THY WORD IS TRUTH
John 17:17
“For I Am A Man Of Unclean Lips”
Today the lectionary has chosen "the call of the prophet Isaiah."
And in the call of Isaiah we have a panorama of the Old Testament and a very startling picture of the Holiness of Yahweh or Jehovah the God reveled in the Old Testament.
And in the New Testament reading for today we have Jesus of Nazareth teaching his disciple the "Parable of the Sower".
Jesus quotes almost verbatim from this passage we heard read this morning in the Old Testament Reading from the 6th Chapter of Isaiah were Isaiah is "called to be a prophet".
Because Christ is familiar enough with the writing from Isaiah to quote from it in his training of his disciples it has added significance and we will get to that later in the sermon.
And we should be glad that we did not have to be in the presence of the God of the Old Testament for God Almighty was unapproachable!
And the Apostle Paul was aware of this and writes about it when in the book of Timothy Paul says of God in chapter 6 verse 16
“the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see!”
And one of the great contrasts is that God the Father in the Old Testament was Holy and incompatible with human beings.
And just a Paul describes the God of the Old Testament we see instance after instance of the Lord God of the Old Testament saying that no one can see me in the flesh and live.
But there are many times where God accommodates the fragile man and speaks to men.
And the one whom God spoke to directly most often was the prophet Moses.
But before we get into the story of Moses lets look at the call of Isaiah and see why Isaiah is so upset by his call.
Isaiah is terrified.
For Isaiah sees a vision and he testifies that he as seen God.
What were his words?
Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.
And he describes the seraphim and then he praises God with these words, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory”.
Did you notice how many times Isaiah says the world “Holy” in describing God.
Why would if Isaiah only knew God the Father, Jehovah or by his other name “Yahweh” why did he just refer to him as Holy God in stead of Holy, Holy, Holy.
The evidence of the trinity is throughout the old testament if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.
As Christ says, "He who has eyes let him see and he who has ears let him hear" and Christ will make a big point of this when we get to the parable of the sower.
But lets focus in on what Isaiah is saying when he hears the call of Jehovah God to be his prophet.
What does Isaiah say?
“Woe to me”, He cries!
I am ruined!
For I am an man of unclean lips and I live among people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.
Why is Isaiah so up set?
He is upset because he is terrified. Why is he terrified?
Well we would have to go back into the time of Moses to find out.
What happens to human beings when they are suddenly thrust into a face to face relationship with Almighty God.
The prophet Moses was the first person in the bible that the LORD God Almighty spoke to face to face.
Some of you may have be here to hear me preach about this about a year ago when Moses came down from the mountain after he had been in the presence of God on top of Mt Sinai his face was glowing and the Israelite were afraid of him and he had to keep a veil over his face to they would talk to him.
And when God spoke to Moses His voice was so laud that the people fell on their faces as dead men in sheer terror. And they beg Moses to leave them.
So just in this regard alone Moses was a special prophet of God. God spoke to Moses often and Moses was not afraid.
And although God spoke directly to Moses it gave Moses the courage to ask God if he see him with his eyes.
And that is what we sang about this morning. “Rock of ages cleft for me.”
For that is the only way Moses, a man of flesh and blood, could see God and not be burned up and die on the spot.
So let’s visit that scripture to see how God the LORD Almighty accommodates Moses wish to see him.
There is this exchange between Moses and God in Exodus chapter 33 starting at verse 12.
Moses and God are talking to each other “face to face” so to speak.
I say so to speak because it is not literally Moses face to God’s face and why not?
Because of what will be revealed in just a minute.
If Moses was to look at God’s face and his glory he would on his perishable flesh be consumed.
He would we killed.
He would perish.
Continuing at verse 12, 12 Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.'
13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."
14 The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
15 Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."
18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And then God reveals something about himself that is often ignored or forgotten today. What does God say about himself to Moses.
19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Moses clearly although he spoke face to face with God did not see God face to face for this reason. So how does God show Moses his glory without killing him. So what does God do for Moses to show Moses His glory.
Verse 21, Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.
22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."
So if we cannot see God face to face how can we approach God?
The answer is we God needs to come to us not a Spirit but as flesh.
Did he do this?
Of course he did. He came in the flesh of His Son.
He gave us "the prophet as unto Moses" as promised to Moses in Deuteronomy.
The word became flesh and dwelt among us full of "grace and truth".
Is the incarnation an important doctrine or not?
We needed the Messiah or Christ because we need to relate to God face to face without being killed in the process!
So was Isaiah rightfully terrified when he saw the king high and exalted.
I contend that he was rightfully terrified of God.
And that brings us to the subject of the sermon to day.
Are we like Isaiah people with unclean lips capable to come into the presence of God?
What will make out lips clean?
What will prevent us from being consumed by God’s glory and his wrath.
Remember just before God spoke to Moses in this passage he want an angel to lead the Israelites to the promised land because God want to destroy them for their disobedience.
Lets look back at that so just a verse.
Verse 2 of Exodus 33 God says, “I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."
So what is the bottom line here?
Why is our sin not longer kindling the wrath of God.
The answer is there have been a sacrifice, a punishment for sin for all time.
Is this not what happened to Isaiah.
What made Isaiah’s lips clean?
What did God do to purify Isaiah’s lips to be able to proclaim God’s word without fear.
An ember or a glowing coal was place on his lips.
And where do you suppose this ember came from?
It was from the fire that consumed the sacrifice.
The footnote of the NIV study bible tells us where this coal or ember was taken from to purify Isaiah lips and identify him as a man who speaks the word from God as a prophet.
The note reads: “The coals of fire were taken inside the Most Holy place the Holies of Holies on the day of atonement “Yom Kippur” when the atonement for the sins of the people was year after year on this day.
Is this idea of God being in the fire that consumes the sacrifice in the Old Testament which is repeated again and again carried over to the New Testament teaching.
Remember the story in the book of 1 Kings 18, when the sacrifice was put on water and the prophets of Baal were challenged to consume the sacrifice by appealing to Baal and nothing happened but when Elijah appealed to God and He called down fire form heaven and the sacrifice was consumed by fire proving that Baal was not god at all.
The author of the book of Hebrews knew the character of God as demonstrated by Elijah calling down fire and the cleft in the rock for how does the author of the Book of Hebrews say it in the New Testament verse 12:28-29, 28
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire." And why? Because the author of Hebrews is speaking to Jews who are falling away from the faith by quoting from Deuteronomy 4:23 when Gods said, “23 Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.
24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Let me close in prayer:
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