So, turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah and the 57th chapter. The book of Isaiah and the 57th chapter. It's in the Old Testament. Again, if you don't know where the book of Isaiah is, just feel free to look at the table of contents in your Bible. and turn to the 57th chapter, and we're going to be reading from verse 13, actually verse 12, through the end of the chapter, but we're just going to be focused on one verse. In chapter 57, verse 12, This is what God's Word says. The Lord is speaking and he says, I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will profit you nothing. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you, but the wind will carry them all away. The breath will take them, but he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land and shall inherit the holy mountain. And one shall say, heap it up, heap it up, prepare the way. Take this crumbling block out of the way of my people. Verse 15 says, thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would fail before me and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him. I hid and was angry and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God. The verse that we're going to be focused on this morning is verse 15. But before I read it again, let's pray one more time. Our Father, we praise you for your holy and fallible word. Lord, you know the questions and the quandaries wandering through my own mind right now. And there are distractions that each one of us has to put aside. But we come and sit before you, the Holy One. We don't sit before me. We open your word together. And we listen to what you would have to say to us. Please guide us now. Open the word to us. Grant us reviving, O Lord. Give us hearts that are awakened to spiritual realities, to truths that are as true as the foundations of the universe. Help us, Lord, we pray. In Christ Jesus' name, amen. Allow me to read verse 15 again. says, for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. So as we were reading from verses 12 and following, or from verse 12 and following, We kind of saw two different people being talked about, I hope. We saw how in verse 13, there was one group of people who were idolaters, who did not hold fast to the Lord, but they followed other gods. And when the time of trouble came, God tells them, let your idol save you. But the idols can't save. The idols never can save. We all know that, don't we? It doesn't matter what the idol is. It doesn't matter if the idol is an actual statue made of stone and gold, or whether the idol is ourselves, or whether the idol is some government entity. The idol cannot deliver. You see that Those who trust in the idols, in verse 20, are like the troubled sea. They don't have any rest at all. Always just moving, hither and thither, cast about, watered, casting up, mired. And look at how the chapter ends. It says, there is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. And it's not just a peace of heart in which he speaks, but it's also a peace with God, first and foremost. An actual, literal peace. It's like a peace treaty. Countries that are at peace are not at war with each other. But for those who do not hold to the Lord, they do not have peace with God. Why don't they have peace with God? Because they are at war with God. So that's one group of people. But there's another group of people. We read about, a little bit about him in verse 13, toward the middle of the verse. He's not the one that calls out to the collection of idols. He's one that, look at this, it says, he who puts his trust in me. literally, that is, who takes refuge in me. Takes refuge. Think about that word. Takes refuge. Hides in. Takes cover underneath. Uses something as a shelter against the coming judgment. Takes refuge. Not just in a thing, but in God. You see that? But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land. So today, basically, what we're going to be talking about is how on earth a person can have a relationship with God. You here who are Christians, you know the answer already. You know the answer already. But you and I need to be reminded of these things again and again, because we forget these things again and again. And so, basically, in verse 15, what we're going to be looking at is what I've entitled, The Holy, the Humble, and Eternal Life. The Holy, the Humble, and Eternal Life. So let's look at verse 15, put our minds in gear, and let's see what the Lord would teach us from his word. Look at what verse 15 says about the holy. It says, for thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place. So notice first that it describes God, God describes himself as the high and the lofty one. The one who is high and exalted, lifted up. And everything else, everything else is beneath him. He sees it all. He's the Lord of all. He's the high and the lofty one. Whether a nation knows it or not, The Lord God is the Lord of that nation. He's the high and the lofty one. Look at what else it says about him. It says he inhabits eternity. That's where he lives, eternity. A place that does not have a beginning nor an end. God does not have a beginning nor an end. Look at what else it says about him. It says that his name is holy. Now the word holy, if you think about it, we tend to think of moral purity or moral excellence. But that's not all that the word holy means. As many of you are likely to know, the word holy actually has the basic meaning as being different, distinct, separate, not like the other things. For example, when the Israelites were building the tabernacle and various materials were said to be holy, like gold or silver, it doesn't mean that that gold and silver was morally excellent. It meant that it was different from the other gold and silver. It wasn't supposed to be used like the rest of it because it was set apart and separate from the rest of it. It was holy. And that gives us a little glimpse as to what it means for God to be holy, and we're going to meditate on that a little bit more together. So the first question that I want us to ask is this. How many times in the Bible have we read stuff like this? How many times have you heard someone say, that God is the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, and whose name is Holy. And it's almost countless times, whenever we look in the Bible, we come to this message again and again, that God is Exalted, that He is the Lord, that He's the One who inhabits eternity, that He is the One who is Holy. So why does it say it again and again? Well, it says it again and again because we need to be reminded about it again and again for a couple of different reasons. I'm sure you could think of your own, but here are just a few. We need to be reminded of these things because, one, we forget about them. If you're in any way like me, it is so easy to wake up on a Monday morning and forget. that there is a God in heaven who is high and exalted and lofty, who lives in a realm beyond this one. In his realm is the true and the everlasting one. In his name, his name is holy. We forget. Sometimes we need to read these things again because we refuse to get it. That's a terrible reality, isn't it? Sometimes we refuse to admit God is the high and lofty one. We think that we are to be the high and the lofty ones in our lives, and that God can be second tier, or maybe third tier, just in case we have a boyfriend or girlfriend, and make them second tier, and then maybe God can take third tier, or maybe we'll have a child, and then God can be fourth tier, But that's not right. We refuse. Sometimes we refuse to admit that God is the high and lofty one. We need to be reminded. We need to be reminded that God is completely and totally unique. Unique. That he's holy. We are not a part of God. is different from us. We do not have a spark of divinity in our souls. He is different than we are. The greatest human power in the heights of other spiritualities, whether it be the New Age, or whether it be Islam, or whether it be Catholicism, whatever it is, various enlightenments that we have, All of those are as nothing in comparison to the true and the living God. And that's why we come to these things again. We must be told these things, and here it is, we must be told these things until we grasp, until we grasp that his name is truly holy. So keep your finger there, and let's look at some passages in scripture to see this illustrated. Turn back a couple pages to the left to Isaiah 61. How distinct is God? How distinct is God? Isaiah chapter six and verse one. Isaiah says, in the year that King Uzziah, that was the king of Judah, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. Now, incidentally, that phrase is the exact same phrase that shows up in Isaiah 57. Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up in the train of his robe, He sees the Lord with his eyes. And you know what else he sees there? Virtue. And above it stood the seraphim. These are angelic creatures. What are they like? Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. And with two, he flew. Why is the seraph covering his face? because the seraph cannot look upon God. The seraph, this angelic creature, is not allowed to look on the king who is seated on the throne. Now it says in the book of Exodus, it says that no man shall see God's face and live. And I think you and I understand that. I think you and I understand that we couldn't bear to see the face of God with our naked eye and survive. But a sinless creature like an angel? Why let a sinless creature like an angel look on God? Because God is holy. Verse three. And one cried to another, that is, one Sarah cried to another Sarah, that said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. This is the anthem of praise that springs from sinless creatures who dare not to look who dare not even look on God because of how holy He is. And by the way, if you were to, and we're not going to take the time, but if you were to look at John chapter 12 in verse 37 through 41, you would see that true Isaiah saw on earth was actually the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at another example of God's holiness. Exodus chapter 20, verse 24 and 25, Exodus chapter 20. The second book of the Bible, Exodus chapter 20, verses 24 and 25. This passage concerns the worship of God. Back in the Old Testament, the people of God used to worship God by bringing sacrifices to Him. And they would lay the sacrifices on an altar. Well, what's that altar supposed to be made of? Look at verses 24 through 26 of Exodus chapter 20. An altar of earth you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your birth offsprings and your peace offsprings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record my name, I will come to you and I will bless you. In other words, if you're gonna make an altar, you can make it out of dirt. That's okay to make it out of dirt. Now look at verse 25. This is where it gets interesting. And if you make me an altar out of stone, okay, so in the first place, we had an altar of dirt. Now he's talking about an altar made out of rocks. And if you make me an altar out of stone, you shall not build it of humed stone. Or if you use your tool on it, you have to clean it. In other words, God accepts the altar of dirt, God accepts the altar made out of rocks, but don't you dare put your tool on it and try to improve the stones. Because when you take your man-made tool To try to beautify the stones, you defile the altar. Leave the rocks as they are. You can even use the dirt. The dirt is more acceptable than you using my man-made tool to beautify the stones. You see how that humbles us? Why? Why, Lord? Why can't I make the stones more beautiful? Don't you want the stones to be more beautiful for your altar? No. God is whole. He is distinct. He is different. You remember in the book of 2 Samuel, King David was moving the Ark of God. The Ark was a piece of furniture that was stored in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the place in which God dwelt in the Old Testament among his people. And inside that tabernacle, there was the Ark. And there were certain rules about how you were to transport the Ark. It had to be carried by priests on poles. King David took the ark and he put it on a cart. And the cart, which was being moved by animals, was carrying the ark from one place to another place. The ox stumbled, and there was a man standing there whose name was Uzzah. Uzzah did not want the ark to fall and to hit the dirt, so Uzzah reached forth his hand and he held the ark steady. And instantly the Lord struck Uzzah dead right then and there, because he had dared to touch the ark of God. And I remember hearing a pastor a long time ago say, you know, potentially the problem that Uzza assumed that his hand was cleaner than the dirt. His hand was cleaner than the dirt. How can that be? How can that be? Because God is holy. He is not like you and me. He is distinct. He's separate. He's unique in a category all by himself. In the book of Psalms, Psalm 50, you don't have to turn there, but it's Psalm 50 in verse 21. I'm gonna borrow the phrase there. One of the things that the Lord says in that Psalm, he says, you thought that I was one like yourself. In other words, you thought that I was just one of you. You see, our world likes to think, and sometimes we get in the trap of thinking that our God is us. that he is stronger than we are, he's more kind than we are, he's more patient than we are, more gracious than we are, more fatherly than we are, but I don't think we like us. To which God says, you thought that I would like you. And you know what the implication is of that? We were wrong. God is holy. He's different. He's different from us, my friends. He's different from us. It says in Isaiah chapter 46, the Lord asks this question, and I'm gonna read it to you. Isaiah chapter 46, verse five, it says, to whom will you liken me and make me my equal? To whom will you liken me and make me my equal and compare me that we should be alike? Are we a people who says, oh, God is like a three-leaf clover? Are we a people who says, God is like this picture that I drew? Are we a people who says, God is like this movie that I watched, this TV show that I watched, The Chosen? God is like this, God is like that. To whom will you liken me, and make me mine equal, and compare me that we should be alike, says the Lord. Look down at verse 9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, that I will do all my pleasure. That is God, my friends. That is our God. If you look out the window right now and just try to get it, He's real. He is the High and the Lofty One, the Holy One, the Holy One. Who even the seraph, the sinful, the sinless creatures can't even look upon with their eyes. He is so holy. And that's what we need to grasp. That's what we need to grasp, that God is holy. So let's look at our text again. Isaiah 57, 15, for thus says the high and lofty one, who in heaven is eternity, whose name is holy. I will dwell in the high and holy place. So we looked at the holy, now let's look at the humble. And this is the second half of the verse. It says, I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. So if you look at verse 15, you see incredibly that God lives in two places. He says that God lives in eternity, that God lives in a high and holy place. But you know, he also lives in one other place. He says he lives. That's the implication. He lives with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. That is the truth. rocks the universe. That that God who would strike down an Uzza because he dared to touch the earth. That God who said, you can make an altar, you can even make it out of dirt, but don't put your man-made instruments on it. That God who is so high and so lofty, live with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. You see, God lives in the high and lofty place by nature. It is his right to live there. But why does he live with the contrite and the humble spirit? By grace. You know what grace is, my friends, right? Grace is God's green gift. It's a gift that he wants to give freely. It's unprovoked, completely and totally unprovoked. You know this verse, don't you? God opposes the proud, but with grace to whom? The humble. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. My friends, are you proud? Do you think you have something to offer God? Do you think you have something to bargain with before God? To say, I believe in Jesus, but I'm also trying my best to make sure, to make sure, that you're gonna show me your favorite. My friend, that's just, you're taking your human instruments and trying to beautify his gift. It says, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. So that word contrite, if you look at it there in the text, that word contrite is a pretty strong word, and it is translated in chapter 3 verse 15, it's translated, he dwells with the beaten one. The beaten one, he dwells with the beaten one? It's also translated in Job chapter 6 and verse 9 in this way, it's translated as to destroy. He dwells with the one who is destroyed. And that word for humble is used in chapter 2 and in verse 12, translated as to be brought low. He dwells with the lowly. So what does it mean that he dwells with the one who is beaten and he too is lowly? What does that mean? What have they weakened by? What have they been made low by? They've been taught low by the honest confession of their true spiritual condition before God. Did you get that? Those who are contrite and humble themselves as they really are before God. They see themselves as God would see them. Honestly. As those who have broken his commandments day after day, as those who have not loved them. And they've been beaten by that reality. And it brings them low. It brings them to see that I am nothing. I'm nothing but a worm. Nothing but a worm before the presence of a holy God. A.W. Tozer, he was a writer back in the day. And A.W. Tozer said this, he said, has more in common with a worm than he does with God. You know why? Because an angel is a created thing. What is uncreated, in that very fact, puts universes between the two. So now, put yourself there. You and I, we are created things, but not only are we created things, we are sinful things. were rebels against him. It says in the book of Jonah, it says in the book of Jonah that the wickedness of Nineveh had risen up to God. He saw what Nineveh was doing and he cared about what Nineveh was doing. And the contrite person, the one who is beaten, the one who is humble, the one who is lonely, says, I know that God has seen what I have done and that he cares. and that it must be judged. Do you remember what we were reading here in the start? It says the wicked are like the troubled sea. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. And the humble and the contrite person says, yes, that's right, that is right. I have acted wickedly against the holy God. I have acted in rebellion to all of his commandments. And there is no peace. There is no peace. Not only have I been at war with God, but he has been at war with me. And there is no winning this war. Because my day is coming. The contrite and the humble person says, I know that God lives in eternity. He will live on and on and on and on. But as for me, I might be able to make it to 80 years old. I might be able to make it to 90 years old, but there will come an end to my life. And then guess what? I stand before the one who invented eternity. Just a worm. Just a worm in his sight. Turn over to chapter six again. I forgot to bring this up earlier, but look at how Isaiah responds when he saw God in his holiness. Starting in verse three, and one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. and cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Put yourself there, my friend, put yourself there. Now look at what Isaiah says in verse five. So I said, woe is me, for I am undone. I am undone. That is a contrite and a humble man. A man who has come to see who he is in the light of who God is. Isaiah did not stand up and say, I am so thankful I am a prophet. I am so thankful that I speak your words, because if I was not a prophet, I would be toast right now. Whether he was a prophet or not mattered not two pennies. The prophet of God says, woe is me, for I am undone. Because 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's Something that I wish for myself, something that I wish for you, is that you and I would see God for who He really is. So we could see ourselves for who we really are. And in that way, in that way, my friends, we would be the contrite. We would be the beaten. We would be the humble and the lowly who come to see that we have nothing to, nothing to bargain with before God. We can offer him nothing. We have nothing except our rebellion. What is God going to do with a beaten and humble spirit like mine? He does not cast that one into judgment. He doesn't smite them. The Lord does not raise his hand in judgment against the contrite and the humble. Says that he revives. He revives. Now that translation in verse 15 of chapter 57, I don't think it's a very good translation. I think, I think a better translation is to preserve alive. In other words, he saves them. He saves them. It's used of Joseph. You remember the story of Joseph when he went down into Egypt? It says that God sent him into Egypt to save many people alive, to preserve their lives. Their lives were in danger. Joseph was sent there to save their lives from danger. And that same word, to save a life, in that same way is used right here. To save a life, the spirit of the humble, and to revive the spirit of the contrite. Now, at this point, you and I have to ask the question. We must ask the question. We say, okay, well, if If there's nothing that I can do to merit God's favor, are you telling me then that my humility is going to merit God's favor? Is my humility going to be my one bargain tool? Say, Lord, I'm not a proud man. I'm not a proud woman. So will you look on me because of my humility and so give me grace and give me favor? And that's a really important question. Is humility the one work that God will count and let you live? No, it's not the one work. Humility in and of itself, if that's where humility ends, it will become judgment. What we have here in verse 15 is not just a person who is humble and contrite. Look at what this person does in verse 13. I pointed it out to you earlier. You remember, it says in verse 13, when you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you, for the wind will carry them all away. A breath will take them away. But here it is, look, look. He who puts his trust in me, he who took his refuge in me, who hides in me, the contrite and the humble hide in him. You see, their humility, their being beaten by their sin, their being brought low by their rebellion and transgression against God, it does not drive them to rely upon themselves. It does not drive them to rely even upon their own humility. You know what humility does is it drives them to rely on God, who alone can give the mercy. Do you see it? And as that happens to him, that life is granted to him, that life is given. So turn with me. And we're wrapping up. We're wrapping up very soon. Turn with me over to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, to see this illustrated. Luke 18, in the New Testament, it's about two-thirds of the way through your Bible, three-fourths of the way through your Bible. And the Lord Jesus Christ is going to tell a story to illustrate, to illustrate this question of how to be made right with God. How is a worm supposed to be made right with the Holy Distinct God? Luke chapter 18, verse 9. This is what the Lord says. Also, He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves. Are you, and what are you trusting? What are you trusting to give you life? Are you trusting in yourself to give you life? If you are, you need to listen to this. He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And here's the story. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a parishioner, that is a very religious man, and the other a tax collector who was hated by all of the Jews, a really despicable character. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. You see what the Pharisee is doing there in his prayer is just saying, God, I thank you that I am a good man. I thank you that I have something to offer you. I thank you that I'm not like the others, that I don't cheat people, that I'm not unjust, that I don't go sleeping around. I thank you that I'm not like this tax collector, in that I give my money to you? I give my money to you? I thank you for that. I thank you that I'm a good man. But look at verse 13. And the tax collector standing afar off would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven. You know why? Because his conscience, his conscience had smitten him. He knew who he was. Do you know who you are? He would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast. You know why he beat his breast? Because he was ashamed and he was in earnest. He wasn't scared about what he was about to say. Beat his breast, saying, God. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And you know what's amazing, my friends, is the text doesn't even say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. It literally says, God be merciful to me, the sinner. The sinner. The tax collector felt like he was the worst sinner that he knew. God be merciful to me, the sinner. He knew that he had no bargaining power with God. He knew that he had nothing to offer. He knew that God owed him nothing but judgment. So what does he do? What does this man do, this contrite and this humble, this lowly, this beaten man do? What does he do? He casts himself fully on the mercy of God. He says, God be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Just mercy, just mercy. God, you don't owe me anything except judgment, but please give me mercy. Please give me mercy. Would you pass over my transgressions? Would you pass over my lawlessness? I know that I've sinned against you. I've despised you. I have forgotten you every day of my life. But God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Is that you? Is that you? Is that you? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, says the Lord in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted. So what's the question? What are you going to do? To whom are you going to look? Who's going to save your soul? Your life weighs in the balance. Your eternal soul weighs in the balance. What are you going to look to? I tell you, look to the Lord Jesus Christ. who took on human flesh for you and for me. God became a man to live the life that I could not live. He perfectly fulfilled God's law from start to finish, never ever once stumbling. And yet he suffered the cruel death on the cross. Why did he die? Why was he nailed to a cross? It says in the scripture, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. The cross is a tree. Why did Christ die on a cross? Because my sin deserved the curse of God. But Christ had no sin. So for whose sin was he suffering the curse? For mine. For mine. Would you reach out and take it? Or are you just gonna keep trusting to your own silly little raft in the sea? When that storm comes and blows, it's just gonna shatter your raft apart, and then you're gonna know how silly you really were. Then you're gonna know that everything you clung to was worthless and shambles, that that couldn't ever save you in the day of coming wrath. So what are you gonna hold to? You must hold to Christ. You must hold to Christ. It says in 1 Timothy 1 verse 15, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. You better accept this. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. to save the contrite, to save the beaten, the lowly, those who have come to see that they have no bargaining power with God. He came to save them. And you know how the verse ends? It says, the Apostle Paul, that great preacher, said, I am chief. He said that he was the worst sinner So there it is, my friends. The holy. The humble. The eternal life, if you'll take it. Stop trusting in yourself. Repent! You must confess your sins to God. And you must hold fast to Christ Jesus as the only hope that you have. The only hope that anybody in this world has. No spiritual experience could ever do that. But what's the truth? The true things that the Lord Jesus Christ did for thousands and millions of His people, before whom He stands as the Savior. He stands as my Savior. Does He stand as yours? Does He stand as your Savior? the one who loved you and gave himself for you. What a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Savior you have. Let's pray. Lord, take your word. Please take your words, Lord. Work them deep into the life, into the lives of each one of us, whether Christian or not. Fill the Christian with great hope and joy this day. Fill us with glory. sites of glory that we get to dwell. We get to dwell together. We get to dwell together with God. And for those who aren't clinging to their sins, they're still so proud and trusting to themselves. I pray that you would bring them low, cause them to bring themselves low, I pray. That they might cling to you, that you would be exalted in their lives as the only Savior, and that they might find eternal life. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.