Message 2: Holiness and Confession
INTRODUCTION: Turn to Isaiah 6
We have to make a choice. A choice that has two options:
Option One: We are alone in this world. There is no God and we cannot expect there to be help from above.
Option Two: We can know God personally and expect Him to intervene in our lives.
Most Christians believe option two but live as if they believed option one.
It’s time to change that.
It’s time to know God and to move into His Presence.
It’s time to not only hear His voice, but to do what He says.
PRAYER
To enter His Presence, we must come to see the absolute holiness of God, and our desperate need to confess our sin.
Look at Isaiah 6:1…
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8
Look back at verse 1
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Isaiah is a man who desires to enter into the Presence of God. And God rewards his desire with a vision.
“I saw the Lord…”
God opens up heaven and grants Isaiah a vision of the throne room of God.
God said in Acts 2:17….
“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
We can have this too – dear friends! We can move into a level of intimacy with God in which He opens up Heaven and shows us the realms of His Kingdom!
Now, let’s look closer at Isaiah’s vision. Verse 1 again:
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
In his vision, he sees GOD. No kidding. He sees GOD. The word he uses is “Adonay” – which is the most common Jewish term for God. God isn’t messing around, He grants Isaiah a vision of Himself.
And he sees GOD on His throne. The vision takes Isaiah right into the very throne room of God.
Notice how Isaiah describes this: “seated on a throne, high and exalted” This is the reality of who God really is.
“High and exalted” – refers to…
• His character
• His nature
• His authority
• His power
God shows Isaiah the massive difference that exists between mankind and Himself.
The Angels Response:
Now, look at verse 2-4:
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Notice what they do with their wings:
• With two they cover their faces
• With two they cover their feet
• And with two they fly
Why cover faces and feet? To show great humility before God. Imagine what spectacular creatures these angels are – yet, face-to-face with God, they are nothing. And as worshipping angels, they humble themselves before Him!
And what do these angels say?
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
• They declare His nature: He is holy! Holy means set apart, different, superior.
• They declare “holy, holy, holy” – three times – this could very easily be a picture of the TRINITY of God. Holy is the Father! Holy is the Son! Holy is the Spirit!
• They declare the impact of His nature: “The whole earth is full of his glory…” Everywhere you look, you can see the glory of God! Where there is spendour, abundance, dignity, honor – this is the evidence of the glory of God!
And they enter into a level of worship that you and I have yet to experience. Look at verse 4:
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
This isn’t a quiet Sunday morning service! This is the kind of worship that shakes everyone and everything! No one is left the same. For He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY! For the whole earth is filled with HIS GLORY!
And we can have this kind of experience as well!
This is what happened at Pentecost – look at Acts 2…
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1-4
For ten days God’s people had been gathered in that upper room seeking and waiting. They were hungering and thirsting for MORE of God – and God met them. And shook the whole world! We can have this! I believe it with all of my heart! I’m longing, I’m crying, I’m hungry for MORE of God! Are you?
Now – look at verse 5 – OUR NEED FOR CONFESSION
Isaiah sees a vision of God’s throne room and as a result sees himself more clearly than ever!
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Woe to me! – A passionate cry of grief and despair! It’s as if he is saying: “I’ve seen God, and now I see myself for the first time! And it’s not pretty!”
I am ruined! – Literally, “I am cut off from God! I have no access to Him because of His holiness!” If God were to deal with us with strict justice, we’d all be judged and would have no standing before Him!
I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips! – Maybe I thought I was doing pretty good, but now I’ve seen true holiness, and I’m not even close, even on my best days! And neither are those I live with! I am a sinner. I am anything but holy.
And it gets worse, for Isaiah says:
My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty! – Once you’ve been exposed to the truth, you become responsible for it! Isaiah had seen things as they really are, and there was no turning back. He could no longer pretend, he could no longer deny, he could no longer compare himself to others – He had seen GOD. And frankly, Isaiah is without hope.
But let’s take a look at verse 6-7:
GOD’S PROVISION FOR MY SIN
“Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” V. 6-7
God sends his ministering spirits – the seraphs – angels – from the throne room down to Isaiah. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, God did the same thing for Him – in Luke 22:43 we read…
“An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” Luke 22:43
God loves to send His angels to care for us. Billy Graham said in his book: Angels: God’s Secret Agents “Believers, look up – take courage! The angels are nearer than you think!”
Now this angel bring a live coal from the altar of God and touches Isaiah’s lips with it.
Now it is vital that you get the purpose of this.
• He touches him, not to hurt him, but to heal him.
• He touches him, not to harm him, but to purify him.
We all need this. If we are going to enter His presence, we need to be healed of the effects of sin. We need to have Him examine us closely for the generational sins of our fathers and mothers. We need to be healed of the abuses of our past, we need to be healed of the disappointments put upon us by others and by our own failings.
And that is exactly what God desires to do for each of us as we pursue Him.
The live coal comes from His altar and it brings purification.
John the Baptist prophesied that the Holy Spirit would come with purifying fire:
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11
This is what the Holy Spirit does – He purifies us! He burns out the unnecessary, in order to reveal the glory of God in our lives!
And in verse 7 we see that through the touch of God, our sin is forgiven! Our impurities are purified! Our debt is paid! Our guilt is removed!
If you are walking in guilt – you need to be touched by Christ’s power. You need to let Him access every part of your life with His purifying fire! Cry out to Him, acknowledge your sin, acknowledge your need, your desperation, your lack – and seek His touch!
What is the point of all of this? GOD’S PREPARATION FOR GREATER THINGS! Look at verse 8
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8
God is looking for men and women who will live their lives with Him as their goal. He is looking for people who will serve His plans and purposes. He is looking for people who will put aside personal goals and selfish desires, in order to pursue His presence – and here’s the amazing thing:
As you are purged of a guilty conscience you are being prepared to serve the Living God!
• God doesn’t waste a hurt – he translates it to a powerful tool for healing!
The purification and removal of your sin is absolutely necessary for you to speak with confidence either to God in prayer of for God in preaching!
CONCLUSION: The Heaven’s are open. Visions, dreams, prophecies, words of knowledge are all available to God’s children. As you hunger and thirst, God will quench. As you move into His Presence, He’ll not only make you aware of His holiness and your sin, but He will heal you.
Today is a day to be healed of the sins that are holding you back. Let go. Cry out to God for His healing touch. Confess and be healed.
We have to make a choice. A choice that has two options:
Option One: We are alone in this world. There is no God and we cannot expect there to be help from above.
Option Two: We can know God personally and expect Him to intervene in our lives.
Most Christians believe option two but live as if they believed option one.
It’s time to change that.
It’s time to know God and to move into His Presence.
It’s time to not only hear His voice, but to do what He says.
PRAYER
To enter His Presence, we must come to see the absolute holiness of God, and our desperate need to confess our sin.
Look at Isaiah 6:1…
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8
Look back at verse 1
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Isaiah is a man who desires to enter into the Presence of God. And God rewards his desire with a vision.
“I saw the Lord…”
God opens up heaven and grants Isaiah a vision of the throne room of God.
God said in Acts 2:17….
“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
We can have this too – dear friends! We can move into a level of intimacy with God in which He opens up Heaven and shows us the realms of His Kingdom!
Now, let’s look closer at Isaiah’s vision. Verse 1 again:
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
In his vision, he sees GOD. No kidding. He sees GOD. The word he uses is “Adonay” – which is the most common Jewish term for God. God isn’t messing around, He grants Isaiah a vision of Himself.
And he sees GOD on His throne. The vision takes Isaiah right into the very throne room of God.
Notice how Isaiah describes this: “seated on a throne, high and exalted” This is the reality of who God really is.
“High and exalted” – refers to…
• His character
• His nature
• His authority
• His power
God shows Isaiah the massive difference that exists between mankind and Himself.
The Angels Response:
Now, look at verse 2-4:
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Notice what they do with their wings:
• With two they cover their faces
• With two they cover their feet
• And with two they fly
Why cover faces and feet? To show great humility before God. Imagine what spectacular creatures these angels are – yet, face-to-face with God, they are nothing. And as worshipping angels, they humble themselves before Him!
And what do these angels say?
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
• They declare His nature: He is holy! Holy means set apart, different, superior.
• They declare “holy, holy, holy” – three times – this could very easily be a picture of the TRINITY of God. Holy is the Father! Holy is the Son! Holy is the Spirit!
• They declare the impact of His nature: “The whole earth is full of his glory…” Everywhere you look, you can see the glory of God! Where there is spendour, abundance, dignity, honor – this is the evidence of the glory of God!
And they enter into a level of worship that you and I have yet to experience. Look at verse 4:
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
This isn’t a quiet Sunday morning service! This is the kind of worship that shakes everyone and everything! No one is left the same. For He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY! For the whole earth is filled with HIS GLORY!
And we can have this kind of experience as well!
This is what happened at Pentecost – look at Acts 2…
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1-4
For ten days God’s people had been gathered in that upper room seeking and waiting. They were hungering and thirsting for MORE of God – and God met them. And shook the whole world! We can have this! I believe it with all of my heart! I’m longing, I’m crying, I’m hungry for MORE of God! Are you?
Now – look at verse 5 – OUR NEED FOR CONFESSION
Isaiah sees a vision of God’s throne room and as a result sees himself more clearly than ever!
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
Woe to me! – A passionate cry of grief and despair! It’s as if he is saying: “I’ve seen God, and now I see myself for the first time! And it’s not pretty!”
I am ruined! – Literally, “I am cut off from God! I have no access to Him because of His holiness!” If God were to deal with us with strict justice, we’d all be judged and would have no standing before Him!
I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips! – Maybe I thought I was doing pretty good, but now I’ve seen true holiness, and I’m not even close, even on my best days! And neither are those I live with! I am a sinner. I am anything but holy.
And it gets worse, for Isaiah says:
My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty! – Once you’ve been exposed to the truth, you become responsible for it! Isaiah had seen things as they really are, and there was no turning back. He could no longer pretend, he could no longer deny, he could no longer compare himself to others – He had seen GOD. And frankly, Isaiah is without hope.
But let’s take a look at verse 6-7:
GOD’S PROVISION FOR MY SIN
“Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” V. 6-7
God sends his ministering spirits – the seraphs – angels – from the throne room down to Isaiah. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, God did the same thing for Him – in Luke 22:43 we read…
“An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” Luke 22:43
God loves to send His angels to care for us. Billy Graham said in his book: Angels: God’s Secret Agents “Believers, look up – take courage! The angels are nearer than you think!”
Now this angel bring a live coal from the altar of God and touches Isaiah’s lips with it.
Now it is vital that you get the purpose of this.
• He touches him, not to hurt him, but to heal him.
• He touches him, not to harm him, but to purify him.
We all need this. If we are going to enter His presence, we need to be healed of the effects of sin. We need to have Him examine us closely for the generational sins of our fathers and mothers. We need to be healed of the abuses of our past, we need to be healed of the disappointments put upon us by others and by our own failings.
And that is exactly what God desires to do for each of us as we pursue Him.
The live coal comes from His altar and it brings purification.
John the Baptist prophesied that the Holy Spirit would come with purifying fire:
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11
This is what the Holy Spirit does – He purifies us! He burns out the unnecessary, in order to reveal the glory of God in our lives!
And in verse 7 we see that through the touch of God, our sin is forgiven! Our impurities are purified! Our debt is paid! Our guilt is removed!
If you are walking in guilt – you need to be touched by Christ’s power. You need to let Him access every part of your life with His purifying fire! Cry out to Him, acknowledge your sin, acknowledge your need, your desperation, your lack – and seek His touch!
What is the point of all of this? GOD’S PREPARATION FOR GREATER THINGS! Look at verse 8
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:1-8
God is looking for men and women who will live their lives with Him as their goal. He is looking for people who will serve His plans and purposes. He is looking for people who will put aside personal goals and selfish desires, in order to pursue His presence – and here’s the amazing thing:
As you are purged of a guilty conscience you are being prepared to serve the Living God!
• God doesn’t waste a hurt – he translates it to a powerful tool for healing!
The purification and removal of your sin is absolutely necessary for you to speak with confidence either to God in prayer of for God in preaching!
CONCLUSION: The Heaven’s are open. Visions, dreams, prophecies, words of knowledge are all available to God’s children. As you hunger and thirst, God will quench. As you move into His Presence, He’ll not only make you aware of His holiness and your sin, but He will heal you.
Today is a day to be healed of the sins that are holding you back. Let go. Cry out to God for His healing touch. Confess and be healed.
posted by Doug Love at 10:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home