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Dr. Raj Kripilani
Good morning, good morning. Lord bless you this morning. It's such a, such a joy to be here and lovely cold weather, even though I'm not from any country that has cold weather. Just lovely cold weather too.
It's just different, so we praise God for that. Thank you Brother David for the opportunity to, this morning, to share the Word of God and to, and to come together and just know Him because that's most important.
Let me start my prayer as well. Blessed Jehovah, great, almighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I bow before you Father, Lord of mercy and compassion. Lord, we come before you and we thank you for this time, for this service.
Thank you Lord for this church. Thank you for everyone here. Thank you for your friendships and relationships and the light, Lord, that is extended. Praise be to you. We come before you now Father, we just pray that you remove any other thoughts except thoughts that glorify you and that our eyes be lifted up to you, Lord Jesus.
Lift up our eyes. Prepare our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth. May your spirit work in our hearts now. May these words be your words, not mine Lord. May it be for your glory and for our edification, for your namesake, that it exalt you and honor you.
Fill us with your spirit, we humbly ask. May I decrease and you increase, O Lord, for you are God and there is no other. Thank you Father, in the precious name of Jesus Christ, Amen. You can take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 6.
Look at this passage this morning, Isaiah chapter 6. A very well known passage and as we as we start here, I just want to let you know that the year that this took place was approximately around 739 BC.
739 BC and King Uzziah had died. Isaiah now had a vision of the Lord. He had a vision of the King of Kings. This is the vision that Isaiah had in chapter 6. In chapter 6 verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.
Now, who was this Lord that Isaiah saw? Father, Son, or Holy Spirit? If you look at John chapter 12 and verse 39, it gives us the answer. John chapter 12 verse 39, I'll read it for you. It says here, for this reason they could not believe.
For Isaiah said again, he has blinded your eyes, he hardened their heart so that they would not see with your eyes and perceive with your heart and be converted and I heal them. Listen to verse 41. These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of him.
Who did Isaiah see? No other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does he see him? I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. He was seated. Sitting in that time, in that culture was a sign of authority.
Seated. And he was also on a throne, it says. Seated on a throne. Rulership, kingship. Also, the Lord's long train or robe speaks of his royalty, his majesty. You have a throne, you have him sitting down.
Majesty, seated, rulership, authority. This is what he sees. This is the Lord Jesus, the pre-incarnate Christ. Next, this authority and rulership is what? High and lifted up. That's how the verse describes it.
Jesus Christ, Isaiah sees him high and lifted up. Jesus Christ governing over the entire universe, above everything. And here, as in Romans chapter 9 verse 5, it's interesting what Romans chapter 9 verse 5 says, Christ who is over all, God blessed forever.
Amen. Christ over all. And this is what Isaiah sees. The Lord high and lifted up. Seated, ruling. Have you heard this, beloved? He has not moved. The one that has moved, we have moved, but not him. He is sitting.
And as they beautifully say around here, the last time I checked, the Lord was still sitting on his throne, ruling the affairs of men. And that's where he is, and that's where he'll always be. I got verse 2.
Above it stood a seraphim. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Twain, just a word for two. Okay. Seraphim. This is what Isaiah sees.
Angelic beings. You know the word seraphim is from the Hebrew word seraph, which means burn, burning. It stresses the burning holiness, purity, separateness of God Almighty. As in our God is a consuming fire.
Holiness, burning, consuming fire. Also, the seraphim, this seraph, seraphim, possibly alludes as well to the burning love, the ardent zeal in the service of the Lord, dear God, that the seraphim are executing here.
It's that burning, consuming seraph. Six wings. Interesting, with two, they cover his face. That's interesting. Here they are, just a humility before God. They, listen, they dared not gaze directly at God's glory.
Seraphim, with no sin, and they dared not gaze at God's glory. They cannot see the majesty and the holiness of God. Isn't that interesting? Even angels cannot endure God's brightness, God's dazzling majesty and glory.
John Calvin said, I love what you said here, if angels are overwhelmed by the majesty of God, how great will be the rashness of men if they venture to intrude so far. How great will be the rashness of men if they venture to intrude so far.
And with twain, he covers his feet. This could possibly mean they cannot go anywhere without God's bidding covered. And with twain, he did fly. You know what's interesting? Four wings related to reverence, worship, and two for service.
Fly. Emphasizing what? Always emphasizing the priority of worship before service. The problem is we want to serve first, and we serve first and we get burned out, and we lose the joy, and we lose the enthusiasm, we lose the glory, we lose the power.
Because apart from me, you can do nothing. We were created to worship first and always. Always. And just with the Seraphim, even them, executing that here. The Seraphim just standing there before the majesty and the glory and the holiness of God, waiting, worshiping.
And we will see the moment when they serve. Verse three, and one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Thrice holy. Do you know that this is the only characteristic of God that is repeated in sequence in all the Bible?
You don't see love, love, love, even though that is true of God. But you won't find faithful, faithful, faithful is the Lord God. You won't find that, even though it's true. But you won't find that. It's the only characteristic of God repeated in sequence.
Holiness repeated three times in the Hebrew language. That's done for emphasis. For emphasis. Showing supreme, complete, perfect holiness. Emphasizing that. Emphasizing God's separateness, independence from his fallen creation.
Completely separate. He cannot have anything to do with sin. That holy, holy, holy. That emphasis of that separation and perfect holiness. It says the whole earth is full of his glory. His splendor, his glory is seen where?
In the whole earth. Fills it. This is quite different than the Jews' mentality. That's why it's in Isaiah. The Jews thought that the glory of God was nowhere to be seen except in their temple. Nowhere else.
And shut up right there. Isaiah shows that far from being confined to so narrow limits, his glory is everywhere. It fills the whole earth. Do you know, beloved, that everything that there is, is for his glory?
Everything. Everything. Whether we see it or not. But the question is, beloved, do we see his glory? Because it's in the earth. The whole earth. Do we see his glory as we look around? It's there. Are we conscious of what he is doing?
His works. Do we see God and his hand, is the question. We need to open our eyes, Lord, because he's working. Jesus said, my father worketh. He's there. Francis Schaeffer had his popular book, He's There, and he's not silent.
It's very important. He's there. But a rebellious Israel did not see it. If you go to chapter 5, just one chapter before, and look at verse 18 and verse 19. 5, 18, 19. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin, as it were, with a cart rope.
That say, let him make speed, verse 19. Let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it. They were not seeing it.
They were not knowing it. And that's why God says, woe to them. We need to see God. We need to see his glory. Look at verse 4, going back to Isaiah chapter 6. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
The posts of the door, or the thresholds, moved. The thresholds were those large foundation stones on which the doorposts stood. And that's what shook. That's what moved. The shaking of the very foundation, suggesting the awesome presence and power of God there.
But also suggesting that God was not pleased with the sin of the nation at that moment. Now think about this. The thresholds trembled at the mere repetition of the words, holy, holy, holy. And the presence and power of God.
If inanimate objects are so moved, how much more should we? And may we tremble, not when seraphim speak, but when God Almighty speaks in his powerful word. And this vision of God's majesty, God's holiness and glory, made Isaiah realize one of the most important lessons, that he was a sinner.
Look at verse 5. And 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. For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Woe is me, says Isaiah. It's important here, very important to note. When Isaiah saw God, then he saw himself. There was no mention of himself before. But when he saw God, he immediately put two and two together.
He made a connection. When he saw God, he was then able to see clearly. And then he saw himself for who he truly was. See, it's interesting. It's very interesting that when he saw the Lord for who he truly was, Isaiah's first reaction was not, wow God, how great you are, how awesome you are, how glorious, you're amazing.
Even though all that was true, but that's not what he said. When he saw God, his first reaction was, uh-oh, sorry, that's my translation. May I tell you that you cannot know yourself unless you know God.
Socrates said, know thyself. Well, he was wrong. Jesus Christ says, know God. This is eternal life, that you may know him and the one whom he has sent. And man is focused on himself, and he cannot understand himself unless he understands the one who made him.
And that God-shaped vacuum, as Augustine called it, that needs to be filled only by him. Isaiah said, I am undone, ruined, lost, destroyed. With this God and with who I am, forget it. I'm finished. That's what he's saying.
You see, until God reveals himself to us, we do not think that we are men. Rather, we think that we are little gods until God reveals himself to us. But when we have seen God, we then begin to know and see who we are.
Let me put it another way. You cannot know yourself and your purpose and your existence. And why? Until you know the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot see yourself if you look at yourself without the divine perspective.
The funny thing is, you truly see yourself when you truly see God. That's why we were made in his image. That's the reason we do not exist without him. We cannot. Its foolishness is illogical. It's a contradiction to have man and God separate.
Impossible. No wonder that will only last for a little bit, because that's not the way it was meant to be from the very beginning. From the very beginning, God was walking in the garden in fellowship with his creation.
Now, why did Isaiah say, I am undone? Why? What was the reason? I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips. My words are bad, God. Not clean. That's, it's very, I don't know about you, but you would think he would say, I am undone because I murdered somebody.
I am undone because I committed adultery. I committed idolatry. You know, the big sins. How many of you would consider unclean lips to cause you to be ruined or undone, dead, destroyed? Unclean lips is just as horrible, disgusting, offensive, and sinful as murder, adultery, theft to merit God's judgment.
I know before I got saved, every minute was a foul, unclean, blasphemous word from my mouth. And the Lord had to say, okay, I'm going to use you to preach my word, so I have to wash your mouth. And it's amazing his work that from that moment, the what he has done, how he completely took that away.
Completely. Other things he has not taken away, I still struggle with, but that one was gone. I can't have you preaching my word and be a man of unclean lips. What's the other reason? I am in the midst of people of unclean lips.
And that makes me very scared, says Isaiah, because I know this God will not permit such a people to escape his wrath. And the problem is, I am in the midst of this people, so what makes me think I will escape?
But, um, I mean, okay, unclean lips, I mean, what's the big deal? Everybody, everybody does it, right? Everybody kind of has unclean lips, right? What's the problem? The problem is the last part of verse five.
For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. That's the problem. That's the big problem right there. The God of the Bible, this God, Jesus Christ, is unlike any other. What did he say? He's holy, holy, holy.
He cannot and will not tolerate sin. Not the Lord Adonai. But also, what does it say? As if that was not enough, he is the King, the Lord of hosts. You know what that means? It means that he is the captain and commander of the armies of the living God.
That Jesus is the Lord who commands armies. He battles, he conquers, he destroys. And my eyes have seen him, and I'm a man of unclean lips. That's the problem. This God is not a nice little teddy bear up there.
He is commanding armies ready to destroy. And he's a conqueror. That's the problem. That's what Isaiah saw. And this is the God that we all have to deal with. This is the God that cannot be removed from the picture.
He won't go anywhere. Hebrews 4 .13 says, Hebrews 4 .13, there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. This is the great and glorious God we will all face one day.
Do you understand why Isaiah cried out in holy terror? Because by merely saying holy, holy, holy, the foundations shook. How much more when his eyes saw this king, this Lord, this majesty high and lifted up.
No wonder John in Revelation, when he saw, he just fell. And he said, I fell like dead. Not the modern time preachers who say that they saw Jesus and they continued shaving. Believe me, if you see Jesus, you will not continue shaving.
He will fall on your feet. We will fall on our face. But now please understand, this message is not about condemnation or judgment. It's about truth and grace. Look at verse six. 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.
And then look at verse seven. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this had touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Who took care of the problem of Isaiah's sin? Isaiah?
No. Some other human being? No. Impossible for man to remove somebody else's sin. Who did this? The Lord Jesus, by sending the seraphim to cleanse him. The fire was taken from where? Or the coal was taken from where?
From the altar. What does that tell you? Divine, heavenly. Isaiah was taught here that all purity, all forgiveness, all cleansing flows and can only flow from God alone. Not from oneself, not from somebody else.
Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse. Nothing else. No one else. Who removes? Who took care of the problem? Who forgives? This was an act of God's grace. He touched my mouth, he said. He did. Isaiah did nothing to accomplish his atonement.
Isaiah offered no sacrifices, did not promise to be a missionary to gain it. And he had no power to save himself from certain ruin. He said, I am undone. But this has touched your lips. Thine iniquity is taken away, thy sin purged, forgiven.
Beloved, something has to be done about sin. It could not be left alone. Something had to be done. Something has to be done. But the answer always has to be from outside of us. From someone who is holy, holy, holy and greater than us.
Not from you, not from me. It has to come from the Savior, Jesus Christ. And here Jesus willed it and he acted. The seraphim obeyed. When God wills our salvation, God wills our cleansing and our forgiveness.
What a revelation, huh? Look at this. When did the cleansing happen? When Isaiah confessed, I am a man of unclean lips. Okay, so far so good? Okay, next link. What made him confess? He saw God. And as a consequence, saw himself.
What's the answer? See God, know God. What's the answer to hard hearts like Saul and Nebuchadnezzar? See and know God for who he really is. What's the answer for hard hearts of some of our family members?
Beating on your head, human arguments. Pray that they see the Lord Jesus. Pray that their eyes be opened. That's the only way that will lead them to confession, repentance and salvation. Paul said, therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men.
We know who this God is. That's why we persuade men and we tell men about this God. No one else. This God. If we preach another Jesus or talk about another one, no one will be persuaded and your spirit won't work.
Listen, we do not persuade men when we give people a lovely, nice God. Listen, we do not do anybody any favors when we declare a merciful God only or a loving God only and not a holy, righteous, awesome and just God.
We need to declare both, not just one. We do no favors. We persuade no one. We are useless when we proclaim a God who is partially sovereign as if such a damnable heresy could exist. You see, to share that humanistic notion that God saves but man also saves himself is to not have seen God, is to not know God, is to not know yourself.
To tell people when a tsunami or an earthquake or a cataclysmic situation comes completely destroys a nation or a country or a people. To tell people at that moment that it was mother nature is more than absurd and foolish.
It's a disgrace when we all know that God is in charge. He is in his throne and he does as he pleases and he does everything because he is absolutely sovereign. You can read Job chapter 9. The problem is we see a disaster happen or an earthquake and sometimes we call it evil.
I don't know why God brought it. We don't know. We don't know all the details but this we do know. God is just. God is right. God is merciful. God is good and he can do no wrong. So how dare I say a work of God as evil?
Could it be to show God's glory? You see, this is about knowing God. This is about grace. This is about truth. This is about knowing him. That's the key. Keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus. At verse 8, take heart.
I won't finish the whole chapter. When I preached that in my church they were wondering if I was going to do the whole chapter. Look at verse 8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
Don't you love your trinity right there already? Who will go for us? Something that was also to reprove the ignorance of the priests and the prophets and their unwillingness to serve. And God is saying, so many of you, who will go?
Not one of them was qualified. But who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. Excuse me? Is this the same guy who said, woe is me, I'm undone? And now he says, here am I, send me? Do you think that came from his willpower?
But I think the Lord in his mercy just asks, who shall I send? Of course he knows. But just to encourage and confirm, I believe, to confirm Isaiah's calling. Whom shall I send? Okay. Isaiah, I want to do it.
All right. I'm confirming you. This is not random. This is God's choice. The Lord would appoint him. Here am I. You know what that means? Here am I is an expression in scripture meaning, I am ready to obey your commands.
This is the mode of expression frequently employed to denote obedience. Obedience. Send me. Send me. Lately he was like a dead man. Now he dreads no difficulty. Listen to this. Listen to this commentary.
I love it. Isaiah did not know the nature of the mission that God had designed for his emissary. He did not know the length of the responsibility. He did not know where he must go. He did not know the content of the message he must say.
He did not know the difficulty of the task that must be accomplished. Nevertheless, Isaiah immediately volunteered to go. He did not make excuses like Moses or Jeremiah, but gladly volunteered to serve God.
How come? Because he saw the vision of the holiness and the glory of the majestic King of Kings. And this, look at the amazing chain. Pay attention. First he saw the Lord. After he saw the Lord, he confessed.
After he confessed, he was cleansed. And after he was cleansed, he had a love and a desire to serve God, and he was sent. You see the chain? He saw the Lord. He saw himself. He confessed. He was cleansed.
And in gratitude, in love, he wanted to serve, wanted to be sent and obey. And after he was cleansed, he was sent. Why is that? Holy, holy, holy. God uses clean vessels. Listen to 2 Timothy 2, or turn there if you like.
It's very important. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 19 through 21. You want us to see this? 2 Timothy 2, verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth him, knoweth them that are his.
And let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Look at verse 20. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, look, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Isn't that something? God uses clean vessels.
You know, when I was single, I had to cook my own food. I am so grateful I don't have to do that too much now, almost never. But I would have a long day of work and come home. I was living in Mexico City then, and I had to prepare my own meals and, ah, tired.
And so I would just leave some of the dishes in the sink for the next day, you know. Well, the next day turns into the next day, and another day, and another day, and then after a few days, this is confession time, okay?
So bear with me. Then another day, I come from work and I'm just beat. And so I want to prepare something, and all I want is one clean dish. Now, if I as a sinner want a clean vessel, how much more? The Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why he uses them. Fellow Christian, are you being used? Do you want to be used by God? This is the key. This is the step. This is the process. See him. Know him. Be holy. Be cleansed. Walk in the light.
Do you realize you have been cleansed, and forgiven, and justified, forever saved, with all your iniquity taken away? Not just one iniquity, all. And because of that, out of sheer love, deep gratitude, totally undeserving, have you, have I, told the Lord, here am I.
Send me. This is a challenge. This is a prayer. Whatever. Whenever. Wherever. Here am I. God's will is the perfect will, and where he puts us is the best and the most secure. Don't you love that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the fire, and that's where they were safest?
In the fire. Because they were exactly where God wanted them to be. Let us pray. Blessed Lord, glory and praise to you. Father, may your spirit touch our hearts and minds. Lord, open our eyes to see you.
Take away, take away bitterness, wrath, anything that is not of you from our hearts. May we see you, so that we may see ourselves and confess. May the blood of Jesus cleanse us from everything. Lord, take away these layers, and may we be totally surrendered, yielded, having seen you, and loved you, and burning with zeal for you.
To then humbly and lovingly cry out to you and say, here I am. Here am I. Send me. Dear God, use every one of us here. We ask for your name's sake. This life is short. We don't have too much time left.
Lord, may we be about your business. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.