Isaiah chapter 6. I feel like
this is a very, very special chapter in God's Word. Not that we set one chapter against
another, but it's a chapter that we need to visit quite often.
I probably should have preached from this at least four or five
times in the last ten years instead of once. But it's a message that
needs to be heard. The title of the message this
evening is, The Vision That We Need. And it truly is a vision
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as we look at Isaiah 6,
verse 1 through 8. We need this same revelation
and vision that Isaiah had to see the Lord Jesus Christ exalted
and lifted up and ourselves before his mighty throne as mercy beggars. And thank God, he said, I'd like
to show mercy. Now, today, right now, we desperately
and urgently need exactly what God gave unto Isaiah in this
vision. This is what we need to be taught.
caught of God. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come to Christ. Now, we need a revelation
of the glory of the exalted, victorious Lord Jesus Christ,
that He is King of kings and Lord of lords, that the Lord
Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Peter, in Acts chapter two, in
his sermon that we're gonna look at in a few weeks, declared that
that same Jesus, whom you crucified, is both Lord and Christ. He's Lord. We need a constant
revelation and a reminder that our blessed Savior is the Lord
of all things. He said, all powers given unto
me in heaven and earth. Go, therefore, and preach the
gospel. Secondly, we need a revelation of our own wicked nature before
God. All flesh is grass. Man at his best state is vanity.
Isaiah declared in Isaiah 64 that all of our righteousness
before God, all of our righteousnesses, plural, filthy rags in God's
eye. Stack them all up. So-called
morality, what does it count for? Filthy rags. There's none righteous, no, not
one. We need to be reminded, and that's
what God the Holy Spirit does. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them to us. Thirdly, we need a revelation
of the good news contained in the gospel. forgiveness, pardon
of all our sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see that
in verse six and seven. The messenger from heaven says,
thine iniquity is taken away. Could any sinner hear any better
news than to know that our sin is completely atoned for and
put away that God said their sin and their iniquity will I
remember no more. What great news. Now the wise
man Solomon said this, where there is no vision, no revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the people perish. Where there is
no true gospel preaching, and no revelation of Christ to our
heart through the preaching of the gospel, and by the regenerating
work of God the Holy Spirit, and no work of grace upon the
heart by the power of God, unless God intervenes and God does something
for us, and in us, and to us, we'll die in our sin. All God
has to do is leave us to ourselves. And we'll run the religious road
as far as we can run, but we'll still die in our sin unless God,
by His grace, teaches us the gospel and raises us up from
the dead. Simply left to our own thoughts,
we'll perish. For the Lord said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. He said,
my thoughts are higher. My ways are higher. Higher. There is a way that seems right
unto men. The end of that way is death,
death. After our own way, our own thoughts,
our own will, we'll perish in our sin. The Lord said to those
Pharisees, you will not come to me that you might have life. Our will is always self-ward
and downward, never God-ward and upward. Unless God intervened
and does a work of grace in our heart, we will surely perish
in our sin. That's so. That's so. The Lord said, if you believe
not that I am, you'll die in your sin. And we, by nature,
love darkness and hate God. We only believe the gospel according
to the working of His mighty power. Now, this is what we see,
and that's the summation of what we see here in Isaiah 6, one
through verse eight. Let's take a look at verse one.
In the year that King Uzziah died, he died. Why'd he die? God killed
him, plain and simple. God killed him because of his
rebellion against God. God killed him, and Isaiah said,
In that year, that time that God killed Uzziah, I saw the
Lord sitting upon a throne. That wasn't a physical thing
that he saw. This was a spiritual vision that
God gave him to teach us the gospel. Sitting upon the throne,
this is the Lord Jesus Christ high. How high is he? He's the most high God. Lifted
up. How high was he lifted up? to
the highest, setting on the throne of God. And his train and his
presence, his train there, his presence, his glory filled the
temple. Now, the time of this revelation
when God killed the king of Judah with leprosy, and there's a vital
connection between the death of Uzziah and the vision that
God gave unto Isaiah. Now, Uzziah and Isaiah, they
sound almost similar, don't they? And if I get them confused, you'll
have to straighten them out in your own mind. Isaiah learned
something of the strict, holy character of Almighty God. Now, he knew something about
it before. He had to have, because he was
a prophet of God. But he learned it more exactly.
How did he learn it? By experience. He experienced
it. Isaiah, excuse me, Uzziah, reigned
in Israel for 52 years. And God made him to prosper.
He was considered one of the few good kings in Israel. The Lord blessed him in many
ways with prosperity and power, but he was lifted up with pride
and presumption. God helped him until he was strong
in himself, and then God unhorsed him, put him in the dust. and
smote him with leprosy. He thought, that is Uzziah thought
he could officiate as his own priest before God. He said, well,
I'm the king. He thought he could bring an
offering unto God without the designated priest, without a
mediator. He thought he could be his own
mediator. How many people make the same fatal mistake as the
king of Israel did? You see, what he did was a denial
of the holiness of God, it was a denial of the priestly work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was a denial of the gospel
of our blessed Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
priest. Typified, every priest you read
of, Aaronic Priesthood and the Melchizedek Priesthood, of which
there was one priest. All that priesthood in the Old
Testament is all typical of the Lord Jesus Christ. The priesthood
of God, starting with Aaron, they were to represent the people
unto God. That's what they were to do.
That was their office. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of that. He is our... I love the way the
book of Hebrews talks about our great high priest over and over
and over again. The priesthood of Christ, I love
it. because we see the successful mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not even the king, not even the
king of Israel, not even a good king in Israel can come to God
except through the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember our Lord said,
I'm the way, the truth, the way, the truth, the life. And then
he says, no man. Does that include Uzziah, the
king of Israel? Yes, no man come to the father
but by and through me. God judged Uzziah and he died
a leper. And when Uzziah died, Isaiah,
the prophet, saw the Lord Jesus Christ upon this throne of God. saw the supreme glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ as the enthroned Christ, the sovereign Christ
who had all authority and power. John wrote this in John 12, 41,
when Isaiah saw his glory, He spake of Him, spake of the Lord
Jesus Christ when He saw His glory. If you ever see the glory
of God that shines in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll
quit talking about our own self-glory and we'll talk about Him who
is altogether lovely, who has power over all flesh to give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given to Him. Isaiah saw
the victorious Christ. for he was sitting on the throne. Remember, we studied about his
ascending glory when he ascended to glory after 40 days from his
resurrection. Being successful and victorious,
he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God, sitting
upon the throne. Men and nations rush to and fro. We pace the floor, we fret and
we worry. He sits. in complete repose,
with complete order and purpose upon the throne of God. He speaks
and it is done. He commands and it stands fast,
seated upon the throne of glory. Isaiah saw the supreme glory
of Christ. He saw the victorious Christ.
He saw thirdly the infinite glory of Christ, for He is high and
He is lifted up. Because He's God. He is the eternal
God. His name and His throne are above
every name and every throne. God has highly exalted Him and
given Him a name above every name that at that name Every
knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. You see, none
can stay at His hand. None can say unto Him, Lord God,
what doest Thou? Isaiah also saw the universal
glory of Christ for His presence, His glory, it says there, filled
the temple. You see, in the temple of God
and in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ is all and
in all. It filled the temple. The whole earth is full of His
glory. We don't have eyes to see it,
but the whole earth is full of His glory. It's all about Him,
is it not? Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ,
the exalted King of kings and Lord of lords, and the glory
of God. The glory of God shines where?
Where does the glory of God shine? In the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what Isaiah got a glimpse
of the glory of Christ, exalted, infinite, almighty, powerful,
not weak, not impotent, not God wants to, He can't because you
won't let him. That's not the Christ of God.
The Christ of God has all power in heaven and earth. That's what
Isaiah saw. And when he saw his glory, he
said, woe is me. Verse two. Above it, that is
above the throne, stood these seraphims. We sang a moment ago,
cherubims and seraphims. Now, I don't know a lot about
these creatures, but I know this. God created them, whatever they
are. Some say they're the elect angels, unfallen. But I think
they represent, representatively, they represent the servants of
God, messengers sent of God. These winged creatures were God's
servants sent with his message, right? And the servants of God
are his messengers sent with his message. Above this throne
of God, Stood these seraphims, each one had six wings, with
two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with
two he did fly, and their message was, verse three, they cried
one to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole
earth is full of his glory. Now, These heavenly creatures are
sent with God's message to do God's business. Now, whoever
they are and whatever these seraphims actually are, they're actually
real creatures, but they have to be created of God. The angels
of God are created of God. The messengers of God are those
whom he His workmanship in Christ Jesus, or His workmanship. In
figurative language, these seraphims and cherubims, they represent
true ministers and messengers of the gospel. Now, we have a
similar picture to that if you'll take your book, and let's find
Revelation 4. A similar picture, remember in
our study about the four beasts in Revelation 4 verse 8. The
four beasts had each of them six wings. Six wings. Well, that's just what they had
in Isaiah 6 too. They were full of eyes within,
and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Well,
what about that? The message of God doesn't change.
Lord God Almighty, which is, and was, and is, and is to come.
Well, the message hasn't changed. Who are these four beasts? They
are representative of the ministers of the gospel. That's who they
represent. And their message is, Thou art
worthy, O Lord, verse 11, to receive glory and honor and power,
for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are
and they were created. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. It says there back in our text,
with figurative language. They cover their faces in modesty
and humility before the Lord. And that's true of God's servants,
for they are less than the least unworthy to be ministers. They're called the chief of sinners. We have this treasure in the
earthen vessel that God may get all the honor and glory. I pointed
out in our message from Sunday in Acts chapter 1 that God used
those sinful men Saved by the grace of God to tell other sinful
men where bread is found. Preaching as one beggar, telling
another beggar where bread is found. They are humbled men. And these Araphims here, they
cover their face. And God's servants are Humble
men sent of God. They know what they know by the
grace of God. They are what they are by the
grace of God. They cover their feet, says there
in the text. They cover their feet, their
conscience of the imperfection of their walk, conduct, and ways
before God. Talking about God's faithful
ministers. They say with the Apostle Paul,
O wretched man that I am. With two wings they did fly in
haste to declare the truth of the gospel, the glorious personal
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were always ready to declare
the gospel to all that will hear it, and that is true of God's
faithful servants. Preach the word, be it in season,
out of season, in every season. When is it in season to preach
the gospel? All the time. Preach the word. We preach not ourselves, but
we preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Preach the word. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. So we fly with
this message because it's God's message and he will bless it
to his church. He said, my sheep will hear my
voice. I know them and they will follow
me. Now, verse three and four, Here's
what they cried one to another. And they cry out, the ministers
of the gospel continue to preach this message. And they say, God
is holy. God is holy. He's holy. Why does it say three times,
why not two, why not four? Have you ever thought about that? God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Holy, holy, holy. God the Holy
Spirit, God the Father is holy. The Lord Jesus Christ, those
demons said, we know who you are. You're the holy one of God. Have you come to torment us before
our time? And that's our message. We cry
out, God is holy. He's the Lord of hosts. He's
the Lord of His people. He has an elect people given
to Him in that covenant of grace. And these messengers of God declare
the whole earth is full of His glory. How can that be? The heavens
declare what? The glory. The glory of God. The whole earth is His and the
fullness thereof, and He created this whole outfit, this whole
outfit, that He might get all the honor and glory. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. Take your Bible and find Psalm
99. And this is the message of all Scripture. The Lord reigneth
and the Lord is holy. Psalm 99, look at verse 3. Let
them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy. Psalm 99. Verse 5. Exalt ye the Lord our
God in worship at His footstool, for He is holy. Verse 9. Psalm 99, 9. Exalt the Lord our
God in worship at His holy hill. Well, the Lord our God is holy. When was the last time you saw
a bumper sticker that said, Smile, God is holy? You know, I've never
seen one like that. You always see what? What do
you see? Smile, God loves you. You know, the scriptures don't
say that. That's not the message. That
wasn't the message of these seraphims. And that's not the message of
God's servants. They don't go around telling everybody, Well,
God loves you. I'm sure He does. That's not
the message of Scripture. The message of Scripture is God's
holy. God's holy, holy, holy. Now this is a message we need
to hear, especially this generation, our generation. God is holy.
This is a missing note in most preaching in our day. Today's
preaching is all about love, is it not? Love. God is love. It's all about love. That's all
we talk about. God loves you, wants the best
for you. He's trying to save you, but you won't let him. Today,
it's all about love. They have forgotten the central
attribute of God. God is holy. Now, God is love,
but God is not love apart from his holiness. God can only love
me in holiness. That's why the love of God is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. In all the preaching in the book
of Acts, we're going to see as we study through the book of
Acts these next four or five years. It will probably take
that long to get through the way I'm going, and I'm not going
to get in a hurry. In all the preaching through
the whole book of Acts by all the apostles, not one time did
they ever say, that why don't you believe the gospel, why don't
you come to Christ because God loves you. Not one time did they
say God is love. Not one time did they say smile,
God loves you. Not one time did they say that
Christ died for all the sins of all men. Not one time did
they say that. They said as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed the gospel. None else. You see, we've missed it. This
religious generation has gone off the deep end. And it's not
happened just lately. It's not happened lately. It's
happened a couple hundred years ago when men started compromising
the gospel. That one time in the preaching
of the book of Acts, Did Peter and John and Paul say that Christ
universally died for all the sins of all men? Not there. God is love. What it says in
1 John 4 verse 8 and verse 16. But he's not love at the expense
of his holiness. The beauty and power and majesty
of the gospel is how God can justify the ungodly and honor
and magnify his holy law at the same time. How God can love me
and save me and not violate His holy character. Now that's the
gospel. If you ever figure that out,
God ever shows you that, you'll understand the gospel. How God
can be a just God and Savior. How can that be? Only in Christ.
Christ crucified. The post of the door, look at
verse 4, moved at the voice of him that cried. And the house
was filled with His glory. Smoke of His glory. Now this
is the vision we need. This is the message we constantly
need to hear. Thy God reigneth. God is holy. God is sovereign. This is the
message that God will use to call us out of darkness and reveal
Christ to our hearts. This is the message that will
move us. Notice it says there's a post
of a door moved. A post of a door is pretty solid,
is it not? When you build a door, you put
in some extra timber, don't you? On the lintel and side posts. And the post of that door is
not going to move unless somebody moves it. That's what he's saying
there. We're not going to move One step
toward God until He moves us in that direction. And that's
what the gospel does. When God speaks in power through
the gospel, that door of your heart and that post that dead
and trespassed and sinned is moved at His voice. Not mine. Old Barnard said years ago, and
Pastor Mahan repeated it 10,000 times, if my voice is the only
voice you hear, nothing of eternal consequences will be accomplished.
That's so. You've got to hear God speak
from heaven. And he does to his ministers. But it's not my voice. It's not my message. It's not
my word. It's his. And when that happens,
you know what will happen? You'll move. God will move you. He'll break your heart. God nigh
them of a broken heart, save us such as be of a contrite spirit.
The Lord will move us to cast away all of our refuge of life. God will move us to count all
of our righteousnesses as filthy rag. God will move us to count
all but dung that we may win Christ and be found in him. You
ever been moved? If you've never been broken,
you've never been saved. You've never been stripped. You've never been closed. If
you've never been emptied, you've never been filled with God. And that's when he teaches us
that Christ is all and in all. Now, when that door of our heart is
moved, God's not out there knocking on the door. Hey, please let
me in. That door is not going to move
until God knocks it down. He has all power in heaven and
earth to do so. The post of that door is going
to be moved as the voice of Him who speaks and it's done. He commands and it stands. And
then that house was filled with smoke. And that's what happens
when God saves us. Christ in you is a hope of glory. He fills us with himself. Isaiah
said in verse 5, then, oh then, said I, woe is me. Now if you read over in chapter
5, Isaiah flayed these people. He said constantly unto them,
woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you that call evil good
and good evil. Woe unto you, woe unto you. Now
it's coming home. I've seen the Lord. Now he's
no longer saying, I thank God I'm not like you. He's no longer
looking down his nose like a Pharisee, like Saul of Tarsus. Now he's
saying, woe is me. He's pointing his finger right
here. He's no longer saying out here, right here. I'm the problem. I'm undone. Wait a minute. Isaiah, the prophet of God? He said, I'm as good as, if you
look at the marginal reference on that word, he said, I'm cut
off. God is holy and I'm a sinful man. I'm a man of unclean lips. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks. What's Isaiah saying? He's confessing
his sin. The post of his door has been
moved. God moved him. to make him confess that he is
a sinner in need of mercy. Woe is me, I'm undone, because
I'm a man of unclean lips. Why is he of unclean lips? Because
he has a wicked heart. And I dwell, not only am I wicked,
But everybody I dwell among, I dwell in the midst of a people
that have the same problem I've got. We've all sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And the reason is, for mine eyes
have seen the King. who is King of kings and Lord
of lords, he's the Lord, thank God, he's the Lord of a people.
He has a people that must be saved, that must be saved. Woe,
woe, woe is me. That was the same experience
Job had, was it not? Go all the way through the book
of Job, you come to chapter 42. Job says, I've heard of thee.
Ah, now my eye sees thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself. I repent in dust and ashes."
Why? Same experience Isaiah had. I've seen the king. When I've
seen the king, I've seen something of my own wicked, sinful heart. And I cried, woe is me. I'm cut
off. Now, here's the good news of
the gospel. Then, the message came. You see, God must strip us, whittle
us down, break our heart, and prepare the ground for us to
receive the message. You see what's happened here?
Isaiah's been whittled down. We call that conviction of sin. You miss Holy Spirit conviction,
you'll miss faith in Christ. You miss faith in Christ, you'll
miss salvation. There's a conviction of sin.
Then flew one of these seraphims unto me." God sent the messenger
with the message, having a live coal in his hand. You see, the
gospel is the living gospel. The Word
of God is quick and powerful. It's alive and powerful, sharper
than any two-edged sword. He had a live coal in His hand,
which He had taken with the tongue from off the altar. Now, anytime
you see the altar in Scripture, always immediately Think of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sacrificed His humanity on
the altar of His deity. It's the altar of sacrifice.
And the gospel is the living gospel, the living God, the living
Word that comes from the altar of God, from the sacrifice of
God, and He laid it upon my mouth. Remember, he said, I'm a man
of unclean lips. What do unclean lips need? They
need this gospel message laid upon their mouth and in their
hearts by the power of God. And he laid it upon my mouth
and said, Lo, this touched my lips. He's tasted of the Lord
that He is gracious. He laid it upon my mouth and
said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin is purged." Now, anytime we read in Scripture
of iniquity being taken away, and sin being covered, and transgression
being covered, and sin being put away, always immediately,
and when we think about the altar of God and the sacrifice of God,
we know it's only because of the blood atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who came with not the
blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood. He obtained
for us eternal redemption, and he's a successful Christ who
has taken away all thine iniquity. Now, can we hear any better news? We are unclean. We're always
an unclean thing. Can an unclean, ungodly, wicked,
guilty, vile, wretched sinner hear any better news? than the
Lord Jesus Christ hath taken away all our sin. So much so
that he said it's cast behind his back. Now if you can find
where the back of God is, I guess that's where our sin went. He
said it's cast into the depths of the sea. He said it's separated
from you as far as the east is from the west. Hebrews 10, he says that their
sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Now, you know why I
call that? I call that an effectual, complete atonement for the sin
of God's people. And because He's taken away all
of our sin, none can perish for whom Christ died. Now, it's an
absolute absurdity to preach universal redemption, saying
that Christ died for all the sins of all men, and yet some
of those men wind up in hell. Well, if that be so, then his
death's got nothing to do with putting away sin. I mean, if
he died for your sin and you perish anyway, what does that
say about the blood atonement of Christ? It says it's a failure. It says God wasted his time,
his blood. But the truth of the scripture
is, He redeemed us with His precious blood, and none can perish for
whom Christ died. That's our message. That's our
message. Now, if you go anywhere else,
I don't know of anywhere else in this county that preaches
that. If you know somebody who preaches that, let me know. I
don't know of anybody in this county that preaches what we
call the particular definite atonement for sin. that Christ
laid down His life for His sheep, that the Lord Jesus Christ, He
shall save His people from their sin, and He got the job done.
So we preach a Savior who saved, a Redeemer who redeemed, a God
who was just and the justifier of the ungodly through Christ
and Him crucified. That's our message. Now, Luke verse 8, Also I heard
the voice of the Lord saying, I hear the Lord chimes in after
that messenger has sent the gospel message out. And the message
has been heard that sin put away when He by Himself purged our
sin with His own blood. The Lord said to Isaiah, whom
shall I send? Now, Isaiah, you have the message. You've experienced God's truth.
It's touched your mouth, your lips, your heart. It's affected
you. The door of your heart's been
moved. Now, you're ready to go with the message of the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Us! Who's these us's here? Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. Holy, holy, holy. Who will go
for us? Ah, then, Isaiah said, well,
Lord, I'm right here. Why don't you just send me? I've
got the message. If you send me, I'll go preach
it. You know, that's exactly what happened to Saul of Tarsus.
We're going to read in Acts chapter 9 when Saul of Tarsus, the religious
Pharisee, met the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he was brokenhearted
and stripped and put in the dust, and then clothe in the righteousness
of Christ. You remember what he said? Lord,
here am I. Send me. What will you have me
to do? Well, he went and preached the gospel, didn't he? Without
fail. Faithful servant unto death.