A Needed Vision
Isaiah 6:1-5
Isaiah had an encounter with God that provided Him with a clear vision of God, himself, his people, and his mission. Proverbs 29:18 tells us that “where there is no vision people perish”. We as individuals and as the family of God need to have a clear vision like Isaiah. We need to see and understand Who God is, what we are, and what God is calling us to do.
I. We need a clear vision of God
A. Isaiah 6:1-4 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”
B. We need to see His holiness
1. “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts”
2. Psalm 145:17 “The LORD is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works.”
3. Revelation 15:4 “"Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy"
4. God is Holy
5. The holiness of God is absolute, uncompromising, and not subject to corruption. God is independently, infinitely, immutably, indelibly holy.
6. Habakkuk 1:13 “"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity"
7. Because God is holy we should desire and strive to be conformed to Him. His command is, "Be ye holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).
8. John Brown, a nineteenth-century Scottish theologian said “Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervors, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.” -quoted in, The Pursuit of Holiness by J. Bridges
C. We need to see and understand His Righteousness
1. Isaiah 5:16 “But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment,
and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.”
2. God’s righteousness or justice is the natural expression of His holiness. His righteousness is how consistently acts in accord with His own character His actions are always right and fair.
3. If the Holy God is infinitely pure, then He must be opposed to all sin, and that opposition to sin must be demonstrated in His treatment of both sin and those who commit sin.
4. God’s standard of righteousness is Jesus Christ.
5. God’s will is that believers be Christ-like.
6. Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
7. To be conformed to Jesus, we must first begin to think as Jesus did. We need the "mind of Christ." We need to value the things He values and despise the things He despises. We need to have the same priorities He has. –RC Sproul, The Holiness of God
8. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
9. “God wants us first acknowledging that sin is in fact sin according to how the New Testament Bible reveals what sin is, then God wants us making it our TOP PRIORITY in working with Him to stop committing those sins. Am I somehow trying to imply that Christians can somehow reach a state of sinless perfection in this life? No I am not! I do not believe such a thing is possible before we receive our glorified bodies, or until we get to heaven. However, I do believe God wants us making it top priority to strive diligently to get all sin out of our life. Striving to become sin-free is very commendable to God, and will be greatly rewarded.” – Norm Rasmussen
II. We need a clear vision of Ourselves
A. Isaiah 6:5a “Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips…”
B. When Isaiah had this encounter with God something happened to him first on the inside. Isaiah saw himself in the light of God’s Holiness and was speechless. Isaiah’s became conscious of his sinfulness and understood that his sin had left him in a state of deadness and ruin. There was no defense as he stood before the Righteous Judge of the Universe. He saw his sin as God saw it – something that must be confessed and forsaken.
C. We need to have a vision of what sin is and how it affects our relationship to God.
D. Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
E. One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake. – Billy Sunday
F. Susanna Wesley in a letter to her son John Wesley wrote on June 8, 1725, “Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself." - copied
G. 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess (homologeó – say the same thing with, to agree with, assent) our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
H. The right response to seeing our sinfulness is to agree with God, confess your sin to Him and allow Him to bring forgiveness, renewal, and cleansing in your life.
III. We need a clear vision of Our Church and Community
A. Isaiah 6:5b “…I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips…”
B. When Isaiah got right with God, he became concerned about those who were not right with God – concerned, not critical or condemning.
C. He saw the deep spiritual need of others need.
D. If you are right with God, others are going to matter to you.
E. We need to see clearly the need in the church and outside of the church.
F. Within the church
1. Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
2. There is the matter of physical needs - 1 John 3:17 “But whoso hath this world’s good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
3. There is the matter of spiritual need – Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
G. Outside of the church
1. John 4:35 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
2. Luke 10:2 “Therefore said he unto them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.’”
3. What would you do if you were traveling down the road and came upon an injured person? Would you see the need? Would you be sensitive to their condition? Would you seek to help them the best you could? Most would quickly respond to someone who had a need in the physical realm, but what about the needs of people spiritually? Do we see the need?
IV. We need a clear vision of Our Mission and hear God’s call.
A. Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then said I, ‘Here am I; send me.’”
B. Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’”
C. The only way the corporate Body of Christ will fulfill the mission Christ has given it is for individual Christians to have a vision for fulfilling that mission personally. - David Jeremiah
D. Romans 6:11-13 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
E. Some years ago a commuter on the Long Island Railroad was known to every regular patron on the five o’clock local. He was a well-dressed, soft-spoken young man who lived at Jamaica. Every evening after the train left the subway he would rise and go to the front of the car. As he walked back he would speak to every passenger, saying, "Excuse me; but if any of your family or any of your friends are blind, tell them to consult Dr. Garl. He restored my sight." That is evangelism. He did not argue. He testified. Courteously, courageously, confidently he commended to each and all the one who had opened his eyes. He had good news and he told it. If we who are redeemed would do likewise!—United Presbyterian
Conclusion - What could God do in our lives, in the life of this church, in our families, in our community, if this morning each of us would simply and sincerely pray, “God, I just want to be right with you this morning. Please cleanse my life by your Sovereign Grace and make me your faithful servant. Here I am, send me.”? - adapted
