[0:00] Go with me to Isaiah chapter 6 if you would. If you got your Bible and the paper Bible there with you, write in the margin somewhere, available and agreeable. In Isaiah chapter 6, this is like maybe the second most famous chapter in the book of Isaiah.
[0:13] I'm sure you know Isaiah 53. If you don't, that's like the Magna Carta of what Jesus did for us. In Isaiah chapter 6, anytime anybody wants to talk about getting called, anytime anybody wants to talk about missions, they like Isaiah chapter 6.
[0:26] It got used so much that people stopped using it. Because when I was a kid, every preacher preached on Isaiah 6. And then I noticed for a while it kind of disappeared. There are five things I would like you to see tonight that Isaiah sees.
[0:40] He sees at least four of these and maybe the fifth is just for you. There are five things I'd like you to see as you go through the book with me or through the chapter. Read verse 8 with me. The Bible said, Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us?
[0:56] Then said I, here am I. Send me. He's available and he's agreeable. He's available and he is agreeable.
[1:07] You ought to write that down somewhere. You ought to be available and agreeable. You ought to be available and agreeable. I ought to be at 64 years of age, last part of my life, pastoring a church.
[1:20] I ought to be tonight available and agreeable. Whatever he wants, wherever he wants, ought to be available and agreeable. Everybody in this room ought to be available and agreeable. We ought to be saying, God, whatever you want, you make it.
[1:33] Let me know I'm available and I'm agreeable. You don't have to push me. You don't have to twist me. You don't have to knock me in the head. I'd like to do whatever you want me to do. You make it clear and I want to do it.
[1:44] Number one, here's what he saw. He saw the Lord. Would you write that down? He saw the Lord. In chapter 6 and verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting up on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
[1:59] Now, I wish you'd underline in verse 1, I saw. In verse 1, he says, I saw. And King Uzziah has been the king for like 52 years. And this is like a tragedy happening.
[2:10] They're not used to changing kings every four years or every eight years. They're not used to that. 52 years they've had the same king. And Isaiah steps up and says, you know, man, things are a little shaky.
[2:20] I don't know what to do. I'm a little nervous about where the country is going to go. And then he looked up. And he saw above a king, above a political circumstance, above what could happen, he saw God.
[2:31] He saw the Lord. And he saw him sitting on a throne. He saw him sitting on a throne. That's above the throne of a king. He saw him high and lifted up.
[2:42] And his train, his glory, you know, these ladies, when they come in in the wedding, sometimes they'll have a long tail sticking out. That's the train. And the richer, you know, poor people can't have, we can't afford to have clothes that drag in the dirt.
[2:54] But if you're so rich and you're so powerful, you can have all the train you want because you can have somebody that's clean it anyway and you can afford it. Amen? Us poor people, we like our pants a little high water because we don't want them in the middle of the, we don't want them dragging through the water.
[3:08] But God's great. His glory actually fills the whole earth. The first question I have for you as you see God is how do you see him? Do you see him as an old man ready to strike you down?
[3:19] I grew up with that God. I grew up with a God with long hair and a beard and a lightning bolt in his right hand watching the earth and watching for me to mess up so he could strike me down. Or do you have a good old boy up in heaven wanting to be your buddy?
[3:32] Put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee. That was a gospel song when I was a kid. I don't know of a dumber gospel song you could sing, but it was one and it was popular. Or is he a bellhop, a genie, the charismatic God?
[3:45] You just rub the bottle and he comes popping out and says, you got three wishes, name them and you can have them. Or is he a whatever God? Whatever goes. It's okay. God's a good guy. He likes me and whatever goes. Or is he the far off God that has nothing to do with your life?
[3:59] Here's the God Isaiah saw. He saw a God in charge. He saw a God in charge of the world. He saw a God on his throne. He saw a king high and lifted up. The king may die and things may go wrong, but you can trust that God is still ruling and God is still reigning.
[4:15] It doesn't matter if you lose your job. It doesn't matter if you have health issues. It doesn't matter if you get older. It doesn't matter if you lose your job. Whatever happens, no matter what happens, you can know this. The earth may lose a king, but Jesus is still on his throne.
[4:26] You can trust him. He was God high and lifted up and his train filled the earth. When you look up at God, you don't understand him. Y'all might as well accept this. I read one guy.
[4:37] I was reading commentaries this week. I read one guy and he said, if I had a God, I could understand he wouldn't be much of a God. If I had a God, I could understand he wouldn't be much of a God. And God flat out told Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 8, my thoughts are not your thoughts.
[4:51] Neither your ways my ways, says the Lord, for the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God is high and lifted up. We do not understand him.
[5:02] We don't understand how he works. Another preacher, I just loved his little illustration. He said, there's a guy who put together a train track and he put together little trains and he sits over on the side. He's got a little control bar and he's running the trains around the track.
[5:14] And if he wants to get up and turn a car around backwards on the track, that's up to him. It's his train. He can do what he wants. God's high and lifted up. He's almighty. He can do anything he wants. Verse 3, write this one down and underline it.
[5:26] He is holy, holy, holy. There's a trinity message here, I'm sure. I don't know if I would take the time to do that one tonight. But if you look at verse 3, one crowd unto another. These angels, these seraphims, these angelic beings are crying one to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
[5:44] The whole earth is full of his glory. Not just the throne room, but the whole earth. He's high because of his holiness. You know about the only thing in the Bible that's mentioned three times about him?
[5:58] It's holy, holy, holy. We have a hard time with that because we are cool and laid back today. And we don't want to be the starchy old guy from the old churches that said, holy, holy, holy.
[6:11] We want to say, cool, cool, cool. We don't want to say, high and lifted up and mighty. We want to say, let me have it my way. But the Bible says, holy, holy, holy. He's high because he's holy.
[6:23] He's holy. That means he's separated from us. That means he's not one of us. He's holy. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 4 and verse 8 that the angels recognize that. And the four beasts said, Revelation 4, 8.
[6:34] And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him. They were full of eyes within. And they rest not day and night saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was and is and is to come.
[6:46] And when those beasts, they give honor and glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who lives forever and ever. And the four and 20 elders fall down before him and sat on the throne and worship him. And they say in verse 11, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all of it and for your pleasure it was created.
[7:05] Here's where Isaiah's call is going to come from. He saw God. He saw God. And that ought to be our goal. You know, as Christians, you know, it's our goal. We want to see God. We don't want to see the ministry.
[7:17] We don't want to see a church. We don't want to see people. We want to see God. And he sees God. And what's some conclusions about seeing this God he saw? He's the king.
[7:27] He's high and mighty. And he's lifted up and he's holy. I belong to him. It said in Revelation, it said in Revelation chapter 4 and verse 11, for thy pleasure they are and were created.
[7:39] I belong to him. I was created for his pleasure. He made me. I should worship him. And if I worship him, I'm going to want his holiness. We ought to want to be holy. Amen.
[7:50] I know we're the cool new grace kids. So we don't, you know, we're just praising God for grace and we forgot he's a holy God. He hates sin. We ought to hate sin. He loves purity and holiness.
[8:01] We ought to love purity and holiness. Go with me if you would to the second thing he sees. Chapter 6 and verse 5, he saw himself. So see yourself and respond humbly.
[8:12] Look at chapter 6 and verse 5. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. God, I don't belong in your presence.
[8:25] God, I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody. You're a everything. And you're high above me. And you're holy. And you're pure. And everybody around me and everything I'm used to, we're low down. And we're filthy.
[8:36] And I don't deserve your grace. And I don't deserve your mercy. I ought to realize I desperately need him. The beautiful thing is in chapter 6 and verse 6, one of those angelic beings flew over, took a live coal, put it on his mouth.
[8:48] He laid it on his mouth. And he said, your sin, your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. That's how we got it. It was all God. Amen. You didn't do anything to save yourself. God said, you can't earn your way to God.
[8:59] You can't earn his love. You can't make him love you. He's the one that did the love. We love him because he first loved us. Before we can help anybody else, we got to get help. Before we can help anybody else, we got to get help.
[9:12] Before we can tell others about God's judgment, we must know it personally. You know, we need to realize there's a great God in heaven. This isn't a game. And so he's in the throne room and he's seeing God in a way very few people have ever seen God.
[9:24] And he's like, oh, God, I don't belong here. Oh, God, everybody, I know none of us belong here. Because that ought to be how we feel. He's definitely not your good old boy buddy, is he?
[9:37] Have you seen your need of him? Have you realized that nothing can save you but his death in your place? Have you worshiped him because he saved you? Do you seek to know him because he wants you and he saved you and he's done a work in your life?
[9:53] Third thing, he saw the need. In Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 8, he said, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for me or who will go for us? And then I said, Here am I, send me.
[10:05] Available and agreeable. Would you write that next to that verse? Available and agreeable. You want somebody, God? God didn't have to knock him in the head. God didn't have to do anything. He said, Well, God, if you want somebody and you've already touched me, here I am, send me.
[10:18] He's going to go knowing this. He's going to know. God's going to tell him right up front. This is the opposite of the message I'd probably preach. If I try and encourage you to be a missionary.
[10:31] Because when he sees the need, he's going to find out this is not an easy job. Look at chapter 6 and verse 9. He said, Go tell this people, Hear, but don't understand. See, but don't perceive or understand.
[10:42] The heart of the people will get fat. Their ears will get heavy. They'll shut their ears. The people are going to hear, but they won't understand. The people are going to see, and they're going to get tired of the message.
[10:54] Now, here's an interesting thing. That passage of Scripture is quoted six times in the New Testament. It must be important. It's quoted six times in the New Testament. There are lessons here.
[11:05] Lesson number one for the individual. If sinners resist the truth, they can't receive the truth. If sinners resist the truth, they can't receive the truth. God doesn't make sinners blind and hard-hearted unless they refuse to believe.
[11:18] But there is a point when you decide, I will not obey God, I will not listen to God, that you harden your heart. The same sun that melts the ice will harden the clay, and you won't get saved. But here's another lesson that's going on.
[11:31] And because you say your Bibles, you ought to know this. There's a lesson about a nation here. Because that's going to be quoted in the New Testament as God blinds the hearts, not of individuals, but of a nation. He's going to cause Israel not to see the truth.
[11:45] Jews will be saved. Individuals from Israel will get saved, and they'll still go to heaven. They will form the church. But the nation of Israel, the leadership of the nation of Israel, they will reject Jesus.
[11:56] They will hear it. They will see it. They won't believe it. They won't accept it. They'll even know what it says in the Bible, but they refuse to believe it. And they lose the privilege of being used by God.
[12:07] And the nation ignores and rejects Christ. They refuse to see the simplicity of salvation. They wanted to see works being involved in the thing. So here's the lesson to Isaiah.
[12:20] Do ministry to please God, not get results. Do ministry to please God, not get results. And God's still calling people to serve him. I got four minutes and two more points.
[12:30] So real quickly, see the difficulty. Isaiah chapter 6 is not one of those rousing chapters where you'd say, glory to God, here am I, send me. God's going to use me. Basically, he tells Isaiah, I want you to be my preacher, but let me explain something to you, buddy.
[12:45] You're going to fail. Up front, I'll just go ahead and warn you. It ain't going to work. He hears that people will not receive his message. And he responds in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 11. And then said I, Lord, well, how long?
[12:58] You want me to preach to them? And they're not going to listen. They're not. They're going to see it, but they won't understand. They're not. They're going to hear it, but they won't understand it. I'm not going to get through to them. How long? And the answer was until the cities be wasted without inhabitants.
[13:10] Until the houses have no people. Until the land have no people. That's how long. Basically, in Tennessee hillbilly, until the rocks turn to marshmallows, you just go preach. Your job's to preach.
[13:21] Your job's to do what I want done here. You're not going for results. He's responsible to preach. They're responsible to hear and receive. He's preaching for God and not for men.
[13:32] Isaiah's to preach until God takes him out of the land. See, there's going to come a Babylonian captivity. Look at chapter 6 and verse 12. The Lord have removed men far away in a great forsaking. So he's saying, Isaiah, they're not going to listen.
[13:45] My judgment's already marching this way. You're just going to warn them and warn them and warn them, and they're going to continue on in their sin. But you keep warning, and you don't quit because I need my message preached to those people.
[13:57] There will be a remnant, though. That's the word I told you you'd be watching before all the way through it. There's always a remnant. You're supposed to be looking for that remnant. In chapter 6 and verse 13, But yet it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten.
[14:12] So there's going to be this small percentage of people that will do right, but it's even going to get destroyed. But I need you to underline in your Bible in chapter 6 and verse 13, But the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
[14:26] You're going to hear about a trunk of a tree that's cut off and dead, but a branch will sprout out of it. You're going to hear about a country that's desolate, but God will always, he's going to keep using them, and Jesus is going to come out of that group.
[14:41] So here's the last thing about that. We must take the long view of ministry. This is the hardest thing in the world for a preacher. I've been doing this for 45 years, a lot longer than that actually, but I've been in full-time ministry 45 years in October.
[14:56] And I will tell you, I serve God, but sometimes I think I need to see results. But Isaiah's told, no, you're not going to see results. People need years before they pay attention to the message.
[15:09] And if they refuse to pay attention, they'll certainly be without excuse. I used to tell the Peruvians using Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33, it's not our job to get them saved. It's our job to preach, and they will know there was a prophet.
[15:22] They'll know there was a man of God here, even if they don't get saved. We do what we know to do, even if people refuse to listen. It's nothing new to have a feeling of failure in ministry.
[15:33] Now, Isaiah chapter 6, basically God said, okay, go ahead, Isaiah, and do the work. But the rocks are going to turn to marshmallows before you get any results. I cannot imagine being that preacher. God's always giving me some fruit.
[15:44] God's always letting me see some people say, I want to see more people saying they're getting saved here. God's always letting me see something. Poor old Isaiah. Number five, see yourself being used. See yourself being used.
[15:57] How am I going to be used? If I were going to read Isaiah chapter 6, I don't think it's the good missionary rallying cry, because it's a pretty negative chapter. It's not, I mean, if I went and talked to the students at some Bible college and said, I want to challenge you to come be a missionary.
[16:11] You'll never see anything happen in your life. You're preaching. Nobody will listen. And you're preaching. Nobody will understand. Nobody's ever going to get saved. But you come on and do it. I bet I wouldn't raise up very many. I always tell them God's going to use you. But God is using.
[16:23] Here's how it starts. Number one, we see God. We're not seeing our ministry. We're not seeing the results. We're seeing God. We belong to Him. We were created for His pleasure. He has a plan for our life.
[16:33] I need to see God. Number two, I need to see myself. I need to realize that I don't deserve to be in a ministry. I don't deserve to be used of God. But God has given me grace and mercy.
[16:45] And I'm not worthy to be used of Him. But if He blesses me and lets me do something, I'm going to say I'm agreeable. And I'm available. Let Him do what He wants to do. We need to see a need.
[16:56] Who will go and who will preach for us? God has a plan and a will for the earth world. And the whole New Testament, we're full of it. Go tell the world. Go tell the world. And we commit no matter how hard it's going to be.
[17:07] None of you, and much of you are a missionary. I did not plan Isaiah 6 because you were here. But it's a good one for you. You don't go because you're going to have a lot of success. You don't go because you're going to build a bunch of big buildings.
[17:17] You don't go because you're going to get famous. You go because you saw God. You don't go because a lot of people are going to get saved. They might not. You go because you saw God. You're not going to go because God's going to bless you. You're not going to go because it's going to be easy.
[17:30] You're not going to go because you're going to be successful. We're going to go to honor and serve and glorify God. That's what Isaiah was all about. By the way, if we sneak into that room and look up into heaven and see him, we'll realize we're not much, and we don't need to be the ones getting the glory.
[17:45] It's him. Thank you.