Awe & Worship (Isaiah 6:1-8)

So, like I said, we're gonna be in Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

If you don't know where that is, open your Bible to the middle and go a little bit to the right, and you should find it.

It's a really big book right there.

But we're gonna be stepping out of our normal pattern this morning, uh, and we're gonna take a one-week break from the book of Mark.

And be and we're doing that because before we even had our first Sunday morning service back in March, I knew that this was gonna be a sermon that I wanted to give.

It's a sermon, uh, not the same sermon, but it's a similar sermon to one that I gave at Shoreline about four or five years ago.

And it's just really about the heart of worship.

And and we find that right here in Isaiah, and we're gonna use that kind of as our base text here this morning.

But I've been leading worship to some capacity for probably about 25-ish years or so.

And worshiping through music is something that I'm really passionate about, something that I've studied a lot and really dug into because I really wanted to know exactly what it was I was doing when I was leading worship.

And the last thing that we would want to do here is to ask you to participate in something that you don't fully understand.

So the hope is that today we'll all have a better grasp of what worship is and specifically what worship is through music.

So we're gonna be going through one of my favorite sections of scripture in Isaiah 6, and we're just gonna be reading verses 1 through 8 here this morning.

So if you're able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word?

Isaiah chapter 6, starting in verse 1.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

It says, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

Seraphim were standing above him.

They each had six wings, with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

And one called to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies.

His glory fills the whole earth.

The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Then I said, So this is Isaiah speaking here, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips.

And because my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of armies.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

He touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed, and your sin is atoned for.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking, Who will I send?

Who will go for us?

I said, Here I am, send me.

Let's pray.

Oh Lord, this is an amazing text.

Just to see this glimpse and this picture of heavenly worship.

I pray that we would truly understand all that you have for us in these eight verses.

That you would speak through me as your mouthpiece, that you would help me to rightly divide your word.

And that this would be just a time, Lord, where we come with open hearts, with open minds, open ears, just for all the things that you have for us.

Lord, would you change us and would you mold us and give us a better picture of who you are here this morning?

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So there's three things as we go through these eight verses.

There's three things that I hope we can walk away from and you have a better understanding of.

The first is an understanding of the importance of awe and worship.

Awe, A-W-E, the importance of awe and worship.

The second thing is recognizing our need for God.

Just our outright, we just need him 100%.

And the third thing is that we would leave with a renewed thankfulness for the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

So let's jump right in in Isaiah.

And we're we're gonna go slow.

We're gonna take just little bits at a time.

So bear with me.

We're just gonna do the first little chunk of verse 1.

It says, In the year that King Uzziah died.

So the first question is, who's Uzziah?

Well, the short of it is he was a really good king that had a very tragic ending.

2 Chronicles 26, 16 tells us, but when he, speaking of King Uzziah, when he became strong, he grew arrogant, and it led to his own destruction.

He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord's sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.

And we see, if we keep reading on, as a result, God struck him with leprosy and he died basically in quarantine.

I think we can understand how miserable quarantine is, can't we?

But that's that was his tragic ending that he had because of the sin and his arrogance and his pride.

So, right here, just in the first couple words, we see worship here in this passage being done incorrectly.

This was the year that King Uzziah died as a result of his sin because he was worshiping incorrectly.

King Uzziah was a king.

He was not a priest.

And only the priests were to burn incense on the altar of incense.

And if you remember, this was part of King Saul's downfall as well, when he was supposed to wait for Samuel to come.

We see that in 1 Samuel 13.

And he doesn't wait, and he does the sacrifice on his own.

Now the question is, why would these two kings, why would Saul and why would King Uzziah do this?

Why would they offer up worship in a way that they shouldn't have?

And I think it's safe to say in both cases that we see that it was just an act of pride.

It was pure pride in their lives to give God worship in a way that he did not desire it.

Uzziah was Isaiah's king.

And it appears that Isaiah was probably very distraught over this whole thing.

Like this good king that he probably looked up to all of a sudden has this tragic ending.

He may have been asking, Isaiah may have been asking in this time, you know, okay, what's going on?

We had this great leader, we had this great king with this tragic ending.

What's going on?

God, where are you in this?

And I think the answer is in the middle of verse 1, right here of chapter of this chapter.

It says, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne.

So where is God in this?

He's on his throne.

I don't think this is a coincidence that on his throne is where God shows himself to Isaiah in this tumultuous time in Israel.

Now, we're gonna look at a few of the words here in this statement.

I told you we're gonna go real slow.

We're gonna just now dissect a couple of the words.

The first word that we see in this verse is seated.

The Hebrew definition means dwelling and remaining.

The next word is throne, which is symbolic of authority.

It's a symbolic of judgment, of sovereignty, of having the final word.

Now the next word is high.

And the Hebrew word here is room.

And at first read you would think that this is an adjective, that it's describing the height or the elevation of God's throne.

But this word is actually a verb speaking of God being exalted.

It's an action word.

This is a spiritual elevation that Isaiah saw from the worship that God was receiving from the Seraphim and from the angels.

So if we were to expand this verse with those definitions in it, kind of like the amplified version of this, it would read something like, I saw the Lord dwelling and remaining in a spiritually exalted place of authority, judgment, and sovereignty.

This is where, this is what Isaiah is taking in right now.

So where is God in the midst of this trying and confusing time in Israel's history?

He's remaining on his throne, where he always has been, and he always will be.

And that's quite a picture that we're getting of God here, just right here in the first half of verse 1.

Now, in Revelation 4, we get to see a bit more of this picture of what Isaiah saw in chapter 6 here of Isaiah.

So I'm actually going to read a little bit from Revelation 4, and your job is to just really imagine this, to try and take it all in, to piece this into your mind's eye, this mental image of what's going on from John's vision that he had in Revelation 4.

So I'll just read it starting in verse 2.

It says, After this, I looked, and there in heaven was an open door.

The first voice that I had heard speaking to me, like a trumpet, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

Immediately I was in the spirit, and there was a throne in heaven, and someone was seated on it.

The one seated there had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian stone.

Keep working on that mental image as I keep going, okay?

A rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald surrounded the throne.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the throne sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, clothed with golden crowns on their heads.

Flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne.

Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne.

Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side.

The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like an ox.

The third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

Each of the four living creatures had six wings.

They were covered with eyes around the inside, around and inside.

Day and night they never stopped saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever.

They cast their crowns before the throne and say, Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.

How's that mental picture?

You got it all figured out, right?

You know exactly what it looks like.

Man, I can't wrap my head around this one.

I try, you know, you try to imagine all of those things.

A lot of times it just kind of ends up looking like a cartoon, like in my head, because it's so glorious and so amazing, and something like we've never seen before, that it's just really hard for us to kind of take this in and imagine.

But I want us to try our best to do that.

But the point of this, and the point of me reading that, is that God is high and lifted up in worship right now, and he has been and he always will be in heaven.

So let's look at the very last part of verse one.

It says, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.

Now, I know that's hard for us to understand because we don't have kings with really long robes right now, but the train of the robe really was symbolic of the importance of the person that was wearing that train of that robe, of the position, so to speak.

And if you were really important, you'd actually have servants, kind of like a bride, you know, that would carry the hem of your robe for you.

And the whole idea behind this is that you weren't gonna work with the hem on your robe.

This was something that you needed servants for.

So it was a position of authority, it was of importance, it showed wealth.

And so God's hem of his robe is so long, he's so exalted, he's so important, he's so high and lifted up that it was so long that it filled the whole temple with glory.

Look at verse 2.

It says, Seraphim were standing above him.

They each had six wings.

With two, they covered their faces, with two, they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

So, question for everybody How many do they need to fly?

How many wings do they need to fly?

Two.

But they have six wings.

So they have four extra wings, four extra extremities.

And as we're gonna look at it, just to show humility in worship, they hid their face out of humility because they were undeserving to even look upon the glory of the Lord.

And feet, I mean, feet are just gross, right?

Especially in biblical times.

They had everything you could imagine stuck to them.

They're sharing roads with livestock.

And I'll just let your imagination take your imagination take where that one is going.

And washing feet was the job of a servant.

That's why the disciples were so taken aback when Jesus went to wash their feet.

So these seraphim, they're covering their feet as an act of humility as well.

So four of their extremities, four of their appendages, are taking part in worshiping God and showing humility.

And I bring this up because these seraphim, they're not just singing, they're participating in this worship physically as well.

And you may have asked yourself before, you know, why are these weird people raising their hands in church?

You know, rocking back and forth.

And I'm admittedly a hand raiser.

You've probably seen me raise my hands.

But personally, it's because I want to give everything that I have in worship when I'm worshiping the Lord.

I want to use everything at my disposal to physically, not just verbally, worship the Lord, just like we see this seraphim doing here, using everything they had available to worship God.

Look at verse 3 with me.

It says, and one called to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies.

His glory fills the whole earth.

So holy, why three times?

No, that's my question.

Well, first, repetition was used in scripture to put emphasis on a point.

Second, repetition was used in scripture to put emphasis on a point.

And third, no, you get the point.

But I think you get the idea.

The main point here is that they are in awe of God and his glory and his holiness.

You know, one of my favorite authors on worship is a man named Warren Wearsby.

And he simply says, if it isn't awe, it isn't worship.

Think about that for a second.

If it isn't awe, it isn't worship.

If our worship doesn't come from a place of being in awe of God, like these heavenly beings, then I think the idea here is just don't bother.

Because at this point, it's just giving lip service to God.

If it doesn't come from a place of deep awe and reverence and wonder to God.

Now, I want to take a moment to look at the words that are being offered in worship right here.

And before we do that, I want to talk about two different types of worship.

I want to talk about vertical worship, and I want to talk about horizontal worship.

So vertical worship is when we're talking to the Lord.

You are, you have, you will.

It's when we're directly speaking to God.

And then there's two types of horizontal worship.

There's witnessing to each other, you know, like He is, He has, He will, you know, talking to each other and celebration of God together.

But then there's also a certain type of horizontal worship that's witnessing to the world around us.

When we sing our God is greater, just like we did here.

Our God is stronger, our God is higher.

Words where people can hear the lyrics and they know more about the God that we're worshiping.

And it's important that we have a healthy balance of vertical worship and horizontal worship when we come together to worship as a body of believers.

And that's honestly something that I think about every time I'm picking out a set list of music to sing congregationally, of what is the balance of the vertical and what's the balance of the horizontal worship.

Now, here in our text this morning, we see horizontal worship.

They aren't addressing God directly, they're testifying of his holiness and his glory to one another as they stand in awe of him.

So, yes, this is giving testimony with their lips.

They're saying it back and forth, but then we also see them giving testimony with their whole being.

But we don't want to stop there because our lives need to be doing the same thing.

We need to be worshiping God in everything that we're doing, not just with our lips.

Our lives need to be worshiped through testimony as well.

To one another and to the world around us in our actions and in our words.

We need to see everything that we do as an act of worship.

But we're gonna talk about that a little bit more.

First, I want to jump into verse 4.

Look at it with me.

It says, The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices.

So these are glorious creatures, and they're calling out to one another back and forth, testifying of the glory of God.

And when we hear that the doorposts were shaken, we get the idea that these creatures were going for it.

Because I really doubt that it was shoddy construction work in heaven.

They are going for it, and the doorposts are shaking.

They're singing loud and they're using their whole body to worship and to express humility.

Because God deserves every ounce of praise that can be mustered.

Because he is worthy of that, and then so much more beyond that.

Look at the second half of verse 4.

It says, And the temple was filled with smoke.

You know, we see smoke in a lot of places in the Bible, and it usually has to do with prayer or sacrifice or God's glory or God's presence.

And I want to read you an example of when we see smoke in the Bible.

Exodus 19, 18.

It says, Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire.

Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

Kind of sounds familiar to our text this morning, doesn't it?

So here's Isaiah seeing all of this for the first time.

Can you imagine what his reaction is?

I think he's just kind of like, uh wow, you know, just trying to take all of this in.

And if nothing else, I think it's safe to say that he was in awe of God and everything that he was taking in at this point.

So now let's look at Isaiah's response as he takes all of this in.

Verse 5 gives us his response.

So I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined.

Woe is me.

That's a passionate cry of despair.

And notice that God had Isaiah pronounce woe on himself before he had Isaiah pronounce woe on Israel.

Which we're gonna see, or which we see, you know, as you read on in Israel, was a big part of the calling that God put on his life to pronounce woe to Israel.

And I think God had him do this.

Otherwise, if God hadn't had Isaiah pronounce woe on himself first, maybe like King Uzziah and maybe like King Saul, he may have become arrogant and had a downfall in the midst of his ministry.

So we see that God humbles him before he uses him as a prophet.

And this really lines up with what I've so often seen, where God allows those that he calls into ministry to be humbled first and to deal with those things before he effectively uses them in ministry.

I know for me personally, the most humbling two years of my life was when God called me into ministry years back.

And now that I look back on it, I really needed it.

I really, really needed to go through a couple years of just being humbled constantly.

And I look back now and I'm actually and honestly so thankful for those years.

I know that sounds strange, but it sounds, but it was just a really tough time, but God used that in so many incredible ways.

I remember waking up every morning just asking God, can I quit?

Can I please can I quit?

You know?

And I had questions for God like, why would you call me into this when you're gonna let me flounder like this?

And when it's gonna be so humiliating moment after moment in that time.

But now I look back and I say, Thank you, Lord, because I needed to be knocked down to size.

Many, many times in many, many ways in those years.

But I think that's what we see as we're looking at Isaiah here.

It's just God allowing him to be knocked down to size before he's going to call him into his ministry.

And then we see Isaiah says, I am ruined.

Some of your translations may say, undone.

Literally, just like undone, bursting at the seams like in a garment, just like being torn and rendered apart.

Anybody here ever been in a thunderstorm?

Outside of California?

Like a real thunderstorm?

As we saw in Revelation, there's flashes of lightning and there's rumblings and there's peals of thunder that are all around and surrounding God's throne.

And you combine that with the booming voices of the Seraphim, you know, chances are Isaiah probably felt like he was about this tall in this moment.

And I remember one of the times that I felt the smallest in my life was a thunderstorm in Colorado.

I thought I was going to die.

No, it was like flashbang.

I mean, just right there, and it just shook you to the core.

And I just imagine all that Isaiah took in and the sounds and just everything that's happening.

How do you think Isaiah's feeling right now?

I think I know what he was not feeling.

I don't think he was like, woohoo, worship was awesome today.

I feel great.

They played my favorite song and the sound was perfect.

The band nailed it today.

You know, and I'm afraid that I'm guilty of doing that.

You know, that we equate our worship experience, and I hate using that word with worship, but we equate our worship experience with how we feel during or after the service is over.

You know, it breaks my heart to see to hear somebody say, I just couldn't get into worship today.

You know, I just wasn't feeling it.

And I so I've never done this, but I so badly want to look at them in their face and say, who cares?

Worship is not about us.

We aren't the guest of honor here.

God is.

And our only measuring stick should be of a good worship service is was God glorified.

That should be the only thing that matters.

Isaiah felt punity and felt puny and probably scared to death.

His time of being in God's presence led to recognition of sin and a fresh understanding of how minuscule he actually is.

And I think this is how we should feel as well.

Isaiah wasn't feeling good.

In all honesty, he probably wanted to throw up.

I mean, think about this.

You know, everything, what if we use that as a measuring stick?

You know, could you imagine if people left church like, wow, worship was great.

I'm really nauseous.

Isaiah was, I mean, just think about where he was.

Think about all that he took in and think about how he was feeling in this moment.

But thankfully, God does not leave him there.

He doesn't leave him in this state, which we're gonna see in verse six what God does about it.

But first, let's jump into verse five.

Says, because, and so this is Isaiah continuing on.

He says, Because I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of armies.

So my first question here is why did Isaiah react this way?

Why was this his first response to all that took he just took in?

Had possibly Isaiah cursed God in his outrage over what was going on with Isaiah?

Again, that's just speculation.

Maybe he had a problem with gossip or cursing, criticism, negativity.

Who knows exactly what the sin was, but this was the first thing that came to mind for him.

Why was he convicted of this at this very moment?

You know, maybe even this was his hidden sin.

He already felt guilty about that, and so that was the first thing, you know, that jumped up when he came face to face with God.

Maybe this was God convicting him in the moment because he couldn't stand before the Lord and remain unclean in that way.

And I really think that this should be our natural reaction when we stand in the presence of the living God, realizing how unworthy we are without Jesus as our Savior.

Author Jetson Cornwall has this quote that I want to read to you.

He says, Our Lord merely helps to adjust our self-concept, and he does it while we worship.

His goal is not to depreciate us, but to help us appreciate our true relationship to himself.

It is only when we are in the presence of the heaven's majestic king that we gain a true picture of ourselves.

If he hadn't professed that he was a man of unclean lips, he may have gone to Israel and delivered God's message from a place of arrogance.

So God allows Isaiah to see his own sin first before God allows him to call out the sins of the others in Israel.

We're seeing God remove the plank from Isaiah's eye before he allows Isaiah to point out the splinter in Israel's eyes.

But as mentioned, God doesn't leave him in this state.

Look at verse 6.

It says, Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

He touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed, and your sin is atoned for.

Now in this verse, God provides a way out for Isaiah.

Isaiah couldn't stand in the presence of God as a defiled man.

And this wasn't Isaiah's only sin.

Don't get the impression of that.

But it was probably the recurring sin in his life.

Maybe that struggle that wouldn't go away.

Like each one of us, every single one of us in this room has.

You know, it's in that struggle that God wants to humble us and to keep us humble.

But remember, it's in that struggle that the devil wants to destroy us every day.

And so let's have a moment of honesty here.

Have you ever come into church?

You don't have to raise your hand, but have you ever come into church and felt like you shouldn't worship?

Or were ashamed to worship because of giving in to that struggle that you deal with?

Maybe you gave into it yesterday, or last night, or this morning, or maybe even on the way to church.

You know, God provided a coal for Isaiah, and he provides a coal for us, and his name is Jesus.

This coal is a symbol of what Jesus did on the cross.

He purged our sin so we can stand blameless in the sight of God.

The beautiful thing here is God doesn't convict us and then leave us in that state.

He convicts us and then he gives us an abundance of grace and mercy through his son Jesus Christ.

Now, in the last verse, we're going to see the call of Isaiah in verse 8.

It says, Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking, Who will I send?

Who will go for us?

You know, isn't it strange that God asks for volunteers?

When you think about his capacity, when you think about who he is, that he asked for volunteers.

This is God, the one who knows the beginning from the end.

He knew Isaiah would volunteer, but it had to be Isaiah's choice.

He didn't tell him, Isaiah, you're going.

He doesn't force him.

He allows Isaiah to see the need, and then he allows Isaiah to volunteer.

So, second half of verse 8.

Then Isaiah said, Here am I, send me.

So Isaiah's ready.

He's been humbled.

He's gained the right perspective of himself in comparison to God.

And his sin has been dealt with.

And now God says, God says, Now I can use you.

And again, we need to note what Isaiah didn't do.

And when God called Isaiah, we need to note what Isaiah didn't say.

He didn't say, So, you know, God, tell me more about this mission.

You know, how much of my time is this going to take?

Where am I going to be eating and sleeping?

And is the food good there?

Will I be home for Christmas?

You know, to spend it with my relatives?

No.

He's in such a place of awe of God.

All he says is, here I am, send me.

I already know what I'm signing up for, but I see who you are.

I'm completely in awe and wonder of all that you are, and your majesty, and your greatness, and your authority, and your sovereignty.

Whatever it is, just send me.

You know, encountering God through worship is so important because of what it does to us.

It gives us the proper perspective of God.

It convicts us of our own sin and our shortcomings in comparison to Him.

And it prepares us to serve Him.

So taking all of that into consideration, I think it's important that we define worship.

If somebody walked up to you on the street and just like, hey, what is worship?

That we would have a response.

Okay, well, this is what worship is.

Again, Warren Wearsby, he defines it as this He says, everything we do is worship.

It's just a matter of who or what we are worshiping in each moment.

I'm going to read that again because this is really important.

Everything we do is worship.

It's just a matter of who or what we are worshiping in each moment.

Whether that be God, whether that be self, another person, maybe an idol, you know, that's in our life.

Everything we do is worshiping one of those things.

And if you aren't sure who or what you are worshiping other than God, there's a really easy way to do this.

Look at your calendar and look at your bank statement.

Where's your money going and where's your time going?

How are you using those things?

How are you using your gifting for that matter?

Are we using those things for God or are we using those things for something else?

You see, Isaiah here encounters God, is convicted of his sin, and is ready to serve with his whole life.

And right there we see the definition, I think, of what true worship is.

This is the definition that I've arrived at.

A life fully surrendered to God at every moment.

I think that is the true definition of what worship looks like in each one of our lives.

You know, so often we only equate worship with singing in church.

But this is what is getting us ready to worship with our whole life, just like we saw with Isaiah.

And then come back the next Sunday and do it again.

You see, we worship here, but then we go out and we continue to worship and continue to worship.

And then we come back and continue to worship.

It's not something we just do on Sundays, it's something that we need to be doing every moment of our life.

What we do here is supposed to complement a life of worship.

It's supposed to be an encouragement to one another, a reminder, and kind of an energizer for the church to come together, worship God together, and then disperse and to continue to live a sacrifice of praise with our lives.

What we're doing when we come in here is we're worshiping here and saying, Yep, that's right.

That's the God I worship, Lord, send me.

Now, the last thing that I want to talk about in regards to Isaiah 6 is regarding transcendence and immanence.

And I know those are big words, we're going to define them.

But it's something that we see in this passage, and I think it's so important for us to understand as a whole.

You know, being in God's presence gives us this perspective of his power and his glory and how finite we are in comparison, just like we saw with Isaiah.

But we need to strike a balance between God's transcendence and his imminence.

Transcendence just meaning his matchlessness, his supremacy, how big and amazing and awesome and wonderful he is.

But iminence means the God that dwells within us, the God that is near to us, like Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

That's what imminence means.

And David does a great job in Psalm 8.

And I'm going to read you Psalm 8.

He starts off with transcendence, but then he goes into imminence.

And I want to give you an example.

So I'll just read it to you.

Psalm 8.

Lord our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth.

You have covered the heavens with your majesty.

From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place.

So that's transcendence.

That's how big and amazing and wonderful God is.

Then in verse 4 of chapter 8, he moves into eminence.

What is a human being that you remember him?

A son of man that you look at him?

You made him a little less than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands.

You put everything under his feet, all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.

Lord our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth.

You hear the immanence there?

The nearness, the God that cares about every detail and every hair on our head.

You know, we need to have a balance in worship and in our life as well.

Isaiah sees how huge and glorious God is, and it says that he is ruined, he is undone.

That's the transcendence.

And then God comes and he meets his need with the mercy of a coal touching his lips.

That's imminence.

And what happens is if we focus too much on transcendence, then God becomes this far-off force that we become scared of, which usually will then lead to legalism.

But if we focus too much on his imminence, we find ourselves not taking sin seriously enough.

We need to understand his greatness and our depravity without him.

Yet rejoice with confidence that he's near, that he cares deeply for us and loves us so much that he sent Jesus.

Do you see the importance of that balance in our life?

Of just having the correct picture and the correct awe in our life of who God is, but also understanding the nearness that he desires with each one of us.

So here's the challenge for today.

What do we do with all of this now that we've looked at these verses?

How do we apply it to our lives?

Well, back to the first three things that we talked about at the very beginning of the message.

First, when we come to worship God, we need to be in awe and wonder.

And that doesn't start on the second or the third song that we sing.

We need to show up in awe because we've been in awe all week of who God is.

It could be as simple, if you want to show up in awe, it could be as simple as reminding ourselves of God's faithfulness, of his characteristics, you know, appreciating his nature.

Maybe it's reading some of the Psalms like we just did.

Maybe it's recounting God's blessings in our life and all that we've seen him do.

Maybe it's recounting our own testimony to ourselves of all that God has done in our lives.

Have you ever read the Psalms of Ascent?

Anyone here?

Those were songs that they sang on their way to worship.

Could you imagine if we all walked in coming from a place of worship into another place of worship?

So that's the first challenge.

That we would walk in here every Sunday, already coming from a place of worship.

Now, the second thing I hope that we can walk away with is that we would allow God to convict us as we realize how puny and sinful we are in comparison to Him.

That we would surrender all of those things that the Lord brings up inside of us.

That we would surrender all of those things to him and just live our lives as an act of worship to him, as a living sacrifice of praise.

And the third and the last thing, that we would thank God for Jesus.

For Emmanuel, God with us.

That by his blood we have been made clean and can stand boldly before God's throne.

Think of everything that we just took in through Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4.

And through Jesus, we can stand boldly in God's presence.

Because of the atoning, cleansing, washing blood of Jesus, the sacrifice that He made on the cross for each one of us.

All because of what Jesus has done.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, show us how to be in awe.

You have given us every reason.

You've given us more than enough to be in awe.

But show us, Lord, if we're not in awe, it's our own fault.

You've given us every possibility to be in awe of you.

And if we're not, Lord, it's because we're not recounting the right things.

We're not remembering the right things.

Maybe we're focusing on some negative things that have happened instead of the amazing testimony that you've given each one of us.

Help us to stand truly in awe of you.

Lord, I pray that as we worship, that you would do the work that you desire inside of each one of us.

Lord, help us to see how huge you are and how puny we are.

Help us and convict us of the sin that's in our life, just like you did with Isaiah.

Lord, would you bring those things to the surface so that we can surrender those things to you?

That you can wash us and cleanse us with Jesus' blood.

Lord, I pray that we would just have a new, renewed gratitude for the work of Jesus on the cross.

So that we just don't stand here terrified of your presence.

Lord, but we can stand boldly in your presence because Jesus has washed us and cleansed us and made us perfect in your sight, which I still can't comprehend.

But I'm gonna thank you every day of my life for that.

Lord, renew that appreciation.

If we become callused in any way, would you rip those calluses out?

God, you are so good to us.

You're so amazing in every way.

And it blows my mind that you desire us.

You desire an intimate, close relationship with each one of us.

And we thank you so much for all that you are and for all that you've done.