Hi, Donnie and Shirley. I told
them I'd do that. Hi, Donnie and Shirley. They're having to cancel their
services because of COVID this Sunday and next Wednesday. And
the conference there has been canceled because of that. And
so I know a lot of you are planning on going, so next time. We're having Vacation Bible School
this week. I'm very excited about it. It begins Tuesday and goes
through Thursday. I have the high school kids. David has the middle school kids.
And Sherry and Rachel have the grade school kids. Tonight, I'm going to be speaking
on Jacob's Ladder. Isaiah's vision of Christ. Now
would you turn with me to Acts chapter 28. Paul quotes this passage I just
read out of Isaiah chapter 6, beginning in verse 24. And some believed the things
which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among
themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word. Well spake the Holy Ghost by
Isaiah the prophet unto our father saying, go unto this people and
say, hearing you shall hear and shall not understand. And seeing,
you shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes have they closed. Lest they should see with their
eyes, and should hear with their ears and understand with their
heart and should be converted and I should heal them. Be it
known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it. And when he said those words,
the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. Now, this was Paul's response
to some believed and some believed not. Here's how he responded
to this. You see, Paul loved the Christ
he preached. He loved the gospel he preached.
He believed the gospel he preached. And there is a measure of righteous
indignation toward their response. He preached the most glorious
message that could ever be heard. And he saw those who believed
not. And he quotes this passage from
Isaiah in a way of Righteous indignation. Everybody ought
to believe. These people who did not believe
had no love for Christ. And the way I thought about this,
if you come up to me and say you don't love my wife, you don't
love Lynn, you're against her. I ain't gonna be for you. If
you love somebody, This is a love issue. This is not anything other
than that. This is a love issue. And he
was upset over the fact that these people did not believe. Paul said in another place, if
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
maranatha. Let him be damned upon the return
of the Lord. Now, Paul said that under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so nobody thinks, well, Paul's
being too harsh. No, he's not. And he was, I guess in some measure,
indignant toward these people that they did not believe the
gospel. Now, I expect everybody in this
room to believe. You ought to believe. It's the
truth. It glorifies God. Everybody ought
to believe the gospel. And it's my prayer that that's
what's gonna take place this morning. That everybody in this
room is gonna believe the gospel. Now this passage that Paul quoted
from Isaiah chapter six is also quoted in the parable of the
sower all three times. It is quoted by Paul in Romans
chapter 11 with regard to the unbelieving Jews. And I'd like
you to read this with me. It's quoted by John in John chapter
12. Would you turn there? John chapter
12. And this is how we know that
Isaiah six is Isaiah's vision of Jesus Christ himself. Verse 37, John chapter 12, verse
37. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. You know,
no one ever believed from a miracle. That doesn't produce faith. If
you saw every miracle that could be done, it wouldn't cause you
to believe. Nobody ever believed because
of a miracle. That, verse 38, that the saying
of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord,
who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe. They lack the ability to believe
because that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes. God did that. 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. These
things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Now anyone who sees his glory,
I know what they're gonna be speaking of, him. Now let's go back to Isaiah chapter
six. We see that this is so much in the New Testament. It's quoted
at least six times in the New Testament. Isaiah's vision of
Christ. And the greatest thing that could
happen to me or you this morning is for us to have the same vision. Oh, that the Lord would enable
us to enter into Isaiah's vision of Jesus Christ. Now, he begins
this chapter in verse one, in the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw also the Lord. Now, I've read where Uzziah was
Isaiah's cousin, and Uzziah was a great king. He was mightily
used by God. He was a king when Isaiah was
a prophet. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Chronicles chapter 26. This is when Isaiah saw the Lord
in the year the king Uzziah died. But what were the circumstances
of Uzziah's death? Now this is speaking of Uzziah,
a great king. Verse 15, And he made in Jerusalem
engines, invented by cunning men to be on the towers and upon
the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones with all. And
his name spread far abroad, all over the world, for he was marvelously
helped. And that's God helping him till
he was strong. Israel was a world power at this
time under his reign, but when he was strong, His heart 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, who is to burn incense? The priests, no one else. But all of a sudden, Uzziah thought,
who needs a priest? I can do this on my own. Look
how God has helped me. Look how strong I've become.
Verse 17. And Azariah the priest went in
after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were
valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto
him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense
unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated
to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed.
Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. Then
Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense.
And while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose
up in his forehead before the priests and the house of the
Lord from beside the incense altar. And as arrived the chief
priests and all the priests looked upon him, behold, the man was
leprous in his forehead and they thrust him out from thence. Yea,
himself hasted also to go out because the Lord had smitten
him. What was his sin? He came into God's presence on
his own. He saw no need of Christ. He
saw no need of his precious blood. He saw no need of his righteousness. He saw no need of Christ. That was his crime. And my dear
friend, if you see no need of Christ right now, that is your
crime. And no one will get by with this. Uzziah didn't. Now, Isaiah had
been very impressed with Uzziah. And at that time he said, when
Uzziah died, that's when I saw the Lord. Now, I think this is
interesting. If you look in Isaiah chapter
five, verse eight, woe unto them. that join house to house. Verse
11, woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they
may follow strong drink. Verse 18, woe unto them that
draw iniquity with cords of vanity. Verse 20, woe unto them that
call evil good and good evil. Verse 21, woe unto them that
are wise in their own eyes. Verse 22, woe unto them that
are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong
drink. Man, he had a lot of woes, didn't he? Woe unto them. You know, how many times do you
hear, maybe I've done it, woe unto this society, woe unto this
world, woe by all the sinful things that are taking place.
Oh, woe unto them. But now he changes his tune in
verse five, then said, I woe as me. Not woe unto them. You know,
as long as you woe unto them, you can't woe unto me. Have you ever said, woe is me?
Like Isaiah, I'm undone. All my doings have been done.
I am undone. I am cut off. He was quick to
say, woe unto them. Woe unto them. Now all of a sudden,
woe unto me. Oh, it's my prayer that I will
say this, that you will say this, because when that is said, it's
because the Lord's doing something for us. Now, Isaiah says, in
the year that King Uzziah died, and I saw how unapproachable
God was, even when this king tries to come in without a priest,
God turns him into a leper and kills him. 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 Now the first thing Isaiah says that he saw
he saw the Lord sitting Sitting upon a throne the throne of his own uncontested
sovereignty. Sitting, not pacing back and
forth, worried because his will is not being done. Sitting, undisturbed
by opposition, in complete sovereign control. regal splendor, on the throne
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And my dear friends, if
you and I have not seen Him like that, we have not seen Him, period. Sitting on a throne, sitting
because His work was finished. Whatever it was He intended to
do, He did. when he had by himself purged
our sins. The scripture says he sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now, if I ever see Christ
spiritually, here's how I'm gonna see him, sitting on a throne,
high and lifted up High and exalted. Now, if I see him, I'll see him
as he is. High and lifted up. And one thing
I'm sure of, I can't preach Christ too high, can I? I can't preach
him too lifted up. This is who he is. Now, I realize that this is not
the Jesus that's preached in most pulpits in America or around
the world, is it? But this is who the real Lord
Jesus Christ is the one sitting on the throne ruling and reigning
having finished the work the father gave him to do high and
lifted up and his train the skirts of his
garment filled the temple this one is greater than the
temple All it takes is the hem of his garment to completely
fill the temple. Verse two. Remember, this is Isaiah's vision
of Jesus Christ. Above it, above this throne,
stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. And with two, he did fly. Now these angelic beings are
also mentioned in Revelation chapter 4 in John's vision when
heaven was opened to him. They're described in Ezekiel
chapter 1 and they could be Cherubims as well. I don't know. Some people
say cherubims and seraphims are the same thing. I don't know,
but I know that the cherubims guarded the garden so no one
could enter back in after the fall. And there were cherubims
embroidered on the veil in the temple. What about these mighty
beings, these cherubims? Well, the only information we're
getting of them is that they had six wings. And with two of
those wings, they covered their face. Why? Because they couldn't look upon
God. In His dazzling holiness and glory, they couldn't look
on God. They covered their face. With
two, they covered their feet. They were ashamed of their own
walk. Somebody says, how could that be? They've never sinned.
Yeah, but they know they would. if God didn't keep them from
it. You know, the scripture says He charges His angels with folly,
just knowing they could commit folly. And these seraphims, oh,
they were ashamed of everything about themselves. They covered
their feet. They didn't want their feet to
be seen. And with two they did fly, ready to perform His command. Now, These seraphims, do you
know every believer's got a whole lot in common with them? Now
you think about this. I don't wanna have anything to
do with God, absolute, apart from Christ. All I can do is
cover my face. No man can see his face and live. And you wanna talk about ashamed
of my feet? I want them covered. I don't
want anybody to see my feet. I sure don't want the Lord to
see it. I want him to see me in Christ and only in Christ. And every believer does the will
of God all the time in that they look to Christ only. That's his
command. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. That is the doing of his
will. And every believer, like the
seraphims, has some understanding of the character of God. Holy,
holy, Holy. That's why they cover their face.
That's why they cover their feet. Holy. Holy. Holy. Holy is the Father. Holy is the Son. Holy is the
Spirit. And I really believe the best
definition I've ever heard of holy is other. You take anything in this world,
I don't care what it is. He is other. He's altogether
separate. He is holy. And that's all these creatures
could cry from around the throne. Holy, holy, holy. And that is
every one of God's attributes. Verse three, one cried to another,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
full of his glory. You know, I love that hymn, holy,
holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee. Though the eye of
sinful man thy glory may not see, only thou art holy. There is none beside thee. God
in three persons, blessed Trinity. Verse four, and the posts of
the door. seemingly immovable, moved at
the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with
smoke. You know, anytime we speak of
the Lord, we see through glass darkly.
The house is filled with smoke. I don't see as clear as I would
want to see. We see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. So whenever we're dealing with
divine things, incomprehensible, we believe, but the house is
filled with smoke. Verse five, then, then, After this vision of Christ
sitting on a throne high and lifted up, after hearing and
seeing the seraphims covering their face, covering their feet,
flying for swift obedience to his command, hearing their cry,
holy, holy, holy, feeling the movement of the posts of the
door and the house being filled with smoke, then said I, Woe
is me. Now this I know. You and I don't
have any idea of sin or our own personal sinfulness until we
see him. If you've seen him, you know
woe is me. That is the response of everyone
who sees him. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm cut off. I'm destroyed. He says, I'm a man of unclean
lips, which are the index of an unclean heart. Everything
that comes out of my mouth is unclean because I myself am unclean. And I dwell in the midst of a
people who are just like me. You know, he goes on to say in
this book, Isaiah chapter 64, we are all as an unclean thing. Can you say amen to that? And our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags And we all do fade as the leaf, and our iniquities
like the wind have carried us away. There's none that stirreth
up of himself to call upon God. Isaiah knew because he'd seen
the Lord. He didn't say this until he'd
seen the Lord. Then said I, woe is me. For I am undone because I'm 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." Now, when you see the King, you'll cry with Isaiah, not woe
unto them, Woe is me. I am undone. Verse six begins with another
then. Then, not before then, then. You see, everybody that is an
undone sinner, Christ came to save. This is not just negative
stuff, this is glorious. Then, then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he'd taken with
tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth
and said, lo, this hath touched thy lips, those lips that you
said are unclean, and thine iniquity. is taken away. And thy sin is
purged. Now I love to think of this live
gold taken from off the altar. Now what is the altar for? Sacrifice. That altar represented the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That bull or goat or lamb was
to be slain, put upon that altar, set on fire, and burn up. That's demonstrating God's acceptance
of the sacrifice. Now, that Seraphim comes with
that living coal taken off from off the altar. You see, the blood
of Christ is always powerful and living and glorious. It's continual, it's eternal. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. That live coal is taken and placed
upon Isaiah's unclean lips. And there's two things that took
place. And this tells us what the atonement of Christ actually
accomplished. What does it say? He took place,
verse seven, and he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this hath
touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away. Do you hear that? That iniquity
that you cry out, woe is me. It's taken away. It's gone. It is no more. He was manifested,
1 John 3, 5 and 6. He was manifested to take away
our sins. Did he do it? Yes. In him is no sin. And that means right now, present
tense, if I'm in Him, I have no sin. You've been talking about
sin so much, I'm talking about the taking away of it even more.
I have no sin. How can that be? Thy sin's purged. See, this is what the purging
of his blood does. It doesn't cover our sin so it's
not seen. It covers our sin to where it's
no longer in the universe. He by himself purged our sins. Now, the only person that can
appreciate this is someone who's really sinful and can't do anything
about their sin. What good news it is to hear?
He's taken it away. It's been purged. It's been blotted
out. It is no more. Verse eight, and I heard the
voice of the Lord say, whom shall I send and who will go for us? I, God, us, God in three persons,
who will go for us? But after the gospels preached,
who am I gonna send? How shall they preach except
they be sent? Whom shall I send? And who will go for us, who wants
to? This is a draft and a volunteer. His army is drafted and they're
all volunteers. Thy people should be willing
in the day of thy power. Now, what's your response when
he says, who will I send? Who will go for us? I love Isaiah's
response. Here am I. Here am I. Send me. I hope that's everybody in here
right now. Here am I. Send me." Verse 9, and he said, now this
is the message and this is what Paul quoted in Acts chapter 28
and his, for lack of a better word, righteous indignation over
the unbelief of the people. This is what the Lord quoted
in the parable of the sower when Peter said, why are you asking
them in parables that seem they might not see and hearing they
might not hear? This is what Paul used with reference
to the Jews' rejection of the gospel in Romans chapter 11.
This is quoted by John and John says, these things said John
when he saw his glory. Speaking of Isaiah 6, John said,
these things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of
him. Well, here it is. Let's read what he says. Here's
what I'm sending you to say. Go and tell this people, hear
ye indeed, but understand not. See ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people
fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes. Now this
is the exact same thing as God hardening Pharaoh's heart. Somebody says, I don't believe
this. God's hardened your heart so that you can't believe. as
an act of his justice. If somebody walks out of this
room unbelieving, everybody ought to believe. Everybody
ought to bow the knee to Christ. Everybody ought to believe the
gospel right now. And if I don't, I place myself
under the judgment of God. Now that's what he's saying.
Hear, indeed, make the heart of this people fat, make their
ears heavy, shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
and convert and be healed. Now that's what happens when
somebody believes. They see. I see. I see who he is. I see who I am. I see my need
of him. They see with their eyes. They
hear with their ears. They hear the gospel as gospel,
as good news, not as bad news, but as good news. They understand
with their heart, with the heart man believeth under righteousness.
They convert. They turn. They turn from their
way to his way, the way of the gospel. And they're healed. That's what happens when God
saves somebody. I hope it happens with every one of us in here.
Verse 11. Then said I, Lord, how long?
And he answered, how long am I supposed to preach this message
of judgment? He said, until the cities be
wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the
land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far
away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. How
long am I supposed to preach this message of judgment? Till
everybody's gone. Now he's talking about when Nebuchadnezzar
would come and all of Israel would be displaced into the land
of Babylon. And he said, you're to preach
this message to these people till they're all gone and there's
a great forsaking that takes place. People are going to forsake
the gospel. But, verse 13, but. Oh, I'm so thankful for this
but. This is the but of grace. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. But,
yet, in it, in this great forsaking,
where everybody forsakes, Yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return. And here's what they're gonna
look like in returning. They shall be eaten as a teal
tree and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their
leaves. Now, when you're looking at a
tree in the winter, you think, I wonder if that tree's alive.
Doesn't look alive. Looks dead. Doesn't have any
fruit. Doesn't have any leaves. This
year, we have a cherry tree, the kind that has the branches
that go down. What do you call them? Weeping
cherry. And it looked so bad. And Lynn
was thinking, that thing's not going to make it. It's probably
going to be dead. But man, it looks great now.
It looked dead then. but not now, but this 10th, this
substance that's gonna come back. You know, it's true, 1 John 2,
19 says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For
if they would have been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us. But they went out that they might
be manifested, that they are not all of us. Now, this group
that left, this great forsaking, not all of them truly forsook.
They will return. They will be back. And here is
why. Look in verse 13 again. But yet in it shall be a tenth
and it shall return and shall be eaten as a teal tree as an
oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so
shall the Holy seed, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Now, why do they come back? The holy seed. You see, salvation is God's work. It's not a cooperative work between
men and God. When God saves a man, there's
something placed within him called the holy seed. The new heart. And that seed
cannot die. It's the seed of God. It's the
holy seed. It's the new birth. That new
birth, it will return. Now, there are A great forsaking
that took place, but a tenth, a small number, shall come back,
and they're the example of a tree in the winter without leaves.
They look dead, but the substance is in them. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. And if God has done a work of
grace in my heart, I cannot fall away. Why? The Holy Seed is in me. Somebody says, do you believe
once saved, always saved? Well, if God saved you, I do.
If you saved yourself, nah, you'll fall away. See it happen all
the time. You won't continue. But if God saved you, you cannot
fall away. Do you believe in eternal security? I believe in eternal security.
If you were saved in eternity, I sure do. If you were saved
in eternity, yeah, you're eternally secure. Can't be anything but
that. So even when this forsaking takes
place, we have this glorious but, a tenth shall return because
the holy seed is in them. Let's pray. Lord, in Christ's name, in the high and holy name of
Christ, we ask, Lord, unite our hearts together in this. We ask
that we all might be given this vision of the glory of your son. That we might all from this vision
cry out, woe is me. That we won't cry out woe to
them, but woe is me. And that we might hear the gospel,
how our sin is taken away through the purging of your son. And
enable us to all say, here am I, send me. Bless this word for
your glory. In Christ's name we pray, amen.