Beautiful music again today. So appropriate for a lot of reasons. Every song I just was rejoicing in. Bud, you can put that one in my funeral too. I'm going to have a long funeral with a lot of music. Really, really enjoyed singing and listening to the choir. I love singing, there is a higher throne. And part of that is because I look at the world and it's such a mess. Aren't you glad that there's a throne higher than human rulers that we see on Earth that make such a mess of things all over the world? The second verse says there when we get to heaven, there we will find our home, our lives around the throne. We'll honor him with perfect song where we belong. I love that phrase. It's where we belong. We're not home yet. And then, bless the Lord, the last song talked about when my time has come, I'll just keep singing for 10,000 years and then forever more. We don't think often enough about when that time comes for us. Last night, some of you may have heard, some of you I think were an acquaintance of a man named Tim Steeden. I believe Johnny was a youth pastor in a church where Tim grew up. Tim Steeden was a classmate of mine, a society brother of mine at Bob Jones, and just a faithful servant of God. He's older than me. He just celebrated his 50th birthday. And a church planter in San Diego, just a man I admire, a man full of joy, passion for the lost. And last night, out of the blue, he had a massive heart attack and they were unable to revive him. And this morning, Tim is with the Lord and he's where he belongs. And I'm happy for him. But he leaves behind him a widow. His wife grew up in Taiwan, I believe, and they do not have children. And she's kind of alone in the world right now. And we want to be praying for Eileen and pray for that young church plant in San Diego. Pray for God's grace as they will meet later today just because of the time difference. Praise the Lord for the hope that we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the Lord ministered to me, and of course we had no idea what circumstances would hold, but the music and the truth of the music was a great joy to my heart today. Why don't you bow in prayer and worship the Lord, give Him glory, and you can pray quietly, thank Him, confess your sin if necessary, kind of clear the clutter from your busy week, ask for the Lord's help to focus as we open the Word. And after you pray quietly, I will pray on our behalf. Lord, our souls and all that is within us blesses your holy name. There is no one like you. You are without rival. You are holy. And yet you're compassionate. Your holiness would allow you to disregard us or even just to to damn us. But you are also a God who is loving and merciful. You're condescending. You sent your son to die on the cross and be our savior. You've sent your spirit to live in us, to comfort us, to change us. You're so kind to us. We're grateful. We approach you today as the God of all comfort, the God who is able to give peace that passes understanding. That means peace that doesn't make sense. You're able to give joy in the midst of heartache. And I pray for a young widow today. who from a human standpoint is alone in the world. But she has you as her father. She has your people as her family. I pray that you administer special grace to Eileen today and give her the joy that Tim is with you. He loved talking about you and singing about you while on Earth, and now he's doing it face to face. We rejoice with him. But I do pray that you would minister to her, use her church family as young as that church plant is and use the truth of scripture and mostly just minister to yourself by your spirit in her heart. And I pray for grace for her. And of course, Lord, this is one example of a world that is suffering. People come in today, and they didn't lose a spouse last night, but they still have hidden griefs. They have burdens about their family, maybe their children. Or they have health issues, or they have financial strains. All of us have spiritual issues and temptations. We come to You, Lord, and we need help. We're not playing church. We're not going through the motions. Our need for you is desperate. And I pray, Lord, that you would minister to us. You already have. You've ministered to us through music, and we're very grateful. Now, Lord, minister to us through the scriptures as we study together. I pray that we will be encouraged. I pray that we will be transformed by the power of the word. Spirit of God, this is your book. You inspired us. It's true. It's without error. Now, I pray that you would open our eyes, be the illuminator, help us understand and apply the word in a way that brings profit to us. And we pray this with expectancy and faith and joy. We thank you in advance for your answers in Jesus name. Amen. We'll mention two other things you can be turning in your Bibles to, Isaiah chapter 6, and I'm sure that Bud will mention, or that Bill will mention this when he makes announcements today, but college and career, I've been looking forward to having lunch with you today. My family is going to kind of crash your party and spend some time with you. That could be those of you who just finished high school, if you're a graduate, come. Some of you have just moved to the area, come. And some of you are about to go back to college, but I hope all of you will come. And again, I said we can take as many as show up because it's not my house. So, thank you to the Simpsons for hosting us today. We appreciate that. I also should make an announcement. Today we have a reminder that we are growing. We're pretty packed in here today. We've said in the past certain Sundays that if you're able to help us by moving forward or moving in, try not to leave gaps in the pew if you can help it. That's been necessary for a while, and it's getting more necessary, and I kind of figured it was coming. Churches tend to get a lot of momentum in the fall. During the summer, we have a lot of people traveling. They're doing vacations and different things on their way, but school's about to start, and still not everybody's back. We still have some people that are out of town. It's a great problem to have. I love that. But we are going to be fighting for seats. So if you can help us, there's two really good rows right here. Go all the way across. There's not a single person on the front row. I got Braves tickets a while back. And I had never sat in the front row of a sporting event in my life. I was sitting behind the dugout. I actually put my feet on the dugout while I was watching the game. And then an usher told me that's not allowed. How come that's a great seat at a baseball game and at church you guys just don't want to be up here? I don't understand it. I think sometime we'll need to get a pew and we'll just put the front of it right against the platform so then people can start sitting behind that. Anyway, in the weeks ahead, be helping us out because I don't anticipate that this problem will go away and praise God for that. So let's tighten up and make more room to accommodate whoever the Lord brings to our church. Amen. That's what we've been praying for. He's answering. Isaiah chapter six is where we're starting today. We're studying two of my favorite passages. We're in a series called Taking Aim at Godliness. The idea of taking aim is that this is something that we need to be intentional about. Godliness is not going to happen by accident. OK, it's something that we are participating in. And we say the picture of the arrows, you know, some of them are closer to the middle. There's a bunch of misses, but we're striving, we're aiming, we're trying to get better. Well, this is the fourth message in the series, just saying, how can we be endeavoring to grow spiritually? We're aiming at godliness. We might say we're striving to be holy. Certainly, we could say perfectly that we want to be more like Christ. I'll pray sometimes, Lord, I'm sick of being like Chris. I would like to be like Jesus. Change me. While we're endeavoring to grow and we've had several messages that talk about training yourself to be godly and this is just by way of review. From 1 Timothy 4, verses 7 and 8, spiritual growth requires intentional effort and personal responsibility. Paul says to Timothy, train yourself to be godly. God is the one that's enabling it, but you need to take responsibility to take advantage of the means that he's given you to grow in godliness. Godliness, we define as a God-centered attitude, that is fear in God. But that results in God pleasing actions, obeying God. And it's been very helpful for me to be reminded that although my standing is secure because I'm in Christ, God looks at me and he's not mad at me in the sense that I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ and I'm accepted by him. I'm justified. But in my daily conduct, I can please or displease God. OK, there is a sense in which in which I can obey and disobey. And when I disobey, I do grieve the Holy Spirit. I want to be godly, I want to have a God centered attitude that results in God pleasing actions. Last week, we were in Titus two, another great passage. We learned that grace, the grace that brings salvation. Also teaches us to deny ungodliness. And to pursue godliness. Titus 2, 11 through 14. Grace teaches us to flee from one thing and to pursue another. And I love how it ends in verses 13 and 14, it says that we are living between Christ to Advent. We saw the word the appearing. Grace has appeared. Grace incarnate came at Jesus birth. And now we're waiting and we're looking for Jesus' return, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So Jesus came once in grace. He'll come again in glory. And we are living our life in this pilgrimage. If Bunyan were to picture it, we're traveling in this pilgrimage and we have a light that shines on us from the back. The Lord Jesus first coming. We have a light we're walking toward that shines on us. Jesus second coming and all of life is lived between those two grand events. The Lord Jesus himself is our goal. And he is our motive. I've hit this every single week, but I remind you again, what we're saying in theological terms is that justification, when you were declared righteous because of the work of Christ in spite of yourself, that was instantaneous and monergistic. That is that God did it by himself. You contributed nothing but the sin. You didn't help him. You didn't participate. God accomplished it when you repented and trusted Christ. But your sanctification and we might say your Christian growth, your Christian experience, your Christian life, you're becoming more and more holy. Literally, the word to be sanctified means that you're becoming holy. You are you are being separated from sin and consecrated unto God. Well, that is a process that is progressive. It doesn't happen all at once. Despite books or sermons that give that idea, it doesn't happen all at once. And it's synergistic. And what we mean is there's forces working together. You cooperate with God in your growth as he enables you by his spirit. So God is the one that's changing you, growing you, sanctifying you. But he's doing so by his spirit as you learn and apply the gospel, as you study Bible commands, as you spend time in the word of God. OK, you're a participant, you're not just passively waiting. Jesus make me godly. And and then you go to bed and hope he slips it under your pillow. OK, you need to be disciplining yourself, laboring for that. OK, now, now, back to this, excuse me, back to this previous slide, I said. That we look forward to Christ and we look backward to Christ. Well, that's going to be our focal point this morning. How we're looking unto Jesus, to use the words of Hebrews. We grow as Christians. Through what we call the means of grace. OK, now, when we talk about means of grace, we mean that that God is doing a work of grace in your life, but he does so through some means. All right. He uses tools, the means of grace principally We're talking about prayer and the Scriptures and the sacraments. Don't let that word make you nervous. That just means the Lord's table and baptism. God is using these things to work in your life, to remind you of Christ, to point out your sin, to point you to God's amazing work on your behalf. He's using these to grow you. We call them means of grace. In other words, if you look at all four of those things, In other words, worship has a sanctifying effect. There are people that say, you know, I. I love Jesus, I just don't like the church, I certainly don't like coming to church and, you know, I don't need to be I don't need to be with God's people, you know, I'll read a book, I read the Bible on my own and and there's an arrogance that says, you know, I don't need this. Let me tell you something. We worship God. First, primarily because he deserves it. And we give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. So it's about him. However. That doesn't mean we don't benefit from it. OK, there are some benefits that come along when we give God glory and worship. And I'm talking about when we sing together or study preaching together, when we stay for Sunday school and and we're learning more scripture. I mean, when you're at home and you're praying in your closet, maybe not literally, but in private at home, when you're reading your Bible every day, when you're worshiping, you're giving God the glory he deserves. But it's really good for your soul. Worship is what grows you, has a sanctifying effect. I think of it in three kind of progressive steps. Gazing on Jesus is what justified us. OK, for you to be saved, justified is a big word, what does that mean? Your sins are forgiven. You're counted righteous because of Jesus. You're going to heaven. You're justified. The way you got saved in our modern parlance, the way we describe it, the way you got saved was you looked to Jesus. In Isaiah, God calls out, look to Me, all the ends of the earth. And He invites people to look to Him and be saved. In John 1.29, you know John 1.29, John the Baptist is speaking, and he says of Jesus, what does he say? Behold, which means look, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You look to Jesus Christ. Believingly. And you're justified. You keep on looking to Jesus Christ as you study the scriptures, as you grow, as you hear preaching, as we encourage one another, we keep looking to Jesus and that process of looking to Jesus sanctifies us, makes us more godly. And then the day is coming When? Whether by his return or by our death, we will be face to face with Jesus and that face to face look will be what glorifies us when when our entire struggle with sin is over. OK, it's looking to Jesus. I'm not saying that you're passively contemplating him. You know, just just sit around and just think about Jesus, envision it, you know, imagine miracles, imagine the cross. I mean, you get your nose into the Bible with the desire to interact with God, to see Christ. And seeing Christ is what will grow you. I want to see that now from the scriptures. So Isaiah chapter six, we're going to read here the first seven verses and then we're going to move to what I think is kind of a parallel passage in Second Corinthians three. So a lot of ground to cover in the next half hour. Isaiah six, beautiful, stirring passage. You know it well. We sing about it all the time. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. That's that's a big statement in this chapter. I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up the train of his robe, filled the temple above him, stood the seraphim, each had six wings. So whatever these creatures look like, they're they're mighty. They're impressive servants. Each had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. And with two, he flew. So you have power. But in the presence of God, you also have humility, covering of feet and even covering of their eyes. One called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. OK, we're in the throne room of heaven. So it's kind of like the temple is a model of what is is the reality in heaven. We're in the throne room. But when these angels sing about the glory of Jehovah, they say his glory doesn't just fill this place. The whole world is full of his glory and the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called. 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 people of unclean lips. And here we have him gazing at God again, he says, for my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. Isaiah is looking at the Lord and all of His power and glory and majesty. And it terrifies him. It reminds him how sinful he is. He says, I shouldn't be here. This is going to be fatal for me. How can a sinner be face to face with God? He confesses his sin. And then this holy God is also so merciful. Verse six. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, excuse me, verse six, then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. And then verse eight, which I started to read, he's going to say, who am I going to send? And Isaiah says. Here am I send me. You don't get much, but you have me. And he has this commissioning here. Move on to second Corinthians in a few moments, I want to focus our attention on Isaiah six, we can't begin to do it justice. I think it will be good for our souls to contemplate it a little bit together. Isaiah was face to face with God. And it cleansed him. OK, you want to grow. Then you need to get your eyes off of King Uzziah, whoever it may be in your life. He says King Uzziah died. He kind of got out of the way, but there is one who never dies. There is a king who is eternal. I saw the Lord high and lifted up and he starts talking about his glory and his power. The power of his attendance is amazing. His servants, the angels. I say worship. confronts us with Jesus majesty. Why is why is worship sanctifying? Why does worship grow you? Because it confronts us with Jesus majesty. In other words, when you gaze through scripture at the Lord. You're going to be overwhelmed at how great he is. And how great you're not. OK, Isaiah sees God and he says, God is awesome and I am puny and I'm in trouble and I'm ashamed of myself and I need cleansing. And God uses the experience to actually bring the cleansing that Isaiah needs. Now, worship confronts us with Jesus majesty. And I reference Isaiah. Well, we're not talking about Jesus back here, Pastor, we're talking about Jehovah. Well, Jesus is Jehovah. In John 12, turn turn there, keep your finger here, but turn to John 12 quickly. John 12 is going to. Refer back to Isaiah six. We'll start halfway through verse 36. Or on page eight hundred ninety nine, if you're using a pew Bible, I forgot to mention that before. John, twelve, halfway through verse thirty six, it says when Jesus said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe him, so the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. We didn't get this far in Isaiah six, but it's Isaiah six. Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe. For again, Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn. And I would heal them. Notice verse 41. Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. He says Isaiah's words were fulfilled in the coming and the miracles and then utterly the rejection of Jesus. And in John 12, 41, Isaiah says that I excuse me, John says that Isaiah was speaking of Jesus. So he says Isaiah was speaking of Jehovah. And it's right for us to apply this to Jesus because Isaiah saw Jesus high and lifted up Isaiah some seven to eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, saw the pre incarnate Christ. in all of his glory and then then applies these verses to him. Isaiah saw Jesus. And I say that when we see Jesus through the scriptures, we're confronted with his majesty. Should amaze you, you read the Bible, it should amaze you. How many times we read scripture and, you know, we read these astounding things, maybe a miracle, maybe some display of God's grace, maybe maybe some passage about our salvation. And it doesn't amaze us. You know, we just say, oh, yeah, I know that. That's a nice passage. We're not amazed. You know, what really gets your heart pumping about the scriptures? Are you ever amazed by the Bible? I think I've told you in the past about the Amen test. I was I was at a camp setting. I'm preaching and I'm preaching the glories of Christ. I'm preaching the suffering he endured on our behalf, the doctrine of propitiation. He bore the wrath that we deserve and thus we can be forgiven. And and it was glorious Bible truth. And I didn't hear a peep. People were just kind of, you know, OK, gone. And then I made some passing comment about how young people needed to be confronted with these truths. And I said, man, it just seems like young people aren't interested in scripture today. They're so distracted by movies and things like that. And all of a sudden the place erupted. Amen. Wait a second, I've been preaching about Jesus, you said nothing. I take a cheap shot at teenagers and you all are really excited. What's wrong with us? Are you amazed by Scripture? I mean, do you ever read it and just say, God, thank you, thank you for doing that for me. If we would see God face to face, we would be amazed because God is stupendously powerful. OK, there's a higher throne in heaven. King Uzziah was on a throne, but there's a higher throne. And the one who is there is all powerful. And the room is filled with his train. That's how majestic he is. And the room shakes and there's smoke and there's awe because he's that majestic. God is stupendously powerful. We can't we can't even begin to imagine it. God is without rival. Literally, when when we use the word holy. We're saying that, God, there is no one like you. God is completely other. That's kind of a weird statement. But what I mean is there's nobody like him when we say God is holy. We don't just mean he's clean. We mean he's set apart from everything he set apart from sin, but he's also set apart from creation. He's he has his own category. There's no one like him. So the angels cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And what they're saying is there's nobody like him. There's nobody like him. He's without rival. He's one of a kind. He's holy. This is for free just because it's a teaching moment. But when we speak of God's holiness, sometimes we speak of God's attributes as communicable and incommunicable. Communicable is a word you usually use with what? What's the next word you expect to hear? Disease. All right. Communicable disease means there's a disease that's infectious. Well, when we use communicable to talk about an attribute, we mean that there are some attributes that that God can share with us. For example, God is love. Can I become loving? Yeah, that's a communicable attribute. The more I spend time with God, the more I become like Him. His love is infectious, if you will, and He makes me more loving. On the other hand, God is omnipotent, all-powerful. Is that communicable or incommunicable? Yeah, I'm not going to become all-powerful. When I say I want to be like Jesus, I mean, I want to be like him in his moral virtues. I'm never going to be omnipresent. OK, well, holiness is kind of both. It's incommunicable in the sense that there's nobody like God, there never will be anybody like God. He's without rival. It's communicable in the sense. That among other things, he set apart from sin and he commands me to be holy, for I am holy. Again and again through scripture, we have this we have this motive to be holy like he is holy. All right. In one sense, we can be holy in the sense of set apart from sin. In another sense, of course, we'll never be holy in the in the other sense of the word. God is completely without rival. Here's what I'm saying. You spend time in the word of God, not just doing devotions, but looking at God. And you'll be amazed. The next step beyond your amazement is you will be humbled. He describes God in this great majesty. Cries out, he says, woe is me. I'm undone. Many of us are used to reading there. I'm in trouble. I'm lost. I'm in a desperate place. Why? Because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. You spend time looking at God, it amazes you and humbles you because you say he is so awesome and I am so not. Remember a young man, I mean, everybody struggles with pride, I am painfully aware of my pride. Everybody struggles with pride, but I remember a man that was, you know, just more overt about it. Years ago, we're talking about sports. I'm speaking with this young man about basketball, blocking shots or something. And he said, he said, I have never met anybody that could do that as well as I do. And I just started laughing because I thought, you know, he must be being sarcastic. You know, he's just so overtly proud that it's a joke. I'm laughing and I looked at him and he goes, I'm not kidding. I've never met somebody as good as me. Wow. You know, so impressed. Laurie, years ago, was teaching and she gave her students an essay. And the essay was, you know, just describe something you're good at. And the very first sentence, I'll never forget, we still have the very first sentence, this one voice says, I am so good at so many things. You know, it's just hard to come up with one. I actually had a conversation with this same young man and I said, you know, what can I pray with you about? What what's God doing in your life? What do you what are you burdened about? What are you struggling with? He says, you know, I mean, nobody's perfect, but honestly, I'm really not struggling. I mean, I kind of have this down as far as my Christian walk. I'm doing well. And, you know, oh, OK, very good. I'm not joking about this. Apparently, that young man had not spent much time face to face with the King of Kings, with Jehovah, Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, because if you spend time with God, you don't congratulate yourself. You abhor yourself in dust and ashes. Time with God is humbling. You say, man, I'm concerned about my pride. Then get your nose in the Bible. Yeah, I know that's what I'm proud about because I think I'm such a good person. Don't get your nose in the Bible because you think it makes you good. Get your nose in the Bible and see how great God is and how great you're not. There's no cure for for pride. There's no there's no help to humility like time spent face to face with God, because you'll be so grieved at how different you are from him. I mean, think of it in these terms. When you gaze at God, you're humbled before him as creatures. Did you notice that Isaiah six, the angels are humble before God? OK, they're flying, they're mighty, they're singing his praises, they've been singing his praises since they were created. But while they fly with two wings, with two wings, they cover their feet and with two two wings, they cover their eyes. So that they're not audacious in the face of God. Let me ask you something. What do angels have to be humble about? Why do angels need to hide their eyes? Why do angels need to cover their feet? Have they ever sinned? I don't mean all angels, some angels have said, have these seraphim, have they ever sinned? No, I mean, if they had sinned, they'd be they'd be cast out of heaven, they'd be a demon. So why are they humble? Because they're face to face with the creator. Later on, Isaiah is going to confess his own sin. And when he confesses his sin, he's going to say that I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips. He says, I'm a sinner. Everybody around me is sinner. I don't belong here. OK. The angels. aren't bowing their face and covering their feet because they're aware of their sin. They've never sinned. What are they aware of? There is an infinite chasm. Between God, the creator. And even the most beautiful, powerful, majestic of his creatures. They're humbled because they're not God. I mean, on your best day, on your best day, even if you could sing like an angel, if you could fly, I'd be impressed if you could fly. You'd have every reason in the world to be humble and not proud. Because even angels in the presence of God are ashamed of themselves. They haven't done anything wrong, but they know the difference between the creator and the creature. It's a vast chasm. Now you add to that, we should be humble as creatures. You add to that the fact that we're not just creatures, we're fallen creatures. We're not angels hovering around the throne, we're humans. We just studied Psalm 51 on Wednesday night in our adult Bible study. Psalm 51, David, who, you know, the Bible says is a pretty good guy. You know, he's a man after God's own heart. He was the measure by which all other kings are measured. But when he became mindful again of God's holiness. He had this kind of repentance spirit says, oh, God, my sin is ever before me. Against you and you only have I done this great evil, it's in your sight. And I'm not just sinning because I had a bad day. This is me. My mom conceived me as a sinner. It's perfectly consistent with my character to sin. Oh, God, have mercy on me. Wash me, cleanse me, create a clean heart in me, give me joy and use me in spite of myself because I'm burdened by my sin. When we come face to face with God, You should be amazed by him. You should be humbled by him. God, I'm a creature and you're a creator. You're awesome. And I'm not. God, I'm a sinner. And you're perfectly holy. In you, there's no darkness at all. I'm humble. I need your help. The passage goes on. Gazing on God doesn't just amaze us and humble us, it purifies us. I love this in verse six. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. OK, what's that about? OK, you have an altar in heaven, you have The worship of God, you have one of the coals is being taken with tongs. That makes sense. It's hot. And he's bringing it. And he brings that burning coal, verse seven, and he touched my mouth. Ouch. All right. But the idea isn't that he's being burned here, it's that he's being purified. He touched my mouth. And he said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. We just got a whole different angle about the king on his throne. So powerful. The shock and awe. You know, you're in his presence and you're on your face. And didn't we see that many times even in the life of Christ, when he was shown in all of his glory, like at the Mount of Transfiguration, the three disciples shut their mouths and cower when he appears to John on the Isle of Patmos. John the Baptist falls down like he's a dead man. He said, man, he is scary. He is. But he's merciful. He's gracious. And though he himself is totally untainted by sin, he provides a way that sinful creatures like us can be cleansed. Our sin can be atoned for. Our sin can be purified. We can be clean again. I'm reading in Psalm 51 and I see David's abject humility where Once Nathan the prophet said, thou art the man David got it and he was so burdened. And yet, as he confesses his sin, he has the audacity to ask and say, if you will wash me, I will be whiter than snow. God, you can cleanse even this mess. He has the audacity to ask for cleansing and a new heart and joyful praise. And then he says, in God, I'll serve you. I'll preach you. And God answered that request. God is so holy. He's so merciful. Your creaturely nature. And your sinful nature and your sinful conduct. should be very disturbing to you when you're in the presence of God. OK, what do you think, Pastor, you think I'm going to go home, take a nap and have this vision? You're going to have this vision when you get in the Bible, when you read Isaiah six, when you read Revelation one, and I stop passively waiting for God to show you something amazing. He has 66 inspired books that show you amazing things. You've got to get in this book. You've got to get in this book. I think of what what the Apostle Peter says when he's affirming the the trustworthiness of scripture, I believe it's second Peter one. And he says, you know, we haven't we haven't followed cunningly devised fables. He talks about how trustworthy the scripture is. And he says, we were there on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was glorified and God spoke audibly. And he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He said, I heard it. With my ears, I saw the glory, and then he's talking about the scripture and he says, to quote the King James, he says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. You understand what he just said? I saw Jesus glorified. I heard God the Father speak with a voice from heaven. And I'm telling you that in the Bible we have an even more sure word of prophecy than that. That's how great this book is. You use the means of grace. You dig into scripture not to check it off your list, not so you won't get a flat tire. You know, we think that way. You better do your devotions. God will zap you all day long. I've had the worst day. I didn't pray for five minutes and God's been after me. Why? You have a bad view of God, you have a bad view of prayer, you have a bad view of Bible reading. This isn't a rabbit's foot to keep bad things away. It's a way for you to come face to face with God. And when you come face to face with God, you'll be amazed and you'll be humbled. And you'll be purified. He has provided a way for our sins to be atoned for. We see it symbolically in Isaiah, but you know, when I read Isaiah six and it says that God took something from the altar and dealt with sin. And I wish I had an altar like that. I do have an altar like that. The altar that takes away our sin was made of wood. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross, He was the perfect Lamb being slain on the perfect altar. And His sacrifice can atone for your sin. It can remove your iniquity from you. When you look to Him, your sin loses its power. There might be some in a group this size and you say, man, I need Jesus. I'm a sinner and I need to be forgiven. I feel like David. I'm such a mess. I feel like Isaiah. Woe is me. I'm sinful. You are. But if you look to Jesus as he's revealed in Scripture, if you pray and say, God, I repent of my sin, I don't want that. I believe in Jesus, save me, take my sin away, purify me. He'll do it. He'll save you. If you will look to the Lamb of God in faith, He will take away your sin. Some of you say, Pastor, I've done that. I'm just so frustrated by my ongoing struggle with sin. You keep looking. Looking is what saved you in the first place and looking is what will sanctify you ongoingly. I'm not saying passive look. I'm saying actively you study the scriptures. And as you come face to face with God, you say, God, you're awesome. I'm not. Fix me. And he sent his son to an altar to fix you and deal with your sin. And we will talk about it some more next week from Second Corinthians, chapter three, Isaiah six. Beautiful, beautiful passage. I think we have time today, but if we could end today with holy, holy, holy, I think it would be very appropriate. There's no one like you, God. I'm in awe of you, but I long to be more like you to change me, grow me, make me holy. Lord, I thank you for your word today. We took more time in this one passage than I anticipated, but Lord, it's so worthwhile. Thank you for the beauty of that passage and the power of it. There's nobody like you. We're humbled because we're just creatures and we're even more humbled because we're sinners. I thank you that you provide atonement and cleansing because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Save anyone who does not yet know you and oh God, mature your people, grow us, grow us in godliness as we seek you through the scriptures. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.