"God Calling: Isaiah"
Isaiah 6:1-8
Have you ever had such an intense experience--such a life changing event that you remember with nearly exact clarity where you were, what was happening in the world around you when it occurred?
When I made the decision to give my life to Jesus Christ I was just 18 years old.
It was just a couple days after Halloween, in November, 1986--the year of Chernoble, the year the Space Challenger blew up.
I was living in Santa Barbara, California and was walking down the sidewalk--looking at the cracks in the concrete--which I can still see clearly in my mind to this day.
It was just getting dark and I had just gotten off the city bus and was headed to my apartment.
I remember exactly what I was thinking.
And I'd been thinking about it, probably most of my life but it had become more and more intense over the preceding months, weeks and days.
Now it had come to a crescendo.
"Am I going to follow Satan or am I going to follow Jesus?"
"Am I going to do the right thing with my life or am I going to live for self?"
"Am I going to go to heaven or hell?"
"Am I going to change my life or go down the same road I've been going?"
(pause)
"In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord," writes Isaiah in our Scripture passage for this morning.
"In the year of King Uzziah's death..."
Now why is that significant that Isaiah included that there?
One reason it is significant is because it puts Isaiah's call from God in a historical context.
King Uzziah died in 742 B.C.
So, when Isaiah says, "In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord..." Isaiah is telling us that the experience he is about to tell us about was so intense, so important to his life that he remembers exactly when it happened, where he was, everything about it!!!
And that's because it was the pivotal point that changed his life for good!!!
When I made the decision to give my entire life over to Jesus Christ, forsaking all else--it changed my life forever!!!!
I was never the same again, even though, at times, I wanted and even tried to go back, and take back what I did.
But I couldn't and thank God it wasn't possible.
Giving my life to the Lord was the single biggest decision, the single most important thing I have ever done, and will ever do.
It is the hinge upon the history of my entire life.
What Isaiah recorded in chapter 6:1-8 is the hinge upon which the door to his life moved from that point on!!!
And it was intense, and I don't think he expected it one bit.
He had gone to the Temple.
He had gone to worship.
But he had not gone expecting to see what he saw.
And what he saw is "the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, [with] the edges of his robe filling the Temple."
And that's not all.
He saw, what he describes as "winged creatures" stationed around God.
And they flew about shouting to each other, saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heavenly forces!
All the earth is filled with God's glory!!!"
And as the doorframe shook at the sound of their shouting, and as the Temple filled with smoke Isaiah just stood there, mouth open wide and every sin, every offense, every "unholy thing" he had ever done, thought, felt, experienced came to him in complete clarity in that split second as he stood in the presence of the Lord.
There are over 7 billion people on earth.
And for most every one of us, our biggest fear in life is for our friends and family to know the secret sins we all struggle with: just how self-centered and broken we are.
Why?
Because we are afraid that they couldn't possibly love us or even like us anymore if they knew everything about us...
...and I mean EVERYTHING!!!
So, what about God?
This is, I believe, the kind of thing that Isaiah was facing "In the year of King Uzziah's death, when he saw "the Lord" up close and personal "sitting on a high and exalted throne."
Isaiah was nearly struck dead with fright at the realization of it: "Mourn for me," he cried, "I'm ruined!
I'm a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips.
Yet I have seen the king, the Lord of heavenly forces!"
What would you do?
What would you think?
The phrase: "unclean lips" means sinfulness and defilement in contrast to the holiness of God.
I mean, God is holy; we are not.
This is the terrifying realization that hit Isaiah with such overwhelming force!!!
We are sinners, we live among sinners, and we live in a sin-filled world.
Oftentimes we might not recognize this.
We might even get so used to the way we are and the way things are that we forget.
But there is nothing like an encounter with the Holy God to shatter our self-centeredness and bring us to our knees in mourning.
And yet, it is just this realization that opens Isaiah to the possibility of forgiveness.
The "heavenly creatures" were flying around shouting to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heavenly forces!
All the earth is filled with God's glory!"
And Isaiah is standing there going--"uh oh. Surely, I am dead meat!!!"
Everyone of us are carrying around lots and lots of baggage.
Every human being who has ever lived has broken places, sins that they have not let go of, weaknesses they struggle with, burdens that no other human being knows about except them.
What are your weaknesses?
What sins are you hiding and holding onto this morning?
What aspects of "you" would you be terrified for others to know about?
What aspects of "you" do you even try to hide from yourself or God, even?
Isaiah came face to face with His sin in the presence of God, and he confessed his sin.
"Then one of [those] winged creatures flew to [him], holding a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar [of the Temple]."
He touched Isaiah's mouth with the coal, from the place of sacrifice and atonement...
...metaphorically, this means he touched the broken, lost, and sinful places of Isaiah's soul...
...and then he said to Isaiah: "See, this has touched your lips.
Your guilt has departed, and your sin is removed."
And this is what the blood of Christ, the sacrifice of Jesus does for us when we come face to face with the Holy God--confessing our sins.
The blood of Christ washes our sins away, our guilt departs.
And we are made whole because of it!!!
Because of how much God loves us.
Because of what Jesus has done to prove that love, and to save us from ourselves, sin, death and hell.
Are you broken?
God has great plans for you.
God died to forgive you.
God died so you can forgive yourself.
God died to transform you; to give you a hope and a future and a purpose.
So get on with it.
Be who you were created to be.
Love yourself so that you can truly love God and other people.
And I'll tell you, it's been nearly 30 years since I gave my life to Jesus as I walked down that sidewalk filled with cracks in Santa Barbara, California.
I made the biggest decision of my life that night, and I can say, no matter the pain in between, no matter all that--I would not change that moment in my history for anything--ANYTHING--in the world!!!
"Who should I send," God asked Isaiah, "and who will go for us?"
Then, Isaiah, who just a moment ago, had been completely convinced that he was "ruined" and should be mourned for: spoke up: "I'm here; send me."
That's what the love of God does for us.
That's how God's salvation and forgiveness transforms our lives--even in an instant!!!
It gives us a confidence we never knew we had.
And instead of hiding from God--we desire to be in God's presence, and to "go for him," to "spread His love and good news" to others so they might experience the great salvation we have experienced.
When this life ends and you stand at the Judgment Seat of God and you see your entire life in an instant, and suddenly every sin you have ever committed becomes as clear as day...
...Will you believe that God loves you enough to forgive you?
Do you believe that now?
If so, will you go for Him?
God is calling you.
Will you say with confidence and conviction: "I'm here; send me"?
