SEEING GOD
Isaiah 6:1-4

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

One Sunday, King Louis XIV of France attended church with his royal party and found it empty, except for Archbishop Fenelon. King Louis asked the court preacher, “Where is everyone?” With a smug smile, the Archbishop replied, “I announced that Your Majesty would not be here today, because I wanted to see who came to the services just to flatter you and who came to worship God.”

King Uzziah had died. Compared to other kings, he had been a fairly godly king for 52 years. The temple is empty of its usual crowd. Weeping from a lone figure echoes in the hollow room as Isaiah weeps over the loss of his cousin, King Uzziah. His weeping is not just the sobs of one who has lost a relative; it is the panicked cry of one who wonders, “What now?” Uzziah had been the spiritual compass for Isaiah and the people. As long as Uzziah was alive and at worship, Isaiah’s religion was alive and well. Apparently, Isaiah’s worship experience was like those of France under King Louis XIV. Isaiah attended worship to flatter Uzziah rather than to worship God.

Like Isaiah, some attend church to flatter deceased relatives rather than to worship God. Your parents were Baptists. Your grandfather was a minister, and uncles and aunts were missionaries. Thus, you come because your family has always gone to church.

Like Isaiah, some attend because you admire the spiritual leader. It could be a Bible study leader or even a pastor. In the 1800’s, a crowd packed the Plymouth Church of Brooklyn, New York, to hear the famous Henry Ward Beecher preach. When, unexpectedly, Beecher’s brother Thomas began preaching instead, some began to leave. Noticing this, Thomas raised his hand for silence and said, “All those who came here this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may withdraw from the church; all who came to worship God may remain.”

Then, there are those who have come to church for different reasons. William Willimon directs the chapel services at Duke University. A young man had been ushering for several Sundays, so he asked him, “How do you like chapel?” “I like it,” he said. Dr. Willimon pressed further, “What do you like about it?” Uncomfortably, the student confessed, “Look, Dr. Willimon, I’ll be honest with you. I come to chapel to meet women.”

For the first time in his life, Isaiah is not at the temple because of a relative. He is not there because of a spiritual leader. And he is definitely not there to meet women. He is alone and in desperate need to see God. Because he is there for no other reason than to see God, he is going to see the greatness of God and leave a changed man. May we be so fortunate today.

Seeing Ourselves

When you come to see God in worship, you will see His holiness. Isaiah saw Him seated exalted on a throne. The train of His robe covered the floor, smoke filled the air, and six seraphs flew singing a one-word antiphonal chorus. They cried, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

When you shop at the mall, the clothes you buy usually have a small plastic disk attached to them. If you leave the store without removing the disk, alarms sound, heads turn, and you become red with embarrassment because the disk was not removed. Something similar took place in Isaiah’s life before God. When he stepped before the presence of God, the doorpost shook, the threshold vibrated, and the alarm sounded, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Immediately, Isaiah knew why the alarm had sounded. He had not removed the sin in his life. He confessed in verse 5,

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

There are two reasons why the “unholy alarm” sounds when we approach God with unholy sin in our lives. First, it is to make us aware of our sin. Thomas Carlyle said, “The deadliest sin is the consciousness of no sin.” Several years ago a huge tree in Colorado fell after standing majestically for over 400 years. It had survived great windstorms, an earthquake, and being struck by lightning 14 times. Investigators found that little beetles boring under the bark had chewed away the fibers within until, in time, the mighty tree could not stand. It was nothing large and traumatic on the outside, but something small and tragic on the inside that killed the tree. The “holy alarm” sounds when we stand before God to make us aware of the sin boring undetected at the very fiber of our lives, separating us from God.

The second reason the “unholy alarm” sounds is because our sin is offensive to God. It is just as offensive as taking beer to the home where a child has been killed by a drunken driver. Our sin has separated us from God. Our sin cost God the death of His Son. The “unholy alarm” sounds because our guiltiness bubbles up when submerged in the holiness of God, and it offends Him.

Confession and Forgiveness

When the alarm sounds at the mall, we know what to do. We turn and have the disk removed, then leave without any alarms. When the “unholy alarm” sounds we must do the same. We need to turn from that sin, turn to God, and have the sin removed. Then we can approach our Holy God without any alarms.

You might ask, “But how can we detect the small, deep sins that only God can see?” When Lee was four years old, we rushed him to the emergency room one Wednesday night. While at church, he was running with a dowel rod in his hand, fell and poked himself in the eye. To be sure there was no damage, the doctor put drops in his eye. The doctor then turned off the lights of the room, and turned on a special light. He said, “If there are any cuts or abrasions on the eye, the light will reveal it.” Green, neon droplets appeared around Lee’s eye where the eye drops had poured out, but nothing appeared on the eye. There were no cuts. When you step into the presence of God, the light of His holiness reveals any unholiness. It identifies the unholiness around our lives as well as the unholiness deep within our lives.

When this happens, two types of sin are revealed – personal sin and public sin. Isaiah said in verse 5, “For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips,…” His personal sin was his mouth. Some believe he had a foul mouth; others believe he either talked ill about God or did not talk about God at all. Not doing what is right is just as sinful as doing what is wrong. Furthermore, this was a public sin. He lived among a people of unclean lips. For years, Isaiah could have rationalized his sin with the grade-school excuse, “Everyone else is doing it.” However, God has never accepted sin by consensus.

Therefore, what do we do when our personal and public sins are revealed? Isaiah confessed and received forgiveness. The confession takes place in verse 5. He does not simply say, “Forgive me of my sins.” Instead, he confesses them by identifying them: “My lips are unclean.” Identification is the essence of confession and prerequisite of forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The Greek word for “confess” is “homogaleo” and means, “to agree with.” Confession is agreeing with God that specific actions and non-actions are sins in your life. Only after such a confession does forgiveness take place. Read verses 6-7:

6 The one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

“Kapar” in the Hebrew word for “atoned for.” It literally means “your sins are covered.” When God forgives your sins, He covers them so well He forgets they exist. Jeremiah 31:34 says when God forgives our sins, He “remembers them no more.” Furthermore, Isaiah learned that guilt from carrying the sin is “taken away.”
Let us never forget, God has enough grace to cover our sin. The question is, “Do we have enough courage to ask for His forgiveness?”

Call and Surrender

Isaiah teaches us that God does not want us before Him just so He can clean us. He wants us before Him so He can send us and use us. Often, I wonder if the sending and using scares us more than the cleansing. Pastor Bo Dodridge thought he would take his two nephews, ages six and nine, to a worship service. Having never been to church before, they had no concept of worship etiquette. During the middle of Pastor Dodridge’s sermon, the six-year-old raised his hand and blurted out, “How much longer do we have to stay here?” Nothing more was heard till the last of the service. When the offering plate was passed, the nine-year-old said loudly, “You mean we gotta pay for this?”

Isaiah learned that when you experience God in worship, it costs you. However, in verses 8-10, Isaiah teaches us that it is a cost one will gladly pay.

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never
understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

When you experience God in worship, it costs you your sins. You have to give them to God. It costs you your purpose. You have to surrender it to God. And, it costs you your priorities. You have to submit them to God. Yet, Isaiah does this eagerly. In verse 8, he says, “Here am I. Send me!” The Hebrew expression portrays the eagerness of a schoolboy nearly jumping out of his seat. His hand is raised as he yells not to be overlooked for the assignment. What is amusing is that Isaiah is alone in the temple. No one is competing with him for the opportunity. He is simply eager to be a part of anything God wants.

I believe every time you experience God in worship, He extends a call and you have the opportunity to surrender. In a one-on-one experience with God, nothing can hold you back from His call. If you have never surrendered your life to Him, He is calling you. It will cost you your sin, but what has your sin ever done for you, except separate you from God? God is calling you and it will cost you your purpose, but what has your purpose in life done for you, except shrink the big picture? The holy God has a purpose for your life which spans time. God is calling you and it will cost you your priorities, but what difference have your priorities made in the grand scheme of things? God’s priorities can change lives, governments, even eternity for others.

God is calling and this is your opportunity to surrender to Him. Surrender to Him your sin, surrender to Him your purpose, surrender to Him your priorities, and surrender to Him your life. Like Isaiah, do not hesitate. Eagerly surrender your all to Him now.

Commitment

When the famous concert pianist, Arthur Rubinstein, was in New York, someone invited him to attend church. He told them, “Take me to a church that will challenge me to attempt the impossible.” When God calls us to a task, it is a God-size task, which requires God-size commitment. Look at Isaiah 6:11-12:

11 Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered, “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.”

Surrendering to God’s call involves extraordinary commitment. First the task requested by God will be larger than you alone can fulfill. It will be a God-size task demanding complete dependence on God’s leadership and resources. Furthermore, the time required will be longer than you would like to give. Throughout God’s word many God-size tasks were accomplished because God tied several life-times together. It took four generations, Abraham through Joseph, for God to build His nation. It took the lives of two leaders, Moses and Joshua, for God to lead the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

Because your commitment needs to be extraordinary, your worship needs to be extraordinary as well. Only by seeing God on a regular basis will you see His greatness and your sin, confess your sin and hear His call, and remain committed to Him. Only through extraordinary worship will you be motivated to maintain your extraordinary commitment to God. Only then will God be able to accomplish the extraordinary through you.