The wise man Solomon said, where
there is no vision, the people perish. We need a vision in life
in all things. Young people, some of you getting
ready to go to college, some of you entering high school,
some of you just graduating, you need a vision, a purpose
in life. Without it, life is meaningless.
You will flounder around and accomplish nothing until you
find some purpose in life. Without a vision, everything
is pointless. A vision that's needed for us
is the vision that the prophet Isaiah had in Isaiah, the sixth
chapter. I want you to turn there, if
you will. Our Lord Jesus tells us plainly what this vision is
about in the 12th chapter of John's Gospel. He says, referring
to Isaiah's vision here recorded in Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah spoke
these things of me when he saw my glory. So the vision that
Isaiah has here is a vision of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we would have any sense of
commitment, devotion, consecration to God our Savior, we must have
this vision that Isaiah had. If ever God calls one of you
young men to preach the gospel of his grace and sends you forth
to that work, you must have this vision that Isaiah here describes. If our lives are to be motivated
and governed and ruled for the glory of God, inspired to seek
his honor in all things, we must be consumed with this vision
that Isaiah describes in these 13 verses of Isaiah chapter 6. If ever God's pleased to save
you by his grace, If ever he's pleased to call you as one of
his own, giving you life and faith in Jesus Christ, it will
be that salvation that involves and arises from this vision that
Isaiah has and he describes for us in these 13 verses. Now my
subject this evening is what did Isaiah see? The Lord Jesus
says, Isaiah spoke of me when he saw my glory. You can read
it John chapter 12 verse 41. Isaiah spoke of me when he saw
my glory. This is what he said. But what
was it that he saw when he saw God's glory? He saw the very
same thing that Abraham saw when he saw the glory of God in that
dream he had and he had the carcasses of the sacrifices laying there
and he drove away the vultures from the carcasses. It's the
very same revelation that Moses had when he was in the mount
and again when he asked the Lord, show me your glory and the Lord
God passed by and showed him his glory proclaiming his name.
It's the same revelation that Ezekiel had, it describes in
Ezekiel 1, the same revelation that John had in Revelation chapters
4 and 5. It was the revelation of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what did he see? What exactly
was involved in this revelation of God's glory? What do men and
women see when they see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Paul said the gospel comes by
the power of God and God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, what is it that God reveals
when he shows us the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? I want you to just hold your
Bibles open at Isaiah chapter 6, and we're going to look at
these 13 verses pretty closely tonight. We don't know a great deal about
this prophet Isaiah. We're not told much about him
at all in the scriptures. We simply are told that this
man Isaiah was a prophet who prophesied during the days of
Uzziah and Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who were kings of Judah. Isaiah lived about 700 years
before our Lord Jesus came into this world in our nature. He
lived for 120 years and prophesied for 85 of those 120 years. This fellow spent a long time
in the business of preaching the gospel of God's free grace
in his day. Isaiah here records for us something
that's very, very familiar to most people who are familiar
with the Scriptures. But did you know that Isaiah is quoted
more often than any other portion of the Old Testament? In fact,
quoted more often than all the rest of the Old Testament combined
in the New Testament, except for the book of the Psalms. Psalms
are quoted more than any others, but next to the Psalms, Isaiah
is quoted more often than all the rest of the Old Testament
combined in the New Testament. That means that Isaiah is significant
in our understanding of the Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and
of the New. Isaiah is referred to as the
Gospel of the Old Testament, and it is rightly so named. It
was John the Baptist who spoke of himself, the forerunner of
the Lord, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, all
flesh is grass, quoting from Isaiah. When our Lord Jesus came
down to Nazareth to make himself known, he came into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, and he pulled out a roll of the scriptures,
and he opened the scriptures to the place that we read in
Isaiah chapter 61, and said, the Spirit of the Lord has known
in me. He sent me to preach the gospel
of peace, and then he rolled the scriptures up, handed it
back to the man in charge and he said, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your eyes. You're looking at the one of
whom Isaiah spoke. The Ethiopian eunuch, when he'd
been up to one of the feast days in Jerusalem, And came back from
that feast because Judaism had become nothing but an empty shell
of religion. Just an empty shell pretending
to worship God with no knowledge of God. And he went up to the
feast at Jerusalem and came back just as empty as he was when
he went up. And he's sitting in his chair reading Isaiah chapter
53 when God sent Philip down to preach the gospel to him.
And Philip asked him as he's reading, apparently reading aloud,
Isaiah chapter 53 is wounded for our transgressions, bruised
for our iniquities, chastisement of our peace was upon him, with
his stripes we are healed. And Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I except some man show
me? He said, scoot over boy, I'll
show you. and he expounded to him the scriptures from that
portion that he read baptized him and that unit carried the
gospel back down to Africa and thereby God raised up multitudes
in his name following our Savior. Isaiah is quoted when the Apostle
Paul comes to explain to us the meaning of substitution in 2nd
Corinthians 5 21 when he said he hath made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He quotes from Isaiah chapter
53 and verse 10 when it said it pleased the Lord to bruise
him when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. And Paul, by inspiration, translates
and interprets Isaiah 53 this way. He hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. So Isaiah is significant. The
prophecy is significant. Isaiah speaks of the Savior. Throughout these chapters in
the book of Isaiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is being prophesied. He's being specifically identified. His sacrificial work is announced.
His name is announced. The Word of God is replete here
in Isaiah with prophecies concerning our Redeemer. So let's look at
these 13 verses and see exactly what was it that Isaiah saw.
I'll call your attention to five, maybe six things. In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. Uzziah was a great
king in Judah. He did that which was right in
the eyes of the Lord all the days of his reign until Uzziah
went and usurped the priest office and he burned incense to the
Lord bypassing the priest. and he was cursed by God and
died as a leper under the wrath of God because he had symbolically
bypassed God's sacrifice in his approach to God. He had symbolically
bypassed the Lord Jesus Christ blood atonement, the necessity
of blood atonement in coming to God. And so the Lord God cursed
Uzziah with leprosy and slaughtered Uzziah with that leprosy and
Isaiah now says in the year that King Uzziah died. Perhaps there's
more than one reason why he does this, why he identifies the time
of this vision. Perhaps it is because he just
wants people to know at this very time this is when this took
place in my life and the Lord visited me and revealed himself
to me. Perhaps it is because Uzziah
was Isaiah's cousin. Isaiah admired him Uzziah had
been a good king for over 50 years He had reigned and Judah
had prospered under his reign and now this man that Isaiah
admired perhaps idolized is judged by God and cast into hell because
he bypassed God's sacrifice and he said I can go on my own and
be accepted of God Oh What a testimony to God's justice and to the necessity
of blood atonement. There was another fellow by the
name of Uzzah, who one day as David was bringing the Ark of
God up to Jerusalem, he saw the Ark of God. It looked to him
like it was about to fall over. It looked to him like it was
about to fall over. And he did what any man would
naturally do. Any man who had some respect
for the ark of God, he put his hand out to steady the ark. You
know what God did when he did that? He killed him. Like that. You mean God would
send a man to hell for putting his hand on the ark? God said,
don't touch it or I'll kill you. Read the law. Don't touch it
or I'll kill you. You put your hand to God's salvation,
he's going to send you to hell. Did you hear me? You put your
hand to God's salvation. You attempt in any way to add
anything of your own to the person and work of God's Son, you'll
perish forever under the wrath of God, justly so, just as Uzziah
did. And now Isaiah sees this one
whom he has admired so greatly, his cousin, the king of Judah. And it says, in the year that
God sent Uzziah to hell, and the year that Uzziah died, I
saw also the Lord. Now watch this. I saw the Lord. Notice the word is not all capitals. Whenever you see the word Lord
in the Old Testament written out in all capitals, that's referring
to the name of our God, Jehovah. This word is the word Adonai,
translated Lord. referring to the Lord God. Not to the Lord Jesus, not to
just our Redeemer, not just to the God-man, not to Jehovah Jesus,
who is Joshua, our Savior, but to Adonai, God who is spirit. God who is essentially God. But wait a minute. No man can
see God. No man can see God. No man ever
did see God. No man ever will see God. Not
in the essence of his being. That cannot happen. God's a spirit. You can't see Him. God's incomprehensible. He's infinite. He can't be beheld
with natural eyes. But Isaiah says, I saw Adonai. I saw the Lord. I saw Him. How
can that be? The only way anyone ever sees
God is in him who is the revelation of God, Jesus Christ the God-man. In the Old Testament Scriptures,
every picture you have of God appearing to men, every time
you see God appearing to men, God talking to men, God walking
with men, that's a pre-incarnate revelation of Christ, the incarnate
God-man. Because he is that one who is
the fullness of God. He is the God in human flesh,
and he alone makes God known to men. He declares God to us. Isaiah says, I saw the Lord. I saw God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit in this one person. I saw him sitting. Sitting. But the king of Judah
is dead. But the king has been cast from
his throne in leprosy. God has stricken the king in
judgment. The Lord is sitting, sitting,
sitting, sitting on his throne. I love the picture of our Savior's
glorious ease of absolute sovereignty. He's sitting. When I'm disturbed
by things, I tend to get up and prance around like my buddy Don
does. He can't sit down five minutes except when I'm preaching
to him. Otherwise, he's up running all the time. But when I'm disturbed,
Don, I tend to get up and walk around, pace back and forth.
But when nothing bothers me, I can sit a long time. I sit comfortably. I sit easy. In my office chair, I sit easy. In my easy chair at home, I can
watch the news. It doesn't matter much what comes
on. I might frown a little bit and bite my lip some to keep
from saying things I ought not to say, but I've said it. There's not anything shaking
the house right now, not a thing shaking the country right now,
and I sit. But when things start to disturb
me and things are out of control, then I start to pace back and
forth. I start to fidget. Even if I
try to pretend that I'm calm, everything about me is moving.
Never so with God. Never so with him who sits on
the throne. Our Lord Jesus sits in the ease
and serenity of total dominion. He who makes light and creates
darkness. He who makes peace and creates
evil. He who sends pestilence and sends
feasting. He who sends famine and sends
feasting. He sits. Always on his throne
because God he's always in absolute control Everything is exactly
according to his will Everything is performing exactly what he
has purposed from eternity and watch what it says. I saw the
Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up I saw the Lord
sitting on a throne high and lifted up. The Lord Jesus, exalted
to the right hand of the majesty on high, because he's finished
the work of redemption, because he's performed all the will of
his father, sitting there as God, yes, but sitting there as
God in our flesh, sitting on the throne, high and lifted up
so that all things must bow to him, all things subject to his
will, waiting till his enemies be made his footstool. Read on.
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and his train
filled the temple." His train. Not sure exactly what Isaiah
is describing here. A king with his royal apparel
walks in with his train following behind him. showing forth his
majesty, his greatness, his rich, his regalia, because he's the
king. Identifying him as the king.
Perhaps this refers to the back parts that God told Moses, you
stand here in the cleft of the rock, and I'll cause my back
parts to pass before you. No man can see my face. I'll
cause you to see my back parts, in which case is the revelation
of God in the person of his son in all he is and in all he accomplished
as the God-man, our Redeemer. So the first thing that Isaiah
saw. When Isaiah saw Christ's glory, he saw God as he really
is. He saw God as he really is. No one knows God to whom God
has not made himself known as he really is. God on the throne
ruling all things exactly as he will. The God of this religious
age. who wants to do things he can't
do, who tries to do what he fails to do, who has a desire to accomplish
things he doesn't accomplish, who wills what he does not have,
is no God at all, but just the idolatrous figment of man's depraved
imagination. He who is God sits on the throne
in absolute rule over all things in heaven, earth, and hell. We
don't. Let's see what else we find out
about God, as He really is. Above it, above this throne,
stood the seraphims. This word is only used here in
Isaiah 6. Long time you haven't seen the
seraphims. Makes it a little bit difficult to determine exactly
what he's referring to, the seraphims. It's used in the plural. There's
no sense in which there's an indication of singular. The seraphims,
they are referred to, I believe, when the Lord commanded Moses
to make the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat and put two
cherubs, one at each end. The cherubs facing one another,
looking down upon the mercy seat, looking down upon the perpetuatory
sacrifice. Isaiah sees the Lord God, our
Redeemer, the Lamb, as John saw Him rising up in the midst of
the throne, the Lamb as it had been slain, and the seraphims
standing at this throne, this mercy seat. You mean, pastor,
the throne on which God sits as governor of the universe is
the mercy seat? He delights in mercy. The throne
on which he sits, the throne even by which God shall judge
the world, is called a throne of grace. Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Our Lord Jesus is on this
throne, on this mercy seat laid over top of the broken law of
God where blood is sprinkled once every year when the Paschal
lamb is slain and the sins of the people are atoned for and
covered, blooded out from God's sight ceremonially. That whole
ceremony pictures God's throne. Christ the Lamb sitting on his
throne from which he rules the universe and the seraphim Each
one had six wings With twain that is with two he covered his
face in reverence Recognizing that he's not fit to look on
him who sits on the throne and With two, he covers his feet
as one sinful and defiled and corrupt, unworthy to serve God. And with two, the seraphims fly,
fly swiftly at God's bidding to do his will, the will of him
who sits on the throne. Many times we see this picture
given in the scriptures. The last time you find it over
in Revelation chapter 4. Turn there if you will. Hold
your hands here at Isaiah 6 and turn to Revelation chapter 4. The picture of the throne room
The picture of heavenly glory was portrayed as the high priest
would go into the holy of holies and seize the mercy seat and
the cherubs, in Isaiah called the seraphims, here in Revelation
4 referred to as living creatures. But now John describes them as
four living creatures. Well, that's not consistent.
It's not intended to be. You have a continually progressive
revelation of God's purpose and of God's being and God's accomplishments
in the scriptures. And we come now, John sees these
living creatures before the throne of God leading the angel, I mean
the saints of God in worship at God's throne. Now watch what
it says. Revelation chapter 4 and verse, let's start at verse 7. He sees the door open. And he
sees the throne and he sees a rainbow about the throne and he sees
the 24 elders And now he sees these living creatures these
these living creatures before the throne Uh, we'll start verse
six And before the throne there were was a sea of glass Likened
to crystal and in the midst of the throne and round about the
throne four beasts four living creatures full of eyes full of
eyes given wisdom, knowledge, understanding, full of eyes before
and behind. And the first beast was like
a lion, like a lion, bold, powerful. And the second beast was like
a calf, strong, working. And the third beast had a face
as a man. tender, compassionate. And the
fourth beast was like a living eagle soaring in the heavens,
flying swiftly. And the four beasts had each
of them six wings about him. See the similarity? And they
were full of eyes within and they rest not day and night saying,
holy, holy, holy. Hold your hand here. Isaiah chapter
6. And the one cried unto another
and said, holy, holy, holy. All right, back in Revelation. They cried saying, holy, holy,
holy. Lord God Almighty, holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. which was and is and is to come. And when the beast had given
glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who
liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down
before the throne. So that the elders, the church
of God, are led in worship by these living creatures. These
living creatures are gospel preachers. They are the angels of God in
his church, sent as God's messengers to his church. So that Sovereign
Grace Baptist Church in Rocky Hill, New Jersey has got an angel
sitting there. Well, he doesn't look much like
an angel to me. Oh, if you ever hear the gospel he preaches,
he will. The word angel simply means messenger. messenger. They are God's messengers to
his church and each church just has one. Just has one. I've been pastoring in Danville
for 33 years and we have a number of men in our congregation who
teach and are gifted to teach and preach and they do so frequently
and I'm thankful for them. But there's only one who's responsible
for the teaching. There's only one who's responsible
for the message of the church. And those who teach with me teach
what I teach them. They teach the message of the
gospel of God's grace. There's not a contradictory flow
of information, but rather the information comes from one source
through one man sent of God to teach the congregation. That's
how God does things. Well, I'm not going to follow
any man. If you follow God, you will. If you follow God, you
will, you will submit your judgment to his word as it's proclaimed
to you by his servant. And you will bow to the teaching
of Holy Scripture as these men, bold as a lion, strong and laboring
as a calf, resting not day nor night with the tenderness of
a brokenhearted man. And these living creatures, flying
as eagles, laboring to bring the gospel of God's grace to
you, lead you in the worship of God. All right, read on. The
seraphim, they're looking down on the mercy seat. They're looking
down on the mercy seat. What do they see? Looking down
on the mercy seat, they see nothing but blood atonement. That's all to stay. That's all
that's there. Just blood atonement. The lid,
the mercy seat, covers the broken law. The lid, the mercy seat,
covers the transgressions of the people. The lid, the mercy
seat, covers it and covers it with blood so that these seraphim
look continually upon Jesus Christ crucified and they wait before
Christ crucified and declare to men, Jesus Christ crucified,
crying, holy, Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts. Referring to Adonai, our great
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Holy he is. Holy in all his being. Holy in all he does. Holy in
all he works. Holy in all he accepts. God is
holy. Holy. Holy. What does that mean? Holy. Brother Scott Richardson, years
ago, he and I were preaching together and he said, I want
to preach to you tonight on the holiness of God. He said the holiness of God,
H-O-L-I-N-E-S-S, has got a whole lot to do with the wholeness
of God, W-H-O-L-E-N-E-S-S. And I thought, well, that makes
perfect sense. That makes perfect sense. God who is holy is God
holy in all the entirety of his being. God who is holy is a whole
God. When the Lord God comes in grace
and makes his people holy, he makes them whole. and the work
of God's grace and regeneration portrayed in the miracles of
the New Testament. What happened when a leper came and was healed? He was made whole. What happened
when a blind man came and was healed? He was made whole. What
happens when a sinner is brought to life in faith in Christ Jesus
by His grace? He is made whole. Outside Christ,
we are all sick with the plague of the heart, dead in trespasses
and in sins. When Christ comes, we are made
whole again. Holiness. Made whole before God. Perfect. Righteous. Holy. Because God has made us so in
Christ Jesus the Lord. They cry, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. In this blessed gospel age, God
sends his gospel into the four corners of the earth. And we
proclaim the gospel of God's free grace in Christ to sinners
everywhere. And God causes his glory to be
manifest and revealed by the preaching of the word in all
the earth. in all the earth. We see his
power, we see his wisdom in creation, we see his righteousness, his
justice, his truth in the judgments of providence and in that which
is stamped on our consciences by nature, but we see God's glory
in the gospel of his grace proclaimed in all the four corners of the
earth. There are four of these living creatures described by
John because God's elect are found in the four corners of
the earth. We had the blessed privilege,
I'm sure Brother Clay has told you on occasion. I don't mention
it much at home because we dare not presume that we have anything
to boast in. But through the medium that so
many use for evil, the internet, we are now broadcasting the gospel
of God's free grace to somewhere between 85 and over 100 countries
every day. Every day. Imagine that. Every day. Folks all over the
world, hear what this man preaches to you Sunday morning, Thursday
night. All over the world. Every day. How come? Because God has his elect in
all the four corners of the earth. as living creatures facing north
and south and east and west. And God says, as they proclaim
the word of his grace, bring my sons from afar. And he gathers
them from the four corners of the earth. All right, that's
the portrayal of what Isaiah saw concerning God in his holy
character. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Now wait a minute. When you read
scripture, always read scripture carefully. The word seraphims,
you will notice, is plural. And the seraphims are the ones
who are speaking. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. There are many crying, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And now we get to verse four,
and Isaiah says, the post of the door moved at the voice of
him that cried. Of him that cried, because when
God speaks by his servants, it is God speaking, not the servant. We are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
head, be you reconciled to God. So that if a man that Brother
Clay read a little bit ago is sent of God, sent of God. Here I am preaching the gospel
to you. And I can't do it. I can't do
it. I can repeat the words, but I
can't do it, except if God, this hour, has sent me with a message
for you. And if God sends me, then I've
got a word from God for you. I've got a word from God for
you. And if God sends me, you best hear the word. Best hear
the word. The post shook at the voice of him that cried. When
the gospel of Christ was revealed and our Lord accomplished redemption
and finished all the law and the prophets, satisfying all
the demands of law and justice, those things that could be shaken
were shaken so that all the ceremonial types and pictures in the Old
Testament are done away with forever, ended forever. And so
it is when the gospel is preached in the heart of a man. You sit
and listen and try to ignore what's said. And you sit and
listen and you're angry at what's said. I won't hear it. I won't
hear it. Because you hate God. And you
build your fortress. And you put up your arms and
you block the door. I won't have it! Ah, but if God
speaks. He'll break your house down timber
by timber and you'll be glad he did. You'll be glad he did. Read on. Read on. This is God
as he really is. Post the door shook. You've seen
those stupid idolatrous pictures of supposed to be Jesus standing
at man's heart's door? You've seen those, haven't you?
Here he is, he's the light of the world holding a candle. And did you ever notice there's
no handle on the outside? Because he knocks at your heart's
door and you have to let him in. What hogwash? If he waits on you to let him
in, he's not coming in. Oh no, he doesn't knock at your
heart's door, he knocks the door down. And he comes in. And he brings his welcome with
him. And the first time you know he's around, he's already on
the throne. You see, salvation is not you doing something for
God. It's God doing much for you, doing everything for you. And if he leaves you to yourself,
if he never knocks the post down, you're going to hell. If he never
interferes with your life, you're going to hell. I keep praying
that he will interfere with you and interfere with me and stop
you from your way and cause you to walk in his way. All right? Isaiah saw God as he really is. And he saw himself as he really
is. You see, if ever you see God as he is, you will see yourself
as you are. Oh, I'm not so bad as you preachers
say I am. I've done some stuff this wrong.
I cheated in school. I stole some watermelon. I steal
cookies once in a while. I cheat on this or that. But
I'm really not so bad. I'm good. Just look at these
other people. I've never committed murder.
I don't beat my wife, not much. I don't steal from a neighbor,
not just a little. I'm a pretty good fella. But
if ever you see God as he is, then said I, woe is me. Let me give you a loose, literal
translation of what he said. I am a damned man. I am a damned man. I'm a sinful man, as damned for
hell as if I were that. I am a sinful man deserving God's
wrath. I'm a sinful man who has nothing
to plead with God. Woe is me. Watch this now. For
I am a man. I am undone. I'm undone. I have nothing in me because
I'm a man of unclean lips. Unclean lips. Not made unclean
by what I put in them. Made unclean by
what comes out of them. Made unclean by the corruption
of my own heart. You see, the heart of man is
a den of iniquity. The heart of man is a cesspool
of sin. The heart of man is full of adultery
and blasphemy and fornication and idolatry. All those things
are in the heart of man. Every man by nature. Not in my
heart. If God lets you loose for a second,
you'll find out. You'll find out. Isaiah saw God
as he really is, and he said, he said, I'm a lost, helpless,
doomed, damned sinner. And to make things even worse,
there's nobody in the world any different from me. There's nobody
in the world who can help me. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. You see, our race is a fallen,
depraved race. By the transgression of our father
Adam, we all sinned against God and we were all brought into
the judgment of death and sin, born children of wrath even as
others with the curse of God justly upon us. I am a undone
man with unclean lips and my conscience acknowledges my guilt
before God. And then Isaiah saw something
else. Look here. He saw God as he really is, and he saw man
as he really is. And then, then he saw redemption fully
accomplished. He said, my eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts, then flew one of the seraphims, then
flew one of these gospel preachers to me, having a live coal from
off the altar. You remember the Paschal Lamb,
sacrificed once a year, burned on the altar? He said one of
the seraphim came, and he took tongs and reached in there and
pulled coal off the altar. And he brings it to me. Now watch
this. Having a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from off the altar, And he laid
it upon my mouth and he said, lo, this hath touched thy lips. Thine iniquity is taken away. Thy sin is purged. The gospel is the proclamation
of redemption accomplished and the free full, absolute forgiveness
of sins through blood atonement, through Christ's sacrifice for
us. Thine iniquity is taken away. He didn't say, now, your iniquity
is about to be taken away. He said, thine iniquity is taken
away. Your sin is purged. You see, the guilt The enmity
with regard to God's people before Him is all one-sided. It's all
one-sided. We were born enmity against God. We lived in enmity against God.
We were born children of wrath, even as others, going astray
from our mother's womb, speaking lies, living with our fist in
God's face, with a conscious guiltiness before us. But Christ
Jesus, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, took
our iniquities away, purged our sins before ever they were done.
And we come to declare redemption accomplished. Redemption accomplished
for poor and needy sinners. How are you ever going to know
it? How are you ever going to know it? God sends a preacher. with the gospel of his grace,
with fire from his altar, and God touches your lips, giving
you faith in Christ, and he declares redemption accomplished, sin
forgiven. I stand before you as a man fit
for hell and nothing else, Joe. That's all. and a man who has no reason ever
to be afraid of God. No reason to be afraid of judgment. No reason to be afraid of wrath.
No reason to be afraid of the devil. No reason to be afraid
of sin. Why? Because Christ died in my
stead and God said concerning the sacrifice of his son, that's
enough. Justice can demand no more. And
my conscience agrees with God. That's enough, Clay. That's enough.
That God does not demand more. He won't have more and he can't
take less than the full blood atonement of his dear son. He
says, your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged. Now read on. Here's something else he saw.
Isaiah, when he saw Christ's glory, saw the accomplishment
of God's purpose in all things. And I heard the voice, that's
not how it reads, is it? He changed his gears. He'd been
talking now about this vision he had. And now he said, wait
a minute, I'll tell you about something else. I'll tell you
about something else. Also, also I saw, and now also
I heard. Look at verse eight. I heard the voice of the Lord,
the voice of Adonai, the triune God saying, whom shall I send? Let us make man in our image
and after our likeness. God taking counsel with God.
Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Now,
perhaps there's a reference here to the calling and commission
of a preacher. But I've been looking closely
at this for the last three or four days, particularly. I don't
think that'll fit. I don't think that'll fit. No, this is a consultation. between
the three persons of the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit said, whom shall I send? Who will go for
us to accomplish this wondrous work? Whom shall I send? Who
will go for us to perform this marvelous thing? Then said I,
here am I, send me. And the Lord Jesus steps forth
in covenant grace and he says, I'll redeem I'll save them. I'll accomplish this work. Trust
them to my hands. And the father strikes hands
with the son, the covenant surely thick and redemption work is
done. It's done. What will happen? Read the rest
of the chapter. I've got to quit. I'll send you
home. Read the rest of the chapter. He's going to destroy Judaism.
He's going to cast off all who've heard he would not receive his
word. Behold the goodness and severity of God. On them that
are hardened, on them that are blinded, on them that are cast
off, severity, but on us, goodness. And he's going to gather a tenth. The tenth. The tenth. I mean, there was a law about
that, wasn't it? Give me the tithe. How come?
Because it's mine. The tenth. Oh, but everything's
his. Yeah, but this is mine. But he
owns all of it. Yeah, but this is really mine.
This is specially mine. You see, all flesh is his. You belong to him, he'll do with
you whatever he will. Everybody is his. Everybody's gonna honor
him. Everybody's gonna praise his
name. Everybody's gonna glorify him. Everybody's gonna serve
his purpose exactly as he ordained from eternity. But there's a
rent. according to the election of
grace, who must be saved, and they shall be brought back to
him. By the almighty operations of
his power, through the preaching of the word of his grace, declaring
the accomplishments of the glory of God in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. What does a man see? When he
sees the glory of God, what was it that Isaiah saw? When he saw
Christ's glory, he saw God as he really is. He saw himself
and all men as we really are. He saw redemption completely
accomplished. He saw forgiveness full and free
by blood atonement and he saw the sure purpose of God fully
accomplished by His goodness and His severity in Christ the
Lord. Amen.