June 11, 2006---- Pastor Golm

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty! Isaiah 6:1-8

1. The Triune God terrifies us.

2. The Triune God cleanses us.

3. The Triune God sends us.

What if you were suddenly in the presence of God? Well, technically you are right now. But what I mean is, what if you could see God visibly right now? What if, when you looked down at the floor, rather than seeing carpet you saw something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself? And instead of seeing the chancel area as it is, you saw the Lord seated on a throne? What would you think about that? Would you think it was "cool"? Would you be compelled to run up to the throne and climb up on God’s lap the way as a child you used to climb on your grandfather’s lap? Would it be enjoyable? Or would it be something else?

Before we make too many assumptions about what seeing God would be like, maybe we had better check with somebody who actually saw God. Today, we have the account of Isaiah’s experience before the throne of the Lord Almighty. Here in our text, Isaiah catches more than a glimpse of God, instead he receives an unparalleled revelation of God in all His majesty. This morning, through the inspiration of Holy Scripture, you and I can share this vision with Isaiah and join in full agreement with this assessment: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty! (1) The Triune God terrifies us. (2) The Triune God cleanses us. (3) The Triune God sends us.

1.

The Prophet Isaiah tells the vision he saw. He says, "I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple." Notice that from Isaiah’s vantage point he doesn’t say that the Lord is in the temple, but that He is "seated on a throne, high and exalted." The hem of God’s robe won’t even fit in the temple, let alone God Himself. Solomon also declared at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem: "The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" (2 Chronicles 6:18). The vision of the Lord was awesome, but that vision was augmented by the presence of angels. Isaiah describes these angelic creatures. Literally he says, "Standing above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying." It’s amazing that these holy creatures, in the presence of the Lord, out of respect and holy awe for Him they cover their faces and their feet

Isaiah goes on to say that the seraphs were calling to one another, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." With this kind of triple chorus, the angels were acknowledging the glory and splendor of the Triune God. Listen to how powerful their chorus was: "At the sound of their voices, the door posts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke." What a stunning sight and sound this must have been. And how does Isaiah react to this glorious scene? Is he excited? Does he run to climb up on God’s lap? No, he’s terrified. "Woe to me!" he cries, "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!"

Notice, how Isaiah reacts to standing in the presence of a just and holy God. The first thing he does is recognize something about himself. Not: "Wow it’s great to be here," but "I’m ruined! I’m undone! I’m lost! Because I’m a man of unclean lips." Isaiah is reminded immediately of his own sinfulness, of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of this holy, almighty, amazing God.

Would it be any different for us? Would it be any different for us if we were in the presence of the Lord and could see him with our own eyes right now? You know that it wouldn’t be, because confronted with a holy God, we are also confronted with our own sinfulness.

This morning as I began the service you may have noticed that I knelt down for the confession of sins. In all my years of ministry I think this is the only time I’ve ever done that. And I did it for a reason, not to say, "Hey look at me, look how humble I am," but rather, in light of this text that we are considering today, in light of the fact that we are worshipping the Holy Trinity how can we stand in the presence of God? How is it possible for us to come into church and think that we can stand before God on our two feet, proud with our heads lifted up? When we come before Him we have to recognize who He is. We have the comforts of our sanctuaries, with padded pews and temperature controlled rooms and we can become so comfortable at times that we take a very lackadaisical approach to worship. We can become so used to just coming in, and perhaps even coming in late without really thinking about what we’ve come do and more importantly who it is we’ve come to worship. And yet, who is it we’ve come to meet? We’ve come to worship the Holy God—the almighty God. How is it possible for us to come into church at times and be so distracted by the weather, or by what our plans are for the afternoon, or perhaps even be lulled to sleep by the sound of the preacher’s voice. Think about what it is that we’re here to do. We’re here to come before God and worship Him. And I know that every single one of us has done it. We’ve all let our minds wander about different things, but had we been there with Isaiah on the day that he saw this vision of the Lord and had seen what he saw, I dare say that every one of us would not have been able to pull our hands from our face or pull our heads off the floor because we would have been cowering in absolute terror.

God is holy and we are not, and we are reminded of that by this text. Every time we remember our sins we remember that we have failed to live up to God’s expectations—we have failed to do His will. And when we are vividly reminded of this truth we cower, because that’s what sin causes us to do. Sin separates us from God. We are an unclean people. "I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips." That’s how Isaiah spoke. He didn’t say, "Hey, I’m a pretty good guy, but I live among a lousy people." "I’m a pretty good guy, because God has chosen me to be a prophet, but I live around a bunch of losers, and they need what I can do for them." He didn’t say that did he? First of all he said, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips." He recognized his own sin, and he also recognized that there was nothing in him or even in his society that was praiseworthy. So it is for you and me. We are a people of unclean lips and we live in a nation that is spiritually bankrupt—a nation that lifts up trash and worships it, and how often don’t we go right along with our society? This is where we come from and this is why we cower in the presence of a holy God.

2.

Notice how God deals with sinner that is in His presence. He doesn’t slap him away and cast him into outer darkness. But what does He do? He sends a messenger to him—a seraph. The seraph comes to Isaiah with a coal he has taken from the altar and he touches it to Isaiah’s lips and then he says, "See this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Wow! What a dramatic turn of events that God has brought about here. He brings forgiveness to this one who doesn’t deserve forgiveness.

The seraph uses a coal to accomplish this and in this coal we have a picture of the means of grace—the things God uses to dispense His forgiveness and grace. We have the means of grace here. God uses a handful of water connected to His word to wash away our sins and create faith in our hearts. God uses a piece of bread and a sip of wine connected to His word to take away our sins and to strengthen our relationship with Him. Here the seraph uses a coal to cleanse away Isaiah’s guilt and to atone for his sins. God has done the very same thing for you and for me, my friends. He has cleansed us. We needed cleansing. We too were ruined. But He came to us in love and poured out upon us His unlimited grace. God the Holy Spirit has brought us to faith so that we know what God the Son has done.

Jesus in His mercy and love came into this sinful world, lived a perfect life in our place and offered that perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. On the cross of Calvary He paid for every last one of them. They are removed! "As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sins from us." So now we don’t have to be terrified and cower in fear of God. We can stand in His presence. We can call out to Him in prayer and He hears us. We can open up our hymnals and sing praises to the Lord at the top of our lungs. Even if our voices aren’t all that great God still hears us and is pleased with us, because He has made us His own. He has bought us with His own precious blood and has brought us into His family. He has clothed us with a robe of His righteousness so that we can stand in His presence, not as filthy, dirty sinners, but as atoned for saints whose guilt has been removed. You don’t have to carry it anymore. You can leave it at the altar of Christ and know that it has been paid for and taken away. Your forgiveness, your salvation has been won by your Savior Jesus, and no one and nothing can take that away from you.

3.

But as those who have been cleansed by the Triune God there is something else that the Lord has in store for you and me. Isaiah tells us, "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!’" Can you think of a more fitting response to a God of grace? Can you think of a more fitting response to the news that your sins have been taken away you and that you will not be destroyed by the almighty God? Truly this response is a wonderful response, because it comes from a heart of faith. God has given each of us such a heart of faith to say to Him, "Lord, here am I, send me."

As I look around the room today and I see some of our young people here, I say, what does God have in store for you in the future? What does He want to accomplish with your life? What does He want you to do as you grow up? Maybe some of you will someday be called into the ministry to serve God’s people as a teacher in a Lutheran Elementary School or as a pastor, leading a congregation. I don’t know what God has in store for you, but I do know He wants to use you.

And perhaps there are those of us here today who will think about such things and think, "Well, I’m too old for that, I guess I dodged a bullet—I don’t have to serve as a pastor, or I don’t have to serve as a teacher." Perhaps not, but God has used you and He still has a use for you too. You know that by the fact that you’re doing this (breathe in and out): you’re still breathing. And as long as you are breathing God has a plan for you, and He want to use you to serve Him. Perhaps He’s calling you to minister to those who are ailing—to those who are approaching death, maybe to reach out in love to them and help them with their needs. Maybe He has a plan for you to minister to those who are in need—poor people who can’t provide for themselves, so they need us to help them. Or perhaps someone whom you don’t know, whom you’ve never met, whom the Lord is going to bring across your path and give you an opportunity to open your mouth and testify of the One who loves you—to tell that person about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and what that means for their life, what it means for their eternity. I don’t know what God has in store for you, but I do know that God has a plan for you and for me, to open our hearts to others, to minister to others in ways that He alone knows, but ways for which He has chosen you. He has equipped you to do that work. We could say, "Can’t somebody else do it?" We could say that, but then we lose the blessing don’t we? We lose the blessing of serving the Lord. Rather, we join with Isaiah who says, "Here am I. Send me!"

What a privilege God has called us to, to open our mouths and testify of the love that He has for us—to confess the faith that we have in the Triune God—the Father who holds us in the palm of His hands to care for us, the Son who has redeemed us by His blood, the Holy Spirit who has brought us to faith and who through the means of grace keeps us in our faith, strengthened day by day to live for Him. This is the God who we are here to worship today. This is the God who we worship every day—who we serve every day—the God who calls to us, and the God who desires to hear our response, saying: "Here am I, Lord! Send me!" Amen.