Well, good evening, everyone. It's good to see you all here on this 4th of July night. I hope you all have had a wonderful 4th already, and looking forward to fellowship here tonight. I'll tell you, that song brings goosebumps to my flesh. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb. And because of the worthiness of that Lamb, we can stand faultless before the throne. I'm going to preach before I begin to preach. Before I begin, I'd like to open us in a quick word of prayer, if you don't mind. Let us pray. Your gracious, holy, heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for this wonderful blessing to come to Your house, Lord God. And in one spirit, worship our one risen Lord and Savior as one body in Christ. Lord, thank You for the worthiness of that Lamb who was slain, who shed His precious blood, Lord, that we could be reconciled to our heavenly Father. Lord God, what an amazing blessing that is. Lord, please just be with each and every person here tonight. Lord God, I pray that if anyone here does not know You as Lord and Savior, that, Lord, they know who you are and who they are before tonight is over. Lord, God, soften the hearts and incline the ears to hear what your word has to say. Lord, I love you, and I thank you for all the wonderful things that you do. And I ask all that in thine holy will, in thine holy name. Amen. It's always such a privilege to be here and a blessing and an honor. As I was studying for this message tonight, this is a message that I have actually had on my heart for quite some time. Studying through the Word of God, this is a message the Lord has really put on my heart quite some time ago. And I'm really looking forward to presenting it to you all tonight. But you know, this message, it seemed, for tonight, it seemed to kind of just flow relatively easily. It seemed as if the Lord just really guided me through His Word and to spill this onto the paper, and I'm sure to speak, take me out of the equation and speak through me tonight. It seemed very easy. But, you know, one thing that I really struggled with I struggled with the title for this message. Very unimportant, but the title for this message. And I want you to know I really had to strain my brain to really come up with this title on this 4th of July evening. I really had to think really hard. But I want to speak to you tonight on this title, Independence Day. That was a joke. It didn't... Independence Day. I want to speak to you tonight on Independence Day. But you know, I'm not going to be speaking to you all tonight on independence from some British royal crown. I'm not going to be speaking to you all tonight on independence from some other country, some monarch, dictator, or ruler, or some unjust president. I'm not going to be speaking to you all tonight on that type of independence. You see, I'm going to be speaking on independence from something that is far greater and far more deadly than the British royal crown. I will be speaking to you all tonight on independence from sin. Independence from sin. If we are truly, truly seeking a life that is filled with liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then we must be independent from sin. We must be independent from the penalty of sin. And not only from the penalty of sin, but we must be independent from the powers of sin. And not only from the power of sin, but one day our hope and our joy and our peace rest in knowing that one day we will be independent from the mere presence of sin. The penalty of sin, the power of sin, and one day the presence of sin. God, knowing this, knowing these things, from the foundation of the world, He foreordained His only begotten Son to be sin for us. To pay the penalty for our sin. To break the power of sin over us. That sin would no longer constrain us. That we would no longer be in bondage to sin. We see that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And one day, He will return and remove us, His sheep, from the presence of sin. And only by turning from our sin and putting our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ alone, in the worthiness of the blood of the Lamb, can we truly be independent from the penalty and the power and the presence of sin. Then and only then can we live a life with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You know, I thought, what a greater way to speak on this subject of independence from sin. What a better way to speak on this subject than to look at one man's true conversion. To look at one man, the moment in time in which this man truly saw God for who he is, and he saw himself for who he truly is. If you would, turn with me tonight to the book of Isaiah, chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. I'll give you a little bit to turn over. We'll be in verse 1. Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 1. It says this. The Bible says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims, those burning angelic creatures, the seraphims. Each one had six wings, and with two He covered His face, and with two He covered His feet, and with two He did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke. This chapter begins in the year that King Uzziah died. King Uzziah was 16 years old when he took the throne from his father, when he first bore the crown over the kingdom of Judah. 16 years old. King Uzziah reigned for approximately 52 years, from around 790 BC to 739. 52 years King Uzziah reigned. And the Bible says over in 2 Chronicles that he was a good earthly king. The Bible says that he was a wonderful king to the people of Judah. and that he sought after God, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He sought the precepts of God. He was a good earthly king. But you see, the king in his last days, he transgressed against the Lord. He transgressed against the Lord, and the Lord smote him with leprosy, which he had until the day that he died. You see, King Uzziah, In the last few days of his reign, he became overcome with pride and self-righteousness. And King Uzziah, he burst into the temple. And he had incense. And he was going to attempt to burn the incense upon the altar of incense. A specific task that God had consecrated for the priestly line of Aaron. A task that was consecrated for a specific group of people. And here King Uzziah, who was also consecrated by God, but consecrated by God to be king, burst into that area and he permitted to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And a few priestly, godly men came out and stopped him. And right in front of those men, the Lord smote him with leprosy. And he became a leper. And he went to seclusion until the days of his death. But you see, this would have been devastating to the people of Judah. This would have been devastating to them, because he was a good earthly king. I'm sure fear and doubt and worry began to sink into the multitudes of the people as their future had just become unsure. Who would be a successor? Would a son take the throne? Would a son be murdered and someone else take the throne? Who would take the throne? Would they be a righteous, godly king? Or would they be a wicked, unrighteous king, seeking only to do that which was right in their own eyes, in their own mind? Would he forsake the righteous counsels of God? The God who delivered them out of Egypt? The God who parted the Red Sea? The God who provided manna in the wilderness? The God who led them into the promised land? Would he forsake that same God? I can picture their fear and their doubt and their worry. You see, we do the same thing today. Every four years, panic sets in. Who's going to be the president of the United States? What laws are they going to add? What are they going to amend? Will their views align with mine? Will they align with God's? Or will they contradict? These are terrifying things. Will we face peace or will we face war? Will we be prosperous or will we be poor? We endure those same feelings in which Isaiah and the rest of Judah felt in the death of their king. We face the same things as they did back then. But no matter who the President of the United States is, no matter who the King of Judah is, there is a God who is sitting on His throne, who is a King of Kings, and He is a Lord of Lords, and He is a President of Presidents. And there is no earthly king, lord, president, principality, or power of darkness who can thwart Him off of His throne. It is an eternal throne. It is an everlasting throne. It can never be conquered, nor can it ever be taken away. And Isaiah, through this magnificent, majestic vision, caught a glimpse of that Lord sitting upon His throne. What a wonderful picture. What an even wonderful blessing. Isaiah saw a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Isaiah saw Jesus sitting upon His throne. You all have heard Psalm 110 numerous times before. David, and the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on thy right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And the Lord, Yahweh, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, said unto my Lord, Adonai, capital L, lowercase o, lowercase r, lowercase d. And Yahweh said to Adonai, sit thou on thy right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And here John sees Adonai. We see a better picture of this over in the book of John. I'm sorry, Isaiah, not John. But we see a better picture of this in the book of John. John chapter 12. If you would turn with me to John chapter 12 in verse 36. I'll give you a minute to turn over. John chapter 12 in verse 36. Jesus is speaking for the first part and then he kind of goes away and John begins to speak. But he speaks of the prophet Isaiah. John chapter 12 and verse 36 says this. Jesus says, While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and he departed and did hide himself from them. Then verse 37. But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him. Even all the miracles Christ did in front of these men, they still didn't believe on Him. In verse 38, that the saying of Esaias, or Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spake of Him." This is describing the fulfillment of the ministry of Isaiah in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the one whom He saw in His glory and spake of Him. Isaiah saw Adonai upon His throne. But what did he see Him doing? Was He resting? Was He asleep? Do we serve a God who rests and sleeps? Of course not. The Bible says He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He was actively governing His people. And not only was He actively governing His people, but He was upholding all things by the word of His power. Upholding all things by the word of His power. One of the names that we find here in the New Testament, we see in the Old Testament as well, but specifically referring to the New Testament, one of the names we see of God is the Almighty. In the Greek, that word is Pantokrator. Such a powerful word. Pantokrator. It means the Almighty. It means upholding everything. He's upholding all things by the word of His power. He is the Almighty. This is showing His absolute sovereignty over all of creation. He isn't sleeping. He isn't doing nothing. He is completely and actively governing all of His creation, heaven and earth. I've spoken recently about deism. Deism is still believed even to this day. A lot of our founding fathers were deists. They weren't necessarily Christian. They were deists. And deism states that God created all things and he made certain laws and certain rules to abide by, certain things, and then he just removed himself. This isn't speaking of a biblical God. Because the Bible says He is actively governing all of creation. He didn't leave us to discover these principles and laws all on our own. He is still actively involved in all of His creation. What a blessing that is to understand that God, the God who created the universe, is actively involved in each and every one of our lives. He is seated upon His throne. Not only is He seated upon His throne, but He is high and lifted up. Look again what it says in Isaiah chapter 6. His throne is above any other throne. So why can we compare the throne of God? There is nothing. This part of the verse is speaking of His kingship. It's speaking of His transcendence. That He is transcendent above all things. There is none higher. There is none greater. There is none other name in or under heaven given worthy of all of our praise, honor, glory, and worship than upon Jesus Christ and His throne. All other kings, lords, gods, little g, will bow before the throne of Christ. Buddha will bow before the throne of Christ. Confucius will bow before the throne of Christ. Hitler, Nietzsche, Darwin, all these men, every devil and every demon out there will bow before the feet of Jesus Christ. And we will too. Either in this age or in the age to come. But by then, it's too late. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 10 and 11 says this, The Bible continues and says that the train of His robe filled the temple. What a wonderful picture. The train of His robe filled the temple. You see, a robe in ancient times was a very important symbol. It wasn't just a fashion statement that a king would wear. It was a very important symbol of His rulership, of His sovereignty, control over the people and the nations. It was a very important symbol. You see, A king back in these days, when they would go into battle, what they would do is if one king conquered another king, they would cut the robe off of the other king and he would have it sewn onto his own, making his own robe grander and bigger, showing his dominion and his authority and his sheer power. And that's what this is speaking of. This is speaking of the dominion, the rulership, the sovereignty of God. over His people, and over the nations, and over all of creation. It speaks of His dominion. And here in the sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah, we see the mere train of His robe. completely and utterly filling the temple. That word train in some of your Bibles, it may say him. And that word him, it simply means the edge of his garment. This is saying that the very edge of the garment of the Lord is completely filling the temple. Even the edge is enough. And the rest of the Lord's robe pours out into all the heavens and the earth. as all the heavens and the earth are filled with the glory of God. This speaks of many different things, but ultimately it speaks of the holiness of God. And there's no greater passage than the passage in which we're about to read on the holiness of God. And before we begin, I wanted to try to define, I say this with a smiling face, as best as I possibly can, the holiness of God. And there's a way in which I'm going to take to do that. But I want you to know that the holiness of God is not just merely dealing with His purity. Yes, God is pure. He is the purest of pures. But the holiness of God is not just simply speaking of His purity. It goes far deeper than that. Far deeper than that. And I want to try to describe the holiness of God to you by giving a very silly illustration. It's not something I want to do, and I've actually already done this once in Sunday school. So if you've already done this, just humor me, bear with me. You know what I'm doing. I myself have already done this, and I have a method to my madness. What I'm going to ask you to do tonight is something a little different. I'm going to reread the first four verses of Isaiah chapter 6. And here's what I want you to do. I want you to close your eyes. I want you to just close your eyes. And I want you to envision the things in which Isaiah is seeing. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of Isaiah. I want you to place yourself in his shoes and try to envision the things in which he is seeing. Like I said, I have a method to my madness. I want you to really envision the Lord in the holy of holies sitting upon his throne and the trail, the train of his robe filling the temple. I want you to envision it. I want you to envision those burning angels, the seraphims crying out to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory. I want you to envision the foundation of the place shaking, and I want you to envision It's filling with smoke. I'm going to read Isaiah chapter 6, verse 1. It says this, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings, and with two he covered his face, And with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." Did you envision it? Did you envision the shoes of Isaiah? Like I said, I myself have done this. It's the only reason why I ask you to do it. But I just want to let you know that almost everything, almost every single thing that you just envisioned, almost everything to the most minute detail that you just envisioned was absolutely, completely, and utterly wrong. It was wrong. Why? Because our feeble, finite minds cannot possibly fathom the infinite God of this universe. To what do we have to compare God to? There's no comparison. We cannot comprehend fully. This is the holiness of God. He is sanctified. He is different. He is other. As a matter of fact, the word holy translated, it means other. In its original language, He is different. That's the holiness of God. He is transcendent above all things. What do we have to compare Him to? Nothing. We can't fully even comprehend the angels. And look what even they do in the presence of the Almighty. The Bible says with two wings they fly, and with two wings they cover their feet, because the mere area in which they are in is hallowed ground, because of the presence of the Lord. With two wings they fly, with two they cover their feet, and with two they cover their face. Because even the holy angels cannot bear, they cannot even bear to look upon the holiness of God. Because even they are unworthy. Even they are unworthy. Just as we are so unworthy. Just as I am so unworthy. And then those angels cry out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The Bible doesn't say he's once holy. The Bible doesn't say he's twice holy. The Bible says he is holy, holy, holy. It says he is holy to the third degree. No other attribute of God is mentioned to the third degree. We see this in more than one place of Scripture. We see it over in the book of Revelation. Holy, holy, holy. I take this for two different things. First and foremost, I perceive this as a representation of the Trinity. Three persons, one God. It's like an equilateral triangle, the best that you could ever describe the Trinity. It's like an equilateral triangle. It's got three separate angles, but those three separate angles make up one triangle. So you have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Holy, holy, holy. I also see this This repetition. as an emphasis upon the importance of the holiness of God. You see, the Jews, they had a little bit different way of emphasizing certain things. We see all throughout Scripture a lot of emphasis on certain specific things and certain specific words. And the Jews used this as a means of importance. You see, they didn't use punctuation like we use today. They didn't use exclamation points like we use. They used emphasis to describe importance. In Sunday school, we're going through a study of the book of Hebrews. And in Hebrews, we see the word better appear 13 times. 13 times you see the word better appear. Christ is better than the angels. He's better than the prophets. The covenant of Christ is better than the old covenant. He's better, better, better. This is due to the importance of Christ over everything else. You know, so many people want to put the emphasis upon the love of God. They want to really emphasize that attribute of love. And then you have other people who want to emphasize the attribute of wrath. And week after week, they speak of love. And week after week, they speak of wrath. We can't do that. We must take God's word as a whole. and I would perceive from my studies thus far, God's holiness to be his chief attribute. Why? Because you see, I see it that all of God's other attributes, every other attribute that we find in the scripture of God can be magnified. It can be magnified in the scope through the lens of his holiness. God's love is a holy love. God's wrath is a holy wrath. His patience, a holy patience. His immutability, His unchangingness, it's a holy unchangingness. All things can be magnified through the holiness of God. Even His immutability. God is not holy because He is immutable. God is immutable because He is holy. He is different. He is consecrated. He is hallowed. He is other. You want to know how I know what you all envisioned and what I envisioned when we envisioned these events transpiring in the sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah? You want to know how I know those were wrong? One of the main reasons is this. Not merely because we cannot compare anything to the throne of grace. But because if we would have truly seen what Isaiah saw, if we would have truly seen these things in which Isaiah saw, and I pray at one point in our life, we have through his word. But if we would have truly seen these things, then we would have had the same reaction as Isaiah. Look what it says in verse five. Isaiah says, then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah says, woe is me. Here we see Isaiah pronouncing an oracle of judgment upon himself. That's what that word woe was used as in Old Testament times. It's an oracle of judgment. He's pronouncing it upon himself, because you see, for the first time in Isaiah's life, he has seen God for who he truly is. And he's seen himself for who he truly is, a sinner in the sight of a holy God. And that is what happens to us when we have an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. We become undone, we become tore apart. We die to our old self and we become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Two of the most popular Christian books out right now, I use that term lightly, Purpose Driven Life and Living Your Best Life Now. We don't need to be most concerned with a purpose-driven life. We don't need to be most concerned with living our best life now. We need to be most concerned with being undone and being torn apart. Because this life is temporary. The next life is eternal. Isaiah said, I am a man of unclean lips. Now, I don't know what his sin was pertaining to his mouth. I don't know if Isaiah's sin was cursing or perverseness. I don't know if Isaiah's sin was gossip. I don't know if Isaiah's sin was lying or bearing false witness. I don't know if Isaiah's sin was blaspheming the holy name of God. I don't know what it was. I don't know what made Isaiah a man of unclean lips, but I can tell you one thing. Isaiah was a man of unclean lips because he was a man of an unclean heart. and we are people of an unclean heart. Matthew chapter 12 verse 34b says, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? Those sins which manifest themselves outwardly, through our flesh. Those sins which manifest through our mouth, and through our eyes, and through our hands, and through our feet. Those sins which manifest themselves, they all begin in the heart. We have a heart problem. God has provided us a way to overcome that broken heart. I have one more brief thought, and then I'm done. Look at Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 6 and 7. Verse 6 and 7 says this. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged. Thy sin is purged. Can you imagine the pain in which Isaiah felt as that hot coal singed his lips? Can you imagine? But it would be better for your tongue to be singed by a hot burning coal. It would be better for your eyes to be singed by a hot burning coal. It would be better for your hands and your feet to be singed by a hot burning coal than to have your whole body cast into the lake that burns with fire. It's the whole reason why I'm up here tonight. As painful as that was to Isaiah, it was a sheer act of grace and mercy from God. It was a sheer act of grace and mercy from God. I was reading a while back a story, and I thought I'd share it with you real quick as I'm closing. I read a story about Steve Jobs. You all know who Steve Jobs is. Steve Jobs had a net worth of $7 billion. $7 billion. He was 56 years old when he died from pancreatic cancer back in 2011. 56 years old. Net worth $7 billion. And Steve Jobs, as he was lying on his deathbed, said this. He said, at this moment, Lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death. He said, you can hire someone to drive a car for you. You can hire someone to make money for you, but you cannot hire someone to carry the disease for you. There's a greater disease than cancer. It's sin. And no, you can't hire anyone to take that disease for you. But God has provided us a way where He bought it with His own blood. And He shed His precious blood upon Calvary for the remission of our sins that we could be reconciled to our Savior. He bought it. You don't have to buy it. It's already been bought with blood, the precious blood of the Lamb. Isaiah saw God for who he truly was. He saw the holy God. And he saw himself for who he truly was, a sinful man. And because he saw himself as a sinful man, he saw his desperate and his dying need for a Savior. Until you see yourself as a sinner, you'll never see yourself as in need for a Savior. By the blood of Jesus Christ, we can be independent. from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, and one day from the presence of sin. By putting our trust and faith in Him and being born again, as Jesus said, we must be born again or we cannot see the kingdom of God. By repentance and trusting in Christ and Christ alone for the worthiness of the cross. We can be free from all those things, independent. Then and only then can we seek a life filled with liberty in the pursuit of happiness. Let us pray. Dear, gracious, holy, heavenly Father, Lord God, I thank you for this opportunity to present your word. Lord God, I pray I spoke truthfully of you. I pray that you spoke through me, took me out of the equation, Lord God, I thank you for this opportunity. Lord, I thank you for drawing each and every one of these people here tonight. Lord, please soften their hearts to the things of you, and incline their ears to hear what your word has to say. And Lord God, I pray that if anyone here does not know you as Lord and Savior, as Messiah, if anyone here has not been covered by your precious blood, which you shed on Calvary for the remission of our sins, and Lord God, not only did you die upon Calvary, but you rose in victory, where you took away the power over sin, that sin would no longer have bondage over us. We are free in you. By repentance of our sin and believing on you, Lord, by putting our trust and faith in you, we can be free from the penalty and the power and one day the presence of sin. We ask that in your holy will, in your holy name, amen.