Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

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If you have your Bibles, please go with me, turn with me to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 6.
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Isaiah chapter 6, reading 7 verses, we'll stop with just 7, it continues to 13 in this chapter.
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This is an amazing chapter, this is a pivotal chapter because it speaks of Isaiah's call.
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Now he is called since chapter 1, he's been speaking of judgment to Judah and the sins upon Judah.
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But here is the initial call and God has to do something to Isaiah in his calling.
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And he has to commission him. So, hear the word of the living
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God. In the year that King Uzziah died,
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I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
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Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
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And one cried unto another, said, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
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Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
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For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
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And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
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Let's stop right there, and let's ask God's help as we worship him within this hour, and look to him.
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Father, save us from apathy this morning. I'm being over familiar with this text.
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There's no way I can do justice to it, Lord. So as your servant, I pray, oh God, as I stammer through this, help me, and help each and every one of us to leave here, knowing that you have come to meet with us, and your presence is in our midst, and Jesus Christ, your
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Son, the King of kings, Lord of lords, is walking among the candlesticks. Oh God, that's all that matters.
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Lord, I pray that you would touch us, oh God. One touch from you changes everything.
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It changes everything. No matter how long we've been walking with you, oh God, we need a touch from you.
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Lord, help us. And we pray that you would be exalted, you would be glorified, you would be magnified and lifted up, and your name would be hallowed.
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Holy is your name. And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
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Amen and amen. Let me begin by saying this, that all that has been happening this past week in Afghanistan is where you well know the loss of many lives,
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Marines, innocent people in Afghanistan, children, families, the loss of many people placed in harm's way, with the terrorists, the
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Taliban, thousands and thousands of people that has been taken out of there.
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And we thank God for that. We want to praise God for that. But still there's many, many lives that are to be rescued and put in safety as threats are continued.
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Along with many Christians trying to make it to safety,
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I should say, by air support, a wicked administration over here in the United States that apparently doesn't care.
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I don't want to go too much into that because I'm not here to preach politics but take us to the
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Word of God. But let me say this, when God gives us wicked leaders, judgment is upon us.
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Much blood will be on their hands and they're going to have to answer to God for that. Keep in mind that nothing escapes the eye of Almighty God.
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He knows every detail that takes place. So that shall not the judge of all the earth do right.
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Vengeance is the Lord's. So we pray for our leaders no matter how wicked they are.
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But so much more can be said of what is going on in the world globally. There's a new world order that's eventually coming and the rise of as many antichrists but the rise of the antichrist will eventually happen.
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Personally I'm not looking for the antichrist, I'm looking for the Christ. I'm looking for Jesus to come back.
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And I say in my heart, even so come Lord Jesus. Wicked forces which we know is unleashed from the pits of hell and appears as we look at the circumstances about us and the reality of it is it seems that they're getting stronger by the minutes and Satan knows his time is but short.
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So he's doing everything he can to get back at God. That's his purpose.
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Then as you well know, it's bad enough to look at what's going on in the world. We look within the church, we see apostasy everywhere.
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We see outwardly the world seems to be getting more evil and evil is running amok.
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And then within the church there's apostasy, false teachers by the thousands.
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I can literally say that. No surprise if you have any discernment from the word of God as you know the scriptures.
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Paul the apostle warns us that 1 Timothy chapter 4 as he speaks to the church there and speaks to Timothy chapter 4, 1
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Timothy verse 1 and 2, now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith.
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Tells us giving heed, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy.
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We see that, don't we? Doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
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Sounds bleak, but sounds very familiar what's going on, but it's the truth, right? We know what the word of God says.
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That's the reality of it. So even our Lord Jesus Christ gave warning in the last times in Matthew chapter 24.
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You're well familiar with His text. He speaks to His disciples in regard to a question that they ask
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Jesus personally. And it's a very good question. And this is what they said in Matthew chapter 24 in verse 3,
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I believe. Tell us, tell us when shall these things be?
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When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of that coming? And the end of the world?
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That's one of the greatest questions, I believe. I don't know which disciple asked, but maybe many of them asked.
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It doesn't say, it just says the disciples. But Jesus' response to that great question gives the longest answer that He ever gave in comparison to all the
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Q &A questions that was given to Him from the disciples.
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He goes into detail in Matthew chapter 24 and 25 and actually consists of our
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Lord's answer to that great question. It's the longest answer that He ever gave. Study it in your own personal time.
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I really believe it's relevant to everything that's taking place, of course. Many people say, well, the end times have been taking place for 2 ,000 years.
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And I like what Ravenhill says. Yes, we've been in the end times for 2 ,000 years, but the minute hand is about the strike, the stroke, the midnight hour.
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So we're very, very close. How close, I'm not for sure, but the coming of the
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Lord's near. And by the way, I want to say this as a footnote, anybody that gives times and dates on this is a false teacher.
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I can assure you of that. Jesus said, no man knows the hour.
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No man. I'm telling you, stay away from people that are setting dates.
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There's many of them out there. They're setting timelines and dates. They're false, false, false.
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Listen to what Jesus said. And you talk about the signs of the times, our
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Lord begins to answer, and He gives an overview before He really gets into the details of this, speaking of the great tribulation period.
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But the answer comes with many, many woes. People don't like to hear this. That's why you don't hear a lot of teaching on this, and if there's a lot of teaching from it, it's bent out of context, but there are coming woes that are coming.
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Hard times are coming. Verse 4, chapter 24, and Jesus answered and said unto them, notice what
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He says, take heed that no man deceives you. False teachers. Deception.
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And verses 5 through 8, then He says this, for many, many shall come, not few, many shall come in My name, saying,
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I am Christ, and you shall deceive many. So, beloved, there is a great deception that's taking place in this world.
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Deception is one of the biggest tools and strategies that Satan uses. And then
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Jesus continues, and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled.
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Isn't that a word for us today? Let not your heart be troubled. See that you be not troubled.
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For all these things must come to pass. They must come to pass.
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But the end is not yet, Jesus says, when He says this. And then He goes on to say, for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, and dire places, and all these are the beginning of sorrows.
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It's just the beginning. Jesus is basically saying it's just warming up. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
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And He goes on to speak about the affliction, even death, martyrdom, to those who bear the name of Jesus, and being hated of all nations for His name's sake.
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For His name's sake. We see this. Verse 11, Again, He repeats
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Himself, knowing that it underscores the importance of warning people about deception.
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Verse 11, And many false prophets shall rise and deceive many. We see in this.
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Verse 12, Why? Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
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Verse 13, But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Verse 14,
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And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.
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And we don't know when the gospel is going to reach every person across this globe, but God knows.
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God desires all men to come to repentance, even though we know all isn't going to come.
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But God's heart is so large in seeing people repent. He wants all to hear the gospel.
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So the end, being at the second coming, the end of everything is speaking of, the end of the age, the end of the world.
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The second coming of Jesus Christ our Lord in which He spoke of comes as King of kings and Lord of lords. He will strike down nations, beloved, by the word of His power.
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People will be laid waste instantly. Nations. We're talking about the power and the authority that spoke the worlds into existence and by a word
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He was speaking. And nations will be obliterated. Incredible power.
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When Jesus says, all authority, all power is given unto me, He meant all, not some.
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Incredible. Well, we know that the end is near. And one day,
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Jesus shall reign forever and ever. The government shall be upon His shoulders. The kingdom of God will be ushered in.
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He will reign forever and ever. But before all that takes place, it's going to get worse first.
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Let's prepare ourselves. Now I know there's other teachings out there that says it's going to get better before it gets worse.
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I'm of the belief that believes if you read the scriptures, it's going to get worse before the kingdom of God gets better.
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The yet is yet to be. The best is yet to be. But before the kingdom comes, first, there's disaster coming.
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There's destruction coming. So in the meantime, before our
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Lord Jesus comes back in great power and glory, which He says with all the holy angels, or before He calls believers home, it's very, very easy to see about us all the circumstances that we can very easily become discouraged, right?
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I get discouraged when I see a lot of this. What are we to do?
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I like what Corrie Ten Boone says, if you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed.
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But if you look at God, you'll be at rest. I think she knew something.
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She put her confidence and trust in the Lord. And that's what we need to do.
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So within this hour today, that's the introduction.
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Together we will worship our Lord as we continue to worship our God, as we hear the word of the living
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God from Isaiah chapter 6. We're going to look at these seven verses as we look and behold our
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God. That God is on His throne, beloved. And His majesty and His glory and His splendor and His power and His voice is as the sound of many waters.
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There's nothing going to shake God. God's going to shake things up. But God's not shaking.
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His kingdom is unshakable. So let's look at the beauty of God within this text.
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It's the beauty of God's holiness. And I confess to you, I feel very, very small.
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And I felt very small as I was studying this. And I feel very small before you this morning. And I think that's a good place to be.
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So I pray, Lord, hide me behind the cross. I'm just a voice for the Lord. And I want you to hear the word of the living
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God. Now I like what 2 Chronicles 20 -21 says. God appointed singers in Israel that they should praise the beauty of holiness.
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God loves to be praised. He desires to be praised. And actually, it's the reason why He's redeemed us is to praise
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Him and to worship His beauty. God desires to be praised in the beauty of His holiness.
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It was the period in Stephen Cronach that said power is God's hand or arm. Omniscience is
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His eye. Mercy, His bowels. Eternity, His duration. But holiness is
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His beauty. So Isaiah chapter 6 gives us a glimpse. And it's like the curtain has unfolded like it is in the apocalypse of Revelation that we see the throne room.
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We see heaven opened up. And we had this great privilege before us with the written revelation of God's word from Isaiah and all through the
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Scriptures as we see the throne room before us. The inner court. The holy of holies.
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So in order for us to focus on the beauty of God's holiness, we're going to look at these 7 verses from chapter 6 of Isaiah and to glean from this awesome, awesome experience that Isaiah had.
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We're just going to share this with them. And as we go through this, I want to warn you at the same time as it is encouraging to our soul,
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I know it's going to be very, very convicting to us as well because what we see is even redeemed sinners, we fall so short of the holiness of God.
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We will be looking at 2 points I'd like to give you this morning. The first point I'd like to give to you from the text is the
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Lord's holiness is exalted. The Lord's holiness is exalted from verse 1 through 4.
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It tells us what Isaiah saw. It tells us what Isaiah saw. And then second, the
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Lord's messenger is purified. The Lord's messenger is purified in verse 5 through 7.
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It tells us what Isaiah heard. What he heard. Then last, we will look at application in verses 6 and 7.
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What Isaiah experienced. He experienced the touch of God. The touch of a live coal upon him that was his remedy as he placed a curse upon himself.
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But if you notice in Isaiah, here, he looks first upward. He looks upward in verses 1 through 4.
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And then he looks inward in verses 5 through 7. And last in verse 8, he looks outward.
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First he looks upward, then inward, then outward. There's a call, there's a confession, then there's a cleansing, then he's commissioned.
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There's a call, a confession, a cleansing, then a commission.
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God's order is always perfect, isn't it? And that's his order. The call of God, the commission, the confession, a cleansing, and then a commission.
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I like what Ravenhill said, and I used his outline years ago, but in verse 5 there's a woe, verse 7 there's a low, and verse 9 there's a go.
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What a wonderful order that is. So let us with these points that we have in mind, gaze upon the beauty of God's holiness as we look at this wonderful text and gaze at His splendor and His beauty.
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The Lord's holiness is exalted. The Lord's holiness is exalted. Verse 1 begins like this,
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In the year that King Uzziah died. Now I want to stop right there and give you a little background that will help us appreciate what is taking place here.
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Let's look at King Uzziah. Who is this man? King Uzziah of Judah had a long distinguishing reign that you read in the
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Scriptures in 2 Chronicles. You can turn with me there if you like. 2 Chronicles 26. Also in 2
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Kings, you don't have to turn there, but we'll go look at 2 Chronicles 26. 2 Kings 15 1 -7
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Uzziah is called Azariah. 2 Kings 15 Uzziah began his reign when he was only 16 years old.
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He reigned for 52 years and overall he was a good king. Now before we go to 2
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Chronicles 26, let me give you one Scripture from 2 Kings 15 3. 2
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Kings 15 3 says, And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father
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Amaziah had done. Then you go to 2 Chronicles 26 5.
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The Scripture says this, And he sought God in the days of Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God.
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And as long as he sought the Lord, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
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Uzziah also led Israel in military victories over the Philistines and other neighboring nations.
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He was a strong king in those days. Uzziah was also an energetic builder.
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He was a planner and he was a general. He was a powerful man. Now if you notice with me in 2
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Chronicles, this is very significant because to understand the text of what is about to take place in Isaiah 6.
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2 Chronicles 26 8. Notice verse 8. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah.
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And his name spread abroad even the entering of Egypt. Now what we see, a man has become very popular.
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He's lifted up in pride. That's right. He becomes very strong. And notice what it says. For he strengthened himself exceedingly.
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Now here's a man that sought the Lord, folks. But yet pride enters in. But Uzziah's life ended tragically.
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Now notice this in 2 Chronicles 26 16. But when he was strong.
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Now right here it doesn't mean that strong is something good. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.
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For he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the temple of the
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Lord to burn incense upon the altar incense. Let me comment right here. So in response to this,
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God struck Uzziah with leprosy. He was a leper. And he was isolated until his death.
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Now notice with me in 2 Chronicles 26 17. 17 through 22.
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And notice the details. Uzziah. Azariah. Uzziah.
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The priest. I'm sorry. This was a priest. It can be kind of confusing there, but it's not.
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But he's called that in another book. But here the priest is Azariah. The priest went into him.
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And with him four score priests. In other words, a whole group of priests had to go in of the Lord that were valiant men to take this king
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Uzziah back. So they withstood Uzziah the king. Here's the king.
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He takes up on himself. He's lifted up in pride. He goes into the very courts of the
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Lord. He goes into a place where he is forbidden, even as a king. Only the priest were to go there and present the sacrifices before the
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Lord. And they said unto him, And it appertaineth not unto thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the
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Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense.
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In other words, God has appointed priests and that's it. A king could not do this, even though he was a king.
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Go out of the sanctuary. They're telling him to leave. For thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from the
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Lord God. And Uzziah was wroth. In other words, he was very angry at what they were doing.
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This man was very much lifted up in pride. You ever face people like this?
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You tell them the truth, they're lifted up in pride, what do they do? They turn against the word of the
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Lord with vengeance. And then he says, He had a censer in his hand to burn incense.
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He was in process here. And while he was wroth with the priest, the leprosy even rose up on his forehead before the priest and the house of the
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Lord. You don't play around with God. God allowed the leprosy to come on his forehead immediately. And then it says,
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From beside the incense altar. And in Azariah, the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him and behold, he was leprous in his forehead.
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And they thrust him out from thence and yea, himself hasted also to go out because the
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Lord had smitten him. It says it right there, God did this. Verse 21,
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And Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death. And he dwelt in a several house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the
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Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of the land.
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So there you have a background of Uzziah the king.
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Even though he had a very good start with seeking the Lord, he ended up tragically with leprosy.
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And God brought that on to him to humble him, I believe. So, in the year that king
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Uzziah died. Now we pick up there, right? Doesn't that help us out a little bit of the background?
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In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne.
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You see that? It is to say, in the year a king died, a good king, at one time he was good.
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And it is to say also that in the year a king, a good wise king died, a tragic thing happened to him.
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Isaiah the prophet was disturbed, he was discouraged, he was disillusioned,
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I believe, in the death of king Uzziah because of a good king, at one time he died. Because of his life,
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I am sure he sobbed over his life, the way he tragically died. That is something to sob about, isn't it?
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And you can see the prophet Isaiah getting very discouraged of all that is taking place here.
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So he is very discouraged. But Isaiah goes into the temple.
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And the question comes, where was God in all of this? Where was the Lord? He is where He has always been.
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He is on the throne. He is on the throne. In the year that king
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Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne.
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God was on His throne. And sovereign, majestic, power and glory is
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Lord of lords, king of kings, enthroned in heaven, sovereign over all, in charge of all creation.
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Beloved, this is where God is. He is on the throne. Heaven is His throne. Earth is
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His footstool. The Lord of hosts sits upon the throne, sovereign. And we got to remember this.
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God is sovereign over all the affairs of men. All of them. It disturbs us, you see, and it should disturb us, but we should never be troubled and never worry, because nothing catches
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God by surprise. Everything that is going on is actually, He knows exactly.
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Everything is exactly planned to the way God knows. He has already lived it. He has already been there.
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He is on the throne of heaven. He is in charge. He is sovereign. He is the king of kings,
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Lord of lords. He is the ruler of the universe and He upholds everything by the word of His power. Nothing escapes
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Him. I like what R .C. Sproul says. Not even one maverick molecule is outside of God's sovereignty.
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Every molecule, every detail, everything that is taking place is not catching
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God off guard. It is exactly how He has planned it. Now people sit back and say,
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Why? Well, of course. But God is in charge because God is God. We don't understand the secret things of the
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Lord, but we do know what the things that are revealed to the sons of men is found in the Scriptures. Now, I want you to notice a word here.
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I like this. That word also is significant. Also. Don't let these little words catch us off.
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A .J. Aronside said this in his commentary. He was very observant. He says this quote,
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Was it a sight of God that brought the leprosy out on Uzziah's forehead?
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The same God revealed Himself to Isaiah while He was attending the service in the temple at Jerusalem.
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However, it was not in judgment, but in grace. In grace that He showed
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Himself as the infinitely Holy One. Others may have thronged the temple courts at this time, but none but Isaiah saw the glorious vision of God.
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And in a static state, Aronside says, he became blind to all about Him, but his awakened intelligence was fully occupied with the glory that had been revealed to him.
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O beloved, Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up. And anyone might sit on a chair nowadays, but God sits on the throne.
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Authority. All authority. All power. Sovereign. But here Isaiah sees the
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King of Glory, right? The King of Glory. The King of Kings. The Lord of Lords sitting on the throne of His universe.
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And let me say this. Isaiah was not alone in seeing God's throne. We don't have time to see all this in verse by verse and chapter by chapter, but let me give you an overview of what the
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Bible has to say of others that experienced in seeing the throne of God. The third heaven.
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Who had a vision of heaven taken. Paul the Apostle was one of them. He said the things he saw there was unlawful for him to utter.
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He witnessed the glory and the majesty and the holiness of God in seeing God on His throne. And in 1
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Kings 22 .19, the prophet Micaiah saw God's throne.
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In Job 26 .9, Job saw God's throne. In Psalm 9 .4, Psalm 9 .7,
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Psalm 11 .4, David saw God's throne. Psalm 45 .6,
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Psalm 47 .8, the sons of Korah saw God's throne. Psalm 89 .14,
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Ethan the Ezrahite saw God's throne. Lamentations 5 .19,
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Jeremiah saw God's throne. Ezekiel 1 .26, Ezekiel 10 .1,
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Ezekiel saw God's throne. And Daniel 7 .9, Daniel saw
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God's throne. In the book of Revelation, which is very familiar with us, we know in Revelation chapter 4, the
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Apostle John saw God's throne when the angel said, come up hither. Actually, in the book of Revelation, 35 times in that book, the word throne is specifically mentioned.
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Throne. More than 35 times in that awesome book. So the Bible makes it very clear that the
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Lord God enthrones heaven. He is on His throne. He rules,
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He's sovereign of the universe. A good word to know today of all that's been taking place. He's in complete control.
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God never loses control. God is sitting on the throne. He orders all things.
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He upholds everything by the order of His power. He's high and He's lifted up.
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That's what the Scripture says. He's high and lifted up. The throne of God was greatly elevated, in other words.
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He's highly exalted. He's lofty. He's lifted up. He's high.
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You know, I like what Dr. Tozer said about this, of the God that we see today in the modern churches too small and too low.
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But the God of the Bible is high and exalted and He's lifted up.
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He saw Him high. We need to see the God of gods, the
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Lord of lords, exalted in majesty and power and glory. He's high.
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And then it says His train filled the entire temple. Speaking of the hymn, the fringe of the
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Lord's glorious robe that filled that complete temple. And even though Isaiah may have been at an earthly temple at the time, he saw this vision.
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This describes the heavenly temple. It transcends the earthly temple. Verse 2 through 4.
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Notice what the text says. Above it stood the seraphim, the seraphim, the burning ones.
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The translation is burning ones. These are creatures that God has made specifically to glorify and worship
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Him unceasingly, unceasingly. Surrounded the throne of God.
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Above it, above it, are an order of angel, angelic beings. These burning ones.
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There's many passages. Let me give you a few. The angels are known as cherubim. Psalm 81, chapter 80, verse 1 says,
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Give ear, O shepherd, O Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between the cherubim.
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Shine forth. Shine forth. Isaiah 37, 16.
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O Lord of hosts. Notice the worship in this. The worship. O Lord of hosts,
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God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubim. Thou art the God, even thou alone, and all the kingdoms of the earth.
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Thou hast made heaven and earth. And then Ezekiel chapter 10, verse 3.
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Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court.
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We're going to look more about that cloud in a few minutes. The smoke. So these glorious beings seemed to be the messengers of grace.
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Each one of them had six wings with two twain. He covered his face. Notice what it says.
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And with two he covered his feet. His face had to be covered. These six wings, these awful beings, constantly had to cover up their faces and cover their feet.
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And with the other two were flying. Notice that they had six wings.
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These awful creatures that God made to glorify and praise Him and worship Him. And even right now they're doing this, ministering to God.
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And they will throughout all eternity. And with two covering His face, they dare not even look at the gaze of God and look at God and His holiness, acknowledging their humility and lowliness, covering their feet.
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And even though they're engaged in divine service. Listen to what C .H. Spurgeon said about this. Quote, For the serf remembers that even though sinless, he is yet a creature.
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And therefore he conceals himself in token of his nothingness and unworthiness in the presence of the
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Thrice Holy One. Thus they have four wings for adoration. Four wings for adoration and two for active energy.
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Four to conceal themselves and two with which to occupy themselves in service.
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And we may learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in His presence.
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Veneration must be in larger proportion than vigor. Adoration must exceed activity.
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As Mary at Jesus' feet was preferred to Martha and her much serving, so must sacred reverence take first place.
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And energetic service follow in due course. End quote.
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I love what Spurgeon says there. Next, let's look at the second point.
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The Lord's messenger is purified. There's so much more I could say there, but we need to go on. The messenger is purified.
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Isaiah, what he heard, what he experienced. And the text says,
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And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts, while the whole earth is full of His glory. Beloved, it was here
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Isaiah was hearing the adoration and praises of heaven. Now this is remarkable.
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This is a song of worship that was sounding forth, and it's loud. You go to Revelation, it's very, very loud.
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Matter of fact, it's so loud, it literally, it says the very post of the door was moved. That door was the thresholds.
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The thresholds. The voices of these beings were so powerful, it shook the thresholds of heaven.
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As they were saying in worship, Holy, holy, holy. Not once, but three times.
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Implying the praise of the triune God, to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Declaring His holiness to the highest degree.
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I like what R .C. Sproul talks about here. This is the one attribute that was raised to the third degree.
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You think about all the great, all the attributes of God, how great they are. Mercy, and love, and God's infinitude, and His omniscience, and His omnipotence,
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His power. But think about this. His power is holy. His wisdom is holy.
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His grace is holy. His love is holy. In other words, everything about God is holy.
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And if we don't understand this, we're not going to understand who God really is. And this is so much, far, so foreign, not only to the world, but it's foreign to the church.
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We need to come back to the holiness of God, of who God is and His holiness. And only
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God's holiness... God is separate. He's other than. He's set apart.
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He's independent. He is the Holy One of Israel. It's God being holy and none can even come close to Him.
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How separate. Even the creatures that He made to praise and worship Him have to cover their faces before God so that they would not burn up with His glory.
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And this very nature of... This is His essence. It's divine, not human. A .W.
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Tozer captured this in that infinite gulf between the Lord and all creation. In his book,
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In the Knowledge of the Holy, he said this, We must not think of God as the highest and ascending order of beings.
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We have a tendency to do that, don't we? In other words, stair -stepping it. He says, starting with the single sail going up from the fish to the bird, to the animal, to the man, to the angel, to the cherub, to God.
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Like an ascending order. He says, no, God is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar.
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For the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite.
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While the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite. I'm telling you what, that...
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That runs all through me when I hear something like that. But God is so great and high, it's beyond our greatest thought.
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We can think God is the highest we can, and folks, that doesn't come close to how high and incomprehensible
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God is. God is so... Listen to Exodus 15, 11. It says, the great
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God is glorious in holiness. Glorious. Revelation 15, 4.
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Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy.
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Habakkuk 1, 13. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.
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Well, if He cannot look on iniquity, His eyes are so pure. What about His creation?
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Listen to Job 25, 5. Job says this, Behold, even the moon, and it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in His sight.
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Beloved, God's all -shining, glorious holiness is so separate, so apart from our highest thought.
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He is who He is, and He does what He does, and He is great in power and glory, and all of His holiness and all of His works, it is
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His very essence. The whole earth is full of His glory, the Scripture says. And notice again, verse 4.
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The post of the door moved at the voice of Him who cried at the house, was filled with smoke.
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Now, that smoke reminds us of the pillar of cloud that represented the awesome presence of God.
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This smoke is representing, what He was seeing is the presence of God. You read this in Exodus 13, 21 and 22.
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The smoke on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19, 18. And the cloud of God's Shekinah glory that filled the temple in 1
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Kings 8. A cloud of glory often marks the holy presence of the
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Lord of hosts. Notice verse 5, what Isaiah experienced. He says,
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Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
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For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, what made Isaiah, this prophet of God, this righteous man on earth, feel like this?
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Like he was being destroyed? Like he was coming apart, disintegrated? Well, first of all, you don't hear this word put in the right context, but I'm going to use it here.
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And the old theologians used to use it in context to this right here. They call it this awful vision of God.
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And I mean awful, not in the sense of bad. In other words, all inspiring.
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Awful, in the sense of that God, there's no one like God. He's set apart in His holiness, and then
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He sees God in His holiness, and He sees the Lord.
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And in effect, beholding God, He sees His own corruption.
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He sees His own vileness. He sees His own heart. And that's what's going to happen when we meet
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God. We're going to see our vileness and our heart. First, He had an upward look.
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Now, He has an inward look. Isaiah saw himself in the light of God's infinite holiness. And this is what happens when sinful man comes in contact, consciously, with the presence of God.
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When God is seen. Job saw the Lord. And what did he say? I repent in dust and ashes.
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Peter recognized Jesus when Jesus first came to him as the creator, and as He was the master of all the fish of the ocean.
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And you know what Peter said? Depart from me. Depart from me. I am a sinful man,
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O Lord. I'm a sinful man. Second, what brought
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Isaiah to this? Well, first of all, he sees the Lord in His glory and His holiness, but he also saw these burning ones.
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These seraphims. They were sounding forth praise and worship as they were worshiping
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God in their holy humility and obedience and adoration to God. And he realized not only that he was unlike the
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Lord, but he was also unlike these angels. So he felt like, who am
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I to see such a thing? I'm a prophet and I'm going to pronounce a curse on myself. And he cried out loud,
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Woe is me, for I'm undone. He heard these creatures, holy, holy, holy.
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Praise God so beautifully. He could not do that.
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He could not say with his lips, holy, holy, holy. But he could say, woe is me, I'm undone. He could not worship
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God and say, holy, holy, holy here. He was a man of unclean lips.
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The vision of the throne of God did not make Isaiah feel good, folks, like you hear a lot of preaching today.
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It made him feel horrible and wretched and defiled. And he was so bad, he pronounced a curse upon himself.
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This is beyond us, folks. He saw God in all of His glory and His holiness more clearly than he ever saw.
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He saw the Lord high and lifted up. But he also saw how clear and how vile and how undone and wretched he was.
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Isaiah first looked upward. He saw the Lord. He saw the throne high and lifted up. Then he looked inward and he says,
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I am undone. And then he comes to confess. There's a confession. Woe is me, for I'm undone.
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I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Isaiah saw his sinfulness. And also the sinfulness of his people.
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But mainly in terms of sinful speech. Now this is really convicting, folks. Listen to this. Our tongues is what gives evidence as to who we really are in our hearts.
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Isn't that convicting? Jesus said that. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. In other words, what comes out of our mouth flows right from the being of our very heart.
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By nature, our lips are full of flattery and false intent. Psalm 12 .2
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With flattering lips and a double heart, they speak. By nature, our lips lie and are proud.
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Psalm 31 .18 Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
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Folks, by nature, our lips deceive. Psalm 34 .13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
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By nature, our lips are violent. The lips. Listen to this.
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Psalm 59 .7 Swords are in their lips. Swords. Drone swords.
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By nature, our lips bring death to others. Psalm 143 The poison of Asp is under their lips.
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That's the word of God, folks. And it reveals who we are as we speak. Isaiah did not think for a moment that this was the only sin.
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Or he would have never cried out, for I am undone, destroyed, disintegrated. No, that was one of the foremost sins because it reveals the heart.
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But there are many other sins too. Outwardly speaking, Isaiah was a very righteous man, a godly man in his time.
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He saw the King, the Lord of hosts, and he saw how utterly vile and sinful and wretched in comparison he was.
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Isaiah's life may have been as brilliant as a diamond. But beloved, can
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I give you an analogy here? As when you lay a diamond against a perfectly black background, and then you have the right light shining upon that diamond, beloved, it can make you see every flaw of imperfection.
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I think of this most often when we have the sun beaming through our windows. And I know you don't know what
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I'm talking about. When the sun is beaming through the windows, you see all the dust and every speck of dust floating around.
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You would never have seen unless the light was showing on it. You see, it shows the flaws and imperfections, flaws that were invisible before, but when the light and the penetration of the light hits that, it shows us our sin.
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So even so, when Isaiah, righteous as he was, the holiness of God shined on him, and he saw his sinfulness.
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Well, he confesses, then there's a cleansing. Look at verse 6. Verse 6,
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Then flew one of the seraphim, the burning ones, the burning ones unto me, and alive coal in his hand, which he had taken from the tongues of off the altar.
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We see this also in Revelation 8, 3, in the altar of heaven. Another angel came and stood at the altar.
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This is the altar of heaven. Now, this is interesting. Having a golden censer, and these were given unto him, much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
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These angelic beings surrounded the throne of God, ministered to Isaiah. Isaiah needed ministered to here.
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And then one of the seraphim flew to Isaiah with alive coal in his hand, and by the way, it was so hot that he had to take the tongues from off the altar to hold the hot coal.
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The altar, again, is heaven's version of the altar of incense that was set before the
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Holy of Holies in the tabernacle of God. You see this in Exodus 30, 1 through 10. But here the throne is for God and for God alone.
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But we must remember this, the altar is for us. The throne is for God, but the altar is for us.
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That's where we find the cleansing and the purging from sin. John Calvin said this, the fire about the altar.
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The fire was taken from the altar to intimate that was divine or heavenly, for the law forbade any strange fire to be brought into it.
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Because in sacred things, every human mixture is absolutely profane.
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And by this figure, therefore, Isaiah was taught that all purity flows from God alone.
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Calvin knew. Calvin knew. The hot coal from the altar cleanses
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Isaiah's lips. He touched my mouth. Don't we need a touch from God today? Touched my mouth, the most sensitive area of the body.
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And behold, he says, this has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, your sin is purged.
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There's a low here. He laid it upon my mouth and said, lo, this has touched thy lips.
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Now let me give some application before we have communion. It was the altar of sacrifice, beloved, which prefigured and foreshadowed the cross of Jesus Christ.
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Now I think about the cross, and out of all things, at that moment when Jesus Christ was being crucified, the
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Lord of Glory, the disciples were somewhat discouraged because they thought this was the end.
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Even though Jesus told them and told them and told them, I will suffer, I will be crucified and suffer from sinners and elders and the high priest, they will put me to death, but I will rise again.
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See, that was at the end of it. It looked like everything was at a standstill, that God was not in control.
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But I'm telling you, at the cross, He was more in control than any time ever.
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And all the attributes of God were shining forth right there. Let me give you an example.
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The cross is the focal point, folks. If we're going to meet God, this is where we go.
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It's the cross of Jesus Christ, the crucified Christ. That live coal that told the fire of judgment having burned itself upon the offering.
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The hot coal that touched Isaiah's lips and then he heard the comforting word, thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged.
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Do you see this? Painful. We need painful repentance.
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Painful turning from our sin and a painful remedy. The burning, purifying coal from the altar.
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That burning coal came from the Lord that is fire, folks. The scripture says our
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God is a consuming fire. Makes me think that that fire was in the bush that did not burn up before Moses and God told
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Moses, take off your sandals for you're standing on holy ground. That pillar of fire that led the children of Israel, that fire never went out.
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God led them by a fire, a pillar of fire. That chariot of fire that took
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Elijah to heaven. That burning fire like a torch that came between the sacrifice when
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Abraham split the sacrifice and God's presence came there like a fire. Folks, anytime
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God reveals himself in scripture, we see fire. God's like a consuming fire.
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You ever think why hell exists? Because it's the fire of God that's purging sin forever.
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And that sin will be purged there or it will be purged now if we come to repentance.
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I'd rather come to repentance and say, oh God, have mercy upon me. Purge my sin now.
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I don't want to be purged in eternal hellfire on the wrath of God on me forever. And folks, this is what we need to be warning people of right here.
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That this God, it's just not hell they should fear. They should be fearing the one that is able to destroy body and hell at the same time.
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Fear God. That's what Jesus said. Anytime God reveals himself in scripture, it's fire because God is that consuming fire.
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And what does He consume? He consumes the sin. How did He consume the sin?
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He burned it across. Oh beloved, what a question. He purged it. He took it away. Jesus who knew no sin became a sin offering for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
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Isaiah's sin was burned away. The fire of God's judgment was applied to his sin.
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And the spiritual transaction, one that has a sinful mouth, a sinful heart, nothing to place but a burning hot coal on their lips would do.
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That will not... I'm telling you, beloved, the only thing that can take away our sin is that hot coal.
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Now I want you to think about it. The principle on our behalf in regard to Jesus' work on Calvary.
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Our sin was placed upon Him. And He was burned with the fire of God's judgment.
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Think of that. The fire of God's judgment, His wrath, God's wrath was poured out on Jesus.
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And Jesus took the fire, the coal, if you please. The fire of God's judgment, in a sense, did not harm
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Him. He took it, but it did not harm Him. He came out victorious on the other end. He was resurrected.
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Showing that God accepted the sacrifice. This holy God. That no sin, no one could stand in His presence.
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But Jesus took the place. Jesus, the God -man. That live coal was a witness of the fire ever burning, which was never to go out.
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In Leviticus 6 .13. Constantly foreshadowed the work of the cross. And through His sacrifice alone, through that sacrifice, that one sacrifice alone, could iniquity be purged and sin be put away.
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Let me close with this. Hebrews 9 .13 and 14. Hebrews 9 .13
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and 14. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, speaking of the
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Old Testament, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh. That's external, folks.
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But God required it at that time. But notice what happened. How much more.
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Don't you love that? How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered
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Himself without spot to God. Notice the words He uses here. Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
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God. Purge your conscience. What kind of power can purge your conscience?
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And clear it. And cleanse it. And once Isaiah had met the
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Lord, the All -Holy One, in all of His glory and power and splendor, being convicted of His sin, cleansed from His guilt and power, he was ready to serve
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God. There was a woe, verse 5. There was a low, verse 7.
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And then in verse 9, there was a go. Leonard Ravenhill said this, quote,
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But the Spirit will neither spare us nor cheat us if we will expose ourselves to His infallible scrutiny.
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Jesus said unto the blind man, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
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He said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. That I might receive my sight.
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Ravenhill goes on to say, Let us too pray for sight. Pray for an upward, an inward, and an outward.
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Then like Isaiah, we will look upward. We will see the Lord in all of His holiness.
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Then we will look inward. And we will see ourselves and our need for cleansing and power.
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And then we will then look outward. We will see a world that is perishing in need of a
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Savior. End quote. King David said this. Psalm 139, 23 and 24.
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Notice the personal words he says as he prays.
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Search me, O God, and know my heart.
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Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me.
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And lead me in the way everlasting. Those words, me, my, me, my.
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Not my brother, not my sister. But me, O Lord, that stands in the need of prayer. Amen?
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Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for this time unto
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Your Word. Lord, make this real in our lives, I pray. As we come to the table of the
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Lord. Lord, we do so with fear and trembling and great reverence. Before the
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Thrice Holy One, who are You, O God. Hallowed is
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Your name. There's none like You unto You, Lord. There's none beside You.
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So help us, I pray, O God. That we may examine our own hearts to see if we're in the faith.
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Before we take this communion, Lord, we tremble before You. But yet, at the same time as we tremble, we rejoice.
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With a celebration knowing that the sacrifice that You accepted 2 ,000 years ago on Calvary's cross was our salvation.
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None other than Jesus Christ can bring us right into Your holy presence. So, Father, we thank
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You for the salvation that Jesus is our salvation. You are our salvation.
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You have made a way. There's only one way. Just not the blessed way, but the only way.
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Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Lord, may that be our love. May that be everything to us.
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Christ and Him crucified. Bless us, I pray, as we go into this time of communion.