Here I Am, Send Me: How the Holy Majesty of God Motivates a Missionary Zeal - H.B. Charles
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00:01:20.000 | >> Good morning, let's stand together.
00:01:25.920 | And as you stand, if you could squeeze into the center of your row.
00:01:31.800 | That would allow some of the guys who are straggling in right now to not make it so
00:01:37.320 | hard for them to find a seat.
00:01:39.320 | [MUSIC]
00:01:49.320 | You guys get quiet really fast, that's really impressive.
00:01:52.720 | I just wanna say, probably better than your churches, but it's a real.
00:01:57.320 | You're doing what you want your churches to do, and I understand that and
00:02:00.120 | I appreciate it.
00:02:00.800 | [MUSIC]
00:02:03.560 | I wanna begin with these verses from Isaiah.
00:02:07.040 | Before we sing, it's just always helpful to feed our souls with God's word.
00:02:13.080 | Listen to this command, this promise from Isaiah 45.
00:02:18.400 | Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.
00:02:22.760 | For I am God, and there is no other.
00:02:25.480 | By myself, I have sworn.
00:02:29.120 | From my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return.
00:02:35.840 | To me, every knee shall bow.
00:02:40.720 | Every tongue shall swear allegiance.
00:02:46.680 | God commands us, turn to me and be saved, and the question would be,
00:02:50.320 | well, how do we do that?
00:02:54.280 | Well, we do that through the means that God has provided.
00:02:57.240 | Through the reconciler, through the savior, through the redeemer,
00:03:03.000 | through the king, through our substitute, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
00:03:11.600 | And by his mercy, those of us in this room have done that.
00:03:15.800 | We've turned to God and been saved.
00:03:19.720 | And that has put in us a desire to tell everyone around us what a great savior we
00:03:27.040 | have in Jesus Christ, because one day, every knee will bow.
00:03:31.920 | We get to bow the knee now, and how glad we are about it.
00:03:36.920 | [MUSIC - "ALL CREATURES OF GOD AND ME"]
00:03:47.200 | All creatures, all creatures of our God and me,
00:03:55.000 | lift up your voice and with us sing, oh, praise him.
00:04:03.000 | Hallelujah.
00:04:07.000 | Thou burning sun with golden beams,
00:04:13.000 | thou silver moon with song for me, oh, praise him.
00:04:21.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:04:24.000 | Hallelujah.
00:04:27.000 | Hallelujah.
00:04:30.000 | Hallelujah.
00:04:42.000 | Let all things-- let all things their creator bless and worship
00:04:52.000 | him in humbleness.
00:04:56.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:04:59.000 | Hallelujah.
00:05:03.000 | Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son.
00:05:09.000 | And praise the spirit three in one.
00:05:13.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:05:17.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:05:20.000 | Hallelujah.
00:05:23.000 | Hallelujah.
00:05:26.000 | Hallelujah.
00:05:32.000 | All the redeemed.
00:05:34.000 | All the redeemed walk by his blood.
00:05:40.000 | Come and rejoice in his great love.
00:05:45.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:05:48.000 | Hallelujah.
00:05:52.000 | Christ has defeated every sin.
00:05:58.000 | Cast all your burdens now on him.
00:06:04.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:06:07.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:06:10.000 | Hallelujah.
00:06:13.000 | Hallelujah.
00:06:16.000 | Hallelujah.
00:06:24.000 | He shall return in power to reign.
00:06:30.000 | Heaven and earth will join to sing.
00:06:36.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:06:39.000 | Hallelujah.
00:06:43.000 | Heaven and earth shall fall on him and me.
00:06:49.000 | All creatures of our God and King.
00:06:54.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:06:57.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:07:00.000 | Hallelujah.
00:07:03.000 | Hallelujah.
00:07:06.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:07:09.000 | Oh, praise him.
00:07:12.000 | Hallelujah.
00:07:15.000 | Hallelujah.
00:07:18.000 | Hallelujah.
00:07:19.000 | There is one gospel.
00:07:38.000 | There is one gospel on which I stand for all eternity.
00:07:46.000 | It is my story like my father's and the Son has rescued me.
00:07:55.000 | Oh, what a gospel.
00:07:57.000 | Oh, what a peace.
00:08:00.000 | I enjoy thy deepest need.
00:08:04.000 | Now and forever he is my light.
00:08:08.000 | I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:08:14.000 | There is one gospel to which I cling.
00:08:21.000 | All else I count as lost.
00:08:26.000 | For there where justice and mercy meet,
00:08:30.000 | he saved me on the cross.
00:08:35.000 | No more I boast in what I can bring.
00:08:39.000 | No more I carry the weight of sin.
00:08:44.000 | For he has brought me from death to life.
00:08:48.000 | I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:08:53.000 | There is one gospel where hope is found.
00:09:04.000 | The empty tomb still speaks.
00:09:09.000 | For death could not keep my Savior.
00:09:13.000 | Now he lives and I am free.
00:09:18.000 | Now, oh, my Savior, I fix my eyes.
00:09:23.000 | My life is his and his hope is mine.
00:09:27.000 | For he has promised I to the wise.
00:09:31.000 | I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:09:37.000 | And in his gospel the church is one.
00:09:48.000 | We do not walk alone.
00:09:52.000 | We have his Spirit as we press on
00:09:57.000 | to lead us safely home.
00:10:02.000 | In winning glory still I will sing
00:10:06.000 | of this old story that rescued me.
00:10:11.000 | Praise to my Savior, the King of Light,
00:10:15.000 | I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:10:20.000 | In winning glory still I will sing
00:10:24.000 | of this old story that rescued me.
00:10:29.000 | Praise to my Savior, the King of Light,
00:10:33.000 | I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:10:50.000 | And of this gospel, Paul says in Ephesians 3, verse 7,
00:10:55.000 | I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace,
00:11:01.000 | which was given me by the working of his power to me.
00:11:09.000 | Think about this, brothers, to me.
00:11:13.000 | Though I am the very least of all the saints,
00:11:17.000 | this grace was given.
00:11:22.000 | To preach to the Gentiles
00:11:25.000 | the unsearchable riches of Christ.
00:11:28.000 | So appreciated in every message we've heard thus far,
00:11:32.000 | and I imagine it will continue.
00:11:34.000 | Being told again and again,
00:11:36.000 | we didn't have anything to do with this gospel.
00:11:41.000 | And how quickly we think we do, we did.
00:11:48.000 | But Paul says no, it's according to the gift of God's grace.
00:11:53.000 | Which was by the working of his power,
00:11:56.000 | which we heard about last night as Conrad was preaching.
00:11:59.000 | This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles
00:12:04.000 | what an amazing preacher I am.
00:12:10.000 | That's probably all I need to say.
00:12:15.000 | Unsearchable riches in Jesus Christ,
00:12:18.000 | and we sing to stir our affections
00:12:22.000 | for the one who is worthy of our deepest
00:12:25.000 | and highest and purest affections.
00:12:29.000 | O Lord, my rock and my defeater,
00:12:35.000 | greatest treasure of my longing soul.
00:12:42.000 | My God, like you there is no other.
00:12:48.000 | No one like Him.
00:12:49.000 | True delight is found in you alone.
00:12:56.000 | Your grace, so wealthy to add up.
00:13:03.000 | Your love exceeds the heavens to be.
00:13:09.000 | Reached to you and me.
00:13:11.000 | Your truth abounds in perfect wisdom.
00:13:17.000 | My God is good, and I am in need.
00:13:27.000 | O Lord, my rock and my defeater,
00:13:34.000 | strong defender of my weary heart.
00:13:41.000 | My sword to fight the cruel deceiver,
00:13:48.000 | and my shield against his hateful heart.
00:13:54.000 | My song.
00:13:57.000 | My song, when enemies surround me.
00:14:03.000 | My hope when times of sorrow rise.
00:14:10.000 | My joy when trials are around me.
00:14:16.000 | Your faithfulness, my refuge in God.
00:14:24.000 | Now I want to sing that verse again,
00:14:26.000 | just for those of us who are feeling weary,
00:14:29.000 | who are fighting the cruel deceiver,
00:14:31.000 | feel like enemies are surrounding you,
00:14:33.000 | sing that verse too.
00:14:35.000 | O Lord, my rock and my redeemer,
00:14:41.000 | strong defender of my weary heart.
00:14:48.000 | My sword to fight the cruel deceiver,
00:14:55.000 | and my shield against his hateful heart.
00:15:01.000 | We can sing.
00:15:03.000 | My song, when enemies surround me.
00:15:09.000 | My hope when times of sorrow rise.
00:15:16.000 | My joy when trials are around me.
00:15:22.000 | Your faithfulness, my refuge in God.
00:15:31.000 | You are faithful.
00:15:34.000 | You are faithful.
00:15:37.000 | All the time.
00:15:39.000 | O Lord, my rock.
00:15:41.000 | O Lord, my rock and my redeemer,
00:15:48.000 | gracious Savior of my ruined life.
00:15:56.000 | My guilt and cross lay on your shoulders.
00:16:03.000 | In my place, you suffered, bled, and died.
00:16:10.000 | You rose from the grave and never conquered.
00:16:17.000 | You broke my heart of sin and shame.
00:16:24.000 | You rose from the grave and never conquered.
00:16:31.000 | You broke my heart of sin and shame.
00:16:38.000 | O Lord, my rock and my redeemer,
00:16:45.000 | may all my days bring glory to your name.
00:16:53.000 | May all my days bring glory to your name.
00:17:01.000 | What Jesus said is our prayer, that all our days bring glory
00:17:07.000 | not to us, but to you.
00:17:14.000 | Because you deserve all the glory forever and ever and ever.
00:17:25.000 | Amen.
00:17:26.000 | Let's take our seats.
00:17:27.000 | May grace and peace be multiplied to each of you this
00:17:51.000 | morning in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:17:54.000 | It is a blessing to be together to sing praise to King Jesus
00:18:00.000 | and to have another opportunity to sit under the wisdom
00:18:05.000 | of God's Word.
00:18:06.000 | I'm grateful and thankful for the privilege of standing behind
00:18:11.000 | this prayer desk to proclaim to you today the Word of God
00:18:15.000 | and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
00:18:17.000 | Would you bow with me in a word of prayer?
00:18:19.000 | Heavenly Father, we call upon you this morning in prayer
00:18:34.000 | to express our desperate need of you.
00:18:38.000 | We need you to help us to speak faithfully and hear clearly
00:18:46.000 | the wisdom of your Word.
00:18:50.000 | We praise you for these gospel truths we have just sung
00:18:54.000 | together, reminders of your sovereignty, your goodness,
00:19:03.000 | your faithfulness, all poured out to us, unworthy sinners
00:19:08.000 | as we are, through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ,
00:19:13.000 | who is our all-sufficient prophet, priest, and king.
00:19:17.000 | So now we ask afresh that you would open our eyes that we may
00:19:24.000 | behold wonderful things about the Lord Jesus Christ from your Word.
00:19:29.000 | Would you help each of us this morning to lay aside all malice,
00:19:35.000 | deceit, envy, hypocrisy, and slander so that as newborn infants
00:19:41.000 | we may crave the pure and spiritual milk of your Word
00:19:45.000 | and grow thereby having tasted of your goodness.
00:19:50.000 | Grant me, please, physical strength and spiritual energy
00:19:56.000 | to speak your Word with faithfulness, clarity, authority,
00:20:01.000 | passion, wisdom, humility, and freedom.
00:20:06.000 | And may Christ alone be exalted as your Word is explained,
00:20:09.000 | we pray, amen.
00:20:14.000 | I was asked to address this morning how the majestic holiness
00:20:22.000 | of God motivates missionary zeal.
00:20:28.000 | My assignment for that theme is Isaiah 6.
00:20:42.000 | Permit me to begin by reading the first half of that chapter
00:20:47.000 | to you beginning in verse number 1.
00:20:55.000 | "In the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord
00:21:02.000 | sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
00:21:08.000 | and the train of His robe filled the temple.
00:21:12.000 | Above Him stood the seraphim, each had six wings.
00:21:20.000 | With two He covered His face, and with two He covered His feet,
00:21:26.000 | and with two He flew.
00:21:30.000 | And one called to another and said, 'Holy, holy,
00:21:38.000 | holy is the Lord of hosts.
00:21:42.000 | The whole earth is full of His glory.'
00:21:49.000 | And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice
00:21:54.000 | of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
00:22:00.000 | And I said, 'Woe is me, for I am lost,
00:22:07.000 | for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst
00:22:11.000 | of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King,
00:22:16.000 | the Lord of hosts.'
00:22:19.000 | Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand
00:22:23.000 | a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
00:22:30.000 | And he touched my mouth and said, 'Behold,
00:22:33.000 | this has touched your lips.
00:22:35.000 | Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'
00:22:42.000 | And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send,
00:22:48.000 | and who will go for us?'
00:22:51.000 | Then I said, 'Here I am; send me.'"
00:22:59.000 | Amen.
00:23:05.000 | Isaiah chapter 6 records Isaiah's life-transforming
00:23:15.000 | vision of God and his subsequent call to prophetic ministry.
00:23:24.000 | Though Isaiah is filled with moving passages
00:23:28.000 | and messianic prophecies, Isaiah 6 is arguably
00:23:34.000 | the most well-known passage in Isaiah's prophecy,
00:23:40.000 | and rightly so.
00:23:43.000 | This chapter records the dramatic testimony
00:23:51.000 | of a sinful man who had a violent encounter
00:23:56.000 | with the majestic holiness of God but lived to tell about it.
00:24:06.000 | God lifted Isaiah's gaze above and beyond
00:24:14.000 | his physical surroundings.
00:24:17.000 | And Isaiah received a vision of the living God
00:24:21.000 | that changed his life immediately, completely,
00:24:28.000 | and permanently.
00:24:31.000 | God the Holy Spirit has put on record in the sacred Scriptures
00:24:35.000 | Isaiah's personal testimony of this experience
00:24:38.000 | in order to call you and me, brothers,
00:24:43.000 | to a high view of God.
00:24:49.000 | So we do not need to try to chase after
00:24:55.000 | the supernatural experience Isaiah had,
00:25:01.000 | but we most definitely need the high view of God
00:25:05.000 | that was the result of Isaiah's experience.
00:25:10.000 | A.W. Tozer wrote, "The greatest need of the moment
00:25:14.000 | is for lighthearted, superficial religionists
00:25:18.000 | to be struck down with a vision of God,
00:25:21.000 | high and lifted up with his train filling the temple."
00:25:30.000 | In his book, The Sovereign Supremacy of God in Preaching,
00:25:35.000 | John Piper writes about using Isaiah 6
00:25:39.000 | as a pastoral experiment.
00:25:43.000 | One Sunday, he preached Isaiah 6
00:25:47.000 | and worked his way through this passage
00:25:52.000 | intentionally excluding any word of application in the sermon.
00:26:01.000 | The test was to see
00:26:04.000 | if the vision of the majestic holiness of God
00:26:07.000 | would be enough in and of itself to meet the needs of his people.
00:26:13.000 | Not long after, Piper writes, he found out
00:26:16.000 | about a couple in his church who had recently discovered
00:26:19.000 | that their child was being abused by a relative.
00:26:25.000 | And after service one Sunday,
00:26:27.000 | the father shared with Piper the tragic details
00:26:34.000 | and said, "These have been the most difficult months of our lives,
00:26:38.000 | but let me tell you what has gotten us through these weeks.
00:26:43.000 | It was the vision of the holiness of God
00:26:47.000 | that you preached about at the top of the year."
00:26:52.000 | Here's the line, "It's been a rock upon which I've been able to stand."
00:27:03.000 | Brothers, I got a big text in front of me,
00:27:06.000 | and there's a lot to say here,
00:27:10.000 | but let me just bottom line the message up front.
00:27:14.000 | Your view of God is everything.
00:27:21.000 | Jeremiah chapter 9, verses 23 and 24
00:27:29.000 | says it this way, "Thus says the Lord,
00:27:34.000 | 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.
00:27:38.000 | Let not the mighty man boast in his might.
00:27:41.000 | Let not the rich man boast in his riches,
00:27:45.000 | but let him who boasts boast in this,
00:27:50.000 | that he knows and understands me,
00:27:54.000 | that I am the Lord,
00:27:59.000 | who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.
00:28:04.000 | For in these I delight,' declares the Lord."
00:28:08.000 | I repeat, your view of God is everything.
00:28:17.000 | If you do not have a proper view of God,
00:28:23.000 | you have nothing.
00:28:29.000 | But when God is seen as He truly is,
00:28:35.000 | everything else falls into its proper place.
00:28:41.000 | Our personal lives, our ministry assignments, our gospel mission.
00:28:54.000 | What does it mean to have a high view of God?
00:29:00.000 | Isaiah chapter 6 records three essential elements
00:29:07.000 | of a high view of God.
00:29:10.000 | First, God is sovereign.
00:29:17.000 | God is sovereign.
00:29:21.000 | The Bible is clear and consistent
00:29:24.000 | that mere mortals like you and me cannot see the living God.
00:29:31.000 | John chapter 4, verse 24 says God is spirit.
00:29:38.000 | First Timothy chapter 6, verse 16 says that God dwells in unapproachable light
00:29:44.000 | whom no one has seen or can see.
00:29:47.000 | First John chapter 4, verse 12 just bottom lines it.
00:29:50.000 | No one has ever seen God.
00:29:58.000 | Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord."
00:30:10.000 | What did Isaiah see that day?
00:30:18.000 | A hint at what Isaiah saw is seen in the language used for God in the text.
00:30:29.000 | In verse 3, the term used for God is Yahweh.
00:30:37.000 | In the Seraphim's praise, the self-existent one.
00:30:42.000 | The name with which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush.
00:30:47.000 | In Exodus chapter 3, "I am thee I am."
00:30:55.000 | But in verse 1, Lord here is Adonai, the sovereign one.
00:31:03.000 | Isaiah did not see God's essential nature,
00:31:07.000 | but he saw a vision of the sovereign majesty of the living God.
00:31:14.000 | This is further indicated in verse 1 that says he was sitting upon a throne.
00:31:20.000 | In verse 5, he says, "My eyes have seen the king."
00:31:30.000 | John also helps us.
00:31:34.000 | John chapter 12, verses 39 and 40 suggests that the rejection of Jesus
00:31:44.000 | by the unbelieving Jews was actually a fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 6, verse 10.
00:31:52.000 | Then John chapter 12, verse 41, John says, "These things Isaiah said when he beheld his glory."
00:32:08.000 | John claims that Isaiah saw a pre-incarnate vision of Christ.
00:32:22.000 | And in this vision, Isaiah clearly saw that God is in charge.
00:32:36.000 | There is no formal definition in this text of the sovereignty of God,
00:32:40.000 | but there is a, if you will, descriptive definition of divine sovereignty.
00:32:50.000 | When we say that God is sovereign, we mean that God is eternal,
00:32:54.000 | God is transcendent, and God is majestic.
00:32:59.000 | But you know, first of all, that the Lord is eternal.
00:33:02.000 | Verse 1 begins with a time reference. In the year the king, Uzziah, died.
00:33:11.000 | Uzziah was, I think, the ninth king of Judah.
00:33:21.000 | He took the throne at the age of 16, reigned for 52 years, longer than any other king of Judah.
00:33:28.000 | His story is told in 2 Chronicles chapter 26, and verse 15 of that chapter tells us the secret of his success.
00:33:45.000 | It says that Uzziah was marvelously helped by the Lord.
00:33:52.000 | I like that. I don't know what it means, but I like it.
00:33:57.000 | He was not just helped. He was marvelously helped.
00:34:05.000 | And because he was marvelously helped, Uzziah was able to lead the nation to military, economic, and political greatness.
00:34:16.000 | Just read the chapter. The man had it going on.
00:34:23.000 | But the Bible says he was marvelously helped until he became strong.
00:34:31.000 | And when he became strong, he was lifted up in pride to his own destruction.
00:34:43.000 | And in his pride, Uzziah defied God's commands, violated God's holiness, rebelled against God's authority.
00:34:55.000 | The king tried to intrude in the work of the priest, and God struck him with leprosy.
00:35:02.000 | The most powerful man on planet Earth was exiled into an isolated home where he died by himself.
00:35:14.000 | Isaiah says, "It was in the year that King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord high and lifted up."
00:35:30.000 | Pastors, make sure you spend more time reading your Bible than you do watching the news.
00:35:39.000 | As we look around the events in the culture that we live in,
00:35:45.000 | there are many reasons to be concerned, but no reasons to be afraid.
00:35:51.000 | Every major world leader that they are talking about on the news today will soon be voted out,
00:36:04.000 | will die, will have to end their term.
00:36:08.000 | And while world leaders come and go, God is where he's always been,
00:36:14.000 | sitting on his throne, where he reigns over heaven and earth.
00:36:23.000 | Did you hear me, brothers?
00:36:26.000 | God has no term limits, and he is not up for re-election.
00:36:33.000 | Hallelujah.
00:36:39.000 | Moses prayed, Psalm 90 verses 1 and 2,
00:36:44.000 | "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
00:36:50.000 | Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had created the earth and the world,
00:36:55.000 | even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."
00:37:05.000 | The Lord is in charge of everything because the Lord is eternal.
00:37:08.000 | He is also transcendent.
00:37:13.000 | "In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne."
00:37:25.000 | Other rulers sit on thrones, but Isaiah wants to be clear.
00:37:29.000 | Human thrones are not like this holy throne.
00:37:32.000 | This throne is high and lifted up.
00:37:44.000 | Paul, or rather Isaiah here, declares the transcendence of God
00:37:52.000 | by noting the infinite height of God's sovereign throne.
00:38:00.000 | He is trying to tell us there is no one on God's level.
00:38:08.000 | Isaiah, Psalm 46 verse 10.
00:38:14.000 | We quote the beginning of the verse, but need to make sure we quote the end of it.
00:38:21.000 | "Be still and know that I am God." Why? Because I will be exalted above the nations.
00:38:31.000 | I will be exalted on the earth.
00:38:39.000 | And may I dare say that truth is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:38:47.000 | Olympians chapter 2 verses 9 through 11 says, "Therefore, God has highly exalted him
00:38:57.000 | and has given him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus,
00:39:04.000 | every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
00:39:10.000 | and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
00:39:23.000 | All hail the power of Jesus' name.
00:39:28.000 | Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadems and crown him Lord of all.
00:39:41.000 | The Lord is eternal, the Lord is transcendent, and the Lord is majestic.
00:39:46.000 | In the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne.
00:39:52.000 | That throne was high and lifted up. One more detail.
00:39:58.000 | And the train or the hem of His robe filled the temple.
00:40:09.000 | In the ancient world, kings would display their majesty by the length of the hems of their robes.
00:40:21.000 | Isaiah says, "When I saw the Lord, the train of His robe filled the whole temple."
00:40:36.000 | When I read that, my mind, the language of the text causes my mind to drift toward weddings.
00:40:47.000 | When a bride comes down the aisle and the long-flowing superfluous material at the back of the bride's dress
00:40:57.000 | is trailing behind her, the bride's train.
00:41:02.000 | What's the longest bride's train you've seen?
00:41:08.000 | I mean, the language of the text would picture the train, the hem of His robe.
00:41:14.000 | It would be the picture of a bride's train that's so long that by the time the ushers finish getting it in,
00:41:20.000 | it covers the pews and the people, and there's no room for anything else.
00:41:27.000 | In a greater, deeper, higher way, Isaiah says, "This is our God.
00:41:34.000 | He is so great. He is so magnificent. He is so glorious that the train of His robe filled the temple."
00:41:51.000 | Jeremiah chapter 13, verse 22 says, "And if you ask in your hearts, 'Why have all of these things come upon us?'
00:42:04.000 | It is because of the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts have been lifted and your heels made bare."
00:42:21.000 | God judges men. God shames man. God condemns man by lifting up His robe and showing His bare legs to remind you,
00:42:36.000 | "You just a man." But while God lifts the robes of the wicked to their shame, the train of His robe fills the temple.
00:42:57.000 | What does it mean to have a high view of God?
00:43:02.000 | It means, at the least, you have a high view of God.
00:43:05.000 | [ Silence ]
00:43:15.000 | [ Silence ]
00:43:25.000 | [ Silence ]
00:43:54.000 | Opposite of the biblical truth.
00:44:00.000 | In the Bible, holiness is the central, definitive, foundational attribute of God.
00:44:11.000 | In a real sense, to say that God is holy is just another way of saying that God is God.
00:44:21.000 | The word used in the Bible to describe God, more than any other term, is the word "holy."
00:44:32.000 | And God is so holy that as you read the Scriptures, the things associated with Him are all called holy.
00:44:45.000 | His name is holy. His temple is holy. His word is holy. His people are holy.
00:44:53.000 | Our God is a holy God. R.C. Sproul was right.
00:45:06.000 | Any attempt to understand God apart from holiness is idolatry.
00:45:24.000 | Holiness is the defining attribute of God, and as a result, it is also a difficult attribute of God to describe.
00:45:29.000 | To define the holiness of God in a real sense is to try to define God Himself.
00:45:36.000 | But again, here, there is not a definition of God's holiness in Isaiah's vision, but there is a description of His holiness.
00:45:48.000 | The holiness of God is described in the text by the seraphim's posture and the seraphim's praise.
00:45:58.000 | Notice first the seraphim's posture.
00:46:02.000 | Verse 2, "Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings, with two he covered his face,
00:46:12.000 | and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew."
00:46:15.000 | The word "seraphim" means "burning ones." In other places, it is used for fiery serpents.
00:46:21.000 | Here, it is used to describe an order of angelic being.
00:46:27.000 | To some degree, these seraphim are like us.
00:46:33.000 | Verse 2 says they have faces and feet. Verse 5 says they have hands.
00:46:42.000 | Yet they are not like us.
00:46:46.000 | I mean, the name indicates it. They are burning ones.
00:46:49.000 | It's as if He says, "I see men above," but they are like men on fire, burning ones.
00:47:03.000 | And of course, the second feature that distinguishes them is that they have six wings.
00:47:12.000 | With two of those wings, verse 6 says they flew.
00:47:22.000 | We have a picture there of a seraphim flying to carry out a divine assignment.
00:47:33.000 | But while they flew with two of those wings, it leaves two sets left.
00:47:48.000 | The Bible says, "With two wings he covered his face, and with two wings he covered his feet."
00:48:01.000 | What a statement about the holiness of God, the holy angels.
00:48:13.000 | Verse 2 says in provocative language, "Above him stood the seraphim."
00:48:21.000 | And as they flew around the throne of God, with two wings they are covering their faces in the presence of God.
00:48:35.000 | God's holiness is so infinite.
00:48:41.000 | God's separation from not just sin, but all of creation is so great.
00:48:50.000 | God's moral excellence is so brilliant and beautiful that the holy angels could not bear to have God look directly at them or to look directly at God.
00:49:07.000 | And so, with two wings they covered their faces.
00:49:12.000 | Remember in Exodus chapter 3, Moses and the Negev sees a bush burning.
00:49:20.000 | That does…that's nothing.
00:49:22.000 | He had seen that before, but this bush is burning and it is not consumed.
00:49:28.000 | That captivates his attention.
00:49:31.000 | He draws closer to get a better look.
00:49:34.000 | And Exodus 3 verse 5 says that the voice of God speaks from the bush and tells Isaiah…tells Moses, "Take off your shoes.
00:49:46.000 | Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground."
00:49:54.000 | Isaiah was on holy ground.
00:49:57.000 | And the angels in the presence of God did not have sandals to take off, but with two wings they covered their feet.
00:50:08.000 | These holy angels, I think of these seraphim as God's sovereign secret service agents who guard the holiness of God's throne from sinful intrusion.
00:50:21.000 | But they are not just guarding God's throne from others, they are guarding themselves from God.
00:50:30.000 | Do you get what I'm saying, brothers?
00:50:33.000 | When Isaiah sees God, he responds in verse 5 by saying, "Woe is me."
00:50:38.000 | That's the proper response of a sinful man in the presence of the holiness of God.
00:50:42.000 | But the angels have no sin.
00:50:48.000 | And yet the holy angels tread lightly in the presence of God lest they be consumed by His infinite holiness.
00:51:02.000 | God have mercy on us for playing church.
00:51:14.000 | But not only do we see the holiness of God put on display by the seraphim's posture, we also see it declared in the seraphim's praise.
00:51:28.000 | Verse 3, "And one called to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.'"
00:51:45.000 | Christians cannot read this line, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," without seeing the subtle reference to the three persons of the Godhead,
00:51:55.000 | the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
00:51:57.000 | But actually, what you have here simply is a graphic statement of God's infinite holiness.
00:52:08.000 | To say that God is holy once is enough.
00:52:14.000 | To say that God is holy twice is emphatic.
00:52:20.000 | To say that God is holy three times is superlative.
00:52:26.000 | The angels are declaring that God is so holy that our minds cannot fully comprehend it and our words cannot properly express it.
00:52:36.000 | "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts."
00:52:46.000 | This is the only attribute of God that is mentioned in triplicate like this.
00:52:52.000 | Nowhere does the Bible say God is good, good, good.
00:53:02.000 | But it does say He is holy, holy, holy.
00:53:07.000 | And not just here, in Revelation chapter 4, verses 8 and 9.
00:53:13.000 | The living creatures, who ironically have six wings and are filled with eyes outside and within, never cease to sing in the presence of God,
00:53:26.000 | "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."
00:53:43.000 | Brothers, look at the next line.
00:53:55.000 | I think this second line of their antiphonal chant is just as, if not, if I may reverently say, even more so remarkable than the first line.
00:54:12.000 | "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts."
00:54:23.000 | The whole earth is full of His glory.
00:54:33.000 | When I finally got to the room last night, I was utterly exhausted.
00:54:38.000 | I bedded down and got in the bed and flipped around the stations to just see what was happening in the news.
00:54:48.000 | And I can only take a minute or two before I turned it off.
00:54:57.000 | If you just watched the news for a few minutes, you would conclude that the world is full of power struggles.
00:55:07.000 | Crime, violence, murder, corruption, perversion, homosexuality, abortion, racism, injustice.
00:55:23.000 | But the seraphim do not get their worldview by watching CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News.
00:55:39.000 | They have beheld the sovereign and infinite and majestic holiness of God.
00:55:47.000 | And beholding God shaped their view of everything else. The whole world is full of His glory.
00:55:55.000 | Exodus 15, verse 11 is right.
00:56:04.000 | He is majestic in holiness.
00:56:13.000 | Boy, it was such a joy last night to hear Grace Church Choir rock the house as they led us in musical praise.
00:56:25.000 | But no choir like this choir. Listen to this.
00:56:29.000 | You've never heard a choir sing, and afterward, the foundations of the threshold shook
00:56:39.000 | as these voices cried out in praise to God.
00:56:44.000 | And the house was filled with smoke. An earthquake hits.
00:56:53.000 | The ground is moving beneath His feet.
00:56:58.000 | It gets dark as the room is filled with smoke.
00:57:04.000 | And Isaiah is trapped in the presence of the holiness of God.
00:57:14.000 | I don't know. It's arguable that Isaiah here was closer to God than any man had ever been since the Garden of Eden.
00:57:31.000 | And yet he was so far away.
00:57:41.000 | Thank God that's not the end of the story.
00:57:47.000 | There is one more lesson in the text. God is sovereign. God is holy.
00:57:55.000 | Thirdly, we see that God is gracious.
00:58:03.000 | God is gracious.
00:58:08.000 | And the grace of God, again, is not defined in the text. It's described in the text. And it is described in the text by a shift of focus in heavenly furniture.
00:58:26.000 | The focus of verses 1 through 4 is the throne.
00:58:31.000 | The focus of verses 5 through 8 is the altar.
00:58:37.000 | Thank God both are there.
00:58:43.000 | If there was a throne but no altar, this would have been a living nightmare of condemnation and judgment and wrath. Praise be to God that here there is a throne and an altar. There is holiness and grace.
00:58:59.000 | There is guilt and forgiveness.
00:59:13.000 | We see a glimpse of God's grace in Isaiah's contrition, Isaiah's cleansing, and Isaiah's commission.
00:59:29.000 | It is appropriate that the text begins with Isaiah's contrition.
00:59:42.000 | We live in a day where all over the place people are claiming to see God.
00:59:55.000 | And interestingly, when these people see God, they're always joyful, wonderful experiences.
01:00:06.000 | They're even financially lucrative experiences.
01:00:15.000 | You can write a book and go on tour and have a movie made about seeing God.
01:00:24.000 | Not Isaiah.
01:00:31.000 | Verse 5, Isaiah said, "Woe is me."
01:00:35.000 | That is not sorrow or regret. "Woe" here is a word of divine judgment.
01:00:41.000 | Divine blessing is stated this way, "Blessed be the man."
01:00:45.000 | Divine judgment is stated, "Woe unto the man."
01:00:52.000 | I think this is why this passage is strategically located here.
01:00:59.000 | Chapters 1 through 5 are messages of judgment that Isaiah delivers, and this call narrative is not recorded until chapter 6.
01:01:09.000 | In chapter 5, the word "woe" shows up seven times in six different messages of judgment, but these "woes" often come in sevens.
01:01:19.000 | And the seventh message of "woe" that he declares is not on the people, but here on himself.
01:01:33.000 | Before he went out trying to get the world right, Isaiah saw himself and said, "Woe is me, for I am lost, ruined, undone, doomed."
01:01:59.000 | Why? Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
01:02:07.000 | Isaiah knew that the truth that the seraphim were singing about God was the ultimate reality,
01:02:17.000 | but because of his sinful lips, he could not join in the song.
01:02:27.000 | Worthy worship cannot be offered by unclean lips.
01:02:34.000 | He should have joined in, but he could not because of his guilt.
01:02:43.000 | So he says, "Woe is me, for I am lost, I am a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,
01:02:50.000 | for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
01:02:56.000 | Let me just paraphrase this fifth verse for you out of the CIV, the Charles International Version.
01:03:08.000 | I could simply summarize this verse. Isaiah says in verse 5, "I'm about to die."
01:03:18.000 | This is it, "I'm about to die."
01:03:22.000 | This is not strange. This is how people constantly react in Scripture when they see God.
01:03:36.000 | There's so many people who take Moses' prayer, "Show me your glory,"
01:03:46.000 | and don't note Exodus 33 verse 20, "No one can see my face and live."
01:03:56.000 | In Judges chapter 6 verse 22, Gideon says, "Alas, O Lord God, because I have seen the face of the angel of the Lord."
01:04:08.000 | In Judges 13, 22, Samson's father says, "We're doomed because we have seen God."
01:04:21.000 | When I was young, I used to hear the preachers talk about that glorious picture and revelation of John in the Spirit on the Lord's day.
01:04:34.000 | Boy, they would describe how glorious that was for him to see the resurrected, exalted, glorified Christ.
01:04:44.000 | Until I read Revelation for myself.
01:04:52.000 | Revelation 1:17, John says, "When I saw him, I felt like a dead man."
01:05:04.000 | Isaiah thought he was going to die, but he didn't.
01:05:14.000 | And that's the mercy and grace of God.
01:05:21.000 | It's just by His mercy and His grace, brothers, that you and I were on the wake-up list this morning.
01:05:34.000 | Isaiah recognized his guilt. We see his contrition, but then we see his cleansing, verses 6 and 7.
01:05:40.000 | It says, "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
01:05:47.000 | And he touched my lips and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'"
01:05:56.000 | What a remarkable picture here of the sovereign grace of God.
01:06:01.000 | It is an illustration of how God saves.
01:06:06.000 | It happens by God's will.
01:06:10.000 | Isaiah didn't ask for cleansing. He didn't even think it was available.
01:06:14.000 | He thought he was going to die. His cleansing happened by sovereign initiation.
01:06:22.000 | But not only does it happen by God's will, it happens by God's work.
01:06:27.000 | The burning coal was used by the high priest to cleanse himself in the process of sacrifices on the Day of Atonement we see in the Old Testament.
01:06:44.000 | But here, Isaiah is not offering anything to God.
01:06:59.000 | God dispatches the seraphim to get the burning coal with tongs off the altar and place it on Isaiah's mouth.
01:07:09.000 | The illustration here is that the cleansing was not just according to God's will, but it was by God's work.
01:07:17.000 | It was not anything that Isaiah did for God. It was all that God had did for Isaiah.
01:07:29.000 | In a greater, deeper, higher way, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says,
01:07:39.000 | "For our sake he made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we may become in him the righteousness of God,"
01:07:47.000 | as Dr. John MacArthur has so profoundly, but yet simply said.
01:07:52.000 | "At the cross, God treated Jesus as if he had committed all of our sins, so that by faith in Christ, God may treat us as if we had performed all of the righteousness of Christ."
01:08:07.000 | It happened by God's will, by God's work, and it was affirmed by God's word.
01:08:14.000 | The angel comes not just with burning coal, but with a divine announcement.
01:08:18.000 | "Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt, your sin, nature has taken away your sin."
01:08:26.000 | Guilt refers to sin, nature, and sin here is sinful acts.
01:08:32.000 | They are atoned for. They are covered.
01:08:42.000 | All of these are just shadows of a greater truth. Yes, brothers?
01:08:49.000 | By grace, you have been saved through faith.
01:08:54.000 | And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.
01:09:00.000 | Not the result of works, so that no saved person has anything to boast or brag about. God gets all the glory.
01:09:12.000 | I am almost done.
01:09:16.000 | Now, a word about missions.
01:09:29.000 | I mean, could it be that we messed this whole thing up because we want to rush to missions too fast?
01:09:37.000 | This is a reminder. This passage is a reminder, brothers, that the gospel is about God and His glory, not man and his needs.
01:09:49.000 | And so after Isaiah's contrition, Isaiah's cleansing, we see Isaiah's commissioning.
01:09:58.000 | Verse 8 really introduces the next section of the chapter.
01:10:05.000 | Isaiah is nursing his burning lips.
01:10:16.000 | It's a reminder that grace is free, but repentance is painful.
01:10:25.000 | God is not just trying to cleanse him. God is trying to consecrate him so he can use him.
01:10:31.000 | And while he's nursing his burning lips, God turns up heaven's amps.
01:10:39.000 | And Isaiah overhears a conversation and it seems no one is directly talking to him.
01:10:46.000 | Yet he overhears the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?"
01:10:56.000 | This is not a direct call. This is not the Lord saying, "Isaiah, go."
01:11:05.000 | There is a question raised.
01:11:10.000 | And Isaiah knows. He should have been dead, but he is alive.
01:11:18.000 | He should have been doomed in his guilt, but the sovereign grace of God has cleansed him and cleared him.
01:11:34.000 | So, Isaiah volunteers for world missions.
01:11:45.000 | "Here am I. Send me."
01:11:54.000 | I encourage you to read verses 9 through 13 in the quiet chambers of your own praying ground.
01:12:04.000 | But this is not a good assignment.
01:12:10.000 | Verse 9, "Go say to the people, 'Keep hearing, but do not understand. Keep seeing, but do not perceive.'
01:12:19.000 | He is called to preach to hard-hearted, stubborn, rebellious people who will not hear or receive the message."
01:12:27.000 | But Isaiah is not like us.
01:12:33.000 | We act as if we are willing to go after a long negotiation with all the terms laid out up front.
01:12:44.000 | Isaiah is signing up and he doesn't know where God is going to send him.
01:12:50.000 | He will actually be sent to a hard place among rebellious people into a difficult assignment.
01:13:00.000 | But I do not think he receives that charge as so many of us act like we're just pastoral whiners.
01:13:13.000 | Because his preoccupation was not the people he was called to.
01:13:18.000 | It was the God that called him.
01:13:24.000 | I don't want to dismiss the hardness of the assignment some of you brothers have.
01:13:30.000 | I just want to shift your focus away from the circumstances, away from the difficulty, away from the hardship,
01:13:38.000 | and remind you that our God is sovereign, our God is holy, our God is gracious.
01:13:48.000 | And wherever the calling is, tell him today, "Here am I. Send me."
01:14:00.000 | I saw a commercial last year that is my personal testimony.
01:14:10.000 | It's like a 15-second VisionWorks commercial.
01:14:19.000 | VisionWorks, the joint that sells eyeglasses.
01:14:26.000 | It's the Grand Canyon.
01:14:30.000 | And a woman walks to the edge of the cliff on one side of the canyon, and she is squinting to see the other side.
01:14:36.000 | And then a woman walks to the edge of the cliff on the other side, an employee of VisionWorks,
01:14:42.000 | and says, "Hey, you need new glasses?
01:14:49.000 | You can take advantage of your benefits by coming to VisionWorks."
01:14:56.000 | The woman on the other side of the Grand Canyon says, "How did you know I was squinting?"
01:15:06.000 | The employee says, "Wait for it."
01:15:10.000 | "I didn't. I'm just telling everybody."
01:15:15.000 | Hallelujah.
01:15:23.000 | Oh, brothers, I don't know the place, I don't know the period, I don't know the people that God has called you to,
01:15:35.000 | but because God is sovereign and holy and gracious,
01:15:44.000 | go tell everyone that Jesus saves.
01:15:58.000 | Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word today.
01:16:04.000 | We thank You for this glorious vision that reorders our priorities.
01:16:11.000 | We've only skimmed the surface, and yet I pray that by the Holy Spirit's perfect teaching ministry,
01:16:18.000 | You will fill our hearts and minds with the renewed vision of Your goodness, Your greatness, and Your glory,
01:16:34.000 | all put on display through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
01:16:40.000 | Transform us. We pray that You would use us, but more importantly here, Father, we are praying that You would make us usable.
01:16:53.000 | And whatever the assignment is that You would place on the lives of these men,
01:16:59.000 | may our response be, "Here am I. Send me."
01:17:04.000 | In Jesus' name and for Your glory, amen.
01:17:15.000 | Let's stand together.
01:17:19.000 | Just allow the Lord to seal that word in our hearts as we sing a song that enables us to put ourselves in the same place that Isaiah was,
01:17:33.000 | seeing the glory of the Lord and recognizing that He is a God who is sovereign, holy, and gracious.
01:17:53.000 | I once was lost in darkness night, and thought I knew the way.
01:18:03.000 | The sin that prompted joy in life had led me to the grave.
01:18:13.000 | I had no hope that You would know what else to do or will.
01:18:23.000 | And if You had not loved me first, I would refuse You still.
01:18:34.000 | But as I read, I held a grace indifferent to the cost.
01:18:43.000 | You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross.
01:18:52.000 | And I beheld God's loveless face.
01:18:57.000 | You suffered in my place.
01:19:02.000 | You bore the wrath.
01:19:05.000 | You served for me.
01:19:07.000 | Now all I know is grace.
01:19:14.000 | Hallelujah!
01:19:19.000 | All I have is Christ.
01:19:24.000 | Hallelujah!
01:19:29.000 | Jesus is my life.
01:19:34.000 | Hallelujah!
01:19:39.000 | All I have is Christ.
01:19:43.000 | Hallelujah!
01:19:48.000 | Jesus is my life.
01:19:57.000 | Now, Lord, I would be Yours.
01:19:59.000 | Now, Lord, I would be Yours, O, and live so all might see.
01:20:09.000 | The strength to follow Your commands could never come from me.
01:20:19.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:20:27.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:20:29.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:20:37.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:20:48.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:20:57.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:21:03.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:21:10.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:21:14.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:21:21.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:21:26.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:21:32.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:21:36.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:21:41.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:21:45.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:21:51.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:21:55.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:00.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:22:05.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:11.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:22:15.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:20.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:22:24.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:29.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:22:34.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:39.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:22:44.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:49.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:22:54.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:22:59.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:23:04.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:23:09.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:23:14.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:23:19.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:23:24.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:23:29.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:23:34.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:23:39.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:23:44.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:23:49.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:23:54.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:23:59.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:24:04.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:24:09.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:24:14.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:24:19.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:24:24.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:24:29.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:24:34.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:24:39.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."
01:24:44.000 | O, Father, use my ransomed life in any way.
01:24:49.000 | Sing that again, "O, Father, use."