OK, go back with me to Exeter,
Isaiah chapter 6 There is a verse in Proverbs,
not just one, but three different verses, but a key verse in God's
Word. There are many, but this is a
key verse. Proverbs 9, verse 10 says, The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And a knowledge of the holy is
understanding. I may repeat that. The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And a knowledge of the
holy is understanding. Proverbs 9, 10. The very first proverb written,
Proverb 1, I believe it's verse 7, says, The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. That's a key verse, a definitive
verse. The beginning of wisdom. Knowledge
of the holy. Fear of the Lord. What is that?
What's fear of the Lord? Whatever it is, Paul said in
Romans 3, there is no fear of God before their eyes. We're
talking about both Jew and Gentile. And certainly not today. Men
like to use that phrase, don't they? No fear. Fear of the Lord is something
to do with profound reverence. and respect for who he is, and
having a humility before him, brokenness before him, knowledge
of the holy. What's that? Knowledge of the
holy is understanding. Knowledge of the holy God. What
that means, God is holy. What does that mean? This book
you have in your lap has written on the front of it, what? Holy. Bible. So very few people know what
that means because they can take this book or leave it. They treat
this book like any other book. But this says it's holy. What
does that mean? Knowledge of the Holy. The Holy
Spirit. A lot of people like to talk
about the Spirit, don't they? He's holy. What does that mean? The Lord Jesus Christ said this.
We quote this all the time. along with that proverb. The
Lord says this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. The only
true God, the only God who is truly God. Because there's many,
He said, that worship a God of their imagination, not the God
of this book who's holy. and the Christ whom he sent,
why Christ came, the true Christ, who he was, why God sent him,
why he came, what he did when he got here, whether or not he
did it, where he is now. Our Lord said this is salvation,
this is what God Almighty does to every human being. This is
the first thing God does when he begins this work of salvation,
saving a human being from sin, from destruction. The first thing
he does is reveal himself. Let me quote it again. Our Lord
said, this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
true God. This is salvation. This is where
it begins. This is where it all begins.
Everyone in here who claims to have been saved by the Lord,
this is the first thing, isn't it? The first thing the Lord
does to you is reveal to you who he is. And in doing that, he reveals
to you what you are. And it causes the same reaction
that Isaiah had. Every single person, there's
no exceptions. No exception. And God reveals himself, not
the way men think he is. He said that in Psalm 50. He
said, Thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as I said. Men think
God is like us. The way God says of himself in
his word is how he must reveal himself, the God of Scripture. So, let me say this as the psalmist
said, come you children, hearken unto me and I will teach you
the fear of the Lord. I'll teach you the fear of the
Lord from scripture. I'm not going to teach you, but
if the Holy Spirit does, he'll do it through Isaiah 6. Well, who is the Lord? What's
he like? What's God like? What's God really
like? Well, look at chapter 6. In verse 1 it says Isaiah is
And he says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also,
he saw Uzziah die, and he said, also I saw the Lord. The Lord. As I said to begin, I'll never
forget the first time I heard a man preach from then. If you
would ask me what would be a definitive passage of scripture to declare
or define God, the God of the Bible, as opposed to this concept,
this figment of men's imagination today, what all men say about
God of the Bible, I'd say Isaiah 6. I'd immediately tell everybody,
go to Isaiah 6. This is the Lord. Isaiah sees
the Lord. Who's the Lord? Who's he talking
about? Jesus Christ. There's only one Lord. He's called
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking about God. Yes. Yes. They're the same. Same person. This clearly declares a true
God, true Christ, the truth about man. In the year of King Uzziah
died, something that Isaiah saw in the death of this king made
him see the Lord. OK? This is not just written
to tell us the time that he saw. That's not important. What was
it that he saw in the death of this king, Uzziah, that made
him see the Lord? The Lord showed himself in that
very year that Uzziah died. Well, let me tell you who Uzziah
is. His story is recorded in 2 Kings
and 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles 26 is the clearest,
the most lengthy description of King Uzziah. King Uzziah was
a king of Judah. Listen now. This is important. He was a king in Judah. He started
reigning when he was 16 years old. And he reigned for 52 years. I'm not sure, I didn't look it
up, but I think it was the longest reign of any man. 52 years. He was 68 years old when he died.
But he was the greatest man on earth at that time. The greatest
king on earth. And the greatest kingdom on earth. There was not
a kingdom like Uzziah's kingdom at this time. Read it for yourself.
I went back and read it again. And I didn't realize how great
this man was. Scripture says his name spread
far abroad. His name was known all over the
then known world. King Uzziah. He was known, he
had vast holdings of farms and cattle. He was a husband, but
he loved farming. He had vast holdings of land
and cattle and so forth. It says he built towers and dug
wells and he had cunning inventions. He was a brilliant man. He had
them invent machines and so forth. Weapons of war. He had hundreds
of thousands of foot soldiers at his beck and call. A great man, greatest man on
earth at the time, king in the greatest kingdom on earth at
that time. Well, one day he got so lifted
up with a sense of his greatness. And the temple was there in Israel
at that time, that one day he just decided, I'm going to go
into the temple, say I'm the king. I'm somebody, and I'm going
into the temple, and I'm going to get me a censer with incense
on it, and I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to offer
up incense. I'm going to worship God. I don't need this priest. God said nobody goes in here
but one man. One man. I'll deal with one man. And it's not whoever thinks they're
great or whatever. It's the man I choose. the man
of my choosing, the great high priest, who is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who alone must go to God for every man,
any man. Well, this King Uzziah puffed
up with a sense of his own greatness and worth, went right into that
temple with his little incense censer in his hand, and eighty-one
priests saw him do this, and they ran in there. Eighty-one
priests stood in front of him and said, You can't do this.
You can't do this. We don't care if you are the
greatest king. You can't do this. And he got furious. And he said,
Who do you think you are? Don't you know who I am? Don't
you know who I am? And he says, God smote him with
leprosy. Right there. He says the priests
were standing there watching him. And leprosy, his head started
to rot. And the priest somehow showed
him, you need to look at yourself. And he saw it. He was turning
into a leper and he ran out of there. They kicked him out of
there. They forced him out of there. And all of Israel shut
him out. put him in a private house, and
he died alone and just rotted. God did that. Why? Because God is holy. That's why. What's that mean? See, Isaiah
saw this. Isaiah was there. He saw this. And will you turn back real quickly
to chapter 2 with me of Isaiah? Look at this. This is, as we
said, as we quoted, the fear of the Lord. The Lord is the
beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy. Isaiah 2, oh, I
wish the whole world would read this. I wish these so-called
preachers would stand up this morning and read Isaiah 2, verses
10 through 12. He says, Enter into the rock
and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord, for the glory
of His majesty. Read on. The lofty looks of man
shall be humbled. The haughtiness of men shall
be bowed down. The Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. The day of the Lord of hosts
shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, everyone that
is lifted up, he will be brought low." He said that twice in verse
17. I'll never forget reading Isaiah
23, 9 when I was a young man. It's always stuck with me. Listen
very carefully as I read this. If you turn, that would be wonderful.
But Isaiah 23, 9, I committed it to memory as a young man.
You know, whatever God purposes He does, He's going to do, He
does. Whatever He purposes. He said
that in Isaiah 13, I believe. I purposed it, I'll do it. Isaiah
23, 9 says, The Lord of hosts, the Lord, the only one, hath
purposed it to stain the pride of all glory. all glory, all
bragging, all boasting, all honor, all of it, and to bring into contempt, to make it appear contemptible,
the honorable of the earth. That's what he's purposed to
do, and he's going to do it. So, Isaiah said, in the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also thee, Lord. Now look at it, back in chapter
6, verse 1. He said, I saw also thee, Lord,
sitting upon a throne. Every word is important, people.
Every word declares our God, the God, the true God, the only
God there is. He's sitting. It's not like these preachers
say, He's standing outside your heart's door, pacing the floor
of heaven, leaning over the banister, hoping, wishing, praying that
people will do something. He's sitting! Sitting, Isaiah said, I saw the
Lord. Sitting, sitting. Now, as only, back in the Old Testament, The great high priest never sat
down. There was not a chair inside
the temple. There was no chair inside the
temple, because his work was never done. Never done. He couldn't sit down. He never
did sit down. But it says, Scripture says,
when Christ came, our great high priest, the Lord, the King of
kings and the Lord of lords, when he came to this earth and
was hanging upon the cross, he said, it's finished. And it says
he went back to the right hand of the majesty on high and sat
down. And says he's sitting there now,
expecting. When you sit down, your work's
done and you're satisfied and you're not in a hurry and you're
not, nobody's disturbing you. And he's sitting. The Lord has set him on a throne. On a throne. That's where he
reigns and rules. A throne means his sovereignty. His reign, his rule on a throne.
Brother Gabe and I watched a little bit last night of that old movie,
The Ten Commandments, back in the fifties. Remember that? Anybody
see that? Charlton Heston was his name.
Pretty good movie, pretty scriptural. But it showed a little bit of
what sovereignty used to be. Sovereignty. A great king or
pharaoh, that's who it was, would come in and he would sit on his
throne. He didn't have to get up and
go and do anything. He just gave orders. He would
just sit on his throne with a scepter. and make all of his rules and
proclamations and declarations and orders and all. He says,
so let it be written, so let it be done. I love that. So let
it be written, so let it be done. He'd tell somebody, do this,
and they'd do that. He's sitting on a throne, reigning, ruling.
They don't have to get up and see to it. When he gives the
order, it's done. That's God. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. That's 1580. He's sitting, Scripture
says, on the circle of the earth. The Lord. The Lord. The only
one. Sitting. On the throne. I told you before
that the only throne, and I'm going to say it again, it's crude,
but I just think it puts things in perspective. The only throne
man rightfully belongs on is made by American standard plumbing. God raises some of those beggars
off of the nun heap to sit among princes, to sit with him. He says, come, sit down at my
right hand, right by the throne. It's his call, his choice. Look at this, he said, I saw
him seated, seated on a throne, high and lifted up, high and
lifted up. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
who we're talking about, who Isaiah saw. You see, no man hath
seen God at any time, scripture says. Isn't that what it says? No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, he hath
declared. The only God men have ever seen,
the only Lord, or whoever will see, is the Lord Jesus Christ. God who dwells in a body. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth the first time,
nearly 2,000 years ago. Well, 2,000 years ago. He came
the first time meek and lowly. Meek and lowly. He said that. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly. Meek and lowly. And Paul writing in Hebrews said
we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels. We see a man
named Jesus. There was a man named Jesus who
was lower than the angels. Why? Why was he meek and lowly
when he came the first time? He goes on to say in Hebrews,
for the suffering of death, Jesus Christ came the first time as
a man, to live as a man, submissive, subservient to the will of God.
Not my will, he said, but thy will be done. To do thy will,
O God. To live as a man for men before
God. To fulfill God's law for some.
That's why he came. And then to be a substitute. A sin offering. A substitute. Somebody to take the blame of,
the punishment of, take the place of. God Almighty put sin on him. Sins of God's people. And put
him on a cross. God did this. God did this to
his son. And he submitted to that. There
was obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. And God
Almighty hung his own son on the cross, a man, meek and lowly. He was meek, lowly, and he submitted
Barbara to that. And God Almighty put him on a
cross and killed him, made his soul an offering for sin on the
altar, burned his body, put him through, as it were, hell, separation
from God. That's why he was made flesh. That's why he was a man. That's
why he was meek and lowly. All right? Hang on to your seat. He's not that way anymore. People are still talking about
a Jesus. Around that Christmas time, so-called Christmas time,
they get all sentimental over a baby. He's not a baby anymore. He came one time as a child.
A child was born, yes. A son is given, yes. Only for a reason. And he's not
a baby anymore. He's not a Jewish carpenter.
He's not a man, meek and lowly. He's not gentle Jesus, meek and
mild, as Catholicism calls him. He's not that way anymore. Isaiah
saw him. Tell us about him, Isaiah. He's
high and lifted up. Trumpet. High and lifted up. How high, Isaiah? Nobody's seen
him. Nobody's ever been, in our generation,
nobody's ever been in the presence of anybody truly great. Nobody's
ever seen a sovereign king. Nobody. People call the President
of the United States George. They say anything they want to
about him, don't they, Sam? Anything they want to. Maligning,
badmouthing, who cares? Say it to his face, you won't
get arrested. We're talking about God here. We're talking about
the God of the Bible here. What's He like? What's Jesus
Christ really like? What's He like? He's not like
we think He is. He's not like men think He is.
He's not like preachers say He is. He is as He says He is. Higher
and lifted up. What's that mean? Infinitely
above us. Christ said this even as a man.
He said, I am from above. You're from beneath. That's what
He said. Higher and lifted up. You know, people think that we
preach God too sovereign. Folks, the half has never been
told. I have never been able to preach
God as high as I want to preach Him. I've never been able to
declare God in His sovereignty as He really is. Like I said,
nobody in our generation has ever seen one sovereign king,
ever. I was talking about that movie
we saw in the days of Pharaoh, back in the days when kings were
kings. And according to a man's power,
if he was the most powerful king, he was the king of kings. Kings
bowed to him. And whatever he said went. Well,
I don't like it. Too bad. He can't do that. Watch me. That's God. This is the beginning
of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. Nobody
fears a God who loves everybody. Why should you? Why should you? High and lifted
up. sitting on a throne, reigning
and ruling over the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of
the earth. And none can stay His hand. We're saying to Him,
what do us now? That's what Scripture says. That's
the God of the Bible. I'm not making this up. And you know who doesn't like
God like that? There's a world full of people
Get angry when you declare God as He is. Just declare God. Just
preach Isaiah 6. A world full of people that doesn't
like God like that. Why? They don't want God. How about you? Does this bother
you? When I declare God as He is,
does this bother you? Those that fear the Lord love
God as God. Jeanette, I can't preach Him
high enough for you, can I? You see, what makes the world
exceedingly mad makes God's people exceedingly glad. What makes the world angry to
the point of gnashing their teeth makes God's people, fills them
with joy and rejoicing. Why? He's my God and I belong to Him. And He's
ordered the whole thing is concerning me. And neither hell nor anybody
can say anything or do anything. He's God. Well, I lifted up. His train filled the temple.
Verse 1. His train. That's His entourage.
That's His retinue. That's His court. That's His
servants. That's His people. That's His following. Scripture
talks about a countless people, that is, a number which no man
can number. Scriptures are very, very precise,
aren't they? A number which no man can number. But God has them numbered. How? He chose them. This is what
makes God God, people. This is one of the things that
makes God God. Whoever has a free will is God.
Whoever does according to his will is God. See, free will is not the answer.
That's the problem. Man's problem. That's his problem.
That's what started this whole mess in the garden. And that's
what's going to make God destroy this whole planet. Man's shaking
his fist in God's face. My will. We'll see about that. His train filled the temple,
a number which no man can number, but he has a number. And above
this throne stood seraphims. Our Lord has seraphims, angelic
creatures. What are they? I don't know.
Nobody does. But they're angelic creatures. He made them. He made
them for one reason. He made them for one purpose,
to serve him. You remember the Old Testament
where the Lord had them make the cherubs hanging over the
ark? You remember that, Deborah? You studied it? The Lord had
Solomon make these golden cherubs and put them over the ark, hovering
down, looking over the ark, which Hebrews says, which things the
angels desire to look into. A picture of the seraphs that
looked down upon the throne of Christ on the throne. These seraphs
are created by God. Created beings for one reason. To do what? Shout His glory. Just all the time. All the time. Declaring God. Declaring God.
Declaring God. That's all they do. 24 hours
a day. There are no day and night. If there were to be 24 hours
a day, Sam, 365 days a week, this is what they do. They say
one thing over and over, over and over. They're going to declare
the God of the Bible. They're going to declare the God of the
Bible. They're going to declare the God who's on the throne.
They're going to declare Him. What are they going to say? One word
is going to describe Him. One word is going to describe
the God of the Bible. Define the God of the Bible. Declare
the God of the Bible. One word. What would you say
it is? I'll tell you what the world says. And they missed it. What did they say? One word,
and they said it three times. And you sung it. Holy. Holy. Holy. And they said it loud. I wouldn't
attempt to mimic them. Holy. This is the chief attribute
of God. This declares God above all things
else. This. There are many things you
cannot understand about God by saying that love is his chief
attribute. Explain hell. If God is love,
why is there a hell? Why? There is a hell because
God is holy. You see? God shall punish sin, must punish
sin. Why? Because he's holy. What does it mean? What does
it mean, holiness? See? Men don't have a clue. Do you
know that in the history of time, for only 33 years, have human
beings ever seen holiness? In 6,000 years. For 33 years is the only time
men saw holiness. And they hated it. They killed
him. Holiness. What does it mean,
holy? What does it mean? Man doesn't know. I can't declare
it. It has something to do with verses
of scripture like this. Listen very carefully now. You
won't hear these quoted on the radio or the TV or by modern
preachers. You won't hear it. God dwelleth
in light which no man can approach unto. Our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12, 29. The heavens are
not pure in his sight. He charges his angels with folly. The holy angels. Holy, holy, holy. He's the Lord of hosts. Holy,
holy, holy. Above, infinitely above, infinitely
higher, loftier, infinitely better in his thoughts. He said, my
ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
He said, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts
than your thoughts, and my ways than your ways. Doesn't that?
What does that say of man's, all of his little easy believings
on God? What does that say? Holy, holy, holy. The Lord of hosts. And it says here, Isaiah said,
the whole earth, they said, the angels said, the whole earth
is full of His glory. The heavens declare it. The firmament
show up His handiwork. All the work of His fingers,
full of His glory. Men don't see it. They don't
behold His glory. They don't see it. They don't even believe
it. They reject it. They're willingly
ignorant of it. make up things to try to disprove.
All full of His glory. The glories of His eternal power
in God. Our Lord said this to those Pharisees,
you know, who hated Him, hated God. He said, you do err, not
knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. And that clearly defines modern
religion today. They do err, not knowing what
this book says about God, nor the power of God, who God is. what he has done, what he is
able to do, what he shall do, what he hath said is Godhead. Folks, if God is only God when we let
him, he's not God. You understand? You understand. The world doesn't understand
this. The world doesn't understand this,