"Experiencing God"

Experiencing God

(Isaiah 6)

Introduction:

A.  Many of you remember where you where when and the feelings you experienced when you heard the news that Pearl Harbor was bombed, more of you remember you feelings when you heard JFK or MLK was assassinated.  Most everyone here remembers the attacks on September 11, 2001.  For many, those times caused great emotions to well up inside of us.  Emotions of anger, fear, questioning and concern or worry about what might happen next.

B.  Many people in each of those time lines felt as though the rug was pulled out from under them.  They experienced a loss that affected the whole country and they knew their lives were forever going to be changed, and were not sure if that change was for the better or worse.

C.  King Uzziah had a good beginning.  The Bible describes his long 52 year reign over Judah as one that was prosperous and whose name spread abroad, even to Egypt.  Early in his reign he was faithful to Jehovah and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  But near the end of his life his heart changed and he went into the temple to offer incenses.  He was confronted by the priest and 80 others.  At that time God struck him with leprosy and lived in a separate house until his death.

D.  It is that year, the year that King Uzziah died, when the outlook was questionable that Isaiah looked up and had his great encounter with God.  The opening of Isaiah 6 compares the dead human king, Uzziah, with the living God, king over all, who is seated high and exalted on a throne filling the temple.

E.  Wiersbe breaks this chapter into three areas, and I like the idea.  First, I want us to look up and see the throne of God and encounter him.  As we do, that will cause us to look inward and see ourselves for who we really are, and at that moment we can look out and see the ministry to which God has called us.

I.  The Upward Look – He Saw The Lord (verses 1-4)

A.  As Isaiah has this vision it is shared to him in a way he would understand.  Could you imagine standing in the temple, looking toward the most holy place and not seeing the curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place?  Instead, Isaiah sees inside where God alone dwells.  He sees the Lord on his throne and around him are the Seraphim, the mighty fiery creatures crying out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty (YHWH of Hosts); the whole earth is full of his glory.”  At the very sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.  Imagine that scene.  Imagine what it would be like if God’s glory were to descend in some physical form inside this building today.  For you to look up here and not see me, but instead see God great angelic beings crying out in honor of the Lord Our God.  How you would react?  Encounters with the Lord have often been traumatic and dramatic.

B.  Someone once said, when your outlook doesn’t look so good, try the uplook.  But there is a sense that our corporate worship time is like this glimpse into heaven.  As Isaiah saw the worship of the temple, we can see the worship of the church.  Our time together offers us an emotional opportunity and an intellectual opportunity to encounter God.  The very word “worship” suggests and encounter.  Whether we fall to our knees, lift up our hands, or stand before him in awe we have the opportunity to come before the Holy One.  When our hearts are lifted in prayer, when our ears hear the reading of the Word, when our tongue sing praises, we have the opportunity to come before the Holy One.

C.  The Hebrew writer puts it so well in Heb. 10:18-25.  That is collective church language.  It is about all of us coming together to come before God in worship.  This is our encounter time.  Every week as we gather together we as a congregation experience God.  Collective worship does not affect everyone the same, and neither was it the same for every person who encountered God in the Bible.  While they all understood the presence of the Holiness of God, one reaction is not better than another.  We don’t all have the same emotions or the same style, yet we can all have the same encounter.

D.  Look to the throne of God and see Him.  Enter into his presence with singing and praise in your heart and experience Him.

II.  The Inward Look – Isaiah Saw Himself (verses 5-7)

A.  You can’t be in the presence of God and nothing happen to you.  When Peter saw Jesus as God in a fishing boat he told Jesus to go away because he, Peter, was a sinful man.  As you come to the end of the story of Job we read Job’s reaction to being in God’s presence (Job. 42:2-6).  Saul of Tarsus saw God on that road to Damascus and his conclusion, as told to the Philippians, is a cry of what it means to experience God. (Phil. 3:7-11).

B.  That is what happens when you come before the Holy God, the Great I AM, the Eternal One who is and was and is to come.  You see yourself for who you are; unclean, sinful, and surrounded by people who are no better.  Brethren, when we encounter God we are called to humble ourselves before him.  When we encounter God we are called to repentance.  When we encounter God with that heart, we experience transformation.

C.  Listen to Isaiah (verse 5-7).  Isaiah became a living sacrifice and his sin was atoned for.  That same calling is for us, to become a living sacrifice which is our spiritual worship.  When we encounter God at the alter we find Jesus as the lamb that was slain, living, but whose blood has cleansed us and let us enter into the heavenly realms.

D.  I look inside me and thank God for all that he has done and all that he will do.  I look inside me and see grace upon grace coving over my repentant sins.

III.  The Outward Look – He Saw The Need (verses 8-13)

A.  But in that time of encounter with God I listen.  For Isaiah he heard God ask, “Whom shall I send?”  To us the commission has already been given, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  I believe true worship of the Holy One leads to witness and service.  How can I come before and not tell my story?  How can I experience what it means to have my sins atoned for and not tell others who are still living in their sin?

B.  But for Isaiah the message was that the people would not listen and would face judgment and wrath, but that was not to stop him from telling the message anyway.  “For how long O Lord?”  The answer was that some would remain, a remnant would be saved.  Isaiah became a missionary, a participant, not just a spectator.

Conclusion:

A.  Today the message of God still rings forth.  The Holy One is on his throne and has opened a way for all men to come unto Him.  That way is through the holy seed – Jesus, the Christ.  There is no way to the Father except through the Son.

B.  If you have sought the Lord in your own way, you have tried to come in your own manner, then listen today and realize that there is one way only, and it is open to you.  As you accept that message, as you examine your life and repent of your sins, as your faith leads you in belief and a willingness to confess Jesus as Lord, then you are invited to participate in baptism.  Baptism is that time of connection to the Living God where the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sins and gives you His Holy Spirit as your seal and guide.

C.  The throne room of heaven has been opened to you this day, seen through the eyes of Isaiah and retold in this sermon, now all that is left is for you to decide how to respond to God’s invitation.  I hope you will respond to come before him in humbly and let him lift you up.  If we can walk that road with you, come as we stand and sing.