← ArchiveIsaiahSunday, September 22, 2019DateSeptember 22, 2019SpeakerBrad TollisonTextIsaiah 6Passages in this sermonIsaiah 61:45John 20:2928:102 Timothy 4:334:30TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Good morning. My name is Brad. I'm the associate pastor, youth pastor here.0:30And I just want to first of all thank this church for praying for me. Several weeks ago I had my gallbladder removed. I had pancreatitis and it's the very first time I've ever been admitted into the hospital. And so I didn't realize that you had to dress up. They give you this costume. They don't have a back in it. It's the most embarrassing thing ever, I'm telling you. If you've never experienced that, I hope you never do.0:58But anyway, thank you all for praying for me. I am well. I'm having to figure out what I can and can't eat now. Which is a challenge for me because I like to eat. And so anyway, just continue to pray that I will adjust. I always get to start or either close a sermon series. It's just the weirdest thing. Josh and I have been talking about this for some time now. It always lands on that particular time when we're starting a new series or ending a new series. The thing about Isaiah is huge.1:26And so it might be several years before I'm up here again. And so either closing it or starting a new one. And so I'm going to take advantage of this moment. And so Josh and I were talking about how do we start this particular wonderful chapter in the Old Testament. And Isaiah chapter 6 is where I landed. And so if you want to go ahead and turn to Isaiah chapter 6. The reason why I chose Isaiah chapter 6 is one, it kind of puts a good explanation mark on the beginning of this chapter.1:52Of the beginning of this book as a whole. And it really signifies the entire theme of the entire book of Isaiah. And that is God is holy. And I think that we have missed that over the years. I think that the church really needs to get back to the reverence of who God is.2:16In this particular chapter, chapter 6, there's a lot of questions that we want to kind of unfold here and unpack here. A.W. Tozer said it like this. The most important thing about a person is what that person thinks about God. The most important thing about a person is what that person thinks about God. What you think about God is the one thing that defines who you are and how you relate to God.2:42What you think about God will determine what kind of friends you may have. What kind of future you may have. What kind of job you may have when you grow up teenagers or some adults. How you dress. How you interact with other people. What church you're going to land in. How you view God. How you see God determines everything. If you were to fill in the blank. God is blank.3:12What would your blank be? What would you put in that blank? I think that sometimes we have to get back to the basics of scripture. And we have to get back to the basics of who God is. Because I think because we live in a world and a society of people with unclean lips. As we're going to see in this particular passage. Sometimes our view of God gets skewed. Sometimes our view of God gets not necessarily changed. But we get polluted by the environment that we're in.3:40And I'm going to go as far as to say sometimes any particular church that we may grow up in. Sometimes our view of God. We need to get back to the basics. And we need to look at the scriptures and see who is God. Some of you may have had a bad experience in the church. And so your blank would be pain and hurt. Some of you had wonderful experiences in church. And so your blank would be just this awesome experience. So I'm going to kind of unpack some ideas of some views of how people may see God.4:11And how some of you may be in this room view and see God. God as a narcissistic boss. Some people view God as a narcissistic boss. There's a list of rules that you have to follow. And if you break any of those rules, then there's going to be a red check against you. And then your performance evaluation at the end of the year is not going to match up. You're always trying to work to match up.4:38And there's this tradition that you're always trying to follow so you can make that up the latter. And I would say that you're a follower of religion. You're a follower of religion. So that's the narcissistic boss. You view God as a narcissistic boss. Some people view God as a police officer or a law enforcement officer. He will throw you in jail if you break any of his laws. He'll throw you in jail if you break any of his laws. You're very judgmental toward others that don't have your view of who God is.5:06And I would say you're a moralist. You have this view of God that you have to check off these boxes. And you're always trying to check those boxes off. You're a moral person. You're very straightforward. Some people view God as like Santa Claus. You don't want to make it on his bad list. You spend your time doing good stuff to weigh out the bad stuff.5:33And your motivation for doing good things is that God is going to give you something in return. And so God is basically a higher power for you. He's basically just kind of this character for you. And then some people view God as a teddy bear. He's like a good luck charm. You only need him when you're down or you're emotionally hurt. Or that God who never allows bad things to happen to good people.6:01He has no real power to do anything. That's the God of relativism. In other words, God can be pretty much anything for you. You just kind of put him in the box and you kind of carry him around with you whenever things get bad for you. And then God is, for some people, God is like a paramedic. He's the last resort. He's that 911 call. You know he's there. He's going to bail you out. And so he's like a paramedic for you. And so, in other words, you're going to try your very best to find that verse.6:31And God's word at the very last minute. So the difficult thing about all these different views is that out of all those views, there is an attribute of God that is true in a lot of those views. But, without a biblical view of who God is, each of those views is extremely inadequate. Extremely inadequate. It will lead you to false perceptions and a false identity and a false worship of God who reveals himself through only the scriptures.7:00And so, whatever preconceived idea you may have of your view of who God is, here's what I want you to do. I want us to, this morning, is to look into the scriptures. This morning. So, whatever preconceived notion, whatever view you may have, and if I just hit that for you, you're like, yeah, that's kind of how I view God. Then, man, let's look at the scriptures.7:32I'm going to give you some background. Isaiah 6, 1, 8. Uzziah reigned for 52 years. And he was a successful king. We're going to read about him in here in a minute. He was a successful king and he was good to his people. He was able to turn Jerusalem into a fortified city. He did a lot of wonderful things with the city. He was well equipped with a great military and a defense and he gave the people a sense of security. And so, Isaiah was a prophet.8:02And he wasn't just any prophet. Some feel, perhaps, he was the greatest prophet in Israel. And Isaiah was a man who was a statesman who spoke to God, to common people, and also to the kings. The sad story about Uzziah is this. Is at the end of his life, pride began to kind of seep in. And he began to look at his kingdom. And he was puffed up by pride. And he was, look what I've done. And what the Lord did is the Lord gave him leprosy.8:31And that ended his life. Now, here's the thing. When that happened, you have a king that was 52 years. He was a good king. The people went crazy when he died. They went into this frenzy. There was this, the sense of security was gone. It was almost like that security plank was gone. And everybody freaked out. Instead of turning to God like Isaiah told them to, they didn't. They were caught up in this frenzy of self-indulgement and moral corruption.8:57And that's how it was when Uzziah died. The leader was dead. So among all of the God-fearing Jews who may have sought the face of God was the prophet himself, Isaiah. And this is what he goes into the temple in chapter 6. And this is what he says. We've picked up in chapter 6, verse 6. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high lifted up.9:23And the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood seraphim. Each had six wings. With two, he covered his face. And with two, he covered his feet. And with two, he flew. And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called.9:51And the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost from 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 burning coal. And he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips.10:22Your guilt is taken away. And your sin atoned for. And I heard a voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us? And then I said, Here am I. Send me. Lord Jesus, as we open up this text, Lord, as we read the word, I pray, Lord, you'd open our hearts, Lord.10:51And however we view you, Lord, I pray, Lord, that that would change to a biblical view this morning. Lord, I pray, Lord, for people in this room, Lord, that you would become real. I pray, Lord, that when people leave this auditorium, they leave with a sense of, Send me, Lord. And so, Jesus, this morning, change us. And it's in your name. Amen.11:24Amen. Man, that's an incredible verse. It's an incredible body of text. And when I read that, I'm thinking, how in the world? It's very, it's very, it's a little apocalyptic. It's kind of scary. You have these creatures that are flying around with these wings. And it's almost like, man, how? I couldn't imagine being there. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And there is not a single head of state in the world11:53who has been there in 50 years. The turnover for leadership is 100%. In other words, in a brief 110 years, this planet will probably have populated 10 billion brand new people and all 4 billion of us alive today will have vanished from the earth just like Uzziah did. But not God. But not God.12:23He is on his throne and forever will be on his throne. He never had a beginning and therefore depends on nothing for his existence. He always has been and always will be alive. And we are overhearing a divine worship service like no other. And we are hearing the effects of what happened when holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty is proclaimed. and that is the Lord's primary attribute in Scripture12:52in Scripture is God is holy. So what does it mean? Consider this. While you were sleeping last night, the choir of angels that was proclaiming the glory of God and when you woke up this morning they were still singing. Even right now they are still saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord. When we leave here they are still going to be singing holy, holy,13:22holy, holy is the Lord. When we go to bed tonight they are still going to be singing holy, holy, holy is the Lord. They will not stop. So what does it mean? We are often guilty of thinking empty Christian talk. I am very guilty of it. often times when I lay my boys down in the bed and my wife is sometimes very quick13:50very quick to go, hey, we really need to work on this in our marriage and in our family. On this Holy Spirit kind of going, okay Brad. And we all do this. We kind of lay them, we lay our kids down and we want them down quick, man, get to bed. I want to watch Family Feud. And this is what we do. We say a short prayer14:19that's almost rehearsed. And I read that verse and I think, man, he is so holy. Who am I to just flippantly just kind of say a prayer that doesn't have really a lot of substance to it and it's rehearsed and it's something that I just do all the time. so we've got, we're so used14:49to this Christian talk that we just kind of do. This repetitive way of just kind of going through the motions.15:04And so we're off to get empty of, guilty of thinking empty Christian talk and when they say the phrase God is holy we have no idea what that really means. Yes, it's holy and you ought to know right, the right time to know who God is. So let's, let's unpack the word holy and it means set apart. If you've been a part of Sunday School Life Group you kind of, you've learned that. It means being, to be set apart. He is God and there is no one like him. He's sacred. He is holy,15:33holy, holy. Three times because the earth can't even obtain and secure his holiness. It would be, it would be inappropriate to compare him to any other being. He is incomparable. His holiness is utterly unique divine spirit. It determines all that he is and does and determines and it is determined by no one. His holiness is who he is as God. And the amazing thing16:03is that he has chosen to reveal himself to us. He's chosen to reveal himself to us not just in the scriptures but as Isaiah sees him. Not even the angels can look upon him. They cover their face and they cover their feet and they fly. not even they can look upon him. Great and good as they are unattained by human sin unblemished by human sin16:31they revere their maker in great humility. But the angels themselves hide their wings in reverence to the splendor of the Lord. and as Isaiah is witnessing this glorious worship service notice that the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke of the Lord. can you imagine walking into a place16:59and seeing this being on the throne and his robe covers the entire area and the places filled with smoke his Holy Spirit. Isaiah begins to process what is happening and the second they give language to what he is experiencing God is holy what is Isaiah's response? What is his response?17:30Woe is me! That's the only thing that he can think is woe is me! And often times we come into a room like this where we want to hear a service and we sit down and we expect to hear God's word but do we really feel the brokenness of our sin? Woe is me! I am undone! Some versions18:00Some versions you may have of the word say lost and ruined. He's basically saying I am dead standing up. I'm a dead man standing up. According to the Israelite tradition no one can see God and live. So here Isaiah he's walking into a room he sees God and he's thinking to himself I'm dead! That's it! I'm going to die! So that's why he goes woe is me! So Isaiah feels18:30that he is destroyed because of his own self-condemnation and he realized how unclean he has been in the presence of God and Isaiah has this incredible response and after this that reveals his own nature for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips how powerful18:59how powerful of a confession is it that he takes personal responsibility for his own sin and corporate responsibility for the sin of his people he's not just19:28broken over his sin he's broken over his nation his tribe he goes Lord I am so dirty I'm so ruined and I'm in the midst of the Lord and man the people that I'm with so it's not just okay for him to be right with God his people need to be right with God also and he just don't confess his sin he confesses the sin of people19:58of people those that he knows those that he is in his tribe and nation in other words forgive us have you heard this before church forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us does that sound familiar he bears some corporate responsibility for his family his tribe and his nation when's the last time you prayed for your neighbor when's the last time you prayed for people that are around you and your family20:27that you know that are lost Isaiah he feels the weight of his own sin but he also feels the weight of the sin of his nation you've heard me say this before and our students they've heard me said this before it's okay to walk into this building and not be okay it's okay to walk into a life group and not be okay it's okay to walk20:57into my house and not be okay it's okay to walk into this church office during the week and not be okay but I want to take it a little bit further I want to add to it it's not okay that you are okay in other words those of you that seemingly not that you have it21:27all figured out but you've been there and you've done that and you've been to the trenches you've been through the fire and you're like I'm okay with the Lord right now I'm okay with the Lord you say Brad what are you trying to say here don't abandon21:54don't abandon the bride of Christ who Jesus died for it's not good for you to walk into this room disconnected it's not good for you to walk into our ministries disconnected with everyone here and say but God I'm okay and you just sit there we are not22:21okay without you we're not okay without you we live among people of unclean lips who are who discount the holiness of God and there are broken people who that need you to take responsibility for what is right and bring your gifts and your talents to this body of believers so that we can be complete so let me22:51step on some toes my email address is btollison at bethlenet.com do not email my pastor he's in Bulgaria we've heard it said so many times done my time done my time I'm just gonna sit please don't sit23:19don't sit idle this church the body of Christ needs you there are broken people around you that you're seeing their marriages break their families falling apart and you're seeing it and you're thinking to yourself man I've been there but I'm just not gonna do anything about it how dare us to just walk silently23:49silently the lostness the lostness of this world affects each of us individually and all of us collectively whether we like it or not whether we like it or not so the foundation of the temple was shaken God is declared holy Isaiah's response to his sin and our sin is woe is me and he confesses that he has sin he confesses24:19he confesses that man I'm messed up he confesses that I'm not okay and that's what happens when we enter into a place in our life or a place in a church service or maybe it's in a life group or maybe it's on your face before the Lord and you realize that God is holy and his scripture infects you and you realize man I'm unclean and I'm not talking to just the lost person I'm talking to those of you that are believers in Jesus Christ24:47the church God is inconceivably glorious and man is sinfully lost the stage is set for good news for Isaiah as he cries out in desperation woe is me and the Lord responds in mercy this is what I love and what25:15and what happens next is an incredible picture of the gospel in verse 6 this is what it says and one of them the seraphim flew to me having his hand a burning coal and he had taken with tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth and said behold this has touched your lips your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for now all of you25:44that are literal thinkers don't go to Walmart and buy charcoal they start burning people in the mouth that would not be good don't say that Brad said to do this fire fire in the scripture is representation of the Holy Spirit and it says he is a consuming fire he is a consuming fire fire always signifies purification so because of the confession26:13the confession woe is me I am undone listen to me church that prompts a response from heaven did you hear that that prompts a response from heaven in other words the worship service is put on pause when one of us says woe is me and the Lord responds with mercy some of you26:41may be asking the question here this morning is where is God in my life where is he in my life when you confess your guilt and your inadequacies before a holy God it prompts a response from heaven so maybe the Lord is waiting on you to respond to his holiness maybe the Lord27:10is waiting on you to go okay here's the issues in your life let me do some surgery here let me change my view of who I am for you how you relate to Jesus will determine whether or not that is viewed as forgiveness or wrath or condemnation that is27:37that is why who God is is so important that is why who God is and how you view his son Jesus is so important it touches his mouth and his sins are forgiven and his guilt is gone what an incredible thing we need today from the gospel once again we need28:04we need the gospel to purify us and forgive us in John chapter 20 verse 29 it says Jesus said to him have you believed because you have seen me have you believed because you have seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed Jesus knew it was going to be difficult for us he knew it was going to be difficult for us as we28:34as we walk among those people with unclean lips he knew the environment that he's putting us in is going to be difficult and so therefore what does he do what does he give us he gives us the scriptures he gives us the church he gives us each other but often times what we do is we discount it we kind of go okay I'm just going to pull this out just every now and then or I'm not29:04not really going to go to church today I'm going to kind of and then we go through this cycle in our life and we forget and we go through this thing called the motions I didn't know what that was when I first got saved and I didn't grow up in church I was a lot of you know my story I was agnostic couldn't stand Christians and I was what they call a fish out of water when I29:33when I walked into this place wasn't this room it was another one it's gone now but man I was like a fish out of water I didn't know the lingo and I will never forget this I was at a job place where I was working downtown Birmingham and we had a lunch break and I had my quiet time my little book I think it was called Time with God somebody bought it for me I never been to back then it was30:03was called the Baptist book store it's life way now which doesn't exist now it's online it's crazy how things change but I was doing my quiet time and this guy walked through I knew he was a believer because we talked about it before and this is what are you reading I said well it's my quiet time he goes oh well you're a new believer aren't you I said yes sir I am he goes oh that'll wear off soon I went what's gonna wear off what are you talking about30:33about what is it what's gonna wear off well that fire you have that zeal you have and everything you know you just wait you you hit a couple of hard bumps in your life everything and that'll wear off in other words going through motions30:53I am not going to take his advice and so I began to watch his life and how miserable he was I mean is that what this is about and I start to meet people in the church and talk to people in the church and I start to examine and watch people in their lives and there are some families that I would go to and I would literally get to know and I would kind of go no this isn't31:22isn't I don't want to go there think about this for a second agnostic hated the church saved starts to follow other believers and I have to pick apart the ones that I know I can and can't follow because all I have is the scriptures all I have is God's word that's31:52that's it and a couple old dudes that pulled alongside of me and goes hey Brad we're going to mentor you we're going to take you to some preaching some revivals I didn't know what that was and so someone asked me the other day how was you discipled Brad who discipled you how was you discipled I had to think about that for a second and I thought about I said you know it was an accident32:22accident it was an accident now by the providence of the Lord it wasn't he knew what was going on but is it an indictment on the church that it was an accident I can't point to a moment in time or a program or even a I hate to say this but even a life group in my life that32:52that I go you know that's where I was discipled no guess who guess what guess how I was discipled it was other men and other women in this church that said woe is me I've seen him I know him woe is me he is holy he is holy and so Brad why don't you come33:22come along with us and we'll show you the ropes and that's what happened and there's some men in this room that you have no idea how much you have influenced and affected my life and so church you're needed you may think that you can't be used anymore because of33:52of your age which I think is the biggest lie you may be think that you're too young that the church can't use you your talents you may feel inadequate you may feel that I've sinned I've messed up Jesus knew it would be difficult for us because we live among people with unclean lips and living in that environment can cloud our view of God has your34:21your view of God been clouded has your view of God been skewed here's another one second Timothy 4 3 is a warning for the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine sound teaching that having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions could it be that a lot of people are in religious circles on even in the34:51the church that have settled for belief system that suits themselves we're going to pick and choose what we like if that hurts too much I'm not going to go there if this don't feel good to me I'm not going to go there if this don't fit my belief system I'm not going to be a part of that and and so I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the35:20the temple so if your view of God is the narcissistic boss you need the gospel to move you to a relationship where you are under where you understand he is personal and he is ready and willing to connect with you right where you're at in other words you don't have to get cleaned up you don't have to put on a suit you don't35:48you don't have to get your life right he wants a relationship with you right where you're at you don't have to wait until the holidays to worship you don't have to wait until a major service or blow out that we have here he's available to you right now so if that's your view of God your narcissistic boss view of God you need a relationship with Jesus a more powerful relationship with Jesus if36:18if your view of God is a police officer and his primary is moralism the gospel wants to move you to maturity listen to me church where you actually own and accept the rules and the reign of God and you demand God's justice here on earth as it is in heaven and you become an advocate for those that are last least and lost in in other words36:48words this holy fire infects you and you're like man there's so much wrong in this world there's so many things going on in this world and you think to yourself I've got to do something about it that's how ministries are started that's how missions are started is the fire gets infected in somebody and they're like man I've got to go I've got to go so you no longer have this police officer mentality you have a gospel centered mentality the gospel brings to mature you and realize37:18realize it's not just a relationship about following rules it's about an experience and peace of God who rules maybe you have a view of God that's like a Santa Claus and you need the gospel to move you to from relativism to a father in heaven who delights in you to a daddy that loves you and wants to give you good gifts not because of what you've done but because of what Jesus has already done on the cross37:47cross maybe your view of God is like a teddy bear which is relativism and the gospel wants to exchange that for righteousness Christ righteousness not man made righteousness but Christ righteousness that there is only one way one truth and one life and the father and his name is Jesus and he is offering you his righteousness so you don't have to be confused or concerned about38:16about who God is and you understand that God's truth is all you need and that he is your redeemer maybe your view of God is like a paramedic and you just looking for insurance and the gospel wants to move you to assurance in him to rest in him he is your rock your mighty fortress and he cannot be shaken and you can be assured of his presence today38:46today tomorrow and forevermore so so once the gospel starts to purify you and once the gospel starts to change your heart and forgive you of your sins and you move from woe is me this is what happens church listen to me this is this is this is what happens you move from woe is me to here am I send me that's what happens that's39:15that's what he wants to do he wants us to move from woe is me to here am I send me chances are he you are he is sending you out of the healing of your woundedness listen to me church chances are because of your woundedness he wants to send you out in a mission filled where you woundedness can help other people in39:44in words where you have been broken he can use you so instead of wallowing around in woe is me here am I send me Lord use my brokenness use my talents that you've given me that's the church that's the mission field so your greatest pain will probably be your greatest passion and impact in the kingdom of God40:14God think about it for a second your greatest pain what would that be will probably be your greatest passion and impact in the kingdom of God and I'm just wondering if there's some of you here this morning that have been sitting here in this church for years in a woe is me attitude and40:42and my hope and my prayer for you this morning is that he's moving you to a here am I send me here am I send me it's not perfect it's not pretty Lord but here am I send me I'm still rough around the edges but here am I send me I may be odd to some people I may be a little41:12little different to some people but Lord here am I send me when we have that kind of attitude the Lord can move in miraculous ways in the church and that is when revival breaks out then I prayed through this text and it's been I thought it was going to be an easy text but it's been pretty difficult it's beat me up a lot and I been wondering how am I going to present41:42present this to the church today and the thing most of our hangups and our addictions and our little idols and our attachments that we have that we know that are unhealthy but we keep returning to is simply we've made some of those small things are gods and we don't even know it until42:10until one day the Lord says okay this is enough maybe in a service like this maybe on your face before the Lord and he taps on your shoulder and goes okay Brad here am I here am I realize the holiness of God and slowly but surely realize we42:40we worship that thing and do you realize that worship is not an option for you worship is not an option for you it's in your heart you're going to worship something the question is will it be the Lord the question is who or what so today maybe you need a holy movement in your heart that God he looks at your pain and he looks at your brokenness43:10brokenness and he says I can use that I can use that what would it look like if you were to move from a woe is me to ascend me Lord kind of an attitude let's pray Lord JesusNext in Isaiah →Listen to ThisMore sermons on Isaiah →
