Wretched Saints - A 5 Day Journey To TruthSample

TRUE MEASURES: Comparing Yourself to God

A couple of years ago, I got to visit Paris with my daughter. Now there’s something you have to know about Emma: She sparkles. Since she was a little girl, she has sparkled both metaphorically and literally. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I helped her move into her new house (she’s not a little girl anymore), and she had glitter all over her legs.

So, there I am in Paris with sparkly Emma, and we were told we really should be standing next to the Eiffel Tower at precisely 10:00 p.m. We made our way over a few minutes before the hour. Even at 9:55, it was beautiful—majestic and stately and all lit up against the backdrop of the city. But that was nothing. At precisely 10:00 p.m., it began to sparkle. As did my daughter’s face.

She will never forget the sparkle, and I will never forget her face. She is normally a happy, sparkly person but even for her this was a cut above normal. It was transcendent.

Holiness amazes us like that. It takes us off guard because we aren’t used to it. Something that is abnormally gorgeous or breathtaking or stunning tells us a little about who God is. That’s part of how creation testifies to God’s nature (Romans 1:20). But it’s not just the delightfully abnormal that gives us a picture of God’s holiness, it’s the things that downright terrify, as well.

It’s easy to see all that is wretched in this world. Many people say we are corrupted by the mere fact that the world is corrupt, and there’s probably a nugget of truth to that. But our wretchedness bubbles up from inside us, too, when we believe faulty sensors. 

Don’t point your finger in blame. It’s not the corrupt, fallen world making you sin. It’s the lust of the flesh and the lies you’ve believed. In Matthew 15 Jesus is saying, “Don’t you realize that all of your sinful attitudes and actions come from your own sinful heart?” Own it. You are a wretch. So am I.

So was Isaiah.

Isaiah knew he was sinful because he compared himself to God. Not to others. Not to his own ideals. God. That’s the only true way to measure our holiness or wretchedness.

In answer to Isaiah’s repentance, God took his sin away and atoned for it. In Christ, your guilt is taken away too. Your sin is atoned for. You are made into a saint.

The lies are gone and only the truth of his solidity in God’s favor remains. Before Isaiah could understand how loved he was, he had to understand what a wretch he was. If he had a false view of himself, and thought his life was completely put together, he never would have been able to accept the love of God … because deep down, he wouldn’t have believed he needed it.

In that way, he is just like John.

We'll talk about John, when we finish our study tomorrow.