Let's turn together to the prophecy of Isaiah to chapter number 6 and we can read at the beginning of the chapter.
! Isaiah chapter 6 and at verse 1.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
And so on down through the following verses.
I guess the best thing that we can spend our time studying in life is how to become a Christian and how to live as a Christian.
And I want us in the weeks that are to come and the times that we are together to look at something of what Isaiah has to say about becoming a Christian and being a Christian.
I think it's fair to say when we read our Bibles, there are three particular things that are repeated throughout the whole of the Bible.
And the first of these is that the Bible speaks about our personal condition.
Where are we? What are we like?
The Bible speaks about our personal condition.
That's what happens here.
The second thing the Bible does, it compares what we are like now to what we should be.
And God has made us for himself.
And when he tells us what we're like now, the Bible compares that to what we should be, what God has made us for.
And the third thing is that there is always a remedy.
So that if what I am does not correspond to what I should be, then there's a remedy.
And of course we know the remedy is the Lord Jesus.
These three things are crucial.
As you read our Bibles, what does God say about me where I am?
What does God say about where I should be?
And what does God say about getting me from where I am to where I should be?
And that's exactly what we have in this prophecy of Isaiah.
There's a story here about people.
God describes them in chapter 1 as his own children.
And he raised up children and they rebelled against him.
They are not what they should have been.
And down through these first chapters, there is the sense of God reminding them of that.
And there is also the sense of God drawing their attention to the remedy that he will provide.
That there is a new norm that he will create because of his love and because of his grace.
And in many ways, chapter 6 sets the scene for us as we look at what God has to say through Isaiah.
And when you read this chapter, we can see it as a sign of the times.
Uzziah is a sign of the times.
King Uzziah died.
He started off well as a king.
God blessed him as a king.
But later on, he grew proud and unfaithful.
And he died a leper.
He is a sign of the times.
He started well.
He finished badly.
And Isaiah is brought before us here as a person through whom God is going to show how he's going to change the condition of the people.
So as surely as Uzziah is a sign of the times, Isaiah is a sign of the grace of God in our lives.
And bearing that in mind, I want to think today of the life of faith and the reconciling grace of God.
I want to think first of all of the revelation.
And clearly, that's what we have here.
Something is made known that was not previously known and not being known by the people.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
I saw the Lord.
In this case, not the Lord who is the covenant savior of the people of God.
In this case, it is Adonai, the Lord who has sovereignty over the whole of creation.
The vision that he sees, the revelation that is given to him, is the revelation of the sovereign God of the universe who sits upon his throne and who is there for the purpose of judging the peoples of the earth.
And whatever norm Isaiah had before all of this, suddenly his horizons change and suddenly there is a channel open and he is face to face with the Lord, the sovereign God who sits upon the throne.
And as the God sits upon the throne, there is that sense of his glorious presence because we see in version number four that the house was filled with smoke.
And when I read that in the Old Testament, I see God reconnecting with the world.
I see Mount Sinai where God came down to speak to Moses.
There is a reconnection.
The mountain was wrapped in smoke.
God is reconnecting.
I see it in the life of Solomon when he builds the temple in all of its glory and he prays and God comes down and fills the temple with his glory.
God is reconnecting with his people in the days of Solomon.
And then we come into the New Testament and we see the same thing happening in the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John tells us that we have seen his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father.
God is reconnecting with our world through the passion of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's where we're at today.
However marvelous it was that God reconnected with Israel in the days of Moses and with Israel in the days of Solomon,
God has reconnected with us, with our world, by sending his Son to be our Savior.
And there is that sense in this picture of reconnection in the midst of the chaos of the days of Isaiah.
That there is this reconnection in the midst of that chaos to reverse the decline and to bring about change.
We are here to worship God.
We are here to have a sense of where we are and what we are doing.
We are here to discover, perhaps for the first time,
that the God who is far above what we are and can even begin to think about
is also the God who is here with us.
He shall be called Emmanuel, God with us.
God is here.
And God wants us today to look through the furnishings and to look through the buildings
and to look through everything that is around us
and to recognize that we are in the presence of God.
And as you read on in version number two, the sense of the glory of God
and this revelation is filled with movement, with a dynamic that speaks of an activity around the throne of God
that is engaged in the reconnection process.
And we see that the seraphim, in version number two,
above him stood the seraphim, each hath six wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
They are the burning ones.
They are the ones who are protecting the throne of God.
There is reverence.
They cover their faces.
There is a sense of unworthiness.
They cover their feet.
There is a sense of submission to God in the same way they are covering their feet.
And there is that sense of readiness to go and do what God wants them to do.
With two, they were going to fly.
There is a movement that brings about an expectation here around the throne of God.
And they are a heavenly choir.
They are singing in the presence of God.
They are calling out to one another,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is filled with his glory.
God is everywhere.
And that is the message that God is giving to Isaiah.
God is in the worship of God.
God is in our everyday lives.
God is in our homes, in our families, in our workplaces, in our school.
Wherever we go, God is everywhere.
And I may have mentioned it before, but there is a picture of what Isaiah's world was like and what our world is like.
And it's taken from a book called Rewind Sinners to Reclaim.
And there is a picture of life living in a house or a home where there are no skylights.
And all the light that I get into this home is from the windows in the side.
It's all horizontal.
So everything arriving in this house comes from what's out there.
And because there is no skylight, there's nothing comes from above.
And through this revelation given to Isaiah, that's how the people of God were in the days of Isaiah.
They were listening to what was out there in the world.
They were conforming to what was out there in the world.
And they weren't receiving anything from God, the God who was their God, who was their covenant Lord and covenant Savior.
Heaven was closed and their hearts were wide open to the world in which they lived.
And here now, God is reopening that channel.
He's recreating that channel of communication.
He's reconnecting with Isaiah and with the people in order to speak into their everyday experience.
And how like my life and how like your life is that picture?
Even when we come to worship God, how keenly are we aware that there is a channel from God's throne that speaks to us?
How much do we spend worship and life thinking horizontally and not connecting with God?
And God today wants to show us that he wants to break through this windowless roof of our lives
and to cause his light to shine down so that we will hear from him.
The revelation.
We are coming to worship God, to see what God is like, and so that God will show us what he is like.
Secondly, there is reconciliation.
And the revelation creates two responses.
And the first response is one of crisis.
And the crisis is on the side of Isaiah.
And we hear him crying out in verse number five,
Woe is me, for I am lost.
When I read the words, woe is me, it speaks of the judgment of God coming.
We read the previous chapter and the words I use time after time to show the way in which God was coming to judge the people.
And the first thing that Isaiah is conscious of.
And the first thing that Isaiah is conscious of in the revelation given to him is that God is coming to judge him.
And because of that, that he is actually lost.
As if he was saying, I am already as good as dead.
The revelation of the glory of God.
Floored Isaiah completely.
And more or less took away his whole sense of life and of living.
And that was the case simply because his eyes had seen the king, the Lord of hosts.
You and I can look at an object.
As I look at the clock right now, I'm just a glancing look.
And that's a done.
And we spend so much of life doing that.
We glance at the Bible.
We glance at things happening around us.
But the seeing here is one of being captivated.
It's one of being engrossed.
It's one of having our eyes fixed entirely.
Of being aware that this is the most important thing around me.
And that everything else is forgotten about.
That's where Isaiah found himself.
He was alone with his God.
And he sensed that he was alone with his God.
And he could see no one but God.
And in that moment of being captured by the glory of God,
he found himself lost.
Because of his sin.
I am a man of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.
He was unfit to sing with the heavenly choir.
Later on in this prophecy,
and Jesus quotes these words in the Gospels,
that God was angry with his people
because they were drawing near to him with their lips.
But their hearts were far away.
And suddenly, in this moment,
Isaiah discovers his own personal sin
as well as the sin of the people of God.
He, in other words, comes to confess his sin.
It's the sense of having my conscience awakened in such a way
that I sense that what I've done wrong against God
deserves the wrath of God.
It's a light bulb moment because it's something that comes only when we see the glory of God.
And we can go through life with any troubled conscience in any way,
and we journey on day by day,
and life is plain sailing.
But when we are in the presence of God,
it's not so.
Because my sin deserves his judgment.
When I see his light,
my conscience tells me I'm guilty.
And the first thing I'm going to do is to
confess my sin to this God.
And today,
God wants you to have that response.
He wants you to let his light
shine not around you,
but in your conscience.
And in shining into your conscience,
to let you see
where you do go wrong.
And to let you see that that wrongdoing
is sin against God.
And to bring you to the place
where,
as a sinner against God,
you confess your sin.
Because you know God knows it.
And you take God's view of your sin.
What is your condition?
The condition is that we are sinners.
That God says so.
And when I come to confess my sin,
I'm taking God's view of me
and making it my own
and saying to God,
yes,
you say I'm a sinner.
I'm acknowledging before you
that that's exactly what I am.
And that's a huge first step
on the pathway
to becoming a Christian,
to becoming the child of God.
And reconnecting once more
with the picture of the house
without skylights.
In that same book,
there's the sense of
two things happening.
And that is
that sin is being redefined
by the world out there.
And the world out there
may speak about sin
without any reference to God.
And when I do wrong to my neighbor
or wrong to the person next to me,
then the world will say
that's sin.
I've wronged my neighbor
without any reference to God.
And of course,
that is a sin
to wrong my neighbor.
But if I am no other reference
but the person next to me,
then I've excluded God
from the picture.
And that's what you and I
must ensure that never happens.
We want to take this image here
and to let the light
of the holiness of God
shine into our hearts
and to shine upon our sin
and to understand that
what we have done wrong
is against the Holy God
who is our creator.
And that is alongside of that
the whole cultural movement
to eliminate sin
from our vocabulary altogether.
So that you and I
can go and live life
today and tomorrow
and why should we worry about sin?
It's removed from the vocabulary
of the society around us
and that society
wants to remove it
from our vocabulary as well.
And we need to retain
that sense of sin,
that sense of sinfulness
and that sense of sinnership
with reference to God.
It is the God who is holy
that shows me my sin.
And it is to him I must say,
yes, I'm a sinner.
I do confess my sin.
That was the response of Isaiah.
But thankfully,
that wasn't the only response.
There is the movement
at God's throne.
That imagery following
the confession of Isaiah,
the seraphim are flying around
in submission to God,
humble before God,
waiting to fly out
at God's command
and suddenly the command
comes from the throne of God
and there is a seraphim
that moves into action.
And that's what we have
in verse number six.
Then one of the seraphim
flew to me,
having in his hand
a burning coal
that he had taken
with tongues
from the altar.
The seraphim
with the burning coal
taken from the altar
and making his journey
towards Isaiah.
We don't know exactly
what the image was
or what the coal was,
but we do know this much
that in God's temple
there is an altar
where sacrifice
is made to take away sin
and there is an altar
where there is
prayer offered to God
on the basis
of sin being taken away.
So there is
death for sin,
the punishment of sin,
and then there is a place
where we have peace
with God.
And when I see this image
in the temple
before Isaiah
and the seraphim
comes to take
a coal of the altar,
he's not taking
the coal of the altar
where sacrifice
was made.
He's taking the coal
of the altar
where peace is declared
and where God
is reconciled
to the people.
And that's a crucial difference
when I see this
seraphim coming
towards Isaiah.
It's not to condemn him
for his sin,
it's to bring him
the good news
that sin has been removed
and that there is now
peace with God.
What a journey.
That in the invisible realm
of heaven
there is this moment
in the invisible world
of Isaiah himself
that then there is heaven
moving towards him
with the seraphim
to come
to where he is found.
And the journey
is one
for the purpose
of reconnection,
of reconciliation.
He touched my mouth
and said,
Behold,
this has touched
your lips.
Your guilt is taken away
and your sin
is
atoned for.
This
has touched
your lips.
I can touch
something
with a hard touch.
I can touch
something
with a gentle touch.
I can touch
my children
when I sleep
to comfort them
and to encourage
them to go to sleep.
It's the gentle touch.
And when I read
touch here,
it's not the hard touch.
It's the gentle touch
of a heavenly father.
And the gentle touch
of a heavenly father
is the touch
through which
there is
forgiveness
and there is
reconciliation.
We can remind ourselves
of the story
of the woman
who came to Jesus
in Luke chapter 8.
She was in the crowd
and she came
believing firmly
that if she touched
with the garment
of Jesus,
she would be healed.
And she came
and touched him.
Nobody knew that.
And Jesus
stops the conversation,
someone has touched me.
Who has touched me?
And of course
the disciples
are saying,
how can you ask
that question?
With the crowds
around us,
how can you ask
who touched me?
Everyone is touching you.
But Jesus said,
I recognize
that power has gone
out from me.
That's the reconnection.
That's the reconciliation.
That's the peace
with God
through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
And in this moment
today,
as we reflect
upon this revelation
and where God's
word finds us
and where God
wants to take us,
here we see
Isaiah
taken from
the place
of condemnation
and taken
to a place
of reconciliation,
of peace
with God
through this
dynamic movement
from the throne
of God
that touches
his lips
and his sin
is taken away.
We can
perhaps begin
to imagine
something of
the transformation
in Isaiah's
experience
and we'll see
as we read on.
But in that
moment of
touching,
power has gone
out from God,
from Jesus,
through Jesus,
by the Spirit
of God
and our sin
is taken
away.
And today
we are thankful
that in the Lord
Jesus
our sin
is taken away.
Isaiah speaks
powerfully
in chapter 53
of the very way
in which the
Son of God,
the servant
of Jehovah
is coming
to suffer
in our place,
to bear our sins,
to be a sacrifice
for our sins
and to raise us
up into newness
of life.
And we come
today with
the guilt
of our sin
and with our
sense of being
condemned
because of our sin.
We come to put
our trust
in the Lord Jesus
where Paul
tells us
there is
therefore
now no
condemnation
to those
who are in
Christ Jesus.
The great
reconnecting
grace
of God.
And in the
invisible world
of your
heart and life,
perhaps in this
very moment,
heaven's
dynamic power
is moving
toward you
to place
the hand
of God
upon your
heart,
to wash
away your
sin and
to give you
peace with
him through
the Lord
Jesus Christ.
You cannot
invite that.
You cannot
demand that.
But the
Lord who sits
upon his
throne,
that's how he
works,
to save people
like you and
like me.
he comes
in this
invisible way
to change
us in our
hearts,
take away
our guilty
conscience
and give us
a sense of
his peace.
The
reconciliation,
fundamental,
basic to
being a
Christian and
from there
we go to
live life
as a
Christian.
So we
have
revelation,
we have
reconciliation
and thirdly
and finally
we have
responsibility
and Isaiah
did not
shy away
from the
responsibility
that God
called him
to.
And we
see the
responsibility
because God
has a
mission
and God's
mission is
for this
people,
his own
people.
He has a
ministry,
he has a
message for
them.
And we
hear this
message coming
out in
verse number
eight.
I heard
the voice
of the
Lord saying
whom shall
I send
and who
will go
for us?
One
becomes
three.
And the
God who is
speaking,
suddenly there
are three
people,
there is
God,
Father,
Son and
Holy Spirit
who will
go for
us?
We have
this mission
to save
the world.
We have
this mission
to save the
people in
the days
of Isaiah.
After all
that God
has done
for Isaiah,
who now
is going
to go
for us?
The sound
of the
voice of
God
because of
the mission
of God
and because
of those
who have
not yet
experienced
what Isaiah
experienced.
Who will
go for
us?
And for
every person
who becomes
a Christian,
for every person
who becomes
the child
of God,
it's the
moment of
beginning to
serve.
It's the
moment of
God calling
us to
himself to
be at
peace with
him and
from that
peace to
be ready
to go
and serve.
And of
course,
there is a
central element
to our
salvation,
to us
becoming
Christians,
that is
very
personal.
It changes
who we
are and
we have
the joy
of the
Spirit of
God because
of our
new
relationship
with God.
But that
moment,
as
personal as
it is,
it is
preparation,
it is
equipping,
it is
getting us
ready
to serve
God.
and to
be his
disciples.
And we
see the
immediate
response
from Isaiah
when the
voice goes
out,
who will
go for
us?
Then I
said,
look at
me,
here am
I,
don't look
any further,
send
me.
I will
go wherever
you want
me to
go.
Jesus
said to
the
disciples,
as the
Father has
sent me,
so I
send you.
God is
calling us
today to
the
revelation
of his
glory in
the
gospel and
the
passion of
Jesus
Christ.
He is
calling us
to embrace
the
reconciliation
that we
have in
the gospel,
and having
done so,
he is
calling us
to serve
him,
to be the
light of
the world,
to be the
salt of
the earth.
God
calls us
to serve.
It may
simply be
going back
to school
this week,
somebody who
has learned
about Jesus,
and who
goes to
school serving
the Lord
Jesus,
sharing what
you have
learned about
the Lord
Jesus.
That's what
God,
that's what
Jesus calls
you to do.
If you
have received
the blessing,
then you
are to
share it
with those
who are
in school
with you.
You go
back to
studying at
university or
college,
go back to
the workplace,
we are
here to
serve.
We are
called upon
to show
our appreciation
of what God
has done by
being just
like Isaiah,
here am I,
send me.
And so
that with
the spirit
of Isaiah,
with the
spirit of
the gospel,
with the
spirit of
the discipleship,
whatever there
is a need,
God is
calling you
and me to
fill that
gap and
to fill that
space and
to ensure
that we
are serving
God in
accordance with
God's call
upon us.
And the
call can be,
as I said,
something very
local and
something that
perhaps we
would dismiss.
But the
call may
also be to
a more
full-time
focused service
in the
church of
Christ.
And God
may call us
to serve in
school and
to serve in
university and
college and
to serve in
a workplace.
But God
may also
call you,
even today,
to serve
him in the
full-time
ministry of
the gospel
where there
is a need.
And wherever
God has a
claim upon
our lives,
then here is
the response
of discipleship.
Here am I.
Send me.
Are you
willing to
go for
Jesus,
to speak
for Jesus,
to serve
Jesus,
and to
show your
appreciation
of all that
God has
done for
you in
Jesus by
reconnecting
with you and
by giving
you that
peace of
God to
dwell in
your heart.
May God
bless his
word.
Let us
pray.
Most
gracious
God, we
rejoice in
you.
You are
the God
and Father
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ.
You have
given your
Son to
be our
Saviour.
You have
made yourself
known to
us,
especially
in him
and through
him.
And we
pray that
you will
bless our
hearts
today with
a sense
of the
revelation
that you
have given
to us
in the
Lord Jesus,
with a
sense of
having peace
with you
through your
saving grace
and with a
sense of
being ready
to follow
you and
to serve
you all
the days
of our
lives.
Help us
to have
that humble
obedience
in response
to your
saving grace.
Guide us
and bless
your word
as we
pray.
We pray
these things
for Jesus
sake.
Amen.
So
closing
psalm is
psalm number
24 of
the Scottish
Psalter.
It's on
page 230.
And we're
going to
sing from
verse 7
to the
end of
the psalm.
It's a
great psalm
about the
glory of
the king.
And we
want to
sing these
verses
together.
And the
tune is
St.
George's
Edinburgh.
And
verse number
7.
Ye gates
lift up
your heads
on high.
Ye doors
that last
foray
be lifted
up that
so the
king
of glory
enter
may.
We
stand to
sing from
verse 7
to the
end of
the psalm
to God's
praise.
Amen.
Ye gates
lift up
your heads
on high.
Ye doors
that last
foray
be lifted
up that
so the
king of
glory
enter
me.
But
who
of
glory
is
the
king?
The
mighty
Lord
is
this.
In
!
He
in
that
same
Lord
that
great
in
might
and
strong
in
heart
in
live.
Ye gates
lift up
!
He
is
that
to
last
foray
be
up
that
saw
the
king
of
glory
enter
me.
But
who
is he
that
is
the
king
of
glory?
Who
is
this?
The
Lord
of
hosts
and
none
but
he
the
king
of
glory
is
the
Lord
of
hosts
and
none
but
he
the
king
of
glory
is
hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen, Amen, Amen.
I'll go to the main door after the benediction.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore. Amen.
Amen.