Esteban Bustos

Okay, let's open our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 6, please. Isaiah chapter 6. We started looking at Isaiah chapter 6 last week and we just got through the first point, right?

And we were talking about how does a sinner approaches God's presence? How does a sinner really is able to come before God? And the first thing we saw is that we have to first recognize that God is great, that God is holy, that we serve a holy God, that we're not going to understand who we really are until we understand who really God is.

So last week we just spend some time talking about this King Uzziah, who in chapter 6 of Isaiah, it tells us that in the year of, in verse 1, in the year of King Uzziah's death, okay? So we said the historical context of Isaiah chapter 6 in the year of a king's death. And we talk about how Uzziah was a great king for Judah for 52 years. And during his time, the limits of the land were as big as they were with Solomon. They had a political stability. They had a great army, okay? And they were financially well.

But we talked last week that they forgot about their God. When everything was well, when everything was okay with them, when they had money, they had army, they have a king, everything went well. But they forgot about God and they started living in sin within the people. So last week we talked about four actions that teach us how to respond to God with reverence, right? Four actions that teach us how to respond to God with reverence. So the first one was to be confronted by God's character, okay?

Your view of God is going to determine who you are, okay? Who you really think God is, okay? That's going to be very important for you because when we go to verses 5 through 7 today, verses 5 through 7, we're going to see the second thing, okay?

The second action that is a consequence of your view of God, okay? The second action that is a consequence of your view of God, okay?

God is holy. God is perfect. God is great. God is majestic. And the second action is going to respond who we are, okay?

Who we are as people. And verse 6, we see that when Isaiah has this vision of God, he starts talking on verse 5 and he said, then I said, woe is me for I am ruined. After looking at God's presence, after looking at God's holiness, he becomes very conscious, very conscious of his own sin, okay? A consciousness of your own sin. When you know that God is holy, when you know that God is majestic, when you know that God is above all, you become conscious of your own sin. And we can see right here in verse 5 when he says that, woe is me for I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king Yahweh of hosts.

When Isaiah looks at the glorious majesty, of the glorious majesty, sorry, of God in his vision, he looks at himself, okay? He looks at himself. And he doesn't say, wow, I'm so good, man. I'm the prophet of God. I'm the one taking the message to other people, so I'm good, I'm pretty good. Because the people of Israel are sinners, but he doesn't say that. He says, woe to me for I am destroyed. I am ruined. That means that he's being destroyed by God's holiness. Have you thought about it? He's seeing God's holiness and he says, how am I going to survive this?

Because I just had a vision of the holy God and that just caused to look at my own heart. And he's saying, I am ruined. And it's interesting because in verse 5, this is like a prophetic oracle. And in the same way, you know that we talked last week that in the same way in verse 3, when the seraphim are calling to one another saying, holy, holy, holy, is the way of the Hebrew language of saying that there is nobody like God, that he's the only one. The same way Isaiah is using the same thing, the same concept.

But now the contrary, because I'm not holy, holy, holy. A sinner, sinner, sinner. There's nobody as bad as I am. And he gets confronted by God's holiness and he becomes very conscious of his own sin. And we got to think about this. Because he's the prophet of God. He's somebody that was close to God. And now he finds himself in the temple. And he finds himself in the presence of God. And the prophet who was proclaiming or he was giving curses to the people in verse 20. If you go to verse 20 of chapter 5 chapter 5 of Isaiah verse 8, he's going to be describing the sins of the people.

Isaiah chapter 5 verse 8, he's going to start describing the sins of the people. Isaiah chapter 5 verse 8, it says, woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room. So the first thing, the first thing that Isaiah is telling the people is the sin of greed.

They were very greedy. Verse 11, look at verse 11. Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue a strong drink, who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them. The second sin that the people were committing against God, which he's giving courses to the about this is drunkenness.

The second, the third one, the third one, the third woe is found in verse 18. You have it. Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of worthlessness and sin as if with cards ropes, who said, who say, let him hurry, let him hasten his work that we may see it and let the council of the holy one of Israel draw near and come to pass that we may know it. What is the third sin?

It is deception. It's very similar to scoffer. What they were doing, they were carrying in their shoulders their own sin and being as sinful as they were, they were trying to say, oh, let's see if God does something with this. That's why he's using this, this image of a wagon being carried, but this ropes and this wagon is full of sin. And the people were asking God to act powerfully within the people, but they were being sinful in their own lives. It's like as a Christian living in sin and then praying, please, Lord, help me.

Mocking God, making fun of God, thinking that he's holy and at the same time living as he's not holy. So the sins of the people were, you know, the serving of God's judgment. And the first one is greed, drunkenness, deception, verse 18, right?

And then the fourth one that we're going to find, we're going to find it in verse 20. You have it. And I think we're going to identify with this verse very well in the times that we're living right now.

Woe to those who call what evil, good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe, woe to those who call evil, good and good evil. What is the fourth one? Confusion. Don't know who they are. Don't know what they believe in. They were people of God. We're not talking about those sinful outside the people of God. We're not talking about the world. We're talking about people within Israel. We're talking about people who believe that God was holy.

We're talking about people who went to the temple. We're talking about people who offer sacrifices. We're talking about people who said, we are Israel. We are descendants of Abraham. Doesn't it work like that with us as Christians as well? We are in sin, sin after sin, sin after sin. But I'm a Christian. I go to church. I'm saved. I made a prayer 10 years ago. So I know I'm going to heaven. And we're falling into the same mistake that these people for confusion. Don't know, don't know how to tell between good and evil.

And it's interesting because if you, if you look on the internet, when some people got to the universities, whether it be UCLA, USC, and they asked them, they asked the students or the professors, how many genders are there? And you can tell how evil our society is. So it doesn't start, you know, in those places where there's no knowledge. It starts in the places that you are teaching your kids and they're going to teach my kids. And they cannot tell. They say, well, there are many genders. And then they ask them, right?

Can a child change, you know, his sex assigned at birth? Yes. And you see the evil and you see how even in the universities of the United States of America, they cannot tell between good and evil. So the prophet is saying, whoa, to you. Verse 21. It says, whoa, to those who are wise in their own eyes and understanding in their own sight. Self-sufficiency, right? Self-sufficiency. That was Uzziah's saying, remember? He was the king. He wasn't the prophet. He wasn't the priest. And he went into the temple and he was a leper his whole life because he wanted to be self-sufficient.

Self-sufficiency, right? So when we are confronted to God's character, the prophet starts showing these people or their own sin and he sees his own sin. But look in verse 22. Whoa, to those who are mighty men and drinking wine and valiant men mixing strong drink, who, and this one right here is corruption, right? Look, who declared the wicked righteous for a what? For a bribe. Corruption. Can you tell this environment right now in our country? It's like when I was reading this, I was like, this is the United States.

Wow. It's amazing. But the problem is not outside the church. It's infiltrating within the church. People who cannot tell between good and evil. People who are self-sufficient within the church. Corruption within the church, within the members of the church. So right now, I don't want you to see the people outside. I want you to see ourselves right here. I want you to see ourselves because when we start talking about sin, we are very quick on pointing somebody else's sin. But when you are confronted with God's holiness in your own heart, you got to be honest with you like Isaiah is.

And you got to cry out and said, woo to me because I'm cursed. Because I'm not better than the people. And somebody could say, but Isaiah is the prophet of God. He deserves respect. But it is amazing to see that this is coming from the prophet. From the prophet. And he's saying, woo to me. Why? Because I am a man of unclean lips. Isaiah says, I am destroyed. I am ruined. Because he was pronouncing curses to the people and then he gets to the point where he sees God and he says, wow, I'm not enough.

There is judgment in me because when I see God's holiness, I am ruined. Isaiah is saying we are all sinners, right? Not only the people are sinners. Isaiah is saying, I am a sinner as well. I am a sinner and I live around people who sin as well. So when you're confronted with God's holiness, you're not better than anybody else. Because he's the one. Because he's the only one. He's holy, holy, holy. And now we understand how Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And when Isaiah sees his holy God, all he wants to do is hide, right? Because he can't stand to be in the presence of God and be okay. He can't stand just to be confronted by God's holiness and be okay. And you know what worries me as a church? That when we come Sunday by Sunday and Wednesday by Wednesday, we are still the same and we are confronted by God's word. We are confronted by God's holiness and we are the same or even worse than the way we came in. So let me tell you this morning, if you are listening to God's word day by day or even Wednesday, Sunday, and you're still the same, you haven't understood who God really is.

You don't know who God is. Because if you knew, you'll be changed. You won't be the same. Every time you come to church, every time you read a scripture, every time you are confronted by God's character, you'll be changed because that's what God causes in your life. You either be changed or you either are hardened in your heart because of your rebellion against God. And Isaiah was desperate in this point because he says at the end of verse five, can you go with me please? Chapter six, verse five of Isaiah, he says, for my eyes have seen the king, the Yahweh of hosts.

For my eyes have seen my king, the Yahweh of hosts. Isaiah felt so separated from God and as you can see, he doesn't even call out to God for help. Can you tell that? He doesn't say, Lord, I don't deserve this. Please come help me. He just says, I am lost. I am ruined. He doesn't call out for help. He just says, I don't know what I'm going to do because this is too much for me. He just realizes that he's a sinner. The reality of sin became so evident in Isaiah's life when he recognized God's holy character.

His mouth was not filled with worship nor his lips with praise because he just saw the seraphim praising God, covering their face, covering their feet, flying around, just being ready for God to send them wherever he wants to send them. But he saw them and he says, I'm not enough. I'm not worshiping God enough because he's holier than I am not. And Isaiah sees his wickedness too great. Why? Because he saw God's holiness too great. God's holiness is so great that he sees his own heart and he says, I'm a wicked man.

I'm a wicked man. I'm not better than anybody else. And the Apostle Paul did the same. Remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 9, in Ephesians chapter 8, chapter 3, sorry, verse 8, and in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 15. We're not going to go there because of the time. But you can tell that a person who really knows God becomes really very, very aware of their own sin. Okay. Let me ask you this morning, who is the person that you compare to in your life as a Christian?

Is it God's holiness? Or is it my wife, right? Or is it the guy who I know that he's living in sin, but you know, I'm better than him. Who do you compare to? Who do you compare to? Because every time that we want to see who we really are, we need to have this high view of God. Otherwise we won't be able to know who we are. You really understand who you are when you understand who God is. Amen. And then it's amazing that when the prophet is in need, when the prophet just sees himself lost, ruined, because he just saw God's majestic presence, and he knows that he might die because you know in the scripture that when people say, I want to see you, God, he told him, you won't be able to see me because if you see me, you'll die.

But it's amazing that salvation comes to him. Cleansing. I will call it more cleansing. He's not talking here about Isaiah being saved at this time, but he's talking about cleansing of his heart. Look what he says in verse six. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal. From where? You see it? In his hand, which he had taken from the altar. From the altar. It's amazing to see how he starts pointing to who? To Christ. There is going to be forgiveness of sin. There's going to be a sacrifice for sin.

But it's amazing to see how the seraphim takes this coal from the altar, goes to the prophet, and places it in his lips. And it's verse seven says, and he touched my mouth with it and said, okay, he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, that means pay attention to it. That means this is the important part of it. This has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is paid for or atoned for. And Isaiah becomes the happiest man in the world. His guilt is gone and the wages for his sin have been paid in the most holy place where God himself sits on the throne.

So we'll never understand salvation of cleansing of our hearts if we don't understand who we are. We are sinners. We need Christ. We cannot pay for our own sins. Do we understand that? That's why the seraphim comes with the coal and Isaiah is just passive in the whole situation. He doesn't do anything. The only thing he did is to bring sin into the presence of God. That's all he did. And in God's judgment, he deserved death. But God's merciful hand approaches to him in a wonderful picture of Christ telling Isaiah, hey Isaiah, you are forgiven.

Your sin is taken away. If we read Psalm 32 to, if you go with me to Psalm 32 verse 2, we're going to read verse 1 and verse 2. Psalm 32 verse 1 and verse 2. It says, how blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man whose iniquity Yahweh will not take into account and in whose spirit there is not deceit. It says, how blessed is the person who's found forgiveness in who? In God. In the Yahweh of hosts. And you can tell how Isaiah is just in a place where he doesn't know what to do.

The only thing he knows is that he's a sinner. That's the only thing he brought to the table. Nothing was good in him when he saw God's holiness. And I'm sorry if I'm kind of hurting your own self, you know, image. But that's what God's holiness does, right? It just breaks us apart. It just shows us that we're not enough. But that's with the purpose of giving us this amazing gift. But it says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Great news for Isaiah. Best news that he could have had.

Romans 4, 8, it says, blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Because we are sinners. Everybody's a sinner. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. And that's why even as a Christian, I need God's cleansing in my life. I need to recognize that even as a Christian, I am a sinner, okay? I'm not God. Christ didn't die on the cross to make me God. I'm still a creature. I'm still sin, but we need to do the same as Isaiah did. Hey God, you are holy. I'm not. And I need your forgiveness, Lord.

And this sounds very different from, you know, different churches that says, I declare and God will obey me. This sounds contrary to the claim that I claim your promises, God, because I am good. My brother is all by grace. There's nothing on this earth that we deserve. But God is so good that he provides forgiveness to our sin. His blessing, taking away our sin. Brothers, his favor is not something that we can claim, okay? His favor comes to the humble, to the humble who recognizes that he's beyond himself, of himself.

It's not high. God is high. God is all powerful. I'm not. And I need from God. Sorry, I'm looking at the clock. I'll be done. Pretty soon. So we need to understand that we are sinners, that God is holy. And it's amazing to see in verse, in Isaiah chapter six. Let's go back to Isaiah chapter six. When he's cleansed in verse eight, and there's going to be the third thing, right?

The second thing is that you are confronted by God's holiness and you become very conscious of your own sin.

And you see your need of forgiveness, okay? You see the need of repentance so God can forgive you. And then in verse eight, we see the third thing, okay?

Because in the verse eight, it says, Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am, send me. The third action is obedience, okay?

Obedience. That sounds like basic Christianity, right? That sounds like, yeah, I know, I need to be obedient. But we don't know until we understand that we are sinners, that we need from God. We are not going to be obedient until our view of God is so high. And the view of myself is just so humble. I need from God, that we understand how to be obedient. And right here, the Lord is calling for somebody to go to be his messenger. And look at the text.

It doesn't say, Hey Isaiah, go! See, now he's saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And it's amazing to see that once Isaiah is cleansed, he says, I'll go. Here I am, send me. God is calling for somebody to send. And he says, Here I am, Lord, send me. But he didn't say that before he understood that he cannot serve God if he doesn't have a view of God, a correct view of God. He's been cleansed and he's ready for service. And let me tell you this, what is so hard for us to serve in the church sometimes?

What is so hard for us to serve in the church sometimes? Sometimes it's a matter of pride. You know, sometimes sin is in our life. And we don't want to serve. Why? Because we don't want to repent from our sin. Because we don't want to leave our sin behind. And it's so hard to serve because I don't want to leave my sin behind. And with Isaiah, we see a man who really said, Hey God, I'm forgiven. I'll go. Here I am. Send me. And brothers and sisters, until we don't understand God's forgiveness, we will never be ready for service within the church.

Never. You need to understand the glorious majesty of God's forgiveness. To be able to see the need and to have the will to serve God within his body. And lastly, lastly, because we see Isaiah's response on verse eight, and he says, Here I am, send me. And lastly, I think there has to be a commitment to God's word. Okay? Not just obedience, but a commitment to God's word. Because listen to what he says in verse nine. He said, Go and tell these people. And the prophet is ready to listen to what the message is going to be.

And he says, Keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not know. Why does he need to be committed to God's word? Because people are not going to listen.

So our obedience is not based on the results that a ministry could bring. It's based on the faithfulness to God's word. Because he's going to be a prophet who is going to tell people a message that they don't like. And on top of that, they are not going to listen.

Like some of us today, right? Is he done? Right? We need to understand that. We're not going to be obedient until we understand who we really are. And we're not going to know who we really are until we know who God is. And when we know that, we're going to be committed to God's word to the point that who cares if they listen or not? I'm going to be obedient to what God has called me to preach. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for today. Thank you, God, for your word. We pray, Father, that we'll have the right view of ourselves, Lord.

Father, pride always knocks on our doors, the door in our hearts. Father, there are so many sins that we fight daily that could just, Father, take us away from you. And we pray, Father, that we won't try to just fight them ourselves, that we will come just to before you, the holy God, and be cleansed by you. We pray, Father, that if this morning, Lord, there's somebody here that hasn't experienced God's forgiveness, we pray that your Holy Spirit use your word to open their hearts, to break their will, and just to help them see Christ on the cross, dying on our behalf.

We pray, Father, that today we won't forget who we are, Lord. And most importantly, we will never forget, Lord, who you are, because we know that's the starting point of our Christian life. In Jesus' name, amen.