02-10-2019 - What Happens When the Religious Get Religion?

Isaiah 1:1–4 NLT

1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. 2 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. 3 Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.” 4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are— loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

The Life and Times of the Rotten, Rebellious, and the Reckless

Picture this, a dad comes home, sees his daughter sitting at the table doing homework… He beings a conversation, where he tells her about his terrible day - which started by his car breaking down, leading to his ripped and dirtied suit being on full display during his AM boardroom presentation. At lunch, he discovers that he failed to place his home-packed meal in the refrigerator, because he was late to work… So he orders take out - which when he has eaten over 1/2 he finds if full of maggots… The day continues its downward spiral as he rides the train and bus system home, where his wallet and his briefcase are stolen.

All the while that he is describing his miserable day, his daughter has been occasionally nodding… as if she is fully understanding everything that is said… He finally goes upstairs to get cleaned up, and she goes off to the library to meet a friend...

At dinner time, he begins the entire tale again for his wife and son...

Later that evening after the daughter comes home, her mom comments, “Your Father sure had a bad day...” at which point the daughter says, “Oh, really? what happened to him?...”

See, while her dad was first explaining his day to her, he failed to notice that she had her headphones in and was listening to the latest musical fad, occasionally nodding her head in time with the beat...

Here we are… 2019 and our Nation is like the Daughter.. Our Heavenly Father has been describing not His bad day, but what Bad days are coming to us because we have not been listening to HIS VOICE, and we just go on nodding our head to the drumbeat of the fallen and condemned world...

verse 4 - God says “What a sinful nation they are, loaded down with the burden of guilt, they are an evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him”

We have become so corrupt that EVEN THE RELIGIOUS often need a conversion experience...

Let’s turn to Isaiah 6 and see what Happens when the Religious Get some Real Religion

The Glorious Vision (Isaiah 6:1-4)

The Year of King Uzziah’s Death - A MOMENTOUS MOMENT in ISAIAH’s MEMORY

2 Chronicles tells us what type of man Uzziah had been: 5 Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God. And as long as the king sought guidance from the LORD, God gave him success.

But, even great men of God can Fail to Hear and OBEY God’s Commands, In 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 we read: 16 But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the LORD his God by entering the sanctuary of the LORD’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar. 17 Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the LORD, all brave men. 18 They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The LORD God will not honor you for this!” 19 Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the LORD’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the LORD had struck him. 21 So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the LORD

And Now in that Same Temple - Isaiah Sees the TRUE KING OF ISRAEL

The Lord is HIGH and LIFTED UP - Where is He in your Life, In Your View?

His TRAIN (Hem) Fills the Temple - His Presence Pushes all that is Unholy Aside - He is ALL in this Moment

He is Surrounded by Creatures that Declare His Holiness - We often Make God out to be the Bad Guy...

Instead of Ascribing Glory to Him We are Disturbed by How we feel He handled our Personal Problems...

His Voice Shakes the FOUNDATIONS - Often WE need God to Intervene and Shake our Faulty Foundations Built on the Rotten, Rebellious, and Reckless Ways of Sinful Man...

Something may “rock your world” But nothing will Rock your World Like Meeting Jesus

The Radical Realization of our Own DOOM (Isaiah 6:5)

WOE - meaning DOOMED - often associated with Funerals

Unclean Lips - What We Say Does NOT Please God

I am UNDONE - Recognition of our Own Sinful Status

The Bible tells us in Luke : 5:8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed

Some translate “I am undone,” or “I am a sinful man” as “I have been SILENT”

The Cleansing Commissioning of a Willing SERVANT

Iniquity Requires Cleansing

Guilt Requires Purification

Sins will Stop us in our Steps until they are FORGIVEN BY GOD

Once We are Cleansed and Forgiven We are finally in a Position to HEAR GOD’S CALL and ANSWER WITH OBEDIENCE