I was thinking this week about a very interesting subject I was hoping to study with you today and I called it "The Man Who Missed His Second Chance". I still hope I can study that with you sometime when we have an opportunity. But when I was praying last night, I came to the conclusion that I should talk about something else. And my wife used to tell me when I was a young minister that she could always tell when I had prepared my sermon on Friday night. So I suppose she will be able to tell this time, too, because you are not nearly as well prepared when you have changed your mind on Friday night as if you had changed your mind on Tuesday night or some other night in the week and you had been thinking about, in the back of your mind, what you were going to study and what you were going to say. And so, acknowledging that I am probably not as well organized for this message as I should be, I still want to invite you to open your Bibles and we are going to have a Bible study. We will start our Bible study in 2 Chronicles.

2 Chronicles is a book that we do not preach from very often. Most of us probably do not study this book nearly as much as we study some other books of the Bible; I know that I do not. But in 2 Chronicles 26, I want to read to you a story that will set the background for what we are going to study. The stories in the Bible are true and since they are true, they have anchor points in history. It is not like a fictitious story that somebody just imagined. The stories in the Bible are true and so you can anchor them to history. That is one of the interesting things about studying archaeology. Perhaps some of you have read the book "The Spade Confirms the Book". When you study archaeology you find out that the historical evidence confirms what the Bible says happened. This story in 2 Chronicles 26 provides the historical information and background about what I want to study with you this morning.

We will read almost the whole chapter. It starts, "Now all the people of Judah took Uzziah," he has another name, by the way. He is also called Azariah, but in 2 Chronicles he is called Uzziah. "Who was sixteen years old and made him king instead of his father Amaziah." Amaziah had been murdered; you can read that in the previous chapter. How would you like to be the king, the governor of a country when you were sixteen years old? A lot of responsibility. This man Uzziah, it says, "built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem." One of the longest reigns of any of the kings of Judah. "His mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord." Isn't that wonderful? Here was a man who reigned for a long time and he did what was right. "According to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God;" Zechariah was the one who wrote the book of Zechariah, of course, in the Old Testament near the end. "And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper." Isn't that interesting? As long as he did what was right and he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

"Now he went out and made war against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, [that was one of the Philistine cities] the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities around Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and against the Meunites. Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly."

So were they living in a time, now, of prosperity? Oh, yes. Outwardly they were having great prosperity. Now when you read the Bible you find out that oftentimes our outward prosperity and our spiritual condition do not coincide at all. Oftentimes, people who are having the greatest outward prosperity are in the deepest trouble spiritually and people who apparently are in the deepest trouble in the outside world, may be very healthy, in very good condition spiritually. You find that, for instance, in the book of Revelation. You have two examples in the book of Revelation. You have the church at Smyrna which outwardly was a persecuted church and was in poverty and in terrible trouble, but the Lord said, "Really you're rich." You will find no condemnation, no rebuke to the church of Smyrna. Spiritually they were in good shape; outwardly they were in terrible condition. They were being persecuted and tortured to death and they were poor, but spiritually they were in good shape. There is no rebuke. There are only two churches of the seven to whom there is given no rebuke. One of them is Smyrna. There is another church called Laodicea and outwardly they were prosperous and rich. What was their spiritual condition? "Oh," the Lord says, "you are poor, wretched, miserable" And the church of Laodicea is one of the two churches of the seven churches to whom no commendation is given. Smyrna is one of the two churches to whom no reproof or rebuke is given. Laodicea is one of the two churches to whom no commendation is given. You see what is happening to you on the outside, your prosperity, may have nothing to do with your spiritual condition.

Now keep that in mind while we read this story. These people were in good shape financially, militarily, and economically. Notice what happens. It says here in verse 9, "And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall; then he fortified them." So they were ready for a siege. They were ready for trouble. They were fortified.

Verse 10, "Also he built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains; he also had farmers and vine-dressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil. Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies, according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maseiah the office, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. And under their hand was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. Then Uzziah prepared for them, the entire army, shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong." Things were in good shape, weren't they? They were strong. They had a good army. It is not like it was in the time of Gideon when they had no swords or spears. They were well-equipped and they had forts and towers and their agricultural program was well-developed.

And you know what happened when they became so prosperous and strong? He became presumptuous. They knew they were God's people. They knew that they were God's children and the Lord was prospering them, and the king became presumptuous. Notice what happens next. Now this is the sad part of the story. It says, "But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord, who were valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, '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. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.' Then Uzziah became furious."

You see he was an absolute monarch, he was used to absolute power, and he was not used to anybody questioning his authority. "He had a censor in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz wrote."

It was during this time that Uzziah had leprosy and everybody knew why he had leprosy. He had leprosy because he had transgressed; he had disobeyed. Now those people lived in the time of the old covenant. In the time of the old covenant judgment was brought against sin immediately. In the time of the new covenant, in which we are living, judgment is not normally brought against sin immediately. It comes at the end. I have often wondered if the Christian world wouldn't be a completely different place if we were living in the time of the old covenant and judgment against our sins came instantly and everybody knew, "Well, this fella, he used to be the president, he used to be the king, but he's got leprosy now because he did what was wrong. The Lord struck him." Do you suppose we would live any different?

One of the amazing things I have learned in studying the Old Testament is that when the Lord did bring judgments instantly upon people, so often, now it affected the person who got the judgment all right, but so often, the rest of the people just went on. And apparently it was this way in Judah. And it was during this time, Jotham was taking most of the responsibilities of state because his father, who would have still been the king and who was technically still the king, actually was not reigning because he was a leper living in an isolated house. And the year came that Uzziah died.

I want you to turn to Isaiah 6 and look at what happened in the year that Uzziah died. Isaiah, here, is called to be a prophet. And he says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train. . ." Now the New King James Version says "the train of His robe", but it would be more accurate to say the "train of His glory filled the temple". When Isaiah received this revelation, he was in a state of depression. He was discouraged. Did you know that? Have you ever been discouraged? Have you ever been depressed because there was a whole series of events that happened and you just did not know how you were going to weave your way out of all this?

Isaiah was depressed and he was discouraged. Let me read to you from the pen of Ellen White a few of the reasons why Isaiah was so depressed and so discouraged. First of all, Assyria, at this time, was a world power and very, very cruel; and armies of Assyria were threatening both Israel and Judah at this time. In fact, during his lifetime he was going see the ten tribes totally destroyed and scattered among all the nations. Not only that, during the lifetime of Isaiah, he was going to see the Assyrian armies invade the nation of Judah over and over and over again. When you read the first 20 chapters or so of Isaiah, he talks about these Assyrian invasions, repeatedly. During his lifetime, Jerusalem itself was going to besieged by the Assyrian armies. And if God had not especially intervened, that would have brought the end to Judah right then. It was going to be a terribly trying time. And worst of all, maybe we should read it from Isaiah 22:8, it says, "He removed the protection of Judah." Terrible, terrible thing. Ellen White comments on that and she says the divine protection was being removed from the Southern Kingdom; and the Assyrian forces were about to overspread the land of Judah.

So right at this time when Isaiah was called to be a prophet, the divine protection was starting to be removed from God's chosen people and they were going to suffer terrible calamities. We will not go into that right now; how awful it was to be invaded by the Assyrian army. Isaiah says that they were cruel and I want to tell you, that is not an overstatement. But there was something worse than that; worse than the fact of all of these outward dangers and God was removing His protection, there was something even more dangerous than that. Let me read from the pen of Ellen White what she said was even more dangerous than that. She says, "But the dangers from without" now she is talking about this period in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah was called to be a prophet, "overwhelming though they seemed, were not so serious as the dangers from within."

What! All these Assyrian armies, all these calamities that are about to take place. There is something worse than that? Yes, there is something worse than that. And where is the danger within? "Oh," somebody says, "it's those people out there." No, friend, it is not those people out there. It is this heart in here. That is where the real danger is. It says, "The perversity of his people brought to the Lord's servant the greatest perplexity and the deepest depression." See, he was depressed. "By their apostasy and rebellion, those who should have been standing as lightbearers among the nations were inviting the judgments of God. The outlook was particularly discouraging as regards to the social conditions of the people. In their desire for gain, men were adding house to house and field to field. [See Isaiah 5:8] Justice was perverted. There was no pity shown to the poor. The Lord declared, 'The spoil of the poor is in your houses. You have beaten My people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor.' Isaiah 3:14, 15. The magistrates whose duty it was to protect the helpless turned a deaf ear to the cries of the poor, the needy, the widows, and the fatherless. With oppression and wealth came pride and love of display."

The Lord rebuked that in Isaiah 2,and the prevailing pride of the daughters of Zion, with their tinkling ornaments described in Isaiah 3:18-23. And Isaiah knew about these things and he was perplexed and discouraged and did not know what to do. How would you feel if you were supposed to be a prophet under conditions like that?

You know, God knew how he felt. Friend, God knows just how you feel when you are discouraged and when you are perplexed and you do not know which way to turn and you do not know what to do. And God did something for him. And I realized that God wants to do this same thing for me and He wants to do it for you. God let him see something and he said in verse 1, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His glory filled the temple." And he saw a picture of innumerable angels around this throne, below it.

Ellen White says it was like the veil to the Most Holy Place was just lifted and he could see right in there, where he could not go. He saw the angels and they were saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" What did he see? Do you realize that what he saw that day changed his whole life? And I am not going to try to construct something in any organized way. I am just going to try to think it through in my mind and I want you to think it through in your mind and try to understand and say, "What did he see?" And what he saw that day became the burden of his message and everything that he wrote.

I want to read to you a few things that he wrote after he saw this vision. In Isaiah 40:9 it says, "O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, 'Behold your God!' " Isaiah believed that if you could get a glimpse of what God was like, it would change your life because it changed his life. That vision that day changed his life. He was never the same again. Ellen White says he was transformed, he was changed by what he saw. And so he started to tell the people, "You need to behold your God." What will happen if you behold Him?

Look in Isaiah 45:22, "Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." So often, friends, when we are in situations like Isaiah was in and there is trouble on the outside and worse trouble on the inside, we have a tendency to look at the problem and then try to figure out the solution from just studying the problem. That is a human thing to do. Look what Isaiah said would happen to you if you do that. Look in Isaiah 8:22. It says, "Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness." What will happen if you concentrate your mind on the human imperfections that are all around? Isaiah said there was going to be trouble; there was going to be darkness. And you "will be driven to darkness."

You do not dare, friend, study your own heart and your own emotions and your own mind. You will not find a saviour within. You do not dare concentrate your mind on the imperfections that are all around you because you will be driven to discouragement and despair. That was Isaiah's condition already. And what was the solution to it? The Lord lifted the curtain and he saw something else. He saw the glory of God. And when he saw that, when he got his mind fixed on that, it changed his life. We read in Isaiah 6:4, "And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke." Why was it filled with smoke? What does that mean?

Turn to Revelation 15:8. It says, "The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed." What was it that filled the temple with smoke? It was from the glory of God and from His power. We need to understand both. Isaiah was discouraged because of all the trouble that was coming in on the outside. Do we find people today who are discouraged because all the trouble is coming on the world and we can read in the Bible about the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation and we know it is coming and people are scared of it.

Friend, what we need to get a glimpse of and a vision for today, we need to understand the power of God. The thing that will make you fearless in time of trouble is when you are connected to that kind of power and you know Who you are connected to. But what caused the temple to be filled with smoke was not just the power of God, it was the glory of God. That is what it says in Revelation 15:8. The smoke is the result of the power of God and the glory of God. And Isaiah saw this glory. And I want to understand what he saw.

I want to read to you a few statements from the pen of Ellen White about what he saw. Prophets and Kings, 307, it says, "As Isaiah beheld this revelation of the glory and majesty of his Lord, he was overwhelmed with a sense of the purity and holiness of God. How sharp the contrast between the matchless perfection of his Creator, and the sinful course of those who, with himself, had long been numbered among the chosen people of Israel and Judah!" So, he saw the matchless perfection of the character of his Creator.

Oh, friend, the apostle Paul taught, you can read it in 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ellen White wrote about it over and over again, we've read about it already in the book of Isaiah, it says, "Look unto Me and be saved." You become like what you look at and what you think about all the time. What are you looking at and what are you thinking about and what effect is it having on your mind?

When Isaiah saw this matchless perfection of the divine character and he saw the glory of God, his own character was transformed. I want to read to you a statement about this from Christ's Object Lessons, 250, it says, "When one turns away from human imperfections to behold Jesus, a divine transformation takes place in the character." Friend, I need it. One of our biggest problems is that we do not realize what we are dealing with in here in our hearts. The Bible says that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and is desperately wicked. We do not realize our condition and that is one of our biggest problems. You cannot help a sick person that does not know they are sick. Try it. But when Isaiah saw the perfection of the divine character, all of a sudden in contrast to what he saw, he understood something about himself he had never understood before. What did he understand about himself? Look at verse 5, "Then I said: '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 my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.' "

Oh, when he saw what God was like, all of a sudden he realized what he was like. Has that ever happened to you? Has the Holy Spirit ever revealed to you anything, or to me, have we seen our own inward defilement? When Isaiah saw that picture, when he saw that reality, all of a sudden he realized that inside he was defiled and his defilement stood out in startling clearness and he was alarmed. He was no longer concerned about the Assyrian armies. He was not even concerned, now, about the awful things in the social condition of the people, although he recognized that he dwelt in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Now, it was not just the others, it was me. "I am a man of unclean lips." "Oh," somebody says, "Wasn't he a prophet?" Yes, he was a prophet. By human standards, he would have been judged one of the most holy of men. But when he saw the divine perfection, he said, "I'm undone. I'm a wicked man. My heart is defiled with sin."

Oh, friend, if you are going to be saved and if I am going to be saved, something is going to have to happen to us inside. Anyone who has been an Adventist preacher for a while can get up in this pulpit and we could preach you a sermon on the signs of the Second Coming without any notes. We have preached it so many times that we could just open the Bible and go from text to text and we could give you all the information. Anybody that has been an Adventist preacher for a while can get up and open from the book of Daniel and Revelation and they could preach you a sermon instantly right out of the Bible without any notes. But, friend, having a knowledge of prophecy and of the signs of the times and of theology and even of the law of God, will not save you or me if we do not have a transformation inside. And it is so easy to think, "I have been going to church for so long and I have been associating with Christian people so long, well it's rubbing off." Friend, it is not enough to have something rub off. Something has to change inside deeper than you can rub off.

Commenting on this vision, Ellen White has the following to say in the Pacific Union Recorder, July 17, 1902. She says, "The Holy Spirit will work with power through all who realize that a deep and thorough transformation must take place in the heart." The Holy Spirit will work with power upon who? "Upon all", do you like the word "all" there? That includes you, doesn't it? That includes me. The Holy Spirit will work with power on who? On every person who realizes that they have to have "a deep and thorough transformation" take place in their heart. Now the problem is, do you realize that you need to have a deep and thorough transformation take place in your heart? Or are you still blind? I do not think we are going to get there, but that is what it talks about in the last part of Isaiah 6. The people are blind, their hearts are hard. What is their problem? They are religious. These people went to church every Sabbath, by the way, and they paid tithe. But they were still a people of unclean lips.

There is a symbol given here in Isaiah 6 of what the Holy Spirit wants to do to people who have unclean lips. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." The reason we have unclean lips is because we have unclean hearts. And when the heart is changed, the lips will be changed. And notice what it says here in verses 6 & 7, "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth. . ." I always used to be apprehensive about this when I was a boy because all I could think of was getting burned. But this is a symbolic representation of what God wants to do in my heart. When He brings a live coal something is going to burn; something is going to change. It says, "He touched my mouth with it, and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.' " What does that represent?

Let me read it to you. "The Holy Spirit will work with power through all who realize that a deep and thorough transformation must take place in the heart. A transformation represented by the touching of the lips of God's servant with a live coal." What does that represent? That represents the transformation in the heart that the Holy Spirit wants to do for everybody who realizes that they have to have a deep and thorough transformation in their heart. Oh, friend, have you had that experience? Have you been touched with a coal? Has the Holy Spirit worked a change in your heart that has changed everything about your life, what you say is different, what you think is different?

Now after this vision Isaiah understood something better than anybody else in the whole nation. Now there is a principle of moral responsibility here. If I understand something that you do not understand and what I understand affects your physical or mental or spiritual well-being, do I have a responsibility to you? Yes I do. If you have a sickness and you have no way out and I know of some way that you can be relieved, do I have a responsibility to inform you? Yes I do. If you have a spiritual sickness and I know of a remedy, do I have a responsibility to inform you? Yes I do. That is what witnessing is about; that is what evangelism is about. If I know something that can help you and you do not know about it, I have a responsibility to you. I want no one in the city of Wichita to be able to say, "You knew that the judgments of God were coming. You knew that the end of the world was coming and you didn't tell us." I do not want anyone to be able to say that.

When Isaiah was touched with this live coal, he knew two things. The first thing that he knew was how bad the people were and they did not understand it because they had not seen the vision he had seen.

Let me read to you what Ellen White says about that. She says, "None knew better than Isaiah the depths of sin into which Judah had fallen. None knew better than he their need of a Saviour." Nobody knew as well as he knew how bad they were and how much they needed help, but after this vision, he was a transformed man. It changed his life. Because what did he see? Oh, friend, I want to talk a little bit about what he saw of the glory of God. Part of the glory of God was that live coal that touched his lips; that came right out from the glory of God. And he realized that even though he was a sinner and that his heart was desperately wicked and deceitful and that he was a man of unclean lips, he realized that God had a remedy for his problem. And he realized that the same remedy that God had provided for him, God would provide for anybody else that was willing to look. That is why he said, "Behold your God." If you could ever see Him, if you could ever see His spiritual character, it would change your life. Get your eyes off all the problems in your families, in your own heart, and all around you, in the church and get your eye where there is help to transform your life.

He had caught a glimpse of the loveliness of the divine character. And, friend, I want to see it. How about you? Have you caught a glimpse of the loveliness of the divine character? After this time, Isaiah could go and give a testimony to the people about what would happen to them if they beheld the love of God. It would change their lives. And he went out to speak and to write to the people and to show them a God that would save them clear to the uttermost no matter how defiled they were, God would save them and work a change in their heart. So he went out to these people of unclean lips.

Now were those people in that generation the only people of unclean lips? Do you know what it means to be people of unclean lips? It is actually very simple. Let me read to you an inspired comment on that. The prophet says, "'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', a people who do not practice what they say." Who are people of unclean lips? They are people who do not practice what they say. That is who the people of unclean lips are. Friend, we need to have the coal touch our lips just like those people back there needed the coal to touch their lips. We need a transformation in heart. Sometimes when we first become Christians and we first study the wonderful story of salvation, and we realize that we are sinners and we come to the Lord and ask for salvation and we give our hearts to Him, we have the mistaken idea that the conversion process is something that happens when you first come to the Lord. And that is true all right, but it is not something that stops then. It is something that is supposed to continue on. In fact, Ellen White says you need to be converted how often? Every day.

Let's look at one other phrase in this passage in verse 3, "And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!'" Now that, by the way, friends, is a prophecy. It is a prophecy that was first given to Moses. Moses was told by the Lord in Numbers 14:21, after Moses interceded for the children of Israel that they would not be destroyed, the Lord said to Moses, "but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." When is that going to happen? Well, it has not happened yet, but that does not mean it is not going to. It is going to happen. And we are hoping and praying and believing that it will happen in our time. Isaiah had a lot to say about that. It was revealed, by the way, to Isaiah. You can look in the latter part of chapter 6 and the prophet asks, "How long is this going to go on?" When he was told that the people were so hardhearted and they were blind and he asked how long it would go on. The Lord revealed to him that it would go on for a lot longer than his lifetime. The Lord revealed to him that not during his lifetime could all the evil that had been developing for generations be turned around and stopped, it would not happen in his lifetime. But the Lord said that the time would come and a remnant would be saved.

And so Isaiah began his mission, undaunted by the discouraging prospect, knowing that God's church was eventually going to triumph. In fact, some of the most wonderful prophecies in all the Bible about the future triumph of God's people come from the pen of Isaiah. He knew it would not happen in his lifetime. In fact, one time he wrote, "Your dead men are going to sing with my dead body" speaking of the resurrection. And he began to talk to people about beholding God and telling them that if they would get their eyes fixed on His spiritual, moral character, it would change their life. God's glory, His character, His merciful kindness and tender love was to be revealed to all mankind. That is what it means for the glory of God to cover the earth. The Bible says as surely as God lives and reigns His glory shall be declared among the heathen, His wonders among all the people. (See Psalm 96:3.)

The people of Isaiah's day did not understand the character of God and that is what they needed to see so that their hearts could be changed by the Holy Spirit, so that they would realize their own unclean lips, their own defilement and ask for a transformation of character. There were some people in Isaiah's time that had gone into such depths of wickedness that when the prophet went to speak to them they were afraid that God would not receive them if they turned back. Have you ever met somebody like that? Felt they had sinned so much and for so long and so bad that the Lord would not receive them. To them, Isaiah said the following, "Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: 'My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God'? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:27-31

Oh, friend, Isaiah taught that the heart of the infinite God yearns over people who feel powerless to free themselves from the snares of Satan. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that you were on a toboggan run down to the bottom of the hole of sin and there was no way out? Isaiah taught that there is a way out. If you look to the Lord, the Lord says, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10. "Fear not, you worm Jacob." Ever feel like a worm? The Lord said to people who felt like worms and felt that the Lord would not take them back because of how awful they were, He said, "Don't fear because I'm going to help you."

"Turn you again now everyone from his evil ways," Jeremiah said. Oh, friend, have you chosen your own way instead of God's way? As I visit with people I find many people who realize that they have chosen their own way. Sometimes they are past the meridian of life and have wandered far from God and have feasted on the fruits of transgression and they find that they turn to ashes on their lips. And then have you ever met somebody whose life plans were thwarted? Ever met somebody like that? Ever meant somebody who had no hope anymore; their hope was dead? And so they seem alone and desolated. Oh, friend, you need to see what Isaiah saw. You need to hear that voice speaking to your heart that perhaps you would not listen to before, coming to you distinct and clear and saying, "Arise and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is defiled, it shall destroy you, even with utter destruction." Micah 2:10. Return to your Father's house. He is inviting you right now. He says, "Return unto Me." No matter how bad you have been, no matter what you have done, no matter what mistake you have made. If your life seems thwarted, all your dreams have disappeared and your hope is gone and it just seems like nothing is working out right, the Lord says, "Return to Me, for I have redeemed you." Isaiah 44:22. "Incline your ear," the Lord says, "and come to Me. Hear, and your soul will live; I will make to you an everlasting covenant--the sure mercies of David." Isaiah 55:3

Do not listen to the enemy's suggestions telling you to stay away from Christ until you have made yourself better, until you think you are good enough to come to God. Let me tell you, friend, if you wait until you are good enough, you will never come. Come just the way you are. Say, "Lord, help me to see Your character and to be transformed into an image of that by the Holy Spirit." Oh, if the devil is telling you that your garments of character are filthy, you tell him, Jesus said, "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." John 6:37. That is emphatic speech. Make the prayer of David your own. Say to the Lord, "Purge me." That is what God did for Isaiah. He touched him with a coal and He said, "Your iniquity is purged. You are clean now."

"Purge me," David said, "with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7. Oh, friend, Isaiah tried to get the eyes of the people fixed on the person who was altogether lovely. Have you seen Him? He is described as the "Chiefest among ten thousand". He is spoken of as "The King in His beauty". Isaiah said, "You are going to see the King in His beauty."

Have you seen that beauty? Oh, friend, the day is coming when the people who see this are going to say, "The majestic Lord will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams . . . (For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us)." Isaiah 33:21, 22

What was this vision all about--the turning point in Isaiah's life that turned him around and made him a different person, transformed his life and transformed the life of everyone that would listen to what he said. It was because of what he saw and because of that coal that touched his lips and that hope that was given to him. Oh, friend, have you seen His glory? That is the whole theme, by the way, of the gospel of John. John says, "We beheld His glory." Have you seen it? Is it changing your life? Have you been touched? Is the Holy Spirit working in your heart? Do you want this experience? Do you want to be changed? Salvation, friend, is not something that just happens instantaneously. It is a process of the Holy Spirit working on the heart of somebody that has submitted. Do you want this experience yourself? If you do, I have said many times, I am just a simple Christian. I just read what it says in the Bible and then ask the Lord to make it happen. And, friend, it can happen to you. I believe it can happen to you and I believe it can happen to me. And if you want this experience, if you want to see the One that is altogether lovely and be transformed in character and if you want your iniquity and sin to be purged and your heart to be changed, I want to invite you to kneel down with me and let's ask the Lord to work that miracle in our lives.