Hearing The Lord

INTRODUCTION

2023 has come and gone quickly

One day from 2024 starting off

Many people are contemplating what lies ahead

Goals are being set:

Physical or financial health

Spend more time with family or friends

Spend more time reading the Word and praying

As a Pastor, I am praying over and thinking about these things and the future of First Baptist Shapleigh

Next several weeks:

Biblical vision

Setting goals

The most important thing to me is that as a church, we are Hearing the Lord and what He desires of us

Let’s evaluate Isaiah 6

The prophet’s experience of hearing the Lord, and what we can take away for ourselves

Read Isaiah 6

Who The Lord Is

verse 1-4

The King on the throne

He is in charge, and does the things that please Him

Psalm 47:8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.

Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

The Holy One!

These angels are proclaiming the primary attribute of the Lord

Not love

Not goodness

Not forgiveness

The earth is full of His glory!

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

The glory of God is revealed to man, and the rejection of it is the basis by which we are guilty before God.

Read Numbers 14:20-23

Read Romans 1:18-20

What Man Is

verses 5-7

Ruined in the presence of the Lord

Exodus 33:20 “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

God’s holiness is such that man cannot even look at Him and live…unless He allows it

Hagar lived after seeing the Lord (Genesis 16:13)

Jacob lived after seeing the Lord (Genesis 32:30)

Moses lived after seeing the angel of the Lord (Exodus 3:2)

People of unclean lips

Read Jeremiah 9:2-6

The Israelites were so bad, that Jeremiah wanted to get away from them!

Notice, he focuses on their deception and evil speech (v. 3-6)

Romans 1:29–30 – key passage on the depravity of man They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents

People in need of forgiveness

The sacrificial system of the Jews was put in place to remind the people that they fall short of God’s perfection, and need to be atoned for

That is why Jesus was born and died on a cross…for the atonement of our sins

What The Call Is

verses 8-13

Who will go?

A general call

God is looking for someone to proclaim His message!

There is work that needs to be done, and a need for people to do it.

Matthew 9:38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Isaiah answers the call to go

The message that he is given is one that is going to cause the people to become dull to the Lord

Literally: make their hearts fat

What the Lord said would happen before they went into the Promised Land

Deuteronomy 31:20 For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.

The message is to be proclaimed until judgment comes on the nation

Isaiah would be a preacher to a people that will grow increasingly less sensitive to the things of the Lord

The fruit of his labor will be an increasingly shrinking population of faithful followers

How discouraging!

In a world where success is determined by the number of followers someone has, or how quickly growth is taking place, Isaiah would be deemed a failure

The fact is that the sign of a healthy church/ministry is not about the size of the group following the leader, or whether or not the ministry is growing by leaps and bounds

The sign of a healthy ministry is whether or not the message that has been given to it is faithfully preached

CONCLUSION

Isaiah’s call to the ministry was accompanied with a unique experience, but was not a desirous opportunity

He was to proclaim a message to a deceitful people who would grow increasingly insensitive to the things of the Lord

Consider the ministry that the Church has been called to:

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...

Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Peter 4:14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

The message that we proclaim to the world is offensive to them…it causes them to either accept or reject the Word of God

Often, they are rejecting the truth of the Word and even ridicule the messengers

Just like Isaiah, we are called to proclaim the message that we have heard from the Lord, and to proclaim it until the time of judgment comes

Let’s be faithful to hear what the Lord has said, and to proclaim it to others

Matthew 10:24–28 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.