Isaiah's Vision of the Throne | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | Maranatha Shabiba 2023 Conference | Sunday

Brother Mark, the way you opened the service today, I had the exact same thoughts leaving my room, just walking towards you. And I and I thought to myself, this is the Lord's day. Jesus is alive. We commemorate his resurrection every single week, not just on a weekend in the month of April. But every single Sunday, we remember that our Messiah is alive.

And so we praise God. Amen, indeed. Yes. You can't say hallelujah on a Sunday morning. You're allowed to.

Well, here we are, our final session of Maranatha twenty twenty three. Were you blessed this whole weekend? Yes. Amen. I was blessed.

Every year, there's something special about this conference. Then the thing that stood out for me I'm sure there are different things for you, but the thing that stood out for me was the fellowship. I know the fellowship is special every time, but the fellowship for me, this is how I felt. Every single person I talked to saw a lot of familiar faces. But it was just an unending testifying of the goodness of God in our lives.

Every person I talked to had something to say about what the Lord's doing, what the Lord has done. And I was just overwhelmed. Every night I went to bed, my heart was just full doing beyond Chicago, what he's doing in Chicago that I'm not aware of. And so just to hear what God has been doing through these lives has been a blessing in itself. And so I am so grateful to the Lord Jesus for his work in and through many of you.

And so I give him glory for that. And I just want to also give glory to God for many people who made this conference possible. And I can't name every name, but there are some people who went beyond to make this, gracious experience. And so, obviously, we thank Vischer and Phoebe for all their hard work. And we thank our wonderful praise team.

Didn't they do an excellent job? Yes. They did. Especially to Gorgis and Joelle and Dina who helped organize a lot of the the logistics and the songs and everything else, and everybody who came early to practice. I just wanna I always say this and I wanna say it again, to the worship team.

Thank you for actually worshiping. So we're not looking at you. We're looking at Christ. There's other people behind the scenes that you're not aware of, I'm sure, but we had a VBS this whole weekend. Did you know that?

We had a Sunday school ministry. And so we thank Amy. Amy, can you just wave your hand? Where's Amy? She's at VBS.

Of course, she is. Yes. Okay. Alright. So they're still there.

Okay. That's good then. We know where they're at. So Amy, make sure you you thank Amy. I'm I don't know if she's wearing the red VBS shirt.

If if she is she's not wearing it? Okay. Ask who Amy is, and you'll find her and just thank her. And all the volunteers, you know, we had many people from our own church who are willing to give up at least one service, one of the services that you're here that you've enjoyed throughout the weekend so that they can watch over the kids so that others can be here as well. So we're thankful for that.

Also, a couple other names. We want to thank Rania and Lina. Rania and Lina, maybe you saw them at their registration, who are working till the late hours of the night, helping, organizing, changing. And so, Rania, Lina, where are you? Lift your hand.

There you are. I know you're gonna lift your hand, but where's Rania? There you are. Okay. Can we give them a hand?

They're right here. They're both over here. And to the sound team, all the guys back there, thank you for the live stream, for everything else. And the hospitality team. We had a hospitality team.

I didn't even know that. We had a hospitality team. Who's the hospitality team here? Here, here, here. Eileen, yes?

All the ladies here were helping with the hospitality team. And that's organizing all the food and everything else. I don't wanna sound cliche, but I genuinely got a taste of of heaven this weekend, honestly. I didn't wanna go to sleep. Usually, I don't mind going to sleep.

But this weekend, it was very hard for me to go to bed. I just wanted to enjoy the fellowship with God's people. And so we give him all glory and thanks. Well, today, I was planning to continue, and we're still gonna be in that theme concerning Jesus being greater than Solomon. We looked at how Jesus is building a greater temple.

We looked at how Jesus gives a better peace. We looked at how Jesus, through Queen Sheba, is the wisdom of God and can impart his wisdom into us. And I was planning to speak about how Jesus is the greater son. Jesus is the greater son. And looking at Solomon, though he had a remarkable reputation, unfortunately, didn't last very long and was planning to talk about the downfall of Solomon and how it came about.

But instead, prayerfully, we're gonna look at King Jesus yet again, but behold his glory. We're gonna behold his glory in this final session. And we're gonna behold his glory. You would think we're gonna behold it in the New Testament. We're actually gonna behold it in the Old Testament.

And in John chapter 12 verse 41, John tells us that Isaiah spoke of these things because he beheld his glory. Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the the the most amazing, resounding, remarkable accounts of the glory of Jesus Christ is in a very familiar passage, and that passage is found in Isaiah chapter six. And so would you turn your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter six as we look at the first few verses and behold his glory with Isaiah. Sound team, there's a buzzing.

I don't know if you guys hear that. If you can help with that buzzing, yes. Buzzing loves to follow me in places, but if you can help with that, that'd be great. Thank you. Well, shall we pray?

Let's do that. Indeed, Lord, you have blessed us, and, Lord, we wanna give you thanks as a church. We wanna thank you for the memories. We wanna thank you for the scriptures that were stitched on our hearts. We wanna thank you for the singing.

We wanna even thank you for the laughing. We wanna thank you for the portraits of your glory in this beautiful place, the water, the trees, the skies. Everything, oh, Lord, reflects your glory, and we are thankful that you've given us this weekend to be refreshed and strengthened to go back to our routine, to our context, to our churches, to our cities. And help us, Lord, get a glimpse again of your glory through your word that we may be strengthened to reflect you in these dark times. And so, Lord, help with the delivery of this word.

Help with our weary flesh, maybe our heavy hearts even. Maybe not everybody can attest to being overjoyed these past few days. Lord, may there be a touch yet again in our lives, in our hearts for your glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Well, don't don't worry about the sound. Let's just focus here on the first eight verses. Let's read it together. Okay?

And and attempt to if you're tired, I'm sure you are, to really focus on every word here. We wanna dissect all that the scriptures has to say as much as we can at least. In Isaiah six verse one, we read, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple. Each had six wings.

With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet, and with two, he flew. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

And I said, woe is me for I am lost. For 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 burning coal that 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. This is one of the most fascinating accounts in scripture because well, there's many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that you have a mortal man coming into contact with the glory of God. And, yes, it is a vision, but it is a very real experience. And the Holy Spirit has given us access into this encounter between a man of God and God himself. And as you're reading about this king who sits upon this throne, realize again that from John we learn that this is the same person who who walked on this earth, who did not have a pillow, who was frequently traveling, who did not have the praise and the esteem of seraphim, that same Jesus as the Jesus that you read of here in Isaiah chapter six.

And to think that Jesus left this kind of holy atmosphere to come into this world in order for us to be forgiven and redeemed is is a point in itself that we can meditate on and shout hallelujah for. But there's so much more in this text, so much practical truth, so much depth to this. And I just wanna give you an idea of what we can learn from these few verses. And we see here first that the timing of this encounter is so significant. It is in the year that King Uzziah died.

King Uzziah, he wasn't like Solomon, but he was an excellent king. And and to live under his reign was was a a blessing in itself. He was an innovator, and inventor. It says there in second Chronicles that his fame reached even to the borders of Egypt. He established a very strong military and and through that safety, there was indeed a level of prosperity that the people enjoyed.

But unfortunately, something happened to King Uzzah. Uzziah here rather experienced something that often happens with people who become successful even for the Lord. He was puffed up. Up to that point, he was dependent upon the Lord. His strength came from God.

He humbled himself in his young years. He was raised up by faithful a faithful priest to learn how to fear God. But then eventually, something happened at the peak of his rule. He thought highly of himself, and he did something that was wrong for any king to do. He assumed the role of a priest.

And he goes into the temple, and he desires to burn incense. That's illegal. You as a king cannot assume the role as a priest, which is significant because you read in the prophets that there is one to come who will be a priest, but will sit on a throne. That's Christ. We talked about the offices that Christ said he was greater than anything anybody else.

We had the office of what? The priest, the office of a prophet, the office of a king. He's going to he's going to occupy all of those things at the same time unlike any other man before. And so before that we see here that Uzziah here goes and he burns incense. Then Azariah, the priest comes, and 80 other priests flood into the house of God and they confront him.

What are you doing? You're not supposed to be doing this. And we're told there Uzziah's reaction. He didn't humble himself. There was no conviction.

Instead, we're told he got angry. One sign of pride is that when you're confronted for a legitimate sin is that you get angry and you stay angry. It's not fun being corrected, and sometimes we do get upset, especially we think we think we're justified. But but Uzziah here got angry, very angry, angry to the point where he was willing to do something about it. And in that moment, something happens.

Leprosy breaks out. Now, all the places that it breaks out breaks out on his forehead. Do you know why? Because that's where the problem was. He had high thoughts about himself.

Leprosy breaks out, spreads all over his body and he becomes an outcast for the rest of his life. And there's something significant in that account in second Chronicles 26 that I wanna read to you in verse 22. We read in second Chronicles twenty six twenty two, now the rest of the acts of Uzziah from first to last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos wrote. Isaiah the prophet was a contemporary. He was somebody who lived at the same time as king Uzziah.

And Isaiah had the task of writing about Uzziah's life from beginning to end. His humility, his success, down to his pride, and his his downfall. It's not explicitly said, but it makes you wonder if Isaiah knew Uzziah personally. You get that impression from some of the prophets with the kings. Right?

That that we see Isaiah with Hezekiah. He prays for him. He often gave him the word of the Lord. You look at Samuel, the prophet, concerning Saul. You can tell that there was a relationship there because when Saul falls, Samuel was broken about it to the point where there in first Samuel 16, the Lord says, hey.

Listen. It's it's over. Get up. Move on. I have another king in mind.

So when you take into account the potential relationship between the prophet and the king, it makes you wonder how how did Isaiah from a human standpoint, because he was human just like you and I, how did he feel when he saw and learned here is now king Uzziah, forever an outcast, and we have nobody occupying the throne anymore? What went through his mind? Was he like Samuel broken, overcome? Was he angry? One thing's for certain, there was disappointment in the land.

One thing's for certain, there was even fear. Your leader now is no more. And some of you have had that tragic experience in the local church context. You hear, you see something happening from the leadership standpoint, and it's it's there's a mix of emotions that come. You can relate then, perhaps to Isaiah, what he's sensing here.

And the reason why I bring that up is because it is at that particular time where they're depleted, where where there was almost like a sucker punch to their faith, it is at that time that the Lord chooses to reveal himself this way to Isaiah. Where he chooses to remove the veil and to allow Isaiah experience something that would change him forever and ever and ever. Do not despise seasons of suffering. Do not for a moment think that that pain, whatever the the the quality of that pain is, is insignificant if you belong to the Lord. Because it is in those moments, in those trials, in those tribulations that the Lord, and there are accounts after accounts throughout the scriptures and there are promises with it, assures you that there is something about God himself that he's going to reveal to you if you're just willing to trust in that truth.

Was it not Job who said in Job 42 after experiencing all of that catastrophe, my ears have only heard of you, but now my eyes see you. Now my eyes see you. That was the end result of all that he experienced. All the mystery of that mess brought about a revelation of God. He says, I thought there was just one dimension of my understanding, but now you're giving me a more full dimension of who you are.

Was it not Stephen that while he was being stoned, looks up and he sees Christ not sitting, but standing in honor of this martyr ready to receive him into glory while he was being stoned? And so we look here with Isaiah that is at this time where there is darkness over the land, where the people are shaken and perhaps even himself, that God says, I'm gonna give you a vision of my glory. Allow that truth to be embedded in your heart because you will eventually, if you follow him, if you haven't already, you will know a level of suffering. You will know some kind of tribulation. And what you need to do is take that truth and allow it to prepare you so that when you walk through that threshold, you know God is going to show me something about himself.

I don't know when, I don't know how, but I can trust that through this, the Lord is going to reveal something that will change me. You look at Job's case that was at the end of the whole matter. You look at Stephen's case, it was while he was experiencing it. You look at Isaiah, it says, in the year. It didn't say in the day that Uzziah died.

Right? It says in the year, at some point in that so you might not know when, but eventually, it's coming. You You know, Paul spoke about something so fascinating in Philippians chapter three. He spoke he spoke about, oh, that I may know him that I may know him in the power of his resurrection. We all want that.

Right? I wanna know the power of Jesus. I wanna know the power of his resurrection. Let me see it, Lord. Give me some fresh testimonies.

It doesn't stop there. He says, and the fellowship of his sufferings. You don't hear people praying that part much. The fellowship of his sufferings. In suffering, there is a level of fellowship that you will know.

There is something that you become acquainted with concerning the person of Jesus Christ that can only and exclusively be known in the place of suffering. I can tell you three years ago, there was a moment of that. There was a season of that and I'm not gonna get into the details, but the suffering was so intense. Relational suffering. But with all the all of the turbulence relationally, there was a knowledge of Jesus Christ that as painful as that time was, was so rewarding.

And that Philippians three passage came to life, the fellowship of his suffering. Lord, I sense your nearness. You've opened my eyes to passages in the scripture that I never, I would know them, I would pass. But things that I've seen that I would always always think, I I can't really relate to this. Now I know.

And I had to come with sanctified scars. Don't despise it. Don't shun it. Embrace it with the truth and the faith that there's something about God that he's gonna make known to you in it. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw something.

He says, I saw the lord sitting upon a throne. Sitting. Sitting. That's brilliant. Not standing, not pacing, not biting his nails, not scratching his head.

Sitting. Confident, calm, absolutely sovereign. Sitting. Totally in control, not caught by surprise, not disturbed, not worried, sitting. That posture communicates the absolute providential power of Jesus Christ.

And what I love about this here is that, King Uzziah dies, he sees the Lord sitting upon the throne, Isaiah does. But the Lord doesn't just he doesn't just sit. He's not caught by surprise, he knows exactly what he's gonna do next, he saw it before you even experienced it. And as much as that's what's happening in the world, this is the picture that we need to have of Christ always. And in Philippians two, we have even an added added detail concerning what the Lord does from time to time on the throne.

We're we're told there in in Psalm two that when the nations come together to try to fight against the anointed in Psalm two verse four, it says that he who sits on his throne does what? What does he do? He laughs. He laughs. He doesn't just sit, he laughs.

And the Lord holds him in derision. Let the globalist do what they want. Let politicians make all the laws that they want. Let him try to come against the church of Jesus Christ. The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs.

So with all the news and all the social media posts and all the conspiracies and all these things that have that before your face. Filter all that you read and see with that image. He who sits in the heavens laughs. He's in total control. What's happening in your world?

What's happening in the world? This is this is Christ. This is him. And this is what Isaiah sees. I wonder how startling it was.

But he doesn't just see that. It says here that he's sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. I mean, that was a detail that Isaiah had to inscribe. Clearly, it was the Holy Spirit. He just looks at this this majestic being, this radiant king.

And with it in the room that he saw, the the train of his robe absolutely occupied every inch of that room. What does that to mean? Well, obviously, the train of his robe signifies some element of his glory. And the aspect of the glory of Jesus Christ made no room for anything else to boast in its glory. He doesn't share his glory.

There's no room when you consider Christ for anybody to boast in anything. He occupies it all, everything. Regardless of the means, regardless of the instrument that he uses, ultimately, he deserves it all. He deserves it all. I I remember sitting with a minister who's now in heaven, and we're having a lovely lunch.

And while we're having that and he's a man of God. We're sitting there talking different things just casually, and all all of a sudden, he stops, he looks at me, and he knew I was in ministry. And and he looked at me and he just laser focused right into my soul. He says, you touch the glory, he'll bury you. I didn't do you think I swallowed the thing in my mouth?

I just look at how do you respond to that? Thank you. I and I just nodded my head. And he looked at me and says, don't touch the glory. Don't touch the glory.

And then we went on after that, just casual conversation. He's right. Don't touch the glory. Many men have. Many women have attempted to touch the glory.

God can replace you in a second. You you have a wonderful voice. That's great. You have a wonderful ability to expound the scriptures. You you you're you're very intelligent.

God can make the rocks praise him. So be careful. Don't touch the glory. Here's Isaiah. There's no room for anything else.

The whole place is connected to the king, the the robe itself demonstrating that. There's no other place. There's no other person. There's no other thing that can compare to him. But then now from seeing seeing Christ, he sees something else around the king, and it's in verse two.

Above him stood the seraphim. The seraphim, it it the word simply means burning ones. It describes something about their actual being. They were gleaming. They were radiant.

Their actual appearance was fiery. So these heavenly creatures, Isaiah sees them and he takes note of them. He doesn't tell us how many there are, but that's not important to Isaiah. He wants to tell us what they were doing. And what were they doing?

Well, we're told here each had six wings. With two, he covered his face, and with two, he covered his feet, and with two, he flew. So six wings, you have two there covering the face, you have two there flying, and you have two there covering the feet. Out of the six, you had four doing something very interesting. Covering the face, unworthy to behold the glory of Jesus Christ.

Covering the feet, unworthy to serve him. And we're told here that they stood they stood above. And that that posture so you have Jesus sitting and then you have the seraphim standing, and that posture of standing communicates a readiness to service. They are there so that if they get the command at any time, their obedience will be swift. It will not be delayed.

And so in the presence of the king, here they are perpetually in a posture of readiness to obey. And that's great because we're gonna learn something about these seraphim in a moment here. And although they were ready to serve their king, you see this detail about their wings. Those are the wings speak about a level of swiftness as well, but two are covering the face, and two are covering the feet, and two are suspending them. Out of the six, four are doing something.

Two thirds of who these beings are are teaching us where we need to put our emphasis. The face and the feet are covered, speak of worship. The wings there that were out were the wings to assist them to go where the king would tell him to go. That speaks of service. Out of the six, four wings were dedicated to worship.

Don't put your personal devotion over your ministry. Rather, don't put your ministry over your personal devotion. And if you're gonna serve the Lord, which we all call to serve the Lord, let it come out of the place of adoring the Lord, and knowing the Lord, and seeking the Lord, and spending time with the Lord, and and and standing before his majesty, continuing allowing that to fuel what you do for him. Many people do the opposite. They put most of their energy, if not all of their energy, into serving him.

And serving him is wonderful. We're called to do that, but there's a priority here. There's a hierarchy here. There's a wisdom here. That from the place of adoration are we to go now there and assist the kingdom of God.

This the seraphim knew that. We're we're gonna use our wings here to demonstrate how much we are just absolutely enthralled by the beauty of the king and then from there, they were able to serve him. You know, there's a a an interesting verse in the Song of Solomon. In the Song of Solomon in chapter one verse six, there's this little detail that the Shulamite woman says. And it's in principle something that we should we should take heed to.

In Psalm of Solomon chapter one verse six, what do we read? It's gonna come up there. If not, I'll read it here. This woman says, do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother's sons were angry with me.

They made me look at this, they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. You know, many ministers fall into that temptation. All they do and they do out of a good place is they pour into the vineyards of others. They sacrifice so much of their time and their energy trying to nourish and replenish others in their walk with the Lord at the expense of their own vineyard not being kept.

So in their personal devotion time, they're being shriveled up. They haven't took time to actually behold the glory of the Lord for themselves, and they're trying to help everybody else do it. And And that's a dangerous place to be where you're not keeping your own vineyard, you're trying to help everybody else in their own fruitfulness. And so for even the sake of your effectiveness for the Lord in your service to the Lord, you must have your vineyard kept. You cannot neglect it.

You can't neglect your time with the lord. You can't neglect your time in the word. You can't neglect your own personal time of worship. These seraphim, they had four of their wings doing just that. And from that place, they were able to serve him.

Do the same. And when you're tempted to neglect it, realize that to the degree that you are in that place with the Lord personally will determine the depth of your influence in other people's lives. Where many people go wrong over time is at some point, and it's not always the case, but most of the time, when there is somebody who burns out or somebody who falls into grievous sin, I can guarantee you that at some point, it's because they have not kept their own vineyard. They they they got busy. They got busy.

They lost focus. And then eventually, because your spirit is no longer strong, even as you're serving others, something tragic happens. You either quit it altogether or you do something that messes it all up anyway. So we see here that these seraphim are demonstrating something of the need to emphasize worship and love and then everything else flowing from that place. But you know what's so significant is is what they do as they worship.

It says here in verse three, and one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. You know how many people interpret the scripture? This is what they're worshiping to the Lord with. That's not what the text says.

That's not what verse three says. They're not looking at the Lord and saying holy, holy, holy. What is it? One call to another. They're saying this to each other.

They're saying this to each other. So these seraphim are looking at one another, so to speak, or at least communicating to one another. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. What does that teach us?

It teaches us this, that when you truly personally behold the glory of God, come to the word, experience the Lord through the word, you seek him in that place and he begins to reveal himself to you, you can't help but talking to others about it. You can't help. It so overwhelms you, it so overcomes you that you have to spill over and talk to others about it. We got a glimpse of that this weekend. That's why I was so refreshed because so many people in this place clearly have experienced something with the Lord in the past year or in the past few years.

And when you truly come into that encounter with the Lord in the truth, oh, you can't help but tell others about it. You can't. You have to almost restrain yourself. It's a joy. It's a delight.

And these seraphim are doing just that. And if you want to know how you can become more effective in telling people about the Lord, just enjoy him. Just taste and see. You don't really need the mechanics that people often have to give to try try to get us into the into the mode. No.

It just if you come to that place, it will over overflow from your life. So they're speaking this to one another. And what are they saying? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Number one, they're speaking about the character and the nature of God.

Thrice holy. The fact that it's repeated is because of this emphasis. There is nothing like him. He is otherworldly, and you can't just say it once. You have to say it over and over and over.

There is no one like this king. And so they knew something about his nature, and they wanted to talk about his nature, his person. But then from there, we see that he they're talking about his works. The whole earth is full of his glory. And even before that, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host.

Out of all the things that they highlighted about the king, the Lord of host, that word simply means the Lord of angel armies, and that is a phrase that is often used. That is a that is a aspect of the Lord that's often used in the prophetic books and for good reason. The Lord of angel armies. What do you see in the prophetic books? That the people of God are frequently vulnerable to outside attack as a result of their lack of faith.

And these prophets would often declare the Lord of angel armies. He can fight your battles. He can defend you from your foes. He can stand and defend you, but you need to turn from your sin. He's the Lord of hosts.

He's ready to come by your side. So the character of God, he's holy. The works of God, What he can do, what he is doing. The heavens declare his glory. Christ Jesus in you, the hope of glory, bearing fruit that the father may be glorified.

Our lives, nature, all the things ministry. They testify the glory of the Lord throughout the earth, and ultimately, it will come to its climax with the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. This is what the seraphim were consumed with. And I love that phrase in Acts chapter four where the disciple says, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. We can't help it.

Because we've seen it, because we've heard it, it would be wrong for us not to speak about it. When people are not excited about the Lord, it tells me one thing, they haven't seen or heard. They're religious. They're tidy, nice Christians. They're conservative in their values, but they haven't seen the glory of God yet.

And if they have, they became stale because they didn't stay in that place of the presence of God. So here's the sight of the glory of Jesus Christ, and something begins to happen now. Here's this visual, but now you're now Isaiah is about to feel something. And this is what he feels. And the foundation of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

And here's this man now trembling because he is in the presence of a holy God. And this is what he says in verse five, and I said, woe is me for I am lost. Woe is me for I am lost. This is a prophet. This is not a heathen.

This is a man leading up to chapter six was saying, woe to you. Woe to you. Woe to you. Now he comes to Isaiah chapter six. Okay.

Woe is me. Woe is me. I am lost. The word lost doesn't communicate the strength of what he's saying. In other words, what he's really saying is in the original, I am destroyed.

I'm destroyed. Being in the presence of this holy king, who am I? And he uses language that is familiar. Woe is me for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips. If you were a leper, you had to let your hair hang loose.

You had to wear torn clothes according to Leviticus, and you have to put your hand on your upper lip and walk around, especially if you're coming in close proximity with people. Unclean. Unclean. Unclean. There's a prophet.

You know what's so significant about this? He is describing of himself what happened to Uzziah. Uzziah became a leper. Uzziah became a diseased man and that leprosy speaks of sin. And you know what he is saying?

This prophet in the presence of the king, I'm no better than Uzziah. Yeah. That man who lost his throne, that man who was an outcast for the rest of his life. Me, Isaiah the prophet, I'm no better than him because we're all equal at the foot of the cross. What brought him to this revelation?

When you see him in his brilliance. When you see him in his holiness, you cannot boast. You will stop this comparative sanctification thing. You will become less confident in your own righteousness because that's what we tend to do. Right?

I'm not like that. What do you when you talk to when you talk to people who are not saved, what do you say when you try to present them the gospel? When you try to tell them that they're sinners? Well, I'm not a murderer. I'm not a rapist.

I'm not this. I'm not that. And so let me let me convey this to you, the the the purpose of us in delivering the gospel truth entails declaring the holiness of God. We are not doing people a favor by not describing the holiness of God. We need to rediscover the fear of God.

We need to rediscover it because I know it doesn't sound appealing. I know it doesn't sound like it will win hearts. I know people are afraid of misinterpreting God by delivering God and his holiness, but you were doing a disservice to the gospel. Yes. I know that there is another extreme.

Yes. I know that you can communicate a wrathful God with no hope, but you have to still be faithful to what the word of god says about god. You have to. Why would they wanna be washed from their sins if they don't realize how filthy they are? Why would they want the blood unless they realize they need to be cleansed?

And so we see here even this man who could have boasted in so much which I love I love this about the bible. Look how detailed the bible is. Woe is me for I am lost for I am a man. Out of all the things he could have said, he said unclean lips. Yes, that's a reference to leprosy.

But again, he's a prophet. If there was anything that Isaiah could have boasted about in his righteousness, what could it have been? His lips. He declared the word of the Lord. He spoke the truth.

He was faithful to the message of God in an apostate time. If there was anything that Isaiah could have been confident in concerning his standing before God, it was his ministry. It was his gift. It was his calling. But that very thing that God used, those lips, he said in the presence of Jesus, they're unclean.

And it's the same Isaiah where we get that that very well known phrase that even our righteous acts are what? Filthy. Isaiah said that. Isaiah said that later on. And no wonder because this man who leading up to this point was using his lips for the glory of God.

Even then in the presence of the glory, God said, I I I can't boast even in this. I have nothing. I'm undone. I have nothing to I can't say, hey, but Lord, look at this. It's all filthy rags in contrast to your holiness.

For I am a man of unclean lips, and they dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Why? For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Not only is this important for Isaiah in terms of what he's gonna experience with atonement, this is Isaiah. Some debate, is this Isaiah going into his initial calling or is this Isaiah in chapter six going into a new level of his calling?

Whatever side you choose, the principle is still the same. Isaiah needed to experience this before he went into the ministry. Because he's about to say, here I am. Send me. Right?

But before the Lord would send him, Isaiah needed a revelation about himself. If Isaiah was gonna preach for the Lord, if Isaiah was gonna serve the Lord, Isaiah need to be convinced of his own sinfulness, and his own frailty, and his own imperfections so so that he would not enter into the ministry, self righteous, proud. He needed to be humbled. That changes everything. Ministry is one thing.

Ministry with humility is a whole another level of authority and effectiveness. And God will tend to do that with his men, with his women, what God and and you need to continually ask the Lord for this. Lord, as I serve others, as I tell the truth to others, help me remember who I am in light of all of this. Can I show you another example of that? Can we go to Exodus chapter four?

Here's Moses very reluctant to answer the call to go and save the people of Israel from Egypt, and the Lord wants to comfort him and even teach him through these catalog of supernatural signs, just a handful of them, before he goes to speak on behalf of the Lord. And so we see that there's something that happens with his staff that turns into a serpent. And here's a here's another miracle that takes place that has a a very important lesson in Exodus four verse six and seven. Remember, this is the Lord speaking to his man before he goes out and represents Yahweh to the people who are enslaved. And here's what the Lord does.

One of the miracles is so important because it's the same principle as Isaiah. In Exodus four six, and again, the Lord said to him, put your hand inside your cloak. And he put his hand inside his cloak and when he took it out, behold his hand was leprous like snow. And then after we are told that he puts it back and then he takes it out and behold it was restored like the rest of his flesh. So the Lord says, Moses, I'm I'm gonna be ready to send you now, but I need you show I need to show you something.

So take your hand and put it inside your cloak and take it out. And he took it out. His hand became white. He knows what this is. What was God trying to say to him?

Moses, before I use you, I want you to see your own sinfulness. I want you to see your own depraved nature. And I was just talking with this with my dad and he he reminded me he told me, he's like, do you notice that he said, put it inside your cloak? Why? Because it's hidden.

Sin is not just outside, it's inside. And sometimes we look at the outside and we're so confident because of what we're like. We're so dignified. We dress nice. We're polite and we have manners.

He said, put your hand inside your cloak. It's your heart that's sinful. It's the inner man. The things that people can't see, that part of you is leprous as well. Not just the veneer, not just the outside, not just the nicely combed hair and the religious talk, your heart.

Your heart needs to be changed. And when you get all confident, when you get all comparative, remember that inside your heart, you're leprous. He humbles his men and we need a side of our own sinfulness and neediness before we go and tell others that they need Christ. Isaiah, before he goes into this new level of preaching says, woe is me. I am lost.

I am a man of unclean lips. And it would have been a very sad story if it ended there, but it doesn't. Because verse six we read, now we're reintroduced to the seraphim. Then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a burning coal that 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.

Let me touch on the seraphim one more time. I like these seraphim. I enjoy them. Here's the seraphim in the presence of God. Here's the seraphim declaring the glory of God.

Here's the seraphim ready to serve his king. And in the presence of a man who was broken and contrite, in the presence of a man who realized his need, who was desperate, who was shattered by his own sin, he was quick to come as a vessel, as an instrument to provide a remedy for his sin. What I take from that is, if you are a person like these seraphim, if you're a person who really is in the presence of God, you walk in the spirit, you know the Lord, you do worship him, One of the ways by which that is proven is how you deal with people in their sin. Doesn't Galatians six tell us that those who are spiritual are to restore those who are fallen? If you're really spiritual, one of the signs that you are spiritual is how you respond and how you act in the presence of somebody who really messed up.

What goes through your mind? How do you treat them? How do you talk about them? How do you talk about them? How do you talk through them?

When they really mess up, when they say, well, I I am unclean, I'm undone. Do you skate them even more? Do you discourage them? Do you condemn them? Do you shun them?

Or are you like the seraphim who truly reflect the essence of what it means to be in God's presence? To be close and intimate with the king. And your heart throbs with compassion because you yourself know I'm capable of the same sin. I know that I can fall. I know that I can do this.

I know that this is possible for me. I know what Christ has forgiven me from. So people who talk about how spiritual they are and they come off all condescending and arrogant, talking down about others, speaking so ill of them even in their sin, I question if that person really stands in the presence of Jesus. I do. But when a person, regardless of how spiritually are they, the mercy, when they ooze with that mercy, that signifies this person knows something about the king.

That doesn't mean we're light with sin. That doesn't mean we just let people get away with their unrepentant. So this is not an unrepentant man. This is a very broken man. What do you do in the presence of a man who is broken in his sin?

What do you do with a man like Isaiah who served in the ministry, who who had a reputation of being a man of God, but now comes to the realization that he's not a man of God or maybe he does something that disqualifies him to be a man of God. What do you do? Oh, the closer you are to Christ, the know the more you will know what to do and the more you'll reflect him. The seraphim flew. He flew to Isaiah and he provides him a coal from the altar, purging coal that symbolized, you know who it is.

But you know what's so fascinating about this? Isaiah's vision of the holiness of God on the throne is not all that God wanted him to see and experience. It starts with the holiness of God. It starts with you standing in the presence of his purity. That's where it starts.

But what we learned from this is that's not all that God wants us to see. He wants us to go from the throne to the altar. His holiness to his mercy. His justice to his his loving forgiveness. So it's not crushing conviction as the end here.

That's not the end. That's the means for you to realize that there is there is salvation. There is rescue for me now in this place. I am broken, and that's true. So we we become broken.

He does break us only to heal us, only to pick us up and to make us new. This is exactly what we've seen. The vision doesn't end with the throne. People come here and say, the throne it is a throne, but don't exclude the altar. Don't exclude the altar.

When you wanna say, you wanna see Jesus' glory in Isaiah chapter six? Yeah. Don't stop with the train of his robe filling the temple. Go to the coal that came from that altar and touch the lips of a man who needed salvation. That's the glory of the lord.

Taking it from the tongs with the tongs from the altar. I mean, how hot was it for a seraphim not to touch it with his own hands? He had to use tongs and he flew to him and sizzled his lips. And he is reassured, behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. Your sin is atoned for.

Notice what happens as a result of his sin being atoned for. This is a picture of the gospel. This is a picture of Christ purging us by his blood. Verse eight, and I'm ending it here. This is Isaiah, and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send?

And who will go for us? If the Godhead here, then I said, Here I am. Send me. Here I am. Send me.

Notice the secret of events here. It wasn't until Isaiah was purged from his sin that he was able to clearly hear the voice of God. Up to this point, he saw many things. He heard the seraphim. But it wasn't until his lips were cleansed, his sin was atoned for that he was able to have access to a nearness of God that wasn't available before.

Do you see that sequence? Your sin needs to be atoned for if you're gonna come near. Your sin needs to be dealt with in order for you to come close. Your sin needs to be dealt with in order for you to be brought into the inner circle, so to speak. Apart from that, you'll always be at a distance.

But through that, something opens up to us. And now he is hearing the voice of his king. He's hearing the voice of his god. God becomes real when you are washed. Isn't that true?

Something is open up to you, a new world. A new world. When you're born again, a new world opens up to you. Right? And the most important thing of that new world as you are a new person is God.

The newness of God. Not with physical I'm not talking about mysticism here. I'm talking about the eyes of your heart. I'm talking about the depth of your soul that comes alive. And the Lord now is not just a theological concept, he's a person to be known.

And you realize his leading, you realize his plans and purposes. He unfolds for you what he wants to do for you and that is the joy of our salvation, not just a ticket to get in at the gates, but to know him now as I get there. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? This is the part that I love. Then I said, here I am.

Send me this guy is excited. This prophet is eager. Do you know why do you know why I say that? Because the job description wasn't given yet. Right?

Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Here, sign me up. I'm ready. Didn't even know what it is. Do you know one of the signs that you've experienced the Lord is that you will serve him no matter what that looks like?

Right? He didn't say, hey, Lord, I'm willing, but I really want to do this though. Do you have anything no? Okay. That's not that's not what he's saying.

Lord, I'll serve you, but I want to serve you like this. I want I want the pulpit, and then I'll serve you. I want one of these microphones, and then I'll serve you. I'm ready. Let me know when you're ready.

I'm willing to serve you, but I want these gifts, and I want to be compensated for my gifts. And I I like traveling, Lord. And so if I can get invited some places, that'd be really nice. So here I am sending none of that. None of that rubbish.

Whom? Whom? Where will they go? Well, it it doesn't say. Here I am.

Send me. And then the job description comes. Here I am. Send me. And then the and here it is.

And he said, go and say to these 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 blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. That's the that's the job description. When you preach, nobody's gonna listen to you. When you preach, people's hearts are actually gonna get hardened.

They're gonna become more blind and more deaf. Look at the natural response of this prophet in verse 11. Then I said, how long, oh lord? How long, oh lord? Imagine that, being a preacher and nobody's gonna answer or respond to your messages.

And he said until the cities lies waste without inhabitant and houses without people and the land is a desolate waste. And he goes on to describe until they're judged because they've reached a point of of serious condemnation. But the point I wanna take from this is when you've seen him and you experienced his forgiveness, that's enough for you to endure anything in this life, including a ministry that doesn't seem to provide the reward that you thought it would bring. Because it's about him. It's about the Lord.

It's about knowing that he called you and that he sent you and that you're pleasing him and that's enough motivation even though you stand before people that can't wait for you to finish talking. Behold the glory of Jesus Christ. Behold the man who experienced the glory of Jesus Christ and was never the same. Behold the lessons of what happens when we understand who king Jesus really is. And I pray that after this weekend, you saw a glimpse of how not only is he king, he's greater than any other king, that you would walk here with a fresh desire to crown him as Lord of your life.

And what a way to end this conference. I don't wanna be Christianese here. I don't wanna I don't wanna be cliche. I don't wanna be youth pumpy here. Okay?

I wanna be real with you. I wanna be just straight. What a way to end this conference to say, Lord, send me. Thank you for this glorious weekend. Thank you for but there's a job to be done out there.

We're gonna get this, what we've done this week, we're gonna get it for all eternity. And yes, we need it from time to time to be refreshed in this life, but there is a world out there that has no clue of the joy that you know, that has not encountered the holiness of God, that has not seen his throne and has not understood the altar with the coal signifying the cross that's able to restore them. They don't know. They don't know. And the people who claim to know, most of them don't know either.

And so I want us to end here in a corporate expression of faith. And God knows if it's on your heart. God I'm like, I can't force you to do anything but to genuinely say because these moments should refresh us and re energize us. Say, Lord, I walked into this conference maybe very discouraged about the ministry that I'm in, not very excited about what I'm doing for you, but I saw this man who beheld your glory, and he said, here I am, send me, though he didn't know where he was gonna go. I I I want that kind of faith.

I wanna go back to my local church and wherever the need is, I wanna serve there. As long as you've called me there, I wanna please you before I please myself or anybody else for that matter. And Lord, more than that, help me to keep my vineyard leaving this place. That as I serve others and pour out into others, I would not neglect my own soul. Teach me the beautiful balance of personal word.

Teach me to cover my face and my feet while the other two are helping me fly. Teach me to keep you first my personal devotion before anything else I do publicly. And you will listen, if you by God's grace and wisdom know how to establish that principle, you will make it to the end. Fruitful, full of life, full of sap. Lord, we ask that you help us.

At the end of Maranatha 2023, we give you honor and thanks that you've given us a glimpse of your glory. And thank you for inviting us in your word, the absolute authority, infallible, perfect, all sufficient revelation of who you are. And what we pray that as we close, as we sing, as we eat, as we hug, as we cry, as we laugh, that our hearts would leave knowing that you've spoken to us and that you have a purpose for every person here. So thank you, God. Thank you that you have indeed redeemed us, not just redeemed us, but you've called us to something.

For this, we are grateful. Thank you for not just this church, the different churches that are represented here. Thank you for this conference center for the years of hosting us to encounter the living Christ through the word in your presence with God's people. Lord, if it is your will, bring us back again. Bring us back again with more stories, testimonies of what happened between 2023 and twenty twenty four.

We are eager to see what you have, what is on your mind for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Well, why don't we stand and worship today? You know, when you when you think about there's so much in that Isaiah six passage. And when you think about the seraphim, how when the the king died and the people of God, the nation of God was is in a difficult place, I love how the seraphim, though, despite what was happening in the world, were worshiping. Their eyes are just focused on Jesus and they were worshiping. Despite what was happening, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

Right? He will sustain you. Keep your eyes on him. He will keep you. And what an example set for us as the saints of God that despite anything, he's still worthy of our adoration and love.

I don't know what's gonna happen to you between now and next year. Lord willing, we'll be back again. But never forget that he is worthy of your worship through it all. Through it all. Even if he doesn't answer you right away, even if you're suffering or others around you are suffering like Isaiah experienced, he is worthy of your worship.

If you are suffering now, consider the great privilege and opportunity it is. It is a testimony for the Lord to heal you. It is a testimony for the Lord to strengthen you, to provide for you, to make a way, to defeat your enemies. That's all wonderful. And And he can and he can be glorified in that.

But you have an opportunity now to display the peace of the Lord at all times and in every way. May you be a living testimony that our God is real. And may he empower us so that others would see that he is a king worthy to be served. Can we pray together? Yes.

Again, Lord, thank you for this time. Thank you for a little sliver of heaven on earth. Never ending praise, the people of God fully redeemed, unable to disappoint one another. With you forever and ever and ever, But we pray that until then, help us love you and honor you. We are standing, and we pray that as we continue to stand, in our hearts we would stand ready to serve you wherever you tell us to go.

When we do fail and if we do fail, help us be like the seraphim, quick to restore. Quick to restore. A broken man, a broken sister. But we honor you. We love you.

Be with us now as we travel home. Protect us. Surround us with your angels and camp around us who fear you. Bring us home safely to our families and friends and give us a fresh vigor for Monday, not just Monday, but for the rest of the year, rest of our lives to serve your purposes. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. May be seated. Final instructions. This year feels extra sad to end.