What a glorious vision that God gave the prophet Isaiah
in this passage. Verse one of Isaiah six, in the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. Obviously in a
message such as this, the question that I ask myself and you need
to ask yourself, is have you seen the Lord? And obviously
we're not talking about the physical eye. None of us can say we've
seen him with the physical eye, though there are some who claim
to have seen visions and had dreams and all of that. Signs,
always when somebody says I've seen a sign, And they say it's
a sign from God. I always think of what Christ
told the Pharisees. He told his disciples about the
Pharisees. He said, a wicked and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign. And his point was this. His point
was that, look, we have within our grasp the most authoritative,
true foundational thing that any generation can have concerning
the truth of God's word. And when you compare what we
have to dreams and visions and signs, they're nothing. Well, what is it that we have?
We have the Word of God. We have the Bible. Now granted,
people take the Bible and they read it and they seek to understand
it. Many twist it. We're trying to
get together a little pamphlet on rules of scriptural interpretation.
You do realize that when you read the Bible, there are right
ways and wrong ways of reading it. And the wrong ways, the testimony
to the truth of that, that there are many wrong ways is because
there's so many denominations, so many ideas. Somebody says,
well, you read a scripture and you think what you think and
I read. That's not the way to read it.
We were just talking to Rodney a while ago, somebody said, well,
I just take it literally. Well, so do I. Now, what does
it literally mean? That's what you got to ask. You
know, when you see a symbol in the Bible, Christ said, I am
the door. I hope you don't think that he's got a doorknob and
hinges. You know better than that, don't
you? Well, of course you do. It means he's the way into the
kingdom of heaven. That's what it means. That's
what it literally means. That symbol literally means he's
the only way. He said I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. That's
what that literally means. And it's the same way through
the scripture. The title of this message is
When a sinner sees the Lord. When a sinner sees the Lord. Have we truly seen the Lord?
You know, the disciples asked Christ one time about the reason
for him speaking in parables. You can find it in Matthew chapter
13. They said, why do you speak in parables? And you know the
reason he gave for speaking in parables? Now, most people think
this way. They think, well, he spoke in
parables because he wanted to get down on our level. like children's
stories. Now first of all, number one,
the parables are not children's stories. They're adult stories. The reason he said he spoke in
parables, you read in Matthew 13 beginning at verse 10, mark
that down and read it. He said the reason to speak in
parables was a judgment against those who refused to believe
the clear preaching of his doctrine. What did he tell them? He told
them that he is the Messiah, God in human flesh, that's who
Christ is. They wouldn't receive that. In
fact, they wanted to pick up stones and kill him. Remember
he said in John chapter 8, before Abraham was, I am. You remember
that? Well, they wouldn't receive that.
He told them that salvation was not by the works of men, nor
by the wills of men, that salvation was by grace, pure, free, sovereign
grace, and they wouldn't receive that. He told them that their
efforts to work their way into God's favor and earn their way
into God's salvation and its blessings were evil. He told
them that. I'm going to show you that in
just a moment. And they wouldn't receive that. So as a judgment
against them, he said, I'm going to speak in parables. And he
said, because they seeing, they see not. Hearing, they hear not. And when they hear the word of
God, that is intended by God for his people to bring us unto
repentance, and that, listen, now that doesn't mean just repentance
over immorality. Yes, we should repent over immorality,
but that means repenting of our false religious ideas too. It's called repentance of dead works
in the Bible. What is a dead work? It's a work
of the law, a work that comes in the guise of obedience aimed
at saving yourself or making yourself righteous before God. Something you do in order to
recommend you unto God is a dead work. And you want to know why
it's a dead work? Because it leads to death. You see, the only thing, the
only one who can recommend me, a sinner unto God, is Jesus Christ
and what He did on the cross of Calvary. Nothing added. His righteousness alone. His
obedience unto death alone. That's it. I have one plea. Christ died for me. I can't plead
my preaching. Even if I preach the truth, I
cannot plead that. My preaching is not my righteousness.
My attempting to obey God is not my righteousness. My charitable
giving is not my righteousness. My kindly demeanor is not my
righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. Now you know what I've just told
you? I've told you the meaning of the resurrection. That's what
it's all about. In the year that King Uzziah
died, look at John chapter 3. Christ speaking to a religious
man named Nicodemus. He says in John chapter 3 and
verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
born from above, the new birth, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. He cannot know. He cannot understand
and believe. the issues of the kingdom of
God, the gospel of the kingdom. He has to be given eyes to see.
In that Matthew 13 passage where Christ told him, he said, seeing
they see not, hearing they hear not. He told his disciples, you
remember what he told them? He said, but blessed are your
eyes, for they see. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear. You've been born again. You know, if you see savingly,
with the eye of faith and hear savingly with the ear of faith.
You know what that means? That means you have been born
again by the Spirit. You know what that means? That
means you've been literally spiritually raised from the dead because
you didn't start out that way. I didn't start out that way.
We start out life, as the Bible says, dead in trespasses and
sins. Spiritually dead. And in order to see Just like
Isaiah saw, you have to be born again by the Spirit. How are
you born again? We'll turn back to John chapter
one, just a few pages. Verse 11, talking about Jesus
Christ coming into the world. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. Some say that's his own nation.
I believe it's talking about his elect, God's chosen people.
But verse 12 says, but as many as received him, to them gave
he power. Now that word power there does not mean ability,
it means a right. Do you say you're a child of
God? What right do you have to say that? Well, he says, as many
as received him, received Christ, believed in him, submitted to
him, plead his blood, his righteousness alone, to them gave he right,
privilege, to become literally called the sons of God. Even
to them that believe on his name, verse 13, which were born not
of blood. The new birth does not come by
physical heritage. If your parents are born again,
son or daughter, that is no guarantee that you're born again. It doesn't
come that way. Doesn't come through the physical
heritage. Your pedigree means nothing. That's really significant
here because the Jews thought that they were saved, that they
were righteous, that they were right with God because they were
physically descended from Abraham. But it doesn't come that way.
Life doesn't come that way. Nor the will of the flesh. That's
another way of saying the works of the flesh. Life, spiritual
life, does not come by you working hard to get it. You can't work
hard enough. He says, nor the will of man.
Somebody says, well, you choose to believe and then you're born
again. Oh no, that's not the way it works. You see, the new
birth does not come as a result of anything you do or anything
you want. In the new birth, you're given
a new will, a new desire, a desire for the things of God, a hunger
for the truth of God. Just like a baby that's born
is hungry for mother's milk. A person who's born again by
the Spirit is hungry for the milk of the Word. Remember Christ
said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
They'll be filled. How are they going to be filled?
The Spirit who births them again leads them to Christ. And if
it's a true spiritual hunger, Christ and his obedience unto
death is the only way that that hunger and thirst will be quenched
and filled. Nothing else will do it. Church going won't do
it. Baptism won't do it. Easter won't
do it. Nothing will do it except Christ
and him crucified and raised from the dead. That's his righteousness.
Look back at John 3. Look at verse 19. He says, this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. That's the natural man. Now understand
this now. That's not describing some low
class of society that wallow in immorality. They would be
included. That's describing all of us by
nature, light, Christ, the gospel, light has come into the world.
And men love darkness rather than light. Why is that? Look
at the next line in verse 19. Because their deeds are evil. Their deeds are their supposed
good works. Remember who he's talking to
now. Over in John 4, he talks to an immoral, adulterous woman. But in John 3, he's talking to
a high religious man, sincere and dedicated in his religion,
and he says, your deeds are evil. You see, the only thing that
will save a sinner is the grace of God that reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And he says in verse
20 of John 3, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved,
exposed, discovered. In other words, the light of
the gospel tells me that my efforts to save myself are evil. Not because they're
immoral. Not because I'm insincere. but
because they deny the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They deny his resurrection. They actually do. Even though
some people may say, well, I believe that Christ was raised from the
dead. Well, my friend, if you're seeking salvation based on your
works, you're actually denying the whole purpose of the resurrection. Verse 21 says, he that doeth
truth cometh to the light. He's being given eyes to see.
Doing truth is believing on Christ that his deeds may be manifest
that they are wrought in God. They're the work of God. Any of the deeds that God accepts,
they're the work of God through his people and they're cleansed
by the blood of Christ. Now go back to Isaiah six. He
says in the year that King Uzziah died, Why is that so significant? You know Uzziah, you can read
about it in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 26. King Uzziah, who was he? 2 Chronicles 26 1, listen. Then
all the people of Judah took Uzziah who was 16 years old. and made him king in the room
of his father Amazigh. He was made king of Judah, the
southern kingdom, when he was 16 years old. Most of us, when we're 16, don't
have sense enough to get in and out of the rain. This fellow
was made king of Judah. Verse two, he built Eloth and
restored it to Judah. After that, the king slept with
his fathers. That's Amaziah. It says verse
16, verse three, he was 16 years old, was Uzziah when he began
to reign. And he reigned 50 and two years
in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jechaliah
of Jerusalem. And look at verse 4 of 2 Chronicles
26. It says, He did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father
Amaziah did. You know, it's rarely that it's
said of any king of Israel or Judah that it's rarely said that
he did that which was right. There's just a few. remember
after Solomon the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms the
northern kingdom the southern kingdom had Israel in the north
ten tribes Judah in the south Judah and Benjamin two tribes
and the capital of the southern kingdom was Jerusalem the capital
of the northern kingdom was Samaria no king of the northern kingdom
was what we would call a good king. They were all idolaters.
They were all ingrates. It was never said of any king
in the northern kingdom that he did that which was right in
the eyes of the Lord. But in Judah you had a few, Uzziah
was one of them. Another one was Hezekiah. We've
gone through it. Very few of them, but there was
a few. It says he did that which was right in the eyes of the
Lord. Now think about this. Does that mean that he was a
perfect man? No. And we're gonna see that
in just a moment. Does that mean he kept the law
perfectly? No. In fact, the whole reason,
now think about this, the whole reason the Old Testament law
was given to Israel on Sinai was to show them, the main reason,
I won't say the whole reason, but I'll say the main reason
the law was given on Mount Sinai. Some of you may have watched
the Ten Commandments last night. I didn't watch it, I was watching
basketball. But the whole reason that that law was given by God
through Moses to the Hebrew children on Sinai was to show them that
they were sinners who could not keep it. Did you know that? Why was the law given? It was
given because of the transgression. Read it in Galatians 3. Moreover,
the law entered that sin might abound. Romans chapter 5. That's
why it was given. It was like a mirror that showed
them we're sinners and there's no hope of salvation for us in
our works. Now there were other reasons
it was given. But you know the Ten Commandments was not the
only thing given in that law. You know there were other things
given. I think some old theologian counted 640 some laws. I don't
know. I've never counted. I'm not going
to. But here's the thing. Another part of that law that
goes along with it and cannot be separated from it was called
the ceremonial law. And in that ceremonial law you
had the priesthood. Remember the priesthood of Israel?
They had a high priest. They had an altar. They had animal
sacrifices, shedding of blood. Didn't God say without the shedding
of blood there's no remission of sins, no forgiveness, no pardon? You know why that is? Because
the wages of sin is what? Death. That was established even
before the fall, wasn't that right? God said, Adam, in the
day ye eat thereof, you shall what? Surely die. Sin demands
death, for as sin hath reigned unto death. The reason we die,
the reason we get old, the reason we get sick, it's sin. So that
animal blood had to be shed. They had the tabernacle, all
of its pieces of furniture. made according to the pattern
that God gave Moses. And you remember the Holy of
Holies, the very inner chamber? It had the Ark of the Covenant,
the broken law inside, and it was covered with the mercy seat.
And one time a year on the Day of Atonement, the priest had
to go in and sprinkle the blood of a lamb over the mercy seat. And that's how the people were
ceremonially, nationally accepted. Can the blood of animals wash
away our sins? And the answer is no. Well, why
were those things given? They were pictures. They were
types. They were symbols of someone
and something far greater. They all pictured Christ crucified,
buried, and raised from the dead. as the surety and the substitute
of His people. You see, all the lambs that were
slain on Jewish altars for about 1500 years between Sinai and
the cross, all of those lambs were pointing forward to the
future of the Lamb of God who would come and die for the sins
of His people. The high priest, that's a picture
of Christ, our high priest who goes into the very holiest of
all, the presence of God. With his own blood, that is the
payment of the sins of his people, that's just to satisfy. So when
it says that a king Uzziah, that he did that which was right in
the eyes of the Lord, it means that he was a king who led the
people in the truth of that old covenant. Does that mean that
Uzziah himself was a sinner saved by grace? I don't know. The Bible
doesn't say. But there might be an indication
there that he really knew the gospel. He looked forward. See,
the Old Testament saints, they looked forward to the Messiah
who was promised to come and die, be buried, raised again
for their righteousness. That's what he did. But here's
what happened. Now this is what Isaiah said,
in the year that King Uzziah died, look over at verse 16 of
2 Chronicles 26. It says, but when he was strong,
the city was strong, the government was strong, he was strong, his
heart was lifted up to his destruction. You know what that is, don't
you? Pride. God hates a proud look, doesn't
he? He was lifted up with pride. You go out, now think about it.
You go out and you work hard. And let's say in your job, your
business, you're successful. Now you know that all of that,
if you're realistic, and especially if you're a believer now, you
know that all of that in your success is a total gift from
God. Did you know that? You say, well, I worked hard.
Well, who gave you the ability to work hard? Who gave you that
power? And let me ask you this. You ever known anybody to get
sick all of a sudden and go down? The Lord gives, the Lord takes
away. How many times have I told you, take your next breath. That's
a gift from God, friend. You didn't earn that and you
didn't deserve it. I didn't either. You realize that? Who determined that you would
be born here in Georgia, the United States, the land of the
free, the home of the brave, with all the opportunities that
you've had, with all the privileges, the good parents that you had,
who determined that? Rather than determining that
you'd be born an Ethiopian in a tent, hungry, starving, who
determined that? Did you have any choice in that
matter? Did you have any say? Did God come to you up in heaven
and you were like an angel, a baby with wings and say, now where
do you wanna be born? Who determined that? God did. Now Uzziah here,
a good king, strong. Who gave him that strength? But
what happens? He forgot about God. He was lifted
up with pride. And listen to what happened.
He says he was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed
against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense." Now what was wrong
with that? He had no right to do that. Only the priest, the
tribe of Levi, had right to go in and burn incense. You remember
in the tabernacle, in the temple, they had the The outer court,
that's where the altar of sacrifice was, the brazen altar. And then
you had another section called the holy place, and only the
priest of Levi could go in there. That's where you had the altar
of incense, the table of showbread, and the golden candlestick, and
the laver. And then inside that was the holiest of all. Only
the high priest could go in there one time a year. But no other
person from any other tribe could have had the right by the command
of God. But Uzziah was lifted up with
pride and he said, well, I can go in and burn incense myself.
He transgressed against the Lord. Now, why is that such a transgression? Because all of that in that temple
was a picture, a lesson, an object lesson of how God saves sinners. How God justifies the ungodly. And when it comes to God's way
of salvation and God's way of justifying the ungodly, there's
one way, it's God's way and you and me don't have anything to
do with it whether we're Uzziah or whoever. It's all of God. Verse 17 says, Uzziah the priest
went in after him and with him four scourge, what 80 priests
of the Lord that were valiant men. They withstood Uzziah the
king and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah. It doesn't
pertain to you to do this. This is not your job. You're
the king. You're from the tribe of Judah. This is only for the
priest. to burn incense to the Lord.
The incense, that represented the prayers, the intercession
of Christ. But to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that's Levi,
that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary,
get out of this place that's set apart for only the priest.
For thou has trespassed, you've gone too far, you've crossed
the line. Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord.
God's not going to honor you for this. You see, that's a picture. How is God going to honor a sinner? Only as that sinner is washed
in the blood and clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace. And that's something we don't
earn and don't deserve. Verse 19, Then Uzziah was angry. He was wroth. That means he was
angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense. That's
one of those bowls, you know. While he was angry with the priest,
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priest in
the house of the Lord from beside the incense. God struck him with
leprosy. You know what leprosy is a type
of in the scripture? Sin. Verse 20, has arrived the chief
priest and all the priests looked upon him and behold, he was leprous
in his forehead. Forehead represents the mind.
Not only did he have physical leprosy, he wasn't thinking right.
You see, when God saves a sinner and he sees the Lord, that's
the first time you ever begin to think right about a right
relationship with God. And it says in forehead, And
they thrust him out from thence, yea, himself hasted also to go
out, because the Lord had smitten him. And verse 21 says, And Uzziah
the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in
a several house. That's a separated house. He
had to be away from everybody. Being a leper, for he was cut
off from the house of the Lord, and Jotham his son was over the
king's house, judging the people of the land. That's what happened
to Uzziah. Go back to Isaiah 6. Listen to
what he says. In the year the king Uzziah died,
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. That's a vision of
Christ, the Lord of glory. High and lifted up, far above
us. His train filled the temple.
That's his glory. You see, that's what we're here
for today. We talk about the death, the burial, the resurrection
of Christ. What does that mean? That's his glory. We're here
to glorify Him. We're here to brag on Him. We're
here to boast in Him. It's all about Him. It's not
about us. And let me tell you something.
If it's all about Christ and His righteousness, it's good
for us. Isn't it? He says in verse 2, Above it
stood the seraphims. That's the angelic beings, the
attendants. Each one had six wings. With
two he covered his face. That's humility. I don't deserve
to be in the presence of God. I have done nothing to earn my
way into the presence of God. That's what that means. You hear
me now? I've been preaching this gospel
for over 30 years now. I still do not deserve and have
not earned my way into the presence of God. And I never will. With two, he covered his feet.
That's the walk. How do we approach God? Not in our own works, not in
our own way, in our own ideas and opinions. And with two, he
did fly. That has to do with a message,
going somewhere to deliver a message. Verse 3. One cried unto another
and said, Holy, holy, holy. This is God, you see. This is
God the Son incarnate. This is the Messiah revealing
the fullness of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. When you see the term
the Lord of hosts, that means the Lord of a great army. It
means the invincible God. He cannot be defeated. The whole earth is full of His
glory. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament His
handiwork, and certainly the temple. Verse 4, the post of
the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house
was filled with smoke. That smoke there has to do with
the glory of God that fills everything. You can't keep it out of anything.
You can deny it's there, you can refuse to see it, but it's
there. And look what happened. What happens when a sinner sees
the Lord? Verse 5, Then said I, Woe is me. Woe is an expression
of sorrow, condemnation. Oh, my friend, woe is me. Who can stand before the holiness
of God? The justice of God? I'm a sinner. Somebody said, well, you're not
as bad a sinner as some sinners. That doesn't matter. There's none righteous. No, not
one. Romans 3.10. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And to come short of the glory
of God is death. Condemnation. Woe is me! Isaiah says, for I'm undone,
I'm cut off. I don't have any right relationship
with God in myself. I'm cut off, I'm alienated. And
because I'm a man of unclean lips, the reason he says unclean
lips is because in the Bible, the lips, the words, the mouth
reveals the state of the heart. Out of the heart comes the issues
of life. The evils of life. In other words,
Isaiah is saying here, I'm cut off. I'm alienated from God. In myself, I have no justification
before God. I have no legal right. And in
myself, I'm a dead sinner. I need a change of heart. I need
life from the dead. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of uncleanness. I'm not alone in this. Listen.
Whenever I talk about you being sinners, I'm talking about me.
And whenever I'm talking about me, I'm talking about you. I mean, self-righteous people
today would say, man, what did Isaiah do to get like that? I
mean, you know, man, you're not like us. No, this is the state of all
of us by nature. Now where did that vision come
from? Look at it. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of hosts. And then look what happens. Verse 6. Then flew one
of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal, 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 has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity
is taken away, and thy sin purged. What is that altar? Well, that
altar, is the altar of sacrifice. The place of death where the
priest went in with the animal and killed the animal on the
brazen altar. Blood was shed and then the remains
were burned. The blood was taken by the high
priest and he went into the Holy of Holies and the remains were
burned. But look what's coming off this
altar of death. It's a live coal. Because out of this death comes
life. And that's what the resurrection
of Christ is all about. This is all a picture of Christ
and how God justifies the ungodly. It's through the death of a substitute,
a sacrifice, the Lamb of God who was made sin. That means
all the sins of God's chosen people were laid upon Him, imputed
to Him, accounted to Him, reckoned to Him. He became guilty. He was made a curse. All of our iniquity was laid
upon Him, the iniquity of His people. And He died. That means
He paid the debt. He satisfied justice. And because
He did that, He was raised from the dead. There's life in Christ. This is a live coal. And that seraphim brought that
and touched Isaiah's lips. Not only was Isaiah justified
based upon Christ's righteousness imputed to him, accounted to
him, reckoned to him, charged to him, but he was given life
from the Lord of glory, the resurrected Christ. In Romans chapter 8 and
verse 10 it says this, it says, this body is dead because of
sin, this physical body. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
is life because of righteousness. Who's? The Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what happens when
a sinner sees the Lord. He sees himself as undone, cut
off, no hope in myself. But when the Holy Spirit gives
him eyes to see, he sees Christ, the resurrected Christ, the risen
Lord of glory, by whose blood my sins are taken away. My sins are purged and I stand
before God in a righteousness that I had no part in producing,
that I made no contribution to. It's totally the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's His righteousness.