“I Saw The LORD”

In this part of the sermon: Martin acknowledges the mixed emotions of excitement for Pastor Blaze's new ministry and sadness at his departure, framing this as an opportune time to focus on fundamental…

Martin uses the common experience of wives crying when happy to illustrate how joy and grief can coexist in the human heart, making the church's mixed emotions understandable.

And we read from Luke the historian that they fell upon his neck and they wept sore, sorrowing that they should see his face no more. And it is possible to have a heart that, at the same time, is both excited, filled with joy, and also sad, and eyes filled with tears. Some of us can remember when we first began to find out one of the ways in which women were made a little different from us men. When we found our wives crying, we said, what's the matter? What did we do? I'm so happy.

1:45 - 2:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin reads Isaiah 6:1-13, emphasizing that while the vision itself is unique to Isaiah, the truths revealed about God, Isaiah, and his mission are eternally applicable and form…

He compares the live coal touching Isaiah's lips to touching a burning charcoal briquette, making the pain and intensity of the vision tangible for the audience, especially children.

Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, and he touched my mouth with it. A live coal. You kids, you see those burning charcoal briquettes in your backyard when dad or mom is cooking hamburgers on the 4th of July.

6:00 - 6:43 Read in full sermon

The point: The five things that are characteristic of God in this vision must mutually be the sum and substance of our perspective of our God.

Martin defines 'absolute' by describing an absolute monarch who consults no one, not even his wife, to illustrate God's unlimited authority and sovereignty.

Now, after that little aside, this vision reveals God as the God of absolute sovereignty. And I use the word absolute in the sense of the third meaning in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, not limited by constitution. When you talk about an absolute monarch, you mean a monarch that doesn't have to consider or consult with anyone, not even his wife, when he wants to do what he wants to do. An absolute monarch is a man whose will is supreme in the exercise of authority.

17:09 - 17:44 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He has no rival. He has no one who stands with Him in that posture of absolute sovereignty.

He distinguishes between a king's inherent right to rule and the exercise of that rule from his throne, emphasizing that Isaiah saw God actively administering His government.

upon a throne. The throne is the symbol of rule and of government, now listen carefully, rule and government in administration. You see, the king still is the ruler when he's in his bedroom, but it is not in his bedroom that he exercises his royal prerogatives and his regal rights. The king is a king when he's out on his boat, in his private lake fishing, but it's not from his boat catching fish that he administers his rights as king, but when with all of his entourage and accompaniment and the blowing of the trumpets he comes and ascends his throne, everyone knows he is in that place from whi...

19:57 - 21:25 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He has no rival. He has no one who stands with Him in that posture of absolute sovereignty.

Martin uses the analogy of his height relative to the congregation, and the congregation's height relative to ants and worms, to explain 'high and lifted up' as a term of relationships, highlighting God's supreme exaltation.

You see, high and lifted up is a description of what one thing is in reference to another. Right now, I am high and lifted up. In relationship to you, I'm 18 inches higher. But in relationship to the ants that are crawling down the driveway here, you are high and lifted up.

21:25 - 21:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that Isaiah's vision reveals God as absolutely sovereign and supremely unrivaled, evidenced by His sitting on a throne, being 'high and lifted up,' His 'train'…

He compares the care taken not to step on a bride's train at a wedding to the significance of God's 'train' filling the temple, symbolizing His exclusive majesty and the insult of any rival.

One thing grips him, that the Lord who is upon a throne is the exalted Lord upon an exalted throne. It is this position of exaltation and unrivaled supremacy, high above all else. And then, as it were, to emphasize that more fully, it says, his train, that is, the skirts of his royal robe, fill the temple, for no man would dare step upon the royal robes of a king. You know how careful we are at weddings, that no one step upon the train of the bride.

22:23 - 22:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The picture of some weak and fawning God who is crippled in his weakness and who can't get his work done. Won't you come to help him? Not so, Isaiah.

Martin quotes Isaiah 40, where God likens mighty nations like Assyria and Babylon to 'little sweat drops on the side of a bucket,' emphasizing their insignificance before God's absolute sovereignty.

And he says I'll hiss for them and I'll call them and tell them to do my bidding. And you turn to the 40th chapter and he says the nations, Assyria, Babylon, are like the little sweat drop on the side of a bucket on a hot day in the middle of the summer. Not nations are as a drop in a bucket, they are as a drop of a bucket. The little sweat drops, the condensation, mighty Assyria, mighty Babylon, what are they?

24:56 - 25:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The picture of some weak and fawning God who is crippled in his weakness and who can't get his work done. Won't you come to help him? Not so, Isaiah.

He further quotes Isaiah 40, where nations are compared to 'little grasshoppers,' reinforcing God's supreme power over all earthly might.

Little drops on the side of a bucket. The nations of the earth, Assyria, Babylon, and all their armed might. What are they? Like a bunch of little grasshoppers he says in that 40th chapter.

25:21 - 25:32 Read in full sermon

The point: May he ever keep before your eyes that the God before whom you walk is the God who will not hold communion with the defiled but will hold communion only with those who walk in holiness before him.

Martin uses the vividness of a dream (being chased by a mad bull) to explain how the prophets experienced their visions as real, making Isaiah's experience of the shaking foundations and smoke more relatable.

Have you ever been in a room filled with smoke? Your eyes burn and you know somewhere there is fire. And when the prophets were caught up in these visions often they experienced in the vision just like in a dream when you are being chased by some mad bull in a dream. I tell you that is real to you.

33:05 - 33:22 Read in full sermon

The point: I solemnly charge you my beloved brother as I know you would me if I were where you are this morning and you are where I am never to forget that your greatest responsibility amidst all the labors of that work is the nurt…

He argues that the cross of Christ, where a holy God dealt with the only holy man, is a more vivid demonstration of God's burning holiness than Sodom and Gomorrah or the Flood.

those were the sharp bold ragged jagged lines of the Old Testament Christ has come and smoothed all of that over my friend nothing could be further from the truth the full revelation of God in Jesus Christ has brought into sharper relief than anything ever revealed in the Old Testament that God is the God of burning holiness you say there's something more vivid than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to show that God is holy yes something more vivid than the flood yes for this was a holy God dealing with unholy men but in the cross of his own dear son here is the holy God of the universe de...

39:42 - 41:10 Read in full sermon

The point: When I tell you you're a sinner when I tell you you've offended God deep within your breast there's an answer it's true and when I tell you God cannot be found by your own devising and God's favor cannot be earned by you…

Martin compares the rays of the sun manifesting its light and heat to God's glory being the manifestation of what God is in Himself.

and say what God is in himself before our eyes and before the eyes of the prophet he is in the midst of the whole earth the whole earth is full of his glory or the fullness of the whole earth is his glory what are they saying? they are saying this God has revealed himself for the glory of Jesus for the glory of God is the manifestation of what God is in himself the rays of the sun that we now see upon the trees outside this building are the manifestation of the essential light and heat of the sun the glory of God is the manifestation of what God is and the scriptures make abundantly clear that...

42:38 - 44:04 Read in full sermon

The point: When I tell you you're a sinner when I tell you you've offended God deep within your breast there's an answer it's true and when I tell you God cannot be found by your own devising and God's favor cannot be earned by you…

He paraphrases Isaiah's mockery of idolatry (using half a piece of wood for fire and the other half for an idol) to highlight the inherent foolishness of worshipping man-made gods, which conscience affirms.

there is an answer within your own breast and oh how Isaiah needed to know this as he looked out over Israel there was not much there was not much of glory the days of her glory were passed at the peak of her success under Solomon when the queen of Sheba comes and Tyre and the kings of Tyre and Sidon and the other places come and the glory of God was evidently manifested throughout the whole world through Israel might be easy to believe the whole earth is full of his glory but God says right now Isaiah going to preach to a nation slated for judgment the earth is still full of my glory I've lef...

47:00 - 48:27 Read in full sermon

The point: May the Lord continue in his own mercy to open up the word burn it into our hearts that we may in this new venture of the gospel be bound together in a fellowship of similar perspectives on the work of God that under God…

Martin metaphorically states that Isaiah preached with a 'scab upon his lips,' meaning his ministry was marked by the pain of discovering his sin and the sweetness of God's forgiveness, giving it a peculiar winsomeness.

and known the gracious forgiveness of god is a man whose preaching will have a peculiar winsomeness about it for he is no self-righteous preacher of Moses who says I've attained come and join me but who says I am what I am by the grace of god and that grace is sincerely offered to all in Jesus Christ you see there's nothing like the fragrance that comes to the ministry of a man who's felt the coal upon his lips you see forgiveness is both painful and sweet at the same time it's painful because forgiveness is always couched in the context of felt and that's never sweet Isaiah said I'm undone an...

51:21 - 52:49 Read in full sermon