← Back to sermon library

You can turn back in your Bibles 
to Isaiah 6. 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 
dull 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, 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 terebinth 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, strengthening him as he brings your word. Be 
with hearer, Lord God, as they listen, as they follow along 
in the Holy Scriptures. And might this act of worship 
be unto 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. Condescending, if you'll remember, 
to the meekness, the frailty, the finitude, the creatureliness 
of Isaiah. Accommodating himself, if you 
will, to his creaturely capacity. God discloses himself. He manifests 
himself in his glory and in his majesty. peculiarly in His holiness. We as well looked at the appropriate 
response by the Son of Amoz, 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 Amoz, and 
we noted that it was an appropriate response. When 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 v. 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 
and 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, woe is me, when he acknowledges himself 
in wholesome self-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 one 
through five. Verse five here, and the end 
of it, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of 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. A glorious vision. Glorious disclosure 
of the glory of God. Leopold writes, 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, wholly brought to oblivion, as it were, 
before the exalted majesty of so glorious a God. for confessing 
the uncleanliness of his lips and that too of his nation, the 
reason is for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." 
Leopold is right. At this point, 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 with a charging vigor 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, the Lord of hosts. It's a wonderful 
language of our God we ought to use as often as we find ourselves 
speaking of our God, the King. He is the King. It's an interesting 
language if you'll turn with me to 1 Timothy. If you can't 
turn there for whatever reason, you can just listen as I read 
it. But in 1 Timothy, relative to this language, relevant to 
this language of kingship, notice what 1 Timothy 6 says. how 1 
Timothy 6 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 
language, isn't it? The blessed and only potentate. Potentate is simply, it's an 
interesting word that just means king. It means monarch or 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. essentially and in derivatively, 
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 Uzziah 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 Lord in this vision after King Uzziah died, 
it was just in the year that King Uzziah died. But on this 
point of kings, Isaiah is brought to utter lowliness 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 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 Sabaoth. We sing that song, that Martin 
Luther hymn, and we have the language right here, the Lord 
of hosts, the Lord of armies. He's 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 misstep. No 
doubt He is brought to bear before the reality of a triune God, 
but we're gonna 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 a majesty, before so glorious 
a God? Where then is boasting? I know 
that's spoken in 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, 
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 Amoz, 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 and 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, 
and 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. This isn't an account of his 
conversion. He has already been in the ministry 
of his prophetic office. Some for silly reasons, see Isaiah 
6 as the beginning, as if it's misplaced, and it should have 
been placed by the collators of the inscriptured canon at 
the beginning of the letter. We have a call, 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 higher 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, because 
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. We have the occasion of a revival 
of David. He asks that the joy of that salvation that he already had would be returned 
to him. Verse 12, that he would be upheld by God's generous spirit. And then notice what follows. 
And this is quite relevant to the occasion of Isaiah. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, 
and sinners shall be converted to you. In Isaiah 6, what do we have 
after this sacramental inappearance, touching of the live coal upon the lips of Isaiah? We have the sending 
and the commissioning of him to go and tell his people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. 
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Is there an instance like this in the New Testament? I believe 
there is in John 21. In John chapter 21, notice what we find there. We have the re-commissioning, 
if you will. John Peter, who was called even 
Satan by God, or by the Lord Jesus Christ, who had denied 
the Savior thrice. And yet in v. 15, notice what 
we find here. The kind words of the resurrected 
Christ. So when they had eaten breakfast, 
this is John 21.15, 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 Isaianic renewal. Chapter 18, paragraph 4, true 
believers may have the assurance of their salvation diverse ways 
shaken, diminished, and intermitted, as by negligence in preserving 
of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience 
and grieveth 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 Christ 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 which, 
in the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair. Isaiah is 
brought to utter despair. He's shown 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 with the 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. If the Isaianic problem was that 
his lips were unclean, then his problem has now been remedied 
by the Son of God sending the seraph to deliver 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 
where he lain 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 seraph flying from the 
altar with the live coal to touch his lips. So let's move then 
naturally We looked at, first, specifically with respect to 
Isaiah, what that means. Now, secondly, generally, observe 
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 verses 6 and 7 with regards to generally 
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. He's given a vision of the Son 
of God, and it is the Son of God who sends the seraph to deliver 
atonement, to deliver the remedy, to bring grace, to bring mercy, 
to bring pardon founded upon the sacrifice and satisfaction 
of Christ. 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, day upon 
day, this massive mountain in order to grab tongs and to grip 
the live coal and to press it against his own lips. Then one 
of the seraphim flew to me. It's God. It's God 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 time 
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. The point of application 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 outward fruits 
and evidences that you engage in for the cause of Christ and 
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 X, Y, 
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 seraph 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 in 
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 fear too often, sometimes because 
of 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 can see this, it's 
as if we are like that man from that bad movie so many years 
ago, I can't remember the name of it, but a Jesuit priest 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. You 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 dropped 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 and 
are made fit for 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 are altars for? Altars are 
for sacrifices. This is an interesting picture, 
brothers and sisters, and hopefully you see this and hopefully you 
get this, and hopefully 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 interplay between 
theological truths and soteriology, the doctrine of salvation. This 
is a picture beforehand of the sacrifice of Christ that would 
happen later. This is a blessed picture of 
the sacrifice of Christ. And understand, like Gill says, 
Atonement is the doctrine of pardon founded upon the sacrifice 
and satisfaction of Christ. Sacrifice. You see, what do sacrifices 
do? But they take away iniquity and 
they purge sin. Hopefully you can connect verses 
here. We read in Isaiah 6 here, your 
iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. 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 know what purging means. It means a thorough cleansing. It's getting late, it's on a 
Sunday night, and oftentimes our mouths can't do that when 
the preacher's preaching. 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. This is, and I think Spurgeon 
had 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, for there 
the witnesses of our guilt have faithfully recorded their names." 
You see, it is a wholesome exercise not to dive into an overbearing 
and inordinate reflection upon all our sins in some sort of 
sick fascination. However, Isaiah is an example 
that we are to 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 iniquities 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 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 That's what we see here for us as well. How are we fit for service? We're 
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, woe is me, for I am 
undone. Why? Because the blessed peace 
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 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, 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. It seems simple, doesn't it? 
Reflect often upon the greatness of our God. 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 languor, 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 sitting on a throne 
high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. It's a short number of words, 
but hopefully a solemn reflection upon it brings you and arouses 
and stirs up your soul 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 latter understanding that 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 repletively unconfined, 
unbounded, immense, eternal. Great. Even in the Incarnation, 
the 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. 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. The Son of God 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 two, paragraph one of our confession, and see 
how it tries to encapsulate, in the multiplication of superlatives, 
the glory, the essential glory of our God, and therein 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 creatureliness to give 
a vision of himself, to manifest himself, to disclose himself, 
and to show forth his glory. What a God. And 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 everyone to 
not forsake Pastor Butler and Pastor Porter? Well, sort of. 
But 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 have we transgressed 
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 my leanness. How many times have 
we transgressed against our Lord? And yet, what is the answer when 
we come to the place of the acknowledgement that we are undone, unraveled, 
and justly stand under His chastisement? He comes to us, and He doesn't 
berate us. He doesn't beat us up. But rather, 
He says, behold, this has 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. 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 a sign 
of the reality that his iniquity is taken away and his sin purged. Come to the Lord's Supper. You 
know what? Hopefully you do know this, but 
the Lord's Supper is not some empty ritual. God help the one 
whoever 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 come like this to the Lord's Supper 
and wait for the bread and the wine. Heaven forbid. Well, hopefully we come in the 
first place. If you're a Christian, why aren't 
you at the Lord's Supper? You're all here, I know we don't 
have, 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 and the purging of sin. 
Don't forsake God's 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, by 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, our 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, 
in providence, and he has impressed upon you by virtue of you being 
made in his own image. Though that image is marred by 
the fall and by your own sin, you know that there is a God. 
You know that there is a king eternal, immortal, God only wise. You know that there is one 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 am a man of unclean lips. You see, there will be that day 
coming. If you weren't here this morning, 
I'm gonna 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, and your sin purged. 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 and our knowledge of you. And 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 pressed 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, that 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.