1. One of the great mysteries is how God, "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (57:15) also inhabits the human heart.
2. The apostle Paul referred to this mystery in Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
3. If you are saved, Christ is in you, and you are in Christ (John 14:20).
4. Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.”
5. Charles Wesley wrote -- Amazing love!  How can it be?
6. It is amazing that the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity dwells in the hearts of those who have trusted Him.
7. When we refer to God as the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, we are speaking about His divine attributes.

I. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

1. When we refer to the attributes of God, we are referring to those characteristics or qualities innate to His very nature.
2. God is immutable. This means that God is not subject to change through time or circumstances.
3. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever."
4. Malachi 3:6 says, "For I am the LORD, I change not."
5. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
   All may change, but Jesus never! Glory to His Name! -- A.B. Simpson
6. God is sovereign.  This means God is the ultimate authority in heaven and in earth.  First Timothy 6:15 says the Lord Jesus Christ "is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords."
7. God is omnipresent.  This means God is everywhere.  We need to remember that we are always in the presence of God.
8. David said, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there" (Psalm 139:7, 8).
9. In Exodus 3, God called to Moses out of the midst of the burning bush, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Ex. 3:5).
10. I heard a preacher say that for the Christian, every bush is a burning bush and all ground is holy ground.
11. We need to remember we are in the presence of God right now.
12. God is omniscient.  God knows everything. God knows and sees the past, the present, and the future with equal clarity and absolute certainty.   Acts 15:18 says, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."
13. In John 21:17, Peter said to our Lord, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee."
14. Our text says God is eternal.  He is "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity" (Isaiah 57:15).
15. Psalm 90:2 says, "Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."
16. Deuteronomy 33:27 says, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."
17. First Timothy 1:17 says, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
18. And first and foremost, God is holy.  In fact, His name is Holy.  Isaiah 57:15 says, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy..."
19. The Bible places a great emphasis on God’s holiness. In fact, He is described by the word “Holy” more than any other.
20. In Isaiah 6:3, we see the seraphims cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory."
21. Notice, these seraphims do not cry, "Omnipotent, omnipotent, omnipotent" or "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."
22. Oh, we need more preaching and teaching on the holiness of God!  Holiness is that perfection in God that totally separates Him from all that is evil and defiling and common and vulgar and dirty (cf. 57:20, 21).
23. First Peter 1:15 and 16 says, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
24. Now that we have briefly considered the character of God, let us consider those who dwell with God.

II. THOSE THAT DWELL WITH GOD

1. Isaiah 57:15b says, "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."
2. The Bible says, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6; I Peter 5:5). Today, many people are very proud.
3. We do not meet many humble people these days, even in our churches. Even some church members are proud and haughty.
4. Referring to pride, Andrew Murray said, "There is no sin that works more cunningly and...knows how to penetrate into everything."
5. Man likes to exalt himself and assert himself and boast of his accomplishments.
6. A preacher put it this way, "An astronomer, looking into the vast heavens, can easily forget the God who made him.  The evolutionist forgets that matter cannot originate or organize itself.  The surgeon can sometimes forget that only God can heal.  A metaphysician can easily forget that above all we see and know there is an intelligence and genius beyond us.  The intellectual lifts himself up in pride as though he knows more than God" (W.A. Criswell, Isaiah, an Exposition).
7. Our Lord said, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:12).
8. And in Isaiah 57:15, we see that God promises to "dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit."
9. Why?
10. To revive him (57:15).
11. We preachers often talk about revival, and we pray for revival, and some times we will preach about revival.  But most Christians do not really understand revival.
12. First of all, revival is for those already saved.  The unsaved need to be regenerated, and the saved need to be revived.  The word means making alive again those who have been alive, but have become lukewarm or worldly or backslidden, etc.
13. Notice, Isaiah 57:15 speaks of individuals being revived.  Personal revival must come first -- before corporate revival or church revival or a city-wide revival or a nation-wide revival, etc.
14. Here is R.A. Torrey’s three-point prescription for revival:

    "First, let a few Christians get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest I am going to say will come to nothing.

    Second, let them bind themselves together in prayer groups to pray for revival until God opens the heavens and comes down.

    Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God, for Him to use them as He sees fit in the winning of others to Christ. That is all. This is sure to bring revival to any church or any community. I have given this prescription around the world. It has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no instance has it ever failed, and it cannot fail."

15. A.W. Tozer said, "I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long in vain. Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all."

III. SINNERS NEED TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD (57:16).

1. Because God is holy (57:15), God hates everything that is unholy.
2. The LORD says He will not contend for ever, neither will He be always wroth (57:16).
3. God is "wroth" (57:16, 17), i.e., God is angry, and God hates sin. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
4. And since God hates sin, we should hate sin.  Psalm 97:10 says, "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil..."
5. Isaiah 57:16 says that the LORD will not contend for ever, neither will He be always wroth.
6. This means there is coming a day when God will deal once and for all with the sin problem.   In Revelation 16:1 we see that some day, and it could be very soon, God will instruct His holy angels pour out the seven vials filled with the wrath of God.
7. Right before He sent the flood, the LORD said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man" (Genesis 6:3). We see a similar warning here in Isaiah 57:16 -- "For I will not contend for ever."
8. One of the sins specifically mentioned here in our text is the sin of covetousness (57:17), a very popular sin here in America today.
9. Though the tenth commandment says, "Thou shalt not covet" (Ex. 20:17), few preachers will preach against it.
10. Covetousness can lead to adultery.  Exodus 20:17 says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."  David coveted his neighbor's wife and then he committed adultery with her.
11. And then when he found out she was pregnant with his child, he had her husband killed.  So covetousness can even lead to murder.
12. King Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard.  When Naboth would not sell it to him, King Ahab and his wicked wife Queen Jezebel falsely accused Naboth and had him executed.
13. So covetousness can lead to lying, adultery, and murder.
14. One of the reasons the Pharisees hated our Lord so much, and plotted to have Him killed was because He exposed their covetousness.
15. Colossians 3:5 says covetousness is idolatry, and this seems to be the number one idol in America today.
16. In Mark 7:21 and 22, our Lord grouped covetousness together with evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
17. In Romans 1:29-31, the apostle Paul lists the sin of covetousness along with sins such as unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, and unmerciful.
18. In I Corinthians 6:9 and 10, the apostle Paul says, "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
19. These sins were prevalent in Bible times and in our time also. The Bible says that if sinners repent, God will restore them (Isa. 57:18), and God will heal them (57:18, 19).
20. Though the healing includes physical healing, the emphasis is on spiritual healing. God says in Hosea 14:4, “I will heal their backsliding."
21. Isaiah 53:5 says, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
22. Have you experienced this healing?
23. If not, judgment awaits (Isa. 57:20, 21).
24. The same warning was given in Isaiah 48:22, "There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked."

CONCLUSION:

1. Isaiah 57:15 says God is "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity."
2. May I ask you this question: God inhabits eternity.  Where will you spend eternity?
3. A preacher named W. B. Hinson was told by his doctor, "You have an illness from which you won't recover."
4. The preacher walked out to where he lived, and he looked across at the mountains that he loved. He looked at the river in which he rejoiced, and he looked happily at the stately trees that always brought great joy to his soul.
5. Then in the evening he looked up into the great sky and admired God's beautiful handiwork -- the moon and the stars were all shining brightly up in the heavens.
6. And then he said, "I may not see you many more times, but Mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone; and River, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea; and Stars, I shall be alive when you have fallen from your sockets in the great down pulling of the material universe!"
7. That preacher could say that because he knew for sure he had eternal life.