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Testing God’s Patience – Part 1
Isaiah 7:1-8:8 (7:1-9)
April 23, 2023

Tonight we start a new segment in Isaiah’s prophet ministry.
The segment is Isaiah 7-12.

Now what I’m about to tell you is very important for you to grasp
• So that we can make sense of the passage
• So that we can also gain the message which we are intended to gain.

I’ve told you many times that when prophets saw the future
Sometimes they had difficulty distinguishing the exact timeline
Of how everything was going to shake out.

We’ve likened it to a mountain range.
• You can see all the peaks from a distance,
• But have difficulty interpreting how far apart they all are from one another.

Indeed Peter spoke of this struggle which the prophets faced.
1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”

In other words, these men knew they were seeing something
More than just that which pertained to their own day,
But they had difficulty nailing down exactly when it was coming.

They searched and inquired, but all they really ever gleaned was that
What they were seeing was for another generation in the future.

Peter said that we benefit from them
Having seen the fulfillment of much of what they predicted
Because we have had the gospel preached to us.

I point that out because Peter reveals that even Isaiah knew that
Not everything that he saw pertained to him and his current people.

In fact, look down to CHAPTER 8:16-18
“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait for the LORD who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.”

Isaiah is actually told to “bind up the testimony”.
• That is to say, he was told to put it in a rubbermaid container
• And lock it away for a future generation who would listen to what he had to say.

So you see that Isaiah understood that he was preaching
Both to his contemporaries and to those in the future.

And that is helpful to grasp in a segment of Scripture like this
Because it almost blends the present and the future throughout.

For example, look at chapter 7:10-16
“Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!” Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.”

Clearly this sign is for Ahaz.
• God has told him that this child will be born
• And before that child can distinguish between good and evil
• The land that is threatening Ahaz (Israel) will be forsaken.

So clearly that was a message meant for Ahaz.

But at the same time we recognize that passage “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

Well Matthew says that that verse has its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.
So that sign isn’t just for Ahaz, it is also for us.

You see it again in chapter 9 when Isaiah speaks of the coming day of deliverance for God’s remnant.

(9:6-7) “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

We recognize that part of that verse has been fulfilled.
• The child was born,
• But part of that prophecy is still yet to come.

Not only was Isaiah speaking to his contemporaries,
But also to us, and to those who may come after us.

Consider even chapter 11 that speaks of God’s Righteous Branch who will rule the world, and under His rule the world will know peace.

(11:6) “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.”

We haven’t seen that yet either, but we wait for it.

I just want you to understand that in the perfection of the word of God,
Isaiah is able to speak to his people, and us,
And even those who may come after us.

AND IT ALL FITS.

And understanding that will help you understand
What Isaiah is seeing and what you are supposed to do with it.

Now, as we begin to dive into these six chapters, WHAT IS THE POINT?

The overarching point is this:
THE REMNANT WILL RETURN AND REJOICE.

I would draw your attention one more time
Back to Isaiah’s commissioning in chapter 6.

We learned last Sunday night that
• Isaiah had been given a very difficult and borderline discouraging commission.
• He was to render men has hard hearted, deaf, and blind.
• And he was to do this until everyone was dead.

But there was a promise given to Isaiah.
Isaiah 6:13 “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

You remember that even though most of the people
Would reject Isaiah’s words and be hardened by them,
He was promised that 10% would get it.

There would be a remnant.

Now that remnant would NOT NECESSARILY HAVE IT EASY.
• God told Isaiah that even they would “be subject to burning”
• But they were going to survive, they were going to return.

In many ways Isaiah 7-12 is their story.

It is certainly a segment of Scripture
That would call you to forsake the masses
That you might become part of God’s redeemed remnant.

That is a message that was true in Isaiah’s day.
That is a message that is true in our day.
That is a message that will be true in the future day.

It will do you no good to follow the crowd and be part of the masses
If the masses are headed to destruction.

Jesus said it:
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

It does no good to be part of the crowd if the crowd is headed to hell.

The calling of God has always been to forsake the world and trust in Him
Even if you are in the minority for doing so.

For those who forsake the world and trust in Him
Are the ones who end up rejoicing in the end.

That is a simple message, but that is the overarching theme of Isaiah 7-12.

LET ME SHOW THAT REAL QUICK
With some unique points in this segment.

IT STARTS WITH Judah and Jerusalem in disarray because they are facing an attack from Aram and Israel.

So God sends Isaiah to meet Ahaz
And God specifically tells Isaiah to take his son with him.

(7:3) “Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field,”

That’s interesting, why take your son?
• You don’t see that happen all that often in the Bible.
• The reason is because the son is the message.
• The son is the sermon.

The son’s name is “Shear-jashub”
Does anyone want to take a stab at what his name means?
“a remnant shall return”

God does this doesn’t He?
Remember when Abraham messed up and went in to Hagar instead of trusting God to give him a son through Sarah?

• Do you remember what God told him to name that boy?
• Ishmael, which means “God hears”
• And then when Sarah sends Hagar away God appears to her and provides a well, and she names it “Beer-lahai-roi” (literally: God sees)
• And then God sends her back to Abraham with the boy.

Abraham is forced to hear the testimony of Hagar about how God saw her affliction and he is forced to live with the boy named “God hears”

And all this as a reproach to Abraham and Sarah
Who had assumed that God neither heard or saw them.

GOD DOES THIS.
Isaiah here takes a son who is named “A remnant shall return”.

It is a prophetic message to Ahaz to not think like the world,
But to be part of God’s righteous remnant.

Isaiah will say later:
Isaiah 10:21-22 “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.”

This is a major part of the message of this segment.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.
• When God calls Ahaz to trust him
• Ahaz refuses
• God gives him another sign.

(7:14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

Now, I know you know what that name means.
“God with us”

It is yet another prophetic message through a child.
• Who is God with?
• He is with the remnant.

Isaiah 8:9-10 “Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. “Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us.”

So there you have two children, both with prophetic names
Meant to teach Judah and Jerusalem to trust God
And be a part of the believing remnant.

BUT STILL ISAIAH IS NOT DONE.

(8:1-4) “Then the LORD said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey. “And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

There we get another prophetically named child.
• This is Isaiah’s son whom he names “Maher-shalal-hash-baz”

What does that mean? “swift is booty, speedy is prey”
The exact same thing Isaiah was told to write on that tablet.

It was a reminder that all those who failed to trust in the Lord
Would swiftly be carried away as booty
And would speedily become prey at the hands of the enemy.

In short, those who are not part of the remnant will not last.

AND STILL ONE MORE
We come to chapter 9 we get yet another prophetically named child.

Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

• This is the One who will bring light and life to the remnant who have trusted
Him.
• He will lead them to rejoicing and satisfaction.

And the entire SEGMENT ENDS in chapters 11 & 12
With the remnant rejoicing in this righteous King who has delivered them.

Isaiah 12:5-6 “Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

That is what this segment is about.

The Holy One of Israel will redeem His righteous remnant
And they will return to dwell with Him in the land.

So don’t ignore Him, don’t reject Him, don’t turn away from Him.
Trust Him and see what He can do for you.

This is the point of chapters 7-12.
It was a message for them and it is a message for you.

So with that being said, let’s start our way through it.

Tonight we’ll look at Isaiah 7:1 – 8:8
Which is a story about how Ahaz tested God’s patience
And the ultimate futility and stupidity in doing that.

We’re going to break this segment up into 5 points.
#1 THE DILEMMA
Isaiah 7:1-2

You’ll notice now that we have fast-forwarded to “the days of Ahaz”
• Uzziah died in 739BC,
• Ahaz took the throne in 735BC

Where Uzziah and Jotham had been kings who did what was right in the sight of the LORD (barring their overlooking of the high places),
Ahaz DID NOT do what was pleasing to God.

During his reign, God would bring about the trial of Isaiah’s life,
And the struggle that would either make or break them as a nation.

God would bring about Assyria.

But it DOESN’T START with Assyria.

We read that “in the days of Ahaz…Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it.”

You remember that the nation of Israel was split after Solomon’s death.
• Ten tribes defected to the north and became known as Israel or the northern kingdom,
• Two tribes remained in the south and became known as Judah or the southern kingdom.

Ahaz rules in Judah, Pekah rules in Israel.
Just north of Israel is the nation of Aram (Syria) which is ruled by Rezin.

On separate occasions both those kings had attacked Judah.
Though they were unable to overthrow Jerusalem,
They did inflict great loss and defeat upon them.

2 Chronicles 28:5-8 “Wherefore, the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried away from him a great number of captives and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who inflicted him with heavy casualties. For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the ruler of the house and Elkanah the second to the king. The sons of Israel carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons and daughters; and they took also a great deal of spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.”

• Rezin had invaded and carried away a great number of captives
• Then Pekah invaded and slew 120,000 and then carried away 200,000 women
as captives.

They had failed to totally conquer Judah
But they had gained massive victories in the land.

But on this day Judah received some frightening news.

(2) “When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

Arameans camping in Israel is not a good thing.
• The two have made an alliance and certainly Judah felt helpless to stand against them.

Their PURPOSE and their INTENT is stated later in verses 5-6
“Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,”

In that region there was a new bully on the block.
• His name was Assyria and he was a threatening force to the region.
• Aram and Israel formed an alliance to oppose him and had tried to force Ahaz to join, but he had refused.
• Now the plan was to invade Judah, overthrow Ahaz, and put their own puppet on the throne.

They had so greatly afflicted Judah separately
That together the fear was total annihilation.

And Ahaz “and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

The people were terrified and so was the king.
That is the Dilemma.

#2 THE DECREE
Isaiah 7:3-9

God has a message for Ahaz.
• And bear in mind that Ahaz has been no friend of God.
• Ahaz is idolatrous and as pagan as they come.

2 Kings 16:1-4 “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel. He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”

Ahaz does not deserve any favor from the LORD,
But God is loyal to Judah because of David.

God has promised that David’s line will endure
And God is faithful to His promises.

So God sends Isaiah to Ahaz with a message.
(3-4) “Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field, and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.”

Ahaz is out checking the city water supply as he prepares for an invasion
And Isaiah goes to see him.

There you see the prophetically named son of Isaiah, “Shear-jashub”
Which again means “the remnant will return”

Isaiah’s son would be an object sermon for Ahaz
To remind him of the importance of trusting God.

And the message falls right in line.
“Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted”

The opposite of faith is fear
God tells Ahaz that he should have none of it.

Despite your past…
Despite your decisions…
Despite your paganism…
Despite your idolatry…
I’m coming to you today with a calling on your life.

It is time for you to stop running to idols and trusting in your own wisdom
And it is time for you place your faith in Me.

It is a simple call to salvation,
No different than God has extended to so many in life.

Would you leave your futile ways behind and start trusting Me?
Not just for salvation, but would you trust Me with your life?

You do realize that this is the call.

If you think you are only called to trust Christ to save you from hell,
But that you will handle the rest of it on your own
Then you do not realize what Christ has called you to.

Christ has called you to trust Him in all things, and that for His glory.

That is the call coming to Ahaz.
Don’t be afraid and give it all to Me.

“I know those two men (5-6) are planning to invade and assassinate you and replace you, but I’m telling you that IT WON’T HAPPEN.”

(7) “thus says the Lord GOD: “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.”

God will not let it happen.
• He has already decided and decreed it,
• And that is regardless of what Ahaz decides.

(8-9) “For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”’”

You have to love the difference between
How Judah looks at the situation VS how God looks at the situation.

• TO JUDAH, Rezin and Pekah are terrifying kings with unstoppable power.
• TO GOD, Rezin and Pekah are “two stubs of smoldering fire brands” or two burnt out cigarette butts.

They are both doomed to defeat and it won’t even be difficult for God.
He is going to overthrow them.
He has decreed it.

Yet there is a word of warning to Ahaz.

God will stop Pekah and Rezin regardless,
But to Ahaz God says, “If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”

The outcome of the battle does not rest on Ahaz’s faith,
But the outcome of his life does.

We can’t get through this entire first section in one sermon,
So here is a good place to stop and reflect.

THIS IS SO TRUE.
God is sovereign and His will…will be done.

He DOESN’T ask for your faith to allow for His plan to succeed.
His plan will succeed.

He asks for your faith so you can survive in the midst of it.

And no man can last without trusting God.
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

And consider that entire chapter of faith in Hebrews 11.
• If Noah doesn’t build the boat is God’s plan thwarted?
• If Abram doesn’t leave Ur?
• If Moses doesn’t reject Pharaoh’s house?
• If Joshua doesn’t march around Jericho?

Is God’s plan just thwarted if those people don’t walk by faith?

OF COURSE NOT!
God will accomplish His purposes.

But those men would not have saved their own lives
If they had not believed and trusted God.

There is only one way to live this life and it is by faith.
If you won’t trust God, you’re simply not going to make it.

God is going to stop Pekah and Rezin regardless of what Ahaz does.
But if Ahaz wants to save his own life he’ll have to trust God.

The simple point is clear.
“If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”

Ray Ortlund said:
“We need to think this through again and again, because living by faith in God rather than by faith in ourselves takes time to catch on to, and we lose focus quickly. Conversion to Christ is only the beginning. And how do we learn but in our crisis? That’s when God takes the training wheels off our bikes and teaches us to ride like the big kids. God is saying, ‘In your crisis, when it counts for you, trust me. I will keep my every promise. But if you treat me as unreal, you will not connect with reality at all.’”
(ibid pg. 89-90)

And again he asks:
“Am I trusting God right now, where it counts for me? If we welcome God as our ally and yield to his way, his timing, his control, his glory, he will fight for us. And we will have no regrets. He never lets faith go unmet. But if we set our own terms, we will fight alone. Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29, KJV). Moment by moment, that is the key to life.”
(ibid pg. 91)

This is the point to be made here.
• God requires faith.
• Not just faith to escape hell, but faith to live life.

And if you won’t trust Him with the little things of life
Can it really be said that you are trusting Him for your soul?

John 3:16-19 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

FAITH IS THE CALLING.

Certainly that is faith for your forgiveness and salvation.
• But faith is also required regarding your finances.
• Faith is required regarding your relationships.
• Faith is required regarding your parenting.
• Faith is required regarding your trials.
• Faith is required regarding your ministry.

You have to trust God in those things.

AND WHAT DOES TRUSTING GOD LOOK LIKE IN THOSE SITUATIONS?

Well for Ahaz faith requires him to do nothing.
• Don’t hatch a plan.
• Don’t come up with something to do.
• Don’t ask someone else.
• Just do nothing and let God deliver.

Sometimes faith is simply waiting on the Lord.

Other times it is OBEDIENCE.
• Noah, build the boat.
• Abram, leave Ur
• Abraham, sacrifice your son
• Do not worry…
• Wives submit to your husbands
• Husbands love your wives

Faith in some cases is simply obeying.

Certainly at times faith is ENDURING
• Isaiah, keep preaching even when they don’t listen

But in all things faith is required or you will not make it.

“If you will not believe, you surely shall not last”.

Isaiah’s name means “The LORD is Salvation”
And the entire theme of his ministry is to call his contemporaries
To stop trusting themselves and to start trusting God.

Unfortunately his message so often falls on deaf ears
You’ll see that it will with Ahaz.

HOW ABOUT YOU?
• Will you trust God?
• Do you trust God?
• Trust Him for salvation?
• Trust Him in your present trial?

If we won’t, we will not last.

And that is the message to Ahaz
As God promises to take care of his enemies.

 

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Reflecting On The Holy One
Isaiah 6:1-7
April 23, 2023

I realize this will be our 3rd week in a row dealing with this 6th chapter of Isaiah
And his vision of the Holy One,
I just wasn’t quite ready yet to leave this vision in the rear-view mirror.

Before we move on, I want us to consider this vision
In light of the fact that this Holy One that Isaiah saw
Was none other than Jesus Himself.

John 12:41 “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”

John there was of course referring to Jesus as the One whom Isaiah saw.

We have said many time and we say again this morning that
The vision which Isaiah saw CHANGED HIS LIFE.

He had been a hypocritical worshiper.
• He was self described as a man with “unclean lips”
• Who lived “among a people with unclean lips.”

Isaiah was making the confession that he was a liar.
His confession did not match his heart.

Isaiah would preach this message later to the congregation saying:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

Isaiah confessed that he was exactly that sort of man.
• Like a Pharisee he appeared righteous on the outside but inside was full of all
uncleanness.
• He would have been one of those bloody-handed sinners.
• He would have been one of those who brought useless sacrifices.
• He would have been one of those whose worship offended God.

He was going through the motions without any real love for God
And he knew it.

And he was totally content to live in such a state of hypocrisy
UNTIL he saw the Lord.

When he saw the Lord it changed everything for him.
• In a moment he felt the weight of the guilt of his sin.
• In a moment he realized that “the wages of sin is death”
• In a moment he understood that sin was no laughing matter and definitely not something to overlook.

He fell to his face and prepared to die at the hands of the Holy One.

BUT IT WAS THEN THAT ISAIAH RECEIVED MERCY
For the Holy One is merciful to those who are contrite in heart.

Isaiah was forgiven, his iniquity was removed
And he was commissioned into the service of the Holy One.

And if you read the book of Isaiah
It is not hard to see that HE NEVER GOT OVER the vision.

• 30 times in this book Isaiah speaks of “the Holy One”
• Nearly 60 times Isaiah speaks of God as “Holy”
• 7 times he speaks of Jerusalem as the “Holy Mountain”
• Twice he calls Jerusalem the “Holy city”
And that is only because the Holy One is there.

Isaiah entered the temple in a state of hypocrisy
With no real concern for what God thought about his sin.

He exited that temple totally captivated with “the Holy One”
And totally committed to proclaiming Him to his contemporaries.

If you zoom out and take a birds-eye view of Isaiah’s preaching
You can hear him making the same 3 points over and over again.

1) THE HOLY ONE IS YOUR REDEEMER AND DELIVERER

ISAIAH LEARNED THAT IN THE TEMPLE
When instead of killing him, the Holy One pardoned him.

Isaiah learned that this Holy One is the only chance you have a salvation
And he echoes this throughout his ministry.

When Assyria attacks, God makes this promise regarding Assyria.
Isaiah 10:17 “And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.”

When Babylon threatens Israel, God promises again:
Isaiah 41:13-16 “For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you,” declares the LORD, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, And will make the hills like chaff. “You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the LORD, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.”

Again to Babylon:
Isaiah 47:1-4 “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. “Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. “Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame also will be exposed; I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.” Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 48:17 “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go.”

Isaiah 54:5 “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.”

Isaiah is constantly reminding Israel that they have but one savior.
They have but one deliverer; one redeemer
And it is the Holy One whom he saw back in the temple.

The clear implication is that
Israel should quit running to their neighbors and trusting in false gods,
But should run to their true Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

It is a constant theme in the book.

Another constant theme
2) THE HOLY ONE IS THE ONE WHO WILL GLORIFY YOU

Isaiah 55:5 “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, And a nation which knows you not will run to you, Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

Isaiah 60:9 “Surely the coastlands will wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, For the name of the LORD your God, And for the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.”

Isaiah 60:14 “The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, And all those who despised you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet; And they will call you the city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah saw how the Holy One transformed him from sinner to saint.
How he was changed from a hypocrite to a prophet.

He knew that not only would this Holy One redeem you,
But He would also glorify you.

It was again the call to run to Him in submission and humility and worship
And to allow Him to fulfill His good pleasure in your life.

It is a reoccurring theme in Isaiah’s preaching.

But there is also one more tragic theme in Isaiah’s preaching.
3) BUT YOU ARE DESPISING AND REJECTING THIS HOLY ONE

Isaiah 1:4 “Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.”

They mock His sovereign plan:
Isaiah 5:19 “Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!”

Isaiah 5:24 “Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

Perhaps the most telling of all:
Isaiah 30:10-15 “Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Since you have rejected this word And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them, Therefore this iniquity will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant, Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar, So ruthlessly shattered That a sherd will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth Or to scoop water from a cistern.” For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing,”

This is the grief of Isaiah’s life.
• He has found the Holy One.
• He has found the One who will deliver, redeem, and glorify His people
• And yet the people are rejecting Him.

But Isaiah will spend his entire life proclaiming this Holy One
Whether they listen or not.

THE POINT?
Isaiah saw Jesus and it changed his life forever.
• It changed his behavior.
• It changed his priority.
• It changed his occupation.

I want us to take one more look at this vision of Jesus
In hope that it changes our lives as well.

For Isaiah, it is all about the Holy One.
He was captivated by the greatness and power and perfection of the One on the throne.

Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?”

Isaiah 40:18 “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?”

Isaiah 40:25-26 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.”

When Isaiah stepped into that temple
He saw One to whom he did not compare.

He saw One that was nothing like him and One that he was nothing like.

All Isaiah could do was fall as a dead man and cry, “I don’t belong here!”

He is higher and loftier and holier and wiser and more glorious
Than anything we could even have imagined.

There is none like Him and He is totally unapproachable.
Even the angels would not gaze directly upon Him.

• He is the One who put Isaiah and Ezekiel on their face.
• He caused guards to faint like dead men.
• He terrified the apostle John to the point of death.

He is more holy and exalted than we have ever considered.
He is Holy and totally unapproachable by sinful men.

WE HAVE DISCUSSED THAT FOR 3 WEEKS NOW.

But in my daily reading this week,
I read a verse that I’ve read many times and on this day it struck me even more in light of this vision of Jesus that Isaiah saw.

It occurred after Peter and John healed the cripple man at the gate of the temple and all the people approached them in awe of that miracle.

In response to that crowd Peter said this:
Acts 3:12-15 “But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”

The phrase that struck me?
Peter said, “but you disowned the Holy and Righteous One”

Peter referenced the Holy One that Isaiah had seen
And charged the people with disowning Him
Just as Isaiah’s contemporaries had done.

And it struck me to ponder again
Exactly what happened to this Holy One that Isaiah had seen.
• This One that Isaiah couldn’t even look at…
• This One that Isaiah dared not approach…
• This One who caused Isaiah to pronounce woe upon himself…
• This One the angels wouldn’t even look at…
• This One the angels covered themselves from…
• This One who caused the very thresholds of the temple to shake…

WHAT BECAME OF HIM?

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WE READ THE ANSWER.

Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”

This Holy One who had terrified Isaiah
Would put on human flesh and dwell among us.

The Holy One who terrified Isaiah
Is the very One who was mocked and scorned and crucified.

The incarnation and the crucifixion
Took on a whole new light for me this week
When I viewed it through the lens of the vision that Isaiah saw.

THIS MORNING
I want us to consider the atoning work of Jesus through that lens.

I want to give you just three things to consider.
#1 THE METHOD OF SALVATION

As we said a couple of weeks ago
As we contemplated the resurrected Lord, and we saw how far from Him Isaiah was.

We said, “Isaiah couldn’t put on glory so the Holy One put on flesh.”

We see that in the gospel with the birth of Jesus.

We read really that astounding request made by the Father in Zechariah 11.

Zechariah 11:4-5 “Thus says the LORD my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter. “Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them.”

• That was a preincarnate conversation between the Father and the Son
• Where the Holy One was asked to put on human flesh
• And go shepherd the abused sheep of Israel.

What a humiliating task!
What an embarrassing request!

And yet the Holy One did it.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We have said it before that never has anyone
Experienced more of a humiliation than Christ did.

No one ever started so high to descend so low as Him.

This was the Holy One whom Isaiah saw
Relinquishing His glory so that He might enter the womb
And be born as a baby and live among sinners.

He became a child who became a man who became a servant
Who was condemned and murdered.

Never has anyone ever experienced humiliation like He did.

AND IT CAUSES ME TO WONDER
When men today refuse to humble themselves before Him…

EXPLAIN TO ME how it is too much for God to ask you to humble yourself?

• Why is it too embarrassing to confess your sin?
• Why is it too humiliating to come to the front and cry out for a Savior?
• Why is it too much to ask to let everyone see that you have been a phony?

IT IS NOTHING BUT SHEER HUMAN PRIDE
That keeps sinners from confessing their sin and seeking a Savior.
They see the humiliation as too great a cost.

Do you suppose the Holy One will accept that as an excuse after having humbled Himself to such an extent to purchase your salvation?

FOR YOU TO BE SAVED IT REQUIRED
• That this all glorious, unapproachable, Holy One
• Humble Himself to a great extent than you ever will and become human
• And suffer our shame and reproach.

AND HE DID IT!

Perhaps you understand why He finds your pride repulsive.

The method of salvation was the humiliation of the Holy One
#2 THE MADNESS OF SALVATION

Here is the part that I really pondered this week that blew my mind again.

That in the gospel account we see that this Holy One
Actually subjected Himself to the shame and ridicule
Of proud and arrogant men.

TURN TO: JOHN 18:12

This of course was in the garden as Jesus prayed.

• And all of a sudden Judas arrives with an entire Roman Cohort.
• Of course the first thing He did was declare “I am He” and they all fell on their faces.

It was just a reminder of who it was they were approaching
And that a cohort was not going to be nearly enough men.

But in meekness and submission He allowed them to take Him.
AND WE READ that they “arrested Jesus and bound Him.”

THINK ABOUT THAT.
This is the very Holy One that Isaiah saw.

Could you imagine Isaiah leaving the temple, going out to gather a mob or even the Israeli army and saying,
“There’s a guy in this temple that greatly offended me. He made me feel
like a sinner. I say we go in there and bind Him with chains and drag Him
out of that place.”

Could you read Isaiah 6 and even imagine such a scene?
• Could you imagine Isaiah approaching that throne and trying to zip-tie the
hands of the Holy One on the throne?

The angels would have killed him before he even got close.

But yet, here in the garden, the Holy One kept the angels at bay
And submitted Himself to be arrested and bound by sinful men.

And of course we’re just getting started.
TURN TO: JOHN 18:19-24

Now Jesus has been taken to the house of the High Priest Caiaphas.
• However before Jesus can get inside the house He is intercepted by Caiaphas’ father-in-law Annas who was the real big-wig of Israel.
• Annas confronts Jesus in the courtyard to make sure Jesus knows who’s really in charge here.

And Jesus answers his questions by saying, (20-21) “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what is said.”

But one of the guards was offended by Jesus’ answer:
(22) “When He had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, “Is this the way You answer the high priest?”

DO YOU SEE THAT?
That guard punches Jesus and says, “Who do you think you are to talk to the high priest like that?”

In light of Isaiah’s vision can you imagine such a thing?
Can you imagine that angel coming
To touch Isaiah’s lips with that live coal to purge away his iniquity

And Isaiah grabbing that coal and chunking it at the Holy One and saying, “Who do you think You are to try and cleanse me, cleanse Yourself!”

Could you imagine such arrogance?
In Isaiah 6 it is absolutely unthinkable.

But here we are in John 18 and the Holy One is submitting to all of it.

And still that’s not all.
Jesus next enters the house of Caiaphas, still bound, and still a prisoner.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 26:59-68

Again, it’s unthinkable.
• They bring in their false witnesses and they just make up lies about Him.
• And when they ask Him who He is and He tells them, they call Him a blasphemer and start spitting on Him and punching Him with their fists.

COULD YOU IMAGINE
Isaiah gazing upon the Holy One and saying, “Who are you?”

And when the angels announce that He is “Holy, Holy, Holy”
That Isaiah would then walk up an spit on the Holy One on that throne?

That is unthinkable. It is absolute madness.
And yet Jesus is submitting to it.

TURN TO: JOHN 19:1-16

Here is Jesus before Pilate,
• You notice that Pilate is starting to catch a glimpse of the madness that is going on here.
• He’s terrified but he’s more terrified of the Jews.

But here they are again, mocking him with a crown of thorns,
Slapping Him, and abusing Him.

And then the crowd comes together and asks for Him to be crucified.

Isaiah’s Holy One crucified?
Isaiah’s Holy One mocked and slapped and beaten?

Of course it wasn’t just at the hands of Pilate.

Matthew 27:27-31 “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.”

Luke 23:8-11 “Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. And he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.”

THIS IS JUST MADNESS!

It is unthinkable that Isaiah would have approached the Holy One
And even looked cross-eyed at Him,
Let alone slapped Him and spit on Him and mocked Him.

AND STILL IT ISN’T DONE.

TURN TO: LUKE 23:33-39

• They nailed Him to a cross and even the criminals hanging beside Him join in on the ridicule.
• The crowds gather around Him to watch the spectacle and hurl their abuse at Him.

Isaiah’s Holy One, hanging naked, abused, crucified,
A spectacle for all the world to see?

These arrogant sinful men have no idea what they are doing.
Jesus even said that, “they do not know what they are doing.”

BOY IS THAT AN UNDERSTATEMENT.
• What humility!
• What mercy!
• What restraint!

They arrogant men are despising the Holy One just as Isaiah said.

Acts 3:14-15 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”

IT IS MADNESS!
AND YET, THERE ARE MANY WHO DO IT STILL TODAY.

There are many who totally disregard that He is the Holy One
And refuse to humble themselves and submit to Him.

• He calls and they tell Him “No”.
• They do what He forbids
• They rebel against His holy Law.

Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

They hear the truth, they know the truth, but they reject the truth.

The writer of Hebrews says “they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

What arrogance!
What madness!

And the only real question we can ask is:
WHY DID HE PERMIT THESE ARROGANT MEN TO DO SUCH THING TO HIM?

#3 THE MEANS OF SALVATION

Why did He allow it?

Isaiah 50:4-6 “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient Nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.”

And of course Isaiah again gave us the answer.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 53

Whey did the Holy One take on flesh and subject Himself to the scorn and reproach of arrogant men?

Because it was the only way for sinners to be saved.

Someone had to pay the price for their sin.
• Isaiah couldn’t put on glory so the Holy One had to put on flesh.
• Isaiah couldn’t pay for his own sin, the Holy One had to pay it for him.

THIS UNAPPROACHABLE HOLY ONE
• Relinquished His glory that He might approach us.
• He bore our sin and our shame and our suffering that we might be justified and able to approach Him.
• He tore the veil from top to bottom and now through Him we do what Isaiah never even dreamed possible.

Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Isaiah saw the Holy One and feared for his life.
But this Holy One humbled Himself to save Isaiah’s life.

It is the only way salvation would work and He did it for us too.

I am struck by the Holy One who would humble Himself to save sinners.

And I am appalled by sinners who won’t humble themselves to repent of their sin.

This morning I invite you to humble yourself before Him
As He humbled Himself before you.

He received score and mocking and death,
Do you think yourself above the crushing of your pride and little embarrassment for admitting yourself to be a sinner?

I am calling you to repentance and faith in Christ.

And for those who are saved, this morning as we partake of the Lord’s Supper we worship Him with immense gratitude for what He has done.

We’re going to have a Time of Preparation.

IF YOU NEED SALVATION, if you need to openly and publicly confess Him as Lord, come forward and do that during this time.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE REDEEMED it is a time of confession and sanctification as we focus on this unapproachable Holy One who actually approached us.

And then we will partake of the Lord’s Supper

LORD’S SUPPER

• Deacons Come Forward

Matthew 27:27-31 “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.”

• Give Bread to Deacons
• Deacon Prayer
• Deacons pass out Bread

Matthew 26:26 “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

• Take Bread

John 19:1-7 “Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

• Give Juice to Deacons
• Deacon Prayer
• Deacons pass out Juice

Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

• Take Juice
• Prayer
• Parting Hymn

download here

Isaiah’s Commissioning – Part 2
Isaiah 6:1-13 (6-13)
April 16, 2023

This morning we continued working on this wonderful 6th chapter
Where we learn the details surrounding the commissioning of Isaiah.

We have noted how Isaiah started his ministry with tremendous boldness and confrontation.
• Calling out false religion as that which is unpleasing to God.
• Calling out worldliness as that which offends God.
• Pronouncing woes upon Israel’s fruitlessness.
• And calling Israel to repentance in every sin of their life that they might once again find the blessing of God.

He came out of the gate swinging.
In chapter 6 we find out why.

Isaiah saw the Lord and it changed everything for him.

We’re continuing to work through this 6th chapter.
We saw the first two points this morning.
#1 THE SOURCE OF ISAIAH’S CONVICTION
Isaiah 6:1-4

Isaiah was a man content in his phony religion,
Just going through the motions of worship,
Even entering the temple to continue the charade.

But on this day Isaiah saw the Lord.
• He saw HIS ELEVATION – “lofty and exalted”
• He saw HIS EXALTATION – “Seraphim…called out to another…Holy, Holy, Holy”
• He saw HIS EFFECT – “the foundations…trembled…the temple was filling with smoke.”

Isaiah realized that he had seen “the LORD of hosts”
And what is even more terrifying is that
The LORD of hosts had no doubt seen Isaiah.

That vision would forever change Isaiah’s life.
• All of the petty sin that he had been involved in…
• All the concern for the world’s approval…
• All the desire for the things of the world…

In a moment all of those things were less than important
For now Isaiah was standing in the presence of the Holy One.

This is the Source of His Conviction.
#2 THE SIN OF ISAIAH’S LIPS
Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah pronounced woe upon himself for he was a man “of unclean lips”

This spoke of his hypocrisy.

Later Isaiah would spell it out in a passage Jesus would eventually quote as well:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

That had been Isaiah as well.
• His sacrifices were just as offensive.
• His attendance was just as irritating.
• His hands were just as bloody.
• His religion was just as detestable to God.

He had been a phony.
He was playing the game, giving lips service to God
But ultimately he did whatever he wanted.

And while Isaiah may have successfully deceived his contemporaries,
He knew that he could not deceive God.

Isaiah had been EXPOSED
And all he could do was fall to his face and pronounce woe on himself
For he knew he was about to die.

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!”

He was standing before God and that is
The absolute worse place that a hypocrite can stand.

God cannot be deceived.
ISAIAH WAS SOON TO PERISH.

BUT IN THAT MOMENT,
We see God do something that Isaiah had not expected.

And that is actually where we left off this morning, with the introduction of this 3rd point.

#3 THE SALVATION OF ISAIAH’S SOUL
Isaiah 6:6-7

As Isaiah lay on his face waiting to die at the hands of the Holy One,
Something remarkable happened.

(6) “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.”

No doubt this came as an order from the Holy One.
That one of these angels should take this coal and approach Isaiah.

This is the process of SANCTIFICATION.
This holy fire is coming for a purpose in Isaiah’s life.

(7) “He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Isaiah’s lips were the problem, Isaiah’s lips must be purified.
It is another way of saying that God was curing his hypocrisy problem.

There is nothing that sounds overly fun
About a burning coal touching your lips,
And no one is denying that repentance may be a little painful.

BUT THE EFFECT of this cleansing touch is remarkable.
“your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

It was THE SIGHT OF THE HOLY ONE
That brought Isaiah to the depths of despair.

It was THE TOUCH OF THE HOLY ONE
That brought him redemption.

Psalm 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

And what we noted this morning is that the Holy One is merciful
To those who humble themselves in His sight.

Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Psalms 51:14-17 “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

You can see how Isaiah is no longer trying the hypocrisy game.
• He is not offering God another goat or a bull.
• There is no pretense left.
• There is no phony religion.

Isaiah comes totally clean before the Lord regarding his sin
And God reaches down to atone and forgive him.

And to make sure that we do not miss the GOSPEL PICTURE found here;
You need to see that coal as picture of Christ.

He is the One who touches the sinner
That iniquity may be taken away and sin forgiven.

• He is the One who atones for sin.
• He is the One who takes our sin upon Himself and carries it away.
• He is the One who purchases our pardon.

Isaiah’s sin cannot just vanish into thin air, it must be paid for.
Isaiah’s sin was removed from Isaiah and placed upon Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Perhaps no Old Testament prophet was more aware of this atonement
Than Isaiah who gives us that beautiful 53rd chapter.

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

Isaiah didn’t just announce that, Isaiah enjoyed that.
He experienced it, he lived it.

In a moment, Isaiah would turn from being a hypocrite
To a true worshiper.

We’ve read Isaiah 57:15 a couple of times now.
That passage continues:
Isaiah 57:15-19 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. “For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made. “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him; I hid My face and was angry, And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart. “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, Creating the praise of the lips. Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,” Says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”

God takes those in sin
• Who humble themselves before Him
• And become mourners over their sin
• And God says, “I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners, creating the praise of the lips.”

God takes those who feared for their lives and deserved to be undone
And says, “Peace, peace to him” and “I will heal him.”

Do you see why he is so aware of God’s salvation?
• He tasted it.
• He experienced it.

I’ll tell you right now this is one of the reasons
We have so many in the church who never preach the gospel.

They don’t know how to preach about sin and forgiveness
Because they’ve never owned their sin
And they’ve never experienced forgiveness.

It’s hard to be a hypocrite, playing the church game,
And then go out and explain to a sinner how to repent and be forgiven.

But those who have felt the terror of God’s holy gaze
And the peace of God’s atoning touch
Have no problem telling sinners how to be forgiven.

And those who refuse to repent never experience the peace of God like Isaiah did.

That same 57th chapter where God announced peace to those who mourn over their sin; Isaiah continues.
Isaiah 57:20-21 “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

God gives peace to those who humble themselves and mourn their sin,
But those who insist on playing the game; they get no peace.

Isaiah 66:1-6 “Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.” Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at His word: “Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake, Have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy.’ But they will be put to shame. “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is rendering recompense to His enemies.”

THAT SPELLS IT OUT AGAIN DOESN’T IT?

So you see why Isaiah took such a hard stance against all those worthless sacrifices in chapter 1.

He had been bringing those his whole life
And they had never produced peace between him and God.

But it wasn’t until Isaiah met Christ that his sin was dealt with,
And he humbled himself, and found forgiveness at Christ’s expense.

Christ did what Isaiah’s religion never had.
• This sinner was atoned for.
• This sinner was forgiven.
• This one who is called an abomination in chapter 1 for his worthless worship is now at peace with God.

What a beautiful picture of the gospel!
Here was a hypocritical sinner
Who should have died in the presence of the LORD
And yet God saved him.

God sanctified Isaiah’s lips
And now God will use those filthy lips for His glory.

And that is the 4th point

The Source of Isaiah’s Conviction – The Sin of Isaiah’s Lips – The Salvation of Isaiah’s Soul
#4 THE SPECIFICS OF ISAIAH’S MINISTRY
Isaiah 6:8-13

Now we come to perhaps the MOST FAMOUS VERSE in this chapter,
Perhaps even the entire book.

But you see that this verse could not happen without the first 7.

I want to break down the specifics of Isaiah’s ministry a little more to help us grasp even better what it is that God has called him to do.

1) RESPONDING (8)

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Of incredible significance is the first 3 words of the verse.
“Then I heard…”

Isaiah DOESN’T say, “Then God said…”

Perhaps God had been calling for someone to go for some time
But Isaiah had never heard the call because he was dead in his sin.

But once God made him alive through Christ,
Now all or a sudden Isaiah has ears to hear.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord”

I hear it said from time to time by people in the church. “The Lord isn’t calling me to be on mission.”

In light of Isaiah 6 I should think it is time for repentance.

There is no doubt the Lord is calling His people on mission.
That may not be Africa, but I promise you He is calling you on mission.

What else would He be calling you to do?
(Watch TV and go on vacation?)

He has left His children here for the purpose of His kingdom.
• We are His witnesses.
• We are commissioned by Him to “go and make disciples”
• We are to “seek first His kingdom”
• We are to pray for “His kingdom to come”

The great missionary William Booth said:
“Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/692389-not-called-did-you-say-not-heard-the-call-i

Isaiah was deaf until he turned from his sin,
But once he found salvation from the Lord
He said, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord”

Does He burden your heart for the lost?
Are you ever compelled to share the gospel?
Are you commissioned at all?

ISAIAH HEARD.

And what did he hear?
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”

He was looking for one
• Who would expose the people in their sin,
• Who would call them out for their hypocrisy,
• Who would preach to them the necessity of repentance,
• And who would offer them the mercy of God if they would humble themselves.

It reminds us of the pitiful condition in Ezekiel’s day.
Ezekiel 22:30 “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”

God had been calling and none would answer the call.
In fact, none were even hearing the call.

But on this day, Isaiah’s ears were opened by the Lord
And he heard God’s call for someone to go and tell the people.

And Isaiah famously answered, “Here am I. Send me!”

Isaiah volunteered.

And let me put it again bluntly.
PEOPLE WHO ENCOUNTER CHRIST SHARE ABOUT CHRIST.

The woman at the well
John 4:28-29 “So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

• She’s like a present day Isaiah.
• He told me I was a sinner! Let me tell you about Him!

The Gadarene Demoniac
Luke 8:38-39 “But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.”

• Now telling the story of his humiliating condition
• And how Jesus freed him from it.

The Apostles under threat of persecution
Acts 4:19-20 “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

• We cannot stop!

Those who encounter Christ speak of Christ!

But it’s really hard to speak about what you have neither seen nor heard.

People go out and talk about their church attendance and their religion,
But they have no testimony of an encounter with Christ.

Isaiah could not preach to the people about the holiness of God
And the redemption of Jesus until he experienced both.

That is why Spurgeon said:
“Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/404648-every-christian-is-either-a-missionary-or-an-imposter

Isaiah’s ministry began with responding to God
And volunteering to share what he knew of God with his contemporaries.

They were “a people of unclean lips” as he was,
And he now would go tell them what God had done for him.

It started with Responding
2) REPORTING (9a)
“He said, “Go, and tell this people:”

• Isaiah was NOT simply called to be more faithful in attendance.
• Isaiah was NOT simply called to do more Bible studies.
• Isaiah was NOT simply called to pray more.

Isaiah was called to “Go, and tell this people”

God has ordained that those who know Him
Should go and testify of Him to those who do not.

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Romans 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

You know the passages.
But familiarity with the passage should not nullify responsibility to them.

These are the commands of Jesus.
DOES THAT COMMAND MATTER TO ME OR NOT?

Isaiah was to report what he had seen and heard about God.
3) RENDERING (9b-10)

“He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Now this is the hard part.
And many have a tough time wrapping their minds around the call here.

The MESSAGE that Isaiah is to speak is clear.

“Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.”

• It’s a clear message of judgment.
• It is a statement that seemingly drips with sarcasm.

Isaiah is to preach to people the truth,
And at the same time remind them that they don’t get it.

“I’m preaching but you don’t understand a thing I’m saying.”

It’s NOT the type of message that promises to be received very well.

But that’s been precisely the way Isaiah preached
In those first 3 sermons we studied in chapters 1-5.

What could possibly be GOD’S OBJECTIVE
In preaching a message like that to people?

Well, look at what God says in verse 10:
“Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

“Render” God says.
• That is to say, “Make them this way”
• It is literally “Make their heart fat”

And on one hand we could say, “Oh, so Isaiah was supposed to preach a message that exposed the people like he had been exposed.”

He was supposed to preach in such a way that proved that they were blind and deaf and hard-hearted, right?

Well, that’s part of it.
• Certainly when one preaches as Isaiah would preach
• And calls down the holiness of God to apply to the hypocritical religion of the day
• You would expect that people would be exposed.

That is sort of what the Law does.
Paul testified to that.
Romans 7:7-10 “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;”

• The Law didn’t actually kill Paul, he was already dead.
• But the Law did reveal his spiritual deadness to him.

And some would say, “Well that is Isaiah’s ministry”
He’s supposed to go around and expose that people are actually deaf, dumb, blind, and heard-hearted.

That is partly true, but that is NOT the full grasp of his ministry.
God says to “Render the hearts of this people insensitive…OTHERWISE they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Isaiah will expose some men and may lead them to repentance,
But the main thrust of his ministry is NOT to lead them to salvation,
But to actually harden them in their sin.

His ministry is to preach to truth to sinners
Which will in effect solidify their blindness and intensify their judgment.

That’s what the text says.
Render them blind “otherwise” they might see.

That sounds very anti-gospel
And perhaps nothing like we would expect from God.

But can I remind you that Jesus did this?
In Matthew 13 Jesus gave the crowds the truth, but He gave it to them in a manner in which they could not understand it.

And then said:
Matthew 13:11-13 “Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

These were people who had been given the truth but had not listened to it
And now they were being hardened in their sin.

Now here’s a good question for you.
WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT?

WHY would God give truth to a sinner that is meant to harden them in sin and intensify their judgment?

Isaiah has already answered that question.
Isaiah 5:16 “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.”

The answer is: FOR HIS GLORY

You can cry “foul” and “unfair” all you like,
But this is how God has revealed Himself to Isaiah.

WHAT IS MORE,
Did you know that of all the great Old Testament passages we have in the Bible, none is quoted more in the New Testament than this one?

Matthew 13:14, Mark 8:17-19, John 9:39, John 12:40,
Acts 28:26, Romans 11:8;
They all say the same thing.

Matthew 13:14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;”

What should you take from this?
Well YOU SHOULD BELIEVE Isaiah’s word.

Later God will say through Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

If you think about that verse, IT CAN’T BE TRUE,
If the only purpose for preaching is to see men saved.

If that is the only thing God’s word accomplishes
Then that verse can’t be true for not all who hear the gospel are saved.

But what if God’s word also accomplishes securing men in judgment also for the glory of God?

Then that verse is true.

Paul said:
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”

To some people Paul’s preaching was “an aroma from life to life”
But for others it was “an aroma from death to death”

And what a warning to all who sit under gospel preaching.

God’s word IS working in your life.
• It is either working to draw you to salvation
• Or it is working to secure your judgment.

Isaiah’s primary ministry would be a ministry “from death to death”

He would preach for the purpose of rendering men
As deserving of God’s wrath and that to the glory of God.

That is a harsh ministry to be assigned, but it is real.
• And many a prophet and minister has labored under that exact calling.
• Many have preached for years and seen very little saved,
• But that does not mean they failed.
• They merely succeeded in hardening sinners.

That is Isaiah’s ministry.

Responding, Reporting, Rendering
4) REMAINING (11-12)

With such a difficult ministry, Isaiah’s question is fitting.
“Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

How long do I have to do this?

“And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land us utterly desolate, The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

The answer?
Preach until they are all dead.
• You must endure.
• You must remain.
• You must keep preaching.

• Even if the results seem few.
• Even if people hate you for it.
• Keep preaching.

As Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:1-4 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Preach rather they like it or not.
Preach rather they listen or not.
God’s word is at work through you, keep preaching.

God is using your preaching to secure the judgment
Of the hard hearted who turn away from His word.

Granted, it is not an enviable ministry,
But it is Isaiah’s ministry
And many have followed in his footsteps since that day.

But there is one more point.
5) REVEALING (13)

Thank God for that little word “Yet”

Your ministry may primarily be a ministry of securing judgment,
BUT IT WON’T TOTALLY BE THAT.

“Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

We call this the remnant.
• Your preaching will secure the salvation of some.
• 10% according to God’s announcement will receive the preaching of Isaiah and repent.
• And they will be tested, and they will walk through the fire, but it will be proven that they are real.
• It will be proven that they are holy.

Remember, Isaiah told us about that remnant too.
Isaiah 5:16-17 “But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.”

Isaiah heard what the LORD told him.
• He knew that most would be judged to the glory of God,
• But he also knew that some would be saved to His glory as well.

You want to sum up the ministry of Isaiah.

Preaching to hypocritical sinners for the rest of his life.
• To secure 90% of them in judgment
• But to save some 10% of them from judgment,
• And all of that to the glory of God.

And so you see now why Isaiah is preaching the way he is preaching.
You see now why he so boldly confronts sin and calls men out of it.

He saw the Lord!
• He feared judgment,
• But God showed him mercy to save him.

Now he takes that message to the people.
• It is the gospel!
• It is the message of God’s holiness and yet God’s mercy to sinners who repent.

• And this message will either lead men to repentance and salvation
• Or it will harden them in sin and secure their judgment.

But either way God will be glorified,
Either in saving sinners or in judging them.

THIS IS OUR MINISTRY.
If you have seen the Lord and received His salvation, take that message to the world.
Don’t be discouraged if they don’t respond as you’d like, God is at work through His word regardless.

And if you are not saved, you had better listen to the message
For God will be glorified in your life one way or another.

But now you see Isaiah’s commissioning
And understand why he preaches the way he does.

download here

Isaiah’s Commissioning – Part 1
Isaiah 6:1-13 (1-5)
April 16, 2023

Last Sunday morning we introduced this passage
As we celebrated the resurrected Christ on Easter Sunday.

And just to quickly highlight the point that was made,
Isaiah 6 explains to us why Isaiah came out of the gate swinging.

Before we knew it Isaiah had preached 3 sermons
And every one of them proved to be messages of serious warning.

• Whether it was Isaiah confronting worthless religion
• Or confronting idolatry and worldliness
• Or pronouncing woe upon the worthless fruit of Israel

ISAIAH HAS PULLED NO PUNCHES.

We imagined that his direct style right out of the gate likely caused some to wonder what had him so riled up.

No doubt Isaiah’s answer to their curiosity is:
I SAW THE LORD, AND IT CHANGED EVERYTHING.

We discussed Isaiah’s vision and how it was actually the glorified Jesus whom Isaiah saw in his vision.

And we took a moment TO CELEBRATE the glorified Lord
And TO REALIZE that one day we will all stand before Him
In His glorified state as well.

WELL THIS MORNING, we return back to this vision
• To pick up some of what we did not discuss
• And to ultimately move through the remainder of the chapter
• And see the effect that this vision had upon Isaiah’s life.

I didn’t give you any kind of an OUTLINE last week,
But let’s work on that outline here.

We can divide this chapter up into 4 main points.
#1 THE SOURCE OF ISAIAH’S CONVICTION
Isaiah 6:1-4

Again, we have already noted that Isaiah came out preaching
A bold message of woe and judgment to the children of Israel.

He has come out and exposed the sin of Israel at every turn.
• He has been literally a man on a mission.
• He has dripped with conviction.
• He has spoken boldly and without apology.

And here we see why.
“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”

“the year of King Uzziah’s death” was 739 BC

It is remarkable to realize that Jesus was sitting on the throne 740 years before He was ever born, and He’s been sitting there ever since.

But this was the year in which God appeared to Isaiah
And called him to ministry.

Some have commented that Isaiah may have gone to the temple to mourn the death of the king, but that is really a stretch.
• For one, it only says that it was the year in which he died, not in response to his
death.
• Secondly, if you will remember, Uzziah was struck with leprosy for trying to
enter the temple and offer sacrifices and his son Jotham sort of reigned as
Co-regent with Uzziah.
• At this point Jotham has been operating with kingly authority for 11 years.

Isaiah is NOT mourning the death of Uzziah and thus entering the temple.

No, Isaiah is entering the temple because
That is what Jewish worship looked like.
He’s doing what he has always done.

BUT ON THIS DAY in 739BC
He would have an encounter that would change his life forever.
“I saw the Lord”

The word “Lord” there is NOT YAHWEH,
Like you are used to seeing which is signified by all caps.

The word “Lord” there is ADONAY
Which is the word of a sovereign ruler.

That is to say that Isaiah walked into the temple
And he saw the One who was really in charge.

In a moment the seraphim will identify who this Lord is and in verse 5 Isaiah will call Him “the King, the LORD of hosts”

And we know that John reveals that it is Jesus whom he saw.

But at least at the outset of this vision Isaiah is merely struck
By a sovereign ruler that was extremely ELEVATED in stature.

Isaiah says He was “sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”

Some say that kings purposely wore long trains because they were hard to maneuver and thus required many servants to handle it.

Some mention that kings would routinely cut off the robes of conquered kings and sow them to their own train and thus a long train indicated a king who had conquered many others.

But perhaps the best way to view it is through the lens of John’s gospel when he said that Isaiah “saw His glory”.

Speaking of His long train may just be ANTHROPOMORPHIC language
To speak of the tremendous glory of the king.

You measured the majesty of a king by the length of the train of his robe
So Isaiah reveals to us here that this is
The most “exalted” and glorious king that he has ever seen.

THIS ONE HAS NO EQUAL.

But you don’t just see His Elevation you also see His EXALTATION.

(2-3) “Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

The “Seraphim” are holy angels and they are surrounding the throne.
• There name comes from a root word that means “fiery ones”
• We see them in Ezekiel’s vision of the wheels
• And again in John’s vision of the throne room of heaven.

And here we read that they have “six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

What does all that mean?

No doubt he “covered his face” as SHADE
• Even holy angels could not gaze upon the brilliant glory of this holy King.
• He was too much for even them to behold and so they had to cover their face in His presence.

“he covered his feet” out of SHAME
• Even though glorious and righteous to us, these creatures still do not measure up in splendor and glory to the One they serve.
• There is humility before Him even among the holy angels.

“with two he flew” – Which represents SERVICE
• These creatures are busy in the service of the King.

But what greatly captured Isaiah’s attention
Was THE DECLARATION that they each kept saying to one another.

“And one called out to the other and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

Now Isaiah knows who it is he stands before.
These Seraphim have identified Him.

And they keep calling out to each other,
Lest anyone there should forget who they are dealing with.
HE IS THE HOLY ONE.

WE REMINDED LAST WEEK that this is the only 3-quoted declaration like this in the Old Testament.

God is not referred to as “Love, Love, Love” or “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”
Though He is such things.

God is declared “Holy, Holy, Holy”

And this is the scene that would strike Isaiah to the core.
You just have no idea how Holy He is.

You have no idea how far above us He is.
This is true of the glorified Christ.
It is Jesus whom Isaiah saw.

And though we are used to the humbled version seen during His earthly ministry, THIS IS THE JESUS OF ALL ETERNITY.

This is a truer picture of who He actually is.
HE IS SO HOLY!

• It is to speak of His God-ness.
• It is to speak of His uniqueness and separation from humanity.

• He is not like us and we are not like Him.
• He is holy and we are fallen.

• We cannot relate to Him.
• And even holy angels dare not gaze upon Him.

The angels continued by declaring “the whole earth is full of His glory.”

That is a unique statement.
• They don’t say that the whole earth should be filled with His glory.
• They say that “the whole IS full of His glory.”

Everything you see is a testimony to His greatness and power and might.

What did Paul tell us about Him?
Romans 1:18-23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

“the whole earth is full of His glory” but not all the earth recognizes it.
AND CERTAINLY NOT EVERYONE WORSHIPS HIM FOR IT.

(And thus the wrath of God abides on man.)

And here we have THE FIRST REBUKE
Which would come from the throne room of God
Regarding man He has created.

• The holy angels recognize the glory of the LORD everywhere and never stop
declaring it.
• Whereas sinful men seem to have totally overlooked His glory and refuse to
worship Him for it.

It is just a brief picture of how out of touch earth is with heaven.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees, takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.”
(Ortlund Jr., Raymond [Isaiah: God Saves Sinners; Preaching The Word Commentary Series; Crossway Publishers; Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 78)

The first rebuke we find here is from the angels
Who would be totally offended that we should live our lives
So ignorant of the glory of God all around us.

That we would fail to see His eternal power and divine nature
And that we would fail to worship Him accordingly.

The angels continually call out to each other to remind one another.

We often fail to see it or remind each other of it.

Raymond Ortlund wrote:
“The whole earth is full of his glory,” We keep trying to fill it with monuments to our own glory – kingdoms, businesses, hit songs, athletic victories, and other mechanisms of self-salvation. But the truth is better than that. Created reality is a continuous explosion of the glory of God.”
(ibid. pg. 78)

The angels see that and would rebuke humanity for being so blind to it.

Isaiah is getting a first-hand lesson
From beings that are consumed with the glory of God.

And as they cry out, ISAIAH RECOUNTS:
(4) “And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”

As these creatures herald the glory and holiness of God
The very earth beneath Isaiah quakes.

We SAW THE SAME when Jesus died upon the cross:
Matthew 27:51 “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.”

And we SAW IT AGAIN 3 days later when He rose from the dead:
Matthew 28:2 “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.”

It is a reminder of the sheer power of the presence of God.

Isaiah also notes that “the temple was filling with smoke.”

This is a picture of the WRATH AND JUDGMENT OF GOD.
Revelation 15:5-8 “After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

Psalms 97:2 “Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”

And when you put all this together
You begin to grasp the scene of what Isaiah saw.

In his vision he immediately saw one who was high and exalted.
• He immediately saw ADONAY the sovereign Lord.

But when he heard those angels,
• Who wouldn’t dare look at the One on the throne call Him “the LORD of
hosts”
• And declare Him “Holy”
• And rebuke humanity for failing to see it.

And as they spoke,
• God’s glory and smoke fill the place,
• And the whole ground begins to shake.

What are we to make of this except that:
The LORD is more glorious and exalted than we have ever realized
And that He is serious about the worship that occurs around Him.

I again come to the conclusion that we too often live this life with absolutely no concept of who it is we serve.

Many of you have heard R.C. Sproul’s famous “What’s wrong with you people?” answer that he gave at a Q&A. (If you haven’t, google it)

He grows frustrated with people who think
God was too severe on Adam when Adam fell into sin.

But Sproul concludes his answer by saying, “This is what’s wrong with the Christian church today; we don’t know who God is and we don’t know who we are.”
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Sproul+What%27s+wrong+with+you+people&view=detail&mid=A0B2F725CF4FAF236000A0B2F725CF4FAF236000&FORM=VIRE

THAT WAS CERTAINLY TRUE IN ISAIAH’S DAY.
Isaiah had no clue who it was he was entering that temple to worship,
But in a moment he found out.

And God was more holy and more glorious
Than anything He could have imagined.

• God was not Santa Claus…
• God was not a fuzzy Teddy Bear…
• God was not even approachable…

• He was so Holy even angels wouldn’t look at Him.
• He was so Holy even angels hid themselves from His gaze.
• He was so Holy even angels continually reminded one another of His chief essence of perfection.

This is not some God you show up before unaware.
This is not some God you overlook.

AND YET HERE THEY WERE
• Bringing their broken sacrifices…
• Cheating one another and ignoring the widows and orphans…
• Ignoring His word and following their own logic…
• Acting like He didn’t see and wouldn’t deal with sin…

And then they thought they could just run into the temple,
Lift up their hands, tell Him what they wanted,
And He’d just hop right to it?

They had no clue.
Isaiah had no clue.

I’m wondering if we have any clue.

That is The Source of Isaiah’s Conviction.
#2 THE SIN OF ISAIAH’S LIPS
Isaiah 6:5

We spoke of this last week as well, but the response of Isaiah
Tells us everything about what it is like in the presence of God.

“Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!”

I gave you the words last time.
• “Woe” – OY – it is that cry of intense pain and grief.
• “Ruined” – DAWMAW – it is “to cease” or “to be undone”

When Isaiah saw His glory…
Then heard from the angels who it was he was seeing…
Then witnessed the ground shaking and the smoke rolling in…

ISAIAH KNEW IT WAS OVER.
“Oh! I’m a dead man!”
• I shouldn’t be here!
• I should not be looking at Him!
• I should not be in His presence!
• I have come to close!

WHY ISAIAH?
“Because I am a man of unclean lips,”

Certainly the issue is much deeper than just having a filthy mouth.

Jesus taught us:
Matthew 15:17-20 “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

Your lips are the barometer of your heart.
Isaiah doesn’t just have a filthy mouth, he has a filthy heart.

So do you see what Isaiah’s sin is?
Can you spot his problem?

ISAIAH WAS A PHONY!
Isaiah was a hypocrite.

How do we know that?
TURN TO: MATTHEW 15:1-9

• Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being phony hypocrites.
• They invalidated what God said because they wanted to keep their traditions.
• And Jesus said that Isaiah was right about them.
• That they were a people who honored God with their lips but their heart was far away from Him.

Jesus was quoting:
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”

And here in the throne room, Isaiah confessed that this was him.

Isaiah was exactly that type of man.
• He was the type of man who would draw near to God with his words
• And honor God with his lip service,
• But his heart was far away from God.

And on this day, when confronted
With the holiness of God’s presence, Isaiah came clean.

“I am a man of unclean lips”

THAT IS TO SAY, “I’m a liar!” – “I’m a fraud!” – “I’m a hypocrite” – “I’m not real!”

And THE LAST PLACE a fraudulent hypocritical liar needs to be
Is directly in the presence of the Holy God of the universe.

I’M A DEAD MAN!

Isaiah had been merely going through the motions his whole life.
• He knew when to go to the temple,
• He knew how to bring a sacrifice.
• He knew when to stand, when to sit, what to sing, and what to pray.

• He could do it.
• He’d been well trained.
And perhaps he even had everyone around him fooled.

But on this day, he stood before God
And he knew that before God
He could no longer conceal his hypocrisy.

“I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips;”

I’m a fraud and so is everyone around me.
• No one here really cares about God.
• No one here really loves or honors Him.
• We’re all just going through the motions,
• And perhaps I was the best at it.

AND NOW “my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

“Woe is me!”

LISTEN FRIEND,
• You can play the game and go through the motions and fool a lot of people.
• You can go to church and sing the songs
• And even pray the prayers you’ve been taught to pray.

And you may fool a lot of people.
And that’s all well and good until you stand before the Holy One.

Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

THERE’S NO FOOLING HIM.

Isaiah had been a bloody-handed sinner
Covering his iniquity with religious involvement.
But on this day Isaiah could hide no more.

Does that help you understand why he preached things like:

Isaiah 1:10-15 “Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

That WASN’T Isaiah taking issue with their worship.

HE had been that worshiper and felt the scorn of God for it.
HE had done just like them and felt the terror of judgment.

He was passing along the message he had received.

Or this one:
Isaiah 1:21-23 “How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers. Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.”

When Isaiah spoke of them as being a diluted drink
He could do it accurately because he knew it looked like.
He had been just as phony.

“I am a man of unclean lips…”
AND SO ARE YOU!

AND IT’S NOT OK.

I remember when the Lord exposed me like this.
• Standing in a worship service at Howard Payne University
• I was serving as a camp counselor at a youth camp called Super Summer.
• And as we sang that song about needing holiness, the Lord looked right through all my empty and phony religion.
• He exposed me as the hypocrite who was not enough.
• I was forced to confess as Isaiah did that I was not enough and nothing that I had done had been enough.

THIS IS WHAT THE LORD DOES.
He comes and confronts what is phony
And calls you to the righteousness
Which can only be found in Him.

AND HE HAD TO DO THIS TO ISAIAH
Before Isaiah would ever be a messenger to the people.

Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

He had to address Isaiah’s dirty mouth
Before Isaiah would be able to address anyone else’s.

I certainly know how that feels.
I know what it is to be exposed as a phony and a fraud,

But the Lord had to do that to me
Before He could send me to do that for anyone else.

I KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
• When you’re just going through the motions.
• When you sit in church but don’t want to be there.
• When there is religion without love for God or a concern about His glory.

I know what it looks like because I lived it.
And some of you are living it now.

And I can only tell you that it may work here,
But it won’t work before the Lord.

The Lord didn’t even have to call Isaiah out.
God’s holy presence exposed him to such a degree
That Isaiah fell on his face confessing it.

This is part of the gospel.
This is what Jesus does.

Even AT HIS BIRTH it was prophesied of Him:
Luke 2:34-35 “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

In HIS MINISTRY He constantly did this:
John 5:42 “but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.”

John 8:43-45 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”

Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Exposing people is what Jesus does.

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

He sees it all, you cannot hide from Him.

DO WE NOT REMEMBER
His conversation with the woman at the well as Jesus told her all about her love life?
• And how she ran away saying, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.”

Jesus is the Light and He exposes men.

He told Nicodemus:
John 3:19-21 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

WHERE DO YOU STAND IN THAT?
• Have you ever had your sin exposed by Jesus?
• Have you ever confessed that sin to Him?

There is no salvation apart from that.
• God is opposed to the proud who try to hide in their sin.
• God is opposed to the proud who seek to keep up the charade.

Isaiah was exposed by the Holy One
And he fell on his face and confessed it to the Lord.
YOU SHOULD DO THE SAME.

We don’t have time to complete the next point,
But it is important to introduce it.

The Source of Isaiah’s Conviction
The Sin of Isaiah’s Lips
#3 THE SALVATION OF ISAIAH’S SOUL
Isaiah 6:6-7

When Isaiah CONFESSED his sin before the Lord…
When Isaiah HUMBLED himself before God…
GOD FORGAVE HIS SIN.

This is the remarkable truth of the gospel.
This is the unfathomable greatness of our God.

That though He is holy and totally unapproachable,
He has chosen to be merciful to sinners
Who humble themselves before Him.

Later Isaiah will preach:
Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”

WHAT A STATEMENT!
• That even though His name is “Holy”
• And even though He dwells “on a high and holy place”
(Both things Isaiah saw)
• He also dwells with “the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the
spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

This great and holy God has unfathomable mercy
Upon those who are contrite and lowly.

Jesus would say:
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Isaiah deserved death before God for his hypocrisy,
But God extended mercy to him.

And friend this is the glorious joy of the gospel.
GOD FORGIVES SINNERS.
• I’m a walking testimony.
• I was a phony, I was a fraud.
• I could list for you all my sins (of which I am totally ashamed) and most of them I did while wearing a Christian T-shirt.

• I grieve over the number of people I must have turned off to Christianity by my hypocritical and phony living.

• I wonder how many people want nothing to do with Jesus today because I claimed to be a Christian in high school while being a total hypocrite?

God would have been served best by killing me in their midst
And showing them what He does to phonies.

But He didn’t do that to me.
Instead, He confronted me, and when I confessed my sinfulness to Him, He forgave me.

He’ll do that for you too, but you cannot hide in the game.
• You have to come clean.
• You must confess it to Him.
• Your unclean lips have to go.
• But He promises mercy if you turn from them.

We’re going to talk about this MORE TONIGHT,
But that is where I leave you this morning.

Would you be willing to own up to the game you’ve been playing and confess your sin to God so that you might find mercy before Him?

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”