I wonder, have you seen the Lord? Have you seen him? That's the
question I hope you will consider today. Salvation comes by seeing
Christ, not by seeing him with these eyes. That wouldn't do
any good. Lots of folks saw him with physical eyes and never
saw him. Lots of folks touched him with their hands who never
touched him. Seeing him physically won't do you any good, but it
is seeing him by divine revelation with the eyes of your soul, seeing
him in your heart, seeing him spiritually, seeing him by faith
that I'm talking about. Salvation comes to sinners when
God the Holy Spirit reveals Christ not just to us, but in us. Paul said, would it please God
to reveal his son in me? Now when Christ is revealed in
you, you know him. You know who he is. You know
what he's done. Christ is revealed in us. The God of our fathers, Ananias
told Paul, or told Saul of Tarsus, the God of our fathers hath chosen
thee that thou shouldest see that just one. See. See. Our Lord told Nicodemus,
except you be born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. In order to be saved, you've
got to see somebody. You've got to see God in the
person of his dear son. Christ must be revealed in you,
God revealed in you, the glory of God revealed to you and in
you, in the person and work of his dear son. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 for just a second. 2 Corinthians 4. You remember
in Zechariah, the Lord God speaks of how in the day of his grace
he will pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. And as a result
of him pouring out his spirit upon his people, he says, they
shall see me, they shall look on me whom they have pierced,
and shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son. Now
here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the apostle Paul, writing
again by divine inspiration, tells us what this experience
of salvation and grace is. For God, verse 6, for God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, God, on that
day when he began creation, said in this world of darkness and
chaos, let there be light, and light began to shine. So God
comes to the sinner dead in sin. whose heart was darkened in depravity
and corruption. And when God speaks by his word,
by his spirit, and says let there be light, light shines in your
soul. Listen now, God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's what the revelation of
Christ is. It is the revelation of the glory of God. You remember
how Moses prayed, I beseech thee, show me thy glory, show me thy
glory. Lord, show me who you really
are. That's what salvation is. It's
not a little decision folks talk you into. It's not choosing to
do something. It's not walking down an aisle
saying a prayer. Salvation is the revelation of
the glory of God Almighty. And there's only one place where
you see Him, in Jesus Christ, in the face of Jesus Christ,
dear son. I'm telling you, nobody has ever
been saved who hasn't seen the glory of God in the face of Christ. Nobody. Nobody. What on earth
are you talking about, preacher? I'm glad you asked. This is it. Moses said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Show me your glory. And God said,
all right, Moses, I'll show you my glory. And he put him in the
cleft of the rock. And he said, I'm going to pass
by you and you can look on my hind departs. Nobody's going
to look on my face and live. And he declared himself to be
glorious, saying, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin, and will by no means clear
the guilty. Now there's the revelation of
God's glory. It is the declaration that he
is gracious, the declaration that he is sovereignly gracious
to whom he will, and the declaration that he does it on the grounds
of justice. You see that clearly? He said, I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. Thank God he is merciful. But
his mercy is not in your hands. It's in his hands. His mercy
is not something you get from him by what you do. It's something
he gives to whom he will. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And then he declares forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and sin. Thank God he forgives sin. But I will by no means clear
the guilt out. I'm not going to put this thing under the rug.
In order for a guilty sinner to be saved, he's got to be made
not guilty. In order for a sinner to be saved,
he's got to be made unsinful. He's got to be made perfectly
holy, perfectly righteous. And that can only be done by
the sacrifice of God's darling Son in our place as our substitute,
Jesus Christ the Lord. And the glory of God is seen
in the face of Jesus Christ the substitute. Have you seen that?
Have you seen him? I'll tell you this, if ever the
Lord makes himself known to a sinner, he will cause the sinner to wither
before his august majesty and glory. When he makes himself
known to men, men know themselves and therefore tremble before
him. I don't know how to express what I want to say, and I don't
know how to make you hear But men who know nothing of the
character of God know nothing of the fear of God. And that's
the reason that Look-Upon-God was such casual, buddy-buddy
acquaintance of theirs. Look-Upon-God is something sort
of like they are. They come to the house of God
and give no regard to Him. They sing His praise and give
no regard to Him. They read His Word and give no
regard to Him. Speak His name in prayer and
give no regard to Him. Listen to what the book says,
My heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget
to eat my bread. Because of God's indignation
and God's wrath, for you have lifted me up and cast me down,
my days are like a shatter that declines and I'm withered like
grass. The prophet Habakkuk made this
statement, he said, Thou wittest forth for the salvation of thy
people. He said God came in the chariot
of salvation. You went forth for the salvation
of your people, even for the salvation of your anointed. Thou
woundest the head of the house of the wicked by discovering
the foundation to the neck. When I heard my belly come forth,
oh wait a minute, God's going forth for salvation? But in order
for God to save sinners, God must judge sin. And judge sin
in a more terrible way than we've ever seen God judge sin in the
floods of Noah's day, in the fire and brimstone on Sodom and
Gomorrah, in the destruction of Jerusalem. God judges sin
by punishing his own darling son when he was made to be sin.
If ever you see God's wrath, you'll tremble before him. If
ever you see the terror of God's justice, you'll tremble before
him. Habakkuk said, when I heard my belly tremble, my lips quivered
at the voice of rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled
in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. You'll
never rest before God. Larry Crest, no man will ever
rest before God until he's trembled before him. It won't happen.
No man will ever find rest until God's disturbed his soul, until
God's taken away your peace When he comes up unto the people,
he will invade them with troops. This is not just a few occasions.
We say this, God made himself known to Moses, and Moses hid
his face. He said, I can't look on God.
The Lord came to Job. Job said, I've heard of you with
the hearing of the ear, but now might I see a thing. Wherefore,
I abhorred myself. I repent and sat close in action.
He said, God, I've got nothing more to say. I've got nothing
more to say." Jeremiah said, I can't speak. I can't speak. David saw God's goodness and
grace and he said, Oh God, who am I? That you should look upon
one like me and favor me as you favored me. John said, I fell
at his feet as one When Ezekiel saw God's greatness and glory
and majesty, he said, I fell on my face before him. Salvation
doesn't come by decision, but by revelation. Salvation doesn't
come by coming to believe a creed, but by seeing a person. Salvation
doesn't come by coming to see election or particular redemption.
Salvation comes by seeing Christ, who is God's salvation. Salvation
is beholding What does he say? Moses lifts up the serpent, and
everybody that sees him will believe him. Everybody that looks
to him will believe him. That's exactly what he says in
John chapter 3. He says, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth on him, same thing. It's seeing
him. Seeing him. Salvation began by
looking to Him, look unto Me, and be you saved all the ends
of the earth. Salvation is that race which we run continually
looking to Him, and when it's done, we shall see it here. Salvation
is seeing Christ. Now, let me see if I can show
you this plainly. Turn to Isaiah chapter 6, and
I want to go through these verses we had in our Scripture reading
yesterday, and I pray that God will calls us to see him whom
Isaiah saw. The wise man said, where there
is no vision, the people perish. Without the revelation, without
the vision of Christ in your heart, you can't live before
God, had you seen him. Now this passage begins in a
remarkable way. Isaiah begins by telling us in
the year that King Uzziah died. Now here We have before us a
picture that certainly has application in many, many ways. It is a picture
of every sinner's conversion, no question about that. It is
a picture of every believer's inspiration and motive for life. Sometimes people wonder why I
don't berate and beat folks over the head and try to get them
to give or do or come or witness or join up or sign up or something. Why don't you do that? Because
if ever a man sees Christ in his glory, that will inspire
him and motivate him. And if he doesn't see Christ
in his glory, nothing I say or do can help him. I might get
him to act a little better, but I can't change his heart. If
ever you see Christ, you'll want to see him. If ever you hear
him, you'll want to hear him. If ever you worship him, you'll
want to worship him. Here is an inspiration and a motive for
every believer. Here is the picture of what we
call revival. When God comes and visits his
people, he makes a fresh revelation of himself to his people. And
certainly this is the making of every preacher. Now there
are five things in this text I want us to see. We'll look
at it line by line. First, the destruction of an idol. Now listen
to me. When God comes to save a sinner,
He's going to destroy his idols. He's going to destroy every rival. Every rival. That's what an idol
is. It's a rival to God. An idol is not just a statue
of Mary, that's an idol. An idol is not just a statue
of Buddha, that's an idol. An idol is not just a figment,
an imaginary picture of God, some figment of man's imagination
about God. No, no. An idol is that, but
it's much more. An idol is anything, anybody
that rivals God in your heart. And our Lord says, you come after
me, and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, your own life.
You can't be my disciple." That's what it said. All right, look
here. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the
temple. This man Uzziah was one of the most remarkable kings
in all of Israel's history. He reigned in Jerusalem for 52
years. And he began reigning when he was just a 16-year-old
boy. He was a remarkable man. This 16-year-old boy walked in
the fear of God. He reestablished the worship
of God like it had never been before, until he was lifted up
with pride. And then this man Uzziah dared
do something no man can do. He dared to walk into the presence
of God Almighty without a substitute, without a sacrifice, And without
a priest, he thought he was somebody. He
thought he was somebody. And the priest was stood him
and Uzziah got angry. He had the incense in his hand
going into the holy place. And the priest said, man, you
got no business here. Get out! And the king was angry. And while he stood there in the
holy place, holding incense in his hand, he broke out in leprosy
and God killed him. God killed him. Now you hear
me and hear me, hear me well. You cannot approach God on your
own. You can't come to God any way
you will. You can't worship God any way
you please. If you come to God, you must
come to God through the blood atonement of God's son, the sacrifice
God appointed. You must come at God's altar
by God's priest and you can't come any way except by Christ.
I am the way. There is no other way. Well,
this man Uzziah was a man that Isaiah loved. He was not only
Isaiah's king, he was his cousin too. And he loved him. He adored
him. But Uzziah died under the judgment
of God. And Isaiah knew it. Now what
are you going to do Isaiah? What are you going to do? People say, well I just, if what
you're saying is so, My mama, my daddy, my brother's not safe.
My son's in hell. What you saying, son? Well, what
you gonna do? What you gonna do? Oh my God! I won't have that. I won't have
that. Isaiah said, in the year that
my idol died, I saw God. Now bow down and give thanks
to God. No matter what idol he destroys,
it makes you sin. No matter what idol it is. I'll hold my wife above God,
you'll go to hell if you do. I'll hold my husband above God,
you'll go to hell if you do. I'll hold my daddy above anybody,
you'll go to hell if you do. That's just fact. That's just
fact. Isaiah was devastated when Uzziah
died, but this was the gracious hand of God. God destroyed the
king so that Isaiah might see him who is the king of all kings. God took away his earthly comfort,
strength, and health so that Isaiah might know him and find
comfort, strength, and health in him. All right, now then,
look at this opening verses again. Here's the revelation of God's
grace. I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet.
With two he flew. And one cried to another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried. and the house was filled with
smoke. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. Wonder what Isaiah saw. Wonder what he saw. You don't
have to wonder what he saw. If you want to turn at your leisure
and read John chapter 12, verse 42, the son of God says, he saw
me. He didn't say, he didn't just say he saw me, he said Isaiah
saw my glory. He saw Jesus Christ sitting upon
the throne as a result of his finished work of obedience, as
our sacrifice and our substitute, by whom alone we have access
to God, by whom alone sin has been put away, by whom alone
sinners can come to God. I saw him sitting on his throne. What a picture. Sitting. Sitting there because he had
nothing else to do. Sitting because he finished his work. sitting
on the throne, because he'd been highly exalted with the Father's
right hand, to be seated on the right hand of the majesty on
high, where he's finished his work, which the Father sent him
to do. I saw him sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up,
and his train filled the temple. I don't know that I know everything
that means, but I know something about what it means. His train
filled the temple. That means, Bobby, in the house
of God, Christ is all. Christ is all. He's all our hope,
all our righteousness, all our wisdom, all our redemption, all
our sanctification, all our peace. He's all. He's all in our access
to God. He's all in our communication
with God. He's all in our knowledge of
God. He's all in the way of working with God in this world. Christ
is all. Verse 2. Scripture speaks here
of these seraphim. The word means burner. These
seraphim are only mentioned here by name, but these are the same
creatures of whom we read in Revelation chapter 4, whom John
saw. This is the very same thing that
John saw in the fourth chapter of Revelation. The very same
throne, the very same God, the very same living creatures, the
very same seraphim. These burners are God's messengers. These four beasts that John describes
in Revelation, or these four living creatures, are the same
ones that Isaiah sees here. They are gospel preachers. They
are those men sent of God to preach the gospel of his grace.
Now, I know that for these reasons. Number one, John tells us in
Revelation chapter five that these men were redeemed. Angels
have never been redeemed. These are not spirit beings spoken
of here. They were emblems and only emblems. You remember when
the mercy seat was built, God required Moses to have that mercy
seat built and Over top of the alchemist covenant, the mercy
seat would be laid with seraphim on each end. Now, seraphim on
each end, rather. Each one looking down on the
mercy seat. Facing one another, looking down
on the mercy seat. With their wings covering themselves,
looking down on the mercy seat. That's what Isaiah says. And
these men, these cherubs, and these cherubs represent symbolically
God's messengers. They are men who look continually
on the sacrifice. Their hearts and their minds
are focused on the sacrifice. They're men who bow before God
with humility and with shame, and they recognize their uncleanness.
And yet they are messengers sent of God with the message of his
grace, which is portrayed in the blood. God's servants. Now listen to this. God's servants
have their eyes fixed on the sacrifice. And when one of them
flies, he speaks about the sacrifice. And when one of them is said
of God, he has a message about the sacrifice, the sacrifice.
These living creatures, John describes them as being four,
because God's servants are sent into the four corners of the
earth to preach the gospel. They've been made alive by the
power of God's grace. They stand before God and his
people, not as priests, but as ambassadors, as messengers. And
these living creatures are sent of God. They're engaged constantly in
their work, looking upon the sacrifice. Notice what they cry,
holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was
and is and is to come. Isaiah 6.3, one cried to another
and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole
earth is full of his glory. Now here's what they cover. God
is holy. Mark, the first message of preaching,
the first message of evangelism, the first message of every faithful
preacher is the declaration, behold your God. First message. What shall I cry? Behold your
God. Behold your God. The preacher's
business is make men know who God is. First thing we understand
about God is he's holy. Holy. God Almighty is holy. He's the thrice holy God. He's
the triune God, who not only is holy, but demands holiness
from all who approach him. And this God, who is holy and
demands holiness, makes out holiness for his people in the sacrifice
of his Son. He's the Lord of hosts. The word
would normally be translated sabio. He is the Lord of everybody. He's the master, he's the king,
he's the boss, he's the God over everybody. And the whole earth
is full of his glory. The gospel of God's free grace
is preached everywhere. And everything in this world,
everything that is, has been, or shall be, will ultimately
show forth the glory of our God. And then the scripture says here
in verse six, or verse four rather, the post of the door moved at
the voice of him that cried. And I've studied this for years,
I still don't know for certain what it means. Perhaps this refers
to the earthquake that took place when Uzziah attempted to offer
his incense before the Lord. Prophetically, this certainly
would apply to the shaking of those things in the temple service
and we'll worship at the death of Christ and through the preaching
of the gospel by which God destroyed the old carnal element of Jewish
religion? Spiritually, certainly it speaks
of the consciences of men being shaken as the word of God is
declared when the gospel is preached, by which they cry out, what shall
we do? What shall we do? And the house
was filled with smoke. Perhaps this refers to the destruction
of the temple at Jerusalem because of God's burning anger. It may
refer to the judicial blindness God sent upon the Jews, which
is later described here in this chapter. I rather think that
it speaks of God's manifest presence in his church as the preaching
of the gospel goes forth. The Lord Jesus said, where two
or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I'm sure there's an illusion here. to the cloud of incense
that covered the mercy seat on the day of atonement. The whole
thing has to do with this sacrifice represented in that mercy seat,
in that paschal lamb on the day of atonement, the sacrifice of
Christ Jesus, and the cloud that covers the whole thing, speaking
of the mystery and wonder of it. Now then, look at verse 5. Here's the confession of a sinner. When I saw him, when I heard
his messages, when I saw and heard, then said I, woe is me. Woe is me. What a change. What a change. For five chapters,
Isaiah's been shaking his finger and looking down his nose at
everybody around him and said, woe is you. Woe is you. Now, there he sees God and his
tone changes. His whole world is changed. I'm undone. I'm undone. And I'm in a pickle because everybody
around me is in the same shape I've been. I'm a man of unclean
lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
Nobody down here can help me. Nobody here can change me. Nobody
here can make me stand before this Holy Lord God. Woe is me. I'm undone. Now then, look at
verse 6 and see the cleansing of the gospel. Then flew one
of the seraphims unto me. Gospel preacher came with a live
coal in his hand. He came with the message of free
grace, redemption accomplished. just dissatisfied, sin forgiven,
and he preached it. And when he did, God sprinkled
my heart, he laid it right on my lips, and said, Lo, Lo, this
hath touched thy lips, thine iniquity is taken away, thy sin
is purged. Will you make sinners hear the
voice of your Son? It's finished. Iniquity's gone! Sin is purged! I've done it. I've done it. You
see, I can't take that live coal and lay it on your lips. I can't
make you hear that your sin is gone and your iniquity's purged.
I can't make you hear the Word of Grace. But as I preach, I
pray that God Almighty will take the lion's cove off the altar
of God and apply the gospel effectually to your heart so that you may
be here, that Christ has put away your sin, that he's accomplished
redemption for you. That's what gospel preaching
is all about. All right, one more thing, very quickly. We
see the commission of God's prophet. In verse eight, we see that God's
servants are all volunteers. I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said
I, here I am, send me, send me. In verse nine, he said, all right,
go, go. See, the people tell me all the
time, I hear preachers talk this foolishness, they say, well,
you know, the Lord called me to preach, I've been rebelling
against him and Lord called me to preach 20 years ago, Lord
called me to preach 5 days ago, Lord called me to preach 50 years
ago, all the time. And I've been resisting his will.
So lonely. Just ain't so. Just ain't so. If God Almighty calls David Burge
to preach the gospel, he makes him willing to do it. So Moses
wasn't willing. He wasn't willing, he just recognized
he wasn't sufficient. Jeremiah wasn't willing, oh yes
he was, he just recognized he couldn't talk. Well, those fellows
were humbled by the realization of what God had called them to
do, but they were delighted that God would allow them. Unto me
who am less than the least of all faiths is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. But volunteering to go and being
sent is two different things. I can't imagine, I honestly cannot
imagine, any man being born of God, having experienced God's
grace, man, I ain't never gonna be put you out. I can't imagine
that happening. I can't imagine any man who's
experienced God's grace saying no to God about anything. Can
you? Just, no, no, Lord, you can have this, that, and other
things, but I'm not gonna do that. Oh, no. No, no. But I recognize that
you better not go unless God sends you. You better not go unless God
says you do. If you do, you'll go with nothing to tell. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Man believes the gospel, doesn't mean he can preach
it. Just because man understands the gospel, doesn't mean he can
preach it. He's got nothing to tell. He's got no burden in his
soul, no fire in his bones. He's not been sent. And therefore,
he has no ability to preach the gospel of God's grace. And those
who are sent of God, to some, they're a saver of life unto
life, and others, of death unto death. To some, God says, you
go preach to them until they make their hearts fat, their
ears deaf, and their eyes blind. To others, he says, you go and
preach to them, and they shall, there shall be a tent fire, and it shall return, and shall
be eaten as a teal tree and an oak, whose substance is in them
when they cast their leaves. So the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof. Blessed be God, there is a remnant,
according to the election of grace, God's holy seed, and they
shall hear his They shall see his son, and they shall come
to him by the power of his grace. Have you seen him? Oh, may God
make you to see him this day, for Christ's sake. Amen.