Undone! "Put A Sock In It"

Isa 6:5 So 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."

Isaiah has been brought into the presence of the Lord through a vivid vision. Smoke everywhere, and a booming voice declaring the holiness of God. His eyes have caught a glimpse of the King of the Universe, the Lord of hosts! In this environment, Isaiah has no other response than to be silent. Sinner that he is, he can do nothing but “put a sock in it.” The essence of the Hebrew word here for “undone,” is to be utterly silent.

His personal confession of sin and his confession for the sins of his nation is summed up in the statement that he and his people have unclean lips. These unclean lips are to be silenced in the presence of a holy God!

But what does this confession mean? How does it tie into the sin of men? Is Isaiah admitting that he and his people are a bunch of “potty mouths?” Well, I’m afraid it goes much deeper than that.

These “unclean lips,” are meant to be a picture for us of the totality of sin that starts in our hearts and inevitably spills out in our daily living. Jesus put it this way in Mt 15:18-20, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 "These are the things which defile a man”

 

If your Bible doesn’t have these verses listed as a cross-reference to Isaiah 6:4, I would write it in the margin. It will go a long way in helping you understand the dilemma of Isaiah and the dilemma of you and I!

All these sins are what defile us and they start in the heart of man and spill out into all of creation, all of what God has deemed to be holy and full of His glory. None of us can deny our sinful state. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23)

Therefore when it comes to your self-perceived righteousness…..”put a sock in it,” and humbly come to the only one who can forgive sins! God!

Mr 2:7b "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"