Sermons

Introduction: Apart from my personal feelings about the recent U.S. presidential election—whether it was stolen or not; or whether the media coverage was scandalously biased or not; or now whether or not the philosophies of the new administration will prove untenable for Christians—one simple fact is undeniable.

 

Donald Trump is no longer the President of the United States. He is out of office. His executive prerogatives have been stripped. He can no longer move the great levers of power in America in favor of any agenda, much less a conservative path that is favorable to Christians….

 

In a sense, a king has fallen. And with his demise, there is temporal uncertainty…….and many are left defeated, threatened, lost, and bereft.

 

What are we to do when our leaders, our human leaders, our kings—so to say—fall?

 

As always, we must look to the Bible for answers. This book is our source of truth always, but most especially when everything associated with our lives in the here-and-now seems to be falling apart….

           

Well, our passage from God’s Word today tells us about an ancient king who fell Almost 2800 years ago. He was a great King of Israel and he first fell seriously ill, and then he died, …..and the people of Judah were left in temporal uncertainty….many felt defeated, threatened, lost, and bereft. That sovereign was King Uzziah.

 

King Uzziah took the throne of Israel at the age of 16 and reigned for about 52 years. Overall, his reign was considered a great success: “the most prosperous excepting that of Jehoshaphat since the time of Solomon,” as one writer put it.

 

In the earlier part of his reign, under the prophet Zechariah’s influence, he was faithful to God and “did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Kings 15:3; 2 Chronicles 26:4–5).

 

In Jerusalem, Uzziah made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. According to 2 Chron. 26, Uzziah conquered the Philistines and the Arabians and received tribute from the Ammonites.

He refortified the country, reorganized and reequipped the army, and personally engaged in agricultural pursuits.

 

He was a vigorous and able ruler, and “his name spread abroad, even to the entrance of Egypt” (2 Chronicles 26:8–14).

 

Then something terrible happened. Uzziah’s pride led to his downfall. He entered the Temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the sacred altar. Azariah the High Priest saw this as an attempt to usurp the prerogatives of the chosen priests and confronted him with a band of eighty men, saying, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.” (2 Chronicles 26:18).

 

Then God Himself intervened! He struck Uzziah with deadly leprosy!

 

As narrated by Flavius Josephus, in one of his Antiquities: “a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king’s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately”

 

Flavius Josephus was a Jewish priest, scholar, and historian who wrote valuable works on early Jewish history that have corroborated the historical accuracy of Scripture.

 

So, Uzziah was suddenly struck with leprosy before he had offered the incense (2 Chronicles 26:19)!  In his defilement, Uzziah was driven from the Temple and compelled to reside in “a separate house” until his death (2 Kings 15:5, 27; 2 Chronicles 26:3).

 

The government very soon in disarray, was emergently turned over to his son Jotham (2 Kings 15:5), who inefficiently ruled alongside the stricken king in a co-regency of sorts that lasted for the last 11 years of Uzziah’s life (750 to 739 BC).

 

Uzziah’s pride brought consequences not only to himself, but to the entire nation under his sovereign charge….

 

Sadly, this great King Uzziah died as he lived in his final decade of life, estranged and unclean.

 

So the question then……which I would argue remains the relevant question now……What are the people…you and I….to do when our kings, or emperors, or prime ministers, or presidents fall?

 

The wonderful Old Testament Book of Isaiah provides the timeless answer: Turn to the Holy Heavenly King!

 

Let me now read our Scripture: Isaiah 6:1–8

 

6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^[a] of his robe filled the temple. 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. ⁵ 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 hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And 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.”

 

You might say King Uzziah was a terrestrial king….he was a human king bound to this earth, which means he was terribly limited ….. He was terribly limited just as every single human being ever born in the line of Adam is subject to the limits and temptations of the flesh, and the hard realities of living as flesh in fallen creation. He was an earthbound created being, unable to control much at all…

 

In contrast, the King Isaiah encountered in his vision…is…. The Holy Heavenly King…..the real, eternal, sovereign, holy, unchanging, gracious and loving king who stands far above all earthbound authority and physical limitations!

 

And thankfully, you and I have the opportunity to place our trust in this king…..by faith……over anyone or anything earthbound…..just as young Isaiah does in this passage…..

 

PNP: I want to show you that young Isaiah, in his response to God in the vision, models for you three necessary steps to ensuring authentic faith in The Holy Heavenly King:

 

• You must absorb the King’s holiness
• You must accept the King’s grace
• You must answer the King’s call

 

Exposition:

 

Well, let’s look at point #1….You must absorb the King’s holiness…

 

Look again at verse 1–4: In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 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. 

 

So, what does the word absorb mean? Well, an English dictionary will tell us it means to “take in or soak up,” which describes being filled or inundated with something from outside … like a sponge aborbs liquid to its capacity, or a rock in a fireplace aborbs heat from the flames of a fire….

Another definition is “take in and understand fully information, ideas, or experience”….like “they absorbed the sermon in silence….” (joke…)

 

With these concepts in mind let’s look at Isaiah’s vision and what he needed to absorb ….

 

The first thing to notice in comprehending Isaiah’s miraculous vision is that the Lord is sitting upon a throne, …..and this throne is high and lifted up…..and the train of His robe—as He sits upon this high and lifted up throne—is utterly majestic. It fills the entire Temple.

 

Also present are awesome, heavenly court attendants, the Seraphim.

 

What Isaiah is seeing is a theophany, which is Holy God providing a visible manifestation of Himself for an important purpose.

 

Isaiah is seeing a picture of what Holy God wants to show him because John 1:18 correctly tells us that no one has ever seen God for He is Spirit….

 

…..and it’s is a good thing that no one has ever seen God, because, in Exodus 33:20, God tells Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.”

 

Wow!!! God’s holiness can kill! His unfiltered magnificence and perfection are too much for a human to bear and survive!

 

But in His gracious condescension to His created ones—which is us—God sometimes clothes Himself with “safe” visibility, for our good.  And in this instance, He became visible to Isaiah for his—and our—good…..

 

And how did He show himself??

 

He showed Himself in in exulted kingliness!!! ….the vision is of God on a throne, with regal robes, and brilliant court attendants, all of which spoke of sovereign majesty and dominion!

 

Just as Isaiah’s terrestrial human king is declared irrelevant in the passage’s opening—in the year King Uzziah died—God wants Isaiah to visibly see the Holy Heavenly King in the starkest of contrasts to dead King Uzziah…..

 

The comparison is meant to be utter opposites!

 

You have leprous and dying, or perhaps already dead King Uzziah…..who can be said to represent all earthy kings in the context of this vision…..

 

Versus Yahweh is showing Himself as THE Holy, Heavenly KING.

 

You have two kingdoms and two kings to compare….one is earthy, dark, disappointing, dying, powerless, futile, sin-cursed, hopeless

 

The other is heavenly, filled with light, awesome, alive, all-powerful, Holy and pure, and the very personification of hope.

 

And Isaiah is to fully see and understand this…. His is to know God as a King! As THE King!

 

But he is also to absorb holiness…..the holiness of this King

 

The word holy means transcendent, sacred, set apart, revered, or divine.

 

And yet, none of those words is fully adequate to describe the awesome holiness of our God.

 

But, even as mere words fail, Isaiah needed to comprehend holiness to ensure his faith was authentic…..Because as we will soon see, God had big plans for Isaiah….He was going to ask much of Isaiah and in so doing, his faith would be tremendously tested.

 

John MacArthur writes this about God’s holiness: “Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that most uniquely describes Him and in reality is a summation of all His other attributes. The word holiness refers to His separateness, His otherness, the fact that He is unlike any other being.”

 

Other commentators have said it this way: “Holiness is God’s infinite moral perfection crowning His infinite intelligence and power.”

 

Or “Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of God’s crown. It is the name by which He is known.”

 

Or “Holiness is to be regarded not as a distinct attribute but as the result of all God’s moral perfection together.”

 

The inspired text begs us to probe deeper into our poor comprehension of holiness. The otherworldly Seraphim descriptions help us in this pursuit:

 

Verse 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!” (v2–3)

 

These angelic court attendants working in non-stop worshipful service to Yahweh are not to be found in any human court. There not to be found anywhere on earth!

 

They are indescribably awesome heavenly beings, and they, in turn, are expressing overwhelming ongoing awe of God as they joyfully experience His holiness.

 

The six-winged creatures, magnificent in their own right, cover their eyes with one set of wings so as not to even look upon the brilliant perfection of God.

 

With another set of wings, they cover their feet in showing of respect for their holy sovereign.

 

And with their final set of wings, they fly…..they fly in humble, obedient service to the King’s commands.

 

And as they respectfully serve, they volunteer exulting worship in voice to one another, with one announcing The Holy Heavenly King as thrice holy—“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;” which is a point of maximum emphasis in the Hebrew culture and language! Any time something is repeated three times in inspired Scripture, pay attention!

 

The King is also credited with possessing such an abundance glory….and this is glory that is utterly unique to Him…..that His glory FILLS the entire earth….

 

And if that is not enough, we read that The Holy Heavenly King’s righteous voice shakes foundations and brings sanctified smoke:

 

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. (v4)

 

Now, notice we now have three references to filling in the description….we have God’s robe filling the temple, His glory filling the earth, and His voice filling the house with smoke….the language here is describing filling and full presence, employing the same Hebrew verb “mahleh,”

 

And this is important because it is emphatically teaching the King’s immanence along with His transcendence.

 

His holiness is not associated with remoteness or aloofness, His holiness is understood….or absorbed….. through His presence….His omni-presence…He is here fully immanent in His created universe…..which includes the world right here and right now, and in this specific Temple in Jerusalem 2800 years ago! The Holy Heavenly King is with us….all the time….whether we choose to acknowledge it or not!

 

Divine transcendence and immanence are always in balance in biblical theism and Isaiah Himself accents this vital truth later in Isaiah 12:6 when he says:

 

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
    for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

 

We have an immanent…intimate God! So we have Isaiah absorbing…which is his taking in and fully understanding….kingliness and holiness….

 

And what is his reaction? What is the impact of seeing this Theophany? This vision of the The Holy Heavenly King?

 

Although we were not there in our flesh and blood to see and experience this life-changing vision as Isaiah was privileged to do, we are to be impacted by how the young soon-to-be-prophet did. He was undone by God’s holiness:

 

Look at verse 5: ⁵ 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 hosts!”

 

The sight of The Holy Heavenly King…..and the sound of the holy hymn of the worshipping angelic beings……brought something to Isaiah’s very heart……And it wasn’t delight, or excitement, like when my wife Cynthia sees a whale in Prince William Sound…..It brought conviction to Isaiah’s heart! …..and he immediately confessed that he was a sinner!

 

There was business to be done….sin had to be dealth with, and so…Isaiah confessed that he had not met the King’s standards for righteousness….Tthe young man could only fall flat on his face in fear-filled guilt and shame before holy perfection….Holy sinlessness!

 

In the early chapters of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, written by John Calvin, he makes a statement that goes like this: “Hence that dread and terror by which holy men of old trembled before God….as Scripture uniformly relates.”

 

Calvin was saying that there is a pattern to human responses to God’s presence in the all of Scripture. And it seems that the more righteous the person is described, the more that person trembles when he enters the immediate presence of God.

           

Isaiah certainly proved Calvin’s assertion in his declaration of woe … and his sense of being “lost,” as it says in the ESV.

 

The Hebrew word describing Isaiah’s sense of himself as “lost” before The Holy Heavenly King is damah…which means cease…or cause to cease…to cut off, or to destroy…..so The King James translation uses “undone,” and the New American Standard uses “ruined” … regardless

 

Isaiah feared obliteration before holiness, and he cried out his confession…..which also included a corporate confession for all of Israel: “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips”

 

There is not just a sense of awe in Isaiah’s encounter, like seeing a volcano erupt, or a glacier calve, or wild beast on the famous plains of The Serengeti in Africa…..NO! this picture is one of utter condemnation and an associated absolute helplessness before God’s holiness…..

 

So…..Someone, other than Isaiah, must come to the rescue, or Isaiah will not survive this moment!!

 

And, who is it that will come to the rescue?

 

Well, remember, that all sin is against God as David rightly asserts in Psalm 51:4: “Against You and You only have I sinned”…

 

So, only God can ultimately forgive sin, so……Isaiah’s rescue MUST come from God!

 

Well, verses 6 and 7 are going to show the rescue, but before we look specifically at that, I want to focus a bit more on the rescuer….God Himself…..

 

The Gospel of John makes mention of Isaiah’s vision in John 12:41 which reads:

 

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him…

 

While the New Testament is rich in Christology and clear Trinitarian teaching, The Old Testament writers give us hints of coming clarity on these doctrines…..

 

As such, according to the Apostle John, The Theophany Isaiah is absorbing is perhaps better described as a Christophany! The vision on the throne is Christ!

 

Christ, fully God as the second Member of the Trinity….is portrayed in this vision as The Holy Heavenly King…which we know is right in line with His Kingship role that emerges from the whole of Scripture.

 

Moreover, He, Christ, is the picture of rescue…of Grace, of forgiveness for sins…

 

In the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, there is a very important story recorded about Jesus healing the paralytic…..do you remember that story?

 

I’ll reference the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 2, verses 1–11, which describes an event and something Jesus said that infuriates the Jewish leaders….

 

Jesus not only miraculously and completely healed a suffering paralytic man in a physical sense, He also said something else to the man…He told the man that his sins were forgiven….

 

He healed him spiritually, which, remember, only God Himself can do…..And so Jesus was claiming to be equal with God in this way….and make no mistake….this claim to the Jewish leaders was totally intentional…

 

And of course, it put the Scribes into a panic…and Mark records the panic with them saying: “Why does this man speak like that?  He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 

 

Jesus the Christ is the promised King of the Davidic line, Christ is the gracious Redeemer, and Christ will come again as triumphant King as promised in Revelation! And only Christ exclusively can fulfill all of these promises as God the Son, who is the King.

 

Revelation 17:14 says this: “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and….what?…..King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

 

Christ is the rescuer Isaiah is seeing in his vision…..

 

Which brings us to imperative #2: You must accept the King’s grace

 

Look at verses 6 and 7: ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

 

Motivated by amazing grace, The Holy Heavenly King rescues Isaiah. He sends the solution!….. an atoning hot coal from the brazen alter in the Temple….which is symbolic of the Old Testament Blood Sacrifice System.

 

Under Mosaic Covenantal law, temporary Atonement brought the removal of guilt through the shedding of blood, which we know was animal blood…it was the blood of specific sacrificial animals…the blood of goats and calves….as it says in Hebrews 9:12….

 

A we know that blood is the agent of forgiveness, because life is is the blood…. a few verses later in Hebrews 9:22 we see that: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

 

But the Lord Jesus Christ….the same Lord of hosts in this vision overwhelming Isaiah…..He is the One who provided  the temporary atoning hot coal for Isaiah…. “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”…

 

…and He is the one who accomplished the perfect, permanent Atonement by shedding His pure, precious blood as a sacrifice…..making possible the promised New Covenant of Grace!

 

I recommend a careful reading of all of Hebrews 9 to fully grasp this incredible truth, but let me read Hebrews 9:12–15 ¹² he (Christ) entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

¹⁵ Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

 

So, Hebrews 9 shows how worship in the Old Testament could not perfect the worshipper because it related only to food, drink, various washings and regulations for the body. However, when Christ appeared, He entered into the heavenly tabernacle and poured out His own blood on the mercy seat. The blood of bulls and goats was never able to cleanse the conscience of the worshipper, but the blood of Christ is able to save completely as it cleansed us thoroughly and we are now without blemish or accusation before God.

 

What a solution! what grace! What a God to rescue when we cannot rescue ourselves!!!

 

H.B. Charles mentioned in a sermon he gave some years ago entitled, A High View of God, that at a conference on comparative religions the participants argued the question, what makes Christianity distinct from other religions:

 

“Is it incarnation? No, other religions claim God became man. Is it resurrection? No, other religions believe that dead people can rise again. So, what is it that makes Christianity distinct? While they debated, C.S. Lewis wandered in late to the meeting. He asked what the subject was, and they told him. And Lewis responded by saying, ‘That’s an easy question. The thing that makes Christianity unique is the doctrine of grace.’”

 

The good news of amazing grace is uniquely Christian. Every other religion teaches people how to reach up to God, in one way or another….how to be participate in the removal of guilt or shame born of their sin against holy God….

 

But Christianity begins by declaring that all of us are sinners who can never earn the righteous merit needed to satisfy God’s holy demands fully.

 

But God, in His grace, has reached down to reconcile us to Himself by the impeccable life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

 

God is gracious, and the picture in Isaiah 6 of the seraphim…sent by the Holy Heavenly King…..providing Isaiah, outside of any powers of his own, the solution to his future, is a picture of Christ’s atoning death for us:

 

The burning coal from the alter proved the agent of Isaiah’s redemption just as Christ’s sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection prove the means to our salvation: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

 

Before we can minister to others, we must allow God to minister to us.

 

Before we can pronounce “woe” upon others we must sincerely say “woe is me!”

 

Isaiah’s conviction led to confession….and confession led to cleansing….just as it was later recorded in 1 John 1:9: ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

We have to accept the King’s grace!

 

Well let’s look now at Imperative #3, You must answer the King’s call:

 

With salvation comes a call from God to serve Him….and Him alone….and it’s an “all in” commitment!

 

Look at verse 8: ⁸ And 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 nation of Israel in Isaiah’s day needed the Lord, and the Lord wanted a servant to minister to the people.

 

Isaiah, with his guilt removed—his readiness a product of divine grace—is challenged to respond: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

 

Notice the tension between God’s sovereign plan for Isaiah’s life—predestination, if you will—and Isaiah’s personal responsibility to step up and say “yes.”

 

There is actually beautiful balance offered here. Human will is an important aspect of God’s design for those made in His image. God does the sovereign work of salvation, but man is also held responsible for rejecting grace.

 

What Isaiah does in response to the challenge to “Go!” is exemplary of a rightly motivated heart: Isaiah enthusiastically stepped forward, without conditions, as an expression of his gratitude.

 

One commentator expressed it this way: “He (Isaiah) is not coerced into service; rather, his will makes its ready response as a grateful reaction to God’s forgiving grace.”

 

When a person is able fully comprehend salvation by grace alone, the very thing God desires most from His created ones becomes possible:

 

We can love Him as Yahweh commanded in Deuteronomy 6:5: You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

 

We can love Him and others made in His image as Jesus commanded in Luke 10:27: And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

 

We can love Him more than anything, even life itself, as The Apostle Paul testified  in Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

 

We must answer the King’s call!

 

So here is the great question as we consider all of this kingliness, holiness, grace, and calling.

 

How is it that even as our earthly kings fall, many still yet turn away from the Holy Heavenly King while hoping in some earthbound counterfeit?

 

How is it that so many choose not to follow the example of Isaiah and absorb holiness, accept grace, and answer God’s call?

 

Romans 1:18–23 helps with an answer and it is tragic:

 

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

           

This describes the opposite of Isaiah’s response….someone who has experienced God’s holiness but says “Thanks, but no thanks….”

 

The Apostle Paul is telling us in this scathing analysis that we have all experienced Holy God to the extent we are without excuse! “his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”

 

Many reject The Holy Heavenly King knowingly because they foolishly believe they can do better at ruling creation than He can.  Or as John MacArthur puts it: “they want the crown without the cross”

 

Suppressing the truth….suppressing God…take a lot of hard work!

 

Beach Ball in the Pool!!!

 

People don’t want holiness! They believe they do not need grace! And they certainly seem to not want to submit to Godly righteousness or accountability…..they want to push the beach ball to the bottom of the pool….they look for a better god in terrestrial kings, emperors, prime ministers, or presidents

 

Such foolishness is a path of utter destruction because while God is a God of grace as we have emphasized here this morning, He is also a God of wrath!

 

Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine is famous for many things, but I’d like to tell you about one source of her fame that is germane to our topic this morning. She wrote a book in 1983 entitled “Out on a Limb” that was later turned into a move that was released in 1987.

 

The essential message of “Out on a Limb” is that New Age spirituality is valid, with its advocacy of so-called higher truths such as astral projection, reincarnation, karma, soul channeling, and related topics. Such things are not just in disagreement with Scripture, they are pointedly anti-Scripture.

 

For every doctrinal truth laid down in God’s inspired Word, there is a countering untruth being packaged and repackaged in the world.

 

The climax of the movie depicted Ms. MacLaine spinning ecstatically on a beach boldly proclaiming, with outstretched arms, “I am God!”

 

What pride! What arrogance! How sad!

 

Shirley is not God, and more that King Uzziah was more than a terrestrial king bound to this world…….just as every single human being ever born in the line of Adam is subject to the limits of the flesh, and the hard realities of fallen creation.

 

Her king is herself and as such, her end….apart from grace…. Looks to be tragic and marked by defeat, threat, loss, and bereavement.

 

On which path are you? Are you holding out hope in terrestrial kings, believing that somehow they (or you) can rule creation better than the Creator?

 

Are you willing to absorb holiness? Are you ready to confess your sin in the sight of holiness? Are you able to receive grace? Are you willing to say yes to God in gratitude for grace?

 

Who is Your King? Have you turned by faith to the Holy Heavenly King?

Lord, let me be as Isaiah, undone before your throne!

 

Let’s pray …