Well, I want you to come with
me to Isaiah and chapter six, and I've entitled this message,
Holy Ground. I couldn't think of a better
title for it. All scripture is profitable.
Second Timothy chapter three, verse 16 tells us that it's profitable
for doctrine and for reproof and for correction and for instruction
in righteousness, all of it, but some is deeply profound. And I feel very much, as the
line of literature says, that fools rush in where angels fear
to tread. Fools rush in. They jump in when
they have no knowledge, and they take on that which they have
no understanding of. And it's where even angels, sinless
angels, have fear to tread. I fear to rush in here. You know,
when Moses came near the burning bush, he saw the burning bush
in the desert. There it was, and it was burning
and it wasn't consumed, and as he came near he heard the voice
of God, take your shoes off your feet, for the place where you're
standing is holy ground. This is holy ground, this chapter
of Scripture particularly is holy ground. This is a revelation. of the being and of the purposes
of God. We're handling, we're dealing
with, we're daring to come near to God and to handle things that
are profound, deeply profound. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 2 gives
us a warning. Be not rash with thy mouth and
let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God. Oh, think about it. God is in
heaven and you are upon earth. Therefore let your words be few.
How often are our words far too many and far too inappropriate? How often? Around us there is
much mechanical religion. Religion of do this and turn
this handle and do the things that we've always done and everything
will come out of the sausage machine exactly as it always
has. Especially in that which calls itself evangelical. even
Reformed, even Orthodox. It all aims to reform the flesh. That's what it's aimed at. It's
a style of life, it's a set of rules and regulations to reform
the flesh, and getting it to conform, to conform to that which
we've always done. But do you know that in it, there
is very little true Holy Spirit regeneration? So much of it is
dead. People write to me, I communicate
with people, I talk to people, some who have been in and are
struggling with churches like this. They once had a name, as
the letters to the churches in Revelation say, you once had
a name, you had a name that you're alive, but the Spirit of God
says, you're dead. You're absolutely stone dead.
You're lukewarm. You make me sick, says the living
God. You make me sick. There is no life in you. There's
very little true Holy Spirit regeneration in them. Because
you see, head knowledge of biblical doctrine, as good and essential
as it is, head knowledge of biblical doctrine alone is not heart experience
of the life of God within the soul. When Jesus was speaking
to the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, and she perceives
that He is quite a profound religious man. He asks her for a drink.
Who is he, a Jew, asking a Samaritan for a drink? They didn't. They
didn't have anything to do with each other. And so she perceives that
there is something special about him. And she perceives that he's
a prophet, because he tells her all things that she's ever done.
She perceives that he's got spiritual knowledge that is way beyond
what the average person has got. And she says, you say that you
ought to worship in Jerusalem, and we say it's all right to
worship in this mountain, and this bit of mechanics, and that
bit of religious mechanics. And Jesus said to the Samaritan
woman, woman, I say to you, it doesn't make a scrap of difference.
The day comes when it doesn't make a scrap of difference. Those
who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. In spirit and in truth. The mechanics
of your religion and worship is irrelevant to the state of
your eternal soul. Rather, the key, what did he
say to her? Living water. Give me a drink.
If you'd known who it is who asks you, you would have asked
him. She would have asked Christ. Give me that living water, that
water which is welling up inside. What is that? It's the spirit
of God and the life of God welling up within. You see, Isaiah for
five chapters, and we've seen it so far, had correctly and
faithfully pronounced God's message. Now surely here is God's man.
Here is God's man who above all men in his day, when there was
such abject departure from the truth of the God of Scripture,
here is the one man who stands alone, head and shoulders above
the rest in terms of spiritual knowledge and experience and
ability to tell others the truth of God. But do you know something? He needed a sight of God. That's what he needed. He faithfully
pronounced God's message, God's truth, His judgments. Even doing
that, he needed a sight of God. And that's my first point, a
sight of God. You see, Isaiah was a remarkable
prophet. It's the longest prophecy in
the Scriptures, 66 chapters, matching the number of books
of the Bible. And it's more quoted in the New
Testament than any other book apart from the Psalms. The Psalms,
obviously, are the most quoted, but Isaiah is the next most quoted. He was a remarkable prophet. He lived for about 120 years,
we think, from about 800 years before Christ to about 700 years
before Christ. And he was the cousin of the
king. He was the cousin of Uzziah.
He was the cousin of Uzziah, King Uzziah, who, generally speaking,
was a very good king. He did lots that was very good,
which was right in the sight of the Lord. And he was the king
of Judah. And he was loved and revered
by Isaiah, his cousin. But at the end of his life, towards
the end of his life, He came short. In what respect? He was lifted up in his own eyes.
He became proud in his own estimation. He thought, look what good things
I've done. He went into the temple of God
thinking, I'm a king, I can do what I want. He went into the
temple of God and he took upon him the role that only was allowed
to the Levitical priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood. He took
it upon himself, and they said to him, you're seriously sinning
against God. Do you know why it was so wrong
for Uzziah to go into the temple and do those things which were
not permitted for him to do? because that was a picture of
Christ. Who can do the work of Christ?
Nobody other than Christ. Christ alone. Absolutely nobody
can do the work of Christ other than Christ alone. Nobody could
do that priest work of the Old Testament which was such a picture
of the work of Christ. Nobody could do it other than
those who were appointed by God because they pictured Christ
in that role, in that ministry. And he took it upon himself.
And they all came, all those priests came to him and said,
you have seriously sinned against God. You better stop doing this.
And while they looked at him, the leprosy came up in his flesh,
and his flesh was covered in leprosy. And he had to go away
like all lepers did. It didn't matter that he was
a king. He had to go away and he had to live in a leper house,
away separate from the rest of society. He was lost in the end. And then we read, In chapter
6 of Isaiah, verse 1, he died. In the year that king Uzziah
died, I also saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. A revered king,
revered by Isaiah, the king, his cousin, revered by Isaiah,
was dethroned for Isaiah. How that must have upset Isaiah. How he revered his cousin. How
he revered the king. He must have known how grievously
Uzziah had sinned against God in taking upon him that role
which was preserved to the priests. How it must have upset him, how
it must have challenged him, how it must have grieved him.
But he was dethroned. He was removed as king. He died
as king in the year that King Uzziah died, so that the king
the King of Kings, so that Isaiah could see the King of Kings on
his throne of the universe. In that same year, where was
he? Where was he? He was in the temple because
his train filled the temple, verse one. He was in the temple.
And what does the temple speak of? What's the relevance of the
temple? There isn't a temple in Jerusalem
now. As much as they would love the Orthodox Jews to rebuild
it, there isn't one there and there never will be. For God
had said he would take it away. And in AD 70, it was taken away,
never to be restored. It will never be restored, that
temple in Jerusalem. That's why there is no animal
sacrifice in the Jewish religion anymore. was brought to an end
in A.D. 70. Why was it brought to an
end in A.D. 70? Because God said by the prophet
Daniel that that number of weeks, that number of sevens of years
as it were, at that time he would bring an end to sacrifice for
his Messiah would come and be cut off from the land of the
living for the transgressions of his people was he stricken.
The temple was full of gospel pictures. The temple was full
of the presence of God, the Shekinah glory, the presence of the glory
of God on earth was there in the temple in Jerusalem. That's
where God had said, in this physical space-time realm, that's where
he had said he would manifest himself to his people. In that
temple, were all of the things which pertained to how should
a man be just with God. All of the things that pertained
to how can I, a sinner, be accepted by the living God. What about
my sin? The soul that sins, it shall
die. How is that dealt with? In the temple. In the temple,
in the gospel. Because in the temple were all
the symbols of the gospel, the symbols of the presence of God,
the symbols of the holiness of God, the symbols of the sacrifice
that God requires to pay the penalty for the sins of his people. The blood sacrifices. Animals,
yes, I know, animal sacrifices never took away sin, but they
pictured that which alone would take away sin and did take away
sin. the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
his shed blood, that Lamb of God, that Passover Lamb of God,
without blemish and without spot. He who knew no sin made sin for
his people that they might be made the righteousness of God
in him. That when God comes to judge
his people, Israel and Judah, which is what his people, the
Israel of God, the church of God is called, and he looks for
sin and he finds none. Why? For there is none. Why is
there none? For Christ has taken it away
and removed it as far as the east is from the west. And here's
an earthbound man. And here we are, earthbound,
and here's the veil of heaven drawn aside, and we get a glimpse
into heaven. And there is Isaiah. He's in
the temple, surrounded by all the gospel symbols of blood sacrifice,
of the Ark of the Covenant, of the presence of God, of the mercy
seat, of all of these symbols of how God is made right with
man. Man is made right with God, should
I say. There in the temple he sees the Lord, the Lord, Adonai,
Adonai, Adonai, that's the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
second person of the Trinity, sitting upon his throne. Here is the veil drawn aside
and he sees into heaven and he sees the Lord, the Lord. He sees God manifest. How can
this be? If you read Exodus 33 and verse
20, as you know, God said to Moses there, Moses said, show
me your glory, and God said to him, no man shall see me and
live. No man. No man. Is that just
an Old Testament thing? No. New Testament. Paul writes
to Timothy, 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verses 15 and 16. He speaks
of God as the blessed and only potentate. Potentate, one with
power. the only one truly with power,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is Paul writing in
the New Testament to Timothy, who only, God only has immortality. He's the only one who has life
in himself, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.
In such holiness, in such light, no man can come there, whom no
man hath seen nor can see. That's New Testament. We're not
just dealing with Old Testament harshness, strictness. This is the God of the Bible.
No man can see him and live. In the book of Judges, in chapter
13 and verse 22, there's a man called Manoah and his wife, and
they become the parents of Samson, and they plead to God for a child,
and God appears to them, and speaks to them, and tells them
they're going to have a son, and he's going to be Samson,
and he's going to lead the people out of their bondage to the Philistines.
And Manoah, when this had happened, and the angel of the Lord, the
presence of God, the God manifest to them, had gone up to heaven,
Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die, because we have seen
God. He knew what Moses had said.
God had told Moses, no man shall see me and live. And Manoah and
his wife knew for a fact they'd just seen a manifestation of
God. And Manoah said, we shall surely
die because we've seen God. No man shall see me and live.
Yet many times we read of people seeing God in the scriptures. Many times we read of people
seeing God and living. They lived. They saw God and
they lived. Abraham saw God and lived. Many others saw God and lived. Manoah and his wife saw God and
lived. Look at Exodus 24 with me. Just turn to Exodus and chapter
24 and verse nine. Exodus 24, verse nine. Then went
up, this is into the Mount of God, on Sinai, this is where they
went up and it says, Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70
of the elders of Israel. That's a lot of people, yeah? 74 of them, at least. 70 of the
elders of Israel. And look what it says next in
verse 10. And they saw the God of Israel. They saw the God of
Israel. And there was under his feet,
as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, as it were, the body of
heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not his hand. Also they saw God and did eat
and drink. These men, seventy-four men,
up on the mount of God, they saw God and did eat and drink. Man can't look upon God with
one caveat, and it's such a crucial caveat, outside of Christ. You cannot look upon God outside
of Christ and live. But in Christ, in Christ, ah,
in Christ, yes of course, No man, says John 1 verse 18, no
man has seen God at any time. That's true. The only begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, the Word who was in the
beginning, the Word who was with God, the Word who was God, the
same was with God in the beginning, the One without whom nothing
was made that was made, our Lord Jesus Christ, no man has seen
God at any time, but the only begotten Son, the Word of God,
He, has declared him. He has made him known. Turn with
me to John chapter 12. John's Gospel and chapter 12
and verse 38. This is speaking about our Lord
Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry and the constant clashes that
he had with the Pharisees who so opposed him. And it says in
verse 37, although he, Jesus, had done so many miracles before
him, yet they believed not on him. The things that they saw,
those men of those days, those Pharisees, the things that they
saw of eternal heavenly truth, as they saw the eternal Son of
God walk this earth, the promised Messiah walk this earth and do
the things that the scriptures had foretold of him. Many miracles,
yet they believed not on him. Oh, how terrible, how wicked.
is the heart of man. The heart of man is deceitful
above all things, says Jeremiah, and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? They believe not on him, that
the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the
arm of the Lord been revealed? That verse is in our chapter
of Isaiah chapter six. That verse that is quoted there
in John chapter 12, is down in verses 9 and 10. Make the ears of this people
fat that they don't understand, that they don't hear. He has
blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should
not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and I should heal them. Listen to this, verse 41 of John
12. These things, Isaiah chapter
6, these things, said Isaiah, when he saw his glory and spake
of him. Whose glory did Isaiah see? When
Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple high and lifted up in the year
that King Uzziah died, whose glory did he see in the temple?
Who is this Lord whose glory he saw in the temple? Does John
chapter 12 verse 41 not make it abundantly clear that the
one that was there filling that temple with his glory was our
Lord Jesus Christ? who humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He who walked
this earth, we beheld his glory, says John, we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Go to the end of Scripture, don't
turn there now, but in Revelation chapter 5, when John has been
summoned in chapter 4 up into heaven, and he's there in heaven,
And the scroll is brought forth, the scroll of the purposes of
God in the establishment of his kingdom, and it's a seven-sealed
scroll. And they're looking for somebody
to be fit, qualified, to open, to loose the seals, to implement
the plan of God for the foundation, for the accomplishment of his
kingdom. They're looking for somebody worthy. And the call
goes out to the whole of creation, the whole of the kingdom of Satan,
Who is worthy? Who is worthy? And none is worthy. There's silence. There's silence.
And he wept much, for none was found worthy. And an elder said
to him, Look, look at the throne. Look at the throne in the midst.
Look at the throne of God in the midst. And he looked, and
what did he see? He saw a lamb, as it had been
slain, in the midst of the throne. When John, even in glory, looked
at God on his throne, he saw a lamb. the Lamb of God. Our
Passover Lamb is sacrificed for us. Even today, Jews remember
the Passover. This is the weekend of the year
that they remember it. It's why our pagan festival of
Easter and I say that without, that wasn't a slip of the tongue
then, it's a religious pagan festival is Easter, that's why
we don't make a fuss of it as such, because religious folks
do. We celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ's death and resurrection
every time we worship. It's the basis of our lives,
it's our confidence as we walk through this life, it's our hope
of eternity. We don't make anything of Easter
because it's just a religious superstitious commercial nonsense.
But Our Passover lamb is sacrificed for us. And when John in heaven
looked at God, he saw a lamb in the midst of the throne. All
scripture speaks of him. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. He is the difference between dead mechanical religion
and accomplished salvation experienced. Do you experience it? You need
to experience it. Look unto me, he said, look unto
me, all ye ends of the earth and be ye safe, for I am God
and there is none other. Who's that? That's Christ speaking
to us. Look unto me, a just God and a saviour, always God, perfectly
holy, who will in no wise clear the guilty, yet in his Son he
has cleared the guilty, for he has punished their sin, and his
justice is maintained. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, look unto this, and be cured of your snakebites. That serpent in the wilderness,
Jesus said, as Moses lifted up that servant, so must the Son
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish,
but have everlasting life. Isaiah saw Him in the temple. He is the all in all. This is
the fundamental thing. I remember Don Fortner saying
that the most crucial moment of his ministry, there he is
a young pastor, he knew the truth, he knew the truth, but he went
to visit Henry Mahan and spend some time with him. And he talked
about all the things he was going to preach about and all the plans
he had and the wonderful things he was going to do. And this
is a young man, you know, Don will tell you that he's got the
face of a lion and various other non-complementary things, but
Don is less than a year older than me. Don is less than a year
older than me, but Henry Mahan is about the same age as my dad.
Henry Mahan's 91, is he? Something like that? He must
be. I think he's slightly younger than my dad. And Henry Mahan,
who was well experienced in the ministry, said to this young
Don Faulkner, when I suppose he was in his late 20s, something
like that, he said, Before you go, just look at this, and he
turned into Colossians 3, verse 11, where it says, Christ is
all and is in all. He said, that's it, that's the
key, that's it. And that's what Don learned,
and that's what all true preachers need to learn. It's Christ, Christ-centered
ministry, Christ. Anyway, verse two, above it stood
the seraphims, seraphims. Seraphims, angelic beings, each
one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Do
you know something I said at the start? Fools rush in where
angels fear to tread. Oh boy, do I fear to tread here.
This is, there's more here than at first meets the eye. Yes,
angelic beings who cry holy, holy, holy in the presence of
God. In Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse
1, Ezekiel saw visions of God. He saw a bright cloud in verse
5 of Ezekiel 1. He saw fire, and that's symbolical
of the being and the presence of God. He saw fire, and out
of that cloud and that fire came four living creatures. Four living
creatures with wings. And verse 13, burning coals. You know, burning coals, it's
the same word. Seraphim, burning ones. The seraphims,
the burning ones. In Revelation 4 verse 8, and
the four beasts. There it is again. Ezekiel, Revelation
4, the four beasts. Each of them had six wings. about
him. This is revelation. And they
were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night,
saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and
is, and is to come. Some say that these are God's
preachers declaring his truth, and no doubt there is some truth
in that, I'm sure of that. But is there also a hint of the
manifestation of God to his people? Who is that? Christ? Christ in
these seraphim? You know it talks about, in Revelation,
about the seven spirits of God. There are not literally seven
different spirits of God. It's talking there about the
perfect manifestation of the spirit of God to his people. Seven spirits. It's God perfectly
manifested. Are these, is there something
in these seraphim, these consuming, our God is a consuming fire,
these burning ones, communicating the being of God to man. Do you see, or do you feel, what
holy ground we're standing on here as we handle these things?
Is this something that's foreign to you? Have you heard the cry,
holy, holy, holy? Like Isaiah heard them cry, have
you seen something of the holiness of God? Have you seen all creation
full of the glory of God? Has he taught you, do you know
the most blessed thing that God can teach you? You know, the
most blessed thing that God can teach you, oh, he can teach me
this creed or that, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The most blessed
thing that God can teach a person is to fear him, truly to fear
him, truly. Initially to fear him as a judge
who must punish sin, but then to fear him knowing who he is,
to revere him, to come before him with reverence. Have you
seen that? Has the ground, as it shook for
Isaiah, the ground shaken under your feet at that realization? If it has, if you have experienced
that, you are blessed indeed. Blessed is that man. Now look,
here's the seraphim, and they're crying, holy, holy, holy, and
the posts of the door are moved, and the whole house is filled
with the presence and glory of God. But look then in verse five. Then said I, what's Isaiah's
reaction to this vision? What's the reaction of a sinner
to that sight by the Spirit's revelation of the true being
of God? Then said I, woe is me. I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. I don't happen to have a white
shirt on today, but I think I still have one up in the wardrobe somewhere.
But you look at it, and you think, wow, that's very white. And I
better be careful what I say. My wife, who's responsible for
the washing, is here, and she might think I'm criticizing.
But if you see fresh snow on a mountaintop in brilliant sunshine,
there is nothing whiter. It is unbelievably white. Now
you put your white shirt or your white blouse up against that,
and you'll see it for what it really is. You'll see it as a
contrast. And here we have a stark contrast.
There's the vision of God, and Isaiah sees himself. Here's Isaiah,
God's messenger even. Surely he's all right. Here's
Isaiah, oh isn't this a good place to be? Yes, no, woe is
me, I am undone. Woe is me. Here's Job. Here's Job. There was none like
Job. God said to Satan, there's none
like my servant Job. Look at him. Go and see if you
can deal with him. Have you come across him? Have
you thought about my servant Job? There's none quite like
him. He's constantly doing his religious service. He's upright.
There's none like him. And when we get to the end of
Job, And Job has seen the true God. He's had a vision of God.
Job has had Eli who preaches to him, and then the word of
God comes to him, and he sees God as he really is. And in Job
42, 5 and 6, he says, I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear. Oh yes, I've sat and listened
while people have preached. I've read things, but now mine
eye seeth thee. Have you? Have I? Yes, I can
read things. I can read loads. I can consume
volume after volume. But have I experienced it in
my heart? Have I known it in my heart?
When you do, this is what you say with Job, wherefore I abhor
myself. I despise myself. because I see
what I really am. I repent in dust and ashes. My eyes have seen the King, and
I now know that I am a sinner. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. That's what that hymn says. I
am undone. I've got nothing of my own, no
confidence in this flesh. There is nothing that I can lean
on. In the sight and the presence of the living God who has made
all things and upholds all things, I am undone. Me and everyone
round me, I am unclean. I am fit only for hell. This
is my judgment on myself. Having seen the King, I condemn
myself to my just desserts, which is hell. Separation from this
holy God, as Peter said when he met the Lord Jesus Christ.
Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. What must I do? Was that not the cry of the Philippian
jailer who had that realization by Holy Spirit revelation when
the prison gates were flung open by that miracle and Paul and
Silas were there and he was fearing for his life and fearing for
eternity? What must I do? How can I be
just with God? I know I'm a sinner. Woe is me,
I am undone. This is what mechanical orthodox
religion can never do. Only the revelation of true God
in Christ can show me where I am. Reformation is not regeneration. Regeneration is what we need.
Holy Spirit regeneration. To strip me of fleshly confidence.
To vindicate God's judgment. To grant me repentance. Do you
know even repentance is not something you do? It's a gift of God. God
has to the Gentiles granted repentance. to call me to Christ, to cause
me to hear that call, to quicken me, make me alive with faith,
you who are dead in trespasses and sins, to demolish all my
fleshly pride, my creature pride, my creature confidence, to utterly
squash it, to strip me naked before the piercing gaze of God.
But how quickly, how quickly, comes the answer of grace. When
the Philippian jailer cried out, what must I do to be saved? Paul
didn't argue all sorts of theological terms to him. The answer came
straight away. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, thou shalt be saved. You and anybody else in your
house, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's
it. And here, the answer comes quickly. Verse six. Then flew
one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand,
which he had taken with tongs from off the altar, and he laid
it on my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and
thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." Here we
have an altar, an altar. He was in the temple, it was
literally the altar there. and no doubt there'd be the burning
coals either physically or symbolically or in a vision there before him. And there was the place of sacrifice,
the altar. The, you know, people have sentimental
ideas, you know, there's the old song about marriage, lead
me to the altar, Walter, Walter, lead me to the altar. You know,
that's sentimental nonsense. An altar is not a nice, sweet,
cosy place. It's a place of violence, it's
a place of death, it's a place of the shedding of blood. But
do you know it is a place of peace if you know that you're
under the good, the benefit of that. One of the psalms, I forget
which one it is, talks about the little birds finding a place
to nest. And where is it? Even the altar,
even on the place of the anger of God poured out on sin, there
is peace. And is that not what the sinner
finds? That there, in that place of the utmost violence and anger
and wrath and the shedding of blood and the pouring out of
life to satisfy offended justice, to pay the sin debt, there is
peace with God. And so Paul writes in Hebrews
13.10, we have an altar. There was an altar there in the
Old Testament which was the picture. We have an altar, not a physical
one, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Those that continue to try to do the Jewish thing as they did
when Hebrews was being written, we have an altar which is Christ.
Christ and his cross. It is finished. We don't make
an idol out of the wooden cross at all, but The fact of Christ dying on the
cross and shedding his blood to pay the penalty for sin, that
is our altar, for it is where our sin is put away. It is where
God's anger is turned away, propitiated. It's where he cried out. it is
finished. Why did he cry out, it is finished?
Because the debt for the sins of his people had been paid to
the full, so that God would be just and justify. And if you
look at Revelation 16 verse 17, it's talking about the judgment
of God on the sin of mankind of this creation of devils and
everything in general and there at the end of Revelation 16 we
have the end of all things effectively there's more chapters to come
but effectively that's that's the end it's the battle of Armageddon
it's the end and at Revelation 16 17 it says it is done what
is done the judgment of God is done the the exaction of the
The penalty for sin is done. It's pronounced, it's set in
train, it is done. It's the same as Christ said
on the cross, it is finished. Either in Christ at Calvary,
or on the sinner in hell, the justice of God must be exacted. How many think that because of
some religious formula they've gone through, they're in the
favour and service of God, but they have never seen his glory,
they've never sensed his holiness, They've been brought by grace
to bow and plead for mercy, have they? I don't think so. Have
they rejoiced at being in that position to hear the declaration
of Christ, it is finished? Have they known what Isaiah saw
here, the coal touching it, the coal of purging, the coal of
burning, the coal of taking away. This has touched your lips, your
sin. What? The fact of Christ dying for
your sins. You see, The Scriptures warn,
Christ himself warn, many will say in the day of judgment, Lord,
Lord, didn't we do this in your name, in the name of religion?
Didn't we do that? And he will say to them, he will say to them,
oh, let us listen to this. He will say to them, depart from
me, I never knew you. Well, time has just about gone,
but I'll quickly finish this. We don't have the children here
this morning. I know some of you have got children
sitting out there, but I'll just finish this off quickly. Because
you see, he's commissioned to go and speak. And in this context,
it was the generation when God was bringing down his judgment
on Judah. these people and they were going to be taken away in
captivity and he has to go and speak the message of God to this
stubbornly unbelieving people and he's commissioned to go and
there's a point here is preachers and the preacher commissioned
I'll be very brief this verse 8 is used soft and I used to
hear it in Arminian days you know when we'd have a missionary
society representative come along, Sudan United Mission or somebody,
and they would always come to this verse, because what they
were calling for was recruits, and they would whip up some emotion,
and they would show how bad things were, and how desperate was the
need, and then they would say, Who shall I send and who will
go for us? And somebody probably utterly ill-equipped, who couldn't
preach the gospel, who had no idea of things, but just because
of an emotional high said, here am I, send me. Oh, send him off
to some missionary school and train him up to be a helper in
the hospital. And that's not mission, that's
got nothing to do with biblical mission. No, this is the commissioning
of preachers. Yes, the calling of Isaiah. Commissioned,
equipped, burdened to preach God's message to that generation.
Preachers today, it's the commissioning. God calls. People might ask me,
why don't you enjoy your retirement? And yes, I like to enjoy my retirement. I don't have to go to secular
work. But why do I do this? Why don't I have a rest? Because
I can't help it. I can't not do it. I have to
do it as the opportunity presents itself. God calls his preachers. and he commissions them to preach
the truth of his message. But is there not also, Robert
Hawker suggested this, is this not also the commissioning of
Christ to come as the messenger of the covenant, Christ for the
work of redemption? God said at creation Let us make
man the trinity, the triunity of God. Let us go down at the
tower of Babel. Who shall go for us here? Jesus says, here am I. Send me
a body prepared. He comes, a body prepared. Behold my servant, Isaiah 42,
behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth,
I've put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles, and so on. You could read those verses there,
the first eight verses of chapter 42. Commissioned to go and tell
this people, but go and tell them what? Now I'm just going
to finish with this. To declare or to offer? To declare? Look at verses 9
to the end. He said, Go and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not, And see ye indeed, but perceive
not. Make the heart of this people
fat, And make their ears heavy, And shut their eyes, Lest they
see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert and be healed.' And then said
I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities
be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without a man,
and the land be desolate, and the Lord have removed men far
away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But
yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be
eaten, as the teal tree, and as an oak, whose substance is
in them when they cast their leaves. So the holy seed shall
be the substance thereof. That's a funny message to be
commissioned to go and preach, isn't it? Can you imagine a modern
Bible school training its preachers to go out and preach a message
which is, hear what I say but don't understand it. See the
things I'm telling you but be blind to them. No, shut your
ears and shut your heart. I don't want you to be converted
and I don't want you to be healed. Isn't that a strange thing? God
says you know. that people who are stubbornly
unbelieving, 2 Thessalonians 2.11, people who are stubbornly
unbelieving, he will send, these are the words, a strong delusion. He'll send a strong delusion
on this unbelieving world. These verses of Isaiah 9, 10,
and 11, they're quoted six times in the New Testament, in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. They're the reason their disciples
asked Christ, why do you preach in parables? And he used these
words. So that what the saying of Isaiah says is true, that
hearing these stubbornly unbelieving people, they won't understand.
So that they'll be confirmed in their willful, stubborn unbelief. Now, religious folk hate this. Even so-called Calvinists, whose
doctrine is really Arminian, they hate this. The truth of
God's grace is a declaration to all without distinction, without
distinction of age, race, background, whatever. The truth of God's
grace is a declaration to all without distinction. But that
general call that goes out, that general declaration that goes
out, is used by the Holy Spirit to effectually call the elect
of God. who were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world, a multitude which no man can
number, of every tribe and kindred. It is not an offer to all without
exception. It isn't. It isn't at all an
offer to all without exception. But praise God, that in the general
unbelief, verse 13, there is a remnant. There shall be a tenth
in it. It'll be like what looks like
a dead tree, a teal tree or an oak tree when they cast their
leaves, when they've got no leaves on and they look dead, but there's
life in it. This time of year I go around
the garden and I'm looking at things that look dead. You know
what I do? I just scratch the bark and if it's green underneath,
I know it's alive. There's blessing in it. What
he's saying is that despite the general appearance of unbelief,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. What
does it say in the Acts of the Apostles when the message of
truth went to the Gentiles? Paul and Silas, they're in...
Paul and Barnabas, sorry, they're in Cyprus and around that area,
and the Jews don't want to hear the truth, so he says, I'm going
to the Gentiles, and they preached, and the Gentiles received it
gladly, and it says in Acts 13.48, Those that were ordained to eternal
life believed. That's it. Paul preached to all
that would listen. But those that were ordained
to eternal life, by the sovereign grace of God, believed. It doesn't
limit God's purposes. It guarantees the fulfillment
of God's purposes. Destroy it not, for there is
a blessing in it, says Isaiah 65 verse 8. So what about you? What about us? Beware of complacency
with these things. This is holy ground. Seek the
Lord while he may be found, he says. Seek and ye shall find. Finding, finding, rejoice in
grace. Rejoice in the assurance of the
grace of God. Rejoice in Christ Jesus.