The Sending Father

Introduction

Have you ever had someone send you something that you were really looking forward to getting? Have you ever waited by the mailbox looking for a letter or a card to arrive?

Have you peeked out the door looking for the UPS man to show up and deliver a special package to your door?

I’ve watched my kids to this recently. If they know a package for them is coming, every sound outside stirs their excitement. They run down the stairs and peer out the door looking to see if their gift has arrived.

How about the flipside of this coin, have you ever sent someone something that you were so excited for them to have, that you called and checked on it? “Hey, did you receive that package I sent you?” I did this recently. I sent a friend a book and when I saw them, I excitedly asked if they had received it, partly because I was worried I didn’t have their correct address, but partly because I wanted to hear their excitement in receiving it.

When it comes to God, we serve a God who sends. He sent the most precious gift we will ever receive to us and he is excited for us to receive this gift.

If you’ve been in church a while, you probably know what that gift is, right? It’s Jesus, his son. He sent his son to the world, to rescue the world and we are the ones who are rescued.

Now, while most of us may know that already, here’s what you might not have realized. Just as God sent his Son into this world to seek and save the lost, Jesus sends us into the world to do the same thing.

Today, we are starting a new series called “Sent.” Where we are looking at the idea that we are Sent By God to a lost and dying world in the same way Jesus was sent to us.

Here’s the verse that is going to be the basis for this series. It’s found in John 20.

Series Text

John 20:21 ESV

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Now, we are going to dive into this passage of Scripture in more detail as we work through this series, but today, I want to highlight this one idea… The God we serve is a SENDING GOD. And if that’s part of his identity, we need to see him as he truly is before we can GO in his name.

That’s the basis of today’s message. Now, Jesus wasn’t the only one that God sent into this world, in fact, he was one among many. Today, we are going to look at the sending of the prophet Isaiah. Turn to chapter 6.

Main Text

Isaiah 6:1–8 ESV

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon 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 full of 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; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I 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 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 atoned for.” And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Before we can be SENT, we need…

We Need A Revelation Of The Lord

He Sits On A Throne (v.1) - This means he is KING. He rules, he reigns. We need a revelation of this.

We Think we rule our lives. WRONG! He does.

We think its our will be done, but it should be us surrendering to HIS WILL.

The Throne signifies the power He holds. He can compel you to serve him. He did that with Jonah, but his desire is for you to be willing.

He is High And Lifted Up (v.1) - This is all about God’s bigness. He is a big God. The train of his robe fills the temple Isaiah says. The size of his royal garments in this case signifies He is the King of Kings, The Lord of Lords. That’s a big God. What this means is this…

He is able. He won’t send you to do something that he is unable to complete. He is able to do more than what we can think or imagine. So whatever he calls you to, he is able and will empower you to do it.

He sees all. From a place of being high and lifted up, there is nothing hidden from Him. He sees it and knows it and plans for it. There are no surprises to God. He sees you when He calls you. He sees your strengths and your weaknesses.

He Is Holy, Holy, Holy (v.3) - This is declaring the supreme holiness of God. We see the word Holy repeated three times. Three times, one for each member of the Trinity. Three times because the Hebrew language doesn’t use modifiers, so there is no “holiest”, it’s holy, holy, holy to emphasize that He is the holiest.

Holy means set apart. It means He is uniquely pure. He is not just morally right, this means there is no one as morally right as Him.

He calls us to be Holy. Be holy as I am holy, he declares in 1 Peter 1:16. We become holy by the power of the Holy Spirit filling us and transforming us to be more like Christ.

Most Christians are not joyful persons because they are not holy persons, and they are not holy persons because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit, and they are not filled with the Holy Spirit because they are not separated persons. The Spirit cannot fill whom He cannot separate, and whom He cannot fill, He cannot make holy, and whom He cannot make holy, He cannot make happy!

A. W. Tozer

In other words, if you want joy, true joy become holy as the Lord. As the Spirit to fill you and use you in mighty ways.

So with all of these superlatives combined, I want to revisit this main point.

Why do we need a revelation of Him? Why do we need to see him ruling, high and lifted up, holy? Because…

When We See Him As He Is, We Can See Ourselves As We Are

Isaiah Saw His Condition (v.5) - Woe is me, I am lost! When you get into the presence of a Holy God, you will see your own condition. You are unholy. You are unclean. Isaiah recognizes this. He says emphatically, I am lost or I am undone.

Now the Hebrew word here is stronger than what we read in the English. What he is really saying is, I should be destroyed. Looking at God’s holiness, Isaiah is saying I deserve to die.

When we see God’s holiness, it should wreck us. It should create in us a feeling of being undone. He is so holy and we are so not, we must recognize how weak we actually are.

Isaiah Saw His Sin (v.5) - I am a man of unclean lips! This is Isaiah recognizing his sin. He sees himself as sinful and in need of saving. He recognizes he needs to be cleaned.

Isaiah Saw His People’s Sin (v.5) - I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king. The revelation brought realization. Isaiah seeing God as He is, brought a revelation that he was sinful and those around him are sinful as well.

Why unclean lips? Why was the sin of Isaiah and his people signified by unclean lips. This is a common theme in the Bible. The general principle is this…Whatever is in your heart, will come out of your mouth.

Luke 6:45 ESV

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Isaiah saw that their lips needed cleansing in order to be in the presence of God, because it was a sign of what was in their hearts. Their hearts were wicked and the outward sign was what was coming out of their mouths.

You can tell what’s in a person’s heart by what they say, even today. Whether its gossip, backbiting, coarse joking, hateful talk, obscene language, the heart issues forth out of the mouth.

Look at your own talk. Are you building people up with your words, or tearing them down? Are you words bringing life or bringing death? Isaiah saw his words and realized he needed to be cleansed.

His Atonement Proceeds Our Calling

Isaiah Could Not Atone For His Own Sin - He needed someone to redeem him. Notice Isaiah didn’t fix himself here. He needed someone else to fix him. When it comes to a holy God, you can’t make yourself right. You can’t change the scales, they are stacked against you. Nothing you can do will make you holy enough.

He Needed To Be Touched To Be Clean (v.6-7) - We have a word for a being in this passage and its only used in this one section of Scripture. It’s the word Seraphim. The Hebrew word here means the “burning ones.” They surround the throne of God and you see their description in verse 2 (six wings, with two covering his face and feet and two with which they fly around with).

This creature grabs a burning coal from the altar. Which makes sense if you think about the name. The burning ones grab a coal. It would make sense that coals are nearby when you have these Seraphim and God who is described elsewhere as fire.

Because he was touched by something holy (a coal from the altar), he was cleansed of his sin. In the Old Testament, you see a lot of places in the law that the opposite is true. If you were touched by something unclean, that made you unclean. Here, it’s the opposite. If something clean touches you, you were made clean. We see this also in the person and work of Jesus. He touched people and made them whole.

Isaiah’s Call Comes After He Is Cleaned (v.8) - Notice with Isaiah, God sends him after his sin is atoned for. This is a general principle here: God cleanses you and then sends you. This works the same today. If you are saved, God is sending you. Everyone in this room, if you know Jesus, God is sending you out for the sake of his name.

In order to speak his truth, we need clean lips. We need to be touched by his holiness. But once we are, it’s not just so you can sit there and think oh nice, I’m clean, yay. It’s for you to go and speak his truth.

Isaiah Responds To God’s Invitation To Be Sent On His Behalf (v.8) - The highlight of our text is found in God’s question. Who can I send? Who will go for us?

Today the Spirit cries out the same thing! Who shall he send?

Luke 10:2 ESV

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

You are Those Workers! You have to be like Isaiah and answer that call. God is calling you to reach those around you. Will you answer? Will you bring his message to his people? Will you go?

The harvest is ready. Don’t say now is not the time, God says its ready. Don’t think you can do this later! Now is the time. God is calling you today. Who shall I send? Will you answer? Here I am! Send me!

Key Points

God Sends Us Because Of His Nature, Not Ours

God Sends Us In Spite Of Our Brokenness

God Sends Us To Unclean People

Decision

You need to make a decision today. The Word of God is clear. If you have never received a revelation of the Lord, you need one. You need to see the Lord as HOLY HOLY HOLY. You need to see yourself as sinful. You need someone to redeem you, to cleanse you, to make you holy.

If you have never done that, I invite you to come and pray with me.

If you are here today and you are saved, God is commanding you to answer his call. Will you go for him? Or will you continue to disobey him? There is no gray area. You are either a missionary or an impostor. You are either serving God or serving the devil. What will it be? Will you go for Him?