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“Holy, Holy, Holy Is the LORD!”
Isaiah 6:1-8
John T. Mabray, Pastor
Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian
Church
Lynchburg, Virginia
February 6, 2005
8:30 and 11:00 A.M.
THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is
and is to come! Send forth Your Spirit, O LORD, to open our ears, that
we may hear Your voice speaking to us through the Scriptures; to open
our minds and enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that with all spiritual
wisdom and insight we may behold a new vision of Your holiness, and so
offer ourselves anew as living sacrifices of Your praise; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE READING OF ISAIAH 6:1-8
THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE
To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His
blood – to Jesus Christ be glory and dominion now and forever. Amen.
Corporate worship on the
Lord’s Day is at the heart of the Christian life. Of course, worship is
not limited to what we do here on Sunday mornings and evenings;
everything we do everyday is to be an offering of worship. The Scripture
says, “…whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the
glory of God” (First Corinthians 10:31 ESV); and, “whatever you do, in
word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17 ESV). Worship is at the
very heart of the Christian life everyday. But corporate worship on the
Lord’s Day is the primary offering of worship which overflows into the
offering of our whole lives in worship to the LORD.
The passage
from Isaiah provides us with a lens through which we can look at our own
order of corporate worship. If you understand our worship service, if
you can see how the worship service flows from beginning to end, and if
you will participate in that with your hearts and minds engaged, then, I
believe, you will experience worship in a much more rich and fulfilling
way, to the glory of God. So, keep your Bibles open to Isaiah 6 as we
walk through this passage, and please have a bulletin handy, but please
stay with me.
When the veil
of time and space was pulled away by the Holy Spirit, Isaiah saw the
heavenly throne-room. Isaiah saw what we would see right now, in this
moment, if that veil were removed: “.. the LORD, seated on a throne,
high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1). Isaiah saw the heavenly worship
service around the throne of the One who is “holy, holy, holy.” That is
the reason that the Scripture teaches us to worship “with reverence and
awe” (Hebrews 12:28).
We are in His presence.
Worship is not about us, it’s not about you, and it’s not about me.
Worship is all about the true and living God; and our worship must be
focused on Him, directed to Him, and pleasing to Him.
Isaiah heard the seraphim
calling to one another in responsive words of praise:
Holy,
holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory (Isaiah 6:3 NIV).
For this reason, we begin
our worship services with Gathering Songs and Opening Sentences calling
us to worship the Holy One. Usually, the Opening Sentences are
responsive readings of the psalms. The focus is on God’s greatness,
goodness, and glory; we are being called to worship Him because He is
worthy of our worship. The responsive sentences are followed by a hymn
of praise, as Psalm 95 instructs us:
Oh come,
let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
(Ps. 95:1-2).
Now, you may have never
thought about it this way, but please understand: The Scripture exhorts
us to “come into His presence with singing” (Psalm 100). If you said to
God, “But I can’t sing,” God would say to you what He has said in His
word:
“Make a joyful noise!”
I’d like to encourage
every household to have a hymnal: first of all, for family worship;
secondly, so that you can commit to memory some of the great, historic
hymns of the church, such as “Holy, Holy, Holy!” You
can
memorize those four verses; many of you probably already have! When we
sing it on Sunday morning, you don’t have to bury your face in the
hymnal. Lift your face to heaven! Lift your hands to heaven, and sing to
the LORD:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
All
thy works shall praise thy name
in earth and sky and sea!
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God
in three persons, blessed Trinity!
The worship service
begins with praise: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!”
But what happens next? When Isaiah looked into the heavenly throne-room
and saw the LORD, seated on a throne, high and lifted up, suddenly,
Isaiah realized where he was; and then he realized what he was. And in
the presence of the HOLY ONE, he cried out with fear and trembling:
Woe is me! For I am ruined (undone, done for)!
For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a
people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD
Almighty.
In the light of
the LORD’s majestic holiness and perfect righteousness, Isaiah could see
himself for who he was: a sin-defiled creature unworthy of being in the
presence of God. He cried out a confession of sin, acknowledging not
only his own personal sins, but also the sins of his people. Not only
was he an individual sinner, he was a member of sinful community: “I
dwell among a people of unclean lips.”
Following this
pattern of Scripture, after we have entered into worship with praise, in
the presence of the Holy One, we confess our sins. Sometimes, Pastor Cox
or I will offer the prayer of confession on behalf of the whole
congregation; sometimes, as we did this morning, we pray a corporate
prayer of confession in unison. This is not dead ritual. This is not
mechanical routine. This is worship based on a pattern we see in
Scripture. This is worship based on the fundamentals of Christian
doctrine: God is worthy to be praised; and in His holy presence, we must
humble ourselves and confess our sins.
The printed
corporate prayers of confession are not vain repetition. They are based
upon Scripture, and they are intended to enable us to confess our sins
personally. The printed prayers focus our thoughts; they guide us in our
confession; they are intended to help us confess our sins and seek God’s
forgiveness. Of course, the words (or the spirit of the words)
must be internalized, and of course true confession must come from the
heart. True confession is not a matter of reading words off a page. But
if you, over time, internalize the words of these prayers, just as you
have internalized the Lord’s Prayer, I believe that you will find that
you are better enabled, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to enter into
the Prayer of Confession with your heart as well as with your lips.
After Isaiah
had cried out with his confession of sin, one of the seraphs (one of the
angelic beings) flew to Isaiah with a live coal in his hand, which he
had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched Isaiah’s mouth with it,
in direct response to Isaiah’s confession that he was a man of unclean
lips. Then after the seraph had seared Isaiah’s lips with that burning
coal from the altar, the seraph said, “See, this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7).
Now, what does
that sound like?
“Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
This seraph was proclaiming the gospel, declaring to Isaiah the
Assurance of Pardon.
Having confessed his sins, Isaiah needed the Assurance of Pardon: “Your
guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
That is the
reason that each Lord’s Day, following the Prayer of Confession, one of
the pastors will proclaim to you, again, the promise of the gospel,
declaring the
Assurance of Pardon
to all who repent of their sins and look to Christ for mercy. So, don’t
be distracted; don’t be looking ahead to what’s coming next; don’t
tune-out as though this were an unimportant transition. When I or Pastor
Cox proclaim the Assurance of Pardon to those who repent of their sins
and look to Christ for mercy, what we are doing is the same thing that
the seraph did for Isaiah. As ministers of Christ, we are applying the
gospel personally to you. The seraph took the burning coal from the
altar of God and applied it to Isaiah’s lips, so that Isaiah’s guilt was
taken away.
Brothers and sisters,
that burning coal from the altar of God is Jesus Christ; for it was on
the cross – the true altar – that Christ burned with the holy wrath of
God for our sins. And when Jesus Christ is applied to our lives, applied
to our hearts and minds and souls by the power of the Spirit through the
word of the gospel, we receive the assurance that through His sacrifice
for us, our guilt has been taken away and our sin has been atoned for.
Through the promise of the gospel, we have the assurance of forgiveness,
acceptance, peace with God, and life everlasting. And even though I am
often the one who speaks the Assurance of Pardon, I am also a man who
desperately needs to hear it for himself. I hope that you, too, hunger
every Sunday for the Assurance of Pardon. And after you hear it, then
sing out and shout with joy the
Acclamation of Praise
in response to God’s mercy and grace: for
Great Is the Lord!
After the
seraph proclaimed the Assurance of Pardon, there was not an interlude!
(There are no interludes in heavenly worship! But we need them here!).
But after the Assurance of Pardon, Isaiah heard the word of the LORD,
saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for me?” After the Assurance
of Pardon in our service, we hear the word of the LORD. As Reformed
Christians, we believe that the preaching and the hearing of the word of
God is a supernatural event. It appears to be very natural: I speak; you
hear. And if that is all that happens, it is only natural, fleshly. But
if God speaks and you hear the voice of the LORD, then it is
supernatural, by the power of the Holy Spirit; and that is what we pray
will take place, and that is what we trust will take place, when we
humble ourselves before the Lord and when the written word is rightly
preached. I can speak to your eardrum, but only God can speak to your
heart. I can teach Scripture to your brain, but only God can write it
upon your heart. I beg you to pray for me, for Pastor Cox, for your
family members, for the people sitting next to you in the pew, in
preparation for the preaching and hearing of the word. I beg you to join
me in fervent prayer, each time I offer The Prayer for Illumination. We
are asking God to speak to us through His written word, and we are
asking God for His Spirit to open our deaf ears, illumine our dark
minds, awaken our slumbering souls, and speak His truth into our hearts!
Do you want that? Do you long for that? Don’t come here on Sunday
morning to hear me preach; come to hear the voice of God speaking
to you through the Scriptures. Come, praying for the Holy Spirit to work
a miracle of divine communication, not only for you but for us all.
After Isaiah
had heard the word of the LORD, he responded by saying, “Here am I. Send
me!” In response to the word of the LORD, Isaiah offered himself into
the LORD’s service. God’s word calls us to Himself, and sends us into
the world. Therefore, in our worship, we have responses to the word
which indicate the offering of ourselves to God for service in the
world. The first response is The Affirmation of Faith, such as The
Apostles’ Creed. When we stand to affirm our faith in the words of an
historic creed, it is our way of saying, “Yes,
Lord, I believe what Your word teaches. I submit myself to Your word. I
declare that I am yours, and you are mine; and, as a member of Your
Church, I renew my covenant with you and with your people.
The Lord’s
Supper is also a specific way in which the Lord ministers to us and we
respond in faith to Him. The Lord’s Supper is the visible and tangible
word of the gospel: that Christ died for our sins. To take and eat, to
take and drink, is to say, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” To take and
eat, to take and drink, is to say, “You, Lord, are my life and
sustenance. Come, Lord Jesus, in your power, grace, and mercy, come anew
by Your Spirit into my life.” The Lord’s Supper is, in fact, the
visible and tangible way, that we receive, and accept, and embrace Jesus
Christ in faith. The Lord’s Supper is, in fact, the Reformed “altar
call” for us all, calling us as His covenant people, to renew our
covenant with Him and with one another.
We respond also
by offering to God our prayers, our supplications, our intercessions.
Prayer is our way of speaking to God in faith because He has spoken to
us.
We respond by
the offering of our material substance, which is but the token of the
totality of our lives. The weekly offering expresses both gratitude for
all that God has given us, and trust that He will provide all we need.
It expresses our commitment to the strengthening of His church and the
advance of His kingdom on earth. It is also a way of showing compassion
on those who have material needs, remembering the words of Jesus, “It is
more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
We conclude
with a hymn of dedication, and a charge and benediction – an exhortation
and blessing from the word of the Lord – so that, as we prepare to go
back into the world, we will remember to live as citizens of heaven, in
the assurance that Jesus Christ is with us always. And we go out from
this sanctuary, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to live as the salt of
the earth and the light of the world. You see, everything we do is to
flow out of our experience of worship, so that our everyday life, like
our worship, will be God-centered and God-glorifying.
So, whatever
you, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God the Father through Him. Amen.
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