Isaiah 6:1-8 Here Am I, Send Me

now I wanna share a message with you this morning from Isaiah chapter 6 I adopted Isaiah 6:8 as my life verse when I was sharing some of those class experiences with brother Ashley and I adopt that's my life version before I make any decision in life I always recite to myself that verse and so we're going to look at Isaiah 6 1 through 8 and see how it applies to all of our lives here this morning we'll begin reading just a few verses at a time I don't know if brother Ashley has you staying out of respect of the reading of God's Word or not I know some churches do but today says I'm not gonna read them all together at one time you just remain seated but we're gonna begin in verse 1 it says in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and the Train of his robe filled the temple above it stood Seraphim each one having six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one cried to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the post of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke I want to stop right there and I want us to see what is it's taking place the first thing we're gonna see is that the glory of God we're gonna see the contrast of that it's a few verses but in these first four verses we do see the glory of God look there in verse 1 it says in the year that King Uzziah died I want to tell you a little bit about who King Uzziah was he was the king of Judah and he reigned for 52 years an amazing amount of time in 2nd Kings chapter 15 we can actually go and see about King Uzziah we would read there that he was considered a good King now he made his mistakes he was not perfect he did not do all that God asked him to do but by and large he was a good king unfortunately because he did not do everything that God asked of him his son had to sort of reign by proxy he was kind of the spokesman almost like a parallel of Moses and Aaron if you will where Moses was the one in charge but Aaron was the mouthpiece and with King Uzziah because he did not do all that God had asked him to do God punished him and made him bedridden and his brother's son had to serve and was the front man it was the one who got all the the accolades I guess but Uzziah was the one reigning and the people knew it now we don't have Kings today here where we we live and and as brother Ashley said we do get to celebrate on our nation and the freedom that we have because those who have gone before us serving in our military suit we do want to honor that and respect those who have served our country but here in the wonderful United States of America we don't have kings we have presidents and they have term limits so they don't serve for 52 years but many of you might be like me and you might be a history buff you might have studied in the past and looked at at presidents long ago and you might have your favorite your favorite might be Abraham Lincoln maybe George Washington or Thomas Jefferson you might have a favorite president from the past that you've studied about in history maybe in your lifetime you might have a president that you admire that you thought did a wonderful job maybe it's FDR or JFK maybe more recently maybe is Ronald Reagan or maybe Bill Clinton or maybe your favorite president might be in the White House right now but whoever it is whoever your favorite president might be I want you to imagine that that President had the opportunity to reign as president for a period of time like 50 years think about how the the country might go think about how at at peace you might be how secure you might feel because your favorite president is raining and then all of a sudden he's gone think about the turmoil that might take place that lack of security that the fear that might be there that the wonder of what's gonna take place you know as some other nation going going to attack us because we're in disarray is Wall Street going to collapse because things aren't going the way because our fearless leader is now gone we had security for 52 years and now it's all taken away so there was fear there was anxiety they were worried they were mourning over the loss of their longtime King King Uzziah died but I want us to look at the very next phrase I saw the Lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up while King Uzziah the king of Judah is now dead the King of Kings is still alive and still on his throne there was nothing to fear nothing to worry about because the real King still reigns there's nothing we have to worry about yes our our retirement accounts might go up and down yes our our soldiers are still overseas defending our freedom and those of others yes we have other fears that we worry about in our nation but you know what the King of Kings if still is throne and will always be on the throne and you can rest assured in that you can take peace in that it says also then while the King is still in his throne in verse 2 it says above it stood Seraphim each one having six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew what an unusual creature this must appear to Isaiah it says that this is a and junk being a Seraphim now typically in Scripture when we see an angelic being around the presence of God is usually cherubim and the the name cherubim refers to their task is to protect the holiness of God and that's why that's usually the ones that that are around the presence of God in fact if you ever seen that the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark I mean if you probably remember seeing that back in the 80s when it came out or maybe you have it on DVD and you watch it periodically I am surely a good action movie like that and the Raiders of the Lost Ark because a shows the Ark of the Covenant so if you've seen the movie you can picture this Ark of the Covenant well maybe you've seen pictures of an Ark of the Covenant and you recognize in those pictures on the top of the the Ark is what appears to be like a bird or an eagle with their wings pointing together and on the top those those creatures are their wings are touching each other that is cherubim so if you see a picture of the dark of the Covenant or you've seen the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark you've seen a picture or an image of what a cherubim is supposed to look like and it says in our Bible that in the Old Testament God's presence rested right there on top of the cherubim so that's why we see usually in in Scripture that charrid them are around God's presence because they are there to protect his holiness but in this case we see Seraphim Seraphim now the word were to break that word apart the first part of the word Seraph means to burn and if you put the the word Sara film together it means to search out sin Seraphim are there to search out sin and we're going to see why that's so important that Seraphim are there protecting a circling around God opposed cherubim here in just a few moments as we get deeper into this message but I want you to go ahead and put that in the back of your memory right now that Seraphim are there to search out sin okay but it says there that they have six wings with two they covered their face and why did they cover their face now if you were to to read scholars you're gonna get all kind of different answers no my opinion is my personal opinion is is that because of the glory of God and his radiance they hid their face to hide their eyes from his glorious radiance that they were demonstrating how amazing God is you know Moses couldn't look upon God Moses had to see the the back end of his of God's shadow as he passed by and even then when he came off the mountain they had to cover Moses because he was glowing just from seeing the the back end of a shadow of God so we see here that the Seraphim are covering their face because of the the glory of God and then it says with two wings they covered their feet why would they cover their feet if he can't see well fortunately today you you came here more than likely in an automobile whether you drove yourself or somebody brought you here some of you might have walked but if you did walk you came in wearing probably some nice shoes loafers or or pumps or whatever you have on right sit right now but probably some very nice shoes but in the days of Isaiah when he is riding this what do you think Isaiah wore sandals if even that imagines Isaiah walking to church by the time he got there his feet would have been filthy right by the time he got home and and pumped in the lay-z-boy and turn on the TV his feet would have been disgusting yeah yeah the Seraphim were are covering their feet to represent the dirt in our lives that dirt and filthiness and sin has no place in the presence of God so the Seraphim were flying with these six wings and two wings they're covering their face two wings they're covering their feet and the other - they're flying but I want us to to remember the fact that our sin that we carry with us cannot be in the presence of God our sin must be washed clean fortunately the blood of Jesus is there to wash our sins clean but you know what I'm reminded so often that there are are plenty of preachers out there today that they want to to share about the love of God God loves you God wants to be your best friend he wants to be your buddy you know treat him like a buddy true team like a pal and that's what these preachers are preaching on today and I think our pictures are missing the boat preachers aren't preaching on the holiness of God yes God is a God of love and he does want to love you and you love him and yes God does want to be your best friend and God does want to be your pal and he does what you see him as your best friend but if all the extra buttes of God the number one attribute of God is His Holiness God is the God of love because he is holy God wants to be your best friend because God is holy gods of God of mercy and grace any other attribute we can give to God because of his holiness and because of his holiness he deserves and demands our respect I think of another movie some of you might have seen the movie an American president where let's see if I get this right Michael Douglas plays the President of the United States and in the movie he is courting Annette Bening to be his girlfriend or wife that's what he wants her to be and and Martin Sheen plays his chief of staff he buddy seeing this movie a few of you have okay for those you haven't let me try to give you a little bit of information about what this movie is basically Michael Douglas is the President of the United States and there's one scene in the movie where the president and his chief of staff are in the one of the rooms in the White House there they're shooting pool playing billiards and they're talking to talking about their their past apparently these two characters knew each other from college these are college buddies no telling what all they did when they're in college no telling what all kind of things they they said about one another in college you can remember those days I certainly can but as they're playing pool and they're reminiscing about their college days and about how they have have gone through a political office from the very grassroots base all the way up to the White House now President of the United States and as Martin Sheen who is the chief of staff has known him from college knows all his dirt knows everything about him probably knows every nickname that he ever had what does he call his best friend is he calling by some nickname or calling by his first name or whatever he calls him mr. president how to respect for the office of the president of United States that's just the president the United States what about the king of kings when we go to him yes he does want to be our best friend he doesn't to be our pal from long time ago but when we go to him we need to treat him with that same type of respect and honor and call him father King of Kings Lord of lords the savior of my life not just pal not just the buddy not just the guy I'm gonna hang out with he's more than just that he is the king of kings lord of lords and the savior of your life if you've invited him into your life I want us to move on now and look at the another set of verses look now in verse 5 we're going to move from looking at the glory of God and now we're going to see the the complete opposite of that the depravity of man says so I said woe is me for I am undone because I'm a man of unclean and I'd dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said Behold this has touched your lips your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged Isaiah's response when he sees the glory of God the fact that he's in his presence he says wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute I don't belong to be here I don't deserve to be in the presence of God because why I am undone well I am unworthy I am ruined when I had a chance to be in Romania I had the opportunity to preach this message and the translator told me that their their version in Romania says that I am lost what a great translation that is I am lost guy I don't deserve to be in your presence I am lost or I am doomed he says there I have filthy lips I have unclean lips and I come from a people of unclean lips he's just making a reference he could have said his sin was anything he says I have unclean eyes or I have dirty feet or I have filthy hands his Nathan mentioned that I have unclean lips to represent the sin that's in his life in the lives of the people that God's called him to but says there that that in humility Isaiah recognizes the fact that he is unworthy to be there unworthy to be in the presence of God here's Isaiah a prophet a Messenger of God somebody that you and I would look up to and he sees himself as being unworthy well if Isaiah somebody that I consider to be a hero of mine is unworthy worse I put me where does that put you are we worthy to stand in the presence of God absolutely not we are not worthy none of us are worthy and the scripture teaches that there is none righteous no not one every single one of you is unworthy to stand before a holy God does I have a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts but I want us to to look and see what takes place next in verse 6 it says then one of the Seraphim flew to me having his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar now I want you to visualize this I want you to imagine seeing this maybe on your TV screen or maybe in this in your imagination but Isaiah's just said I'm not worthy to be here I don't deserve to be here and this this weird-looking creature with six wings and it's coming to this face and coming to this feet and he's flying over here with the remaining two wings and he flies over to this altar and it takes one of these hot coals out of this altar and he flies back over to Isaiah who's standing there thinking I'm not worthy to be here please I'm not worthy he takes that hot coal and it says that he he takes it touches his lips why'd he do that that's amazing so intriguing why would he do that now I am a a fan of cowboy movies stories books if it has John Wayne in I'm gonna watch it if it was written by Louis L'Amour I want to read it you know I love a good cowboy story in my childhood I would lay in bed at night imagining that I was a cowboy you know riding on the Prairie on a horse into the sunset herding cattle going without shower for weeks eaten pork and beans from a chuck wagon yeah that's the life but then I see these these cowboy movies and one of the the characters in the movie gets bitten by snake or maybe has a gunshot wound or something and they let that cowboy down and the in the field and they'd stick a knife or a hot iron into the into the campfire and they let it get searing hot I mean it's glowing hot and they take that apparatus out of the fire and they'd come over and they'd stick that into the wound and it has a real man not me I remember not too long ago I had a job working at chick-fil-a I'll work there and had to get there early one morning open up and make biscuits and then I would usually get to go home sometime after the lunch crowd but I remember when we first opened up that restaurant I end up staying there until the dinner crowd got there I was exhausted and I remember going home and this is before my wife Meredith got home from work and I couldn't make to the bathroom I kind of crawled in through the kitchen into the bedroom and there just collapsed and I was just laying it on the floor and that's where Meredith found me when she got home and there I felt like such a such a wuss I couldn't even work a full day's job at chick-fil-a I have a lot more respect for anybody works in a fast-food restaurant now because of that but I was just laying in that floor I'm not a man I can't even work at a fast-food restaurant I mean what if I work porn asphalt I couldn't do that from 30 seconds I am such a girl no offense to our girls y'all could do a lot more than a cute I know and you could probably take the hot iron and your head and your gun shot wooden bear and I could about think there's no way I could be a cowboy but why do those Cowboys put that at hot knife or that hot iron into the bullet wound turns into the snakebite it was to sear the wound and to to burn off the infection that might be there this Seraphim with six wings flies over with a hot coal a live coal burning glowing red-hot and touches his lips to represent what Christ does in our lives when he purchased us of our sins he cleanses us of our sins that infection of sin is gone it is removed never to be seen from again and that's what that Seraphim did to Isaiah to represent the blood of Christ saying your sins have been removed the the sin you mentioned the man of unclean lips it's gone because you are now seared clean and that's what Christ does when he sees us clean so Isaiah had originally said I am undone I am unworthy I am ruined I'm lost I'm doomed now Isaiah can say the exact opposite Isaiah is now done he's now complete he's worthy he's found he's perfect he now can stand in the presence of God not because he himself is worthy but because Jesus Christ made him worthy because Jesus Christ allowed him to have his sins removed so that he could stand in the presence of God I want us to look now at verse eight my favorite verse the verses ought to go to so often he says there in verse eight I also heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then I said here am send me the the glorious God that we looked at in the first floor versus its calling us each every one of us despite our depravity despite the depravity of man and we had just looked at God still calls us that's amazing there's a few reasons why I like this verse so much one is just the theology of it look at it I also heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us now up to this point we have heard Isaiah speak he said I am unworthy I don't deserve to be here we've heard the Seraphim they're the ones flying there with all those those wings and they're saying holy holy holy so we've heard these other voices now we finally get to hear the voice of God and he says whom shall I send and who's gonna go for us us key phrase there key word us why does God say us is he talking to the Seraphim no it's he talking to Isaiah well that's not who's referring to when he says us I want you to imagine again if you've already visualized this image of the Seraphim flying with this live coal I want you to now imagine that God the Father is is sitting on his throne high and lifted up and as he says whom shall I send and who will go for us I want you to imagine he turns to his left and there he sees Jesus the son and then he turns to the other side and because who's gonna go for us to God the Holy Spirit the Trinity was right there in Isaiah's presence when I was they was staying there at the throne of God he sees God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all three in one and God is speaking to that saying Jesus Who am I gonna sin Holy Spirit who's gonna go for us what an amazing thing that Isaiah was able to witness and that you and I will be able to witness one day to see all three persons of God so I love the theology that's in that one verse but then my other reason for for loving this is the response Isaiah says then I said here am I send me you think you said it like that though I don't some of you might be schoolteachers maybe some of you taught Sunday School maybe you taught the young ones you know the three four or five year olds if you haven't you probably can imagine with the class of like I have a one-year-old he's not there yet but one day he'll be there and when the teacher asked a question and it's something that the students know they even don't know the answer how do they respond I think that's what Isaiah did with when God turned to Jesus and turn the Holy Spirit said who we gotta send Isaiah's there would be me me pick me Jesus pick me I want to go I want to be the one to be used by you please use me I don't think he was relaxed today's all about it I think he was excited he wanted to be used by God that needs to be our response when God calls you that needs to be our response but you know what our response typically is I don't know what say I don't I've never gone through a soul-winning class I don't know how to just hear Jesus for the body I can't do that I'm too busy right now I've got my job I got my family I got I got too much going on God don't don't ask me to do this right now our response is usually no and if it's not no a lot of times it's a very apprehensive yes we need to have the response of Isaiah here am I send me choose me I'll go I'll please please please I don't know the words to say I've never gone through a class I might lose my some family or friends I might even lose my job but King of Kings Lord of lords I want to be used by you above all else this morning we've come to our our time of invitation and there's two invitations here the first invitation is for those of you like Isaiah where you still need to have that sin purged you need to have that sin removed from your life and let me let me reassure you here when Jesus cleanses you your sins it's not being it's not like having a hot iron plunged into your side to sear that wound it doesn't feel like that because it was I couldn't do it just remember I'm a that's symbolic and when you invite Jesus into your life he symbolically Sears you clean and removes that infection of sin from your life so you are now clean and you are now worthy to stand before the presence of God if you never invited Christ into your life or the forgiveness of your sins then this invitation is for you and your pastors going to be standing down here at the front and I want to invite you to come and speak with him and ask him how you can invite Jesus in your life for the forgiveness of your sins this morning but secondly there's another part of this limitation it's for those of you who God is calling I remember I was in tenth grade and I'll sitting somewhere back right over here probably in this room over Stephen is all sitting over here it was during a revival and God had placed a burden on my heart and and I hadn't had no idea what God was saying to me no clue I was a lost what was I in sin was there something wrong with God what is it what is it what is it and I remember being so compelled that when the invitation came I just I couldn't help myself I got up from where I was sitting and I came down and I kneeled down that about right here I think it made me closer right here but it's right in this area right here and I began praying and I said god I don't know what it is you're telling me but whatever it is I'll do it and like I said earlier it was as if God came down and knelt down beside me and said Chris I want you to follow me into the ministry I want you to preach and I felt like I heard it and I looked up and there's nobody around me you know by was trying to trick me and I looked over I saw Rick swing he was my youth minister at the time and he was over about three or four feet down kneeling down praying now I knew he was praying for me and I got up and I walked over to him I said brother Rick I think God just called me to the Ministry and he prayed with me and then we had the opportunity to present that decision to make it public and that burden that I felt when I was sitting over there now that burden was now removed from our shoulders and I knew that I was in obedience what God has called me to God may be calling you to something don't sit there not to you don't say tomorrow don't wait and put it off for another day if God is calling you be like I say and say here my god I want to go every head bowed every eye closed father we want to thank you for the gift of salvation that you have allowed your son to be our gift to take away the sins of our lives so that we can be worthy and found worthy to be in your presence not because of anything that we have done not because we deserve it because you choose to love us but father also for those who already have that relationship with you who already know you as their Lord and Savior what I know that you you're calling them to something because you choose to use each every one of us I pray Lord that you will spur in their heart that you will compel them to surrender to that calling and do what you ask them to do Lord as we have come to this time of invitation as I turn it over to brother Ashley but I does pray that you will speak to the hearts that people here today and we will be obedient and I ask this in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Chris Alexander

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Id: MUFqVo37f3A

Length: 34min 8sec (2048 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 11 2013