We are currently considering the topic of worship. We have spent the past couple of weeks, initially seeing that God is worthy of all our worship. True worship is based on the worthiness that we place upon God. We have seen but a mere glimmer of the magnificence of God that makes Him the only One worthy of all the worship of all creation. Apart from Him is no life, and that fact alone should bring forth all glory, adoration and honor from our hearts unto Him.
	Last week, we looked at the most pronounced aspect of worship, that of adoration directed by the Holy Spirit unto our God: Father, Son and Spirit. True worship, as we are taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, proceeds forth in spirit and in truth. This pure worship is evidenced only as our hearts are attuned to the wondrous working of the Holy Spirit. This is the aspect of worship with which we are most familiar.  
	This evening, with great prayerfulness, we will consider another aspect of worship unto God. It, again, is something with which we are already familiar. However, as with this entire consideration, we need to give the Holy Spirit the freedom to reveal the true measure of the heart of God, unto Whom we owe everything. 
	This evening’s text is found in Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
	In this passage, we have the divinely imposed vision given to Isaiah. He was granted a mere glimpse of the super-terrestrial throne of God and of His transcendence and immanence in all of His glorious majesty and holiness. The vision revealed the awesome nature of God and the lack of Isaiah before the throne of Grace. Isaiah found himself transported into the midst of angelic hosts. They were praising the Lord with pure lips. They were extolling the distinguishing characteristic of God; namely, His holiness. Isaiah was undone in seeing the nature of himself, and of all men, before the Lord God Almighty. In that revelation of himself, and humanity, he cried out in despair unto the heavens because he was unclean and unable to stand before the majesty of the Lord of hosts in his sinful state. 
	In this passage, there is contained a tremendous aspect of worship. It is the value placed upon God as evidenced in our confession before Him. Many are not comfortable about this because it can be so often misused or misguided as to its intent in the heart of God. There have been abuses of our confession of sinfulness, which have torn lives and families asunder because of a lack of why it is, before God, true worship in every sense. There are many and varied teachings about both public and private confession. Our place, this evening, is not to debate the many doctrinal beliefs. It is rather, to look at the true nature of confession as it indicates a willingness to give to God, the place in our hearts, that is all encompassing.
	As Isaiah pondered the evidenced glory of God, he recognized the fact that he was unclean. The Spirit moved upon him to show what was in his heart and in his nature that was not worthy to be before the Holiness of the Lord God. There was a recognition, a deep recognition of the lack within himself. He cried out with all his heart in the anguish of his soul: “Woe is me! I am undone.” When he saw the hosts of angels praising God, he sensed his complete lack to do the same. He saw himself defiled, unable to praise as he should. The angels were praising with clean lips. His were unclean lips. It was this knowledge that something beyond him had to be done in order for him to stand in the presence of God. At that moment, he was in agreement with God that, as man, he could not praise God as he should. First, there had to be a divine change in his condition. This agreement with God, in the recognition of his own lack, indicates the first aspect of confession. 
	He agreed with God by saying, “I am a man of unclean lips living in a nation of people with unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”  Isaiah was fully aware of the dire warning of God given in Ex.33:20, And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. He knew that, as a man, he was in the presence of the holiness of God, which is as an all-consuming fire. Is. 33:14, The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? There was no doubt that he was doomed to death. It is that same recognition that each one must face. We are spiritually dead, set apart from God. Yet, by the magnificent Grace of God, we have an innate sense of spiritual need that can only be satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ. This condition of confession is that agreement with God which places our complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Both aspects of confession, of lacking the wherewithal to praise God as we should, and of being spiritually dead before Him, lead us to the same place, that of worship unto God. This is that confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent from the heart of the Father to die on the cross for our sins. In that ultimate sacrifice, He took our sins upon Himself, and paid the righteous price demanded in His death, that we would be able to join the angelic hosts in the pure and undefiled worship of the holiness of God. 
	In considering the confession of our sinfulness and the holiness of God, we are in absolute agreement with God that we are sinners and that Jesus Christ is the only way for that sin to be forgiven. This may seem simple, but there is much held within this fact. It means that we recognize the lack that exists in ourselves, and we acknowledge our dire need for God’s divine intervention. We are brought to the point that we place absolute value on God to save us, because, apart from Him, we know we are lost and dead in sin. This is worship! 
	When we acknowledge the holiness of God, the grandeur of God, the magnificence of God, and our pitiful state in His presence, that is when we are brought into the realization that, apart from Christ, we have no standing before God. That causes great sorrow to emanate from us at the unworthiness we bring before the throne of grace. This, too, is worship, for we come to this realization as we see God as Isaiah saw Him, high and lifted up. 
	The pre-salvation ministry of the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to give confession to our sinful state and to accept Christ, as our right-standing before God. This acceptance of Christ envelopes us with that joy unspeakable to see the glorious majesty and holiness of God and live. Think back to the time that we accepted Christ into our lives. We were overcome with praise and adoration and worship unto God for the great work of Christ on our behalf. We were anxious to tell the world that God is the only life worth living on the earth, or in any realm of creation. There is to be that continued desire to live a life fully in line with the working of the Holy Spirit as He reveals Christ in us, our hope of Glory.
	This point incorporates both aspects of confession, being in complete agreement with God concerning our sinful state and the confession, or complete agreement with God, concerning our need for the wonderful work of Jesus Christ in our lives. Now, let us delve a bit deeper into each specific part as the Holy Spirit manifests Himself on a daily basis in our lives.
	Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Our hearts soar to the heavens as we consider the greatness of God in this statement. The joy of the Lord emanates from our beings at the divine fragrance of the Love of God manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is the worship that pleases the heart of God, because His people are in complete agreement that Jesus Christ is to be fully, and eternally glorified for the great work that He accomplished on the cross for our sake to the glory of the Father.
	Then add the truth of Philippians 2:9-11, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. You see, there will be that point at which all creation will have to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. There will be no choice, because He will be revealed in all His triumphant Glory at that day. It will not matter what the prior beliefs were, or how self-deluded man may have been, the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord will be proclaimed! At that time, all the earth and all the heavens will give God glory for the great plan He has accomplished in the gift of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. But that worship will be a resigned and begrudging worship, born of anguish and humiliation because the gift of God in Christ Jesus was cast away. There will be extreme pain and distress in that bitter realization that God has indeed ordered the affairs of man, and made Himself known to those who would but open their hearts to Him. The proud and the arrogant will be caught in their traps of foolishness before His throne. 
	Those who now confess Christ, however, will be rejoicing in that day. They will be casting their crowns of gold in adoration before the throne of God, already exalting Him, Who deserves all exaltation.
	I John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. In this passage, we have the promise of the continued abiding of God in us, and we in Him. There is no doubt, no shred of doubt, of the fact that, in Christ, we are in the presence of the most Holy God. And, we are not just in His presence, we are abiding in Him. In that truth, there should spring forth the worship of the ages unto our most gracious and loving Heavenly Father. It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Who works mightily in our lives to bring forth the praise and glory and adoration that God is due for the great love with which we have been so fully loved. All this is on the basis that we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is the first evidence that confession brings forth worship unto God.
	The second evidence follows very closely on this line. Because we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we are brought to the daily recognition that we are sinful creatures of ourselves. There is much that God needs to do in us to make us that which is fully pleasing to Him. Now, let it be proclaimed from the highest mountain tops that Jesus Christ is Lord and that His wondrous work has made us spiritually perfect in Him. There is a work, however, that needs to be done in our lives to bring our daily walk into conformity with our spiritual perfection in Christ Jesus. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, and is also a part of the vision of Isaiah. To serve God effectively, Isaiah needed a thorough cleansing. The seraphim took a hot coal from the most holy place and touched the prophet’s mouth with it. He was assured of the forgiveness of sin. His guilt was removed and all uncleanness was burned away by that purifying fire. This is the place where confession unto worship was evidenced in Isaiah. He agreed with God about sin. He had no desire to remain in that impure state. And that cleansing work brought forth praise unto God. He was able to start the testimony of this experience by saying, “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”  
	How do we respond when the Holy Spirit reveals our sinfulness? Do we respond as Isaiah did, admitting the sinfulness and desiring the cleansing? Or, do we fight it and declare that things are not our fault. Do we search for excuses and scape-goats upon whom to hang our sins?
	There are three basic aspects of confession unto desiring the holiness of God to reign in our lives. First, that we recognize sin as just that. It is sin before God and therefore should have no place in our lives. It is a hard thing to face God and admit that we are sinners. We try to find avenues of escape, areas in which we can hide our indiscretions, and even try pushing fault upon someone else. So often, we refuse to accept the fact that we are committing sin, by disguising our motives or by trying to argue our lack of responsibility in it. But, when we simply agree with God that we have sinned, with no excuse, then we are making a confession unto the worthship of God to know that we are in complete agreement with Him that we have sinned. 
	That leads to the second point of confession, that we acknowledge that God is Holy and that sin has no place before Him. We agree that something has to change within us in order to make us able to bring worship in complete perfection unto God. We are making known that God has the right to have complete authority over our lives and that we desire Him to act sovereignly in our lives. That is putting Him on the throne of our hearts. We are giving up control in order for Him to use our lives and to shape us into that which will fully bring glory to His name.
	The third part of confession is that we find the sin as abhorrent as He does. We ask Him to work in us to cleanse us from it so that we do not disappoint Him with lives that are not reflective of the glory of God. In other words, we confess that sin causes us distress because it causes Him distress. We are in full agreement with Him that His essence of holiness is more important in our lives than our old nature of self that once had reign in us. 
	This is worship because it brings to mind, daily, the grace and the mercy of God in our lives. We are constantly reminded by the Holy Spirit of the value of the love of God shed upon us in the triumphant work of Christ to bring forth the beauty of Christ from the ashheaps left by our old nature. I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
	Our God is an awesome God. He never gives up on us, no matter what mess we fashion for ourselves. He is faithful to bring to fruition the cleansing power of the life of Christ Jesus, through the effective working of the Holy Spirit. He brings us to the mirror of self-reflection, much like Isaiah, not to show us our rags, but to show us the beauty of the holiness of our Lord. As that triumphant vision is before us, we realize that we are not worthy of the place into which He has brought us. We desire for God to cleanse us from all unrighteousness in order to bring glory to His name, now and evermore. Did you catch the last part of our passage of consideration this evening? The truth of the holiness of God and the uncleanness of Isaiah not only caused him to desire a mighty working of God in him, but that cleansing work made him desirous to do that which would bring honor to God. It made Isaiah a willing vessel through whom God would have access to do that which He deemed necessary. Isaiah cried out to be the sent one, to proclaim the glory of God on this earth. That is a life in which worship unto God is the daily portion.
	As God is effectively working in us, we should find our hearts, as well, desirous to manifest that which would bring honor to the name of our Lord God Almighty. Our lives are to be a living testimony unto Him who called us according to His purpose. We should live lives that are fully in line with that, alone, which will bring glory to God on this earth. And, we should find our hearts enthralled with seeking after the daily proclamation that our God reigns, now and evermore. Our confession is before God and before man because it is the complete agreement with God that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. Praise His Holy name!
	Isaiah said, ...I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: ... And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory... Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.