003 Far From Holy

Isaiah 64:6-12

July 6, 2025

As we continue to begin our study of “The Necessity of Sanctification”

We are really trying to FOCUS ON THE END GOAL.

Paul said:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

Paul looked upon his Christian journey like a race or like a boxing match.

· He was running for a prize.

· He was boxing or fighting to win.

· But he didn’t run “without aim”

· He didn’t box to just “beat the air”

There was a purpose, there was an intentionality to all that he did.

There was a DEFINITE goal.

There was a DETAILED prize.

Every runner needs to know the finish line.

Every fighter needs to know the criteria to win the fight.

SO WE HAVE BEGUN OUR STUDY BY EXAMINING THE GOAL.

Peter provided that for us.

1 Peter 1:16 “because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

There are other ways of saying it:

Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

Galatians 4:19 “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you”

Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

Those all speak to the same reality.

We are on a journey of sanctification TO BE MADE LIKE JESUS.

· To be Holy as He is holy.

· To be complete in Christ.

· For Christ to be formed in us.

We want to look like Him.

THAT IS THE GOAL.

We discussed it THIS MORNING as we talked about God’s holiness.

We talked about HIS MAJESTIC HOLINESS

Which speaks of Him being distinct and set apart and above us.

· He is unique and different from creation.

· He is unique and different from humanity.

· He is unique and different from every so-called god.

THERE IS NONE LIKE HIM.

We are to be holy in like manner

In the sense that we also are to be set apart in this world.

· We are called to walk in light as children of light.

· We are to live no longer like the Gentiles.

· We are to be different and unique in this world.

We also talked about God’s MORAL HOLINESS this morning.

This speaks of His moral and ethical perfection.

And we also are to walk in truth and kindness and morality.

· As God is perfectly consistent to His nature in His moral holiness,

· So our moral holiness must not be merely external, but rather internal.

· It is our heart that must be sanctified which will in turn change our actions.

To be moral outside and vile inside is to be nothing less than

The Pharisees who “wash the outside of the cup and of the dish,

But inwardly are full of robbery and self-indulgence”.

We want to be set apart and we want that distinction

To come from a holy heart that produces holy living.

John MacArthur wrote:

“God’s holiness is his inherent and absolute greatness, in which he is perfectly distinct above everything outside himself and is absolutely morally separate from sin.”

(MacArthur, John; Mayhue, Richard [Biblical Doctrine, Crossway, Wheaton, IL, 2017] pg. 1830

That is who He is, and that is who we are called to be.

That is the FINISH LINE.

That is the GOAL.

I want us to be very clear on that.

I ALSO WANT to be clear on the NECESSITY of sanctification or holiness.

We’ve read some important passages that are worth quoting again.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification;”

John 13:8 “Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

We have read Psalms 15

Which asks us “O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”

· And the answer is only a righteous man.

We’ve read Psalms 24:3-6

Which asks “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?”

· And it answers the same way; only the righteous.

We might add to that:

Psalms 1:5-6 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”

We understand that God is adamant about holiness and sanctification.

And TONIGHT, before we get to the point I really want to make,

Let me just drive that one home a little deeper.

I want to make sure you understand that apart from sanctification

You will not see the Lord nor enter the kingdom of heaven.

And to make that point extremely clear, let’s just turn to the end.

TURN TO: REVELATION 21

This chapter certainly here gives a glorious picture

Of the new heavens and new earth.

(READ VS. 1)

John sees the place where believers dwell with God for all eternity.

· It is the place where tears are wiped away.

· It is the place absent of mourning or crying or pain.

· It is the place where all things are made new.

And John is very specific regarding who is not welcome there.

(READ VS. 7-8)

The only people who enter are those who “overcome”

Overcome what?

Well, I suppose you could say

· The temptations of the Great tribulation

· The deception of the anti-Christ.

· You know, not taking the mark of the beast.

· Not denying Christ.

BUT EVEN MORE THAN THAT, do you remember those 7 churches that Jesus addressed at the beginning of the Revelation?

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea

Christ addressed all 7 of those churches.

· Christ addressed sinfulness and rebellion.

· Christ called for repentance.

· Christ spoke of judgment on sin.

· And every letter ended with the same admonition: “To him who overcomes…”

Ephesus had to OVERCOME HYPOCRISY for they were going through the motions with sound doctrine, but they had left their first love.

Smyrna had to OVERCOME FEAR for they were in a hotbed of persecution and more was on the way.

Pergamum had to OVERCOME COMPROMISE for they had some there who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans and were a threat to the church.

Thyatira had to OVERCOME WORLDLINESS because they tolerated the false prophetess Jezebel who led their people into idolatry.

Sardis had to OVERCOME COMPLACENCY as they lived on their past accomplishments and no longer strived for obedience.

Philadelphia had to OVERCOME FATIGUE, having nearly finished her course but needing yet to finish strong.

Laodicea had to OVERCOME PRIDE AND SIN for they thought they were good enough, but did not know they were poor and miserable and blind and naked.

All of the churches of the book of Revelation

Are specifically told that they must overcome.

They had to win their specific battle.

The Lord identified their battle.

The Lord identified their struggle.

He unapologetically called for them to overcome it.

The book of Revelation even tells us how they would do so:

Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”

OVERCOMING IS THE THEME.

And in Revelation 21:7 we find that

Only those who overcome are granted access into the city.

(8) “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

OVERCOMING IS SERIOUS.

SANCTIFICATION IS SERIOUS.

AND LOOK STILL at the end of the chapter where John describes the city.

He speaks of THE OCCUPANTS.

(READ VS. 27)

Can we stress again that God is serious about the standard?

When we say sanctification is a necessity we are not joking.

Remember that fellow that tried to sneak into heaven?

Matthew 22:11-13 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

You’re not getting in there in your filth.

Even the book of Revelation addresses it one more time:

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

SANCTIFICATION MATTERS.

God is adamant about who will and who won’t enter His holy city.

BUT AS WE GO FORWARD TONIGHT,

My main objective is that you grasp just how big the gap is

Between God’s holiness and your current condition.

I’m not trying to discourage you, there is a purpose.

But you need to see, to some extent, how far off the standard you are.

Verse 6 says it all.

(6) “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Maybe you’ll remember that verse from our recent study of Isaiah.

It comes in the segment in which we were highlighting the revival that will one day occur in Israel.

Part of that revival mentality was the awareness of their sinfulness

And need for God’s mercy and help.

That is why it is important that you see the great gap as well.

You and I need to understand our need for mercy and for God’s help

Even as we wrestle with just how unsanctified we really are.

Isaiah saw the day in which God will open the eyes of Israel to the absolute ineffectiveness of their worthless religion.

· They had been giving sacrifices that could not take away sin.

· They had relied on ordinances which they could never fulfill.

And on this day God has finally shown them how far they are from Him.

Isaiah 64:6 represents a crucial portion of their confession.

It is that they are “unclean”.

“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.”

It is a pretty graphic analogy.

“filthy” there comes from a Hebrew word that means “an appointed time”

And it came to speak of a woman’s “appointed time” or her “monthly time”.

So when you see a reference to “a filthy garment”

You begin to understand what he is talking about.

Isaiah says Israel will one day compare all of their righteous deeds

To a woman’s soiled garment during the time of her menstruation.

He says “all of us have become like who is unclean”

We’re all just like that hemorrhaging woman in the gospels.

That uncleanness didn’t just recently happen.

Isaiah had already noted:

Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

They didn’t just become unclean, they were always unclean,

The problem is they didn’t recognize just how much.

AND THAT IS MY GOAL HERE FOR YOU AND ME.

Part of the conditions of the sanctifying revival we are seeking

Is that we also recognize just how “unclean” we are.

We really need to recognize just how far short we are

Of the goal of conformity to Christ.

Now that word “unclean” should certainly stir up your memory.

The Law is full of ramifications regarding the standard.

Leviticus 5:2-3 “Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty. ‘Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty.”

· Moses said if you touch an unclean carcass of even a swarming thing you are guilty.

That means if you squash a gnat you are guilty and unclean.

Leviticus 12:2-5 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: ‘When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. ‘On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. ‘Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. ‘But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days.”

· When a woman gives birth, she is unclean.

Numbers 19:11 “The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days.”

Numbers 19:16 “Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days.”

· You can’t even bury a relative without becoming unclean.

To be unclean is to be below the standard of the holiness of God.

And we could go on with things like

Leprosy or scabs or mold in your house or whatever.

God’s Law was full of examples which prove

That you do not measure up to the holy standard of God.

You would think that would have been obvious to Israel

What with all the vivid explanations.

And yet the fault of Israel was their inability to recognize

Just how unclean they were.

· Oh they could ostracize a leper.

· Sure they could shun that hemorrhaging woman.

· Those were easy targets.

But they were absolutely blind to their own uncleanness.

Remember the Pharisee praying in the temple?

Luke 18:11-12 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’”

No wonder Jesus said about them:

Matthew 23:23-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

It was the religious leaders who refused to enter Pilate’s Praetorium

· So that they would not be unclean and unable to eat the Passover,

· But absolutely oblivious to how vile their murderous hearts were.

They were unclean but totally blind to it.

· They valued traditions over the word of God.

· They would wash their hands but devour a widows house.

NOT KNOWING YOU ARE UNCLEAN IS A MASSIVE PROBLEM.

A KEY TO REVIVAL

A key to striving for sanctification…

· Is first recognizing that you are unclean and not just a little.

· You are unclean like a filthy garment.

· You are WAY BELOW THE STANDARD.

There is a long way to go for to ever be Holy as God is Holy.

And surely we don’t have to read that famous passage in Romans 3 again

Which reminds us that there is none righteous, not even one.

Or do we have to go back to the Sermon on the Mount

· To remember just how murderous or adulterous our hearts are?

· Do we have to talk about how God never lies and we lie all the time?

· Do we have to discuss how God never breaks a covenant and our word has

almost no value?

· Do we have to point out that God is kind but often only love those who love

us?

Or do we need to go to the Ten Commandments

And flesh out all the ones we’ve broken?

· No other gods?

· No dumbing God down to our level? (graven images)

· No taking God’s name in vain?

· Remembering God’s Sabbath (priority)

· Honoring parents

· No false witness

· Not stealing

· Not killing

· No adultery

· No coveting

I think you get the point.

You and are called to be holy like God is holy and we are not even close.

And let me give you just a little illustrative picture here

To make sure you grasp the point.

TURN TO: 1 SAMUEL 5:1-12

This was after the children of Israel went to battle with the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant was stolen.

Look at what God did to the Philistines.

· They realized very quickly that they were not worthy to dwell with God.

· They needed to get away and quickly!

· They were unclean.

As they sent the Ark away on a cart, it came to the people of the people of Beth-shemesh.

· And look at what happened to them:

(READ 1 SAMUEL 6:19-20)

Or go ask Uzzah who decided to reach out and touch the Ark.

ARE YOU GETTING THE POINT?

THE GAP IS ENORMOUS!

We are a long way away from the holiness God requires.

Now being far away DOES NOT ABSOLVE us of the requirement.

LET ME READ TO YOU AGAIN what we saw in Revelation.

Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

UNCLEAN ISN’T GETTING IN. WE MUST BE MOTIVATED TO WORK

WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

God is serious about sanctification and we are long way from it.

· This should produce at least a little concern in your life.

· This should produce at least a little desperation.

· This should produce at least a little fear.

Those things are necessary if revival is going to occur.

That wasn’t all Isaiah said in that confession.

(6) “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

It wasn’t just a recognition of terrible uncleanness

It was also a recognition of deserved judgment.

“all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

We read it earlier.

Psalms 1:4-6 “The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.”

Malachi 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

John the Baptist jumped on board as well:

Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Not only does Isaiah recognize the extreme filth of the nation,

He also recognizes the reality of the judgment that comes with it.

They will go on to say:

(7) “There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.”

· We have quit seeking…

· We have quit pursuing…

· AND THUS, we are a long way from You.

AND LOOK, I WANT US TO CATCH THAT.

We cannot take an apathetic approach or look at sanctification.

If we fail to recognize our lack of sanctification

Or simply don’t care about our lack of sanctification

We are in a horrible place.

· There must be some self-evaluation.

· There must be some self-awareness.

· There must be some grief and mourning over remaining sin.

Paul said:

Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

Until that attitude shows up, I don’t know that sanctification

Is ever going to become a priority or a reality in our lives.

WE SHOULD REALIZE THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE!

AND STILL THAT IS NOT ALL

· We definitely need to see how far short of sanctification we are.

· We definitely need to see that this is not ok.

· We definitely need to be motivated to pursue sanctification.

· We definitely need to be driven to strive for holiness.

BUT I also want you to grasp that the holiness God requires…

YOU WILL NEVER ACHIEVE IT IN THIS LIFE.

You say, “Well that’s really comforting pastor!”

I know it sounds terrible.

BUT YOU HAVE TO GET THERE.

You have to come to that place.

Job said:

Job 14:4 “Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!”

When the Rich Young Ruler walked away

· The disciples asked, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus said:

Matthew 19:26 “And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Now let me tell you what the wrong response

Would have been from the disciples.

They could have said,

· “Well then, who can be saved? Thrown up their hands and left.”

· “It’s hopeless, not use trying, we’ll never get there.”

But that is not what Jesus instructed them to do.

Jesus instructed them that there was One

Who could accomplish what they could not.

“with God all things are possible.”

NOW,

Let me remind you again of the Covenantal name of God.

Leviticus 22:32 “You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you,”

What is He called?

“the LORD who sanctifies you”

I do in you what you cannot do for yourself.

Do you see Jesus washing Peter’s feet?

· He DIDN’T say, “Peter, if you don’t wash your feet we can’t be together.”

· He said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

NOW THIS DOES NOT MEAN

That we don’t have to strive for sanctification.

Clearly we do.

But it does remind us that apart from the Lord’s help

And work in our lives we will never achieve it.

There is a striving for sanctification that must be in our lives,

But there is also a faith for sanctification that must be in our lives.

SO WE SEE THAT

1. Sanctification is required; heaven depends on it.

2. We are commanded to strive for it.

3. We are a long way away from the goal.

4. We cannot do this on our own.

5. God is ready to work in us to help us achieve it.

SO OUR FIRST STEP in pursuing sanctification

Is to bow our head in humble dependence to Christ.

Look at what Isaiah said that will do in his revival.

(64:8-12) “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has been burned by fire; And all our precious things have become a ruin. Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O Lord? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”

They went running in humble submission to God

Who could fix their uncleanness.

Isn’t that what Jesus did in the gospels?

· Did He not cleans lepers?

· Did He not heal that hemorrhaging woman?

Yes we strive for it.

Yes we run for it.

Yes we fight for it.

Yes we eagerly seek it.

But the FIRST STEP in our seeking sanctification

Is in humble surrender to Christ who sanctifies us.

NOW, THIS IS WHERE WE ARE GOING NEXT TIME.

WE ARE GOING TO SEE THE POWER OF CHRIST

That has been unleashed for us to set us free

From the dominion of sin in our lives.

Romans 6:4-6 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”

WE ARE GOING TO SEE THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Who has been given to us to work out our sanctification.

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

1. God demands sanctification.

2. God refuses uncleanness in His heaven.

3. We must be holy as He is holy.

4. And we are a long way from that.

5. And we are struggling hard to achieve it.

But we are not alone in our struggle.

Philippians 2:12-13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

So FIRST we need to see the necessity.

· So we will strive for it.

THEN we need to see how far away from it we are.

· So we will be urgent in our desire for it.

THEN we need to see how hopeless we are of obtaining it on our own.

· So we will run to Christ for our sanctification.

· So we will follow His Spirit to work it out in our lives.

And all of a sudden our striving is more effective.

All of a sudden we start making strides.

THIS IS THE GOAL.

So tonight see how far you are from the holiness God requires and see Christ and His Spirit as the Ones eager to help you achieve the goal.