Alright, take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. Start off by reading the first
four verses and then we'll take this successively. Scripture
says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne high, and lifted up, and his train filled the
temple. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings. With twain he did cover his face,
with twain he did cover his feet, and with twain he did fly. And
one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with
smoke. And we have recorded for us here
by the Holy Spirit a vision given to the prophet Isaiah. And what is it that he sees?
What is it? Who is it actually that he sees
in this vision? Well, if you were to, you can
write this down, you don't have to go there, but in John chapter
12 and verse 41, John speaks of this text. And listen to what
he says. He said, These things said Isaiah
when he saw His glory, Jesus' glory, and spake of Him. The prophet was blessed by the
grace of God and given a glorious sight. A magnificent sight of the pre-incarnate Christ. Very few prophets were given
such things. Isaiah was given a full spectacle
full manifestation of Jesus Christ who is the image of the invisible
God. Hebrews chapter 3, it says, "...who
being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
person, upholding all things by the word of His power." Listen,
Jesus Christ He is the glory. He is the manifestation of the
glory of God. Remember that scripture said,
when God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, He
has shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. He's the manifestation of the
glory of God. And actually, He is the only
one who can reveal the Father to us. Listen to what Jesus said. He
said, no man knoweth the Father save the Son. You got that? You
understand the exclusivity of that, right? There's only one
who knows the Father. He said, that's me. That's pretty amazing, isn't
it? That's a bold statement. He said, nobody knows the Father
but the Son. And listen, here's our hope.
And to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. If there's any hope
of salvation for sinners, if there's any life for the souls
of men, it is only found in the revelation of the person and
the work of Jesus Christ. He's the only way that the Father
is revealed. I was talking to some people
about God last night. And you know, the apostle tells
us this, all men knows there's a God. It's just so. It's futile to argue this point. I don't spend much time doing
it. I don't have any patience with it. It's just silly for
you to sit there and argue with me, tell me you don't believe
there's a God. You know there's a God. You know that by creation
you see His power, don't you? By creation you can see His power. And you can see His Godhead.
In other words, He made it. You're subject to it. If anybody's
just honest, that's so. That's so. There's things you can know about
God, but I tell you this, you will never know God in a saving
way except through Jesus Christ. You will never know Him in a
loving way as a father. You will never know Him in a... You will never know Him in anything
but a judge, an executioner, except in Christ. Isaiah was
given a glorious vision, a view of Christ that no other prophet
was given. He had a greater view, great
view of Christ here. He said, Behold, I saw the Lord. I saw Him high and lifted up. And His train filled the temple.
What a beautiful, glorious manifestation. But I want you to understand
something. You and I have a greater, clearer view of Jesus Christ
than Isaiah did. You and I have a clearer view.
Remember, he's seeing him in a vision, he's seeing him in
memory at sundry times, God, in divers manners, spate in time,
passed by the prophets, half in these last days, spoken to
us by his Son. We have the full revelation of
Jesus Christ. We've not seen visions because
you don't need to. Everything we have is all revealed
to us. It's already revealed. We don't
need visions. We don't need dreams. We don't
need signs and wonders. Why? We have the full revelation
of God given to us. We don't need anymore. He sealed
it up. You read that in Daniel chapter
9 if you want to, verse 24. He had finished the transgression. made an end of sins and sealed
up the vision. That's it. He sealed it up. And so then every elect child
of God has not only a greater view, but I want you to see the
experience of Isaiah is truly the experience of every child
of God. The experience of Isaiah is truly
the experience of every child of God. First of all, I want
us to, I got four things that happened to Isaiah that happens
to every child of God. First of all, he sees the glory
of God in Christ. Second of all, he sees his sin. Third, he sees the salvation
of God that is in Christ. And fourthly, he sees the purpose
of God. the purpose of God that is given
to every elect sinner. So, first of all, every elect
sinner, when the Holy Spirit comes to us in power, we see
the true character of God, the true nature of God in Christ. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne,
on His throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the
temple. Every elect sinner, when Christ comes to us, when he reveals
himself to us, what do we see? We see his deity. That's what
Isaiah saw. He saw Christ as God. Who else? He said, I saw the
Lord, didn't he? Jehovah. I saw Jehovah. That's what he said. High and
lifted up. This one seen of the prophet
is the eternal Son of God, equal with the Father and with the
Spirit in every way, in will, in purpose, in power, in holiness,
in every attribute. Christ is equal with the Father
and the Spirit. Isn't this what he said? I and
the Father are one. and the Father are one. There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Spirit, and these three are one. One. We know the fullness of God,
the Godhead, is seen here in the vision by the cry of these
seraphims. When he saw him high and lifted
up, he also heard of his character, holy, holy, holy. Jesus, the Son of God, we must understand,
was from all eternity high and lifted up. He was from all eternity
and always has been the delight of the Father. And it was by
Jesus Christ that all the worlds were made. As we see Him, we
see Him in His deity. We see Him as He is. The creator
and sustainer of all things. High and lifted up. Isn't that
how John begins his epistle? I mean, his gospel? He says,
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And
what? And the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made. When a sinner
is brought to see Christ, he is made to see His deity, His
supremacy, His holy character. What a glorious view of the Son
of God sitting on His throne. which was His by right, as Creator. This is one of the things I was
mentioning the other night to those people. If there is a God,
He is obviously, we are subject to Him, whoever He is. Otherwise,
He's not God. If God made us, we are subject
to Him. This is just commonly true, it's
commonly known. They don't know who he is, we
do. He is the son of God, sitting on his throne by right high and
lifted up, which means what? He is the sovereign ruler and
king over all creation. When the sinner is made to see
Christ and God reveals Christ, we see this, he is king. He is
king. What Isaiah saw, he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ and he said he was sitting on a throne. He wasn't
coming to a throne. He wasn't going to get a throne.
He was sitting on it already. Before Isaiah saw him, he was
already sitting. And I want you to see, it's not
just a coincidence the timing of this vision, is it? We were
given the exact time of this vision, right? In the beginning
it says, in the year that King Uzziah died. Listen, King Uzziah
was a good king. He was loved of the people. He
was a man after God's own heart. He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord. But if you remember, he sinned.
This king took it upon himself to perform the work of the priest.
He offered those in-sins, which was not his right to do. He was
king. But he was not a priest. And
you remember he was stricken with leprosy because of his pride. And he died. He died in exile. Consider this. Their king was
struck down by God. Their leader, the one they loved,
the one that they looked to, he was stricken. And he died
in exile. And his reign ended. in shame. I'll tell you this, every election
cycle, I know that we feel a lot of this anxiety, don't we? We
don't know who we're actually getting. You just don't really
know. You don't know. It's kind of
an anxious time. Our country is being ruled by
people we really don't know what they're going to do. So it's
kind of anxious. Imagine this, imagine they all
die at one time. The king was everything and he
died. They didn't know what was going
to take place. His reign ended in such a shameful
way. But then God gave him comfort
by showing him this. Jesus is king. Jesus is king. Not this king. That king may
have died in shame. But not this king. Not this sovereign because his
throne is holy and without end. We who have faith and have seen
Jesus Christ, we know that, we know this is true. He is God
manifest in the flesh and of his reign there is no end. We know that. You remember at
first Timothy three without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness
who was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh,
Jesus Christ. And we know him as the as God's
appointed king. And not only king, he did something
that that other king could not do. He is both king and what
priest. He was the only one who could
take both offices, king and priest. He is God's appointed king. When
we see Christ, we know this, it's God appointed him to be
king. He is sitting on the throne because God appointed him to
be king. And not only king, but also our high priest. The scripture
says, for he is a priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek. This was told of our Lord Jesus
Christ that in him there is peace between these two offices. Consider
the tragedy that took place. The king tried to be a priest
and he died. But behold, the Lord high and
lifted up. He is successful in both priest
and kingly office. They are united. There is peace
in those offices because this one man possesses them both. In Zechariah chapter 6 and verse
11 it says this, Then take silver and gold, and
make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua, the son of
Josedek, the high priest. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is
the Branch." We know that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That was His
name given to Him, Branch. He shall grow up out of His place,
and He shall build the temple of the Lord, and He shall build
Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear
the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he
shall be a priest upon his throne. And the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. Isaiah was given a glorious vision
of a king who was also his priest. what Uzziah failed to do, what
caused them so much grief, Jesus Christ was successful. This is what we see of him. He
is our king. And we see then that he is also
our priest. And he is high and lifted up,
the sovereign ruler and kingly priest whose reign is forever
and whose priesthood has forever made peace by his one offering. to God. It is my heart's desire that
you should see him as he is in these offices. He is king. Not he will be king, not he might
be king, he is king. And listen, he is high and lifted
up, which means he rules over all things. Name something that
he doesn't rule over. Name something that has happened
to you or anything around you that he is not expressly in charge
of. He has all power. This is what we see when we see
Christ. We see him as king. False religions ask this question,
what will you do with Jesus? You've not seen the Lord high
and lifted up if that's your question. The question we ask
is what will he do with you? Later on he tells us in this
text as well in John chapter 12 he says, look, he said, make this people's heart
fat, make their ears heavy, shut their eyes. Make their ears heavy, shut their
eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears and understand with their heart and be converted. Who do
you suppose keeps a man in the dark? Who do you suppose opens the
eyes and ears of a man? It is the King, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He alone can give sight and understanding,
He alone can make us hear and believe. He alone is King and
Sovereign, and notice, and note where His glory is manifest.
Look at this. He said He saw the Lord. When
we see the Lord, how do we see him? High and lifted up. He is
a king and he is a priest. And his kingdom is not one that
ends in failure. His kingdom is one of victory
and success. High and lifted up. And notice
this, and his train filled the temple. What is this train that
fills the temple? Well, when you see a king walking,
the train follows behind him. It is a manifestation of His
glory. I remember seeing this in that
royal wedding a long time ago. We saw that Princess Diana and
all. Man, that train went out the
church. It just kept going and going,
that big long train behind her. How much more glorious is His,
but this is speaking of His church. His church. His church is His
train. It is the effect of His glory. His glory is always manifest
where His people meet to worship Him. That was true in the old
time, Old Testament covenant. Where did they worship Him? They
worshiped Him in the tabernacle where His glory was present.
Where do we worship Him? Where His glory is present? Through
the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are His church. Listen, you
are a manifestation of His salvation and glory. Listen to what Paul said. You
are the temple of God. Consider that. Have you considered
that you are the temple? It's not you're going to be or
you might be. If you're just good enough, Scott, you might
be the temple. That's not what it says. You are the temple of
God because in you dwells the spirit of the living God. We are in union with Christ. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made into us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. You are in Christ Jesus. God
put you there. You that have seen Christ, I
want you to understand that you are the manifestation of His
glory. You are in union with His Son. And when His Word is preached
and His people gather together, their Christ fills our hearts, and His glory rings in our ears,
and we gladly bow to this truth, Christ is King. Christ is my only High Priest. His offering and righteousness
are all my hope before God. He is altogether glorious. And
notice this, when Isaiah saw Him, at first it was not necessarily
a sight of joy, it was a sight of fear. These seraphims that
were before Him crying, Holy, holy, holy, thrice holy God. And it says that As they spake,
the posts of the door were moved at the voice of them that cried,
and the house was filled with smoke. That sounds an awful lot
like Sinai, doesn't it? That's how Paul described it.
He said it was so fearful that even Moses exceedingly feared
and quaked. When we first get a sight of
God, it is not altogether pleasant, but it is fearful. And notice this, the second thing
Isaiah saw after he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he saw his
sin. Look at that, verse 5, Then said I, Then said I, Woe is me,
for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. Now in the previous chapters,
I want you to, kind of makes me chuckle, the previous chapters,
I believe it's no less than eight times, Eight times Isaiah says,
woe is them. Eight times he said that. In
the previous five chapters he said it eight times. Woe is them. But when Christ revealed Himself,
what was the first thing He said? Not woe is them. Woe is them. When you saw Christ for the first
time, what did you say? Woe is me. I am undone. I am a leprous man. And here's the reason why I know
that. For I have seen the King, the
Lord of hosts. Now any sinner who has not seen
his utter worthlessness, now you got that? Any sinner who
has not seen his utter worthlessness, who has not seen his absolute
and utter guilt against the thrice holy God has not seen Christ. And so as Isaiah saw himself
as a leper. You remember that's what he means
by unclean lips. You remember the leper must hold
the cloth above his lips and cry unclean, unclean. That's what he was saying. When
he saw the Lord, he saw himself as a leprous man. Now leprosy was a curse. It was a curse. It was the curse
of Uzziah. He was touched with leprosy.
And Isaiah, he says, I'm the leprous man. I'm the leprous
man. He saw himself as a leper and
cried unclean. Isn't this true of everyone?
Let's give you a few examples. Mephibosheth. When David had
it in his heart, David had only the good of Mephibosheth in his
heart. When he said this, Go and fetch
it, David had good intentions. David had all, his heart was
set to give Mephibosheth everything. Is that what Mephibosheth saw
when he saw the riders coming? You think that's what, oh, David's
come to give me something. That's not what he thought. When they brought him and fetched
him and they laid him before him and he couldn't run, he's
lame on his feet, he couldn't hide, the king had every right
to kill him being a son of Saul. He said, what is thy servant? that thou should look upon a
dead dog as I am. When you saw Christ high and
lifted up, is that not how you came? The prodigal son, he went out
proud. Give me what I got coming to
me. And when he spent it all feeding on the husk of the swine,
starving to death. He said, you know, the slaves
in my father's house fare better than me. This is what I'll do. I'll go and ask to be a servant
in my father's house. And he rehearsed that all the
way home with his head. Father, I've sinned against thee
and against heaven. Just make me one of thy servants.
Had no intention that the father was waiting with love in his heart for his
son. And when he come to him, he said,
Father, I have sinned against thee and against heaven. He said,
shut up. Fetch the robe and put it on
my son. Fetch the ring and put it on
his finger. Kill the fatted calf, my son, who was dead is now alive. This is how we all come to Christ,
and this is how what my confession is even today, that is this. I confess that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good man. Every time I see him, I confess
this. My nature, in my nature dwelleth
no good thing. I am unclean. I am undone. I am exposed unto Christ whose
eyes is a flame of fire and burns through all my vain fake humility. You ever feigned humility? I
got a couple of smiles in there. He sees right through that, doesn't
he? He sees right through it. Therefore we fall at his feet,
worthy of only death. And what do we sue for? Mercy. Mercy. I say with that leper, Lord,
if you will, you can. Make me whole. I confess his
kingship. If you will, I confess His power,
you can make me whole. I confess in that my inability,
right? I confess my powerlessness, my
inability to save myself when I say this. Is there anyone who has seen
the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ? Have you
had the hopes of your merit and self-righteousness swept away
by a holy look. We sing that song on occasion.
Madly I ran the sinful race secure without a hiding place. Thus
the eternal counsel ran, Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt
the arrows of distress and what? I found I had no hiding place. It is that look. It sweeps away
all of our vain hopes. It did Peter that way, didn't
it? Remember Peter, he had that confidence in himself. I'll tell
you this, Lord, I know you said I'm going to deny you, but look,
if everybody else denies you, I won't. He said, before the
cock crow three times, you'll deny me this day three times.
And you remember he did. He denied him the first time.
Then he denied him more vehemently the second time. And the third
time, In Luke chapter 22, if you read it later, listen to
this. It says, ìAnd the Lord looked on him.î When the cock
crowed, the Lord looked on him. And what did he do? He ran out
and wept bitterly. When the Lord comes in power
and looks upon the sinner, we find that we have no hiding place. This is my experience. And like
Uzziah and like Isaiah, I must constantly be reminded of his
holiness and made to know my sin and seek mercy. When do you
ever stop asking for forgiveness? When do you stop asking for mercy?
Do you ever get to a point and you say, well, okay, I made it,
I've arrived. The more I go through life, the
more I see my sin and need of mercy. Thirdly, Isaiah saw the salvation
of Christ. Look at verse six. Scripture
says, then, in the midst of his grief, in the midst of his confession
of his sin, then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having
a live coal in his hand. which he had taken with the tongs
from 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 is purged. What was the ruin of Uzziah was
accomplished by the Lord Jesus. What was ruined by Uzziah was
accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is to be proclaimed
by His ministers. What Uzziah tried to do and failed
to do, Christ did. This is the hope for any sinners,
is that Christ accomplished what that man failed to do, to be
both king and priest. Now who is this seraphim here
that is represented? We know this, this is the ministers
of the gospel. This is the one that fly to us
when we are in the midst of our sorrow and grief. It is the one
that the Spirit of God sends with the message of mercy and
grace. This is one who preaches the
gospel of Jesus Christ. You remember what Paul said to
Timothy? He said, preach the word. Preach
the word. This is to everyone who is called
to preach the gospel. What are we to do? Preach the
word. What else? Preach the word. This is our business. To preach
the word. To preach the message of the
gospel of Christ. When? In season and out of season. When it's popular and when it's
not. When you feel like it and when you don't. I remember one
preacher, he said, you know, he was confiding in me and he
said, you know, I just, before I started preaching, you know,
I just said, I, he said, to be honest, I didn't want to preach.
But I knew, I knew this. I must preach. And after he had
preached, the blessing of the Lord poured out in his heart.
He was so glad he did. But we do this in season, out
of season, when it's convenient and when it's not convenient.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering. How do we
do that? Preach the Word. Preaching the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Why? Because this is the means by
which sinners hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It
is the means. by which the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is high and lifted up, has determined to save his people
through the preaching of the gospel. And we preach and we
desire every sensible sinner to behold the living word of
God. Listen, he said when he took
that coal from the altar, it was hot. It was fresh. And so is this gospel message
ever timely and fresh. This message is still burning
as it comes directly from the altar, which is Christ. It is
still vital, it is still living, and has power to save. Now listen, where does this message
come from? It comes from the altar. The altar is where the
sacrifices were made. That's where the sacrifices,
the atonement was made, where the sin offering was made. And so what is the source of
our message? It is the offering of Jesus Christ. It is the blood
and the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That he has come in the flesh
and offered himself for our sins. And now, as a man has ascended
to the throne of God where he was before, Successful and victorious,
this is our message. This is the message we bring
to those who are in, who understand their woe. Woe is me. Well, I've
got a message for you. Woe is me, I'm undone. Well,
good. I've got a message directly from
the altar for you. Here it is. Christ was slain. Christ had made an offering for
sin. And as soon as, notice, as soon as this coal touches
his unclean lips, what is the declaration of the messenger? He said, This hath made thee
clean. Not me. This. This offering. This sacrifice. This blood. This righteousness of Christ.
That has purged your sin and iniquity. That has taken away
your sin. See, the offering of Jesus Christ
is our message, His righteousness, even the righteousness of God
without the works of the law. Isn't that refreshing to hear?
Without merit. You need, you that are undone,
you need the righteousness of God. Let me tell you how to get
it. You do nothing. You merit nothing. Why? It's
already been merited by the faith of Jesus Christ. And then this
righteousness is given to you who believe on Him. To you who
believe, you have the righteousness of Christ and His blood has purged
our sin. We read this just the other night,
just Sunday I believe it was. Isaiah 44 and verse 22. Listen, remember it says, I have
blotted out as a thick cloud by transgression and as a cloud
by sins returning to me. Why? For I have redeemed thee. Everyone who sees Christ high
and lifted up sees their sin and their need. And as soon as
they see their sin and need, the gospel message comes in and
gives them relief. How often does this happen for
you? How often has the messenger flown to you by the Spirit and
relieved your fears? Ramadan. This hath purged thy
sins. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He hath blotted out thy transgression. Do you believe on Him? You that
believe, do you believe on Him only? This hath purged thy sin, even
His blood and righteousness. And the last thing Isaiah saw
was a purpose, the sovereign purpose of His salvation. Look
at this, in verse 8, ìAlso I heard a voice of the Lord saying, ìWhom
shall I send and who shall go for us?î Then said I, ìHere am
I, send me.î Everyone that is saved and cleansed
by the Holy by the power of the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ, by the power of the Spirit, every believer's heart is now
humbled to this one point, service. If you have ever seen Him to
be King, you see yourself as His servant. I don't see myself and Christ
as equal. Do you? Some idiot walking around with
a shirt, Jesus is my buddy. No, he's my key. He's my brother. He is my friend. But I tell you
this, he is my key. We are humbled to service. And so when the question comes
from God, whom shall we send and who will go for us? What
is the heart of every believer? send me to tell them what you've
done for me. Isn't that what he told that
man he saved in Gadara? He said, go to thy house and
tell thy friends what great things God has done for thee. I like that man who was born
blind, right? brought before the smartest people in the world
at that time. They were asking him questions
he couldn't answer. You know what he said? I don't
know. I know this, once I was blind,
but now I see. I know this, that man healed
me. I don't know about all those
other things. I know this, Jesus is King. I don't believe he's king. You
know, only God can reveal that to you. I know what he revealed
to me. Jesus is king. I'm a sinner. And his blood and
his righteousness alone has saved me. And now, I'm his servant. People talking a lot about slavery
these days. God's people like slavery. I
like being his slave. because I have a gracious master.
I have a gracious master. He is kind. And he has done everything for
my good. And is still working all things
to bring me to himself. I know this, that everyone who
has seen Christ has seen him high and lifted
up. We see Him as the Son of God
and Son of Man. And in high and lifted up we
see our sin, our need. And by His grace, He gives us
the message of His mercy. And this humbles us to serve. Serve Him. I pray God will bless
this as we identify with everything this man saw. It's our experience. I pray God will bless it to our
hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us
with your mercy. Make the message effectual as
you please. Open the eyes and ears of your people. Let us again
see Christ. our need, and His fulfillment,
our salvation in Him. Send us, Father, into this world,
as you have, that we should declare and preach the gospel of Christ
to others. Let us be faithful servants.
And I ask you to do these things for the glory and honor of Thy
holy name. In Christ's name I ask. Amen.