Brother Mark, the way you opened the service today, I had the
exact same thoughts leaving my room, just walking towards you
and I and I thought to myself, this is the Lord's day.
Jesus is alive. We commemorate His resurrection
every single week, not just on a weekend in the month of April,
but every single Sunday. We remember that our Messiah is
alive, and so we praise God. Amen.
Indeed. Yes, you can say Hallelujah on a
Sunday morning. You're allowed to.
Well, here we are. Our final session of Maranatha
2023. Were you blessed this whole
weekend? Yes.
Amen. I was blessed.
Every year there's something special about this conference.
Then the thing that stood out for me.
I'm sure there are different things for you, but the thing
that stood out for me was the Fellowship.
I know the Fellowship is special every time, but the Fellowship
for me, this is how I felt. Every single person I talked to
saw a lot of familiar faces, but it was just an unending
testifying of the goodness of God in our lives.
Every person I talked to had something to say about what the
Lord's doing, what the Lord has done, and I was just
overwhelmed. Every night I went to bed, my
heart was just full hearing what the Lord is doing beyond
Chicago, what He's doing in Chicago that I'm not aware of.
And so just to hear what God has been doing through these lives
has been a blessing in itself. And so I am so grateful to the
Lord Jesus for his work in and through many of you.
And so I give him glory for that.
And I just want to also give glory to God for many people who
made this conference possible. And I can't name every name, but
there are some people who went beyond to make this a gracious
experience. And so obviously, we thank
Bishop and Phoebe for all their hard work and we thank our
wonderful praise team. Didn't they do an excellent job?
Yes, they did, especially to Gorgies and Joelle and Dina, who
helped organize a lot of the the logistics and the songs and
everything else and everybody who came early to practice.
I just want to, I always say this, and I want to say it again
to the worshiping. Thank you for actually
worshiping. So we're not looking at you.
We're looking at Christ, there's other people behind the scenes
that you're not aware of, I'm sure.
But we had a VBS this whole weekend.
Did you know that we had a Sunday school ministry?
And so we thank Amy. Amy, can you just wave your
hand? Where's Amy?
She's a VBS. Of course she is.
Yes. OK.
All right. So they're still there.
OK, that's good. Then we know where they're at.
So, Amy, make sure you think Amy.
I don't know if she's wearing the red VBS shirt.
If, if she is, she's not wearing it, OK, Ask who Amy is and
you'll find her and just thank her and all the volunteers.
You know, we had many people from our own church who are
willing to give up at least one service, one of the services
that you're here that you've enjoyed throughout the weekend
so that they can watch over the kids, so that others can be here
as well. So we had 10 volunteers, I
think, and they're all from our church. 15.
No, not all from our church beyond our church.
That we're willing to. Yes.
That parents also were willing to say we're going to watch over
the kids so that others can enjoy and that parents can also
be here and receive the word of God.
That's we're thankful for that. Also a couple other names we
want to thank. Ranya and Lena.
Maybe you saw them at the
registration. Who are working till the late
hours of the night, helping, organizing, changing.
And so. Ranya, Lena, where are you?
Lift your hand. There you are.
I know you're going to lift your hand, but where's Ranya?
There you are. OK Can we give them a hand?
They're right here. They're both over here.
And to the sound team. All the guys back there, thank
you for the live stream, for everything else, and the
hospitality team. We had a hospitality team.
I didn't even know that we had a hospitality team.
Who's the hospitality team here, Here, here, here.
Eileen. Yes, all the ladies here were
helping with the hospitality team and that's organizing all
the food and everything else. I don't want to sound cliche,
but I genuinely got a taste of of heaven this weekend.
Honestly, I didn't want to go to sleep.
Usually I don't mind going to sleep, but this weekend it was
very hard for me to go to bed. I just want to enjoy the
fellowship with God's people and so we give them all glory and
thanks. Well, today I was planning to
continue and we're still going to be in that theme concerning
Jesus being greater than Solomon.
We looked at how Jesus is building a greater temple.
We look at how Jesus gives a better peace.
We look at how Jesus through Queen Sheba is the wisdom of God
and can impart his wisdom into us.
And I was planning to speak about how Jesus is the Greater
Son, Jesus is the Greater Son. And looking at Solomon though he
had a remarkable reputation, unfortunately didn't last very
long and was planning to talk about the downfall of Solomon
and how it came about. But instead, prayfully, we're
going to look at King Jesus yet again, but behold his glory.
We're going to behold his glory in this final session.
We're going to behold this glory.
You would think we're going to behold it in the New Testament.
We're actually going to behold it in the Old Testament.
And in John chapter 12, verse 41, John tells us that Isaiah
spoke of these things because he beheld his glory.
Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And one of the the, the most amazing, resounding, remarkable
accounts of the glory of Jesus Christ is in a very familiar
passage. And that passage is found in
Isaiah chapter 6. So would you turn your bibles
with me to Isaiah chapter 6 as we look at the first few verses
and behold his glory with Isaiah sound team, there's a buzzing.
I don't know if you guys hear that, if you could help with
that Buzzing. Yes, buzzing.
Loves to follow me in places, but if you can help with that,
that'd be great. Thank you.
Well, shall we pray? Let's do that Indeed.
Lord, you have blessed us. And, Lord, we want to give you
thanks as a church. We want to thank you for the
memories. We want to thank you for the
scriptures that were stitched on our hearts.
We want to thank you for the singing.
We want to even thank you for the laughing.
We want to thank you for the portraits of your glory in this
beautiful place. The water, the trees, the skies.
Everything, O Lord, reflects your glory.
And we are thankful that you've given us this weekend to be
refreshed and strengthened, to go back to our routine, to our
context, to our churches, to our cities, and help us, Lord, get a
glimpse again of Your glory through your word that we may be
strengthened to reflect you in these dark times.
And so, Lord, help with the delivery of this word.
Help with our weary flesh, maybe our heavy hearts, even Maybe not
everybody can attest to being overjoyed this past few days.
Lord, may there be a touch yet again in our lives and our
hearts. For your glory, we ask these
things in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, don't don't worry about
the sound. Let's just focus here on the 1st
8 verses. Let's read it together, okay and
and attempt to if you're tired. I'm sure you are.
To really focus on every word here, we want to dissect all
that the scriptures has to say as much as we can at least.
And Isaiah 6 verse one we read in the year that King Uzaya
died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Each had six wings. With two he covered his face,
with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew, and one
called to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
host. The whole earth is full of his
glory, and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the
voice of him who called. And the house was filled with
smoke. And I said, Woe is me, for I am
lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the
Lord of Host. Then one of the seraphim flew to
me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with
tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth and said,
behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away,
and your sin is atoned for. This is one of the most
fascinating accounts in Scripture because, well, there's
many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that you have a
mortal man coming into contact with the glory of God.
And yes, it is a vision, but it is a very real experience.
And the Holy Spirit has given us access into this encounter
between a man of God and God himself.
And as you're reading about this king who sits upon this throne,
realize again that from John we learned that this is the same
person who who walked on this earth, who did not have a
pillow, who was frequently traveling, who did not have the
praise and the esteem of seraphim, that same Jesus as the
Jesus that you read of here in Isaiah chapter 6.
To think that Jesus left this kind of holy atmosphere to come
into this world in order for us to be forgiven and redeem this
is a point in itself that we can meditate on and shout Hallelujah
for. But there's so much more in this
text, so much practical truth, so much depth to this.
And I just want to give you an idea of what we can learn from
these few verses. And we see here 1st that the
timing of this encounter is so significant.
It is in the year that King Uzaya died.
King Uzaya, he wasn't like Solomon, but he was an excellent
king and and to live under his reign was was a a blessing in
itself. He was an innovator and an
inventor. It says they're in second
chronicles that his fame reached even to the borders of Egypt.
He established a very strong military and and through that
safety there was indeed a level of prosperity that the people
enjoyed. But unfortunately something
happened to King Ouza Uzaya here.
Rather experienced something that often happens with people
who become successful even for the Lord.
He was puffed up. Up to that point he was
dependent upon the Lord. His strength came from God.
He humbled himself In his young years.
He was raised up by faithful a faithful priest to learn how to
fear God. But then eventually something
happened at the peak of his rule.
He thought highly of himself, and he did something that was
wrong for any king to do. He assumed the role of a priest,
and he goes into the temple and he desires to burn incense.
That's illegal. You as a king cannot assume the
role as a priest, which is significant because you read in
the prophets that there is one to come who will be a priest but
will sit on a throne. That's Christ.
We talked about the offices, that Christ said he was greater
than anything anybody else we had the office of what?
The priest, the office of a prophet, the office of a king.
He's going to, he's going to occupy all of those things at
the same time, unlike any other man before.
And so before that, we see here that Uzaya here goes, and he
burns incense. Then as Araya the priest comes
in, eighty other priests flood into the House of God and they
confront him. What are you doing?
You're not supposed to be doing this.
And we're told there. Uzaya's reaction didn't humble
himself. There was no conviction.
Instead, we're told he got angry.
One sign of pride is that when you're confronted for a
legitimate sin is that you get angry and you stay angry.
It's not fun being corrected. And sometimes we do get upset,
especially we think we think we're justified.
But but it was out here, got angry, very angry.
Angry to the point where he was willing to do something about
it. And in that moment, something
happens. Leprosy breaks out, and I have
all the places that it breaks out, Breaks out on his forehead.
Do you know why? Because that's where the problem
was. He had high thoughts about
himself. Leprosy breaks out, spreads all
over his body, and he becomes an outcast for the rest of his
life. And there's something
significant in that account in Second Chronicles 26 that I want
to read to you. In verse 22 we read in Second
Chronicles 2622. Now the rest of the acts of
Uziah from first to last. Isaiah the prophet, the son of
Amos, wrote. Isaiah the prophet was a
contemporary. He was somebody who lived at the
same time as King Uziah. And Isaiah had the task of
writing about Uzaiah's life from beginning to end.
His humility, his success down to his pride and his his
downfall. It's not explicitly said, but it
makes you wonder if Isaiah knew Uzaiah personally.
You get that impression from some of the prophets with the
kings right that that we see Isaiah with Hezekiah.
He prays for him. He often gave him the word of
the Lord. You look at Samuel the prophet
concerning Saul. You can tell that there was a
relationship there because when Saul falls is Samuel was broken
about it to the point where they're in First Samuel 16, the
Lord says, hey, listen, it's it's over.
Get up, move on. I have another king in mind.
So when you take into account the potential relationship
between the prophet and the king, it makes you wonder how
did Isaiah from a human standpoint, because he was
human, just like you and I. How did he feel when he saw and
learned? Here's our King Uziya forever
and outcasts, and we have nobody occupying the throne anymore.
What went through his mind? Was he like Samuel?
Broken, overcome. Was he angry?
One thing's for certain, there was disappointment in the land.
One thing's for certain, there was even fear.
Your leader now is no more. And some of you have had that
tragic experience in the local church context.
You hear, you see something happening from the leadership
standpoint and it's it's there's a mix of emotions that come, you
can relate then perhaps to Isaiah.
What he's sensing here and the reason why I bring that up is
because it is at that particular time where they're depleted,
where where there was almost like a sucker punch to their
faith. It is at that time that the Lord
chooses to reveal himself this way to Isaiah, or He chooses to
remove the veil and to allow Isaiah experience something that
would change him forever and ever and ever.
Do not despise seasons of suffering.
Do not for a moment think that that pain, whatever the the, the
quality of that pain is, is insignificant if you belong to
the Lord. Because it is in those moments,
in those trials, in those tribulations, that the Lord and
there are accounts after accounts throughout the
scriptures and there are promises with it assures you
that there is something about God himself that he's going to
reveal to you if you're just willing to trust in that truth.
Was it not Job we said in Job 42 after experiencing all of that
catastrophe? My ears, I've only heard of you.
But now my eyes see you. Now my eyes see you.
That was the end result of all that he experienced.
All the mystery of that mess brought about a revelation of
God, he says. I thought there was just one
dimension of my understanding, but now you're giving me a more
full dimension of who you are. Was it not Steven that while he
was being stoned, looks up and he sees Christ not sitting but
standing in honor of this martyr, ready to receive him
into glory while he was being stoned?
And so we look here with Isaiah that is at this time, where
there is darkness over the land, where the people are shaken and
perhaps even himself that God says, I'm going to give you a
vision of my glory, allow that truth to be embedded in your
heart, because you will eventually, if you follow him,
if you haven't already, you will know a level of suffering.
You will know some kind of tribulation.
And what you need to do is take that truth and allow it to
prepare yourself. When you walk through that
threshold, you know God is going to show me something about
himself. I don't know when, I don't know
how, but I can trust that through this the Lord is going
to reveal something that will change me.
You look at Job's case, that was at the end of the whole matter.
You look at Steven's case. It was while he was experiencing
it. You look at Isaiah, it says in
the year, didn't say in the day that Rusiah died, right.
Is in the year at some point in that.
So you might not know when, but eventually it's coming.
You know, Paul spoke about something so fascinating in
Philippines chapter three. He spoke about, oh, that I may
know him, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection.
We all want that, right? I want to know the power of
Jesus. I want to know the power of his
resurrection. Let me see it.
Lord, give me some fresh testimonies.
He didn't stop there, he says. And the fellowship of his
sufferings. You don't hear people praying
that part much the fellowship of his sufferings in suffering.
There is a level of fellowship that you will know.
There is something that you become acquainted with
concerning the person of Jesus Christ that can only and
exclusively be known in the place of suffering.
I can tell you three years ago there was a moment of that.
There was a season of that, and I'm not going to get into the
details, but the suffering was so intense, relational
suffering, but with all the all of the turbulence.
Relationally, there was a knowledge of Jesus Christ that
as painful as that time was, was so rewarding.
And that Philippians 3 passage came to life.
The fellowship of his suffering. Lord, I sense your nearness.
You've opened my eyes to passages in the scripture that I
never I would know them, I would pass.
But things that I've seen, that I would always, always think, I
can't really relate to this. Now I know, and I have to come
with sanctified scars. Don't despise it.
Don't shun it. Embrace it with the truth and
the faith that there's something about God that he's going to
make known to you. In and the year the King Hosaya
died, I saw something, he says. I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne. Sitting, sitting.
That's brilliant. Not standing.
Not pacing. Not biting his nails, Not
scratching his head. Sitting, confident, calm,
absolutely sovereign. Sitting, totally in control.
Not caught by surprise. Not disturbed, not worried.
Sitting. That posture communicates the
absolute providential power of Jesus Christ.
And what I love about this here is that King Uziya dies.
He sees the Lord sitting upon the throne.
Isaiah does. But the Lord doesn't.
Just decision to sit. He he's not caught by surprise.
He knows exactly what he's going to do next.
He saw it before you even experienced it.
And and as much as that's what's happening in the world, this is
the picture that we need to have of Christ always.
And in Philippians too, we haven't even an added added
detail concerning what the Lord does from time to time on the
throne. We're we're told there and Psalm
2 that when the nations come together to try to fight against
the anointed and Psalm 2, verse four, it says that he who sits
on his throne does what? What does he do?
He laughs. He laughs.
He doesn't just sit, he laughs. And the Lord holds him in
derision. Let the globalists do what they
want. Let politicians make all the
laws that they want. Let him try to come against the
Church of Jesus Christ. The Lord sits in the heavens and
laughs. So with all the news and all the
social media posts and all the conspiracies and all these
things that have that before your face filter, all that you
read and see with that image, He who sits in the heavens laughs.
He's in total control. What's happening in your world?
What's happening in V world? This is, this is Christ, this is
him, and this is what Isaiah sees.
I wonder how Starling it was. But he doesn't just see that.
It says here that he's sitting upon a throw high and lifted up
and the train of his robe filled the temple.
I mean, that was a detail that Isaiah had to inscribe.
Clearly it was a Holy Spirit. He just looks at this, this
majestic being, this radiant king, and with it in the room
that he saw that the train of his robe absolutely occupied
every inch of that room. What is that to mean?
Well, obviously the train of his rope signifies some element of
his glory, and the aspect of the glory of Jesus Christ made no
room for anything else to boast in its glory.
He doesn't share his glory. There's no room.
When you consider Christ for anybody to boast in anything, He
occupies it all. Everything, regardless of the
means, regardless of the instrument that he uses,
ultimately he deserves it all. He deserves it all.
I remember sitting with a minister who is now in heaven
and we're having a lovely lunch. And while we're having that and
he's a man of God, we were sitting there talking different
things, just casually and all. All of a sudden he stops.
He looks at me and he knew I was in ministry and and he looked at
me and he just laser focused right into my soul.
He says, you touch the glory, he'll bury you.
I didn't. Do you think I swallowed the
thing in my mouth? I just like, how do you respond
to that? Thank you.
I and I just nodded my head and he looked at me and says don't
touch the glory, don't touch the glory.
And then we went on after that, Just casual conversation.
He's right. Don't touch the glory.
Many men have. Many women have attempted to
touch the glory. And God can replace you in a
second. You have a wonderful voice.
That's great. You have a wonderful ability to
expound the scriptures. You're you're very intelligent.
God can make the rocks praise him.
So be careful. Don't touch the glory.
Here's Isaiah. There's no room for anything
else. The whole place is connected to
the king that the robe itself demonstrating that there's no
other place. There's no other person.
There's no other thing that can compare it to him.
And now from seeing seeing Christ, he sees something else
around the king, and it's in verse two.
Above him stood the seraphim. The seraphim.
It the words simply means burning ones.
It describes something about their actual being.
They were gleaming, they were radiant, Their actual appearance
was fiery. So these heavenly creatures,
Isaiah sees them and he takes note of them.
He doesn't tell us how many there are, but that's not
important to Isaiah. He wants to tell us what they
were doing and what were they doing.
Well, we're told here each had six wings.
With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his
feet, and with two he flew. So 6 wings you have two there
covering the face, you have two there flying, and you have two
there covering the feet. Out of the six you had four
doing something very interesting, covering the face
unworthy to behold the glory of Jesus Christ.
Covering the feet unworthy to serve him.
And we're told here that they stood, they stood above, and
that that posture. So you have Jesus sitting, and
then you have the Seraphim standing.
And that posture of standing communicates A readiness to
service. They are there so that if they
get the command at any time, their obedience will be swift,
it will not be delayed. And so in the presence of the
king here, they are perpetually in a posture of readiness to
obey. And that's great, because we're
going to learn something about these seraphim in a moment here.
And although they were ready to serve their king, you see this
detail about their wings. Those are the wings speak about
a level of swiftness as well. But two are covering the face
and two are covering the feet, and two are suspending them.
Out of the six, four are doing something. 2/3 of who these
beings are are teaching us where we need to put our emphasis.
The face and the feet are covered, speak of worship.
The wings there that were out were the wings to assist them to
go where the king would tell him to go.
That speaks of service. Out of the six, four wings were
dedicated to worship. Don't put your personal devotion
over your ministry. Rather, don't put your ministry
over your personal devotion. And if you're going to serve the
Lord, which we all call to serve the Lord, let it come out of the
place of adoring the Lord and knowing the Lord and seeking the
Lord and spending time with the Lord and and standing before His
Majesty. Continue allowing that to fuel
what you do for Him. Many people do the opposite.
They put most of their energy, if not all of their energy, into
serving Him. And serving Him is wonderful.
We're called to do that, but there's a priority here.
There's a hierarchy here. There's a wisdom here that from
the place of adoration are we to go now there and assist the
Kingdom of God. The Serfum knew that we're we're
going to use our wings here to demonstrate how much we are just
absolutely enthralled by the beauty of the king.
And then from there they were able to serve him.
You know, there's a an interesting verse in the Song of
Solomon and the Song of Solomon. In chapter one, verse 6, there's
this little detail that the Shulamite woman says, and it's
in principle something that we should, we should take he do in
Song the Solomon, chapter one, verse six, what do we read?
It's going to come up there. If not, I'll read it here.
This woman says, do not gaze at me because I am dark, because
the sun has looked upon me. My mother sons were angry with
me. They made me look at this.
They made me keeper of the vineyards.
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
They made me keeper of the vineyards.
But my own vineyard I have not kept.
You know, many ministers fall into that temptation.
All they do, and they do out of a good place, is they pour into
the vineyards of others. They sacrifice so much of their
time and their energy, trying to nourish and replenish others in
their walk with the Lord at the expense of their own vineyard
not being kept. So in the personal devotion
time, they're being shriveled up.
They haven't took time to actually behold the glory of the
Lord for themselves, and they're trying to help everybody else do
it. And that's a dangerous place to
be where you're not keeping your own venue, you're trying to help
everybody else in their own fruitfulness.
And so for even the sake of your effectiveness for the Lord in
your service, the Lord, you must have your vineyard cat.
You cannot neglect it. You can't neglect your time with
the Lord. You can't neglect your time in
the Word. You can't neglect your own
personal time of worship. These surf, and they had four of
their wings doing just that, and from that place they were able
to serve and do the same. And when you're tempted to
neglect, they realize that to the degree that you are in that
place with the Lord personally will determine the depth of your
influence in other people's lives.
Where many people go wrong over time is at some point, and it's
not always the case. But most of the time, when there
is somebody who burns out or somebody who falls into grievous
sin, I can guarantee you that at some point it's because they
have not kept their own vineyard.
They they they got busy. They got busy, they lost focus.
And then eventually, because your spirit is no longer strong,
even as you're serving others, something tragic happens.
You either quit it all together or you do something that messes
it all up. Anyway.
So we see here that the Seraphim are demonstrating something of
the need to emphasize worship and love and in everything else
flowing from that place. But you know what's so
significant is, is what they do as they worship.
It says you're in verse three and one called to another and
said holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
You know how many people interpret the scripture?
This is what they're worshipping to the Lord with.
That's not what the text says. That's not what verse three
says. They're not looking at the Lord
and saying holy, holy, holy, what is it 1 called to another?
They're saying this to each other.
So these Seraphim are looking at one another, so to speak, or at
least communicating to one another.
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of His glory.
What does that teach us? It teaches us this that when you
truly, personally behold the glory of God, come to the Word,
experience the Lord through the Word.
You seek him in that place, and he begins to reveal himself to
you. You can't help but talking to
others about it. You can't help it so overwhelms
you, so overcomes you that you have to spill over and talk to
others about it. We got a glimpse of that this
weekend. That's why I was so refreshed,
because so many people in this place clearly have experienced
something with the Lord in the past year or in the past few
years. And when you truly come into
that encounter with the Lord in the truth, oh, you can't help
but tell others about it. You can't.
You have to almost restrain yourself.
It's a joy. It's a delight.
And these Sarah from are doing just that.
If you want to know how you can become more effective in telling
people about the Lord, just enjoy him.
Just taste and see. And you don't really need the
mechanics that people often have to give to try to get us into
the into the mode. No, it just if you come to that
place it will over overflow from your life.
So they're speaking this to one another and what are they
saying? Holy, holy, Holy is the Lord of
Hoes #1. They're speaking about the
character and the nature of God thrice holy.
The fact that it's repeated, it's because it's an emphasis.
There is nothing like him. He is otherworldly and you can't
just say it once. You have to say it over and over
and over. There is no one like this king.
And so they knew something about his nature and they wanted to
talk about his nature, his person.
But then from there we see that he they're talking about his
works. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And even before that, Holy,
holy, Holy is the Lord of Host. Out of all the things that they
highlighted about the King, the Lord of hosts, that word simply
means the Lord of Angel armies. And that is a phrase that is
often used. That is a that is a aspect of
the Lord that's often used in the prophetic books, and for
good reason. The Lord of Angel armies.
What do you see in the prophetic books That the people of God are
frequently vulnerable to outside attack as a result of their lack
of faith, and these prophets would often declare the Lord of
Angel armies. He can fight your battles.
He can defend you from your foes.
He can stand and defend you, but you need a turn from your sin.
He's the Lord of hopes. He's ready to come by your side.
So the character of God, he's holy, the works of God.
What he can do, what he is doing.
The heavens declare his glory. Christ Jesus in you.
The hope of glory bearing fruit that the Father may be
glorified. Our lives, nature, all the
things, ministry, they testify the glory of the Lord throughout
the earth. And ultimately it will come to
its climax with the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
This is what the surf and we're consumed with.
And I love that phrase in Acts chapter 4 where the disciple
says we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
We can't help it because we've seen it, because we've heard it.
It would be wrong for us not to speak about it when people are
not excited about the Lord, it tells me one thing they haven't
seen or heard. They're religious.
They're tidy, nice Christians. They're conservative in their
values, but they haven't seen the glory of God yet.
And if they have, they became stale because they didn't stay
in that place of the presence of God.
So here's the side of the glory of Jesus Christ, and something
begins to happen now. Here's this visual.
But now you're now Isaiah's about to feel something, and
this is what he feels. And the foundation of the
threshold shook at the voice of him who called.
And the house was filled with smoke.
And here's this man now trembling because he is in the
presence of a holy God. And this is what he says in
verse 5. And I said, Woe is me for I am
lost. Woe is me for I am lost.
This is a prophet. This is not a heathen.
This is a man. Leading up to chapter six was
saying, whoa to you, whoa to you, whoa to you.
Now he comes to Isaiah, Chapter 6.
OK, whoa was me. What was me?
I am lost. The word lost doesn't
communicate the strength of what he's saying.
In other words, what he's really saying is in the original I am
destroyed. I'm destroyed.
Being in the presence of this holy king, who am I?
And he uses language that is familiar.
Woe is me, for I'm lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.
If you were a leper, you have to let your hair hang loose.
You have to wear torn clothes according to Leviticus, and you
have to put your hand on your upper lip and walk around,
especially if you're coming in close proximity with people.
Unclean, unclean, unclean. There's a prophet.
You know what's so significant about this?
He is describing of himself what happened to Uziah.
Uziah became a leper. Uziah became a diseased man.
And that leprosy speaks of sin. And you know what he is saying?
This prophet in the presence of the king.
I'm no better than Uzaya. Yeah.
That man who lost his strong, that man who was an outcast for
the rest of his life, Me, Isaiah, the prophet, I'm no
better than him because we're all equal at the foot of the
cross. What brought him to this
revelation? When you see him in his
brilliance, when you see him in His Holiness, you cannot boast.
You will stop this comparative sanctification thing.
You will become less confident in your own righteousness.
Because that's what we tend to do, right?
I'm not like that. What do you when you talk to,
when you talk to people who are not saved?
What are you saying when you try to present the gospel?
When you try to tell them that they're sinners?
Well, I'm not a murderer. I'm not a rapist.
I'm not this, I'm not that. And so let me, let me convey
this to you. The, the, the, the purpose of us
and delivering the gospel truth entails declaring the holiness
of God. We are not doing people a favor
by not describing the holiness of God.
We need to rediscover the fear of God.
We need to rediscover because I know it doesn't sound appealing.
I know it doesn't sound like it will win hearts.
I know people are afraid of misinterpreting God by
delivering God and His Holiness. But you were doing a disservice
to the gospel. Yes, I know that there is
another extreme. Yes, I know that you can
communicate a wrathful God with no hope, but you have to still
be faithful to what the Word of God says about God.
You have to Why would they want to be washed from their sins if
they don't realize how filthy they are?
Why would they want the blood unless they realize they need to
be cleansed. And so we see here even this man
who could have boasted in so much, which I love.
I love this about the Bible. Look how detailed the Bible is.
Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man.
Out of all the things he could have said, he said unclean lips.
Yes, that's a reference to leprosy, but again, he's a
prophet. If there was anything that
Isaiah could have boasted about in his righteousness, what could
it have been? His lips.
He declared the word of the Lord.
He spoke the truth. He was faithful to the message
of God in an apostate time. If there was anything that
Isaiah could have been confident in concerning his standing
before God, it was his ministry. It was his gift, it was his
calling. But that very thing that God
used, those lips, he said in the presence of Jesus.
They're unclean. And it's the same Isaiah where
we get that that very well known phrase that even our righteous
acts are what Filthy Isaiah said that Isaiah said that later on.
And no wonder, because this man who leading up to this point was
using his lips for the glory of God even then in the presence of
the glory, God said I I can't boast even in this.
I have nothing. I'm undone.
I have nothing to. I can't say, hey, but Lord, look
at this. It's all filthy rags in contrast
to Your Holiness. For I'm a man of unclean lips,
and they dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
Why? For my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Not only is this important for
Isaiah in terms of what he's going to experience with
atonement, this is Isaiah. Some debate.
Is this Isaiah going into his initial calling, or is this
Isaiah in chapter 6 going into a new level of his calling?
Whatever side you choose, the principle is still the same.
Isaiah needed to experience this before he went into the
ministry, because He's about to say here I am, send me right.
But before the Lord would send him, Isaiah needed a revelation
about himself. If Isaiah was going to preach
for the Lord of Isaiah was going to serve the Lord.
Isaiah need to be convinced of his own sinfulness and his own
frailty and his own imperfection, so so that he
would not enter into the ministry self-righteous, proud.
He needed to be humbled. That changes everything.
Ministry is one thing. Ministry with humility is a
whole another level of authority and effectiveness.
And God will tend to do that with his men, with his woman,
with God. And and you need to continually
ask the Lord for this. Lord, as I serve others, as I
tell the truth to others, help me remember who I am.
In light of all of this, can I show you another example of
that? Can we go to Exodus chapter 4?
Here's Moses very reluctant to answer the call to go and save
the people of Israel from Egypt. And the Lord wants to comfort
him. And even teach him through these
catalog of supernatural signs, just a handful of them, before
he goes to speak on behalf of the Lord.
And so we see that there's something that happens with his
staff that turns into a serpent. And here's here's another
miracle that takes place that has a very important lesson in
Exodus 4, verse six and seven. Remember, this is the Lord
speaking to his man before he goes out and represents Yahweh
to the people who are enslaved. And here's what the Lord does.
One of the miracles is so important because it's the same
principle as Isaiah in Exodus 4/6.
And again, the Lord said to him, put your hand inside your cloak,
and he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out,
behold, his hand was lepers like snow.
And then after we were told that he puts it back, and then he
takes it out and behold it was restored like the rest of his
flesh. So the Lord says, Moses, I'm,
I'm going to be ready to send you now, but I need to show.
I need to show you something. So take your hand and put it
inside your cloak and take it out.
And he took it out. His hand became white.
He knows what this is. What was God trying to say to
him? What was this?
Before I use you, I want you to see your own sinfulness.
I want you to see your own depraved nature.
And I was just talking with this with my dad, and he, he reminded
me, he told me he's like, do you notice that?
He said, put it inside your cloak.
Why? Because it's hidden.
Sin is not just outside, it's inside.
And sometimes we look at the outside and we're so confident
because of what we're like. We're so dignified and we dress
nice, we're polite and we have manners, he said.
Put your hand inside your cloak. It's your heart that's sinful.
It's the inner man, the things that people can't see.
That part of you is lepers as well.
Not just the veneer, not just the outside, not just the nicely
combed here and the religious talk.
Your heart, your heart needs to be changed.
And when you get all confident, when you get all comparative,
remember that inside your heart, you're lepers.
He humbles his men, and we need a side of our own sinfulness and
neediness before we go out and tell others that they need
Christ. Isaiah, before he goes into this
new level of preaching, says, woe is me, I am lost.
I am a man of unclean lips, and it would have been a very sad
story if it ended there. But it doesn't because verse six
we read now we're reintroduced to the Seraphim.
Then one of the Seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning
coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this is touch your
lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.
Let me touch on the Seraphim one more time.
I like the Seraphim. I enjoy them.
Here's the Seraphim in the presence of God.
Here's the Seraphim declaring the glory of God.
Here's the Seraphim ready to serve his king.
And in the presence of a man who is broken and contrite in the
presence of a man who realized his need, who is desperate, who
was shattered by his own sin, he was quick to come as a vessel,
as an instrument to provide a remedy for his sin.
What I take from that is if you are a person like the serf, and
if you're a person who really is in the presence of God, you walk
in the Spirit, You know the Lord, you do worship Him.
One of the ways by which that is proven is how you deal with
people in their sin. Doesn't glacial 6 tell us that
those who are spiritual are to restore those who are fallen?
If you're really spiritual, one of the signs that you are
spiritual is how you respond and how you act in the presence of
somebody who really messed up. What goes through your mind?
How do you treat them? How do you talk about them?
How do you talk through them
when they really mess up? When they say, well, I am, I am
unclean, I'm undone. Do you scade them even more?
Do you discourage them? Do you condemn them?
Do you shun them? Or are you like the Seraphim who
truly reflect the essence of what it means to be in God's
presence, to be close and intimate with the king?
And your heart throbs with compassion because you yourself
know I'm capable of the same sin.
I know that I can fall. I know that I can do this.
I know that this is possible for me.
I know what Christ has forgiven me from.
So people who talk about how spiritual they are, and they
come off all condescending and arrogant, talking down about
others, speaking so ill of them even in their sin.
I question that that person really stands in the presence of
Jesus. I do.
But when a person, regardless of how spiritual they are, they
mercy, when they ooze with that mercy, that signifies this
person knows something about the king.
That doesn't mean we're light with sin.
That doesn't mean we just let people get away with their
unrepentant said. This is not an unrepentant man.
This is a very broken man. What do you do in the presence
of a man who is broken in his sin?
What do you do with a man like Isaiah, who served in the
ministry, who had a reputation of being a man of God, but now
it comes to the realization that he's not a man of God.
Or maybe he does something that disqualifies him to be a man of
God. What do you do?
Oh, the closer you are to Christ, the the more you will
know what to do and the more you'll reflect him.
The seraphim flew. He flew to Isaiah, and he
provides him a coal from the altar, purging coal that
symbolized, You know who it is. But you know what's so
fascinating about this? Isaiah's vision of the holiness
of God on the throne is not all that God wanted him to see and
experience. It starts with the holiness of
God. It starts with you standing in
the presence of His purity. That's where it starts.
But what we learn from this is that's not all that God wants us
to see. He wants us to go from the
throne to the altar, His Holiness to His mercy, His
justice, to his His loving forgiveness.
So it's not crushing conviction as the end here.
That's not the end. That's the means for you to
realize that there is, there is salvation, there is rescue.
For me now, in this place I am broken.
And that's true. So we we become broken.
He does break us, only to heal us, only to pick us up and to
make us new. This is exactly what we've seen.
The vision doesn't end with the throne.
People come here, say the throne.
It is a throne. But don't exclude the altar.
Don't exclude the altar. When you want to say you want to
see Jesus's glory in Isaiah chapter 6.
Yeah, don't stop with the train of his robe filling the temple.
Go to the cold that came from that altar and touch the lips of
a man who needed salvation. That's the glory of the Lord
taking it from the tongs with the tongs from the altar.
I mean, how hot was it for Sarah?
From not to touch it with his own hands?
He had to use tongs, and he flew to him and sizzled his lips, and
he is reassured. Behold, this has touched your
lips. Your guilt is taken away, and
your sin is atoned for. Your sin is atoned for.
Notice what happens as a result of his sin being atoned for.
This is a picture of the gospel. This is a picture of Christ
purging us by His blood. Verse 8 And I'm ending it here.
This is Isaiah. And I heard the voice of the
Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
If the God had here, then I said, Here I am, Send me.
Here I am, send me. Notice the secret of events
here. It wasn't until Isaiah was
perched from his sin that he was able to clearly hear the voice
of God. Up to this point he saw many
things. He heard the seraphim, but it
wasn't until his lips were cleansed his sin was atone for
that he was able to have access to a nearness of God that wasn't
available before. Do you see that sequence?
Your sin needs to be atone, for if you're going to come near,
your sin needs to be dealt with in order for you to come close.
Your sin needs to be dealt with in order for you to be brought
into the inner circle, so to speak.
Apart from that, you always be at a distance.
But through that something opens up to us.
And now he is hearing the voice of his king.
He's hearing the voice of his God.
God becomes real when you are washed.
Isn't that true? Something is open up to a new
world, A new world? When you're born again, a new
world opens up to you, right? And the most important thing of
that new world, as you are a new person, is God, the newness of
God. Not with physical.
I'm not talking about mysticism here.
I'm talking about the eyes of your heart.
I'm talking about the depth of your soul that comes alive.
And the Lord now is not just a theological concept.
He's a person to be known. And you realize his leading.
You realize his plans and purposes.
He unfolds for you what he wants to do for you.
And that is the joy of our salvation.
Not just a ticket to get in at the gates, but to know him.
Now as I get there and I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
This is the part that I love. Then I said, here I am, Send me.
This guy's excited. This prophet is eager.
Do you know why? Do you know why I say that?
Because the job description wasn't given yet, right?
Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
Here. Sign me up.
I'm ready. Didn't even know what it is.
Do you know one of the signs that you've experienced?
The Lord is that you will serve him no matter what that looks
like, right. He didn't say.
Hey, Lord, I'm willing. But I really want to do this,
though. Do you have anything?
No. OK, that's not.
That's not what you're saying, Lord.
I'll serve you. But I want to serve you like
this. I want.
I want the pulpit. And then I'll serve you.
I want one of these microphones and then I'll serve you.
I'm ready. Let me know when you're ready.
I'm willing to serve you. But I want these gifts and I
want to be compensated for my gifts.
And I I like traveling, Lord. And so if I can get invited some
places, that'd be really nice. So here I am sending none of
that. None of that rubbish.
Whom? Whom?
Where will they go? What it doesn't say.
Here I am, send me, and then the job description comes, Here I
am, send me, and then the And here it is.
And he said, go and say to this, people keep on hearing, but do
not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not
perceive. Make the heart of this people
dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes lest they see
with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand what
their hearts and turn and be healed.
That's that's the job description.
When you preach, nobody's going to listen to you.
When you preach, people's hearts are actually going to get
hardened. They're going to become more
blind and more deaf. Look at the natural response of
this prophet and verse 11. Then I said, how long, old Lord?
How long, old Lord? Imagine that being a preacher
and nobody's going to answer. Respond to your messages and you
said, until the city's lies waste without inhabitant and
houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste.
And he goes on to describe until they're judged because they've
reached the point of of serious condemnation.
But the point I want to take from this is when you've seen
him and you experience his forgiveness, that's enough for
you to endure anything in this life, including a ministry that
doesn't seem to provide the reward that you thought it would
bring. Because it's about him.
It's about the Lord. It's about knowing that he
called you and that he sent you and that you're pleasing him.
And that's enough motivation, even though you stand before
people that can't wait for you to finish talking.
Behold the glory of Jesus Christ.
Behold the man who experienced the glory of Jesus Christ and
was never the same. Behold the lessons of what
happens when we understand who King Jesus really is.
And I pray that after this weekend, you saw a glimpse of
how not only is he king, he's greater than any other king that
you would walk here with a fresh desire to crown him as Lord of
your life. And what a way to end this
conference. I don't want to be Christian is
here. I don't want it.
I don't want to be cliche. I don't want to be youth pumpy
here. OKI want to be real with you.
I want to be just straight. What a way to end this
conference to say, Lord, send me thank you for this glorious
weekend. Thank you for.
But there's a job to be done out there.
We're going to get this. What we're what we've done this
week. We're going to get it for all
the eternity. And yes, we need it from time to
time to be refreshed in this life.
But there is a world out there that has no clue of the joy that
you know, that has not encountered the holiness of God,
that has not seen his throne and has not understood the altar
with the coal signifying the cross that's able to restore
that they don't know, They don't know.
And the people who claim to know, most of them don't know
either. And so I want us to end here in
a corporate expression of faith. And God knows if it's on your
heart. God, I'm not.
I can't force you to do anything but to genuinely say because
these moments should refresh us and reenergize and say, Lord, I
walked into this conference may be very discouraged about the
ministry that I'm in, not very excited about what I'm doing for
you. But I saw this man who beheld
your glory and he said, here I am, send me though he didn't
know where he was going to go. I I, I want that kind of faith.
I want to go back to my local church, and wherever the need
is, I want to serve there. As long as you've called me
there, I want to please you before I please myself or
anybody else for that matter. And Lord, more than that, help
me to keep my vineyard leaving this place that as I serve
others and pour out into others. I would not neglect my own soul.
Teach me the beautiful balance of personal Teach me to cover my
face and my feet while the other two are helping me fly.
Teach me to keep you first my personal devotion before
anything else I do publicly, and you will listen.
If you, by God's grace and wisdom, know how to establish
that principle, you will make it to the end.
Fruitful, full of life, full of SAP.
Lord, we ask that you help us at the end of Maranatha 2023.
We give you honor and thanks that you've given us a glimpse
of your glory. And thank you for inviting us in
your word. The absolute authority,
infallible, perfect, all sufficient revelation of who you
are. Well, we pray that as we close,
as we sing, as we eat, as we hug, as we cry, as we laugh,
that our hearts would leave knowing that you've spoken to us
and that you have a purpose for every person here.
So thank you, God, thank you that you have indeed redeemed
us. Not just redeem this, but you've
called us to something. For this we are grateful.
Thank you for not just this church, the different churches
that are represented here. Thank you for this Conference
Center for the years of hosting us to encounter the living
Christ through the Word in your presence with God's people.
Lord, if it is your will, bring us back again.
Bring us back again with more stories, testimonies of what
happened between 2023 and 2024. We are eager to see what you
have, what is on your mind for us, in Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Amen.
Well, why don't we stand and
worship the world? You know when you when you think
about there's so much in that Isaiah 6 passage and when you
think about the Seraphim, how when the the King died and the
people of God, the nation of God was is in a difficult place.
I love how the Seraphim though, despite what was happening in
the world were worshiping. Their eyes are just focused on
Jesus and they were worshiping despite what was happening.
Holy, holy, Holy is the Lord of Aust, right?
He will sustain you. Keep your eyes on it.
He will keep you and I want an example set for us as the Saints
of God that despite anything, He's still worthy of our
adoration and love. I don't know what's going to
happen to you between now and next year, Lord willing will be
back again. But never forget that He is
worthy of your worship. Through it all.
Through it all, even if he doesn't answer you right away,
even if you're suffering or others around you are suffering
like Isaiah experienced, He is worthy of your worship.
If you are suffering now, consider the great privilege and
opportunity it is. It is a testimony for the Lord
to heal you. It is a testimony for the Lord
to strengthen you, to provide for you, to make a way to defeat
your enemies. That's all wonderful, and he can
and he can't be glorified in that.
But you have an opportunity now to display the peace of the Lord
at all times and in every way. May you be a living testimony
that our God is real and may empower us so that others would
see that he is a king worthy to be served.
Can we pray together? Yes again.
Or thank you for this time. Thank you for a little sliver of
heaven on earth never ending. Praise the people of God.
Fully redeemed, unable to disappoint one another with you
forever and ever and ever. But we pray that until then,
help us love you and honor you. We are standing, and we pray
that as we continue to stand in our hearts, we would stand ready
to serve you wherever you tell us to go When we do fail, And if
we do fail, help us be like the serf and quick to restore, quick
to restore. A broken man, a broken sister.
But we honor you. We love you.
Be with us now as we travel home.
Protect us. Surround us with your angels and
camp around us who fear you. Bring us home safely to our
families and friends and give us a fresh vigor for Monday, not
just Monday, but for the rest of the year.
Rest of our lives to serve your purposes.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen may be seated.
Final instructions this year feels extra sad to end.
The.