A Christian God Can Work Through
Griffith Baptist Church – 10/5/08
A.M. Service
Text: Isaiah 6:1-8
Key verse: Isaiah 6:8 - Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Premise: The greatest privilege for the Christian is not only to know God but be used by God for His service.
The Introduction
Billy Graham tells the story about a little child that was playing with a very valuable vase. He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His father too, tried his best to get it out, to no avail. They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, “Now my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull.” To their astonishment the little fellow said, “O no, dad, I couldn’t put my fingers out like that because if I did I would drop my dime.” Smile, if you will but thousands of us are like that little boy, so busy holding on to the world’s worthless dimes that we cannot accept liberation.
Isaiah faced this subject in His life and was shown a very amazing sight (discuss the text)
I wonder, how would you respond if you were placed in this situation?
The church today, needs every member to be an Isaiah
God needs every believer to be an Isaiah
That is what we should want to be; a yielded, surrendered vessel for God to use.
God is calling you to be an Isaiah
Here in this text, we discover how this takes place for Isaiah and how it relates to us
Transition Statement: Whenever God works to call someone to serve Him, He begins with confronting us with His holiness.
Body
1. Confronted By Holiness – 6:1-4
A. He is sovereign (1)
i. He is on His throne and nothing can remove Him from it
ii. God rules over all and everything is subject to Him
iii. Isaiah 66:1 - Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
B. He is reverenced (2)
i. Psalms 89:7 - God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
ii. The angels (Seraphim) that surrounded the throne were in a constant state of reverence (admiration, awe, and respect)
a. Seraphim means “to burn” – denoting the purity and holiness of God as they represent Him.
b. They covered their face because of reverence and awe
c. They covered their feet because of their unworthiness
iii. There is something about the presence of God that affects the way we are
C. He is worshipped (3)
i. Psalms 95:6 - O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
ii. D.L. Moody said that Satan doesn’t care what we worship, as long as we don’t worship God.
iii. The cry of three holy’s is constant and repeated
iv. Worship is:
a. Directed towards God
b. Is only about God
D. He is powerful (4)
i. Psalms 62:11 – God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.
ii. Jeremiah 32:17 - Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
iii. Nothing is too big for my God to accomplish, and nothing is too little for Him to use in accomplishing it!
iv. The worship was so intense and the presence of God so magnificent that it moved the very temple of heaven
v. Imagine yourself in the presence of such a God
vi. The smoke is the visible symbol of His deity
Transition Statement: God cannot use a proud person, and so your effectiveness must come from being conditioned by brokenness (humble spirit)
2. Conditioned By Brokenness – 6:5
A. Holiness reveals how sinful we are
i. Why is it if we are all so well-educated and brilliant and gifted and artistic and idealistic and distinuguished, that we are so selfish and schecming and dishonest and begrudging and impatient and arrogant and disrespectful of others? Why is it if our civilization is so advanced that we have the world’s biggest prison population? Might the reason be sin? Of course it is!
ii. The more we are exposed to the holiness of God, the more we see our spiritual inadequacies
iii. Concerning all men - Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
iv. Concerning even our life, sometimes, as Christians – turn to Romans 7:14-25
B. Brokenness prepares us for what God wants us to be
i. Chuck Swindoll said, “When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible man and breaks him. As the evangelist, Charles Spurgeon, said, ‘We are but men, frail, feeble, and apt to faint.’
ii. Psalms 51:17 – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
a. This is true humility
b. This is true dependence
c. This is true sacrifice
iii. Listen to what Christ said - Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Transition Statement: Third, when we come to terms with our condition, God sees fit to cleanse us by righteousness.
3. Cleansed By Righteousness– 6:6-7
A. Cleansing is initiated by God alone
i. Scientists have discovered that every snowflake has a tiny piece of dust at its core. Yes, every snowflake has a "dirty heart". In the spiritual realm, when the blood of Christ is applied to the heart of an unbeliever, it cleanses him from all sin. Not a speck of defilement remains, for God removes every stain and washes him even whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7)
ii. The angels, no doubt under the direction of God, took a hot coal
iii. The fire of the coal denoting the holiness that would touch Isaiah and make Him clean
iv. We may respond to His call, but God alone cleanses us, because there is nothing in us that can do the job:
a. Isaiah 64:6 – But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
b. Romans 3:12 - They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
B. Cleansing changes the total person
i. Change is always difficult. I am reminded of the little old lady who stood up at a lecture that Dr. Werner Von Braun was giving and said to the good Doctor, "Why can’t we forget about all these new-fangled ideas about going out into space and be content to stay at home and watch television like the good Lord intended."
ii. 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
a. It changes the heart
b. It changes the mind
c. It changes the understanding
d. It changes the outlook
e. It should have an effect, as we submit to God, on our entire being
iii. Ephesians 4:22-24 - 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Transition Statement: Last, but certainly not least, we are set apart (consecrated) to be open for His use
4. Consecrated By Openness– 6:8
A. It is when we are most open that we hear the Lord most clearly
i. When God called, Isaiah responded
ii. God is looking for Christians who say “yes”
iii. This takes:
a. Obedience – no questions asked, no hesitation offered, blind obedience
b. Availability – not “are you available” but “will you make yourself available?”
iv. If you are too busy to hear God, you are too busy – Psalms 46:10 - Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
B. God has set us apart for His use but we must be open to being used.
i. Isaiah, after all this, was so moved that He offered himself
ii. Psalms 4:3 - But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
iii. God will never force Himself on us – this would make Him a puppeteer
iv. God works best through a willing vessel
C. It is than that we are prepared to go (verse 9)
i. The “woe” of confession (5) is followed by the “lo” of cleansing (7) which leads us to the “go” of commissioning (9)
ii. God wants people prepared by him, not people prepared by themselves
iii. We must empty us of us and fill ourselves with Him
Conclusion:
Are you a Christian God can work with and through?
Is your life lived in such a way that God can use you for His glory?
Have you surrendered your life to God in every area, or are you holding back?
