Oh good evening. It's good to be here. Just so excited to be with you again and to share the word the living God with you. Like I said, I'm always so excited and enthusiastic after hearing those great voices from the choir member of the theo. God has blessed you with some pipes man. Man, I couldn't, I couldn't sing like that. If like I was in a studio, you get like the best producer to edit me and you're just so gifted man. We thank God for you. So you come to hear the word of God. Isaiah chapter six is Isaiah chapter six. We'll be studying verses one through eight. Isaiah chapter six verses one through eight. Before we read the word of God, let us go to Him in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we are humbled by your presence this evening. We thank you dear God for the gospel of your Son. We thank you because He is the image of who you are. Father, we ask earnestly, passionately and desperately that you would come, that you would speak to us this evening. Father, that every word that would come out of my mouth, let it not be mine, Lord, but let it be a blessing to your people. These are your people, God. They love you. Look at them here in the evening. God, they could do so many other things, but they have chosen to follow you and to enjoy you to the reading and hearing of your word. We're so grateful for that because you are the one who put that love in them, Lord. Father, it is in these times, personally, for me, where you show me how desperate I am for your mercy and how sovereign you are over my life, to pray that you would do the same for your people. And we never be the same again. Father, that you would bless Pastor Jones and sister Lisa as they come back, Father, bless the conference and everything else, Father, and bless this church. We are here for you. We love you, God. And you're saying, Jesus, name we pray. Amen. Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through 8. This is the word living God. In the year that King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord sitting up on a throne. High and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, woe is me, for I am lost, but I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have streamed the king, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is a tone for. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Then I said, here I am, send me. May God bless the reading and hearing of his holy word. What a great thing is to see movies, right? Some movies, some movies are good. Depends on what you like, right? There's action movies, which is about killing people and all this other stuff. And then there's like Romantic comedies, which is like all of that put together and things that make you feel, you know, all bubbly inside and mixed with a little bit of comedy. I'm sure all of us men enjoy a great Romantic comedy. It's just filled with great testosterone. But the thing about movies that that I like, I like movies that are based on a true story because they're not a documentary, but they're based on something that actually happened, where it's a picture of a historical reality. That's why they call it emotion picture. And I think believe that what's going on here is something like that. There's so many things that are going on in this passage. You got angels lying around, seraphim with six wings, six wings, a lot of wings. Angels there, you got more wings than KFC like so many wings, six wings and smoking and everything else. But in this period of Isaiah's life, he talks about when he came to see the Lord. We're going to find out who that Lord is, by the way, because he saw a king on the throne to find out who he is. Isaiah is a noble man. It sometimes may seem like scholars believe that he actually wrote this whole book, but he's the one who wrote it and Isaiah is one who was a pious individual, was a king of Amos, was the son of Amos who was a son of a king, a king Manasseh. And this man knew royalty. Isaiah knew royalty. He was around government and all these things. And then one day he saw a vision and he was called to the ministry. Do you imagine that having all the riches and being part of a royal lineage and all these things and all of us sighted and God appears and tells you you got to prophesy. You have to be a prophet and you have to say some things that might anger some people, that might anger them a lot, by the way. Even to the point that they may try to kill you. Jeremiah went through this. He got tired of prophesying. He got tired of the hate because being a prophet in this age, the age of the Old Testament before Christ was not an easy thing. These people didn't have lambs and rose voices and have changed and lived in straight luxury. These were men who were poor, who were despised, who were looked down upon, because Israel did not know the terms of the covenant. God would address Israel through these men and they didn't know what was going on. So when God would issue a curse and would issue a woe. These people didn't know what was going on. And they're like, what cursed for what? Does this mean that we're going to lose our houses? Does this mean that we're going to lose our plants on livestock? What's going on here? It's all they cared about. And it was in this time where the northern kingdom was being invaded by the Assyrians who were bloodthirsty men who killed and it was just a horrendous army who loved war and Israel was scared. And they wanted to make a peace treaty because they thought that that would fix their problem. Nevertheless, don't think about how God could handle that situation or how God could be sovereign as he's sitting on the throne ruling over everything. No, we're Israel. We're smart. Let's make a peace treaty and we'll fix the problem. God had other plans. They needed to be reminded upon who is on the throne at all times. They needed to be reminded of who reigns. They needed to be reminded that in spite of every circumstance, in spite of every hardship, in spite of every pain, in spite of every suffering, there is someone who is on the throne and he reigns forever. He's not Isaiah. That's why I'm so happy and so glad that Isaiah did not omit this information. He says in the year that King Uzziah died. This really happened. I really saw this in the year that King Uzziah died and saw the Lord sitting upon the throne. So again, these things with kings and King Uzziah, you could read about them in 2 Chronicles chapter 26. King Uzziah was a king who let his pride get into him. He began his reign when he was 16 years old, a 16-year-old king. Like that guy sent you to jail, but a teenager sent you to jail. Hey, you could go to jail. Let me just take someone.
And then one time when he grew older, King Uzziah, he decided that since he's king, since he rules, since he's the most important person in the kingdom, he could walk to anywhere he wants, and inside any place that he wants. So he saw sanctuary. He saw incense. He saw an altar burning with incense and he said, well, let me try something. I'm a king, right? I'm going to do what kings do whatever I want because I am sovereign. He walked in, tried to burn incense, and in that moment he was struck with leprosy and he never recovered. He never recovered and died that way. And Israel was without a king in these days. And how crazy are things when there isn't anyone ruling, right? A school that has no principal? I don't want to go to that school. A restaurant with no manager? Don't order anything. Don't do it. That idea. A kingdom without a king. Desperate times. Remember hearing the story of the day that JFK died. I wasn't there, as you may see. I'm a little young and I remember hearing the story from speaking with this older gentleman and he said that the country wasn't shocked. The president died and they didn't know what to do. His real thought the same way. And it was in this time where God designed to show up in Isaiah's life. He says, he saw the Lord wear sitting up on a throne. High and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. That's the king right there. That's the king right there. High and lifted up and the train of his, that's like the longest robe ever. But he wasn't the only one there. There were some things that accompanied him. The seraphim were there. These creatures in verse two that had about six wings. With two, they covered their face. With two, they covered their feet. And with two, they flew. Man, these seraphim could teach us how to preach, huh? These seraphim could teach us preachers how to preach a lot. They had, they wasted no time in talking about themselves or what they've been through. I mean, for selfish reasons, I'd like to hear that testimony. That'd be pretty cool. Like seraphim that have been throughout eternity seeing the Lord in all of his glory. But they have something special to say about things that they've seen, what they've been through their experiences. The only thing that's come out of their mouth is a description about the character and wonder of our God. Isn't that amazing? I don't think we understand that because we live in a world that's ruled by time. We got to get to work early. We got to get the church early. Oh, I can't believe I'm late. All these things, they are in eternity where time does not rule them. All they choose to do is declare who God is and what do they say? They say holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is filled with His glory. They could have said anything else. In defining who God is, they could have said that God is love. Love, love, love is God. Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of His glory. Justice, justice, justice is the Lord of hosts. Mercy, mercy, mercy is the Lord of hosts. They said holy because there is not a single word that can define the character of Almighty God that is not holy. It's not that He not only is perfect and He defines what it means to be righteous, perfect morality is that He is set apart. It is that He is not like you and not like me. That's why Isaiah was amazed. That's why Isaiah was filled with wonder. Isaiah was not filled with wonder because he thought that Him and God had something in common that God connected with Him in some sort of way. No, Isaiah was amazed, scared out of His mind because He didn't know what He is seeing. He did not know. He's never seen anything like this before. And that is what He appreciated the most. That says something about our worship services, right? So many churches try in the idea of connecting with people and making them feel comfortable. They paint a picture of a God who is just like them and the truth is God is not like us. We are made in His image but God is astronomically different than us. That's why we worship Him. That's why these angels continue to chase the deaths of its glory and grace. They are doing this forever and nothing phases them. Oh, how we can learn from the seraphim and the foundations verse four of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called and was filled with smoke of Him who called. And I said, what was me for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst the people of an unclean lips. For my eyes has seen the king, the Lord of hosts. I think he's anticipating something. He's seeing the need that Israel needs a prophet that Israel needs to hear the voice of God. There is one problem Isaiah doesn't feel like he's adequate for the task. Isaiah doesn't feel useful for this task. He says, low is me. The prophets in that time issued prophecies of wheel and low. The wheel prophecies was to proclaim the gladdeness beauty and joy of God in issuing prosperity for Israel's obedience unto the terms of the covenant. The prophecies of woe were to curse Israel for their disobedience and for them have heard the terms of the covenant. Isaiah pronounced the oracle and prophecy of woe upon himself. He was not ready. He said, wait you want me to go to them and tell them how in trouble they are. I'm in trouble. You want me to tell them that they're unclean, that they are wicked. Wait a minute. I'm going to be preaching to myself. He needed to be cleaned. Amazing how in those times of desperation God provides. It's amazing how in those times where we feel as if our world is crumbling down. Where our circumstances, issues, problems, pains and sufferings are just suffocating us with the reality of this sinful world. And it is in those moments where God could extend his wrath to us because he can because he's God and he does what he wants but instead he's so gracious to us. And he extends his mercy, praise the grace and mercy of Almighty God, that he did not leave Isaiah in his sin, that he did not leave Isaiah in his uncleanness. God provided
than one of the seraphine and verse six flew to me having in his hand burning coal that he had taken with tongues from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away. Your sin is a tone for Isaiah. You don't have to worry about being unclean anymore. You don't have to worry about being wicked anymore in my eyes. You are clean. Your sins have been a tone for. I have sent my messenger to heal you. Notice that angel did not have any authority to proclaim that he was clean. It was under the authority of God. He was simply a messenger. That's what every preacher should be. Just a messenger not interfering with the authority and sovereignty of Almighty God and reminding him that it has been done. It has been finished. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is a tone for who did he look at for this? He looked to the Lord and who is this Lord? Isaiah doesn't tell us but someone else does. John and John is gospel. John chapter 12 verse 1 he tells us who he is verse 41. Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him and in that context verse 36 says when Jesus has said these things he had departed and hid himself from them. Church, brothers and sisters, saints and pilgrims on the way. The person who was sitting on the throne is our savior. The only begotten son of God begotten of his father before all worlds. God of God, light of light, very God of very God begotten not made. Being of one substance with the father by whom all things were made who forced and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. It was made man. It was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried in the third day. He rose again according to the Scriptures and is seated at the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead. The person who was sitting on the throne with Jesus Christ. His name is Jesus. No one else. He was seeing a vision that illustrated what has always existed. The eschatological reality that has always existed. There has never been a time where Jesus Christ has not rained on the throne and brothers and sisters in their lives are highest eternal comfort. That our God is in the heavens and he does all that. He pleases. Isn't that great?
And Isaiah felt this. He saw this and he said and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Jesus saying, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? Are there any missionaries out there that I can send? Who's going to go for us? Who's going to go and tell them about what I have to tell them and what did Isaiah do? Did he wait? Did he check his phone? Did he say it's raining? Wait, I've got to go to work. Wait, my wife needs me. I've got to take care of the kids. I've got to do something else. I've got to go check my hobby. Say hi to dad who's out there chilling. No. He could not wait to tell God. He said, what? You asked? Oh, wait a minute. Here I am. Send me. And so it is with every single person that is called of God. You know when you've been called by God, the road is tough brothers and sisters. There's lots of pain and lots of suffering, lots of people doubting you, lots of people looking down at you, lots of oppression, and people that you thought would be by your side and support you.
They become angry with you and you don't know why it's not easy. The call is not easy. Put on Lord provides. Our Lord provides. If there is anyone in this room that feels calling to ministry that you that you would take heed at the words that will come out of my mouth. Now you will experience hardship in ministry. You will experience suffering. People will walk away from you. You will lose friends. You will have people that thought that would support you, that will not support you. But in spite of all, God is merciful and gracious and the same people that might have been against you. By God's grace, you will then see them be your number one supporters. By God's grace, you will see them point you to the Savior and motivate you and speak words of life and truth to your soul. We need more labors. We need to be mission-minded and to go out to the nations. We don't exist for ourselves. Glendale does not exist for Richmond Heights. Glendale exists for the universe, for America, for every single country in this world. We exist to tell every single person in every nation that there is a God. His name is Jesus. And he came to die for them. If you have no love for the nations, I doubt that you have love for the gospel and for Jesus because Jesus loves the nations. He gave his life for all the nations.
Where are the great men of God that will go out and give their lives for a cause worth giving their lives for? Where are the women that will not take heed to what the culture defines them by and go out and give their lives for cause worth fighting for? God says, whom shall I spend? Whom will go? I hope we stay. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Thank you.