49 or 40 years ago, Brother E.W. Johnson's brother-in-law, Hillman
Bernard, came here for our Bible conference. The first one that
we held in this building, 1956, November 1956. And he sang that song, Let others
who will, I remember it so vividly. First time I'd heard the song.
Let others who will praise the cross of the Christ. It is the Christ of the cross
that redeems. The Christ of the cross. Not
the cross of the Christ. The Christ of the cross. I think
that's an outstanding hymn. And well done. Well done, Mike. Turn to Isaiah 6, and even after all these years,
there's still nothing as exciting, and nothing as interesting, and
nothing as stirring as a song or a message that exalts the
grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. nothing I enjoy more
after all these years than hearing the Master exalted in his redeeming,
saving, cleansing, justifying work. And there's nothing on
this earth as comforting to believers. There's nothing as encouraging
to us in life's most difficult times, struggles, and trials
than a message on the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing
so comforting. And I tell you this, I have found
nothing and no one, nothing and no one, and no force and no influence
and no power which can even tempt me, or impress me, or interest
me in compromising this gospel. I've found nothing, and I've
found no one, and I've found no influence, and no temptation
to compromise the message of the grace of God in Christ Jesus,
or to hold it back, or to change it, or to alter it, or to keep
from preaching it. The hymn writer said this, I'm
not ashamed to own my Lord, or to defend His cause, or to maintain
the honor of His Word and the glory of His cross. Christ Jesus,
my God, I know His name, and His name is all my trust. Nor
will He put my soul to shame, nor let me ever be lost. Firm as His throne His promise
stands, and He can well secure what I've committed into His
hands until that decisive hour, and then, and then, Will he own
my worthless name before his Father's face? And in the new
Jerusalem he has reserved for me a place." Isn't that good? He has reserved for me a place. Luther said this. I don't have
all of this quote. I have it all on the wall of
my study, but I don't have it all in my mind, and when I wrote
this, I didn't have it all. But he said, feelings come, and
feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. I'll trust the unchanging
Word of God because there's nothing else worth believing. So let's
look at Isaiah 6 tonight and talk about this subject, the
grace of God in Christ Jesus. Now, God dealt with these prophets
in a special way. He told us, He said, God who
at sundry times and in different manners spake to our fathers
were the prophets. But He had to speak to the prophets
first. before they could speak to us.
He spoke to us, our fathers, by the prophets. But he had to
speak to the prophets before they could speak to the people.
And God spoke to the prophets in dreams and visions. And then the prophets took the
message to the people. God taught the prophet and taught
him well. And taught him through experience.
and taught him through revelation. God taught the prophet, and then
the prophet taught the people. He hath in these last days spoken
to us by his Son. The Word is complete. We don't
need these visions. We don't need dreams. We don't
need God to speak to us in audible voices. There's a man that has
a a new church up here in the community
building, and he's on television. And I turned him on the other
day, and he made this statement. He said that his ministry, his
ministry was to teach people how to hear the voice of God. There are certain things that
you do and conditions in which you place yourself so you can
hear the voice of God. You're not going to do it. You're
going to hear Him through His Word. God speaks through His Word.
That's how He speaks to us. He spoke to the prophets this
way. And He spoke to His Son. When He said, this is My Son,
you hear Him. We hear Him through His Word.
Now, Isaiah, the man that wrote this, Isaiah the prophet, lived
about 120 years. And he prophesied about 85 years. That's interesting. He prophesied about 85 years,
and he lived and prophesied and preached 800 years before Christ. 800 years before Christ came
to earth, before our Lord came into the world in the flesh,
and he prophesied during the reign of four kings. This is written several times
about him. He prophesied during the reign
of Uzziah. We're going to look at this in
a minute. Jotham. And Ahaz and a familiar
name, Hezekiah. But one of the things you find
about Isaiah, beloved Isaiah, I like to call this book the
Gospel of Isaiah. Oh, Isaiah, he preached the gospel. He wrote the gospel. His writings are quoted in the
New Testament more than any other Old Testament book except the
Psalms. The Psalms, I believe, are quoted
more. But Isaiah, when John the Baptist started his ministry,
who did he quote? Isaiah. When our Lord went down
to Nazareth, as His custom was, went to the synagogue, stood
up to read, what book was delivered to Him? Isaiah. The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me. When the eunuch was riding from
Jerusalem back to Ethiopia, what was he reading? Isaiah. He couldn't
have been reading a better book than Isaiah. And his writings
are quoted more in the New Testament than any other except Psalms. All right, let's look at it,
Isaiah 6. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. Who was King Uzziah? What significance
does this have? What importance is here in the
year that King Uzziah died? I saw the Lord. Who was King
Uzziah? Well, Uzziah was the 10th king
after David. David and number 9 kings between
David and Uzziah. He became king of Israel when
he was 16 years old. And he reigned for 52 years. What kind of king was he? A good
king. He was one of the few really
good kings. He loved the people. He was a
blessing to the people. The Lord blessed Israel under
the reign of Zion. He blessed Israel. But something
happened. And this is something that all of us, godly men and
women, believers, whoever, just must be careful and guard against. Something happened. His heart
was lifted up with pride. I mean, let's read about it.
Over in 2 Chronicles, something, while you're turning, let me
tell you this. Isaiah loved this man. He loved this man. He loved King Uzziah. In fact,
the Scripture says that everything Uzziah did and said, Isaiah wrote
it down. You remember reading that before?
He wrote it down. Loved him. And here it says in
2 Chronicles 26, look at it with me. And he made in Jerusalem,
verse 15. 2 Chronicles 26, verse 15. And he tells all the things he
did for the people. And he made in Jerusalem engines
invented by cunning men to be on the towers, upon the bulwarks,
to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far
abroad. He was marvelously helped till
he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart
was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the
Lord his God, and he went into the temple of the Lord to burn
incense upon the altar of incense." Now, you know this as well as
I do. In the nation of Israel, there
were prophets. They were priests. They were
kings. Isaiah was a king. He wasn't
a prophet. He wasn't a priest. And no man
had those three offices. No man had two offices. Man was
a prophet. Man was a king. But only the
priests, only the priests were allowed to come into the Holy
of Holies. Only the priests could burn incense,
which is a type of Christ's prayers. intercession of our Lord. Only
a priest could slay the lamb and bring the atonement. Only
a priest could offer a sacrifice. That's Christ. You see, each
of these men, the prophet, Christ is our prophet to reveal God
to us. The priest, Christ is our priest
after the order of Melchizedek. David the king, but Christ is
our king. Christ is all three, prophet,
priest, and king. But these men typified Christ
in their own fashion. Well, Uzziah wasn't satisfied
to be the king. He wanted to play the part of
the priest. His pride. All right, let's read it. And
Azariah, the priest, verse 17, went in after him. And with him
fourscore eighty priests of the Lord that were valiant men. And
they withstood Uzziah the king and said to him, It appertaineth
not unto thee, Isaiah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to
the priest." It's just one priest. It's the priest that offers the
sacrifice. It's the high priest that brings
the atonement. Christ is our priest. And he's
not to usurp that office. But to the priests, the sons
of Aaron that are consecrated to burn incense, get out of the
sanctuary, you trespass, neither shall it be for your honor from
the Lord God. And Uzziah was angry. He had
a censure in his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth
with the priest, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead
before the priest and the house of the Lord from beside the incense
altar. And Azariah, the chief priest,
and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he 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. And Isaiah the king was
a leper until the day he died an outcast." What an awful end
to this man. What an awful end. Christ is
our priest. And this man violated the type. He violated the picture. He violated
the gospel. It's the same thing as one of
us trying to come before the Lord without Christ, without
works, without offerings, without good deeds, without self-righteousness. Same thing. But we stand back,
and Christ goes to God for us. He offers His prayers and the
sacrifice and atonement. But that's what He did. And Isaiah
said in chapter 6, verse 1, in the Yidad, a leper, I saw the
Lord. I saw the holiness of God. I
saw the righteousness of God. I saw the Lord. Now, he's not
talking about absolute God who said to Moses, no man can see
me and live. He's not talking about Elohim.
He said, I saw Christ. That's who He saw. He saw Christ. He saw the revelation of God
in the person of His Son. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
He saw the Lord Jehovah, God my Savior. That's who He saw.
He saw Christ. And He saw with these eyes what
we see by faith. He saw Christ, the Mediator,
the Intercessor, the High Priest, the Redeemer. That's who He saw.
Now, let's see what He saw. And Isaiah said, in the year
that King Uzziah died, under the judgment of God, I saw the
Lord, Jehovah, my Savior, sitting on a throne, sitting on a throne,
having finished His work. He sat down. No priest in the
Old Testament ever sat down because no priest in the Old Testament
ever finished his work. It's one sacrifice right after
another. But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice forever,
sat down. I saw him sitting. Where? On a throne. On a throne. And I'll tell you this, it's
not the throne that's exalted, it's the person. The throne doesn't
make the person great. The person makes the throne great.
I love the throne of God. No. Oh, no. I love the sovereignty
of God. Oh, no. Oh, no. I love the God
who sits on that throne. I love the God who is sovereign. He couldn't be a God and not
be sovereign. Oh, I believe in prayer. No.
I believe in God who hears prayer. It's a difference. I saw the
Lord. I didn't see the throne. I saw
the Lord sitting on the throne. Sitting. Watch Him now. High
and lifted up. Our Savior is high and lifted
up. He's exalted above all exaltation. He has all preeminence. He is
preeminent in creation, all things were made by Him and for Him,
without Him was not anything made that was made. He is preeminent
in providence, by Him all things are held together. He is preeminent
in salvation, salvations of the Lord. He is preeminent in eternal
glory, that in all things He might have the preeminence. I
saw Him sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. exalted,
and every knee bows and every tongue confesses that he is Lord. And his train filled the temple. The skirts of his train, his
train filled the temple. His glory filled the temple. His kingly, priestly garments
filled the temple. The temple was full of his glory
and everything in the temple of the Lord. gives Him glory. I saw Him. And verse 2, I saw
His holiness. As I told you, this chapter begins
with the holiness of our Lord demonstrated here on the earth. And God chose even by this beloved vessel, to show us something
about His holiness. In the same way that He said
to Pharaoh, for this purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my glory. After 52 years of an honest, dedicated, successful reign,
God left Uzziah to himself for a little while, and he demonstrated
the glory of God's holiness. Yeah, he did. Moses did the same thing. After
all those years, 120 years, 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the
wilderness, Keeping the sheep, learning something
about the humility of God, the grace of God. Forty years leading
Israel. He stood one day in front of
a rock. And God specifically, directly told him, speak to the
rock. Didn't He? Speak to the rock. He had already smitten it. That
rock is Christ. God said, speak to the rock and
you'll get water. gave way to his passions. And he spoke harshly to the people
for whom he prayed. The people for whom he interceded.
The people of whom he said, Lord, if you're not going to save them,
block me out of your book. The people for whom he cried
to God, don't kill them. Lord, don't kill them. Stood
between the Lord and the people and cried, Lord, don't kill them.
It'll bring shame on your name if you kill these people you
brought out of Egypt. This Moses got angry and said, you rebels,
must I get water out of this rock? Whatever made him say that? Well,
sometimes stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself, whatever
makes us say what we say? Then he hit that rock. That's
it. God said, Moses, for that you'll
never enter the land. God spared not the sons of Abram
who brought strange fire. God spared not Uzzah. All he
did was going to help God's heart from falling off that cart, and
he reached and touched it. Scripture says, nobody but the
priest can carry that ark. But his king told him to put
it there. It doesn't matter, does it? It
doesn't matter. I tell you, when you violate,
and God spared not His own Son when sin was found on Him on
Calvary's cross, what we're seeing here, He said, I saw the Lord. And he said in verse 2, I saw
him sitting on a throne, and above it stood the seraphims,
the creatures of glory, and each one of them had six wings. With
two he covered his face. Humility. He covered his face
before the Lord, his face. That's his eyes and his thoughts.
couldn't look upon the awesome holiness of God. He covered his
face, and with two, he covered his feet, embarrassed because
of his dirty feet. Even a seraphim in the presence
of the Lord. And with two, he did fly in haste
to declare something. He did fly, and they cried one
to another, Holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The
whole earth is full of the glory of His holiness. His holiness. This is a picture
of true preachers. Of true preachers like Isaiah. This is a picture of the earthly
messengers for what's true of the heavenly messengers is true
of the earthly messengers. They cover their faces. They
say, I'm just a voice. Don't even remember what I look
like. Look to Him. Who are you, John? Just a boy. Who are you, Paul? I'm nothing.
Who's Apollos and Cephas and Paul? Nothing. Cover your face. Cover your feet. Leave no prints
for anybody to follow. That's one of the disadvantages
that we have in this day is too many biographies of preachers
of the past. They're not needed. Too many
biographies, too many people for us to follow, and we don't
follow the one that we're supposed to follow. Cover your feet, cover
your tracks, don't leave any prints for anybody to follow.
Let them follow Christ. That's right. They covered their
faces, they covered their feet, and with two wings they were
hastening, hastening, they did fly to deliver the message. That's
all that God raised them up to do, deliver the message. Deliver
the message. What was the message? Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. Let me tell
you. That right there is the missing note in preaching out
yonder today. That's it. Who God is. If men ever find out who God
is, they'll find out who they are. That's right. Let me show you
two passages. Jeremiah 23. Listen carefully now. This is
the missing note. There's no fear of God in this
day. No fear of God before their eyes. No fear of God. Why? Because the God they hear
preached is not worthy of fear or worship. He's some old granddaddy out
yonder that loves everybody and wants to do good and is dependent
upon our letting him do so. He's not going to punish sin.
Listen to Jeremiah 23, verse 16, "...Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy
unto you, they make you vain." They speak a vision of their
own hearts, not out of the mouth of the Lord. They don't preach
God's Word, they preach what they think. A vision out of their
own mouth and heart. And they say still unto them
that despise me." They say to people who despise me, the Lord
has said, you shall have peace. And they say unto everyone that
walketh after the imagination of their own heart, no evil shall
come upon you. You know what they say? God loves
you. Christ died for you. God loves
you and I love you. Mowdy here loves you. My pet
horse loves you. Everybody loves you. Yeah. You have peace. Everybody's got
peace. They make their peace with God
by doing various things. Those that despise God, they
tell them they're at peace with God. People that walk after the
imagination of their own hearts, they tell them, no evil is going
to come to you. God will not cast you into hell. God never
sends anybody to hell. You know what they say? Everybody
sends himself to hell. How about Malachi? Listen to
this. Am I not telling the truth? Malachi 2. Listen. Malachi 2,
verse 17. Malachi 2, verse 17, listen to
this. Mark it. You have wearied the
Lord with your words. Oh, words, words, words, flowing
from pulpits and televisions and radios and words. Wearied
the Lord with your words. You say, where have we wearied
Him? We talk sweet and nice. When you say, Everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord. Listen. And he delights in them. He loves them. Everyone that
doeth evil. Everyone that doeth evil is good
in the sight of the Lord. And he loves them. He delights
in them. You know what they're saying? God loves everybody. God delights in everybody. God's
not mad at anybody. God's not upset with anybody.
And they're out here taking His name in vain, making fun of His
Word, making fun of His Son, living in rebellion and all kind
of evil and sin and hating one another and greed and compromise
and preachers are desecrating the gospel and perverting the
truth. God loves you. Listen, where's
the God of judgment? You see that question? Where's
the God of righteousness? Where's the God of holiness?
Where's the God of judgment? Where's the God that's angry
with the wicked? Where's the God that hates the
workers of iniquity? This God there. Where's the God
that's only reconciled in Christ? that's only reconciled to sinners
in Christ, who is just and justifier in
Christ. Where is that God? Oh, my, my, my. These seraphims,
they cried, holy, holy, holy. But the message today is love,
love, love. God is love. The message here
is God is holy. The book of Acts, how many chapters,
28? Something like that. The book of Acts is a story of
the formation of the early church, the organization of the early
church, the beginning of the ministry of the early church,
the beginning of its missionary program, And sermon after sermon
after sermon is preached in the book of Acts by the apostles
in the early church, and the word love does not occur in the
book of Acts not one single time. But holy is in there, and righteous
is in there, and judgment is in there. God is love. But let me tell you something,
that love is in Christ. God is merciful, but His mercy
is in Christ. And if God can be love out of
Christ, I don't need Christ. If God can be merciful without
His Son, without His blood, without His sin offering, without His
righteousness, I don't need Him. I don't need His death, I don't
need His blood, and I don't need His intercession if I can come
to God in love and peace without Him. The only way I can come
to God is because Christ took my place, took my judgment, took
my sin, took my place, died in my stead, and put away God's
wrath, God's anger and God's enmity by His sacrifice of Himself. And now, because His enmity and
wrath fell on Christ, it's not on me and you. That's so. And preachers, folks, Folks don't
have an inkling of what the true gospel is and not going to till
the preachers of your generation and mine start telling the truth
about God. That's exactly right, just so.
Then said I, oh verse 5, I can't handle verse 4. I worked on it
for an hour. The post of the door moved at
the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. It talked about that being the temple that was destroyed
by an earthquake. That talked about the tearing
of the veil in two, and that talked about something else,
and I don't know what it's talking about. I wish I did. But I just
know the house was filled with smoke. They said, that's the
incense that filled the Holy of Holies. But it's all right,
isn't it? Just go over that one. You say, it's all right. It's
all right by me. It's all right. Then said I, when, said I, when
I saw the Lord, when old King Uzziah died, having violated
the gospel, And God killed him, God embarrassed him, God humiliated
him because he messed up the gospel. God humiliated Moses. That's right. And he'll do the
same thing sooner or later if men compromise the gospel. He
won't put up with it. Then said I, oh, woe is me! Then said I, what's his reaction
when he saw the Lord? Well, first he saw himself. I
am undone. I'm cut off. I'm ruined. I'm
reduced to silence. I'm undone. Why? Well, he saw his heart. Because
I'm a man of unclean lips. He didn't say, I'm a man of unclean
heart. He said, I'm a man of unclean
lips. You know why he said that? Because the mouth is the outlet
of the heart. The mouth is the outlet of the
heart. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks. And you can tell
what's in the heart by what comes out of the mouth. That's right. You can tell what
the heart's like by what comes out of the mouth. And that's
the reason he says, I'm a man of unclean lips. And the reason
my lips are unclean is because my heart's unclean. Oh, a man
may look at other people and say, well, I thank God I'm not
like other people. That's what the old Pharisee
said. He looked at that public and he said, I thank you, Lord,
I'm not like other people. A man may even look at the written
law and say with Saul of Tarsus, I'm blameless. But I tell you,
if a fellow ever, by the Spirit of God, sees the holiness of
God, he'll cry, I'm cut off. I'm undone. I'm reduced to silence. I'm a man of unclean lips and
an unclean heart. And not more than that, and I
dwell in the midst of a people, a people of unclean lips. He saw the whole race defiled. He said all flesh in Isaiah 40
is grass. And the very glory of man is
as the grass of the field. The grass withers and the flower
fadeth. Why? Well, mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. And let me show you who he's
talking about. You don't have to turn to it
because you're familiar with it, but let me read you something. Mine eyes have seen the Lord,
the King, the Lord of hosts. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in." Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He's the King
of glory. You want to know who he saw?
The Lord Jesus. I saw him. I saw him. Well, thank God he saw something
else. If we stopped there, we'd all
go home weeping and mourning in our hearts. Then, then, flew
one of the seraphims unto me. You know, before he saw the mercy
of God, he saw the wrath of God. Now, let me say something here.
The prophet saw the mercy of God here that came from the throne
of holiness. Just as the disease always is
discovered before the remedy. Isn't that right? You find out
the disease, then you start hunting the remedy. And the guilt always comes before
the pardon. Pardon means nothing to a man
who's not guilty. It doesn't. But I tell you, pardon
means everything to a man who's guilty. Everything. The curse
is always before the cross. Judgment always is discovered before we can appreciate grace. So here it is. How do you know
this talking about Christ? Well, the last line in verse
7. Your iniquity is taken away and
your sins are purged. And Hebrews says, he purged our
sins by the sacrifice of himself. Alright, let's go back now. That's
how I know they're talking about Christ. Then flew one of the
seraphim. Now who are those seraphim? God's
messengers. The fellows with the message.
The true message. The message of God's holiness
and righteousness. The message of who God is. He
flew! He flew unto me. He came to me. The messenger
came to me with the gospel. And he had a live coal in his
hand. That live coal is the gospel
of God's grace, alive, and by fire, hot. And he had it which he had taken
with tongs. No human hands touched it. No
human hands altered it or changed it. No human hands pulled with
it. That seraphim, that messenger,
that Philip to the eunuch, that Paul to Lydia, that Peter to
Cornelius, came with that live coal which he took off the altar,
the cross, the place of the burning judgment and justice of God.
With togs, no human hands touched it. And he laid it on my mouth. He
laid it where the problem was. He laid it on my sins, like my
sins were laid on Him. He laid it on my sins. Christ,
His blood, His death, His sufferings, His cross met my sins. The hot, burning, fiery coal
off the cross met my sins. And He said, This has touched
your lips. I accepted Jesus. No, I didn't. I didn't. He accepted me. I made
my peace with God. No, I didn't. He came from the
throne. This messenger with the gospel.
He'd gotten off the altar, off the cross. He didn't touch it,
alter it, change it. He came with it in the thongs. He touched my mouth. He touched
my rotten heart. He touched my evil. He touched
the spot of the offense. And He said, and He said, this
glorious, redemptive gospel and blood has touched your mouth,
and your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged. The poison is gone. The infection
is gone. The guilt is gone. The charge
is gone. Ah, boy. That's where it is. The cross. The blood came in
contact with my sin. And God purged me. He purged
my sins with His own blood. He did it all. Well, you did
something. I said, thank you. I said, praise the Lord. And
then I heard a voice of the Lord saying, now whom shall I send? God always sends His messengers. He sends them. He said, pray
ye the Lord of the harvest that He'll send forth laborers into
the field. You pray, He'll send them. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." But how are they going to call
on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they going
to believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how are they
going to hear without a preacher? And how are they going to preach
except they be sinned? Whom shall I sin? But you know
the second thing? Who will go? I'll tell you this,
He sends them, and they are willing to go if He sends them. And they
say, listen, and they say, here I am, Cindy. I'm ready to go. I've got something
to say. I've seen the Lord. I've seen
the Lord, the Lord of holiness, righteousness. Where's the God
of judgment? I've seen Him. I've seen Him. I've seen myself. I've seen myself. You needn't
worry about pride if you ever see yourself. You just needn't. Somebody says, well, you might.
No, you get a good glimpse every day. You get a fresh, fresh vision
every day. You meet yourself in the morning.
Every day. I've seen myself. And I've seen
the people. They're a needy bunch. I'm right
in the middle of them. I dwell in the midst of a people.
And I've experienced the gospel. He's touched my lips with His
blood. And I'm ready to go. But will
they hear you? Well, some will, but unfortunately,
listen. Verse 9, He said, Go, tell the
people. Hear ye indeed, but understand
not. See ye indeed, but perceive not.
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. Understand with their heart. God, don't let that be me. Don't let that be me. Let me
be one that experiences the gospel of Your grace and mercy. Some
will. My sheep will hear my voice.
So let's keep preaching it when He gives us this opportunity.
I keep saying it. I still be discouraged.