1st Commandment Isaiah 6

The Feast of The Holy Trinity                             15-June-2025
Sermon Text: Isaiah 6:1-7
Sermon Theme: “You Shall Have No Other Gods!” I. Fear God Creator Of All. (Vs.1,2) II. Love God Who Comes To Bless!(vs.3,4) III. Trust God Who Sanctifies Us To Serve! (Vs.6-7) by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert

I.N.R.I. Eph 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (2) "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with promise: (3) "THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH." (4) And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” God the Holy Spirit teaches us of the various holy orders and positions in which God calls us to be His hands to serve our neighbor. In the previous chapter Paul called husbands to serve their wives by loving them as Christ loves His Church. He called wives to respectfully submit to their husbands as the Church is subject to Christ. Through Paul’s pen the Holy Spirit teaches us to view marriage as a living picture of Christ Jesus’ ongoing love for His Bride - the Church. The mystery that the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to become one with us for our redemption that by the Holy Spirit we might believe and be saved. Listen! Eph 5:30-33 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (31) "FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH." (32) This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (33) Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
     Satan, the fallen angel, the spirit of anti-truth - the liar - the murderer from the beginning. Rebels against the Truth. Following his lies we have become a culture of death with unclean lips spewing corruption. Marriage is dishonored by easy divorce and couples cohabiting in sin. Children are disposable. Abandoned to death in abortion, or to isolation in a prison of entertaining blue screens. The depth of darkness is evident in fathers abandoning their children, dishonoring them by not marrying and staying married to their mother. Fatherhood disdained as unnecessary and harmful. Blinded by sin we can’t even acknowledge biological truth. The idolatry of self built on the mythical story of evolution - has taken our minds captive to devilish philosophies and pseudo-spiritualities - paths away from the only True and Living God to death and hell.
      Repent! Return to the Truth! Hear the Words the Living God speaks to His creation in His written Word! Learn: “You Shall Have No Other Gods!” I. Fear God Creator Of All. (Vs.1,2) II. Love God Who Comes To Bless!(vs.3,4) III. Trust God Who Sanctifies Us To Serve! (Vs.6-7)

I. The book of Isaiah begins: Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Isaiah remembers and honors his father. According to rabbinic tradition it was thought that whenever the prophet’s fathers name was listed, for he too had been a prophet. It is an interesting idea. (LSB pg.321, “As the head...”) “Fathers, bring your children up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” Children watch their father to learn how to walk in life. Wisdom teaches, Pro 17:6 Children's children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.” Study after study has proven that children whose Dad teaches them the faith, brings them to church, every Sunday, opens the hymnal and sings, daily reads the Bible at home and prays with them - their children will continue to follow Jesus throughout their lives. It is never too late to teach around your supper table the ABC’s of Christianity - Ten Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed, The Lord’s Prayer. Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. Fathers you are called to be the priest and prophet of your home. United with your bride in Christ you will bless your children with the only inheritance that matters.
     Listen! (Vs.1,2) Isaiah is in the Lord’s Temple, why? It is where God promised to draw near to bless His people. Where does Jesus promise to be? Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." He is present in His Word and Sacraments as the Church gathers together in this place every Sunday.
      What does the living God teach us? (LSB pg. 321, 1st Cmd, WDTM?)
Have no other gods! There are no other gods! Satan’s spiritual lies are nothings. Those who reject the Triune God worship demons. Man’s idols are his own wisdom, money, possessions, and power.
       Fear God the Creator and Upholder of all creation! Isaiah sees the Lord God revealing Himself. His holy angels surround Him. They show humility covering their feet and their faces. Angels are separate created spiritual beings - humans never become angels. With David confess, Psa 139:14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” Honor God as your Father. He created you through your parents to be a human being in this time and space.
       Teach your children to fear God above all things. What does this mean? (LSB pg. 322, Close Cmts, WDTM?) Fear God’s wrath. The Ten Commandments are the Triune God’s will for our life. They are hardwired into our humanity. Adam’s rebellion corrupted our hearts to turn from how we were created, but they still remain. Learn to fear God by keeping His commandments - they are for life!
    Moses taught the children of Israel, Deu 6:4-7 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (6) "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.” Hear and confess the Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - just as we did this morning in the Athanasian Creed! Begin and end your day with His saving Name given you in baptism. Confess the only living God in the Apostles’ Creed - it is the true story of reality! Pray to Our Father through Jesus by the Holy Spirit in the Lord’s Prayer!
II. The Triune God isn’t lost, so we have to find Him. He reveals Himself from the beginning by speaking His living Word! Gen 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (3) Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. From the opening verses of His self-revelation He shows Himself Triune. The Father creating, The Holy Spirit sustaining Life, The Son - the Word through which all things were made!
    The holy angels confess the Trinity! (Vs3-4) They sing the “Sanctus” - “Holy, Holy, Holy” They join their voices with ours in the liturgy as we prepare to be fed by Jesus with His living body and blood which alone reconciles us to our Father in heaven by faith sustained in us by the Holy Spirit! (LSB pg. 321, 1st Cmd, WDTM?).
    How do we love God above all things?(LSB pg. 322, Close Cmts, WDTM?) “He promises grace and every blessing” Where? “In those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Who is the only human being who fulfills the Law perfectly? Jesus! The God/Man - reconciled us to our heavenly Father through being fully human without sin FOR YOU! He is Love! We love Him, because He first loved us from eternity.
    Nicodemus feared, loved, and trusted in his own learning, status, and power. Jesus revealed that unless he was born from above he could not see the kingdom of God. How? By baptism the Father’s gift through His Son’s sacrifice and victory in water breathing us alive by the Holy Spirit to cling to His sacrificial love alone! These tender words..”in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” invite you to believe God is your true loving Father through Love made your Brother by Love breathed into you by the Holy Spirit. Made alive in Christ by His promise you cry out by the Holy Spirit in prayer...”Our Father!”
    The glory of the Triune God filled the Temple! It still does! Behold the altar - see the Crucified - Jesus is glorified as He is lifted up to pay the debt of your sin once for all - the Father was glorified in His Son’s willing obedience to save you! Finishing it all He breathed forth the Holy Spirit to bring life to our world by His Word - Joh 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
III.  Is this love of God the Father in His only begotten Son Jesus really for me....poor miserable sinner that I am? (Vs.5-7) Isaiah was undone. He was a sinner. His eyes beheld the King, the Lord of Hosts! He only deserved to die - sin cannot live in the presence of the Living Triune Holy God!
        The True God didn’t abandon him to hell. Instead He sanctified him - holified him. How? He took from the sacrifice to taking away and purging Isaiah’s sin. The sacrifice - Jesus crucified for us sinners and raised again to make us holy by faith in Him alone! (LSB pg. 321, 1st Cmd, WDTM?). Trust is another name for faith! It is the gift and ongoing work of God the Holy Spirit in the Gospel - poured in baptism, spoken in absolution, breathed forth in preaching, and fed us in the sacrament of the altar. (LSB pg. 322, Close Cmts, WDTM? 2 para.) He promises grace and every blessing in Jesus! Love and trust in Him! Trust is how the Holy Spirit cleanses you from your sin - by faith in Jesus are you saved - not by your promises, works, or feelings. Cling to Christ’s Word by the light God the Holy Spirit gives you in Jesus!  
        Trusting in our God our Father, through Jesus our Savior, the Holy Spirit sanctifies our hands to serve our neighbor in love. We are called to be children, spouses, and parents. Behold we are His hands to care for one another!
        How can this be? By grace alone! How can I know that God the Father isn’t angry with me? Look at the face of Jesus - it is reveals the heart of God the Father by the Holy Spirit. We begin each divine service with the name of the Triune God adopting us as His own children in baptism. We end with Him placing His Name and promise upon us. The Father blesses and keeps you - fear Him! The Son’s face shines forgiving love upon you. The Holy Spirit breathes peaceful trust into your heart! This is most certainly true. Amen.