OUR LORD CALLS US (Outline)
February 8, 2009 --
EPIPHANY 5 --
Isaiah 6:1-8
INTRO: Today’s verses reveal to the whole world an awesome God. The seraphs declared: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." There is no God like this – none! This is our God who created the heavens and the earth. This is our God who is awesome and majestic, almost beyond our human understanding. This awesome, almighty God is our God who knows each of us as individuals. Our God knows each of us be name and by our spiritual needs. "For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes" (DEUTERONOMY 10:17). This very mighty and awesome God appointed Jeremiah as prophet (last week’s text/sermon). He is the same God who calls Isaiah this week.
OUR LORD CALLS US
I. From among all the sinful.
II. To go with forgiveness.
I. (CALLED) FROM AMONG ALL THE SINFUL
A. Verse 1 tells us a great deal about the setting and time of this text. King Uzziah dies = 740BC.
1. The kingdom of Judah is coming to an end because of their wickedness and rebellion.
2. Uzziah was stricken with leprosy in his final years. He could not enter the palace or temple.
3. In this sad setting Isaiah is given the vision of seeing the Lord upon his throne in a temple.
B. Verse 2. Seraphs were in attendance. They cover their faces. They are not worthy to look at God.
1. In humility they cover their feet out of respect to the glory and holiness of God.
2. With two wings they fly. They speak to one another with a great hymn of praise, verse 3.
3. The Lord Almighty is still holy. The whole earth is still filled with the glory of the Lord.
C. Isaiah needed to see this vision to be encouraged during his ministry. He would be a prophet 45 years.
1. Verse 5. Isaiah also felt doomed because of what he had seen. No one sees God and lives.
2. Isaiah was unclean = sinner and unholy. God perfectly clean = sinless and holy. “Woe is me!”
D. Humility is not common today. Instead man would put himself in the place of God rather than humble himself before the face of God. Many live their lives as if they are immortal. Our nation is a free and prosperous country. Because of this we make our own little heaven here on earth. All too many are not at all concerned about eternity because they feel it is not that important. With heaven here on earth who needs anything after this life. But we are not immortal. "For, ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands for-ever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you" (1 PETER 1:24,25). God is still God not man.
E. Man being god is a serious problem that faces all of us today. We hear how man is going to destroy the climate of this planet called earth. We hear how man has the answer to all of the economic problems that may spell disaster today. Are these problems the real problems? Is it not that man thinks and acts like God rather than trusting in God to act like God. God is denied outright. Yet God is around us eve-rywhere all of the time. "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse"(ROMANS 1:20). Try to count the stars. There are too many. This is God’s glory.
F. As believers we come before the Lord God Almighty, our Lord God Almighty with a faithful appreciation of the majesty, glory, and honor that belongs to him. We come before God’s throne of grace with boldness because our God is awesome. Our awesome God is loving, living, and forgiving. There is no other God like him. The very same Lord God who created the heavens and earth and everything in it is also the very same God who creates faith in our hearts when he calls us out of darkness into his light. "If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared"(PSALM 130:3,4). "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty".
OUR LORD CALLS US from among all the sinful that still sit in darkness.
II. (CALLED) TO GO WITH FORGIVENESS
A. Back to Isaiah and his vision of encouragement from the Lord. The King is there with his angels.
1. Isaiah sees them. Isaiah hears the words of the angels. Isaiah even feels the angels’ praises.
2. Verse 4. The temple shakes with the sounds of praise from the lips of the seraphs. Awesome!
3. Smoke fills the temple. God’s glory led Israel 40 years. Smoke filled Solomon’s temple.
B. Smoke also indicates the coals that are ready for sacrifices that are brought to the temple.
1. Isaiah feels unworthy in the midst of all this. Verse 6. Seraph is a “fiery being”.
2. This term is used only here in Scripture. With holiness they bring to Isaiah God’s holiness.
3. Verse 7. The live coal does not burn Isaiah. Rather Isaiah is purified from his sins, forgiven!
C. Verse 8. Isaiah reacts to God’s forgiveness. “Send me!” to tell this wonderful news of forgiveness!
D. God’s divine forgiveness is defined in the Scripture time and time again. God’s forgiveness goes far beyond any kind of forgiveness that we offer or even imagine. The forgiveness of God is forgiveness that also forgets. Psalm 103 describes God removing our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. God remembers our sins no more. Our loving Lord covers them up. The prophet Micah asks, “Who is a God like you…You delight to show mercy!” The next verse describes God’s forgiveness. "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea"(MICAH 7:19). Our Lord removes and forgets and tosses aside our sins never to be remembered.
E. We do not always practice the same kind of divine forgiveness. All too often we forgive but have a much harder time in forgetting. This is the difference between the divine forgiveness of God and man’s limited forgiveness. God’s forgiveness and forgetting is tied to God’s grace. "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding"(EPHESIANS 1:7,8). In Christ we are forgiven. In this forgiveness we are able to live lives filled with peace, joy, and contentment. Heaven is our home.
F. It is this divine forgiveness of God that each one of us has experienced. We no longer carry around a sack of sins or burden of guilt slung over our shoulders. Jesus has taken these overwhelming burdens upon himself and paid for them on the cross. They are countless thousands who need to hear this blessed message. God gives us this message to go forth in this world of souls still troubled with sin. It is not always easy because no one likes to hear about being sinful. Yet without recognizing sins one will not see any need for forgiveness. We go forth with God’s forgiveness message and trust God for the harvest. "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent"(LUKE 15:7). Repentance = rejoicing.
CONC.: Truly our God is an awesome God. Truly our God is holy, holy, holy, and the whole earth is full of his glory! Last week we learned that the Lord God appointed us for great things even before our conception. After our birth this God Almighty OUR LORD CALLS US. No longer do we sit in the darkness of this world. By grace our Lord calls us from among all the sinful. By grace our Lord calls us into his light to go out with his message of forgiveness for those still sitting in the dark. Now our lives have become our worship before God and for mankind in this world. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name" (HEBREWS 13:15). We do not want to limit our praise to just an hour a week as we gather together for worship. In our lives our lips praise God. This is our worship. We worship God daily simply because OUR LORD CALLS US! We are forgiven sinners to go out to other sinners with forgiveness. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
SERVICES: 1:00pm @ NCF Min.(Sat) / 12:00pm @ NCF Medium (Sun) / 9:30am @ Redeemer (Sun) + 7:00pm @ Living Savior, Hays, KS
/ Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM
EPIPHANY 5 readings.:
Job 7:1-7;
1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-23;
MARK 1:29-39;
(PSALM 103)
