What we’re going to talk about tonight. The Lord of Lord, King of Kings and the great I am amen one who is high and holy and lifted up our vision of God. Our vision of God determines how we behave in this life, determines the way we live our Christian, Christian life. So we need to get a proper vision of who God is, and we need to refresh with that sometimes. We need help with that at times. This is what we’ll talk about this evening. Lord will. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, lord, thank you for everything that’s been said already and the songs that have been sung. Thank you for who you are and for being so kind and gracious merciful to us. We pray that you would help us as we open up Your word, that you speak to our hearts. Give us what we stand in need of, or show us if there’s some area that needs corrected. Help us strengthen those that may need strengthen. And, Lord, lead us to the next steps of life that we’re about to take. Whatever that may be, god is to direct us in all things. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Isaiah, chapter number six, verse number one. In the year that King Uzah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With tween he covered his face, and with twin he covered his feet, with tween he did fly in one cried onto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Host. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my knives have seen the King, the Lord of Host. Then flew one of the seraphims under me, having a life coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongues from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, lo that hath touched thy lips and thy inquiry is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, hear my sin. Me, verse number nine. Let’s just read the rest of the chapter. And he said, Go and tell these people, hear you indeed, but understand not. And see you indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand what their heart are converted, be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long have he answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitants and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord have removed men far away, and there’d be a great forsaken in the midst of the land, but yet in it shall be a tent, and it shall return. It shall be eaten as a teal tree and as an oak whose substances in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. We’re not so much concerned tonight as with the message that God gave Isaiah, but just the fact of a couple of things, of the vision that Isaiah saw. It redirected his whole life and his whole mission and his whole outlook on life, and also the fact that he was made a willing vessel to go after he had seen the vision of the Lord. Seeing God high and holy lifted up, changes our whole outlook on things. It allows us notice this at the timing of this. In the year that King Uziah died, this was one of the kings of Judah, the southern kingdom. And he had started out good, serving the Lord and seeking the Lord. He reigned for 52 years. He was what you might call a bulwark in the nation. It was long standing. Many of the people in that country only knew him as king. So you understand what I’m saying? He had been king for a long time. It was stability for the nation of Israel. When he died, you’re wondering, what is the next? They didn’t have elections. And be that as it may, they knew who would be reigning next, but they didn’t know how that person would be reigning. They had a checkered past. There would be some kings that would reign well. Their sons would go away and not follow the Lord with their whole heart. So there was some question about what was coming next. Right in the middle of that troublesome time for Isaiah, he got a vision of God, and everything was made all right. Brother Bill says it’ll be all right. Amen. Everything was settled in his heart because he knew that he saw a king of this earth that passed away. Then he got a vision of God, the everlasting king, who never changes, never fails, never passes away, who’s always on the throne. And he saw that God was still in control. Listen, even in today’s time, we see things happening in our world system. We see people get elected, and they get elected. They buy elections, whatever it may be. But we see them get in power, get in office, and we wonder what’s going to happen. May I say, let’s lift up our eyes past Washington, DC. And past Charleston, look right into heaven and see God high and holy, lifted up, still ruling and reigning over the affairs of men. Listen, I know this world is wicked place. This world is an awful place and the devil is the prince and ruler of the air. No doubt about that. God has given him some of that, allowed him to have that rule and rain. But he’s on a short leash. Amen. Everything that he does still has to be run by God and make sure that God’s okay with that. In one of these days, the devil himself is going to bow before our Heavenly Father, bow before our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and he’s about to answer to the Lord. So the King of kings and Lord of Lords, a man who never changes. So they saw the passing of an earthly kingdom. St. Chronicles 20 615 talks about whose eye he was. Marvelously helped till he was strong. But the next verse says, when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the author of incense that only belonged to the priest. And when he went in, the Lord smote him with leprosy. And he was a leper until the day of his death. So a longstanding kingdom. He started out well, but he ended as a leper. But the people still wept when he died. They enjoyed his reign. It’s still uncertainty. Isn’t it awful for us when we put our faith and confidence in mankind and how wavering mankind is, how fickle mankind is, how they say one thing and then do another. And we do the same thing. We put ourselves in that same situation. When the going gets rough. It’s not always do we stick by what we said we were going to do, but I know one who’s always faithful. He’s always steadfast in his purpose, and that’s God Almighty. So he had a vision of an unchanging kingdom and an ever faithful king, the Lord, sitting upon the throne high and lifted up. And his train filled the temple. Not the train behind us here on the tracks, but the king’s train. I know when Rachel married me and say, when Rachel got married, when she married me, I didn’t have a train, but she had a train. She had a gown that had a train. And I guess that’s what you call is that what you call it? Okay? And it was a beautiful train. It wouldn’t feel the temple, but it filled several steps. It was very pretty. She had to have her sisters help her get in positions. It was very full. But the train of a king represents glory, exaltation, power, majesty. His train filled the temple. Let me just say this. There’s nobody that rises above our Heavenly Father, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, either one. Now, I want you to notice I keep saying God the father. God the Father rules and range over the affairs of men over the universe. But I want you to notice here Isaiah sees the lord. That’s the Lord Jesus Christ in john. When the Apostle John is writing, he makes reference to it and he says of whom Isaiah spoke of when he saw this vision. So he’s seeing the Jehovah of the Old Testament. It’s Jesus Christ in the New Testament. He’s seeing the Lord Jesus Christ, high and holy, lift up. You know what that means? Just as we commemorated this morning showing Jesus death 2000 years ago, he is coming again. When he comes again, he’s going to catch his bride away. The body of Christ, the Church, those that are saved, born again, wash in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seven years happened and then he comes back to rule for a thousand years. But his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. After that thousand years, there’s going to be a rebellion. But you know what? He puts that rebellion down, just like he put the rebellion down after the seven year tribulation. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and he will rule and he will reign. So we have a faithful king, an everlasting kingdom in our Lord Jesus Christ. In this vision that Isaiah saw, he saw several things. He saw the seraphims, which is an angelic being, a type of angelic being. There’s seraphims, there’s cherubims, and I guess there’s just regular old angels. I don’t know all the different categories. We’ll learn about that one day when we get over to glory. But the seraphims had six wings. And look at this verse, verse number two, with me, if you will. With twain. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet. That speaks of reverence for our Lord. He covered his face, he covered his feet. He was humble. Feet oftentimes in the Bible, represent authority, represent authority given to somebody. This angelic being all of them that were here, however many there were that were here, they covered their feet. They recognized that the Lord had supreme authority and then with Trinity did fly. We’re going to see here in a minute, in a moment time, he sprung into action. When he knew what he had to do, he was ready to serve. And Isaiah saw this. And I don’t know if his heart got convicted, but I know my heart gets convicted when I see that the angels in heaven are ready to do whatever the Lord commends them to do at a split second notice. How many times do you and I have to reason it out and say, lord, what if this happens? Well, don’t you think the Lord’s already thought that through and got a plan for that and a way avenue for all that? They don’t complain or murmur or hesitate. They just go and do as they’re told to do. Isaiah sees this and he also hears something. And one cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host. The whole earth is full of his glory. I believe it was a three time expression because we serve God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, we serve a triune God, three and one. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke. Believe this was a more than just a vision. I believe this was a reality that Isaiah saw and something that you and I will see. We’ll be there one day when we see Jesus lifted up. Think about this. Think about how John the Apostle was changed, how his whole outlook on life was changed. He was alone on the Lord’s day, exiled to the Isle of Atlas, and then suddenly he was in the Spirit and his whole outlook changed, didn’t it? He pinned down the book of Revelation that God gave him. And no doubt when he was done with all of that, he had a renewed outlook. He was probably walking on cloud nine. I don’t know if his feet touched the ground. He knew all that was going to happen and what God was going to do. He thought God was in control. And listen, you and I need to get to that point where we still see that God’s in control. Even through all the chaos that’s going in this world, that’s bound to happen. The Lord told us it would happen, but he’s still in control. He’s still ultimately in control. So our vision changes the way we live. Clarence Sexton says this, he had this quote. He says, worship is determined by our vision of God, and our vision of God will determine the Christian life that we live. So it’s important that we have the right vision of who God is. Interesting, if you go and ask people who God is, all the different answers that you’ll get, you get answers that vary. There’s just all kinds of different answers. I heard somebody say one time, a woman tell me one time, well, God’s all around us, god’s everywhere. God is everywhere. But what she was referring to is god’s in the trees and God is in the grass. And that’s not God. That’s what God created. God the Father is in heaven right now, and God the Son is in heaven right now. God the Spirit is here on this earth. The Bible does say that God is everywhere, and I can’t explain that. But he’s not in the trees, he’s not in the grass. He is not the grass. We serve a living God, high and holy, lifted up higher than any imagination of men. So our vision of God determines many things. I wrote this down too, so somebody else said this. It said, God never empties places in our homes, in our hearts, be it in the nation like it was here or in the church, without being ready to fill them. Sorrow and loss are meant to prepare us for the vision of God. Think about that. God removed something. He removed something out of Isaiah’s life so he can see the Lord more clearly. If you ever noticed that in your life, or God moved something out, something that maybe you held dear or you were holding on to, maybe a hero may have been a little bit of a hero to Isaiah, but when he was gone, his strength was gone, his dependence upon man was gone. He saw the Lord in a clear vision. And I think there’s some truth there for us. When we remove mankind from a pedestal in our lives, we’ll see the Lord where he needs to be, his rightful place. Through all the changes of life, one thing remains the same that’s our God’s unchanging, he’s ever faithful. Whatever in life troubles us, the answer is not in dealing with that trouble, but in getting the right vision of God. I was reading after one of the preachers that he said, he said he has a trouble with anxiety. And I said, Bless the Lord. I’m glad I’m not the only one with worry. And what Pastor Van used to say, stress, is that what he’s saying? And I’m glad I’m not the only one fretful. But, you know, getting the right vision of God would say, hey, he’s in control. That calms our worries. It soothes our fears. It makes us be at rest. We realize he is still on the throne. It’s a transforming vision. Then look at verse number five, then said, Aye, woe is me, for I am undone. We get a proper vision of God. We get a proper vision of self, of who we are. We see ourselves. And maybe that’s why it’s so uncomfortable for us. We don’t like to see ourselves for who we are, do we? That’s why I turn the light off when I look in the mirror before I leave for the house. You like to think of yourself as more handsome than what you are when you look at yourself in the mirror. I look at myself in the mirror sometimes, and I’m just shocked. I said, who is that guy? I thought for sure I was better looking than that. And it’s a shocker. I think something’s wrong with our mirror, to tell you the truth. But you never do that. Anybody else ever do that? Okay. All right. And you remind the only vain one here we don’t like to be revealed what’s in our heart. But getting a proper vision of God will put us in our proper place. Isaiah’s confession here he said, Woe is me, for I am undone. He saw his condition because it was made clear by the vision of the Lord was high and holy, lifted up. He knew that he was helpless. There was nothing he could do to make himself worthy of being in the presence of the Lord. He said, I am a man of unclean lifts. This is his confession. He had conviction of sin, conviction of his unworthiness. He knew that God was near. Remember what Peter did when he was in the boat? And John said, hey, that’s Jesus. He threw his fisher’s coat around him. He dove into the lake and he went to be with the Lord. One time before that. He said, Lord, depart from me. I forget what the word he was. He said, depart from me. In other words, I’m a sinner. Leave me. Not wanting to be for you to be here with me. Being closed in the presence of God will reveal our true condition. But there’s a remedy for that. Isaiah confessed it. One John, one nine. Brother Jeremy, help me out again. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We’re going to have that by the end of the week. Used to be one of those verses you could just rattle off right there. And I know you don’t struggle with it with that, but there are times that my memory fades a little bit and I forget those things. But we confess our sins. He is faithful and just. Forgive us our sins. That’s what Isaiah did. He said, I am a man. I see my condition, but I don’t want it to stay that way. He said, I am a man of unclean lips. I draw in the midst of a people of unclean lips. From my eyes I’ve seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, all of us. When we see Jesus lifted up, we’ll see ourselves for who we truly are, for our true condition. See how vile we are. We see what Jesus did for us. On the cross of Calvary we say, why in the world would he love somebody like me? And I can’t explain it. I don’t know the answer to that other than his great love, but I’m thankful for it. But look at what happened next. Verse six then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid in the front of my mouth and said, lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thin iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged. You see the picture here? The live coal came from the altar. The altar was where they offered the burnt offering. The burnt offering is a picture of Jesus Christ, right? The only way we can have our sins forgiven is through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. And the seraphim didn’t forgive his sin. He was just obeying the Lord’s command. He knew what to do. He was ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. But it’s a picture of us. We get our pardon through the cross of Jesus Christ, and then he sets us apart for his use. Look at verse number eight. He said Also, I heard the voice of the lord saying, whom shall I sin and who will go for us? It is amazing that the Lord in verse number eight says, who will go for us in the plural. Many times in the Bible, God has spoken of as in being in the plural, god the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, then said, Here am I, send me. It wasn’t until after Isaiah got a clear vision of who God was, a clear vision of himself and being sanctified by the Lord, set apart for his use cleanse of his sin, and then set apart for his use that he said that he was ready for service. We get the cart before the horse and normally we say, I’m going to do something for the Lord, but we need to get a vision for God first and see God lift it up, see Him in his rightful place, put Him preeminent where he belongs, put ourselves where we belong. John the Baptist, I think I wrote one of those verses down here. He said in maybe I didn’t write it down here. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. Something along those lines, right? He said, I’m the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He knew what God had given him to do, right. But then later he said, and in the same spirit, same frame of mind, he said he must increase, but I must decrease. There’s nothing wrong with knowing what God would have you do. But he didn’t let it get the best of him. He knew his place was to get lower and lower and lower and Jesus to be higher and higher and higher. I believe John the Baptist got a clear vision of the Lord, don’t you? I believe Elijah got a clear vision of God in one king, one seven, Elijah the Tisspite stands before Ahab, and he says, there shall not be due nor reign these years, but according to my word. But I left out a phrase here’s what he said the lions of the test bike said unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be due nor reign these years according to my word. We all like the part where he stands in the face of the king and said, Listen, king, there’s not going to be any due or reign because of your wickedness in this nation, and the rightfully so. But we often leave out the part where he says, as the Lord God of Israel, livth it’s God is that doing it before whom I stand. See, he could stand in the presence of the king because he was already in the presence of God. And you and I can do the work that God wants us to do if we’ll first spend time in the presence of God. Elisha picked up on that phrase in Saint Kings 314. He said, as the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, talking to one the kings of Israel. Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. I like his spirit, Elijah, tell him. And I forget which king it is now, but one of the kings of Israel said, had I not respect this king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, I wouldn’t even look your way. But he said that same phrase. He said, as the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, they got a vision of who God is, the living God. He said the Lord of Hosts elijah said the Lord God of Israel liveth. You and I survey living god. So there’s nothing too hard for Him, nothing too far gone for him. He’s got a living purpose right now that he’s working out through you and me in his church. And they were able to stand and say these things because they were consciously in the presence of God. Dr. Clarence said this too. He said, Worship must begin in my heart and in my home. Then I can be prepared to worship the Lord in the church house, the church meetings. So how do we fix our worship? We fix our worship by getting a clear vision of God. Now, our vision of God helps clear up our vision of self, and it also gives a clear path. We can see what God would have us do, gives us a vision for service. It shows us what God wants us to do. But that service should be out of a grateful heart for all that God’s done. And I love this time of year. I know we joke and kid about putting Christmas for Thanksgiving, and Christmas, I think, goes up in July a lot of times at the retail stores, seems like. But truly, we ought to set aside time as Christians all the time, be thankful for the Lord, for what he’s done, out of thankfulness for Him. Have a grateful heart for what God’s done all the time. Ask you a question. How big is God? How big is God to you? Is he big enough to solve your problems? He was Isaiah. Is he big enough to deliver you out of your trials? Think about the three Hebrew children that were in the fiery furnace. He said, Our God is able, but if not, we’re still going to serve Him if he doesn’t deliver us, not that he’s not able. If he doesn’t deliver us, we’re still going to serve Him. Is God big enough to serve? If he doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want Him to? See our God’s able to answer our prayers, our God is able to meet the financial need we have to help the sicknesses that we’re praying for. But what if God decides not to answer the way we want Him to see our God’s still big enough to serve. He’s still in control. It affects our service for him. I want you to turn with me. We’ll be done. John, chapter number ten.
John, chapter number ten. Verse number let’s see, where do we want to start? Verse number seven. Then set Jesus unto them again. Very I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Verse ten. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I am cometh. They might have life, they might have it more abundantly. Verse eleven. I am the good shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. We could read. We could read. 12, 13, 14. Those are good verses. Go down to verse 15. As the Father knoweth me, so know I the Father, and I laid down my life for the sheep. I want you to notice something here. Verse 14. We didn’t read. I skipped over. I am the Good Shepherd, and what know my sheep and am known of mine. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. I laid down my life for the sheep. I care for my sheep. I’ve given him salvation. Not only that, I know my sheep. Jesus knows you. The Bible says here in this chapter that he knows his sheep by name. He calls them by name. He knows your name. Thinking about all the billions of people in the world today, he knows your name. Here in PAX French. He knows my name. He loves me. He cares for me. Bible also says that he is known of us. We know him. One of these days we’re listening for a shout. We’re going to hear his voice. We’re going to recognize that voice. I’ve never heard it. You’ve never heard it. But we’re going to recognize that one. So that can’t be any other than our Great Shepherd. And we’re going to head on out of here. We’re going to be caught up together, be with the Lord and be with Him forever. He knows me. I know him. I don’t always listen to his voice, do you? We don’t. But one of these days he’s going to shout and we’re going to hear it with his ears. And our hearts are going to say, hey, that’s Him. We’re going to go be with Him forever. But he knows me. He calls me by name, he leads me. If I’ll follow him, he’ll lead me. We’ll go through this life, troubles besett us trials come our way, difficulties come our way. There’s chaos, confusion. Our God’s still in control. Got to keep our eyes fixed on to Him. Let’s not lose sight of our vision for who God is. Then we can see who we are. We’re nothing but. Dirty, rotten, filthy sheep and that God has cleansed and set apart for his use. Wonder of wonders. And he’s given us a message to go find the other sheep that will come and be part of his sheepfold. We can serve him. He loves us. Aren’t you glad of that? I’m thankful for that. All right, let’s stand his bow. And I was closed. Simple question tonight how is your vision of God? Have you lost your vision of God? How big is your god? Say, My God created the universe, but are we trusting Him with the small matters of life, with the difficult decisions of life? God spoke to your heart and you come to this altar and pray. Say, Lord, forgive me for not having a proper vision of you putting the cart before the horse, trying to go in to serve you without first spending time in Your presence. Father in heaven, Lord, we love you because you first loved us. We’re unworthy of all your blessings, Lord. Thank you for being so kind to us, Lord. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why you’re so kind to me. I don’t deserve any of it, Lord. I don’t want to ever take it for granted, although I have. I want to be fresh and new every day. And Lord, I want to see you high, holy and lifted up and to live my life in a way that exalts you to those around me. Lord, would you help me be that which I should be? Lord, only as I spend time with you in Your presence will I have the power that I need to live the life that you’d have me to live. So, Lord, to help me to make the most of this life serving you. Thank you, Lord, for all you’ve done, for who you are. Lord, please be with the needs of our congregation tonight. Those that are here, those who couldn’t be here, touch each life according to Your will and way, Lord. Use each one as a testimony for who you are, that others may see that there’s a living God, the Lord god that livethen. Lord, we love you. We want to serve you. In Jesus name we pray. Help us. Amen.