isaiah's potty mouth
TRANSCRIPT
• This passage is about the
majesty and glory of God.
• There are a couple
important subtexts in this
passage:
• One: We clearly see that God
is commissioning Isaiah as a
prophet.
• Two: This passage is about
communication.
• Unclean lips come from an unclean
heart.
• “The good person out of the good treasure
of his heart produces good, and the evil
person out of his evil treasure produces
evil, for out of the abundance of the heart
his mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45).
• Our lips are so difficult to control.
• “The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The
tongue is set among our members, staining the whole
body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set
on fire by hell” (Js 3:6).
• “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let
him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from
speaking deceit” (1 Pet 3:10).
• The context says a lot about
communication.
• In Isaiah 6, you will find 17
occurrences of words dealing
directly with communication.
• Nouns (first occurrence): voice (v 4),
lips (v 5), mouth (v 7), and ears (v 10).
• Verbs (first occurrence): called (v 3),
said [past tense] (v 5), heard [past
tense] (v 8), say [present tense] (v 9),
and hearing [present progressive] (v
9).
• The Holy Creator commands holy
conversation.
• What was Isaiah’s sinful
conversation?
• Context:
• The seraphim use their lips to
praise God.
• God needs someone to use his
lips to take his message
Judah and Jerusalem.
• In this passage, Isaiah was
not praising God, but the
seraphim were.
• God is worthy of our praise.
• “Great is the LORD and greatly to
be praised in the city of our God!”
(Ps 48:1).
• “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and
power, for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and
were created” (Rev 4:11).
• Private praise:
• Jesus: “And rising very early in
the morning, while it was still
dark, he departed and went out
to a desolate place, and there
he prayed” (Mk 1:35).
• We’re to offer private praise to
God.
• “Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name” (Matt 6:9).
• “When you pray, go into your
room and shut the door and pray
to your Father” (Matt 6:6).
• How do we offer private praise
to God?
• Spend time in prayer.
• Pray once a day and do nothing but
praise God.
• Sing.
• Make your life praise to God.
• “I appeal to you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which
is your spiritual worship” (Rom
12:1).
• You need to offer public praise
to God, too.
• Five acts of worship most fully
take place in public worship:
• Lord’s Supper and preaching
[Acts 20:7], singing [Eph 5:19],
contribution [1 Cor 16:1-2; as
you look at the context, the
church was together], prayer [1
Cor 14:13-19]).
• You need to be in worship.
• We often think about prophecy
as a prediction of the future.
• Isaiah predicted Jesus’ crucifixion
(Is 53).
• Yet, prophets were really God’s
spokesmen.
• Micaiah: “As the LORD lives, what
the LORD says to me, that I will
speak” (1 Ki 22:14).
• “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O
earth; for the LORD has spoken” (Is
1:2).
• Are we God’s spokesmen?
• “The lion has roared; who will not
fear? The Lord GOD has spoken;
who can but prophesy?” (Amos
3:8).
• Prophesing is speaking for the
Lord.
• Notice that the prophet must prophesy for
the Lord GOD has spoken.
• Is it not the case that our God has spoken in
his holy word (2 Tim 3:16)?
• Is it not also the case that word is “profitable
for teaching” (2 Tim 3:16)?
• “Go . . . and make disciples of all
nations” (Matt 28:19).
• Become active in Proclaiming
the Potentate.
• What ministries fit your talents?
• How can you be an example?
• “Let your light shine before
others, so that they may see
your good works and give glory
to your Father who is in heaven”
(Matt 5:16).
• Commit to setting an example
before others this week.