but one that takes seriously Who He is and what He asks of us. Our Holy God calls us to be His people by reflecting His character to the world.
At the root of holiness is the idea of being separate from the world. God doesn’t want us to be ordinary or common. We aren’t supposed to go with the flow or look like the world. God is our standard and reflecting His holiness in the world becomes our mission.
Something is holy if it is separated from common use. It becomes consecrated to be used of God. That is how we are to be. When we are devoted to God and distinct from the world, we are holy and can be used by God for His purposes.
We have to be made holy. We have to be changed to become holy. We are touched by God to be holy, but God is holy from the get-go. God doesn’t have to be separated from anything to be set apart and made holy. He is pure holiness. He is completely, utterly holy. What I am attempting to say is the recognition of God’s holiness is the recognition of God as God. Until you see God’s holiness, you won’t see anything else about Him correctly.
What happened when Isaiah saw the holiness of God is that He truly saw God. God alone is holy, and something happens to the people who see Him in His holiness.
Friends, you can’t come into contact with the holiness of God and not see God and be changed by Him. If we are going to live a life that is separate and devoted to God, we will need to catch a glimpse of His holiness.
Isaiah 6:4-5-4 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!”
Isaiah cried, “I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah was broken. He admitted his guilt. When you have an encounter with the holiness of God, you won’t just become aware of God’s purity, His greatness and glory, power and majesty, but you will see yourself in a new light. God’s holiness is a revealer of what He is, but it is also a revealer of what we are not. We are not holy. We have to be made holy. We have to be separated from our sin in order to become holy and available to be used by God.
I see here in Isaiah’s vision that holiness involves an honest confession of our sinful state.
After seeing the holiness of God, Isaiah was compelled to confess his unholiness. He talked about having unclean lips which was a symptom of an unclean heart. There can be no holiness without a cleansing of the heart. Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) In Psalm 51:10 David prayed for a clean heart. At the root of our unholy states is our unholy hearts. As important as it was for Isaiah to see God and His holiness, it was equally important for him to see himself and his unholiness.
Isaiah realized he wasn’t living right, but it went much deeper than his actions. It involved his heart. He needed to be cleansed of his sin. Before he could be used by God, he had to be cleansed by Him.
Power to change doesn’t flow into a heart and life that won’t confess and repent of sin. Trying harder isn’t the answer. Humbling our hearts is. Don’t let pride keep you from the power to change. Don’t let pride put distance between you and God. Don’t let pride keep you from being someone God can use.
Sin is harmful to us. It brings darkness to our soul and to our mind. It puts distance between us and God. We cannot experience God in His fullness when we allow sin to be resident in us. And if there is something that can be a game-changer while we are on this earth in this unpredictable and often painful place, it is the ability to see and experience God. You want to be able to see God high and lifted up. You need a revelation of His purity and power. Listen, God will never love you more than He does in this moment, but your ability to experience His love will be diminished if you continue to cherish your sin.
Look again at the second half of verse 5: I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. After Isaiah confessed his unholy state, he recognized and commented on the unholiness of the world around him. Holiness includes a rejection of the unholiness in the world.
There are many things that people in the world, that people without Christ do, that are unholy, and we need to denounce those things for ourselves. Unbelievers are living for the here and now and for what the world has to offer-money, power, sensual pleasure. God desires that we live in a holy relationship with Him and pursue the things of the Kingdom which are pretty contrary to the pursuits in the world.
Just as seeing the holiness of God caused a transformation in Isaiah’s life, so too, should the world be able to look to believers and be transformed by the holiness of God as we reflect Him to the world. God revealed Himself to folks in the Old Testament through Divine encounters, through the prophets, and He revealed Himself in the New Testament times through the Incarnation of Jesus. In these days, God reveals Himself through His Church. That is why it is critical that holiness is essential for us to possess and demonstrate.
A little girl was drawing intensely one morning in Sunday School. Her teacher asked, “What are you drawing?” “God,” answered the child. The teacher laughed. “Honey, no one knows what God looks like.” She never looked up from her coloring. “Well, they will when I get through,” she told her. Our holiness is essential if people are going to see what Jesus looks like.
God’s people aren’t exempt from stress, test, trial and adversity, but we are called to look to God to help us get through rather than to rely on self or substances or on any earthly thing to sustain us. Well, Pastor Melissa, what’s the problem with some alcohol to take the edge off, with a pint of ice cream to take our mind off of our troubles, with some sexual exploration or recreational drugs to help us relax? Here is the trouble: Anything we look to in order to satisfy ourselves when we are in need becomes an idol and anything that becomes an idol takes the place God is meant to occupy in our lives. Holy living is about allowing God to be God in our lives at all times.
When we conform to the world’s way of living or coping, we have made an idol out of something and have pushed God out of His rightful place in our lives. That is why it is essential that we pursue holiness.
Our personal holiness isn’t just about God’s image in the world, but it is about our own personal spiritual health. You can’t be spiritually healthy and live an unholy life. Unholy living will give Satan a foothold, and once he has a foothold, he can knock you off balance and you’ll find yourself in a chokehold before long!
Go back to the Isaiah 6 text. 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.”
In this vision a live coal touched Isaiah’s mouth. Heat was applied. It probably wasn’t pleasant in the moment. I can’t imagine having a live coal from our fire pit placed on my lips. That would hurt! Sometimes a little heat from the Holy Spirit is necessary to burn away things that are keeping us from experiencing and expressing God’s holiness.
I see here from Isaiah’s encounter with the Holy God that People who desire holiness welcome the touch of God.
Just as gold is refined in the fire, believers are refined and made holy as they allow the Holy Spirit to touch and transform them from the inside out. We have got to give the Holy Spirit complete access to us in order to accomplish in us what needs to be accomplished in us. For until God’s work is accomplished in us it can’t fully be accomplished through us.
Our passage in verse 8 concludes with Isaiah asking God to send him out. Look at verse 8: 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.”
Here is the bottom line: God uses what He cleanses. God uses what is holy. God uses what is consecrated wholly to Him. He isn’t going to share us part-time with the world if we are going to be His spokesperson.
God called and sent Moses. God called and sent Isaiah. Are you one God can send? Are you one God can speak through? Have you considered the essential nature of the holiness of God? Are you willing to be touched by the Holy Spirit. I’m not talking about emotional hype. I’m talking about a thoughtful, deliberate decision to look at God, to look at yourself, to humble yourself, to allow the Spirit to come close and to confess anything that keeps you from fully reflecting God’s holy nature followed by a willingness to say, “I’ll go. Send me.”
