A Vision of the Holy

[0:00] I know you've heard a couple of messages already, but I really felt to just give you one more. I kind of really enjoy these little video clips that we can just impart some truths across the airwaves and hopefully you can share with others and pass on these things to others to encourage them too.

[0:15] So in this time just now, I want to talk about a vision of the holy. A vision of the holy. And we're going to go to Isaiah chapter 6 as we take this time together now. So Isaiah chapter 6 and reading from verse 1.

[0:33] Isaiah chapter 6 from verse 1. Now the first point I want to make here is God's majesty. We've seen how great thou art, how great thou art. Think of the majesty of God, God's majesty.

[0:45] And Isaiah saw the Lord here in this vision in chapter 6 of Isaiah from verse 1. He says, And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.

[1:23] And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke. 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.

[1:46] Isaiah beheld this stunning vision. We can't really picture it fully. This graphic picture is unfolding before his eyes and striking the senses. What a blessed sight it was for Isaiah the prophet to see the Lord enthroned, revered, adored.

[2:04] We want to see Jesus lifted up. God's majesty. We want to see God glorified and reigning. As we saw in verse 1, we see his glory. We see his majesty. And we worship his majesty. Think of it.

[2:20] The God whom we worship has created at least 100 billion galaxies. Some astronomers say 200 billion.

[2:32] God is big enough to take care of us. Let's think of that awesome God and stand in awe of him. How great thou art. He is all-powerful. We need to recognize him today.

[2:48] When we see the Lord, we see the King of glory. We see the kingdom of God. Romans 14, 17 tells us how the kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, but righteousness and grace and peace and joy.

[3:05] Sorry, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And, you know, the kingdom of God, in a way, we sometimes don't fathom that the kingdom of God is...

[3:15] It includes people, even little children. We might discount.

[3:49] Here's what someone's put together. Let the children come in. There's something quite nice about children. Every family should have one or two. They're such a fine race when they're kept in their place.

[4:03] Say, the playground, the park or the zoo. In his place, a child's quite delightful, full of fun, a most interesting buddy. But his yearning for action can cause a distraction.

[4:14] When he has invaded the study, the office is no place for children. They foul up our work with their fun. So we make it a rule that they must go to school so their elders can get something done.

[4:28] Some children came searching for Jesus. His friends were distressed and inclined to think, oh, how terrible. To have a fresh parable suddenly slip from his mind.

[4:39] So they tried to get rid of the children. Surely no major disgrace. Protecting their master from certain disaster. By keeping the children in place. In their place.

[4:50] Let the children come in, shouted Jesus. Then he said something frightfully odd. They are bearers of grace. And their ultimate place is right smack in the kingdom of God.

[5:04] Well, the place of a child is the kingdom. That's what Jesus carefully taught. So the last time you did play some ball with a kid, you were closer to God than you thought.

[5:15] Now it's interesting, the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? Jesus says, become as little children. You know, the kingdom of God is something that's, that's, there's an open doorway there.

[5:27] Yet so few find the doorway who is Christ. Isaiah saw and he honoured this king, the king of heaven. And as a church too, we want to be a church that honours our Lord and exalts him and lifts him high.

[5:40] Lifts up his name. And at times our vision can be distracted, can't it? Our vision can be blurred. Third, we can get occupied with the mire and mess that's all around us and the day by day of making a living such that we miss the reality of what really counts.

[5:58] And we see the disappointments and we can focus on the letdowns and the setbacks at times. We can see how things are difficult. At times the church is stretched and we don't always have capacity to do what we want to do.

[6:12] And sometimes we can get distracted by maintaining of a building or keeping buses running and such things. And it can get quite discomforting and disappointing when difficulties come our way.

[6:25] Yet let's not get bogged down in that kind of mire and mess of that. Let's see the Lord. Let's look above and see the Lord. The king, the Lord of hosts. Let's see the Lord.

[6:36] If we can but see the Lord high and lifted up and his train filling the temple. If we can but see the Lord Jesus say, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

[6:48] Then we can trust him, certainly. If we can lift up our eyes, lift our vision that little higher. If we can lift our vision and adjust the focus to get it right. If we can take a closer look at Jesus as Isaiah did.

[7:00] He saw the Lord, the king, the Lord of hosts. If we can get everything back into that right perspective, it's not really that hard or impossible anymore. Because we are in his hands and he is the one who can sustain and enable us to get those things done.

[7:16] The question is, how can we as a church be more faithful, more God-honoring, more Christ-centered? How can we get that vision right and adjust that focus so we do what God truly wants us to do?

[7:27] To be entirely led by his spirit. And not losing track of things by the day by day. But getting that sense of the holy. Keeping that front and center.

[7:38] To see the Lord today. That's what we want. That's what we want as a church. To make an appointment with the heavenly. With the holy one. To talk things over with the Lord Jesus. To go and see the Lord.

[7:49] And know his will. And take our doubts to him. Take our fears and concerns to him. Go and see the Lord about your complaints. What it is that's on your heart and mine today. And narrow that focus.

[8:03] Go and see the Lord. And see the Lord high and lifted up. Now we've got to kind of narrow that. Take the focus a little bit off of heaven and down a little bit here. From God's majesty.

[8:14] To the second point. God's man. See God's majesty. Now we're going to see God's man. See that there in verse 6. Go to verse 6 there. We'll just get that for you.

[8:27] Verse 6. 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. Verse 7.

[8:39] 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. In contrast to the king.

[8:49] We see Isaiah here. Isaiah the man. In all his faultiness and frailty. This human. This earthling. This sinner. And what does he say?

[9:00] See that there again. I'll just go back to that verse 5. What does it say? It says this. Then said I. Woe is me. For I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips.

[9:10] And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Here is the man. The man Isaiah. In all his faultiness. In all his frailty. In all his weakness. His humanity.

[9:21] We see this man unclean. We see this man blemished. Tarnished. Soiled. You could say unfit. Unworthy. Certainly unworthy.

[9:32] Unfit. And all the people around him. The whole. The whole gathering of the people. And we see this. What a contrast to God's majesty. We see God's man.

[9:43] This man. Why would God deign to even give him the time of day? What a contrast it is. There is this man Isaiah. Warts and all. An unclean man.

[9:54] A man of unclean lips. Undone man. Unclean. Soiled. Marked by the stain of sin. Unfit. Unworthy. Defiled. Yet. Good news is.

[10:05] And for us too. God touched him. God touched this man. God touched him through the angel. We see in verse 7. That the angel came. It says. And the angel came and ministered unto him.

[10:19] You know. Thank God. We see Isaiah. This man. Changed. Converted. We see his sin taken away. His guilt taken away.

[10:30] What a blessing. What a picture it is for us too. And there's hope for you and me. Amen. Here's this man. His stain washed away. And here is Isaiah now. A changed man.

[10:40] A converted man. Thank God there's an altar there. A sacrifice is made. It talks about their sacrifice. It talks about the burnt offering.

[10:51] It talks about that place of atonement. It talks about cleansing there. Conversion. You know. Where God is. There are open arms.

[11:03] Where God is. There is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Where God is. There is hope for the hopeless. Where God is. There is life for the lifeless.

[11:14] Where God is. There is cleansing for the unclean. Where God is. There is peace for the oppressed. Where God is. There is a setting free of the slaves. Where God is. There is a healing of the sin sick soul.

[11:26] God's man was changed by God's ministry and where God is there is deliverance to the derelict God changes people, that's the good news and he still does today, doesn't he?

[11:40] Amen? In this 21st century God changes people and as a church the people we dwell amongst are sinful and needy but we're all in the same boat together we're not any better than others we ourselves are weak and lacking God's man here, he acknowledged his sin he didn't try to hide it or sweep it under the carpet God's man was humbled, he was humbled before God and he was honest before God and so should we be we have to repent for God to be able to use us get things sorted with God get things right have that change of mind, that mind shift of repentance turn to God and have that U-turn and we can come to Him someone said this the church is always one generation from extinction if we don't spread the gospel it will be just one generation away from disappearing from the face of the earth now of course we know God's in control but there is that sense of we've got a responsibility to impart to the next generation this quote goes on imagine Jesus appearing in heaven just after His resurrection and the Lord Jesus is giving a progress report on all that has happened while He was on earth and Moses is there and he asks the Lord Jesus well Lord Jesus did you leave things in capable hands?

[13:01] and Jesus says I did I've left behind Mary and Martha and Peter and the other disciples and Moses said what if they fail? and the Lord Jesus says well I've established the church and I've filled it with the Holy Spirit and they will carry on and Moses says what if they fail?

[13:20] the Lord Jesus says I have no other plan I have no other plan God's plan is the church as we talked about earlier today God has given His church the keys of the kingdom and we have work to do and Christ calls us to take up that work as a church I believe we have that same dilemma today why would God choose us?

[13:43] you know we're just like Isaiah we're unfit unworthy and our resources our world and the people all around us are in the same situation of this this godlessness that prevails we look at ourselves and we see our great lack we see we're just like Isaiah we see our frailty and our weaknesses we see our unworthiness and yet we see the need that the Lord has put in front of us the need that is really it's beyond our own strength to manage and we turn our eyes heavenly heavenlyward and we turn our eyes heavenward and we see the Lord as Isaiah did and we need to honour Him we want to honour Him and the more we see the Lord Jesus the more we see our need of Him and His great supply and our great insufficiency yet His great supply so it's encouraging to see to read such scriptures as for example 2 Corinthians 3 verse 5 it says not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves but our sufficiency is of God that's what we what we put our trust in isn't it our sufficiency is not of ourselves our sufficiency is of God

[14:56] He's our strength He's our ability He's our supply He's our resource and as a church we are the people that God has brought together and we're all kinds of different people from different walks and backgrounds different shapes and sizes and different countries and cultures we come from He's brought us all together as this raw material that God has made us to be such a people that we can be together and He's got work for us to do and He's working us as a potter would work the clay on the wheel as it spins around and He slams that clay on and He reshapes it and He squeezes it and He bangs it and pulverizes it and massages it and makes it into that beautiful vessel that will be a vessel unto honour and each of us are as to be that raw material that soft clay that our potter works with and He has no other plan so friends we've seen the majesty of God God's majesty we've seen God's man in all of His weakness and frailty and thirdly we see God's mission God's mission we go to verse 8 now verse 8 we see how

[15:59] God's got a mission and we are the ones He's sending to accomplish it we see that there in verse 8 we see that it says of Isaiah He says I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then said I here am I send me and He said whoops sorry I've lost something there here we go verse 8 rather verse 8 and no it's verse 9 now here we go as I say these are the things I cut out when I do when I pre-prepare things you don't see all the fumbling around but bear with me I'm just like Isaiah I'm very weak and verse 9 it says then it goes verse 10 make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed so the Lord's telling

[17:14] Isaiah here you know He's putting the call out as we see there in verse 8 He's saying whom shall I send who will go for us and Isaiah says here am I pick me send me not only are here as a vision to strike the sense of sight but we hear a voice not only did Isaiah hear not only did Isaiah see the Lord he actually heard the Lord as well he heard his voice you know do we stop and listen do we stop and listen do we take the scriptures and actually listen to God listen to what he's saying do we actually hear his voice which is for us through the scriptures today and do we stop at a hectic pace to come aside and to seek after God do we take time to go to God in prayer to seek his personal leading in all the noise of life do we just stop and listen and hear God's voice I heard the voice of the Lord don't we need that I do to hear God's own voice what is his leading what does God say what does he say go who will go he says go that's what he says that's the word

[18:24] G-O two letters he says go what does God say go Isaiah doesn't hold back he stands up he says I'm in count me in I'm ready hey here I am here am I send me he stands up and he says count me in he stands up and he says I will stand even if we be few I will stand I will stand even if we be outnumbered by those in apathy and those that are asleep I will stand though it's unpopular I will stand though it's going to mean putting myself out and some sacrifice I will stand though it will mean maybe taking an uphill path though it will mean having few friends and many enemies though it means being misunderstood and being criticised I will stand though it means the world will paint me perhaps as an extremist or politically incorrect and I'm going to be shunned and shut out of the social circles I will stand that's what Isaiah said here am I send me a mission awaits a world awaits a mission field all around and the greatest need that we have that this world has it's not self-help it's not it's not a change of government red, blue, green you name it nothing the change of government isn't necessarily going to fix anything in this nation or any nation and certainly in the United Nations they can't fix these things you know a vaccination is not going to fix it you know our greatest need the world's greatest need is not some self-help it's not some miracle vaccine it's not some control system it's not some over-policing a police state it's not some philosophy it's not some education it's not getting some great career it's not getting more materialistic and just amassing wealth to yourself the greatest need for our world is not how to succeed or to get rich what does our world need?

[20:26] the Lord our world needs the Lord our world needs his saving message our world needs the touch of his nail-scarred hands our world needs to know his all-sufficient grace our world needs his totally undeserved love our world needs his incredible faithfulness and mercy our God needs people to listen I heard the Lord I heard the voice of the Lord you know people we need to tune in don't we to that heavenly call people God needs people to listen people who will take time to stop and switch off all the opposing messages all the distracting voices and sounds to switch off all those messages the world is transmitting our way and to actually hear the call the clear and personal call now vision we're talking about a vision of the holy a vision means seeing and it also means hearing and then it also includes saying yes Lord yes Lord what's God putting on your heart?

[21:39] you might have some some leading some impression some sense of mission of calling of purpose of service some responsibility you can take up in the church or in the world maybe in another country even you know this vision that we we're called to respond to is a call for action you know will we hear the call hear the call heed the call this vision it calls for a response and Isaiah said here am I send me you know this is the message that the world needs to hear the gospel message to declare it for us to declare it it's you and me to declare it loudly and soundly and like Isaiah was told by the Lord he says they're not going to listen to you but keep delivering it you know he said they may not listen you know when you witness to people the large number of them will not listen they may choose to refuse the message to discount it they may choose to close their eyes their ears their heart to the very message they will prefer the disease of sin even though the antidote is there you know this is better than some vaccination for coronavirus this is the antidote for man's greatest affliction which is the sin disease as the heart that is desperately wicked and in need of total transformation you know we have that antidote for the world's greatest affliction sin and the question is will we go

[23:18] OHMS you know they used to have that on you know when you had like an envelope have an envelope there and on that envelope it says on his majesty's service on his majesty's service that used to be stamped on envelopes of official mail of government departments and such you know we are sent on OHMS on his majesty's service we are sent by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and as a church how can we be more responsive to the Lord's voice do the Lord's call hear the call do you hear the call can you hear it maybe you just need to listen that little bit closer just listen that little bit more intently and is what we are doing responding to this need what is God's call for each of us as a church I see that we have as I say these three things that we talked about as we went through these things together we see just to quickly recap that Isaiah saw the Lord he saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne he saw God's majesty

[24:20] God wants to reign he's the king he's the king not King Isaiah not the prime minister or the president or you name it some king or queen he is the king of kings and he is the Lord of lords and he wants to reign God wants to reign and then we see God's man we see what he is what does he say I'm a man unclean lips I'm undone I'm just me just simple little old me God uses God's man raw materials and you are that you are that all of us who are believers in Christ you are God's man God's woman and God's got his call for you and so we see again just to close here this part that we see we see God's majesty we see God's man we see God's mission God's mission that's your mission your mission is God's mission and God wants us to obey and to spread the message so I pray you'll be encouraged to catch that vision of the holy to realise you are in awe of that one the majesty his majesty the king of kings and the lord of lords be in awe of his majesty be God's man

[25:33] God's woman as it were in awe of your frailty and weakness and even though you're feeling undone unclean you are God's man and see God's mission you have a calling and the response is up to you and say yes lord say yes answer the call amen let's continue I've just got a few more closing things to say so stay tuned as we sing this next song together let's go