I don’t know if you realize it or not but this past Christmas we did something we’ve never done before as a church-at least in my tenure as your pastor. We used our annual celebration of the birth of Christ as an opportunity to learn more about the character of God. Remember? In the sermon series we sought answers to the question: “What does CHRISTMAS teach us about God?” And, by putting this slant on our Advent study we were able to deepen our understanding of several of God’s attributes. We learned that Christmas helps us to understand God’s faithfulness, sovereignty, wisdom, and love.
Then starting in February we did another thing we’ve never done before as a church in my memory-in fact it was a very “un-Baptist” thing to do-we celebrated Lent. Deb Vaughn took leadership in this and used her writing skills to structure weekly Lenten devotions as a tool to remind us that Christmas and Easter go together, that Jesus was BORN to DIE for our sins…and then to conquer death on our behalf.
I hope our first church-wide observance of Lent has helped you to grasp this important truth because the fact is we can only fully understand Christmas in light of Easter-and vice versa.
Advent and Holy Week are just different parts of the same wonderful story. They do indeed go together-and, as another way of driving this important truth home I want us to use our observance of Holy Week to study more of God’s attributes by looking for answers to this question: “What does EASTER teach us about God?” I think we’ll see that to get a complete understanding of God, we must look at His attributes in light of both Christmas and Easter.
So-at this week’s Maundy Thursday service we’ll add to our knowledge of God by studying His MERCY. Then on Easter Sunday we’ll learn all we can about His OMNIPOTENCE. And on this Palm Sunday morning, we’ll begin by studying the HOLINESS of God.
Now, as we begin I want to point out that the word “Holy” is used more often as a prefix to God’s name than all the other attributes combined. Plus, both the first and the last songs of the Bible magnify the holiness of God. After having crossed the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites sang the first song of the Bible and its lyrics go like this, “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like You-majestic in HOLINESS, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) And then in Revelation those who have been victorious over the beast will sing the last song of the Bible with lyrics that say, “Who will not fear You, O Lord, and bring glory to Your Name? For You alone are HOLY.” (Revelation 15:4) I share all this “holiness trivia” to help you realize that an understanding of God’s holiness is very important. In fact we should think of “holiness” as the perfection of all God’s other attributes-because God’s essence is holiness. I mean, if we distilled all His attributes into one crystalized single word it would be HOLY.
We have a problem here though, because as UNHOLY, fallen beings, this concept of the HOLINESS of GOD-can be very hard for us to understand. A. W. Tozer writes,”We know nothing like DIVINE HOLINESS. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may FEAR God’s POWER and ADMIRE His WISDOM, but His HOLINESS he cannot even imagine.” And Tozer is correct-the holiness of God is a concept that is very difficult for us to grasp with our sin-tainted, UN-holy minds.
For this reason, I think a good way for us to begin to get a handle on this particular attribute would be to look to God’s Holy Word. 2 Timothy tell us that all Scripture is “profitable for teaching,” so let’s turn to Scripture for help in our study-specifically the 6th chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah-because in these verses we have the record of Isaiah’s first-hand experience with the HOLINESS of God.
And while you find this familiar text-Isaiah 6-let me give you a little background. At the beginning of this 6th chapter, Isaiah tells us that King Uzziah had died. Now, Uzziah had been a very good king as kings go-in spite of the prideful decision he made that ended his life. Uzziah came to the throne of Israel when he was only 16-and he landed in a quagmire of political turmoil but in spite of his age and inexperience, he did a great job. (2 Chronicles 25-26) In fact during his 52-year reign he ushered in a time of peace and prosperity. He also undertook great building projects, routed out the Philistines, and subdued the Ammonites. Uzziah even held the feared Assyrians at bay. Over and over, he wisely thwarted the bloodlust of their warrior king, Tiglath-Pileser. Mark Buchanan writes,”Tiglath-Pileser’s armies, like Saruman’s orcs, were bred to destroy. This was their pleasure. They were well-armed and well-organized marauders, a vast and disciplined regiment of vandals and arsonists. They reduced TOWNS to RUBBLE, TEMPLES to CHAR, KINGS to BEGGARS, and PRINCES to SLAVES.” But during his reign, Uzziah had made sure they didn’t do this in Judah. Oh, Tiglath-Pileser wanted to conquer them! His army prowled the edges of the kingdom & made numerous threats. But Uzziah was canny and tough. He wielded a tactical and political shrewdness that had kept Assyria locked out and because of this, the people felt safe under Uzziah’s rule. A sense of security covered the land while he was on the throne.
But now this great king was dead. And with his passing the scales of the balance of power in the area seem to tilt way from hope and stability toward despair and vulnerability. Can you imagine how they felt? Everyone in the kingdom wondered-what was going to happen now. And as this cloud of uncertainty grew-as crisis loomed-Isaiah went to the temple of God. He was only a young man at this point-just beginning his career as a prophet and I think he was confused, perhaps afraid. Maybe his intent was to go to the temple and PRAY-I would certainly do that-you probably would to. I mean, crisis like this has a way of forcing all of us-even entire nations to their knees. Planes hit twin towers, terrorists threaten, tidal waves destroy, and in times like this the compulsion to pray comes on all of us-so Isaiah goes to the temple to pray but he never does. In my mind he gets to his knees but before he has a chance to say, “Dear God…” a powerfully vivid vision sweeps over him. He’s still in the temple but God is there seated on His throne. Okay with this in mind, take your Bibles now and let’s read. We’re looking at Isaiah 6:1-8.
1 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2 – Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 -And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 – At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 – “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
6 – Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 – With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 – Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,”Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Okay, let’s review what Isaiah saw in his powerful vision. What did it teach him about God?
1. The first thing Isaiah was aware of was the GREATNESS of God.
Look back at verse 1 again. Isaiah says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, HIGH and EXALTED, and the TRAIN of His ROBE filled the temple.” In other words, Isaiah’s vision helped him to see that even though King Uzziah had died our almighty God-the REAL King was still on His throne! And perhaps for the first time this young prophet realized how GREAT God really is. Look at how he described God. He said that His throne was “…high and exalted…” which means it is greater and exceeded all other thrones but He also noted that the TRAIN of God’s robe filled the entire temple!
Now, as you know, most brides have a train at the back of their dresses. Sometimes they are long such that whenever the bride has to turn, her maid of honor has to help get the train going the right direction so she doesn’t trip over it. I’m not certain but I think Princess Diana holds the record for the longest train. Do you remember the picture of her walking the aisle during her wedding to Prince Charles? Diana’s train was so long that there were people there to carry it and she had a train this long-as a symbol of greatness-a symbol of ROYALTY. Queens and Kings wear robes with long trains. Well, Isaiah tells us that the train of God’s royal robes surpassed anything we have known or can imagine-this reminded him-and us-that God is GREATER than any mere earthly ruler. I mean, this helped Isaiah to understand that God is the ONE Who was truly in charge-that He was ABOVE all and OVER all-AND HE STILL IS!
Well as Isaiah looked around and took God’s greatness in, his worries about the Assyrians and what would happen to his beloved nation shrank and grew insignificant. Buchanan writes, “The enemy is [now] a scarecrow. The [huge, looming] national crisis [now seems like nothing more than] a gnat’s bite. The big jostling sack of troubles that Isaiah dragged into the temple shrinks in the mountainous presence of God to a tiny dust mote and blows away on the wind.”
In his 40th chapter Isaiah writes about God’s greatness-and I’m sure his words were inspired by this vision that he had in his youth. Isaiah says, “Listen! I’ve seen Him! Trust me. God is so great that He holds the oceans in the palm of His hands and marks off heaven by a span. The nations are as a drop in a bucket…a speck of dust on scales. He knows the stars by name and calls them forth.”
And, you know, there is great comfort from this realization. I mean, imagine…a God with the mighty hurricane-filled seas turning in the cup of His hands-a God with all the stars in the universe standing at attention each night when He calls their name…a God for Whom the powerful nations of the world are as a speck of fine dust on a pair of scales. That’s a GREAT GOD people! And, when we face a mountainous problem in life like young Isaiah did here-what we need most is to remind ourselves of the GREATNESS of God. But you know when we’re panicking-when we’re ringing our hands-In our times of greatest need-the truth is so often we fail to grasp what our greatest need truly is! And our greatest need in these times is to simply see the Lord, “HIGH and LIFTED Up!” Nothing else can so quickly put our problems in the right perspective. In the crises of life what we need most is to have our lives redefined for us by looking at them in comparison to God’s greatness and might. In these times we need to see God as He really is because then and only then can we see our problems as they really are-nothing in comparison to the GREATNESS of our Loving Heavenly Father!
Let me ask you, what is the problem that looms over your life on this Palm Sunday? Who or what is the “Tiglath-Pileser” that threatens to invade? Are you worried about finances or about your health or about the health of a loved one? Are you worried about your kids and how they’ll turn out? Are you at a place where you don’t know what to do or where to turn? Do you have problems at work? Then follow Isaiah’s example and dwell on the GREATNESS of God! Remind yourself that He is infinitely greater than any crisis that looms! And He loves us and He’s still on His throne. Stop looking at down at your problem and lift your eyes above. Remember, as the Psalmist says, our help, “comes from the Lord, Who MADE heaven and earth!” (Psalm 121:1-2)
2. This brings us to the subject of this message because the 2nd thing Isaiah became aware of in his vision was the blinding HOLINESS of God.
Look at verse 3. Isaiah says he heard the seraphim singing, “Holy, holy , holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.” Now, in Hebrew a three-fold repetition like this represents maximum quality. In the words of Max Lucado, “Repetition like this performs the work of our highlighter. It is a tool of emphasis.” So these six-winged heavenly beings were emphasizing the fact that God is the HOLIEST-they were saying no one else in all creation even comes close.
By the way, this is the only attribute of God that is emphasized in this way. In Scripture God is never called, “love, love, love” or “mercy, mercy, mercy” – so to have an accurate perception of God it is essential that we seek to understand this attribute. Now, when we think of holiness we think of purity-absolute purity-and that’s a good START when it comes to understanding this aspect of God’s character but there’s more depth to the meaning of this word than that.
For example, when used to refer to God, HOLY also means “wholly other.”
The Hebrew word for “holy” is “qadosh” and it means “cut off” or “separate.” So when we say God is holy one thing we are saying is that He is totally set apart-separate from His creatures and His creation. In other words, God’s holiness reminds us that He is completely unique. He isn’t six or ten or a hundred times more holy than the best person you know. God Himself is in an entirely different category of which He Himself is the only member. God is WHOLLY OTHER. Thanks to this vision Isaiah understood this. In Isaiah 40:18 he asks, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?” And then, in Isaiah 49:9 God answers this question and says, “I am God-I alone! I am God and there is no one else like Me.” So this is part of what it means to say God is Holy-He is unique. Any pursuit of God’s counterpart is vain-futile. No one and nothing compares with Him. Tozer refers to this and says, “God did not go off into some vast infinitely distant realm and absorb His holiness; He is Himself Holiness. He is the All-Holy, the Holy One; He is holiness itself. Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard.”
B. But there’s a second shade of meaning to this word. You see, God’s Holiness is also WHOLENESS.
Perhaps a better synonym would be “completeness” because when we say God is holy we are also saying that He is without shadow or taint, without weakness or blemish. He embodies moral and spiritual perfection, and nothing in heaven or earth or under the earth can damage or diminish that. God is invulnerable to corruption or decay. He falls short in no way. Tozer writes, “God is not now any holier than He ever was. For He, being unchanging and unchangeable, can never be holier than He is. And He never was holier than He is now, and never will be any holier than now.”
Well, in the blinding light of God’s HOLY OTHERNESS-HIS COMPLETE PERFECTION-Isaiah became aware of something else…
3. You see, God’s perfect holiness made Isaiah painfully aware of his SIN.
He realized how impure he was-how imperfect he was. In my mind this part of Isaiah’s vision was similar to those recurring dreams we have in which we find ourselves at work or at school with only our pajamas on and we’re embarrassed and spend the entire dream looking for our clothes. Have you ever had a dream like that? You kind of feel embarrassed all night long-exposed. Well magnify that feeling by a million times and I think you begin to feel what Isaiah felt. He felt uncovered-his sins and shortcomings, his vile thoughts and selfish actions and desires-all those sins he kept secreted away inside his mind-all the sins of omission that he thought no one knew-all of this was laid absolutely bare. So, as his eyes took all this in he didn’t say something like “Wow!” or “Amazing!” No, in absolute TERROR Isaiah said, “WOE IS ME. I am UNDONE! I am RUINED for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
Now, understand-this word, “Woe” is not just a sigh of despair-although there is a tone of despair in Isaiah’s statement-It’s far more than that. “Woe” a word of cursing. Remember? Jesus used it 7 times in our text last week to curse the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. So Isaiah’s response to God’s Holiness was basically to curse himself for his own sin. Another thing. Did you notice what particular sin Isaiah was MOST conscious of as he stood in the midst of God’s holiness? Right! He was most aware of his unclean lips. Now think about that. What was Isaiah’s job? He was a prophet-a spokesman for God. His lips should have been the one thing that fared well in the light of God’s holiness but it was his lips that he saw as sinful. Even in his greatest strength he was undone in the blinding light of God’s holiness. This reminds me of something he said later in his book. In Isaiah 64:6 he said, “…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” In his vision Isaiah realized that even our BEST attempts at holiness fall short of God’s standard. Tozer writes, “We are fallen beings-spiritually, morally, mentally, and physically. Everything about us is dirty; even our whitest white is dingy gray.”
Well, Isaiah’s first instinct was to recoil in terror as, perhaps for the first time, he saw clearly his own sin-and understand, this is the prophet Isaiah we’re talking about, not Zacchaeus, the crooked tax collector, not Peter, the one who denied Christ three times, not Legion the self-mutilating demoniac, not David the adulterous murdering king. No! This is Isaiah, the prophet of God. If we had known him we would say he was a man who towered with righteousness all his life. We would say he was sold out for God! He was the best man in the land but in the presence of God’s holiness even Isaiah is undone. In fact, God’s Holiness was so blindingly pure that the sinless angels couldn’t bear to look at Him. Verse 2 says even they covered their faces and feet.
March Buchanan writes, “This is the way it is with God’s holiness. When we see our Holy God as Isaiah did, we see ourselves. When we behold His holiness, we see our unholiness. His glory reveals our ruin; His purity our vanity; His light our shadows.” And you know, one thing we can take from this part of Isaiah’s vision is the realization that those Christians who are closest to God-those Christians who we think of as being most holy-are least likely to see themselves that way. The people who are farthest along the road to spiritual maturity are not prideful-they are humble. I point this out because many people seem to think the closer they are to God the better they are at seeing the sin of others. They think that godliness is seen in the ability to find fault-but this is not true. No, the closer we are to God, the more aware we are of our OWN sin-and this makes us humble and gracious.
A few weeks ago I saw the new movie, LUTHER, that chronicles the life of Martin Luther and it was actually pretty good. I remember it showing that Luther understood this principle. When Luther was a monk he often spent several hours a day several days in a row in the confessional and his fellow monks would ask him what he was doing. After all he lived in a monastery. What did he have to confess: short-sheeting the other monks’ beds? Chanting off-key? In their minds opportunities to sin were limited! Well-the reason Luther kept coming to the confessional was because he knew that sin is more than what we do. It’s what we think. Our thoughts and hidden desires show our depravity. And the deeper his understanding of God grew, the more aware Luther became of his fallen state. He was frightened by his own cleverness at self-justification. He saw how easily he donned the mask of self-righteousness. He knew that the first commandment is to love God with heart, soul, body, and strength-and he couldn’t even keep this injunction for five minutes-so he kept coming to the confessional.
And this is one reason we must seek to get our minds around this particular attribute of God. I mean this is the only way we will see our sin for what it is. So often we compare ourselves to others and think that as long as we come out on top, we’re okay. Well, this self-righteous comparison stuff blinds us to our own sins. It’s like living in a dirty house but keeping the lights off and telling ourselves it’s clean. We never really see our sins for what they are until we see God for Who He is. If we don’t understand the nature of God’s holiness, we’ll never understand the nature of our depravity. John Calvin once wrote, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have confronted themselves with the majesty of God.” Calvin is right-the light of God’s holiness helps us to see our sin-it helps us to realize how hopeless our situation is without the GRACE of God-and that leads us to the next part of Isaiah’s vision and we need to get to this part…
4. …because it would be sad indeed if his vision stopped there-but it didn’t, because the instant he expressed terror over his sin Isaiah became aware of God’s PROVISION.
Verse 6 says that one of the angels flew to him, “…with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.” Now watch what happens in verse 7. Isaiah says, “With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'” So God does not leave Isaiah cursed. He does something about it. He burns away his sin. And I want you to be sure and note, that this hot coal was not taken from the altar of incense, but rather from the brazen altar in the temple courtyard, where the sacrifices were offered. In this way it symbolized the final Sacrifice the Lamb of God made as He laid down His life for us on that first Good Friday. In other words, God forgave Isaiah on the basis of what Christ was going to do hundreds of years later just as He is willing to forgive us today on the basis of what He has done many hundreds of years before.
By the way Isaiah’s vision mirrors the vision that the Apostle John recorded in Revelation chapter 4. The seraphim are still there all those centuries later still singing their song of God’s holiness. But two things are different. Eight hundred years earlier only the angels sang. Heaven’s music was performed by a chamber choir of angels. But now all heaven and earth join in the song. But, the second difference is more significant. In Isaiah’s vision, the seraphim around God’s throne use two of their wings to cover their eyes. Remember? God’s holiness was too much for even them to look on. But in John’s vision the creatures who surround God’s throne are now covered with eyes in front and in back. Now they look upon the Lord high and lifted up!
What has changed? Revelation 5:6 explains,”Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” So the difference is Jesus, the Lamb of God, who had come to take away the sins of the world. Because He came-because of His Holy sacrifice, what was once forbidden for angels to look upon, all eyes can now see and the song that once mighty prophets dared not sing, all creation can now join.
So understand, in his vision Isaiah had heard the praise of the seraphim and their thunderous song, which shook the very foundation of the Temple. But what did God hear? Above all this earth-shaking praise music God heard the faint, fearful cry of a guilty man who understood his destiny and his depravity and was broken and contrite. God responded by telling a seraph to stop worshiping long enough to go and minister to a needy heart. And in that act, Isaiah is forgiven, cleansed and made WHOLE. You see, because Jesus came that first Holy Week-because He took our unholiness on Himself-we can share in one aspect of God’s holiness. We can be forgiven and made WHOLE.
In the movie, The Mission, Robert De Niro plays Mendoza, the ruthless captain of a band of Spanish slave traders. He has grown rich on human plunder. Well, in a fit of insane jealousy, Mendoza kills his own bother and is crushed with guilt and plunges into a moral and spiritual crisis. The missionary leader Gabriel, played by Jeremy Irons, seeks out Mendoza and convinces him that he must go to the people he once brutalized and enslaved and now serve them. Mendoza cannot believe that his guilt can ever be removed but he joins the missionaries anyway. They climb up steep cliffs, through gorges and ravines and dense forest, to where the tribe lives. In a vain attempt to atone for his guilt, Mendoza carries all the trappings of his former way of life. He stuffs a purse-net with his sword and armor and drags it behind him. They finally arrive at the edge of the village. Mendoza is weak with exhaustion. The tribal people come out to greet them-but there is shocked silence when they see Mendoza, the man who has taken away their wives, their husbands, their sons, their daughters. For a few moments, no one moves. Then one man from the tribe approaches. He holds a knife in his hand, sharp and curved. Mendoza kneels, motionless.
He’s anchored down by his sack of guilt relics. He doesn’t care anymore. There is no release, no atonement. He turns his neck upward ready to receive what he knows he deserves. The man stands over him, raises the knife, and with it delivers his judgement. But instead of killing Mendoza, the tribesman severs the burden of his great sack of evil. The bundle falls away, tumbling over rock and root, and is swallowed up by the shadows of the jungle. In this moment Mendoza’s face changes. His whole body changes. The darkness is turned to light, the heaviness to levity, the grief to joy. He knelt a broken man and arises a healed one. He fell down ruined, and stands up whole…holy. Well, this is what God does for us. His holiness at first consumes us and ruins us. But if we submit-if we confess our sins-in His grace He cuts the burden, burns the sin and sets us free.
5. And in this part of his vision Isaiah became aware of one more thing-his need to live a HOLY life….his need to respond to what God has done for him.
The Lord asks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?” And Isaiah says, “Here am I. Send me!” And God says, “GO.” Now, there is a difference between his saying, “Here I am” and “Here Am I.” Had Isaiah said, “Here I am” he would have merely been indicating his location. But Isaiah said, “Here Am I” and he did so as a way of surrendering to God’s mission. He was stepping forward and volunteering for service. He was saying, “I’m setting my life apart for You to use.” In the words of Paul, he offered himself as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable-AND WE MUST DO THE SAME. We must respond to God’s grace by living holy lives. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says,”But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Now, when we hear this command to be holy we do one of two things. We either brush it off as impossible or we get a less than preferable mental image of things like: thinness, sandals, long robes, stone cells, no jokes, frequent cold baths, getting up at 4AM, stained glass, and self humiliation. But that is not what God is calling us to in this text. No, He is calling us to live lives in which we turn from sin and live lives of Christlike obedience. Chuck Colson says it well,”Holiness is the every day business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and the things we do hour by hour day by day.”
We saw a great example of this a couple days ago in the life of that young woman from Atlanta-Ashley Smith. I’m sure you’ve heard her story. Brian Nichols, a man on trial for rape, escaped by overpowering a guard and taking her gun. He then shot and killed four people, including a judge, a court reporter, a deputy, and a federal agent. Nichols fled and then eluded police by taking Smith hostage and hiding out in her apartment. Now, to me it sounds as if in the midst of this nightmare this young woman basically said, “God, use me to minister to this man. Talk through me. Here am I.” I say this because Smith told authorities she believed God brought Nichols to her door and when He did she proceeded to bravely attempt to share the love of God with him. When Nichols told Smith he felt like “he was already dead,” she urged him to consider the fact that he was still alive a “miracle” and that even authorities said his escape was a “miracle.” She said, “You’re here in my apartment for some reason.” She then told him he might be destined to be caught and to spread the word of God to fellow prisoners. She read the Bible to him and even showed him Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life, directing him to day thirty-three where Warren says, “We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige and position….acing like a servant is not a popular concept.” Then before he freed her she topped it all off by serving him pancakes with real butter.
Now, I don’t know if Nichols accepted Christ. I don’t know if he will become an evangelist in prison. Maybe he will. But think of this-because a young woman said, “Here am I…” an entire nation has been amazed and has listened to her message. Only God knows how many people will respond to His Holiness and grace this week because of her brave obedience.
We come now to our time of invitation…a time for each of us to respond to what we’ve learned. I hope that this morning as we’ve studied Isaiah’s experience we’ve all been given a glimpse of God’s holiness. I hope the light of His purity has overwhelmed each of us with our sin-and helped us to appreciate the depth of His grace. I pray that this has caused each of us to turn to the cross-that this Holy Week will be a time when we truly understand what our Holy God has done in sending His Son to die for us. I also pray that our study has motivated us to take personal holiness more seriously…to stop compromising with the unholy world around us and commit to obey God fully, to live day in and day out saying to God “Here am I…” when it comes to the way we use our time, the way we spend our money, the way we talk, the way we do our jobs, the way we treat others-to devote the rest of our lives to His will. As we sing I invite you to respond publically in anyway that God leads.