The other evening, I rushed home from work and
put on some grubbies. That's an old suit tie
that I had. To watch my son. Hello there. I went
to watch my son who was playing Little League
baseball. When we got back home, I gave him a
big hug because he'd done a great job playing
ball. He said, Dad, you need a shower. Only your
best friends will tell you how wonderfully refreshing
and cleansing that shower felt after being hot
and perspiring. How wonderful it is to have one's
soul cleansed from guilt before God. And how
often we're unaware of our need for that cleansing.
Such was the man Isaiah, the finest man in his
generation. A man who was born into an upper
-class family in Judah. A man who was comfortable
with prophets and with kings. A man who was without
peer in his character. He was a man who used
his position as a prophet to warn the nation
of impending judgment because of its disobedience
to the Lord. But Isaiah's story really begins
in the sixth chapter of the book that bears his
name. He tells us that a king died, a man with
whom he was intimately acquainted. His name was
Uzziah. Uzziah had been a relatively good leader
of the nation of Judah. He had ascended to the
throne at the age of sixteen. and had reigned
52 years before he died. During those years,
he improved the military position and the defenses
of his nation. He was both a farmer and a rancher.
And the Scripture says about him, as long as
he sought the Lord, God prospered him. But that
tells you something, it hints at something that
happened in Uzziah's life. For later in his life,
in a moment of pride, he was careless about the
holy things of God and intruded into the office
of the priests and took upon himself some duties
that were the prerogatives given to the priests
alone by God. He was angry when he was rebuked
by the priests because of his intrusion. And
immediately, right in the middle of the act,
God struck Uzziah with leprosy. It appeared on
his body in an instant. And the Scriptures say
that from that day forward, Uzziah had to live
by himself in a house that was provided. And
ultimately he died. in shame. That was in 740
B .C. Now it was in that year, in the year that
King Uzziah died, that Isaiah relates to us an
amazing event. This crisis of sovereignty must
have motivated Isaiah to go to the temple of
God and there to pray. And there his eyes were
opened so that he might see the true sovereign,
not only of Judah, but of the world. For he says,
I saw the Lord. There is no one in this place
this morning who can truthfully say that. God
simply does not make himself manifest very often.
But to Isaiah, God appeared. You will notice
that when he says, I saw the Lord, it's capital
L, small o -r -d, telling us that in the Hebrew
language, this is the word Adonai. Not the word
Yahweh, which is all capitals, but Adonai. I
saw Adonai. That word means the sovereign ruler.
It is not so much a name for God as it is a title
for God. It is like the name President, Mr. President,
or we speak of President George Bush. The word
President is a title that is understood to refer
to him and him alone. The name Adonai is such
a title. It refers to the sovereign ruler who
is described later in this text as the king,
Yahweh of hosts, the Lord Almighty. You will
notice the context of this revelation of God.
It was in the context of national crisis in the
first place. For here was a man who had ruled
over his people over half a century. who was
now dead. Many of the citizens of that land had
never known another king but Uzziah, and now
this great king was dead. What was going to happen
to this nation? It was also in the context of
a royal court that the revelation came. He says,
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. lofty and
exalted with the train of his robe filling the
temple. It is likely that Isaiah had gone into
the temple in Jerusalem and whether this vision
that he had, this appearance of God took place
in that temple or in one that was in a vision,
a heavenly temple, is not really clear. But it
is a royal court that Isaiah sees. There is a
throne. And he sees the long train of the one
who sits on the throne. The train, of course,
was that piece of cloth that came around back
of the king, the sovereign. Those who were kings
were known for their greatness by the length
of the train that they had. Isaiah tells us that
this piece of cloth came down cascading from
the throne across the steps and filled the whole
temple and out the door. So great was this one
who wore this robe. And he says that there was
Seraphim who stood above him, the Lord. Seraphim
are angelic creatures of God. They are described
to us here as having six wings. And these particular
flaming angelic creatures used two of their wings
to cover their faces, two to cover their feet
in the presence of God, and with two they were
able to fly. And it appears that they were flying
back and forth across the throne upon which the
majesty sat. And they were calling out one to
the other. And their words are recorded for us
in verse 3. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of His glory. Three times
the word holy is used. That is a Hebrew literary
device which calls attention to this word. If
we were typing it on our typewriter, we might
go back and put it in bold or we might underscore
it. But in those days, the way that they had
of accentuating this truth was to repeat it,
holy, holy, holy. And since it is accentuated,
we need to pause for a moment and try to gain
some understanding of what holiness is. R .C.
Sproul in his book The Holiness of God says,
the primary meaning of holy is separate. It comes
from an ancient word that meant to cut or to
separate. To translate this basic meaning into
contemporary language would be to use the phrase
a cut apart. Perhaps even more accurate would
be the phrase a cut above something. When we
find a garment or another piece of merchandise
that is outstanding, that has superior excellence,
we use the expression that it is a cut above
the rest. He goes on to use the word transcendence
as a synonym. Sproul writes, the word transcendence
means literally to climb across. It is defined
as exceeding usual limits. To transcend is to
rise above something, to go above and beyond
a certain limit. When we speak of the transcendence
of God, we are talking about that sense in which
God is above and beyond us. It tries to get at
His supreme and absolute greatness. The word
is used to describe God's relationship to the
world. He is higher than the world. The world
has no power over him. Transcendence describes
God in his consuming majesty, his exalted loftiness.
It points to the infinite distance that separates
him from every creature. He is an infinite cut
above everything else. He is so far above and
beyond us that he seems totally foreign to us.
To be holy is to be other. To be different in
a special way. That's what the Seraphim were
saying to each other. There is nothing, there
is no one like this one on the throne. He is
above and beyond everyone or anything. He is
holy. It says that the whole earth is full of
His glory. So powerful were these words that
the very foundation of that temple began to shake
and to quake. They trembled at the voice of the
seraphim crying out. And at the same time the
temple began to fill up with smoke with incense
as if it were being offered to the one who is
seated upon the throne. You talk about a vision.
You talk about the context of a revelation. In
the time of national crisis, he saw a royal court
and a throne whereon was seated the Lord God
Almighty. And the content of the revelation was
that He is holy. And notice the consequence of
the revelation. First of all, there is conviction.
Isaiah said, woe is me. Woe is me. The prophets
in giving their oracles. If the oracle was a
good one for the people, it would often begin
by saying, blessed. Jesus used that form. For
example, in the Sermon on the Mount, when He
said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed,
blessed, blessed. But on the other hand, when
a prophet had an oracle to give that was one
of judgment, they began often with the word,
woe. You see this, for example, in Isaiah chapter
5, where Isaiah has spoken to the nation, a nation
that had been planted like a vineyard by God
and kept, and pruned by him, but a vineyard which
produced no fruit and which God then laid waste.
Now why did God do that to this people? Well,
Isaiah tells them, beginning in verse 8. And
six times through the rest of the chapter, he
says, woe to those. Woe to those. Woe to those.
Judgment, you see, is being pronounced upon the
very people of God because of their sinfulness.
Isaiah has just penned these words. When he comes
to chapter 6 to tell us about his vision. He
says, so overwhelming was this vision of the
Lord that he pronounced judgment upon himself.
He said, now, woe is me. I am to be judged. You
see, he was overwhelmed with his conviction of
sinfulness in the presence of the Holy God. And
he confesses that next. He says, I am ruined.
I am ruined. The word ruined literally means
to be undone or to come apart at the seams. It
means to come unraveled. Isaiah is saying that
he was experiencing disintegration in his personality
because of the vision that he had of God. He
was literally coming apart as a person, as a
human being. because of the holiness in whose
presence he stood. Now understand that here was
a man who had it all together. But here was the
most virtuous man in his nation, in that generation.
And yet an instant in the presence of the God
that he saw on this throne, this God of absolute
holiness, left him shattered. And he said, I
am a man unclean. I am a man who is unclean.
And he said, I dwell in the midst of a people,
a nation that is like me. Sproul says, Isaiah
understood the whole nation was infected with
dirty mouths. I live among a people of unclean
lips. He said, in the flash of the moment Isaiah
had a new and radical understanding of sin. He
saw that it was pervasive in himself and in everyone
else. So often we are unaware of our need for
cleansing. Isaiah was in the presence of the
living God. And in one moment he was made to
understand how totally corrupt he was. You and
I can be grateful that God does not often expose
that much of our own corruption to us. God graciously
exposes more slowly the corruption that is in
our hearts. For if God pulled back the covers
and we saw all of the corruption that was in
us in one instant as Isaiah did, we too would
come apart at the seams. Isaiah confessed his
sin. One of the seraphim responded. One of the
seraphim took a burning coal in some tongs. And
he flew to where Isaiah was, and with those tongs
he touched that coal to the lips of Isaiah. Isaiah
does not record for us what that was like. We
can only imagine that it must have seared his
lips, the pain. must have been intense, and the
acrid smell of burning flesh immediately filled
his nostrils. But because of that act, he was
cleansed. The Seraphim said, Behold, this has
touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken
away, and your sin is forgiven. Uncleanness can
only be dealt with by God. It required Isaiah's
full understanding of his corruption and his
deep repentance in order for his sin to be cleansed.
But his guilt was removed. Notice that his dignity
as a human being was not destroyed, but his guilt
before God. had to be dealt with. God is not
here punishing Isaiah, but he is constructively
cleansing him. He is fitting Isaiah for something
that is yet to come. When you and I sense our
guilt before God, there is only one source for
our cleansing, and that is the source that God
has provided at Calvary. Where the blood of the
Lamb was shed as we sang this morning. Where
God's grace, God's marvelous grace was manifested.
Where God opened a fountain where the sinners
of the world might come and find their cleansing
as they repent of their sin. You and I worship
a God who cleanses. Jacob Chamberlain was an
early missionary to India. In his writings he
tells of a man who had crawled in great agony
over miles on his knees and his elbows in order
to bathe in the sacred stream that is called
the Ganges River. Finally, he reached that river
and plunged himself beneath its waters, only
to emerge with the same conviction, the same
guilt on his soul that he had before. And the
fear of death still tugged at his heart. Chamberlain
saw him and took him aside and shared with him
the wonderful story of Jesus Christ and what
God had provided through His death for the cleansing
of sinners. As the man listened to that story,
he exclaimed, Oh, that's what I need! Forgiveness
and peace! And as the story was further unfolded,
the man came to faith in Jesus Christ as his
Savior and Lord. Cleansing, that's what you need.
That's what I need. We worship a God who cleanses.
But the story doesn't stop there. Isaiah goes
on to relate to us the purpose of this revelation.
There was a commission for some work to be done.
Here was a man, a virtuous and upright man by
every human measurement. who went to the temple
to pray. And there God revealed himself to him.
And he saw how corrupt and how unclean he was
before God. And God cleansed him. God washed
him of his guiltiness. And then God made Isaiah
his spokesman. Perhaps that is why Isaiah focused
on his lips. A man of unclean lips, he said.
God washes, he cleanses, he purifies those lips.
And then God says, whom shall I send and who
will go for us? And he said, here am I, send
me. You see Isaiah now was fit that he could
represent God. He had been cleansed and could
be God's servant. There are several insights
that we gain from this experience that Isaiah
relates to us. The first one is this, that God
uses crises to bring us to a new understanding
of ourselves and Him. The crisis that you may
be passing through right now in your life or
in your home God would use to bring you to a
new understanding of Himself. The most important
knowledge that any of us can have is the knowledge
of God. God wants to reveal Himself to you through
what you're passing through right now. God wants
to show you something more of yourself. It may
not be pleasant. God may need to say to you,
my child, you need to be cleansed. He doesn't
say that to be unkind, but he says it because
it's a greatest need that we have. I notice also
that God must always deal with our sin as we
come to know Him in a deeper way. If you desire
the knowledge of God, God must deal with the
corruption of your heart if you would draw near
to Him. For He is holy. And as we draw near to
Him, that corruption becomes more evident. The
story is told about a young minister who was
speaking to Alexander White. a leader of the
church in Scotland in the last century. This
young minister told him about a friend of his
who claimed to the minister that he could go
several days without sinning consciously. And
this young pastor wanted to know what Alexander
White thought about this young man's evaluation
of himself. Dr. White, his eyes burning with
intensity of knowing God, replied immediately,
no sir. No man who has seen the exquisite holiness
of God could say a thing like that. If we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. writes
the Apostle John. And indeed, the closer we come
to God, the more we know of God, the more aware
we will become of our own sinfulness. That's
why it's so wonderful that God has provided the
propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins in
Christ. And that we have an advocate who stands
between us and God to intercede in our behalf.
in Jesus. Through Him, God graciously provides
for the cleansing from the guilt that we have.
You see, it is not a bad thing that God progressively
exposes the corruption of our hearts. Indeed,
it is a very good thing that He does it. Because
it is only as it is exposed to us that we will
draw near to Him for the kind of cleansing we
truly need, and that we can then know Him more
intimately. God's purpose, however, in all of
this process is not just that we might know Him.
It is not merely that we might be cleansed, as
important as that is. It is so that we might
serve Him. It is so that he might prepare us
too for the commission that he has for our lives
in the world. Before we can serve him, we must
know him. To know him brings awareness of guilt.
Our repentance then brings cleansing from God,
which cleansing then qualifies us to serve. The
point that I'm making this morning is just this,
that the God we worship provides cleansing from
defilement so that we can carry out his calling
in our lives. So often, we are just like I was
the other evening, busy, perspiring in our service
for God. And we're unaware of our true condition.
And God draws near to us and says, my child,
you need to be cleansed. For here's the real
condition of your soul. Listen, friend, if God
is showing you what's really inside of you in
that sin that is still there, even as His child,
do not despair. O despair of yourself, for there
is nothing in us to merit ourselves to God. But
do not despair ultimately because God's exposure
of that corruption will bring you to humility
and repentance and then cleansing before God.
And that cleansing then fits you to serve Him.
And that's why we're in the world. That's why
we're here. to serve Jesus Christ in that office,
the neighborhood, the home where God has placed
us, in those contacts that He gives us. But before
we can serve Him very effectively, there's got
to be a dealing with what's in here. We worship
the God who cleanses. Let's rejoice in that.
And let's avail ourselves of what He's provided
in Christ. Let's pray. Father, I pray that in
the quietness of these closing seconds, if there
are some who are here who are struggling with
guilt because they realize the corruption that
is in them, that like Isaiah, they might cry
out what is the truth, that they are undone.
unclean, and that you would then graciously cleanse
and wash them through the sacrifice and the blood
of Jesus Christ and fit them for service. But,
Father, perhaps the ones who have greatest need
are those of us who do not realize our need,
who think ourselves as Isaiah did before he went
to the temple. virtuous and upright and having
it all together. We, above all others, need your
work in our lives, showing us yourself that we
may see then ourselves and be broken. Thank you
for being willing to work with us and bring us
through that process that we might be cleansed
and useful in your hands. Amen.