Holy, Holy, Holy
Hymns (2022)

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Good morning, church! We’re continuing our series today entitled, “Hymns, Singing Praises to our God.” Our theme verse for this series is found in Psalm 40:3. It reads like this, “He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” Over the past few weeks, we’ve been going through different classic hymns. We’ve looked at “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art” and “Blessed Assurance.” This morning, we’re going to consider the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy;” not so much the song, but the topic. We are going to look at the scripture for that hymn and see what the scripture reveals to us.

As we look at this hymn , the lyrics were written by a British pastor and poet named Reginald Weber. Weber was born in Cheshire, England in 1783. He was a preacher’s kid and later succeeded his father in his father’s church. Later, as he approached his forties, he felt called to missions and in 1822 he was appointed to the mission field of India. While he was in India one day preaching in a small village on a very hot day, he became overcome with heat and, seeking to cool himself down in a pool of water, actually experienced a stroke and passed away in 1826.

Thereafter, in that same year, his widow discovered in the trunk of his belongings, fifty-seven hymns that Weber had written. Among those fifty-seven hymns was the hymn, “Holy, Holy Holy.” She had the hymn published and later had the tune added to the hymn to make it the hymn that we know today. The hymn is unique in both its theme and in its stately tune. The theme invites us to join in the heavenly praise that perpetually takes place in the heavens and throughout the millennia, to join with the seraphim,the cherubim and the angelic host in heaven.

As you look at the lyrics to this hymn, , there’s no cheap emotionalism or sentimentality. It is magnificent and stately in its theme and it draws us up to heaven.

Neither is the tune what you’d call just an ordinary tune. Written by John Bacchus Dykes and is called “Nicaea.” Nicaea has a unique elegance and magnificence, which in turn complements Heber’s stately language. But perhaps what makes this hymn most unique and memorable is its repetition of the phrase, “Holy, holy, holy,” at the beginning of all four verses, praising God for His holiness.

Now, if someone calls you “holy,” do you take that as a compliment? We tend to be concerned if somebody says we are “holy.” Often, we think that the person is calling us “holier than thou” or a “holy roller” if we get too excited about worship. We often think of “holy” in a negative light. We think of it as being some sort of this perfectionism or sinlessness. We really don’t understand the word, “holy,” but when we look at the scripture, in fact, before we even open the book, it says “Holy Bible,” right at the top.

When we start reading the bible, we start seeing that the bible says that God is holy. He, then, calls us as believers that we are to be holy and we don’t even understand the word. What does this word, “holy,” mean? What does it mean to say that God is holy and that we are to be holy too.

I would say this about this phrase, “Holy, Holy, Holy;” as you look at the scripture, there’s no place in scripture where it says, “God is love, love, love.” You can find that God is love, but it’s ‘God is love.” “God is peace.’ There’s only one place that it repeats three times; it’s in the book of Isaiah and then again in the New Testament in the book of Revelation.

“Holy, Holy Holy; there’s something about this description that seems to describe all that God is together. This is what Dr Harold Wilmington says, “God’s holiness is a single perfection that would perhaps come closer to describing the eternal Creator than any characteristic He possesses. It is the union of all other attributes, as pure white light is the union of all the colored rays of the spectrum.” To say that God is holy, is to say something about Him that’s unique to Him.

In Isaiah 6, we see that the Lord gave Isaiah a revelation of His holiness. He saw God in His holy estate and in His holiness. I believe today that God wants to reveal His holiness to us as we consider this. I think that we can understand God’s holiness by looking at the four insights that we will find in our scripture today; for insights into what it means to have God in His holiness revealed to us.

Let’s look at the text today. Isaiah 6:1-8 (ESV) 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train ofhis 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. This is God’s word. Amen! Four insights into God’s holiness: 1. His holiness reveals our separation.

These first four verses are amazing in their grandeur and in their majesty. Isaiah tells us this, “I saw the Lord;” we see some details here. We don’t see all the details that he could have seen, perhaps, but we do see this much: 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. 2 Above him stood the seraphim.”

Seraphim, in the Hebrew, is the idea of a fiery something; a fiery angelic being. They had six wings. He actually saw the seraphim more clearly than he did the Lord. He saw aspects of the Lord, but he didn’t see Him fully. He could see that he was seated on the throne. He could see He was high and lifted up. But, beyond that, there’s no recording of any further revelation of seeing Him.

In John 1, we read that no one has seen God at any time, but the Son has made Him known. Jesus has made Him known. If you want to see a full revelation of God, you have to look to Jesus for that. He saw a partial revelation here, but beyond what he saw is what he heard.

3 “And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” He heard, “Holy, holy, holy.” He heard the seraphim calling this out, singing this as if it had gone on since eternity past. Why is “holy, holy, holy” repeated three times? In Hebrew, it’s pronounced, “qāḏôš.” Why is it repeated three times?

As we learned, as we were studying Zachariah a few weeks ago, in the Hebrew language, if they wanted to intensify the meaning of the word, they would repeat it. Instead of saying, “more holy ,” they would say, “holy, holy, holy” and instead of saying the most holy, they would say, “holy, holy, holy” to intensify its meaning, showing that God is the most holy of all.

When my daughter was first becoming a teenager, we had this pattern that we had followed throughout her childhood. When it was bedtime, we would have this little game where I would say, “I love you” and she’d say, “I love you more.” Then I’d say, “I love you the most.” She would go running to bed and try to get under the covers before she would say, “I love you infinity!” Well, how do you top that one?

That’s what the seraphim were saying; He is “holy to infinity.” He’s the most holy. There is no one like Him. That’s what the word, “holy,” really points to. It’s not just His sinlessness and His moral perfection, which is certainly in view, but it’s His “otherness.” In fact, many theologians refer to God as the “wholly Other.” Now, that sounds like the same word, but it’s not. It’s spelled “wholly,” as in completely other. He’s not part of creation. He’s the creator. He is the “wholly other.” He is “completely other” and, unless He reveals Himself to us, we cannot know Him. There’s a vast gulf of separation between God and man. Unless He builds a bridge, we can’t approach Him. That’s what it means, when we say He is holy, is His complete otherness, His wholly otherness and his utter transcendence.

Henry Thiessen writes this, “God is holy means that He is absolutely separate from and exalted above all His creatures and creation, and He is entirely separate from all moral evil and sin.” To say God is holy is to say He is beyond our reach unless He reaches to us.

R. C. Sproul says, “God alone is holy in Himself. The word holy is used as a synonym for His deity and calls attention toall that God is. It reminds us that His love is holy love, His justice is holy justice, His mercy is holy mercy, His knowledge is holy knowledge, and His spirit is holy spirit.” He is set apart. That’s what the word “holy” means. It means “to be separate, set apart. “

Another aspect of God’s “otherness” might be considered in the thrice repetition of “holy, holy holy” in that He is the three in one. He is God in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

John Calvin wrote, “The ancients quoted this passage when they wished to prove that there are three persons in one essence of the Godhead…. I have no doubt that the angels here describe One God in Three Persons.” They quoted this verse, “Holy, holy, holy” as proof of the Trinity.

You might take note of verse eight that we read a moment ago to further consider this proof of His Trinity. Notice the pronouns God uses when He speaks of Himself, 8 “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Whom shall I send (singular pronoun) and who will go for us (plural pronoun) in the same verse. This is God. He is one God, revealed to us in three Persons. This points even further to His otherness; His holiness.

Do you understand the Trinity? I see you shaking your head “No.” I’m with you, brother. The rest of you need to be honest; you don’t understand it. It’s beyond you. The only way we know it is by revelation; it’s been revealed to us. So God has taught us that this is His nature, but it’s beyond our understanding. I could give you several ideas of how to understand it, but I have to admit to you that no one fully understands our God; He is beyond us. He is separate from us. He is holy.

This passage started off somewhat strangely. We’re getting ready to step into the “throne room” and he has this little intro, 1 “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord.” What was this? This is the date entry of his diary for the day, like May 15th being today. That’s how they would date things in those days, that it would be according to the birth, death and reigns of kings. They didn’t have a common calendar like we do today, 2022 years since Christ was here. We have a common calendar. Jesus interrupted history and that’s how we count the days now, but they didn’t have that then. Perhaps that’s his devotional date, but I think it’s more. I think it’s kind of like this: ‘In the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the true king.’ Uzziah was King of Judah at the age of 16 years and was considered a great king who reigned for 52 years. His death in 739 BC, would have marked the end of a time of great peace and security and the beginning of a time of great uncertainty for Judah. He didn’t finish well; we won’t go into that, but he was king for so long that people were born, lived and died under his reign. There was a sense of peace. They had peace from Assyria, from Egypt and from the surrounding nations.

This was a season where you didn’t have to worry about inflation, the price of gas, whether or not you could find baby milk or who was president. King Uzziah was on the throne. But he died. It would be like saying, ‘In the year 2001, after 911, I saw the Lord.’ It would be like saying, ‘In the year 2020, when the whole world was struggling with Covid 19, I saw the Lord.’ That seems to be more of the sense like the minute you think the world is falling apart and coming unglued, God has not left his throne. God has not stepped down. God has not stepped down from His holy throne. He is sovereign. He is the king.

In the very year when things looked as bad as they could get, Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord, seated on his throne. He was high and lifted up.” “The Lord” is mentioned four times in this passage. In verse one and eight, “the Lord,” “Adonai,” in the Hebrew, which means, “Master, Lord.” Then, in the other two places in verse three and verse five, we see it as “the LORD,” which, in the English, shows us that we have the name, “Yahweh,” which is the covenantal name of God. Yahweh of hosts or Yahweh of heaven’s armies. We see both titles and names being used.

“Seraphim” has the idea of fiery ones; these were fiery angelic beings, strange creatures. You don’t see these flying around here. They had six wings; apparently, they only needed two of them to fly. The other four served as coverings. Alexander MacLaren categorizes them as: “The Wings of Reverence they covered their faces before a holy God. The Wings of Humility, The less comely and inferior parts of that fiery host were veiled lest they should be seen by the Eyes that see all things. The Wings for Service, the emblem of joyous, buoyant, unhindered motion.”

There’s no one like Him. He is singular and distinct; we could not know Him unless He reveals Himself to us. His glory, however, is upon the earth. It says, “the whole earth is full of His glory.” What is “glory?” “Glory” is the manifestation of God. It’s the beauty of God. We cannot see God, but we can perceive His glory. You can’t look into the sun without going blind, but you can see the spectrum of light at daylight. You can see the reflection of the sun at night from the moon. You can see the glory of the sun, but you can’t really see the sun without going blind. No one can see God but His glorious manifest upon the earth.

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.” When they said, “Holy, holy, holy,” it says he not only saw, but he heard. He feels the foundations of the thresholds of the temple shake. Now, this is not the temple in Jerusalem, This is the temple in glory. This is the temple in the heavens. The temple shook and was filled with smoke, much as it did whenever God’s manifest presence was present in the Tabernacle in the wilderness during the time of Moses’ revealing the awesome majesty of God, while still concealing him from human eyes. He saw the Lord. but not really. He experienced the Lord through his senses, but not fully. He’s the “wholly other.”

Hannah wrote, when the Lord opened her womb and gave her a son named Samuel, 1 Samuel 2:2 (ESV) “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besidesyou ; there is no rock like our God.”

There’s no one like Him. There’s no one like Him. He’s “holy, holy, holy.” He’s not “the man upstairs.” He’s not that image that you have of some old man with a cane and a long beard. He’s the wholly other. There’s no one like Him. There’s a vast gulf of separation between man and God unless He bridges it.

Weber writes in his first verse, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning, my song shall rise to thee. Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty. God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.” He invites us, by speaking of Himself, to join with the heavenly host, singing that ever repeated phrase, “Holy, holy, holy.” This is the first insight; God in His holiness reveals our separation.

Here’s the second insight into God’s holiness: 2. His holiness exposes our sinfulness.

We see, in verse five, Isaiah’s response to the revelation of God’s holiness. Circle the word, “woa,” in your text. That’s not a word that we use a lot. This is not a word that is used here to get a horse to stop. That’s not what we’re talking about here; it is not about putting the brakes on your horse. This is a different kind of word here. It’s actually a sound in Hebrew, “’ôy.” It’s more like a guttural urge that comes up from the bottom of your soul. That’s what Isaiah had seen that had broken him. He saw the Lord in His holiness and it broke him. He says, “woe is me.” In other words, it’s a phrase of lament. He said, “I am lost!” Or as other translations “I am ruined” (NIV) or even better, “I am undone” (KJV). God’s revealed holiness exposed Isaiah’s sinfulness. I really like this one, “I am undone;” God’s revealed holiness exposed Isaiah’s sinfulness.

Isaiah says, 5 “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!” I’m a simple man. I come from a long generation of sinful men. I’ve seen the king, the Lord of hosts. I’m undone by this. Anyone who rightly has caught a glimpse of God of the bible, the God of revelation, if you’re not undone, you can’t be redone. If you’re not undone by it, you can’t be reborn.

The beginning place is to recognize that you are lost. Spurgeon says this, “God will never do anything with us till he has first of all undone us.” Have you been undone by the revelation of God’s holiness? When Isaiah writes in Isaiah 64, perhaps, he’s still contemplating this vision. He says, in Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV) “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.” The best righteousness we have is as filthy rags.

Peter had a similar experience. Jesus came to him as He was preaching on the shore. Peter had been up all night fishing; he’s a professional fisherman and caught nothing, but he was doing the things he could do that morning. He was cleaning his nets, sitting there on the beach, probably exhausted thinking about getting breakfast and taking a nap. Then Jesus says, ‘Hey, can I use your boat? The crowd is pressing in and it would be a good platform to preach from.’ Peter replies, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ you know. Jesus gets on the boat. Then, He says to Peter, ‘Hey, let’s go fishing. Push out into deep water. Let’s go fishing.’ Peter’s says, ‘Lord, I fished all night. Now look, You’re a rabbi. You probably don’t know much about fishing . It’s the wrong time of day to fish. I didn’t catch anything all night and I’m a professional, but because You say so, okay.’ They go out and they cast their nets. They’re catching nothing. Jesus says for him to cast on the other side. When he does, immediately the net becomes so full that it begins to tip the boat over like they caught a whale or something like that. When he starts pulling up, it’s full of fish. The biggest catch that this professional fisherman had ever seen. Peter calls ashore and asks James and John to bring their boat. Their boat starts sinking. When this happens, we see Peter’s response in Luke 5:8 (ESV) “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter caught a glimpse that this is not an ordinary man. This man is holy; this is the Lord. He calls him Lord here.

When I was in high school, I had learned to play the guitar. I was kind of self taught. Some family members knew how to play and I’d pick up things mostly. I would drop a needle on this thing called a “record.” Young people, talk to your parents about it. They’ll tell you later. I would just keep dropping the needle in the same place and figure out the little leads and stuff. When I was in high school, I would play at gatherings and parties and stuff like that. All of my high school buddies would say to me, “Dude, you are good.” I thought, well, I’ll go to college and major in music. I tried out to be a classical guitar major; I had two auditions for placement for the grade I would be placed in and what level they would let me enter. When I tried out they said I wasn’t good enough to be placed at the freshman level. They gave me a remedial semester to catch up . That’s pretty humbling. I went from an all star to a nobody. I was “undone” by that audition. I found out there were guys and gals that had greater ability than me; I just had never encountered them.

I used to play tennis all of the time. In fact, when I was 28 years old, I was working for a drug store corporation whose home offices were down in Florida. Every year, we’d go down there for a week-long conference. This particular year, they had a tennis competition. All of the people that worked for the company and all of the “jobbers” that sold to the company entered the tennis competition. I won; I came in first place. I was really proud of my tennis ability at age 28. I got a Sony Sound system as the winner; that was back when they gave you speakers this tall guys, do you remember that? I was playing tennis two or three times a week. Then this kid started coming to our church from Barton College, his name was Anthony. He played on the Barton College tennis team. He says to me, “Pastor, I hear you play tennis a lot.” I told him that I did. He says, “Well, let’s play this coming week.” I was thinking, awesome, I’m gonna beat this kid. This kid that played for the Barton College tennis team humbled me. I didn’t win a single point off this kid. I wanted to throw my racket away afterwards. I was “undone” by this kid’s tennis ability.

Max Lucado says this, “You don’t impress the officials at NASA with a paper airplane. You don’t boast about your crayon sketches with Picasso. And you don’t boast about your goodness in the presence of the Perfect.” . Have you been “undone” yet? Have you recognized that you’re a sinner?

The second verse of Weber’s hymn goes like this: “Holy, Holy, Holy, All the Saints adore thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the Glassy Sea. Cherubim and Seraphim, falling down before thee, who wert and art and evermore shall be.”

Have you recognized your own sinfulness? It’s the beginning of knowing that you need a Savior, which leads us to the third insight.

3. His holiness demands our sanctification.

We cannot approach a holy God because of this vast gulf of separation, because we are sinful and He is holy, unless He does something to build a bridge that makes us holy, which is what the word “sanctification” means. It means “to be made holy.” His holiness demands that we must be made holy in order to approach Him. The minute that Isaiah says, “I am undone,” we have verse six; one of the seraphim, one of those fiery creatures, one of these angelic beings, flew to him. Apparently the being not only has wings, but he has hands. Verse 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. He took it from the altar with a set of tongs. He didn’t want to put it in his hand. You don’t pick up a piece of coal with your hand! He picked it up with some tongs and came flying to Isaiah with it. I think Isaiah must have froze, because he didn’t run. The seraphim touched his lips with it. The minute that Isaiah said, ‘I’m a sinful man. I have unclean lips. I come from a people of unclean lips. There’s nothing righteous about me. I shouldn’t be here. The minute Isaiah confesses, God sends that angelic being towards him with a fiery coal.

If you think about fire, it can either purify or destroy. It’s a fiery coal. The book of Hebrews says that God is a consuming fire. What does this altar represent? I think the altar represents Christ’s atonement. We know that it’s an altar and that it’s not in Jerusalem. It’s in the heavens and the heavens are timeless; they stand outside of time.The altar already foreshadows the cross which is the fulfillment.

All of those little lambs that were offered as burnt offerings on the altar were like checks written on a future deposit. Remember when you used to be able to do that? Some of you remember what checks were; these things you wrote on a piece of paper, They have no value. Just a piece of paper. The only thing that makes them good is the bank, by faith, believes that you signed it and that you’ll actually make a deposit or have made a deposit.You used to could write a check on Friday and not have to make a deposit until Monday. You can’t do that anymore. The money is received right away. Every one of those little lambs sacrificed on the altar is like a check written on a future deposit. Jesus, when He died on the cross , He said, “It is finished.” In other words, “paid in full.” The atonement is in Christ. This burnt offering, this coal, points to Christ. I think it shows that He’s the one Who sanctifies us.

Verse 7, “And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” This speaks of the doctrine of atonement. A good way to define atonement is “at – one – ment. “ Christ’s death on the cross, received by faith as being paid for you, makes you at one with God. It justifies you. It pays for God’s judgment, so that the fire of God doesn’t burn for condemnation, but it burns for purification. It makes you holy; your sin is atoned for.

“Behold, this has touched your lips.” It makes me want to sing another song: “He touched me. Oh, He touched me and all the joy that floods my soul. Something happened and now I know. He touched me and made me whole.”

The coal touched him and it didn’t kill him. It made him whole. It made him holy. The holy one was making him holy; He was sanctifying him. Quoting Leviticus 11:44, Peter reminds us that God wants us to be holy like Him. 1 Peter 1:16 (NKJV) because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” The Lord wants us to be set apart, different from the world. He wants us to be different. He wants us to be like Him, holy and set apart for special use.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV) “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” God wants to make you holy. He wants to make you like Him, fit for heaven and He has a plan on how to do it because you can’t do it for yourself. You came from a people with filthy lips and you have filthy lips . We are all sinners.

That’s why Paul writes this, Romans 3:23-25 (NIV) 23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.”

Notice Weber’s third verse: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Though the darkness hide thee. Though the eyes of sinful man, thy glory may not see. Only thou art holy, and there is none beside thee. Perfect in power, in love and purity.” Weber gets it doesn’t he? This is a wonderful lyric. If God doesn’t reveal Himself to us through Jesus, if He doesn’t build a bridge across that great gulf of separation, He’s a Holy God, we would never be able to be right with Him. But, Jesus becomes one of us. He takes our sin, He takes our death and He takes our separation. He offers His eternal life. He offers his righteousness; He offers His sonship. He’s the bridge andHe’s the one who sanctifies us.

Have you confessed your sin today? You can’t be born again without, first of all, recognizing that you’re “undone,” that you’re lost. The minute you confess your sin, the minute you say, ‘I need a Savior,’ He comes flying to you to save you through Jesus, Confession, repentance and faith go together. Here’s the fourth insight.

4. His holiness qualifies our sending.

Notice the word, “send.” It’s there two times. 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.” He’s a sending God. His holiness qualifies our sending. In other words, I wouldn’t have the right to be up here right now because I come from a people of unclean lips and I have unclean lips unless He touches me and qualifies me. This is how I prayed this morning, “Lord, just let me draw back the veil enough so that people can see how holy You are.” If they see how holy You are, it will be like a mirror. They’ll see how needful they are and how simple they are apart from You. The only qualification I have is that He has saved me and sent me. As I say, week after week, “I’m nobody; I’m just your paperboy. I bring the good news; I roll it up, put a rubber band around it and throw it as hard as I can to your front porch. You have to open it. You have to receive it and believe it.”

“Whom shall I send,” God says this. God is so wonderful and merciful. I think, maybe, He’d been calling and Isaiah couldn’t hear him yet, because his ears opened when his mouth did. I feel like, when that coal touched his lips, he was purified. He was atoned for. All of a sudden. he could hear the call. God qualifies whom He calls.

Isaiah heard; his response is beautiful because Isaiah has a part here, Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” Pick me. Send me. He put his “yes” on the table. Did he know where God was sending him? No. Did he know what He was going to say? Not yet, but it didn’t matter. Holy God is calling and if He wants me, here I am. Send me, here I am.

Send me. Have you ever said that God? ‘God, You know what you have with me. It ain’t all that it, but it doesn’t matter because God cares more about your availability than He does your ability.

Remember what He told his disciples when Jesus sent them out to witness. They were probably pretty worried. Luke 12:11-12 (ESV) says this, 11 … do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Yeah, but where am I going? What am I going to say? Don’t worry about it. God’s got it. Will you go? Will you obey? Here I am; my guess is on the table.

Moses had some trouble with God’s calling. He was 80 years old. You need to give him credit; when you get to be older you start thinking that you’ve already done your due. Can I tag out and take a break? He’s 80 years old when he saw God revealed at the burning bush and we read this in Exodus 4:10-11 (ESV) 10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, ”Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” God cares more about your availability than He does your ability. He qualifies who He calls. He qualifies who He sends.

Weber writes in his final and fourth verse: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God Almighty. All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty. God in three persons blessed trinity.”

How can you know if God’s holiness is being given to you, that you’re being sanctified and sent? Well, one thing about God is that He hates sin. His holiness causes Him to hate sin and love righteousness. How do you know that holiness is being given to you? It’s when you hate what God hates and love what God loves, not that you’re perfect because only God is perfect. But, when He saves you, He gives you a hunger and thirst for holiness. He qualifies those he sends. If you’re a believer today, you are sent.

In the year King Uzziah died, 739 BC, Isaiah heard the heavenly hosts singing, “Holy, holy, holy, and 800 years later, the apostle John saw a vision of heaven and he heard the same refrain.. He recorded it in the book of Revelation 4. John the Revelator leaned into that same heavenly location and he saw some of those similar strange creatures. They were singing the same song that, in my opinion, they have never stopped. Revelation 4:1-7 (ESV) 1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

Eight hundred years later, John the Revelator got a vision. Revelation 4:8 (ESV) 8 “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Those 24 elders represent in my view, the people of Israel and the people of the church. The 12 tribes and the 12 disciples represent us, the believers. We’ll take off those crowns and throw them at the feet of the Lamb, at the feet of Jesus. We’ll join that heavenly chorus, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

Why not start practicing now? Will you recognize God’s holiness, that He is separate from us? He is high and lifted up. Will you confess your sinfulness that’s revealed when we look upon Him? Will you embrace the sanctification that comes through the atonement of Jesus? Will you answer His call when He sends?

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. Lord, I pray that Your holy spirit, right now, would apply Your word to people’s hearts. Lord, if there’s someone in my hearing, whether they’re watching online, they’re watching in our service next door or in this room, I pray, right now, that You’re knocking on heart’s doors, that people are saying, ‘I need a Savior.’ Would you pray with me right where you are if that’s your heart’s desire? ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I need a Savior. I believe You died on the cross for me, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me, forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God, I want to follow You as my Lord and Savior.’ If you’re praying that prayer, believing, the Lord will save you. He’s the bridge between man and God. He’s the only way. Others are here today and you’re a believer. You’ve said “yes” to Jesus. You believe, but you’ve yet to say, ‘Here I am, send me.’ For some reason, you’re still waiting or you’re afraid. You’re anxious. You feel that there’s something you don’t know how to do. Would you hear this word that God qualifies who He sends? He supplies those that He calls. He cares more about your availability than your ability. Right now, would you just say to the Lord, ‘Here I am, send me.’ We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.