Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - The Message You Don't Want To Hear | God Is: Part 4

Episode Date: March 27, 2022

Did you know that holiness is mentioned 637 times in the Bible? It’s an attribute of God that many people don’t want to hear about, but it’s one we need the most. What’s so important about God’s holiness? We’ll find out in this message.  ABOUT THIS MESSAGEWhen you see God Is _____ what comes to mind? How can any of us really know what God's like? Too often, we view Him from our limited perspective, but it doesn't have to be that way. Together, let's discover how to fill that space with truth. WE’RE OPENWe’re continuing to monitor guidelines and best practices for gathering in a safe way. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIId...Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #holiness Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You may have noticed that at the beginning of most messages, I try to say something that creates interest. What I want to do is I want to try to draw you in. Well, today I'm going to do the opposite. Instead of trying to tell you why I think you're going to love this message, I'm actually going to tell you why you may not like the theme that I'm covering. We're in a message series called God is, and we're talking about the attributes of God.

And the one that I'm going to share with you today, some say is the least popular attribute of God. But even though it may be the least popular, it is the most mentioned, it's mentioned 637 times in Scripture. 637 times. Some people would say it's the least popular. Some theologians would say it's the most important. I want to warn you, and I want to help you prepare your heart.

Because when you experience this attribute of God, it may shake you, it will likely stir you. You may honestly drop to your knees in repentance. You may fall on your face in worship. You see, the attribute of God that you don't want to hear, maybe the attribute of God that you need the most. Okay, so maybe I still hope to draw you in a little bit. The attribute of God I want to talk to you today about is the holiness of our God.

Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you're holy, you're righteous, you're good, you're loving, and that you are here. And God, we pray as we experience you and recognize your holiness that we would be humbled, even repentant, and worship you, God, in spirit and in truth

because you, God, alone, are worthy of our praise. Speak to us, stir us, shake us today. We pray in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. We're going to start today in the book of Isaiah, and we're going to be in the sixth chapter of Isaiah. And I want to read a big portion of Scripture to you from verses one through verse four.

And scripture says this, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on a throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings, With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, with two they were flying, and they were calling to one another,

holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. At the sound of their voices, the doorpost and the thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. I'll give you a, a little bit of background on this very powerful text.

The context was this. Isaiah said it was the year that King Uzziah died. You may not know a lot about Uzziah, but he actually started to reign when he was 16 years of age, and he was the king for 52 years, so literally over half of a century. And when he died, as you can imagine, the people felt incredibly unstable.

When the prophet says this was the year that King Uzziah died, he could have said this was the end of the era. This was the season when people felt anxious. This was the season when people felt scared. This is when they felt unsettled. This was the season that a lot of people feel like a lot of people feel right now. Unsettled with all that's going on in the world. And in the turmoil, in the tension, in the anxiety, the prophet saw the Lord high and lifted up, exalted, seated on a throne and his robe filled the entire temple. And scripture says above him were these six-winged preachers called seraphim that were worshipping God. You may say, what is a seraph or what are seraphim? Interestingly enough,

this is the only time in all of scripture where we read anything about a seraph. What is seraph or seraphim mean? It literally means burning ones. And we don't know exactly what they look like, but here is one artist's rendition of what a sixth-winged creature may look like as they were worshipping God. If you could imagine six wings, with two of them they would use to fly. Two, they covered their faces to shield themselves from the overwhelming glory of God. With two, they covered their feet because they were positioned near holy ground. And they sang in Hebrew, Kadoosh!

Kadoosh! Kadoosh! I took Hebrew back when I was in cemetery, excuse me, back when I was in seminary years ago, and Kadoosh looks like this. You read it from the right to the left, and they sang Kadoosh, Kadoosh, Kadoosh, which means holy, holy, holy. In the Hebrew language, they do what people do in all sorts of languages.

would underline something for emphasis, they would circle it, and they would often do what we do as they would repeat something for emphasis. Jesus did this in the New Testament when he said, verily, verily, I say unto you. Matthew McConaughey says, all right, all right, all right. We do this with our kids, don't we, when we repeat something for emphasis.

Don't you do, don't do, don't, don't you make me come back there right now. Don't do, don't put that one, two, one, one, two, don't make me count. three, don't you do that? We do the same thing. We repeat something for emphasis, and this in the Hebrew language was the most common form of emphasizing something for meaning, not just once, not just twice, but the highest emphasis, God is holy, holy, holy. Interestingly enough, this is the only attribute of God in all of Scripture this mentioned three consecutive times. You never read about the mercy, mercy, mercy of God.

You never read about the justice, justice, justice of God. You don't even read about the love, love, love of God. But what you do see is, Kadoosh, Kadoosh, Kadoosh. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. In our culture today, the word holiness, it kind of gets thrown around broadly. You might, if you grew up in the church world, you might think of holy, communion, or you might think of holy matrimony, or you might think of the Holy Ghost, or if you're a Monty Python fan, you might think of Holy Grail. I don't know when you grew up,

but somebody surely would remember that. In culture, unfortunately, sometimes holy is matched with a word that's not so holy. And we won't say those today because we're trying to be holy, but they're often even paired with regular words like holy cow or holy moly or holy smoke or some people say holy hell which doesn't make any sense at all because hell is not holy but holiness when you think about it even when it's attributed to people sometimes holiness attributed to Christians is often negative when people make fun of Christians for being holy they might say they're once a holy rollers or they're holier than thou what they're saying is they're kind of really. They're kind of mean, they're kind of judgmental.

They're holier than thou. They're a bunch of holy rollers. What exactly does holy mean if we're attributing this to God? What is holiness mean? Well, what holiness means is it means separate, it means set apart. It literally means, in the Hebrew language, it means to cut, or it means a cut above. It means a cut above. It means separate.

For example, there's a preacher named Tony Evans. Somebody over here likes Tony. I just heard a little, whoo, come out of there. And Tony refers to this as an example about dishes in the home. Because everybody has their ordinary dishes. You might have some dishes that you got at Target or Walmart or Bedbath and Beyond. I just like saying Bedbath and Beyond. I don't even know what the Beyond is, but I like it.

I want to know. I want Bed Bath and Beyond. Whatever the Beyond is, I want them on Beyond. So you've got your bedbath and beyond dishes or your target dishes or whatever, and those are your ordinary dishes where you eat mighty goulash, you might eat macaroni and cheese, they're your ordinary dishes. But when the important days come around, if you happen to be blessed enough to have your grandmas fine china, they don't go where the normal dishes go.

They are set apart. They're in another part of the kitchen, high and lift it up, and you don't eat ordinary food. on grandma's fine China. In fact, you may set them out, but even in our house, when they're sitting out, you're not even really allowed to eat on them. You can look at them, but you don't eat it. You don't, and you wash them by hand. These are the, these are the holy set. They are high and lifted up. God is set apart. God is separate. God is a cut above. He is set apart, and you may say from what? And the answer is, from everything.

From everything and everyone and everything that's ever been created, our God is set apart. Exodus 1511 is a question, who amongst the God is like you? Who is like you, majestic and holiness? What is God? He is completely, thoroughly, fully, fully, entirely. holy. He is all good and pure and righteous and perfect without fault, without blemish.

He is infinite. He is immutable. He is immeasurable. He is incomprehensible. Who is like our God? You have to understand he's set apart. He's different. He is self-existent. He is self-sustaining. He is self-sufficient. God has wisdom. that he didn't need to learn. God has strength that he didn't need to earn. God has a love that he didn't have to receive in order to know how to give. He is the God who was and the God who is and the God who is to come.

Come on, somebody, there is no one like our God. And in the year of the King Uzziah died and everybody was unsettled, the prophet of God saw the Lord high. and lifted up. And these beings were worshipping him. Holy, holy, holy, holy. And in the presence of the God who is set apart, in the presence of the God to whom there is no other, in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God, Isaiah cried out, whoa, to me. I'm ruined. Another version says, I'm undone. Why? He said, for in the presence of God, I recognize I am a man of unclean lips,

and I live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty. The one of the seraphim, then one of the seraphim, flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken from the tongs of the altar. With it, he touched my mouth and said, see this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. What I want you to notice is what Isaiah didn't do and what he did do. Notice what he didn't do. Isaiah didn't join the seraphim praising God. He didn't worship.

What he did in the presence of a holy God was he confessed. He cried out, I'm unworthy, I'm undone, wo to me, I'm ruined. And what did God do to draw out that confession from Isaiah? And the answer is, God didn't say a word. God just was. God just was. He was just so holy. His presence alone was enough to convict the prophet Isaiah that he needed forgiveness.

And what did Isaiah say? Think about this. He said, I am a man. of unclean lips. Who said this? A prophet said this. What does a prophet do? A prophet prophesize. A prophet speaks on behalf of God. And a prophet whose most holy body part, that which speaks truth, is the very first thing that he said, even my lips are unclean. I'm unworthy. In the presence of God, I recognize just how sinful I really am.

In fact, it was Billy Graham who said this. It's only when we understand the holiness of God, will we understand the depth of our sin. Woe to me, I'm unclean. This is fascinating to me if you watch what Isaiah did, is the first thing he did is he confessed his own sinfulness. He said, woe to me, I am a man of unclean lips. He confessed his sinfulness before he acknowledged the

sinfulness of his community. He said, I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. He confessed his sin first, which a lot of self-righteous Christians do the opposite, don't they? A lot of self-righteous Christians walk around pointing out everybody else's sin. Can you believe she did this? And oh my gosh, we have to pray for her because she just walks in here looking like she's missed so-and-so and we've got to lift her up in prayer because the way she acts like that. Oh, she's so full of herself and she's not full of the spirit like I am. We got to lift her up before the Lord Jesus Christ right now and pray that the Holy Ghost comes upon her and redeems her from her lustful sins. A lot of self-righteous people point out

the sins of other people. But you can only be self-righteous when you compare yourself to other people. Because when you're in the presence of God, you're not worried about their sin. You're just aware of your own sin. And in the presence of a Holy God, he says, I'm ruined. I'm sinful. I'm lost. I'm undone. I am destroyed.

It's interesting to notice what Isaiah didn't do and to notice what God did do. Isaiah didn't even negotiate with God. He didn't say, God, you know, if you just forgive me this one time, like I promise I'll never do this again. Like, God, I'm sorry. I said the thing I shouldn't have said, and I haven't had the purest thoughts. God, if you'll just forgive me now, I promise you, I'll read my U-Virgin Bible life every single day, and I'll go to life group right now, and I'll serve in church, and I'll be on the front row all the time. God, just let me go.

Please forgive me. He didn't beg for forgiveness. God initiated the forgiveness, and God sent a seraph with a burning coal that touches Isaiah's lips. God is the one who sent the seraph, and Scripture says this. God says, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. You see, our God is so good that he initiated the atonement. God initiated the atonement in the same way he does with us. New Testament. Romans 5-8, that while we were still sinners, lost in our lust, lost in our lying, lost in our deception, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Who is our God? He is holy, holy, holy. There is no one like him. He is high and lifted up. He is set apart. He is a cut above. There is no one like our God. I heard Jackie Hill Perry do a message on this subject,

and she had a quote that I wanted to share with you. She said this. She said, if God is holy, then he can't sin. If God can't sin, then he can't sin against you. if he can't sin against you, shouldn't that make him the most trustworthy being there is? What I want you to understand is, because God is holy, you can trust in him. You can put your faith in him. You can cast your cares upon him because he always cares for you.

If you're hurting, if you're afraid, you can cry out to him. You can run to him. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's always been faithful. He's always been good. He's always loving. There is nothing you can do to make him love you more, and there's nothing you can do to make him love you less,

because he is holy, holy, holy. there is no darkness in him. He never sins. He cannot lie. Therefore, you can always trust him. And watch what happens to the prophet Isaiah. He experiences in this raw, vulnerable moment when the nation is shaking in fear.

He sees a vision of the Lord high and lifted up. He's aware of his own sinfulness. And he cries out to God when Scripture says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, the prophet says, whom shall I sinned and who will go for us? And in the presence of an atoning and a holy and a redeeming God, the prophet responded, here am I, sinned me.

Because of your holiness, because of your righteousness, because of your goodness, because of your atonement, because you initiated forgiveness to one who was undone and unclean and unworthy. I'll go anywhere. You name the place. You name the time. You give me the assignment. Whatever it is.

My answer is yes. You send me. My answer is yes. Here I am. I'll go. You want me to give? I'll give. You want me to serve?

I'll serve. You want me to worship? I'll worship. You want me to love? I'll love. You want me to forgive? I'll forgive. I'll forgive.

What's your assignment? God? I'm your guy. Anytime. Anywhere. God, you're so. holy, what else can I do? Have, I'll give it to you.

What do you want? My answer is yes. That's how good you are. When is the last time you've been stunned by the holiness of a God so set apart and yet when you didn't deserve it, he sent Jesus for you? He said, I'm going to join a church,

I'm going to become religious. My only reason will respond. is yes, anything, everything, anywhere, and any time, whatever you want. My answer is yes, that's how good you are, God. It's how amazing you are, God. How could I ever say no to you, God? Here I am. Please send me. I want you to watch as the man who was a prophet and recognize his own sinfulness. The prophet with unclean lips in chapter six. One chapter later, one chapter after being stunned by the presence of a holy God,

the prophet with unclean lips prophesies 700 years before the birth of Christ. One chapter later, the prophet with unclean lips declares, before the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel. Who is this? This is the son of God. This is Jesus.

This is divine. This is the good shepherd. This is the Lamb of God. This is the door through which you enter. This is the one who laid down his life that we could be forgiven. This is God, this is the holy, holy, holy. The kadoosh, kadoosh, kadoosh. In the flesh, that's Jesus.

And I don't know about you, but I am thankful for a Savior who didn't come for the righteous, but came for those with unclean lips. He didn't come for the holy, we could say, but he came for the unholy. He didn't come for the healthy, but he came for the sick. I don't know why you guys are sitting down. I think maybe you may want to stand to you.

your feet. And all of our churches, you may want to, you may want to stand to your feet because you serve a God who initiated atonement while you were still sinning. While you were far from God, he became one of you in the person of his son, Jesus. He wants breaks my heart and has to break the heart of God. And I'm going to do everything within my power. and thankfully have a power greater than mine. I'm going to do everything I can to help turn the tide because there's some people in an emerging generation that are leaving Christianity.

There are many who are converting to Christianity and someone would say they're converting away. They've been disappointed by the church and what do we have to say? We've been disappointing so many times. And they don't understand and they have questions and we haven't helped them wrestle with integrity with those questions.

and they're walking away. Let me tell you why I got to stay because I got nowhere else to go because I've never been loved like this because there's no one like him. There's no one like my God. There's no one like my God. He initiated.

He initiated while I was sinning. He loved me. Psalm 35, David said, with every bone in my body. With everything in my body, I will praise the Lord. He asked the question, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? Who else protects the helpless and the poor from those who rob them?

Who else can save you? Who else can heal you? Who else can forgive your sins? Who else redeems you? Who else can comfort you? Who else will never leave you and never forsake you? Who else is always for you? Because if my God is for you, then no man can be against you.

Who is God? He is Kados, Kadoos, Kadoos, Kadoos. He is holy, holy, holy. And when you experience the holiness of God, I got to warn you, it will stir you. It will shake you. You may want to fall on your knees in repentance, or you may want to fall on your face in worship, because there's no one like him. And he's here right now.

And he's holy right now. And he's always been holy. And in the presence of His holiness, our only reasonable response is yes, anything, anywhere, any time, all of me. Send me, I'll go. You won't worship, I'll worship. He is the only one worthy of our praise. So church, would you lift up your hands, lift up your voices, and worship the one who is holy, holy, holy.

In an attitude of worship in the presence of our holy God, just remain standing today at all of our locations. If you're watching at home, you might even be at work right now. You may just want to stand up in the presence. of a holy God and take a moment to recognize just what this means. He is high and exalted. He is a cut above. He is separate. There is no one like him. And I want to take a moment to talk to you as you're standing in the presence of God and acknowledge that when we experience His holiness, we often become aware of our sinfulness. And the more I've been studying,

attributes of God, the more, and I want to tell you in a good way, I've just been repentant of the things in my life that shouldn't be in my life. And it's a good thing, because God is cleaning out that what separates me from him. And so as you're worshiping today, I just want to give you a moment in the presence of the holiness of our God to confess something before God. If there's a sin you'd like to confess, something that you've been struggling with, a shortcoming, if there's unforgiveness, if you're battling with a temptation you can't seem to overcome, if you find yourself envying or greedy or battling with lust or finding yourself jealous or whatever it might be. Doesn't matter. Don't be embarrassed. In the presence of a holy God, if you want to confess something

today, would you just lift up your hands right now? Just lift up your hands and say, I want to confess something before God. I want to remind you this scripture says, when you confess your sins, God is faithful and just. He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So Father, we thank you that even right now in this holy moment, that you're doing a work in our lives just like you did in the life of the prophet Isaiah. God, we're aware. And we thank you that you initiate forgiveness and we confess these sins. Cleanse us, God. Forgive us, God. Make us more like your son, Jesus. We thank you for your goodness.

We thank you for your grace. As you continue praying today at all of our different churches or those of you online without anybody looking around, there are some of you that may not know exactly where you stand with God. When we talk about a holy God, you may feel like, oh, my gosh, he's so distant and so far away, but I want to tell you about who he is. He is not a God who is far off,

but he is a God who showed up in the person of his son, Jesus. Jesus is God in the flesh. And who did Jesus hang around? He hung around broken people and lost people and hurting people and lying people and prostitutes and tax collectors and really sinful people like me and sinful people like you. You might be feeling drawn to him right now and you're not sure why. It's because he loves you because His Holy Spirit is drawing you. And what I want you to understand is God was loving you even when you didn't know it.

And he initiated the atonement. He sent his sinless son, Jesus. Who is Jesus? He's the Lamb of God. He was without blemish. He was perfect. He was holy, holy, holy. He was God in the flesh.

And because he was perfect in every way, he could be the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. On a cross, Jesus became sin and died in our place. And three days later, oh, we're gonna celebrate it, three days later, the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty, God raised Jesus from the dead so that anybody, and this includes you, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter how dark your life is, anybody.

This includes you, anybody who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven, and you would be made brand new today. Wherever you're watching from, there are some of you, you feel the heaviness of the guilt and shame from your sinfulness. when you cry out to Jesus, you're new. You're new, you're new.

You're new, you're not better, you're new. The old is gone and you become new. Today, wherever you're watching, those who say, yes, I need that grace. We're stepping away from our old life. We're stepping toward Jesus. When you experience the holiness of God, your answer is yes, take it all my life.

Yes, here I am, send me, yes, I give my life to you. Yes, I'm not playing, this isn't joining a church. This is full on, complete surrender to the holiness and the goodness of God. I'm stepping away from the old. I'm surrendering my life to you. My answer is yes. Save me.

I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place. Lift them up. Oh, my gosh. As we see people right over here, over here, come on, somebody. Come on, my gosh.

Praise God for you. As we see people to all of our churches, those of you online, hey, just type it in the comment section. I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. Type that in there right now. I'm saying yes. I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. And now, church, in the presence of our holy God,

Would you do the honor of praying together with those being born into the family of God? Nobody prays alone. Everybody pray aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, I give you my life. Jesus, forgive my sins. Save me. Make me new. Fill me with your Holy Spirit so I can know you and I can serve you.

I can live for you. My answer is yes. Anywhere, anytime. Send me. Thank you for new life. I give you all of mine. You are holy, holy, holy. I worship you.

Thank you for saving me. Take all of my life in Jesus' name. Could somebody worship the goodness of God and celebrate new life in Christ?