May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in His Word. Let
us turn to the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 6, and we read verses
5, 6, and 7. So, the prophecy of Isaiah chapter
6, reading verses 5, 6 and 7. Then said I, Woe is me, for I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts, Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth,
and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin purged. Well, let me commence by asking
all our Sunday school children this morning, all the Sunday
school children who were at Sunday school last Sunday, when this
chapter was spoken about. And the recommendation was that
you all go home and read this chapter. So I wonder how many
of you went home and read this chapter? Well, if you haven't,
we read it this morning. And you can still go home and
read it, because there's a lot of instruction in it. I suppose several parts of this
chapter are quite familiar, but yet it's not generally spoken
about and read very much. And yet there is a lot in it,
so go home if you haven't read it and read it. So it may be
a blessing to you. And I know on that occasion it
was spoken about King Uzziah because he died. Of course he'd
been a king for 52 years and like our Queen has been a queen
for more years than that and yet she has died. And the relevant
truth is of course that every one of us must die. And we need to be reminded of
it. So often you see the devil never wants you and me to think
about the end of our life. And yet, it's the most important
thing. And we're told it's more blessed
to go to the house of mourning, because that's the end of everybody.
We all come there. And as we do read in the Word
of God, in Ecclesiastes, there's a time to be born, and there's
a time to die. We've all been born, none of
us have died. some of us have been born again
spiritually some of you perhaps have not been born again spiritually
and yet it's the one thing that all of us need to know that we
are born again of the Spirit of God because unless we are
we shall not know what we read here in this chapter in Isaiah. Now, Isaiah had a wonderful vision. He didn't see the Lord physically,
but he did have a view, by faith, of the Lord God. And we're told,
I saw the Lord also sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and
his train filled the temple. It was a wonderful view of the
greatness of God. And we're told, and one cried
unto another, the seraphims, and said, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Now, that's a good statement
for you and me to realize that God is a holy, holy, holy God
and that he is high and lifted up. He is indeed the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. And you see how often in the
age in which we live, The true God is not recognised as that
one who is high and lifted up, not recognised as a great God,
not recognised as that one who is to be bowed down before and
worshipped. So it's necessary for us to have
a right understanding of the greatness of Almighty God it's
good sometimes to just sit down and just think try and think
how great God is have the Word of God to help you because there
are so many wonderful aspects of God from the very beginning
when he but spoke the world into being the wonderful miracles
that were performed in the Old Testament the wonderful miracles
in the New Testament, the wonderful Gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, prophesied in the Old Testament, brought to pass
in the New Testament with the birth of the Saviour, and then
His life and death and resurrection and ascension, and now today
intercession, because we know we have a Saviour who is alive
for evermore. That's the God who you and me
will have to face. That's the God that you and I
have to deal with while we're on the earth. We cannot ignore
the greatness and the glory of God. And so it's a great blessing
therefore if the Lord in his mercy directs us to have some
understanding of how great and how glorious and how powerful
mighty God is in every way and you and I can put it as the scripture
does are as just mere grasshoppers before God we're nothing we're
insignificant and yet how wonderful it is if God has and does and
will take notice of each one of us now only you can tell whether
God has been mindful of you now in these few verses that
I read together this morning we find the evidence if we understand
what Isaiah wrote the evidence that he possessed the life of
God in his soul and if you and I can trace out this in our lives
then the evidence that we possess the life of God in our soul. Now Isaiah was a prophet of the
Lord. He was raised up to proclaim
the glorious truth of God and Isaiah is a very, we might say,
and I don't want to speak out of turn, but a very special prophecy. It has glorious and wonderful
truths in it. Well, as Isaiah had this view
by faith of God himself, the Saviour himself, he then looks
at himself and how does he compare himself? Well, we have it here. Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips, for mine eyes, as the eye of faith, have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts." Well, I wonder how you and I
react to a statement like that. I wonder if you have stood in
the same shoes that Isaiah stood in and have cried out to In this
way, the same way that Isaiah did, he cried out and he said,
woe is me, woe is me, for I am undone. What did he realize? He realized he was a sinner. And by these statements, really,
although he was, of course, when he wrote this and when he experienced
this, he was a born again child of God, yet he still came to
this position when he realized that he stood before God in this
position, that he was undone. He was lost. He was ruined, really.
He was a sinner. He needed God. That's why he
comes and says, woe is me. Woe is me. For I am undone. Sometimes perhaps we think, well,
we should never feel like that. Well, a true believer, and this
is the testimony of a true believer and you may say well why is it
there because we are sinners on the earth and we never stop
sinning as much as we want to keep ourselves as much as we
want to be good and righteous yet we know we should know we
will know that sin is mixed with all we
do and all we say. Now, if the Holy Spirit convinces
us of that situation, then you see, we come and we can stand
in the shoes of Isaiah and we can say, woe is me, for I am
undone. And so this is not something
to be shied away from. It's something which is an encouragement. You may say, well, that's a rather
strange encouragement. Well, it is an encouragement
because the saints of God understand what is meant by this. And they
understand what this position is when they stand, as it were,
before the Almighty God. I wonder if you stood, have you
ever stood before Almighty God? And the eyes of Almighty God
have looked right through you, as it were. Not physically, but
in a spiritual sense. And you've been condemned because
of your sins. Well, we have many examples in
the Word of God. such people and we won't go through
many of them but it's just worthwhile going through just one or two
and perhaps we can start with the Apostle Paul. The Apostle
Paul was a man of God he was blessed indeed but he was an
honest man and he tells us about his own spiritual understanding
and when he wrote to Timothy his son in the faith. He was
explaining to Timothy the right use of the law and exhortations. And he comes down to verse 15
in the first chapter, the first epistle of Timothy. And we read
this, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. So what he's saying is here,
it's true. It's worth listening to, and
it's worth understanding that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And then he adds this, of whom
I am chief. Well, that's a good statement.
And that's a good standard. And it's good for you and me
to realize that this is the words of a man of God, a man of God
who was wonderfully blessed by God. wonderful revelations and
yet still confessed that he was the chief of sinners. Again it's
good for us to come to such a position. You see we may think oh well
yes I have sinned and Most people in the world will accept they've
sinned. They will accept they've done
something wrong here and there that doesn't really worry them,
it's not really of any concern. But to actually be brought before
God, the all-seeing eye of Almighty God who penetrates right into
our innermost recesses of our heart to realize that nothing
is hidden and when God shows to us something of that we are
before God guilty and we don't then look all around and think,
well I'm not as bad as that person, I'm not as bad as that person
because the Word of God convicts and the Word of God convicts
to this extent that we come and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with
the Apostle Paul and we say of whom I am chief yes I am chief
and the Apostle Paul really comes to the same statement when he
wrote to the Romans, the church of Rome. And the seventh chapter,
which is an important chapter. Some people don't like it. Some
people think it shouldn't be there. Some people don't agree
with what the apostles said. I think surely Paul didn't say
this, but the reality is he did. And the reality is we're thankful
he did. And in the seventh chapter, he
describes himself. He describes how really he finds
opposition to walk in the right way. He finds that sin is there. And it's a great trouble to him. And it's a great trouble to him.
And he concludes this chapter with the last two verses, 24
and 25, like this. Oh, wretched man that I am. Well, this is Paul. Yes, it is
Paul. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? He needed to be
delivered. And it's good for us today if
you and I realise that we are before God a wretched, undone
sinner, and we need to be delivered. Who shall deliver me? from the
body of this sin and death. Now, people sometimes stop there. And they sometimes think, well,
I've been convinced of my sin and therefore everything's all
right. Well, it's not. To be convinced of your sin is
good, but it's not saving. Never settle down in that position. The devil will say, well, you're
okay, you're convinced of sin, and that's it. No, my friends,
it's not. Never stop there. I'll tell you
why. Because it never brings honour
and glory to God. You need to go on. And that's
what the Apostle says. This is what he says. I thank
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. You see, the battle between the flesh and the spirit. And
then he goes on, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. You see, he moves on. He recognises
his wretchedness in and of himself in his flesh. In my flesh there
draws no good thing. But he moves on and he looks
to the Saviour. And his hope is in the Saviour.
And he realises through the work of the Holy Spirit in his soul
he is free from the law of sin and death. You see the very positive
and wonderful evidence of the work of God in the soul. Well,
my friends, that's what you and I need to realise and need to
experience and to strive after. The Lord is gracious. The Lord
is good. The Lord is merciful. And then
just one further example, probably pretty well known, and that's
in the book of Psalms, and that's David when he writes the 51st
Psalm. David was a man of God. David was a blessed man of God,
but David was allowed to fall. When I say that, he was allowed
to sin greatly against God. The devil got the upper hand
and poor David fell into the trap that was set for him. So don't think you have strength
yourself. David didn't, but he recognised
his sin when Nathan the prophet came to him and described his
situation and told him Thou art the man. And then we see David's
condition as he commences his 51st Psalm, he says, Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquities
and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. So don't think that David was
a person that was wonderfully blessed and didn't recognise
his sin. He did. And God showed him his
sin. And God brought him to this place
of repentance again. He would have repented of his
sin. He needed it again. to repent of his sin. And he prayed for forgiveness.
And this is what his desire was. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. And then he goes on, creating
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Well, there's just a few examples
of the situation confirming what Isaiah did here when he came
and said, woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, I am undone,
because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. And the reason was really when
he was shown this, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts. And what had he seen? He'd seen
the Holy God. and the opposite was true of
him. He realised his unholiness. You see these things really are
joined together because as you and I are given that blessed
faith to see a glorious saviour as high and lifted up and holy
and righteous and then by comparison to see ourselves. That's when
we come and cry out, woe is me, for I am undone. Because I'm
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Well, here he was then, in a
difficult situation. And what did he need? He needed
the mercy of God. Everyone needs the mercy of God. Everyone needs to be cleansed
from their sin. Everyone needs their sin to be
washed away. Now, the only way this can be
done is through the glorious work of the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who paid the price to take away our sin, all our
sin. Well, we have this illustration
then before us in these next two verses, six and seven. There
were these seraphims that stood over the Lord. And we're told
then, flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in
his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. Well, there were two altars,
of course, in the temple. In the tabernacle, in the temple,
there were two. One was the altar of incense, and one was the altar
of sacrifice. And it would seem that this was
probably taken from the altar of sacrifice. And it was really
a continual sacrifice. It was always burning. Always
burning. There was always the morning
and the evening sacrifice, but it was always kept alight. And what a wonderful blessing
that was, because what does it show us? Well, it's spoken here
about this live coal. Live coal means that it wasn't
out, it wasn't black, it wasn't dark, it was a live coal, it
was a living coal, it was alive. and you might think, well what's
the relevance of that? well we read to you really those
verses in that second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles because
it shows there the work of the Holy Spirit through those cloven
tongues of fire so we can conclude from that that the Holy Spirit
is set forth as the live coal Yes, the evidence of that work
of the Spirit, which never goes out. Indeed, the Holy Spirit
is, of course, gloriously alive forevermore. So it's the work
of the Spirit, then, which you and I need to come and to touch
us and to cleanse us. And that's the picture that we
have here in these verses. and this seraphim was ordained
to take this live coal which he'd taken from the altar and
where was he to put it? He was to put it on his mouth. Laid it on my mouth and it would
seem that it really just touched the lips. It wasn't put into
his mouth, it just touched the lips, those lips which previously
had been speaking evil. which had caused him to cry out,
woe unto me, I am undone. And therefore he says, and he
laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this hath touched my lips,
and the result was this, and thine iniquity is taken away,
and thy sin purged. What a relief. What a deliverance. What a blessing. What freedom,
what a mercy it was for Isaiah to have this wonderful blessing
upon him. Well, all of us need in like
manner for the Holy Spirit to come and to touch us so that
our iniquity is taken away and our sin is purged. We may say,
well, how is this to be done? Well, I believe it's to be done
as the Holy Spirit himself directs us to the glorious sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because it was only his sacrifice
and the shedding of his blood which can and does take away
sin. And all of us therefore need
to understand and to experience the blessed effect of this coming
to pass in our lives. So that we can rejoice in the
work of the Saviour. And we can rejoice in the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit to come to us. and to direct us to the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to truly praise Him for all
that He has done. Now then, what happened here? His sin was purged, it was taken
away. My friends, our sin needs to
be purged, taken away. How is that done? It's through
the application of the blood of Christ to our conscience. It's a wonderful, wonderful blessing
when the Holy Spirit shows to us that we can say, I'm clean,
just God. I'm clean. I've already said,
I've already confessed. I'm a man of unclean lips, I
am unclean. My friends, when the application
of the blood through the Holy Spirit is placed upon us, then
we are washed, washed in the blood of the Lamb. You see, Paul
knew the necessity of it, and he wrote to the Hebrews without
shedding a blood, There's no remission, there's no forgiveness.
And this glorious truth is set before us right throughout the
scriptures. It's not something which is new.
Right throughout the scriptures, without shedding a blood, there's
no forgiveness. Right back from the Garden of
Eden, when it was prophesied. Right through. You can see it
again and again, and we see the wonderful culmination of the
shedding of blood of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He
gave His life upon Calvary. Yes, what a place to be at. What
a place to view the Lord Jesus Christ, and there to see the
suffering Saviour bearing our sin and washing our sin away. so that we rejoice then in such
a truth as this. And to know then the application
of this blood produces the effect, our iniquity is taken away and
our sin is purged. Well, my friends, this morning
I hope you and I can truly rejoice in the glorious work of the Saviour. and know what it is to receive
the work of the Holy Spirit, applying this truth to our very
souls, and to realise that it is directed to us, bad as we
may feel to be, undone as we may feel to be, the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, washes us, cleanses us from all sin,
every sin, nothing remains. Nothing remains. What a blessing
that is, because then you see, by the grace of God, we can look
forward by faith to be found one day in that inheritance,
which is incorruptible, and undefiled and that fadeth not away. My
friends, we won't be there. We won't be there unless we know
the application of the cleansing blood of the Saviour. It's not a theory. It's a reality. And it's glory to God when you
and I have the work of the Holy Spirit revealed to us and we
have the evidence to know that it is therefore well with our
soul. and that the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world, as the Apostle Paul said, to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. To save me, the vilest sinner
out of hell, who lives to fill his need, is welcome in the throne
of grace, a Saviour's blood, to plead. It's a very great and wonderful
privilege to know that as unclean and undone sinners, we are welcome
to the throne of grace to plead to our God. That's really just what this
man did here. He's pleading. He's explaining
what he was. God had mercy upon him. God had
mercy upon David. God had mercy upon the Apostle
Paul. He was greatly blessed. My friends, we should not underestimate the
greatness of this blessing. And we should not assume it is
something which is not to be understood and not to be appreciated.
It is something which is very great and very glorious and very
wonderful. Because to realise that through
that we have that passport into heaven. It's signed and sealed
and ratified by the Saviour himself. Because he has died to redeem
us. By his grace we shall be found
then among that sacred throng in glory, praising God forever
and ever. And there will be then that concern
and that desire after heavenly realities. The world will be strangely dim
by comparison with the glory of heaven itself. Well, this
is a very wonderful statement. It's a very glorious statement. And may we understand the spiritual
significance of it and rejoice in it if the Lord has directed
us to remember to come in the first place, confessing our position. And you won't want the second
part unless you understand the first part. But if you understand the first
part and the Holy Spirit has brought you to that first part,
the Holy Spirit will also bring you to the second part. And so
may we thank God this morning that we have simple words like
this in this prophecy of Isaiah. As he said, then said I. Remember, it came about when
he'd seen the greatness of God. When you and I see, by faith,
the greatness of God, the holiness of God, and by comparison, where's
the complete opposite? That's when we cry out, woe is
me, for I am undone. Because, because, here's the
reason, I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst
of a people who own clean lips. For mine eyes have seen, by faith,
by faith, the King, the Lord of hosts. Yes, it's good when
the Holy Spirit directs us to see the Lord high and lifted
up, like this. Then, and not until, then, flew
one of the seraphims unto me, having a live cold in his hand,
which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, and he laid
it upon my mouth, you see it's personal application, and said,
lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away,
and thy sin purged. Bless God, amen.