The wise man Solomon declares,
where there is no vision, the people perish. We raise our young people these
days, it appears, without any sense of purpose in life, no
vision of what they wish to accomplish, so they flounder around until
they're about old enough to retire and decide what they want to
do, because they lack any vision. But Solomon is not talking about
something physical or about a vision of things in this world. He's
speaking of a vision for our souls. Where there is no vision,
the people perish. What we need is a vision to captivate
our minds, our hearts, our souls, our lives. A vision of the glory
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If ever God saves you by his
grace, he will do so by revealing his grace, mercy, and love in
you in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't be saved except God
make you to see his Son and know him. Salvation does not come
by your work or by your will, does not come by a decision you
make. Men cannot manipulate people
into the kingdom of God. They only manipulate people into
a religious frenzy that's of no benefit but only damning to
their souls. Salvation comes by revelation,
the revelation of Jesus Christ in you. If ever the Lord God
is pleased to call any of you men to serve him in preaching
the gospel, he will do so by the revelation of Christ's glory.
When Moses was called of God to come take Israel and lead
them out of Egypt into the land of promise, he began by meeting
Moses in the mount and revealing his glory to him. If ever you
are truly inspired to devotion consecration to Christ, motivated
to live for Him, to live for His glory, that inspiration and
that which can sustain that inspiration, is nothing but the revelation
of the glory of Christ in you by the grace of God. Only as
you see the glory of God in the face of His dear Son can you
be sustained, continually motivated to follow the Savior, devoting
yourself to Him in the entirety of your life. May God be pleased
to give you that. May God give us that tonight.
May God give us that tomorrow and sustain us in this life of
faith revealing Christ in us. This is what Abraham saw. This
is what Moses saw. This is the thing that Daniel
and Ezekiel saw. Peter, James, and John, when
they were in the Mount of Transfiguration, beheld the Lord in his glory. They beheld him in his glory.
We just read in John chapter 12 how that John describes these
folks who had heard the Lord's word. these Jews to whom he had
sent his word for 2,000 years, to whom alone he had given his
prophets, to whom he had given the ordinances of the law and
the ceremonies and the types and pictures of redemption. And
then he came in the flesh and preached among them and performed
mighty works, wondrous miracles among them, and yet they believed
not on him. As Isaiah said, the Lord sent
blindness to them, hardened their heart, cast them off, and gathers
to himself a people for himself out of the four corners of the
earth. Oh, the severity of God's judgment in casting off Israel. But all the goodness of God and
gathering his people from among the Gentiles, making us indeed
the Israel of God. And these things Isaiah saw and
spoke of, we're told, when he saw Christ's glory. When he saw Christ's glory. People often talk about seeing
the glory of God, seeing the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We use those terms frequently.
Do you have any idea what that involves? Do you have any idea
just exactly what is it that Isaiah saw when he saw the Lord's
glory? What was it he saw? If you will,
turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 6 and just hold them open as
we look at these 13 verses. This is my subject. What did
Isaiah see? What did he see when he saw the
Savior's glory? What does that mean? What did
this man see here in this sixth chapter of Isaiah? And we don't
know much about Isaiah. We know that he lived about 700
years before the Lord Jesus came into this world in human flesh.
He made prophecies of very specific things that were to be accomplished
by the Lord Jesus manifest in his day, things that could not
possibly have occurred at any time except the time when Messiah
came. And they came to pass exactly
as Isaiah prophesied they would. This man Isaiah lived for 120
years and he prophesied for 85 years. He preached for a long time.
He preached for a long time. Those things most people know.
But did you know that the book of Isaiah is quoted more frequently
in the New Testament by our Lord and his disciples? It is quoted
more frequently in the New Testament than any other portion of Old
Testament Scripture except the Psalms. The Psalms are quoted
more than anything else, but the book of Isaiah next to the
Psalms is quoted more frequently than any other portion of Old
Testament Scriptures. I take that to be an indication
from God's Spirit of the importance of this book and also of the
fact that this book specifically deals with spiritual things concerning
redemption and grace in Christ Jesus and the glory of our Lord.
John the Baptist, when he began his ministry, began by quoting
Isaiah. He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Our Lord
Jesus, when he came to make himself known, came down to Nazareth
where he was brought up, and he went as his custom was into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he opened the scriptures
to Isaiah chapter 61, He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. He's anointed me to preach the gospel. And then he folded
the scriptures up again and he said, look here, look here, this
day is this scripture fulfilled before you. He said, I am the
fulfillment of what Isaiah was talking about. It was Isaiah
that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when God sent Philip
to preach the gospel to him. You remember the eunuch had gone
up to Jerusalem, but now, The feasts at Jerusalem were just
empty shells. Judaism was now nothing but idolatry
as it is to this day. Judaism was not in any way akin
to Christianity as it's called. Folks talk about the Judeo-Christian
ethic or Judeo-Christian philosophy or Judeo-Christian doctrine.
Anything that's Judeo-Christian is not Christian. It is not Christian.
Judaism was is just an empty shell And so this unit goes up
to the feast and it goes up empty and it comes back just as empty
Goes to church with a great conference going on, but he goes up and
defines nothing there And so he's running all the way back
to to Ethiopia and he's reading Isaiah chapter 53 and apparently
reading it out loud and He was wounded for our transgressions.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. With his stripes,
we are healed. And Philip is walking alongside
the chariot. And he said, buddy, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I except some
man show me? He said, scoot over, I'll show
you. And thus the eunuch learned the gospel of God's grace from
this portion of scripture here in Isaiah chapter 53. All right,
let's look at this sixth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy. God saves his elect by the revelation
of Christ's glory. And God feeds, strengthens, motivates,
governs, edifies, comforts, rejoices, reproves, and revives the souls
of his church, his people, by the revelation of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But what's that? Let me show
you five things clearly given to us in these 13 verses of Isaiah
chapter six. These five things Isaiah saw
when he saw the Lord's glory. These five things. If ever you
see the Lord's glory, you're going to hell if you don't. Are
you listening now? If God leaves you alone, you're
going to hell. But if ever you see the Lord's glory, you'll
see these five things. Number one, look at verses one
through four. Isaiah saw God in his true character. He saw him as God. God in his
infinite sovereignty and glorious holiness, God. The God of this
world, the God of this religious age. Now, I'm going to make a
statement about which you are more certain to know than I am. If you go down here to Church
Row tonight, or Church Circle, whatever you call that mess down
there, go in any church building, The God you hear declared no
more resembles the God of this book than a gnat resembles an
angel. If that's not the case, if that's
not the case, Chris, Tony, you all close this place up and go
down and join them. That's the difference. If that's
not the case, don't fight them, join them. The God of this age,
this helpless, try to, want to, hope to God, who can't do anything
unless you cooperate and let him do it, is no God at all.
He's just the idolatrous figment of man's imagination. You can
call him Jehovah, you can call him Jesus, you can call him Christ,
you can call him Holy Spirit. If he's helpless, if his character
is not the character of sovereignty and holiness, he's not God. Let's
see what it says. Isaiah 6 verse 1 in the year
that King Uzziah died Uzziah He was a great king He was a
great king. You can read about him in the
book of 2nd Chronicles chapter 26 This man Uzziah Reigned in
Judah for 52 years And the book of God says he did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord. But he died under
the curse of God. For 52 years, he did that which
was right in the sight of the Lord, but he died under the curse
of God as the object of God's wrath, obviously condemned publicly,
identified by God as one punished by him. How can that be? I heard Brother Rothbard make
a statement on a message I heard when I was a young man, 18 or
19 years old, and it shocked me. If I'd have been standing
up, I'd have sat down. It just shocked me. He said a
lost man can live a better life than a Christian and often does. He was right. He was dead right. They often do. People think that
because a person does something or behaves in a certain way,
behaves as one ought to behave if he were a Christian, that
he certainly must be a Christian. Not usiah. For 52 years he did
that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. But then this proud
pompous king, This King Uzziah went down to the house of God
to burn incense to God, to offer sacrifice to God, but he bypassed
God's priest. He bypassed Christ Jesus, the
mediator. He bypassed righteousness and
redemption in Christ Jesus. He thought he was worthy of walking
in and being accepted of God. He did what was right. And God
smote him with leprosy and he died as a leper under the wrath
of God. This King Uzziah was Isaiah's
cousin. Can you imagine how he must have
idolized him? how he must have admired King
Uzziah. Isaiah was a prophet in the king's
palace. He wasn't like me coming around
preaching a little place like this. He was a prophet in the
king's palace. He had free access to the king. And Uzziah, this king he greatly
admired, is stricken by God and stricken under God's wrath. And
now Isaiah says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord. And the year that he died, the
Lord God caused him to see himself. I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. I saw him sitting on a throne
high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. The word Lord
here, you'll notice is not spelled in all capital letters. When
our King James Bible spells the word Lord in all capital letters,
that means the word is Jehovah. When it's spelled in lowercase,
as it is here, that means one of the other names of God is
used. The name here translated, Lord, is Adonai. It refers to
God in his essential character. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God who's Spirit. But Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. Well, you can't see God. Nobody ever did. Nobody ever
did. Folks talk to you about seeing
God. They've been smoking something strange. They hadn't seen God.
They're doped up on some kind of religion. They hadn't seen
God. Nobody's ever seen God. God's a spirit. But God walked
with Adam in the cool of the day. God came down and revealed
himself to Moses in the burning bush. God came down and spoke
to Manoah and his wife. God came down to Abraham, visited
him, told him what he was going to do. Who's that? That's Christ
Jesus, our Redeemer. You see, God is known to men
only by the God-man, Jesus Christ. He is the Word who was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we bail His glory as the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And this Word made
flesh is He who declares God to men, who takes God and shows
Him to men so that we see God. in all his character, in all
his glory, in all the fullness of his being, in the person and
work of the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. He says,
I saw the Lord sitting. Sitting. When a fella is sitting, one
of these things is so. Either he's lazy, or he's tired,
or he's comfortable. The Lord is not lazy and he doesn't
get tired. He sits always comfortable. Chris, if we just had to believe
you, we would too. He's always comfortable. He's always easy. He sits always in the ease of
total sovereignty. He rules everybody and everything,
everywhere, all the time, doing his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his head or say to him, what doest thou? He sits in ease,
in the ease of absolute sovereignty. He's sitting upon a throne. Now
the picture that Isaiah sees here Is the very same thing that
you would have seen if you had walked into the holy of holies
on the day of atonement with the high priest He walks in and
sees an ark Overlaid with a mercy seat with cherubs on each end
God said I'll meet you on the mercy seat and Isaiah is here
describing what the priest would see there He wasn't allowed to
go in there, but he sees this revelation of God Which is the
place where God made himself known you remember when the tabernacle
was finished Moses stepped out and the glory of God filled that
place and Isaiah seen just that very thing, but he's talking
about mercy seat not a throne That mercy seat is his throne
His throne is called the 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. He's sitting on the mercy
seat covered with blood by which our sins are put away. He sits
there on the mercy seat on his throne and rules the universe
as our God-man mediator. Oh my soul, be at ease. Always the hands that hold the
reins of sovereign dominion are the hands that were pierced on
Calvary's tree for me. If that doesn't sail your boat
through trouble, I don't know what will. Christ sits on his throne. Read on. He's high and lifted
up, exalted, magnified. raised up and made to sit down
with all authority and power and dominion given to him because
he's finished his work. John had the same vision, a little
more fully given in Revelation 4 and 5. He saw a throne and
the book and then he saw Lamb as it had been slain rising up
out of the midst of the throne. That's exactly what Isaiah sees
here He sees the Lord Jesus our crucified Savior sitting on his
throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple the
King's train I have no idea what you ladies, when you got married,
you put on that white dress and I remember seeing my wife in
it. I picture it now. I hadn't forgot that look. And
she comes walking down the aisle and the train, my soul, somebody
had to follow behind her, spread it out there so pretty. But it
didn't mean a thing as far as I know. I'm sure there's some
tradition to it. I had no idea. But a king's train,
that's another story. A king's train? His train, as
he makes his procession, and that train follows behind him,
is an indication of his royalty, his majesty, his regal authority,
his riches, his power, his dominion. And Isaiah says the Lord's train
filled the temple, filled his house. Moses said Lord show me
your glory He said I'll put you here in the cleft of the rock
and I'll hide you behind my hand and I'll pass by and you can
see my back Parts you can see my trade and there he revealed
his glory to him Sovereign and merciful gracious to him. He
will be gracious forgiving iniquity transgression and sin sovereign
and merciful and so Isaiah says I saw the Lord sitting on his
throne and The throne where he sits shows him high and lifted
up. His train fills the temple. His
regal authority, his majesty, his glory, his riches, his dominion,
his power, it fills his house. And wherever he is known, it
fills his house. Wherever he is known, it fills
his house. He says, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Now watch
this, above it, above the throne stood the seraphims. Seraphims. You read a lot about seraphims
in poetry. You hear people sing about seraphs.
You'd think there was a whole slew of them. Do you know how
many times the word seraphims is found in the word of God?
Anybody got an idea? Just once. This is it. The only
place you'll find it. Seraphims. The word means burners. It's in the plural, not the singular.
Seraphims. In Exodus, when God commands
Moses to make the tabernacle and make the ark and the mercy
seat, He said, you make that mercy seat of pure gold, and
then on each end you make two cherubs. with the wings. touching each other at each end
of the mercy seat, looking down always upon blood atonement,
looking down always upon the crucified Christ, looking down
always upon that which signifies redemption finished, and that's
where I'll meet you. That's the very same thing that
Isaiah sees, but here they're called seraphims, burners. The cherubs are called seraphims.
What do they refer to? Turn to Revelation chapter 4
and I'll show you. And this is why I continue reading verse
two, and you turn it. Above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings. With twain, with two he covered
his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did
fly. These seraphims are God's preachers. They are God's messengers. I
thought they were angelic beings. Well, what do you think preachers
are? Brother Tom Harding, he's the angel of Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. What? Read the second and third
chapter of the book of Revelation. The angel of the church is the
pastor of the church. The word angel simply means messenger.
He's the man sent from God to deliver to you God's message.
He brings God's message to his people. God's servants are his
messengers portrayed in these cherubs, portrayed in these seraphims. They're described here in Revelation
chapter 4 as beast. Beast. If you have a marginal
translation, you might find the words living creatures. John
says, I saw a door opened in heaven and I saw a throne, one
sitting on a throne. And I saw around the throne a
bow, the bow of God's covenant from which everything proceeds.
I saw 24 seats and 24 elders sitting on the seats, all the
host of God's elect. And then we get down to verse
six, look at verse six. He says, and before the throne
there was a sea of glass, like unto crystal, in the midst of
the throne, and round about the throne were four beasts, full
of eyes, full of eyes. Now, this is not talking about
the kind of stuff you read in these prophecy magazines that
you get. You know, when I was in school, we had to study what
was it called? Dispensational truths that some
thought I'd written. Big book of pictures. And oh,
it had these pictures of John Salt. Scared you to death. You'd
have nightmares looking at them. This should not be taken literally.
This is a picture. It's a picture. He says, I saw
something that means something. I saw these living creatures
full of eyes. Men who are called and gifted
of God are given knowledge and understanding so that they may
feed God's people with knowledge and understanding. Knowledge
in His Word. Knowledge of Him and of His ways
so that they may feed His people with knowledge and understanding.
That doesn't mean they're brilliant. That doesn't mean they're academics.
That doesn't mean that they're spellbinding preachers. That
doesn't mean that they use pretty fancy words. I've known some
very, very knowledgeable, gifted men, brilliantly understanding
the Word of God, who are barely educated. Barely educated. How
can that be? God doesn't call qualified men
to preach. God qualifies the men He calls. Did you get that? God doesn't
call qualified men to preach. He qualifies the men He calls.
They're full of eyes. Before and behind. And the first
beast was like a lion. Like a lion. What do you think
of when you think of a lion? Get out of his way. I've never wanted to pet one
in my life. Have you? He's a lion. He's bold. Full of courage. Not that the preacher is a man
just naturally bold and got great strength. No, no, no, no. but
he knows he's God's servant with God's message and you best get
out of his way. That makes him bold. Not only
does this beast look like a lion, but the second beast was like
a calf, like a calf, like an ox, strong to labor because God's
servants labor in the word and in the doctrine, labor in the
preaching of the gospel. For harling preachers, Preaching,
pastoring, that's the easiest life you can get. All you gotta
do is sit in a team with old women and chase ambulances. Once in
a while, get in the pulpit. God's servants labor in the word
and in the doctrine. God's servants devote their lives
to the cause of Christ. But you don't. The third beast
had a face as a man. You see, God's servants know
they're just men. They have compassion upon men.
They have sympathy with men, fallen, depraved, sinful men
and women, because we're just like you, just like you. We don't. And the fourth beast was like
a flying eagle. soaring in the heavens quickly
going where God sends him to do God's bidding. There are four
of them because God has his elect in the four corners of the earth
and he says to the north give up and to the south keep not
back and he gathers his sons from afar by sending his servants
to proclaim his word in the four corners of the earth. Read on.
And these beasts had six wings. The four beasts had each of them
six wings about him, and they were full of eyes with him, and
they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty." That's what we just read in Isaiah 6, isn't
it? They cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Sanctified,
sanctified, sanctified. Hallowed, hallowed, hallowed. Reverend, reverent, reverent. Holy, holy, holy is God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. God over all the hosts in heaven,
earth, and hell. He's the only one in charge of
anything. He's the only one who controls
anything. He's the Lord of hosts the Lord
God Almighty All right back in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 3 One
cried to another and said holy. Holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts
The whole earth is full of his glory Hmm The whole earth is
full of his glory When we get done tonight, if
it's cloudy, step outside and look at the clouds and watch
the lightning. I like to do that. I like to
do that, especially if I'm in the car and got four rubber wheels
on the ground. But watch the lightning. Listen to the thunder.
If it's clear, look at the stars and the moon. And then try to
convince yourself all of this just popped out of some kind
of a primeval moon, ooze. And if you can convince yourself
all of this just sort of then you need to be locked up
in a padded cell somewhere. No, the earth's full of God's
wisdom and power, displayed in all creation. In all things,
he shows his wisdom and power. But the glory of the Lord he's
talking about here is that word proclaimed by these seraphs,
these messengers of God. It's the gospel of God's grace.
Now Isaiah says, I saw the Lord high lifted up. I saw the crucified
Christ sitting on his throne, having finished the work of redemption.
And that means God sends his word into all the world and gathers
his elect out of the four corners of the earth so that his world
is filled with the glory of his grace declared in the gospel.
Read on now. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried. What on earth is that talking
about? The post of the door. He's talking about going into
the temple in the Holy of Holies. Not on a doorstep there, going
into the Holy of Holies. And he stands there and he sees
God's glory in his son. And he sees God's glory manifest
in the gospel, in the accomplishment of redemption, showing God's
holiness, righteousness, justice, and truth, as well as his mercy,
love, and grace. And he says, when I saw that,
I heard these men cry, he said, the temple came falling down
around me. The post moved. The pillars of
the temple just, it came crushing down around me. Why? Because
the fulfillment of the law, the fulfillment of the prophets,
the fulfillment of the ceremonies, the fulfillment of the types
by Christ Jesus crucified, buried, risen and ascended on high is
the end of the law and the end of the types and the end of the
ceremonies. And we no longer have anything
to do with any of those things. We don't worship God after the
flesh, but after the spirit. We don't wear little doodads
called crosses, you know, look so pretty and sweet. It's just
a piece of idolatry. We don't need religious symbols.
We don't carry pictures of Jesus and hang them on the wall. No,
we worship God in the spirit. We don't carry about ourselves
the foolishness and the trappings of idolatrous religion, which
is what all outward symbols are, for they all are. He said, these
posts moved. When the Lord spoke by these
seraphs, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the
post moved. Tony, you are the temple of God. You who believe God, Doug, you
are the temple of God. Danny, you are the temple of
God. And when God, the Savior, comes to save a sinner in the
power of His grace, He tears down everything that would give
you refuge from Him. He enters your heart and He doesn't
just tap at your heart's door. One of the silliest, idolatrous
pictures I've ever seen in my life is that picture supposed
to be Jesus standing with a little lantern knocking at your heart's
door. I wonder why the picture's always
an effeminate-looking fella with a light in the loafers, because
that's what the God of this age is. Here he is. He's supposed
to be the light of the world. He's holding a candle. That's
not much, but there's no handle on the outside of the door. Oh,
poor Jesus. He's knocking. Won't you pretty
please let him in? When the Son of God comes knocking
at your heart's door, He knocks the door down, bolt and bar,
and the poles, the posts crush in around Him, and the first
time you know He's around, He's already sitting on His throne
in you, and you're delighted to have Him. That's exactly right. He comes in in power, saving
by His mighty grace. All right, now, I've gotta give
you the next four, rapid fire. Here's the second thing. First
thing Isaiah saw, when he saw Christ's glory, he saw God as
he really is. Holy, sovereign God. How far
can you carry that? Folks say all the time, Fortner's
going to sit on sovereign graces. High time somebody did. How far
do you carry that? You just carry it as far as you
can carry it and you can't carry it any longer. Stop for a minute,
pick it up and carry it a little further. You can't carry it too
far. God is sovereign. God Almighty is holy. And anything
that contradicts that is not God. Got that? Here's the second
thing. If you ever see that, you'll
find out who you are. a doomed, damned, helpless, dirty
sinner before a holy sovereign God. Then said I, woe is me,
cursed, doomed, damned, for I'm undone. I'm reduced to nothing. I'm cut off. I'm useless. I'm silent. I can say nothing.
I'm dumb. I'm helpless. I'm here before
God. I'm a man of unclean lips. A filthy, vile wretch. A filthy, vile sinner. Unclean lips. Now, the religious
world, they'll tell you, well, if you put that glass of wine
to your lips, Now you're dirty. No. If you eat the pork, now
you're dirty. If you take in this, that, or
the other thing, now you're dirty. If you eat with unwashed hands,
now you're dirty. Our Lord said, you misunderstand. Your dirty
lips didn't come from without. They came from within. They came
from within. It's the excrement of the heart
coming out in your life. from your lips, and your hands,
and your thoughts, and your deeds, that's the defilement. For from
within, out of the heart, proceed murders, and adulteries, and
fornications, and blasphemies, and thefts, and robbers, and
all that's evil in this world. All of it, all of it. Job said,
I've heard thee, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear.
I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear. But Tom been coming down here
preaching to you folks for years. I've been coming to these other
preachers and you've heard, you've heard, but some of you still
don't know him. You still don't know him. So
you still think very highly of yourself. And I'll tell you what
keeps you from trusting the Savior. You think very highly of yourself.
That's all. Job said, I've heard of you with
the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth thee. Isaiah said, now, God, I heard
about you, but now I see you. Now I see who God is, and I see
what I am. Wherefore, I abhor myself, and
I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Daniel had a similar experience
in the 10th chapter of Daniel. He saw the vision of the Lord
Jesus, a man in linen garments with an acorn by his side. And
he said, it was left alone and saw this great vision and there
remained no strength in me. Oh, I love fine folks like that.
No strength in me. And my comeliness, it was turned
in me into corruption. So that all that I thought about
me that was good, showed up as corruption before God. I saw
what I really am, just to see it. Just to see it. And that's all you are. And that's
all I am. Not only that, here's the third
thing Isaiah saw. He said, when I saw Christ in
his glory, I saw who God is, and I saw who I am, I realized
that everybody else is in the same shape. I realized everybody
else is just like I am. You see, man, since the fall
of Adam, is unclean. He said, I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. Nobody can help me. Nobody can
help me. I am privileged to pastor and
preach the gospel both at Danville and around the world a lot of
times through the year. I preach somewhere almost every
night, it seems like. And I have folks come up to me
and express their concerns for their souls. I want to know the
Lord. I want to be saved. I know what
they expect me to do. I know what they expect me to
do, in spite of, some have said it in my ministry for 30 years
or better, in spite of all that, they've got religious traditions
behind them, and they expect me somehow to tell them to do
something, to tell them how to get saved, to tell them, well,
you do this and do that, everything will be all right. I'm not gonna
do that. You see, I'm a man of unclean
lips just like you, and I can't help you. I can't help you. I can't change your heart. I
can't give you faith in Christ. I can't give you repentance.
I simply preach the gospel to you and wait for God to work.
Well, what do you tell folks? I tell them, go home and get
along with God. You don't need to talk to me. You need to talk
to God. I'm not a priest. I'm not an intercessor. I'm not
a confessor. Seek the Lord. And he promises you seek him,
you'll find him. Because if you seek him, you've been sought
by him. He said, I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips. And then Isaiah understood
something else. Here's the fourth thing. When
he saw God in his glory, in his sovereign holiness, he saw himself
in his utter depravity. He saw the human race fallen
and depraved. This man, Isaiah, by the goodness
and grace of God, saw and experienced complete forgiveness by blood
atonement. Look at this. Then flew one of
the seraphims. One of these preachers was sent
to me again. How shall they preach except
they'd be sent? I studied, prepared, stay up
all night, get up early in the morning, get ready to preach.
and do best I can, and I can't do a thing for you, Chris. I
can't speak to your heart unless God sends me to you with his
word. Maybe he sent me to you tonight. One of the seraphims, one of
these preachers, flew to me having a live coal in his hand, which
he had taken with tongs from off the altar, The altar where
the Passover sacrifice is burned. The altar where the carcass is
burned and consumed under the wrath of God. Christ our Passover
sacrifice for us. He's consumed with the fire of
God's wrath and he consumed the fire of God's wrath. And now
we come with this live coal, the gospel of redemption accomplished
by the sacrifice of Christ. And when God takes the word preached
and applies the word to your heart effectually, he said, he
touched my lips and said, lo, this hath touched thy lips. Thine
iniquity is taken away. Thy sin is purged. Complete forgiveness by blood
atonement. Well, the forgiveness, preacher,
don't you know that was accomplished from eternity? I know that. Don't
you know that was finished at Calvary? I'm surprised folks,
I know that too. Yes, I'm fully aware of that.
But you don't know anything about it till you experience it by
His grace, by the preaching of the gospel of His grace. Then
your conscience is clean before God. Clean before God. To believe on the Son of God,
is to know God in the forgiveness of sin, by the revelation of
Christ's glory in you, by God's omnipotent grace, so that you
walk before God with peace and comfort and ease of mind, knowing
you're forgiven, forever forgiven. All right, look at verse eight.
Look at verse eight. Here's the fifth thing Isaiah
saw. Notice how it begins. Also, also that means he's changing
gears. He's, he's moving from one scene
to another. We've been talking now about what Isaiah saw. Now
we're about to talk about what Isaiah heard. Do you remember
John told us in John 12 that we read earlier? These things
is what Isaiah said when he saw the Lord's glory. Now he's gonna
tell us what he heard. Also, I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then
said I, hear him, am I, send me. I know that about everybody
says this is talking about the calling of a preacher. And it's
true, all God's servants gladly, voluntarily commit themselves
to the cause of Christ. But I'm going to tell you something
about preachers. All volunteers are rejected. All volunteers are rejected.
I had a very dear friend of mine talk to me just recently, and
he said he's thinking about after he retires, maybe trying to go
to town and start a church. I said, no point in going. And
he looked a little bit shocked. And this is a fine man. He's
a, he's a faithful man. He looked a little shocked. I
said to him, God won't have your leftovers. He won't have it,
he won't have it. No, you can go now if you want
to, sacrifice everything, you'll be all right, but not if you
retire. No, God won't have it. All volunteer
preachers are rejects. God's servants all serve him
willingly, voluntarily, but they're called and sent of God, gifted
of God to preach the gospel, not say, well, I think I'll go
preach. No, no, well, what's this talking
about then? God said, let us make man in
our image and after our likeness. God consulted God with God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit in Genesis 11 when it came down to scatter
the nations at the Tower of Babel. Now watch this. Also I heard
the voice of the Lord, Adonai, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
the triune God saying, whom shall I send, singular, one God, and
who will go for us, plural, three persons into one Godhead, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. Then I said, here am I, send
me. Before the world was in the council
chambers of eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ stood forth as our
surety, our covenant mediator, and he said, Here am I, send
me, I'll save my people. Here am I, send me, I'll accomplish
redemption. Here am I, send me, I'll gather
my elect from the four corners of the earth. He said, lo, I
come in the volume of the book. It is written of me, I delight
to do thy will, oh my God. Now you can read the last verses
when you go home, and I hope you will. The Lord talks about, well how
long? How long? Till these folks are
so fat their eyes are bugging out. And their eyes can't see
and their ears can't hear and their hearts can't know. And
they can't be converted and they can't turn to me. until they're
utterly cast off until Jerusalem and Israel is destroyed as a
people and I will then gather a tent I will then gather mine
elect the remnant of my own scattered to the four winds, four corners
of the earth I'll gather them and they shall be mine in that
day when I make up my jewels that's what Isaiah saw when he
saw the Lord's glory Have you seen it? The glory of God shining
in the face of Jesus Christ. God make it so for you, for Christ's
sake. Amen.