"God’s Cure For A Dirty Mouth”
Text: Isaiah 6:1-13
2-6-2022
In the name of our holy God who purifies us sinners, dear friends in Christ. When you were a child, did your parent’s ever wash your mouth out with soap for saying a dirty word? Or maybe you had to do this with one of your children? I won’t mention any names but I had to do this with one of my kids. Man, oh man. One of my sister-in-laws jumped all over me for taking this corrective action because she had read an article that said some of the chemicals in soap can make a child “violently ill.” Yeah, right. After one such “washing”, my wayward child just smiled at me and said, “You know, Dad, I think I like the taste of Ivory soap better than Palmolive!”
Well, whether you were the giver or receiver of such a mouth cleansing we’d all have to agree that it was mild in comparison to God’s cure for a dirty mouth in the Old Testament reading. After Isaiah cried out that he was a man of “unclean lips”, God sent a seraph, which is a high-ranking angel, to deliver the cure. The seraph took a hot, burning coal from the altar with a set of tongs and touched the prophet’s lips. Ouch! Given the choice, I’d take the soap over that any day! But we’re missing the whole point of this lesson if we think it’s only about cleansing someone’s mouth for saying naughty words. The bigger issue has to do with God’s holiness and the inability of sinners to speak to Him or about Him let alone to approach Him. Well, thankfully God has a cure for the problem.
There aren’t too many people in the Bible who had the privilege that Isaiah had. God allowed him to get a glimpse of what goes on in heaven. This happened at the very beginning of Isaiah’s call by God to be a prophet, a spokesman for Him. We’ll come back to that in a little bit and you’ll see why this experience was so necessary for Isaiah. The scene is the royal throne room of God and He was seated there in all His glory. Take special notice of what the seraphim by the throne are doing. It says they had 6 wings. With 2 wings they covered their faces, with 2 they covered their feet, and with 2 they were flying. But why cover their face and feet? Because they knew that they were created beings who were unworthy to see God or stand in His presence. Keep in mind, these angels had never sinned. And yet they showed humble reverence in the presence of their holy, almighty Maker.
Then the seraphim sing out that beautiful, majestic song, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts...” We get a hint of the Trinity in that triple repetition. And as they speak those glorious words the foundations of heaven shake. Everything in this scene highlights the awesome holiness of God. But there’s something wrong, and Isaiah knows it. Here is all of God’s unveiled holiness, surrounded by holy angels, in a holy heavenly temple. And there stands Isaiah, a filthy, miserable sinner. He is the epitome of UN-holiness in the presence of God’s pure holiness. He was so acutely aware of his sinfulness that he basically says, “I’m a goner! I’m a man of unclean lips, and everyone around me also has unclean lips!”
Folks, Isaiah was not simply referring to the fact that he had uttered a dirty word in his life. And he wasn’t saying that about the people of Israel either. He was talking about his and their filthy spiritual condition. But God had a cure for that sinfulness. He didn’t send Isaiah off on some holy crusade to compensate for his sins. That was not possible. Isaiah himself wrote later in chapter 64: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment…” Isaiah knew that nothing that he might say or do could make him worthy to stand in the presence of his holy God. So, God sent the seraph with the purifying fire from the heavenly altar to fix the problem. As the seraph did so he said, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” God, in His mercy, took away Isaiah’s sin and guilt. And because of that, he was now worthy to stand and speak in the presence of God.
Look at the transformation that took place. Isaiah was sure that he would be annihilated because he was a sinner in the presence of God’s pure holiness. He was unfit to be a messenger of God. Then, God purifies him. In that sanctified condition, Isaiah is able to stand before God and answer the Lord’s call to be His spokesman. When God says, “Whom shall I send?”, Isaiah quickly responds, “Here I am! Send me.”
Now let’s apply that to us. We rightly teach that when we come here to God’s house to worship Him, He is truly present because He Himself promised to be. The holy, almighty God of heaven allows you to come into His holy presence right here in this place. The next time you walk into this sanctuary, check and see what your attitude is. I’m afraid that all too many of us saunter in here nonchalantly like “This is no big deal.” If you truly believe that God is present, then we should be filled with awe and reverence. Rather than idle chatter before the church service, our time should be spent in humble silence. And as we approach the Lord in Confession, the stark truth of our sinfulness ought to strike fear in our hearts. Like Isaiah, we too are men and women with “unclean lips.” The contrast between God’s holiness and our sinfulness are as opposite as night and day.
Our awareness of all this will affect our attitude throughout worship. Sadly, some Christians think that your time here should kind of be like sitting down with God at a party, draping your arm across His shoulder and saying, “Hey, buddy, how’s it going?” That is NOT the image of our holy and majestic God that Isaiah portrays. Yes, we can sing words like “What a Friend we have in Jesus” because God has reconciled us to Himself through His Son. But at the same time, Jesus is also the almighty King of the Universe who deserves and demands our honor and respect.
But what about these unclean lips of ours? To say the very least, many of us have dirty mouths. The words that come out of them are anything but honoring to God. When we let filthy language pour out of our mouths unabated, it tells the world that we don’t really care about the black eye it gives to the name of Christ which we bear. Think of that the next time you’re tempted to let loose like a drunken sailor. Let that image of an angel with a hot, burning coal about to touch your lips sink in. But it’s not just cussing and swearing that makes our mouths unclean. Gossip, lies, and cruel words are just as filthy as far as God is concerned.
And yet, all that is just the outward symptom of a deeper spiritual problem. It’s a problem that we all have. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 15:18, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” Ah, there’s the root of the problem. Regardless of what makes it to our lips, our sinful hearts are the cesspool that it all spews out of. And until that’s cleaned up, any attempt to restrain our dirty mouths or actions is just a useless exercise in trying to make ourselves look righteous on the outside.
When we recognize the horrible truth of our sinfulness, we will quickly acknowledge our unworthiness to stand in God’s presence, let along speak His name and sing His praises. As your Pastor, I am regularly struck by this truth. You have no idea how many times I pray to God, “Lord, I’ve got no business climbing into this pulpit and speaking your holy word. I’m a man of unclean lips, and worse than that, an unclean heart.” And yet God is gracious and merciful. If we humbly bow before Him and sincerely confess our sinfulness, He promises to purify our lips and our hearts. As those words of absolution are spoken, it’s like an angel from heaven is touching your lips with the hot coal of God’s holiness. His word purifies you. And God says “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
It was the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross that removed all our damning sins. In our Baptisms we were washed clean and were given the holiness of Jesus. Now that we have His righteousness, we can stand in the presence of our holy God. And now, with our lips made clean by His forgiveness, we are able to speak to and about God. Isaiah was not worthy to be the Lord’s messenger until he was touched by God’s holy fire of forgiveness. Likewise, your mouth and mine has been purified by the Lord so that we can sing praises to Him and spread the Gospel message.
In a very real way today, God will touch your lips with His atonement for your sins in the Lord’s Supper. In this holy meal, the very body and blood that was crucified on the cross to atone for your sins will touch your lips. It’s no accident that we sing those words of the seraphim as we prepare to approach our holy God in this Sacrament. “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth...” His holiness is given for you to eat and drink for the forgiveness of your sins and to strengthen your faith. Just as we want to approach God’s presence in our worship with an attitude of awe and reverence, may we also approach this sacred feast the same way. Not as some ho-hum ritual, but rather, recognizing the true presence of our holy God who comes to us in the bread and wine. Like Isaiah, we too are privileged to get a glimpse of heaven, in the Lord’s Supper. As we sing in one of the Divine Services, this is a foretaste of the feast to come {in heaven.}
With our lips and hearts purified by God’s holy fire, we are finally ready to hear His call, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" As His forgiven and purified children, we can now answer like Isaiah and say, "Here I am. Send me!" Amen!
Soli Deo Gloria!