Welcome to “Learning and Living the God-centered life”

Carmel Baptist Church

www.learningandlivingtheword.com

December 6, 2009

Review from last Sunday

Go to Isaiah 57:15For thus says the high and exalted One

Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,“I dwell on a high and holy place,And also with the contrite and lowly of spiritIn order to revive the spirit of the lowlyAnd to revive the heart of the contrite.

Review from last Sunday Transcendence means that God is far “above” the creation in the sense that He is greater than the creation and is independent of it.

God is transcendent in His;

Majesty

Holiness

Greatness

Otherness

The immanence of God means His involvement in creation which means His remaining in and close to creation.

Review from last Sunday

Last week we covered Isaiah 6:1-3

Isaiah is writing around 740 BC, when King Uzziah dies and the concern is will the next king be a good king or a bad king. This is a time of great uncertainty.

And then we get a three fold description of God:

Sitting on a throne - the royalty and majesty of God

Lofty and exalted - the sovereign rule of God over all things

Train of His robe fills the temple - the importance of God

Review from last Sunday

Verse 3

Holy - Holy - Holy This is amazing when you realize in the Hebrew language when you express a superlative for example like the greatest king, then you do this with a single repetition So King, King we read as King of Kings and that is the greatest King Or Lord, Lord we read as Lord of Lords and that is the greatest Lord

But in this verse we don't have a single repetition instead we have a double repetitionThe English language again is not capable of holding this infinite truth about this glorious God. (Photos to illustrate)

Today’s Lesson

Isaiah Chapter 6 verse 4

This is portraying to us the intensity of their worship toward God

In heaven when we get there and are freed from all our inhibitions and sin then we are going to worship from purified souls and our worship will take on an intensity that we never thought possible.

The temple is filled with smoke, so where did that come from?

In verse 6 we get the clue and it is from the altar that has burning coals on it

This smoke is filling the temple and represents the absolute purity of God

So the smoke symbolizes purity of God because it is from this very altar that a coal will be pulled to purify Isaiah.

And now we realize that this God is not only powerful, glorious, majestic, great and awesome in who He is but He is also morally perfect and pure and can't have anything like sin or sinners in His presence.

Verse 5Notice that Isaiah doesn't say "I have got some personal baggage that I need to work through."We have no idea to the degree of the wickedness of the human heartNow look at the word FOR - which could be read BECAUSEBecause my eyes have seen the greatness, majesty and holiness of God. (the transcendence of God)Isaiah here is not recognizing his worth or anything that is owed himHe sees here to the very depths of his human sinfulnessAnd he recognizes he has no right to stand before this righteous and holy GodWhy does Isaiah mention his lips?

Because as we learn later in the gospels from Jesus, from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

READ Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

Read Matthew 15:16-20

When we are free to speak with no restraints or when we speak the first things that come into our minds when something happens to us it reveals what is going on in the heart

Remember the context in which Isaiah is writing these words…

740 BC was a time of great rebellion against God and here we have Isaiah who is on of the good guys

Many of the people had turned to idol worship and Isaiah could have determined in his mind that he was doing quite well compared to the crowd and said I'm not that bad

And he could have thought, I am a prophet and I am hot stuff

But then he sees the LORD and what does he conclude?"I am a man of unclean lips just like everyone else"

Isaiah Chapter 6 and verse 6So we see that there is a coal pressed upon the lips of Isaiah in order to burn away all of his iniquity before the LORD

Where we should expect judgment instead we see right at this point God's amazing grace

Notice the One here who initiates the grace Answer - it is God HimselfIsaiah is before God probably laying is a prostrate on the floor feeling hopeless and helpless

And now notice the means that God uses in His display of mercy for IsaiahPurificationForgivenessThe Seraphim touches the lips of Isaiah

Here is the Biblical principle God has the exact remedy of forgiveness that is able to match your sin

There is a coal to burn away the sin and now this leaves Isaiah as righteous before GodIsn't this the wonder of the doctrine of "justification by faith"We receive the righteousness of Christ that is credited to our account via faith (Romans 4:25)The goal is nothing less than Isaiah's restoration to service in ministry

Do you think of Christian service in this way?Not only does God initiate saving grace that brings us to salvation which purifies and restores usBut then He calls us to be in ministry with HimWhat a privilege we have to be servants of this great and glorious king

The ministry that God calls Isaiah to as we can read later on is anything but warm and fuzzy

But instead God is saying to Isaiah that the vast majority that you speak my word to you will face nothing but ridicule and hardshipAnd Isaiah you can expect this for a lifetime but know that there will be a remnant

What could possibly motivate Isaiah to this kind of service?Answer - he has seen the very face of God!He has seen and experienced the grace of this God who is infinitely greatWilling service is an overflow from this knowledge of GodEspecially for endurance in the service of GodHow does Isaiah hang in there for a lifetime of tribulation?Isaiah knows God

ConclusionPoint 1 - we can clearly see in Isaiah a vision of God's goodness the kindess and the grace of God but we see first and foremost the transcendence of God's greatness and God's gloryAnd we see God's greatness as it compares to our sinfulness, and wretchedness

If you are wondering if we as the creation have any rights the answer is yes, we have one rightWe have the right to condemnation because we have offended the infinite holiness and glory of God

The breath that you are taking right now is because of His grace, the food that you will eat today at lunch is by His grace, and the recreation and rest you have watching the Panther game is also by His grace

And now wrap your mind around this, the very God that is transcendent and great, glorious and above us has freely chosen to come to us

Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? We are going to have to work hard in this culture against this push to try and convince us or our self importance and self worthGod brings us to His grace and He did not have to do it

Point 2 - Let us rethink as Christian people what it means to serve God.This we will talk about in the coming weeks as we talk about the self sufficiency