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us how's the audio up their control headquarters says the audio is good all right well good evening everyone welcome back to the house of the Lord it's good to be back this evening now for our second time this lord's day just a reminder with regards to announcements we have dawn Lindblad with us next lord's day for those of you who haven't been here when he has been here he's going to say an old pastor he's been a pastor for a long time a dear brother down across the line he and his son Stephan Lindblad our pastors at Trinity reformed baptist church in kirkland washington he'll be giving a presentation on the missionary work in Cuba or on the ongoing ministry work there in Cuba in the 9 30 to 10 30 hour and then he'll be preaching for us morning and evening next Lord's Day so it's always a treat to have our brother up here visiting with us again dr. renehan will be here 12th the 12 thirteenth and fourteenth of februari we'll have more information on dr. james rena hands visit and finally it is we'll have the him saying not tonight but its next lord's day after the evening service for anybody who would like to stay behind and attend that well let's turn in our Bibles then please as we begin the worship of our Blessed God you can turn with me to Revelation chapter one revelation 1 a reading from there will be our call to worship this evening revelation 1 beginning in verse 9 this is the word of the living and true God I John both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet saying I am the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last and what you see right in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia to Ephesus to smyrna to Pergamos to Thyatira to Sardis to Philadelphia to Laodicea then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band his head and hair were white like wool as white as snow in his eyes like a flame of fire his feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters he had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth went to sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead but he laid his right hand on me saying to me do not be afraid I am the first and the last I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am Alive for evermore amen and I have the keys of Hades and of death right the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this the mystery of the Seven Stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the Seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches amen well let's stand and sing from him number 217 if you'll stand with me in the larger hymn books him to 17 let's stand and sing to each other and to our God Oh please be seated let's go to our God in prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we rejoice again that we can gather together as the Saints of Christ and the house of the Lord we thank you that now a second time we can come into this place to worship you are blessed God and truly we do worship and honor you Father Son and Holy Spirit we do pray that you would help us to do so we know that we depend wholly upon divine aid for the lifting of our spirits for the giving of the spirit that we might have our minds illumine we might be opened up rightly to a knowledge of the scriptures that we might grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and we do pray that you would help us now that we would worship you a right by truth and by spirit and we do pray that you would help us and that your name would be hallowed that your name would be honored that you would our God be praised by this your gathered assembly we rejoice again in the gospel of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we know that salvation does not come by deeds of holiness that we do but rather according to your mercy you saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit by virtue of that perfect and saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ and we do pray that you would help us now to rejoice in so great a salvation knowing that we have the forgiveness of sins in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray that you would forgive us a fresh as we know we have that remaining in krupp that remaining corruption until that great and final day when we're brought into a eternal life we do pray that you would help us in this lower world to be sanctified by your spirit and by your truth that we might again be conformed unto the image of the Lord Jesus Christ do help us as we go about our daily lives that we might for your glory live in light of such a glorious gospel you give us the daily strength to do those things that are fitting with respect to our calling by grace we know that we need your aid as we worship and so again we would pray that you grant the preacher all that he needs in the pulpit to preach rightly the things of your scriptures and we pray Lord God that you would be with those gathered here tonight that you would strengthen your people gathered Christians tonight that you would instruct them by spirit for your glory we pray Lord God for any with us tonight that are outside of Christ in unbelief that you would by your grace bring them forth from deadness to life that you would save them God and cause them to leave singing the praises of the gospel the praises of our Christ and the praises of you our blessed God we do pray that you would be with those many that are afflicted we pray that you'd continue to be with pastor Butler and his recovery from surgery do continue to strengthen him we pray that you would be with dawn neufeld lord help him as well as he endures the the afflictions related to his disease a doobie with the proctors Lord God we think of the van shakes as well we think of surely we think of so many others God that are afflicted with a disease or injury or recovery from surgery just do bless your saints God and help them to rejoice in the midst of suffering we do pray as well we we praise you for the gift of life and children we do pray for all the pregnant mothers that you would be with mother and child that you would as well be with the fathers we pray that the parents of these expected children would rejoice in the gifts that come from on high and we do pray that in due time you would bring forth these children and we do pray that further in time you would bring them forth by your grace from deadness and sin to life and light in Christ Jesus the Lord we long to see our children the young ones in our midst at an early age own the Redeemer and rejoice in God our Creator we do pray Lord that you'd be again with the persecuted Church there are many around the world who suffer opposition even sometimes unto death we do pray that you would surround them with your love and comfort and care we do pray that you might even keep them from from persecution and injury and all these things but we do know Lord God that you sovereignly order such things for the growth of your kingdom and for your own holy ends and we do pray that in the midst of persecution you would uplift your saints that you would cause them even in the midst of this hatred in this anger and this persecution to look with eyes of faith upon the risen and exalted Christ and find such comfort and courage in that blessed King of Kings we do pray now yet again that you would be with us as we engage in the act of worship the preaching of your word as we sing another him as we read from your scriptures we would ask God that you would tune our hearts and just tune our minds unto a proper attentiveness that we might not have wandering thoughts that we might not have thoughts that hinder the proper worship of our God we do pray that you would help us now and that our Lord Jesus Christ would be exalted upon the praises of this gathered assembly and we pray in his precious name amen well let's stand and sing again in fact just one him to the right of the one that we just sang him number 218 in fact I think it starts just below it so this is him number 218 in your Trinity hymnals let's all stand as a church and sing that him 28 you please be seated you can turn your Bibles to the book of ezekiel our Old Testament scripture reading is from The Book of Ezekiel now we are at chapter two smaller chapter relative to some of the other larger ones of course but much in here even still a zekiel to the entire chapter verse 12 verse 10 once again the word of the living and true God and he said to me son of man stand on your feet and I will speak to you then the spirit entered me when he spoke to me and set me on my feet and I heard him who spoke to me and he said to me son of man I am sending you to the children of Israel to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day for they are impudent and stubborn children I am sending you to them and you shall say to them thus says the Lord God as for them whether they hear or whether they refuse for they are a rebellious house yet they will know that a prophet has been among them and you son of man do not be afraid do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words though briars and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks though they are a rebellious house you shall speak my words to them whether they hear or whether they refuse for they are rebellious but you son of man hear what I say to you do not be rebellious like that rebellious house open your mouth and eat what I give you now when I looked there was a hand stretched out to me and behold a scroll of a book was in it then he spread it before me and there was writing on the inside and on the outside and written on it were lamentations and morning and woe it's been said many times as we've rehearsed the the major and the Minor Prophets that primarily the office of the is to come by the authority of God by the ordaining and anointing and sanctioning of God to bring the message of God's judgment to a disobedient people and clearly that's what we see here i am sending you to the children of israel to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me a time and again the Lord God sends prophet after prophet and time and again they in their rebellion reject the prophets of the Lord as we've noted many times they are like prosecuting attorneys bringing to bear the sanctions and the curses of the Covenant the fact that the covenant people have broken covenant with God and he in his holiness in his righteousness and his justice will certainly bring judgment upon them but you see and again what is always set forth before them is not to necessarily reform their ways but rather to look to this one who will come the branch the Lord our righteousness the suffering servant this one who will come who will do all that the Covenant demands and that perfectly and who will render substitution for his people both in obedience even and and in the sacrifice upon Calvary's tree to bear the wrath of the rebellious and that's what is always set before the audience of Yahweh is that there is transgression of his holy statutes and precepts and laws and that the only way of acceptance before him is through the mediator the Lord Jesus Christ and truly we have here something of a typical Jesus ezekiel is a type of Christ the Son of man who comes to proclaim the righteousness of God the judgment of God and the salvation of God now unlike Jesus Ezekiel is not the content of the message preached but he is the one nevertheless who brings a message of content and that message is one of divine judgment and yet in the midst of that as well we'll see the book salvation from God through the Lord Jesus Christ let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your revelation to men we rejoice that you have revealed yourself that in your scriptures we have page after page chapter after Chapter Lord Jesus Christ set before us as the savior of men we do pray that you would help us tonight as we continue and worship we might rejoice in you and that we might seek your face that we might by your grace seek to do those things which are pleasing in your sight and that come to you except ibly through Jesus Christ our Lord and it's in his name that we pray amen the final him then before our preaching is going to be him to 23 so let's stand and sing arise my soul arise to 23 you be seated you can turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah six so we continue to explore this particular passage of Holy Scripture we began this morning to look at it and we'll continue this evening lord willing to finish our examination our observation of verses 1 through 7 i'm going to read again the entire chapter Isaiah 6 beginning in verse 1 the Word of God in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up the Train of his robe filled the temple above it stood Seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one cried to another and said holy holy holy is the lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke so I said 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 my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said Behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged and I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall i send and who will go for us then I said here am I send me and he said go and tell this people keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of this people doll and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and be healed then I said how long Lord how long and he answered until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant the houses are without a man the land is utterly desolate the Lord has removed men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land but yet a tenth will be in it and will return and be for consuming as a terrible tree or as an oak whose stump remains when it is cut down so the holy seed shall be its stump amen well let us ask the Lord's blessing upon the word preached Heavenly Father we thank you again that we can now engage in this act of worship the preaching of the word once again god we would pray for your blessing upon this act and we pray that you would be with preacher and strengthening him as he brings your word be with here Lord God as they listened as they follow along in the Holy Scriptures I might this act of worship beyond to the praise of your glorious name unto the instruction the edification the encouragement and the equipping of your gathered Saints and might it be Lord God by your grace and for your glory unto the salvation of sinners and it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we pray amen well you'll recall if you were here this morning if you weren't you won't recall so I'll remind you what we looked at this morning was we started to look at two things from verses 1 to 7 of Isaiah 6 we started to look first off at the vision of the unrivaled majesty this glorious vision that the Lord God gives to Isaiah a condescending if you'll remember to the the meekness the frailty the finitude the creature leanest of Isaiah accommodating himself if you will to his creaturely capacity God discloses himself he manifests himself in his glory and in his majesty and peculiarly in his holiness we as well looked at the appropriate response by the son of a maz getting through two points that we brought out from verse 5 where we see in the face of this glorious vision this response by Isaiah the son of a maz and we noted that it was an appropriate response and someone is confronted by the glory of God there is an inappropriate response and there is an appropriate response and the appropriate response comes by Isaiah when we read in verse 5 so I said 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 my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts a wonderful confession a wonderful self recognition and maybe even a self imprecation woe is me with the following assessment of his own condition in the condition of his nation now what we didn't get to we noted the cry of alarm woe is me we noted the assessment of the condition that is he is a man of unclean lips and he dwells amidst or amongst a people of unclean lips and now we want to note as we continue the reason behind the alarming assessment the reason behind this alarming assessment when he says what was me when he acknowledges himself in wholesome self rickett recognition we find this language the reason for the alarming assessment for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts this is in a sense verses 1 through 5 this is verse 5 here and the end of it for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of oats hosts it's like the crescendo has mounted to this point it builds from verse 1 and it arrives here and we are to be confronted yet again with the stuff of verse 1 my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts the glorious vision glorious disclosure of the glory of God Leopold rights at this point speaking of Isaiah at this point he may have lain on the ground crushed in contrition he makes this confession you see this is the reason for his self recognition and self imprecation the recognition of his state of being wholly destroyed holy brought to oblivion as it were before the exalted majesty of so glorious a God for confessing the uncleanliness of his lips and that two of his nation the reason is for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts Leopold is right at this point we may have he may have lain on the ground crushed in contrition yes by a sense of and detestation for and sorrow over his own sinfulness his own frailty his own inadequacy but more to the point and more grandly by the glorious disclosure of the unrivaled majesty that is why we can wholesomely suspect that Isaiah may have lain on the ground in contrition he fell as a dead man most probably before the majesty and the glory of this one who is unrivaled in His Majesty for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts you see a knowledge of our God is to cast down our knowledge of God being you know whether with eyes of sight in this case by the vision of Isaiah or whether confronted by the word preached and brought to bear by the weight of the testimony of the Holy Spirit we are to be cast down by a knowledge of our God we're to be humbled we don't march into the throne room you know with you know with a charging vigor and and demand that God recognize us for whatever reason God makes a disclosure of himself and we are to be cast down we are to fall as dead man before the unrivaled majesty of the king the monarch the potentate of heaven and earth we have reason to suspect as Leopold does that Isaiah lay on the ground in contrition a detestation over sin a detestation over his own state why because his eyes had seen the king of the Lord of hosts it's a wonderful language of our God we ought to use as as often as we find ourselves speaking of our God the king he is the king it's interesting language if you'll turn with me into first Timothy if you can't turn there for whatever reason you can just listen as I read it but in first Timothy relative to this language relevant to this language of kingship notice what first Timothy six how first Timothy six reads at verse 15 you'll remember we read this this morning at the point of the invisibility of God that his purity of spirit that he cannot be seen notice in verse 15 which he will manifest in his own time he who is the blessed and only potentate the king of kings and Lord of lords interesting languages and the blessed and only potentate potentate is simply it's an interesting word that just means King this means monarch a ruler but it says the blessed and only potentate Isaiah as we find our way back to Isaiah 6 he says for my eyes have seen the king there is truly only one king yes earthly kings may rise and earthly kings may fall but truly and really there is only one king who is such originally essential essential II and in derivatives and that is the Lord God Almighty every other King that ever was is given their rule is given their kingship by the Blessed and only potentate the king of kings and the Lord of lords Isaiah says for my eyes have seen the king I don't believe we are to see a contrast in verse 1 between Isaiah and the Lord sitting on a throne but i believe it's wholesome to observe a contrast you see King Uzziah died well in fact Isaiah's vision may not have come after King Uzziah died notice the language says in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord he may not have seen the law word in this vision after King as iodide it was just in the year that King Uzziah died but on this point of kings Isaiah is brought to utter loneliness and despair and contrition to utter oblivion I am dissolved I am undone I am ruined not by the majesty of an earthly King but solely in a lil and alone by the exclusivity of the majesty of the only king that there truly and properly is and that is the Lord God Almighty it is proper brothers and sisters to use the language of King when we talk about our God he is the ruler he is the monarch he is the potentate he is the lord of hosts he is the lord saba oath we sing that song Lord of that Martin Luther him and we have the language rate here the Lord of hosts the Lord of armies is the God of the armies of heaven he's the Lord of the armies of Israel and Isaiah is brought to his knees brought to his face upon the ground as he considers as he is confronted with the unrivaled Majesty the triune God the king of kings and Lord of lords maybe we might even speak more properly we don't want to miss step no doubt he is brought to bear before the reality of a triune God but we're going to read John 12 later this is most likely and most probably a vision of the second of the Blessed triune the son of god the son or word of god the lord jesus christ in his pre incarnate glory we need to remark at this point again though that there is a surpassing and exclusive uniqueness to the Lord our God he is the king he is the lord of hosts and he is to be honored as such who is it who is it that is puffed up in themselves who is it that's puffed up as a Christian surely surely we ought to expect that an unbeliever is going to be puffed up as they worship all that is not God including themselves but are any one of us going to be puffed up before so glorious majesty before so glorious a God where then is boasting I know that's spoken in the in the the category of soteriology and justification but it applies with regards to God we ought not to tear away theology proper from the doctrine of salvation soteriology where then is boasting it is excluded why because the only one that we are to boast in is the lord god almighty almighty the triune majesty and his son the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world sinners to save god forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for of him we are in Christ Jesus Isaiah is brought low by this view of the unrivaled majesty of God we want to move on now then to our third point remember our three points were these the vision of the unrivaled majesty the appropriate response by the son of a maz and now thirdly and lastly the Blessed atonement from the altar of the Lord the Blessed atonement from the altar of the Lord notice after this cry of alarm what we read beginning in verse 6 then one of the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said Behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged what beautiful words hopefully you can notice this brethren what glorious words to follow this self recognition in cry of alarm on the part of Isaiah he cries out woe to me for I am dissolved I am brought to oblivion I am undone by the majesty of my god and then yet what comes swiftly but the Grace and the mercy of our great God then one of the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar yes it is good to repeat ourselves when such a blessed grace-filled and mercy filled verse follows and he touched my mouth with it and he said behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away in your sin purged what ought we to see here in this portion of this section of Isaiah 6 well the first thing we want to note first specifically is with respect to Isaiah what does this mean concerning Isaiah surely this isn't an account of his conversion isn't an account of his conversion he has already been been in the ministry of his prophetic office some for silly reasons see Isaiah 6 as the beginning like as if it's misplaced and it should have been placed by the co-leaders of in scripture of the inscription cannon at the beginning of the letter we have a call and we have here Isaiah called to be a prophet well many have noted that this is probably in a sense a punctuated and revived call after he had already been called to the ministry of a prophet we might get a glimpse of that reality when we read in verse 9 and he said go and tell this people keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive they had already heard the words of the Prophet and there is this sense in which God comes to Isaiah and brings something of what Calvin says here it was because this is this touching of the of the live coal to the lips by the Seraphim upon the lips of Isaiah it was because the Lord intended to enlarge and extend his favor towards him and to raise him to hire dignity that he might have greater influence over the people that he might have greater influence over the people he had been proclaiming that they would hear he had been proclaiming that they would see but they were not hearing and they were not seeing so God brings this glorious and condescending vision to the Prophet that he might be in his prophetic office revived and brought to greater influence over the people of his ministry do we have anything else like this in our Bibles where what appears to be sort of language of salvation and conversion isn't really that in the first place but is sort of a confirmation of that which already exists and a revival of sorts to lift up the individual to greater things in his ministry turn with me to Psalm 51 as we do have that there in Psalm 51 in this case with David notice in Psalm 51 beginning in verse 5 behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me behold you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom purge me with hyssop and I will be clean wash me and I will be whiter than snow make me hear joy and gladness that the bones you have broken may rejoice hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners on Peter who was called even Satan by God our by the Lord Jesus Christ who had denied the Savior thrice and yet in verse 15 notice what we find here the kind words of the resurrected Christ so when they had eaten breakfast this is John 2115 jesus said to Simon Peter Simon son of Jonah do you love me more than these he said to him yes Lord you know that I love you he said to him feed my lambs he said to him again a second time Simon son of Jonah do you love me he said to him yes Lord you know that I love you he said to him tend my sheep he said to him the third time Simon son of Jonah do you love me Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me and he said to him Lord you know all things you know that I love you what we have in David what we have in Peter is what we have in Isaiah God meets Isaiah with what he needs in order to invigorate him unto a proper service unto God we have something of this in our confession in our confession at 18 4 listen to this language because in our own lives we have something of this isaiah anak renewal chapter 18 paragraph 4 true believers may have the assurance of their salvation diverse way shaken diminished and intermitted as by negligence in preserving of it by falling into some special sin which wounded the conscience and grievous the spirit by some sudden or vehement temptation by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light yet are they never destitute of the seed of God and life of faith that love of cry and the Brethren that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty out of which now notice by the operation of the spirit this assurance may in due time be revived and by the witch in the meantime they are preserved from utter despair Isaiah is brought to utter despair he's showing the unrivaled majesty of God the King of Kings the Lord of Hosts he's brought to the place where he pronounces in a sense a curse upon himself woe is me for I am undone I'm ruined I'm dissolved I'm brought to oblivion and yet mercy and grace comes from the throne of God and notice what happens is this grace-filled and from God gift comes and it answers Isaiah's peculiar problem remember what Isaiah had said I am a man of unclean lips I'm a man of unclean lips what happens the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the tongs which with the tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said Behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged if the eyes a anak problem was that his lips were unclean then his problem has now been remba trema deed by the Son of God sending the seraphs to deliver these this live coal to his lips God answers us in our plight God answers us where we need to be answered it's a beautiful it's a beautiful picture Isaiah is brought to despair Isaiah is brought to the point point where he lane on the ground crushed in contrition because he's a man of unclean lips and having acknowledged the reality the terror that his eyes had seen the king the Lord of hosts these unclean lips are remedied by the seraphs flying from the altar with the live two touches lips so let's move then naturally we looked at first specifically with respect to Isaiah what that means now secondly generally observe the the truth of atonement hopefully you see that here hopefully you see the truth of atonement as Gil says the doctrine of pardon founded upon the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ let's notice three things here in verse verses 6 and 7 with regards to generally the troof of the truth of atonement that first thing is this atonement comes from the Lord alone simple statement it's a simple proposition but atonement comes from the Lord alone from Christ alone see what's going on here Isaiah sees the pre Incarnate Christ is given a vision of the Son of God and it is the Son of God who sends the seraphs to deliver atonement to deliver the remedy to bring grace to bring mercy to bring pardon founded upon the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ's atonement comes from the Lord alone we don't have a narrative record of Isaiah recounting his grand ascent up some calamitous trial of a mountain in order to merit and to earn and to win and to be triumphant unto his own atonement he didn't climb up a day upon day this massive mountain in order to grab tongs into to grip the live coal and depress it against his own lips then one of the Seraphim flew to me it's God it's got alone it's by grace alone through Christ alone that this atonement comes that our atonement has come to us in Christ alone from the Lord alone this is something that we need to press time and again and I want to say this because this is the stuff of Isaiah 6 that we need to glory in and again and often fly to it's a point of application for later but it's not going to be now it's going to be delivered now point of application is is this don't find comfort confirmation and fitness in yourself why when we are brought to despair when we are brought to the point where we think ourselves undone when we are brought to the point where we are just brought low by whatever it may be where do you look where do you look for revival where do you look to be brought back to that blessed place of the joy of your salvation return do you look inwardly at the motions of the Spirit upon your own soul do you look at the the outward fruits and evidences that you engage in for the cause of Christ in the gospel do you reflect upon better days when you read your Bible more when you went to church more faithfully when you didn't reject the Lord's table do you look back oh you know what I did such and such and I did XY and Z and you know what I was good for a time and I just need to look upon that and return to that or do you look to that time where the Son of God sent the seraphs to bring with tongs the live coal to touch your lips and to have your sins purged in other words to say more clearly do you look to Christ Jesus and salvation by him arise my soul arise shake off thy guilty fears the long list of deeds that I have done no shake off thy guilty fears the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears i feared too often sometimes because of the the religious environment that we were brought up in before we came to Christ those sorts of things that we can find ourselves seeking to atone for our own sins you see you can see this it's it's as if we are like that man from that bad movie so many years ago I can't remember the but a Jesuit priest who who wears a sack of something upon his back and carries it along for season after season until he can atone for his own transgressions against God can never do it you can never do it the burden that will fall off your back does not fall off by deeds of righteousness which you have done and the joy that you rehearse that drop that burden off is not the stuff that you have done for God in the service of Christ and truth when you are brought to utter despair you look to Christ very simply I could have just said that three and a half minutes ago when you're brought to despair you look to Christ in Christ we have comforts in Christ we have confirmation in Christ we have and we are made fit in Christ we have fitness in our made fit before the service of our Blessed God notice secondly atonement comes from sacrifice alone it comes from the Lord alone it comes from Christ alone and it comes from sacrifice alone having in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the tongs note from the altar what do altars speak of what our altars for altars are for sacrifices this is an interesting picture brothers and sisters and hopefully hopefully you see this and hopefully you get this and hopefully it it puts a little bit of a skip in your Christian step very interesting thing here it is the pre Incarnate son of God who in the fullness of the times would become incarnate to render sacrifice for the sins of his people that in his pre incarnate state sends a seraph from the altar in order to deliver this picture of blessed atonement you see the you see the interplay between theological truths and soteriology the doctrine of salvation they is a picture before hand of the sacrifice of Christ that would happen later this is a blessed picture of the sacrifice of Christ and understand like Gil says atonement is the doctrine of pardon founded upon the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ's sacrifice you see what do sacrifices do but they take away iniquity and they purge sin hopefully hopefully you can connect versus here when we read and in Isaiah 6 here your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged hopefully it harkens you back to reflections upon Hebrews 1 there we have this language concerning the Christ who has now come and has rendered his perfect work we read in verse 3 who being the brightness of his glory and the Express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Christ has always been in the business of purging sins you know what purging means and hopefully I know you've heard this before hopefully you you know what purging means it means a thorough cleansing it you know it's getting late it sits on a Sunday night and and oftentimes our mouths can't do that when the preacher is breaching can't smile but smiling inside I hope because we're reflecting upon the fact that we have by our God and through his Christ our sins brothers and sisters thoroughly cleansed when he had by himself purged our sins you that this is and I think I don't actually Spurgeon had I think Isaiah 53 in mind when he spoke these words when he preached these words but no doubt it's relevant to the point of Isaiah 6 let us seriously peruse the diary of our memory Murray for their the witnesses of our guilt have faithfully recorded their names you see it is a wholesome exercise not to dive into a an overbearing an inordinate reflection upon all our sins in some sort of sick fascination however Isaiah is an example that we are too seriously peruse the diary of our memories to see that the witnesses of our guilt have faithfully recorded their names but you see what we then immediately fly to is the atoning the perfect atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ by the sacrifice of himself he gave himself up upon that tree he took for Christians he took in his own body our sins that we having died to sin might live unto righteousness by His stripes we are healed brethren atonement comes from sacrifice alone and there is only one sacrifice for sin and that is that of the perfect Christ hopefully you find yourselves daily day in and day out reflecting on the Blessed reality Christ has brought atonement for us Christ has brought the iniquities the reality of our iniquity is being taken away and he has brought to us the reality of sin purged you know John the Baptist uses this language as well speaking of the coming christ he being the forerunner the coming christ would do what this is judgment language but he would thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor carries the language of a burning of a of a purification a purging and this is by the sacrifice of himself blessed sacrifice blessed atonement blessed pardon from iniquity we've already noted that atonement comforts and confirms and fits for service and that's what we see here for Isaiah and that's what we see here for us as well how are we fit service were fit for service by virtue of the finished work of Christ notice for Isaiah here that this reality of the purging of sins the iniquities his iniquities being taken away we see that this comforts confirms and fits him for service you see because no more does he cry out here now whoa is me for I am undone why because the Blessed piece of the reality of God's gracious and merciful salvation is brought again to bear and it's peculiarly at the point of the use of his lips in the prophetic office and that perhaps the improper use of his lips for the prophetic office he's restored he's reinvigorated he's revived and we see that he says here am I send me likewise for us the brethren that by the atonement of Christ we are made comfortable we are confirmed and we are made fit for service in the kingdom of our God a couple things that we want to note before we close we've already noted one of them but we'll work through the other ones first off reflect often upon the greatness of our God so it seems simple doesn't it reflect often upon the greatness of our God thank thanks preacher you know we've probably heard that before hopefully you don't say it like that but you see it sounds easy but remember that we are prone to wander prone to leave the God that we love we can be found so often in a coldness and in a langur reflecting on so many other things and not reflecting upon the greatness of our God remember Spurgeon's words in a preaching on the Lord's Supper he says that we are to chase away the demons of base ingratitude how do we do that by reflecting upon the greatness of our God and the greatness of our conquering Christ just look at the words of Isaiah I saw the Lord on a throne high and lifted up in the train of his robe filled the temple you know it's it's a it's a short number of words but hopefully a solemn reflection upon it brings you and it arouses and stirs up your soul to to high thoughts of a God who is to be highly thought of reflect often upon the greatness of our God remember what we said this morning if we take that that latter understanding that the what's in view is just the hem of the garment of his robe filling the temple our God is so great he cannot be confined he can't be circumscribed anywhere remember he is replete of Lee unconfined unbounded immense eternal great even in the evenin the Incarnation words of Calvin are absolutely right he descended from heaven in such a way that without leaving heaven He willed to be born in a virgin's womb to go about the earth and to hang upon a tree the son of god in the Incarnation didn't leave heaven that the essential glory of God cannot be so disturbed that there is a relocation of the immensity of the Divine to something that can now be circumscribed Christ descended from heaven yes but without leaving heaven He willed to be born in a virgin's womb but the son of God that Isaiah that Isaiah sees here glorious what a glorious one we are to reflect often upon the greatness of our God again we don't follow after we don't worship and we don't come in here on the Lord's Day to worship the god of the weekday comic books with a gray beard with a cane with comical eyes there is to be no depiction of our God that's the second commandment but you see our God has no form our God is without body parts and passions a most pure spirit if you ever read when you find time chapter 2 paragraph 1 of our confession and see how it tries to encapsulate in the multiplication of superlatives the glory the essential glory of our God and there in Marvel because it brings out the scriptural testimony to his unrivaled majesty reflect often upon the greatness of God and not just but surely upon not just though upon his exalted and unrivaled majesty but on the fact that he meets the creature in his creature lean asst to give a vision of himself to manifest himself to disclose himself and to show forth his glory what a god and what what a colossal error it is for the saint of his to not reflect often upon his greatness secondly don't forsake God's ministers now you might be saying well what do you mean by that is that a plug for you know for for every one to two not forsake the pastor Butler and pastor Porter I'll sort of what an application is don't forsake God's ministers what do we have here the ministers of God come and they bring good things to God's people then one of the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with tongues from the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said Behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged how many times if we transgress the Lord how many times have we broken his holy law how many times have we turned our backs to him how many times have we neglected the means of our preservation the gathering together on the Lord's Day where the word is preached and read where prayers are given where hymns are sung where the Lord's table is spread that we might not cry Oh molinas how many times if we transgressed against our Lord and yet what is the answer when we come to the place of the acknowledgment that we are undone unraveled and justly stand under his his chastisement he comes to us and he doesn't berate us he doesn't beat us up but rather he says behold this is touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin / purged and don't forsake God's ministers because they bring to you good things from God a minister a right one sent by God to bring the truth is a good thing to his people and hopefully they bring the stuff of live coals that you might reflect upon the blessing of iniquity taken away and the blessing of sin purged and lastly don't forsake God's sacraments we're not to forsake God's ministers and we shouldn't forsake God's sacraments we what do we have here but something of sacramental imagery this bringing of the coal with the tongs from the altar to the lips of Isaiah is sacramental in its presentation it's emblematic it's it's a sign of the reality that his iniquity is taken away and his sin purged come to the Lord's Supper you know what you know what hopefully you do know this but the Lord's Supper is not some empty ritual god help the one who ever says that the Lord's Supper is a blessing given by God it is an ordinance of sovereign and positive institution given by the Lord Jesus Christ the only lawgiver to be observed in his churches until the end of the world and we don't we don't come like this to the Lord's Supper and you know wait for the bread and the wine heaven forbid hopefully we come in the first place furyk if you're a Christian why aren't you at the Lord's Supper you're all here I know we don't know I'm pointing down here there's no Lord's Supper here that's the first sunday in February but brethren God uses the sacrament of the Lord's Supper the ordinance of the Lord's Supper in order to signify the taking away of iniquity in the purging of sin don't forsake God sacraments because by them we are strengthened in our walk with him by the sacraments of God we are made to be reminded of the blessings of our so great a salvation and of our so great a god this is calvin on this and then we'll close here the angel administered the cleansing but was not the author of it so that we must not ascribe to another what belongs to God alone this is expressly stated by the angel himself who claims nothing as his own but bringing forward the sacred pledge which he had received from God laid it as a sacrament on the lips of the prophet not that he could not be cleansed without the coal but because the visible sign was useful for the confirmation and proof of the fact and such is the use of sacraments to strengthen us in proportion to our ignorance for we are not angels that can behold the mysteries of God without any assistance and therefore he raises us to himself by gradual advances brethren we are to reflect often upon the greatness of our god we are not to forsake God's ministers and we are not to forsake God's sacraments and if you're here tonight and you are a Christian praise God because you have made to known not in the way of Isaiah bye-bye eyes of sight casting upon a disclosure of God His Majesty his unrivaled majesty but by God's grace by his power in bringing you from deadness to life you have been made to know that unrivaled majesty are blessed god who condescends to save sinners and make himself known if you're here tonight though and you don't know Christ you're not a believer you're outside of saving faith hopefully you have been in some sense confronted by a knowledge of this God you already have it by conscience God has revealed himself in creation and Providence and he has impressed upon you by virtue of you being made as him in his own image though that image is marred by the fall and buy your own sin you know that there is a God you know that there is a king a turtle eternally immortal god only wise you know that there is one who who in the expanse above us flies as it were his starry flag to show that the king is at home and yet you continually reject him you continually oppose him hopefully you've been given a small glimpse of this one tonight this one who disclosed himself to Isaiah and hopefully you're brought to the place where you do say woe is me for I am undone for I'm a man of unclean lips you see there will be that day coming if you weren't here this morning I'm going to say it again because you're here tonight there will be that day coming where your knee will be forced to bow and acknowledge the greatness of the unrivaled majesty don't tarry and don't dangle and don't wait and don't put it off and don't laugh and don't mock the one who is king alone the one who has an exclusive unique hold upon the title of potentate the king of kings and the Lord of lords believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and you will have that live coal as it were put upon your lips your iniquities taken away in your sin purge no greater blessing then iniquity taken away and sin purged and a knowledge of our Blessed God the unrivaled majesty let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we rejoice in Isaiah 6 and what it discloses to us concerning our Blessed Christ we would ask God that you would help us to reflect upon you often as we find ourselves in your word we find ourselves perhaps not with your word before us but reflecting upon the word that we know in our knowledge of you we pray that we would so often praise you and honor you and think about you and have those high and heavy thoughts of so great a god so great an unrivaled majesty we pray God that you would help us to reflect upon our salvation we rejoice that in due time as it were you press those live coals upon our lips saving us applying the atoning perfection of Jesus Christ to our souls and we do pray that you would help us in this lower world to live rightly to live in a manner worthy of our calling knowing that we're not saved by what we do but having been saved by grace through faith in Christ that what we do would be befitting the sons of God we do pray that you would save sinners tonight that you would cause those who do not know you to know you by grace and for your glory but they would leave these two doors singing the praises of Christ singing along with all his Saints hallelujah what a savior and it is in Christ's name that we pray amen well if you'll stand with me and sing as a doxology we're going to sing stands a one of him 35 that stands a one of him 35 let's stand and sing that together you Oh now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen please be seated we'll have a brief time of Prayer when the the piano is finished we are finished