00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
May grace and peace be multiplied
to each of you tonight in the knowledge of God and of Jesus,
our Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, you are holy,
holy, holy. The whole earth is filled with
your glory. You are sovereign. and you reign over heaven and
earth. You have established your throne
in the heavens and your kingdom rules over all. And yet you are
a God of sparing mercy, amazing grace, and loyal love. You have
demonstrated these ultimately through the person and work of
your son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we
do ask now that you would open our eyes that we may behold wondrous
things from your word. Help us tonight to lay aside
all filthiness and rampant wickedness so that we may receive with gentleness
the implanted word that is able to save our souls. And help us
to be doers of your word and not hearers only lest we deceive
ourselves. In Jesus name, amen. My assignment tonight is Isaiah
chapter six. Permit me to read verses one
through eight. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him
stood the seraphim, each had six wings. With two he covered
his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and
said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord host. The whole earth is
full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold
shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled
with smoke. And I said, woe is me. For I am lost, for I am a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. For my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew
to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs
from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said,
behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away
and your sin atoned for. And I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, who shall I send and who will go for us? Then
I said, here I am. Send me. Amen. Isaiah chapter six, verses one through eight records
Isaiah's life transforming vision of God and call to prophetic
ministry. It is the dramatic testimony
of a sinful man who had a violent encounter with the holiness of
God, but lived to tell about it. Somehow, God lifted Isaiah's
gaze above and beyond his physical surroundings. And he received
a vision of God that changed his life immediately, completely,
and permanently. But this personal testimony is
on record for us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to call each
of us tonight to a high view of God. No, we don't need to try to recreate
the supernatural experience that Isaiah has in this text, but
we do need, desperately need, the resulting view of God that
Isaiah had as a result of this experience. A.W. Tozer wrote that the greatest
need of the moment is for lighthearted, superficial religionist to be
struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up with his
train filling the temple. The beginning of his book, The
Supremacy of God in Preaching, John Piper writes about preaching
this text as a somewhat pastoral experiment one Sunday. He worked
his way through the narrative here lifting the glory and majesty
and sovereignty of God in the text and preach the passage without
any word of application for his members. He just wanted to see,
the test was, would the proclamation of the greatness of God be enough
to meet the needs of the people? Not long after, He discovered that there was
a family in the service that day who had recently discovered
that their child had been abused by a relative. The father stopped
John after service one day and told him, these have been the
worst months of our lives. But do you know what has seen
me through? It was that vision of the holiness
of God you gave us at the beginning of the year. He added, it has been a rock
upon which I've been able to stand. Really, that's the take home
truth of tonight's message. Your view of God is everything. Jeremiah chapter 9 verses 23
and 24 says it this way, thus says the Lord, let not the wise
man boast in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the
rich man in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this,
that he knows and understands me, says the Lord. that I am a God of steadfast
love and righteousness and justice, for in these I delight, declares
the Lord. I repeat, your view of God is
everything. You may be wise, you may be rich,
you may be mighty, but if you don't have a proper view of God,
you have nothing. It is only when God is seen as
he truly is that everything else in life comes into proper perspective. And so tonight, would you consider
with me three elements of a high view of God that we learned from
Isaiah's vision. First, God is sovereign. John 4 verse 24 says God is spirit. First Timothy chapter 6 verse
16 says that God dwells in unapproachable light. No one has seen or can
see. First John 4 12 is just blunt. No one has ever seen God. Isaiah says, I saw the Lord. What did he see? There's a hint, I think, in the
wording of the text. God is called Lord in verse one. He is called Lord in the antiphonal
chant of the angels in verse three. There's a different font. in whatever translation you have
in your lab which is the translators hint that different Hebrew words
are being used here. Lord in verse 3 is Yahweh the
self-existent one. The I am that I am. But in verse
1, Lord translates Adonai. The sovereign one. Isaiah did
not seek God's essential nature, but he saw a vision of the sovereign
majesty of God. That's supported by the fact
that verse 1 says he saw God sitting on a throne. In verse
5, he just bluntly says, my eyes have seen the king. John chapter 12 verse 39 and
40 claims that the rejection of Jesus is the fulfillment of
Isaiah 6 and 10. But then in John 12 41, Isaiah says, these things Isaiah
said because he saw or beheld his glory. John claims that what Isaiah
saw was a Christophany, a pre-incarnate vision of the Lord Jesus Christ
seated on his heavenly throne. And here in these opening verses,
Isaiah gives us a descriptive definition of the sovereignty
of God. What do we mean when we say God
is sovereign? His authority is based upon the
fact that the Lord is eternal. Would you note that verse 1 begins
by dating this vision. It was in the year the king Uzziah
died. Isaiah was the ninth king of
Judah. He took the throne at the age
of 16 and reigned for 52 years. Second Chronicles chapter 26
verse 15 says, he was marvelously helped by God. I don't even know
what that means, but I like it. He was marvelously helped until
he became strong. and was lifted up in pride to
his own destruction. He disobeyed God's command and
violated God's holiness trying to intrude on the priestly ministry.
God struck him with leprosy. And he died in isolation. Isaiah said, it was in the year
that Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. Hallelujah. In about a month, one way or
another, the president, who is said to be the most powerful
man in the world, will have to give up his position of authority. And when he moves out of the
White House, God will still be on the throne. He is eternal. Moses says, Lord,
you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the
mountains were brought forth or ever you had created the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Not only is the Lord eternal,
but the Lord's sovereign authority is transcendent. Isaiah indicates
this by locating his The infinite height of his throne, he is high
and lifted up. There may be kings on other thrones,
but no earthly throne is on God's level. Psalm 46 verse 10. Be still, give up, quit striving
and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth. In a real sense, that promise,
that prediction is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians
chapter two, verses nine through 11 says, therefore God has highly
exalted him and has given him the name that is above every
name. So that at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. All hail the power of Jesus name. Let angels prostrate fall, bring
forth the royal diadems and crown him Lord of all. The Lord is eternal, the Lord
is transcendent, and the Lord is majestic. In the ancient world,
kings would display their glory, their greatness, their majesty
by the length of the train of their robes. Isaiah says, I saw the Lord in
the train of his robe filled the whole temple. In this beautiful sanctuary,
over the years you have hosted, no doubt, wonderful weddings
with brides coming down the aisle. with their train of their bridal
dress following them. What's the longest bride's train
you've ever seen? Isaiah said, when I saw the Lord,
his train, his trailing majesty consumed, he blanketed the temple
with his glory. You should know Jeremiah chapter
13 verse 22, where God says, if you ask, why is
all of this evil and judgment come upon you? I'll tell you,
it is because of the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts
are uncovered and your heels are bare. It's a symbolism for judgment.
You think you are great, God says, I will pull up your skirts
and show you are just a man. While God pulls up men's skirts
in judgment, the train of his robe fills the temple. God is sovereign. Secondly, God is holy. Unfortunately,
holiness is the most neglected attribute of God in the contemporary
church. We love his power, we love his
love, we love his wisdom, but we don't wanna talk about or
think about his holiness. Which in a real sense means we
don't truly want to worship him. Holiness is the central, defining,
foundational attribute of God. The word used to describe God
more than any other in the scripture is the word holy. In fact, God
is so holy that anything in scripture associated with God is called
holy. His name is holy. His people
are holy. His temple is holy. His word
is holy. Hersey Sproul was right. Any
attempt to understand God apart from holiness is idolatry. Here Isaiah doesn't define God's
holiness as much as he describes it. He describes the holiness
of God by pointing away from God in
the real sense to the seraphim. Here the holiness of God is seen
in the seraphim's posture and in the seraphim's praise. On one hand God's holiness is
put on display by the seraphim's posture. Verse 2 says, above
him stood the seraphim, literally burning ones. Term is used for
fiery serpents throughout the scripture. Here, it refers to
an order of angelic beings to some degree. They are like humans. They have faces and feet and
hands, but these cannot be mistaken as mere humans. I mean, the term itself suggests
Isaiah is saying that I saw above his throne people, but they looked
like people on fire. And the other distinction, of
course, is that they have six wings with which they did two
things. With two of those six wings,
they flew. Verse six indicates that they
flew to carry out any divine assignment given. But outside of that, the language
here suggests that they hovered above God's throne. Verse 1 says,
God's throne was high and lifted up. And then verse 2 says, above
him stood the seraphim. It seems that Isaiah is describing
here, if I may, some supernatural secret surface. guarding the holiness of God's
throne from intruders. But that's just two wings, they
had four left. And this is the remarkable part,
saints. If with two wings, they guarded
God's throne from others, with the other four, They guarded
themselves from God's throne. With two wings, they covered
their feet. Remember in Exodus chapter three, Moses sees the bush burning that
is not consumed and he Desires to get a closer look, and the
Lord speaks from the bush. Ezekiel 3, 5, and says, take
off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. The angels recognize that they
are on holy ground. They don't have sandals to take
off, but they veil their feet. And with two wings, they veil
their face in a real sense. These holy angels cannot stand
to look directly at God or have God look directly at them. I want you to think about that.
When Isaiah sees the Lord, he says in verse five, woe is me. That's the appropriate response
when a sinful person meets the living God. But the seraphim are not sinful.
They're holy angels who here most likely are defending the
holiness of God's throne from sinful intrusion. But this is
a picture of the holiness of God. God is not just separated
from sin. He is separated from all creation. So holy is God that the holy
angels that serve him to be guarded in his holy presence. But not only is God's holiness
displayed in the seraphim's posture, it is displayed as well, verse
3, in the seraphim's praise. Antiphonally the seraphim called
one to another and sing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled full
of his glory. In the first sentence, holy means
God is not like us. And in the second instance, it
means he is morally perfect. 1 John 1.5 says it this way, God
is light. 1 John 1.5, and in him, there
is no speck of darkness at all. Would you notice They don't just sing that God
is holy, they sing he is holy, holy, holy. To call God holy once is enough. To call God holy twice is emphatic. But to call God holy three times
is superlative. They are saying that God is so
holy that our minds cannot fully comprehend it and our words cannot
fully express it. He is holy, holy, holy. And for the record, there is
no other attribute of God that is mentioned in scripture in
triplicate like this. The Bible never says God is good,
good, good. Or loving, loving, loving. but he is holy, holy, holy. Revelation chapter four verses
eight and nine says that the living creatures who also have six wings with
eyes and within and without never stopped singing, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come. coupled to that statement of his holiness is
a statement of his glory. I think this is an even more
remarkable line than the first. The whole earth is full of his
glory. If you go home and check the
news tonight, just for a few minutes, you'll
see that the world is filled with corruption and crime and
chaos and evil and wickedness and perversion. But the angels do not base their
view of God by the breaking news of the day. They view the holiness of God
as inextricably tied to the glory of God. Because God is infinitely holy. It shapes everything else that
they see. And they declare the whole world
is filled with his glory. Exodus 15, 11 says it this way,
that God is majestic in his holiness. Verse four says, and the foundations
of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and
the house was filled with smoke. been some powerful singing tonight
in this worship service, but nothing like this. The threshold shook. The house
was filled with smoke. The picture here is that Isaiah
was trapped in the dark with God. It is arguable to say that Isaiah was closer to God than
any man had been since the fall. And yet, the language is meant
to say that even in this vision of God, he was so far away. Quickly, there is a third attribute
to see here. The God we worship is sovereign,
the God we worship is holy, and the God we worship is gracious. I want you to note that there
is a shift in focus of heavenly furniture in the text. The focus of verses one through
four is the throne. The focus of verses five through
eight is the altar. Thank God both are there. If there was throne but no altar,
this would have been a living nightmare of judgment, wrath,
and condemnation. Praise God, there was throne,
and altar, guilt and forgiveness, holiness
and grace. We see God's grace at work in
Isaiah's contrition. He says, woe is me. This is more
than regret, sorrow. This is a word of divine judgment. He declares judgment on himself.
Because I am lost, I'm ruined, I am undone. Why? Because I am
a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. Isaiah knew that what the seraphim
sung was true. But he couldn't join in the song. Worthy worship cannot be offered
by unclean lips. That was a personal problem and
a corporate problem that doomed Isaiah. Because he says, mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. I got to move on to the end here, but
let me just linger here for just a moment and bottom line what's
happening in the rest of this text. Isaiah, Isaiah thought
he was about to die. Isaiah, I saw the Lord, it's
not the contemporary, you know, I saw the Lord and you get a
book deal and go on tour and become rich. In scripture when people saw
the Lord, they concluded I'm gonna die. Exodus 33 20 God tells his friend
Moses you cannot see my face because if you see my face you
will not live Judges 6 22 Gideon says alas
for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face In Judges 13, 22, Samson's parents
said, surely we will die for we have seen the Lord. We read John's revelation of
the glory of Jesus on the island of Patmos. And we say, that's
so wonderful. I wish I could have been there.
That's not what John said. John says, Revelation 1, 17,
when I saw him, I felt like a dead man. In scripture, when people saw
the Lord, they thought they were going to die. And that's what Isaiah thought.
But mercy spared him. And we see not only his contrition,
but his cleansing, verses six and seven. Then one of the seraphim flew
to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs
from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said,
behold, this has touched my lips. Your guilt is taken away and
your sin is atoned for. Friends, this is just a shadow. of what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for us in his righteous life, atoning death and triumphant
resurrection. We are cleansed by God's will.
We are cleansed by God's work. We are cleansed by God's word. Then there is in verse eight,
Isaiah's commission, where we see that grace is free, but it
is not cheap. That sixth verse says, the angel
took the burning coal off the altar with tongs. I want you
to think about that. The seraphim literally means
burning ones, but the burning ones wouldn't dare touch the
burning coal. They used tongs to take it off
the altar, but then placed it Isaiah's lips. Oh friends, grace is free but
repentance is costly and painful and rightfully so because God
not only wants to spare us and forgive us, he wants to cleanse
us so that he might use us. So in verse 8 Isaiah is holding his burning
lips and overhears a heavenly conversation. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? There's no
indication that Isaiah is a part of this
conversation. He overhears a heavenly dialogue
and all he knows is I should be dead right now. But God has spared me. God has
forgiven me. God has cleansed me. So he puts
in and says, Lord, if you need someone, here am I. Send me. I pray that, but when I pray
that, I want kind of a detailed itinerary
of where you're sending me, Lord. Isaiah didn't wait to get the
details of the contract before he signed. He will find out in
the following verses, and this is not a good assignment, but
it didn't matter. Because God spared him, because
God forgave him, because God cleansed him, it didn't matter
what the assignment was. Lord, if you need someone, here
am I. Send me. And if the Lord has spared you
and forgiven you, and cleansed you by the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ, may that be your prayer. Here am I. Send me. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard
thy voice and it told thy love to me, but I long to rise in
the arms of faith and be closer drawn to thee. Here's my verse. Consecrate me now for thy service,
Lord, by the power of grace divine. May my soul look up with a steadfast
hope, and may my will be lost in thine. Draw me nearer. Nearer, blessed
Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer. nearer blessed Lord to that precious
bleeding side. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, would you forgive us for looking in the
wrong direction? for truth and hope and joy and
life and peace. May we look to you, our creator, our sustainer, and
our redeemer. May we see that you alone reign
in sovereign authority over heaven and earth, no matter what the
circumstances around us may be. May we see that you are perfect
and infinite in holiness. And thus you are the righteous
judge who will do right. Lord, over the course of this
weekend, as we fellowship around your word, would you cause us
anew to be amazed by your grace to us. In Jesus Christ, our Lord,
we pray these things. Amen.
Holy Holy Holy
Series Reformation & Worship Conf.
| Sermon ID | 101124162225227 |
| Duration | 40:31 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Bible Text | Isaiah 6 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.