Sermons 2024

Text: Isaiah 6:1-8

Outline
A Vast Difference bridged by almighty mercy
1.    A vast gulf separates us and God
2.    In His Holiness God provides the means of sanctification, Coal/JC! God is almighty in His mercy
3.    Whatever God is going to do, be a part of it. Just asks who will go, Isaiah says here am I

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament lesson of Isaiah chapter six verses one through eight.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever looked in a mirror? I am sure you have. You look in a mirror to see yourself. Do you think God looks in a mirror? What does God look like? Does He have a big beard, a big flowing robe? What color is His skin? Isaiah in our text for today saw the glory of God in all of His splendor. Isaiah was scared. He was super afraid because no one can see God and live. Yet, God showed Isaiah grace and mercy. How does God show Isaiah mercy? How does God show us grace and mercy today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    A vast gulf separates us and God

Isaiah has a vision of the Lord that shakes him to his very core. He “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.”  Isaiah sees Christ sitting upon the throne, ruling and reigning over everything in all of His splendor and glory as the Almighty King forever and ever. That would be frightening enough, yet Isaih sees even more. “2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: 
        “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; 
        the whole earth is full of his glory!” 
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” 

 Isaiah sees the Seraphim, the burning ones, crying in unending praise to the Lord, proclaiming His eternal holiness.  They hide their faces, unworthy of looking at the Lord. They hide their feet, ready at a moment’s notice to do His will, whatever it may be.

What Is Isaiah’s reaction? One of sheer panic and terror because of the vast gulf that separates him from God. In the face of God’s presence, in the midst of His almighty holiness, Isaiah realized he was subject to judgment. He was unclean. When seen next to the purity of God’s holiness, the impurity of human sin is all the more evident. The prophet’s has unclean lips, his attitudes and actions as well as his words, for a person’s words reflect his thinking and relate to his actions. Interestingly Isaiah identified with his people who also were sinful (a people of unclean lips).  

Has much changed? We likewise stand in the presence of God ever single Sunday. We are face to face with His holiness. And we? We are anything but holy. As we confess every Sunday, we are sinners in thought, word, and deed. We are deserving of present and everlasting punishment, both now and forever because of our sins. Our sins of anger. Our sins of unclean thoughts. Our sins of words spoken in anger or frustration. Our sins of trying to put ourselves, the world, or our possessions in the place of God. We confess with Isaiah woe is me!

2.    In His Holiness God provides the means of sanctification! God is almighty in His mercy

In the midst of Isaiah’s terror. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.”  One of the Seraphim. Remember, one who is hiding his face from God, so how does he know where he is going? Where exactly is he going to put the coal? Flies towards Isaiah with a burning coal in his hand. Where exactly is he going to put the coal?  Isaiah is thinking ‘Okay, this is it. I am a dead man. I have seen the Lord face to face, something even the angels in heaven who serve Him do not do! I am entirely unholy and unworthy. This is how I am going to die. I am going to be burned to a crisp by an angel with a coal.”

7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”   Isaiah’s sins atoned for. The live coal symbolizes the total significance of the altar from which it came; that the penalty of sin was paid by a substitute offered in the sinner’s place. The symbol, applied to Isaiah’s lips assures him of personal forgiveness. 

In His almighty Holiness, God provides a means of forgiveness, a means of purification for sin and sinners. For Isaiah, it was the burning coal that touched his lips. “See this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, your sin atoned for.”

What is our means of forgiveness? For us men and for our salvation, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, leaves His throne, enters into His creation in order to purify it by the shedding of His own blood. He suffers, bleeds, dies, and rises from the dead so that we might have the forgiveness of every single one of our sins. Like Isaiah, we are deserving of everlasting destruction. Yet what does the almighty God do? He is almighty in showing His great mercy. He gives you His very Word and Holy Spirit who creates faith for you to believe. He gives you here in the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus says This is my body. This is my blood. Given and shed for you. “See this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, your sin atoned for.”

4.    Whatever God is going to do, be a part of it. Just asks who will go, Isaiah says here am I

What is our reply to this great mercy of God? We are used by Him as a part of His divine plan to carry His message to the world. Isaiah heard God calling who will go for us? Instantly he replies, Here am I send me. Only later does Isaiah find out exactly what all that calling entails, as well as all of the hardships that go with it. 

We do not always know what God has called us to do, nor all of the hardships that wait for us. We know that God is calling us as Christians to do the good works He has prepared beforehand for us to do. Though His Holy Spirit, we reply to the grace and mercy that He has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ, by doing the works He has called and given us to do. We live out our lives helping others, resisting our sinful nature, rejoicing in the wonderous gifts that God has given to us. In joy and thanksgiving for the mercy and grace God has shown to us, we tell everyone that they too do not need to despair over their sins. The almighty God has provided the means of salvation for you, and for them. Salvation given by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us.

Thanks be to God that He is almighty. That He shows to us unmerited grace and mercy. 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Amen.