Isaiah 6
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Send Me
Send Me
Isaiah 6:1-13
MAIN IDEA: Transformed lives are anything but silent.
Transformation is not silent
INTRO:
Good morning church!
It is amazing to be with you all today!
I just wanted to welcome everyone here on Youth Sunday.
My name is Zach Klundt and I am the director of student ministries here at Bethel.
I have been in this role for just a hair over 5 years and it has been my favorite job I have ever had.
I love seeing students using their gifts and talents for the Lord.
It is amazing!
This morning we are kicking off a new series called Send Me.
And the whole idea is that we are called to go out and tell others about Christ and show the world that we have been transformed from death to life, and that we are still being transformed into the likeness of Christ.
This morning we are going to be in Isaiah chapter 6 if you have your Bibles you can start flipping there now.
If you are new to Bethel or even to church, there is a pew Bible in front of you that you can follow along with us on page 571.
Next week Pastor Mike is going to be talking about God’s heart for lost people.
So looking forward to that!
But this week we are going to be talking about why transformation in our lives is vital in sharing the gospel.
Because transformation is anything but silent.
And we have all gone through transformation in our lives, and we all know about other people’s transformations as well.
We get locked in on transformations.
There is something about a before and after shot.
ME:
My before shot took place about a year and half ago.
I am not living very healthy.
I was getting winded going up stairs.
I my diet was out of wack.
I was tired all the time.
I was undisciplined.
Had little motivation.
I had always wanted to be a dad that could run and play with his kids.
I want to be able to get on the ground and not worry about getting back up.
And I was quickly on a health decline.
And then we joined a gym here in town called crossfit Wig Wag.
And I am not here to tell you to join and anything like that.
But I since we joined I can tell you that I am in the best shape of my life.
And this has bleed over into other areas that lacked discipline.
It has been a part of a large transformation in my life.
My After shot would looks like this:
I am healthier, I have more energy, and I am able to keep up with my kiddos and set a good example for them as well.
This has worked for me and I have found myself talking about it because I want others to know that crossfit works.
It worked for me and I have seen amazing results and I want others to experience this kind of transformation for themselves.
Now it maybe that crossfit has done that for me.
But what about you.
WE:
We all have a before and an after of something that we share with others.
It could be from a physical side.
Like you have gone vegan, keto, or on the Akins diet.
Or maybe you have take control of the clutter in your house using totes and some sort of organization system.
Maybe you have just cut up that last credit card and are out of debt and you followed Dave Ramsey’s steps to financial freedom.
Or you have mastered getting your kids to go to sleep and stay asleep is to keep a rigorous routine.
You have found that the best way to grow in your relationship with Christ is by getting up at 5am for your quiet time.
You have discovered the key to meal prep is an instant pot and you will never cook without it and you will give them as gifts to others so they can experience knowing dinner freedom.
And if those work for you guess what?
You are going to tell others about them.
And if others see that it has worked and they can see the transformation in your life then they are totally in on it.
On the flip side.
If someone is telling you something and you can’t see the change in their lives then my guess is that you are not going to follow that person’s suggestion will you?
We understand that transformation has to been seen.
If its not seen then I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to follow it.
Here is the problem today.
We have many people who say they have a relationship with Christ, and they claim they are save, they are a Christian— but before photos looks just like their after photo.
There is no difference.
We can’t see a change in their life.
And those same people are not talking about their faith.
They are not sharing the gospel and they have no plan or desire too.
Transformed lives are anything but silent.
We talk about a ton of things that don’t really matter in the grand view of things but we stay silent about the most important transformation we have ever encountered.
That is the moment a person comes into a saving relationship with God.
Prior to Jesus this was our state death and once we gave our life to Him we now are made alive.
My question today is why are we silent about our transformation in Christ?
That is the question I hope that we can answer today or at least gain some clarity on today.
In order to get some clarity we are going to head to the best source of knowledge and wisdom— The Bible.
It is important to look to God’s word to help us see how important transformation is.
GOD:
Let’s turn to Isaiah 6 this morning and read about Isaiah who was a prophet from God.
That means he was a messenger for the Lord.
God would tell Isaiah of things that were going to happen— some could be good thing but often times God would send messages about coming destruction and how His people needed to turn back to Him.
And so Isaiah has been doing this already and then his circumstance changes.
Let’s read Isaiah 6:1
Isaiah 6:1 (ESV)
In the year that King Uzziah died.
In verse 1 of chapter 6 we read that the King that was rule Judah had died.
This is significant because King Uzziah actually followed God.
And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
The high places were used for pagan worship.
Not to worship to God.
So Uzziah did a good and right job but he still failed in a couple of areas that would lead to him getting leprocy and living out the rest of his days alone.
The big take away is that Uzziah tried to do what was right in the eyes of God.
Judah had a King that wanted to follow after God.
The next king would not that would come into power was not going to be like Uzziah.
Meaning that Isaiah’s circumstances caused God to get his attention.
Sometimes in our own life God is going to use your circumstances to get a hold of you.
What circumstance are happening in your life right now?
A loss of a job, a death of a loved one, a new president, finding a new pastor, there are circumstances that change us.
Maybe God is using these circumstances to get a hold of you.
And it could be these changes in your life spark transformation.
This is what Isaiah is about to discover.
Let keep reading.
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.
I want to paint a picture for you because this can get lost in translation here.
Isaiah is getting this vision from God.
And Isaiah is trying to communicate what is happening.
What can be gathered is that Isaiah sees God in all of his glory— seated on a throne and above him is these 6 winged creatures.
These Seraphims— and little sidenote this is the only place in scripture that we read about seraphims.
And what we know is that they are human-like and they showed a great sense of humility by covering their head and feet.
And their chief role is to praise God.
In CSB translation is says— Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of armies— His glory fills the whole the earth.
God is so great that just the hem of his robe filled the temple.
And read that the very foundation shook!
Smoke filled the room.
It was a majestic, holy, divine scene.
This scene shows who God is.
And then we get this picture of Isaiah in this incredible temple.
Isaiah was getting a glimpse of who God is.
Isaiah notices something right away as he has been given this vision from God.
There is this giant divide between God and Isaiah.
There is a giant gap between God and human.
We can’t miss this.
Because how did Isaiah respond?
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!”
He responses with confession.
In this moment there is a feeling of hopelessness for Isaiah.
He shouts woe is me!
I am lost!
I’m unclean.
My eyes have seen the King.
Isaiah saw God in His perfection, In His holiness, In His majesty and realized I am nothing compared to God.
I am lost— I am broken— I am full of sin.
Isaiah was doing the work of the Lord and he stands in his presence and he understands his desperate need to be found and to be made clean.
All of this is all because he has seen the Lord.
In this moment Isaiah needs to confess sin.
Now what is his sin, I don’t know.
He says that he is a man of unclean lips.
It could be his speech— the words he says.
As a prophet this would make sense.
But may a suggest an alternative.
In Mark 7:20-23 Jesus is speaking here and he says:
And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
What comes out of a person from their mouth is evil— is sin.
I don’t think it was just his speech that was sinful.
Rather his whole person was sinful.
Just like you and me.
When we come toe to toe with a perfect God— A sinless God— it should show us our desperate need to be saved.
And how vastly different we are then Him.
Gary Smith in his commentary on Isaiah says this:
Isaiah 1–39 (2) The Prophet’s Purification (6:5–7)
The necessary first step before any true confession of sin is having an understanding of the glory and holiness of the Almighty God who rules the heavens and the earth.
We have to understand who God is.
Isaiah did and it drove him to confession of sin.
Confession is a good thing.
And God hears Isaiah’s confession and watch what God does here.
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.”
Once confession happens, God reaches out and through the Seraphim brings atonement.
I want to be very clear here.
This is an act of grace on behalf of God.
Isaiah has done nothing to deserve this atonement.
He is a sinner which he admits and God has this seraphim fly down and from the altar— take a burning coal and place it on Isaiah’s lips.
It is to show that Isaiah had been made pure.
He is forgiven.
His guilt is taken away.
Isaiah is a perfect illustration of how transformed lives look.
It starts with a clear vision of the holiness of God.
2. We Admit our sin
3. He removes sin
Notice the first two falls on us but the last one is not something we are not capable of, only God can remove sin.
And God will forgive because his grace is sufficient.
Some of us have walked into church today without a clear vision of who God is and how he is the perfect picture of holiness.
Some think that God owes us something because deep down we are good people who just mess up once in awhile.
God does not owe you grace.
He give you grace because of the sacrifice of His son.
Church we need a vision of the blazing holiness of God.
Because when you have this vision that will drive us to confession.
Man do we need to see confession in our church.
We all sin daily and I think we get to a place where we are just okay with some of this sins.
We need to understand that we sin.
And folks we to understand that God hates sin.
And until we understand this sin will just be okay in our lives:
Pride, self-centeredness, arrogance is fine.
Lie all you want.
Be comfortable totally acceptable
Keep chasing idols money, sports, fame, you name it, we want it.
Our worship is all about us and our good feelings.
We are stingy
We don’t sacrificial love our spouse— If we did the consumption of porn in the church would not be tolerated, the divorce rates would be lower than the world
We play the role of passive parent
Dad’s this where we as men have failed for too long.
IF we don’t understand sin— then we will see the grace of God— his unfailing, underserved love, as a throw away item.
We will say of course God loves me; that’s his job.
No it’s not.
It is an unimaginable, unexpected, and truly an unnecessary wonder of the universe.
If we see God for who He is and we see ourselves for who we not, then like Isaiah, we will be driven to confession of sin.
In christian circles to day I often hear— we just want revival in our churches.
We want God to revive the nation.
I want that too.
And I believe that revival starts when we start confessing our sins.
Because when we start giving over our sins to the only one who forgives and the only one who can give freedom from those sins we will see people’s lives transformed.
And that is something that a world cannot ignore.
And when people see you living in freedom from the bondage of sin— they are going to notice!
Why are they going to notice?
Because a transformed life is anything but silent.
When I was 5 years into my marriage and still indulging in porn and hiding it from my wife— I finally had enough— and I surrendered it over to Christ— and let me tell you something it was like a weight was lifted off of me.
And I cannot and will not stay quite about.
When God restores marriage we talk about!
When God saves you from your sin we talk about it.
When God delivers you form addictions why wouldn’t we talk about it.
When God take you out of the pits of sin we should never shut up about it.
When God transforms your life man we should never not be talking about it, because it is a gift we don’t deserve.
You want revival?
Show a world a transformed life.
And here is the thing, transformation should lead us to a position to hear and respond to God.
Let’s look at Isaiah as he was now being asked to go.
In the last part of this passage we see:
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.”
God speaks for the first time in this passage and says:
Who will go for us?
The us here is most likely a hint at the Trinity- Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
God is asking this question.
He doesn’t give the details.
He isn’t layout out the 5 year plan.
It is a simple who will go for us?
And Isaiah is like SEND ME!!
HERE I AM GOD I’LL GO!
Because of Isaiah’s transformation he finds himself willing and able to do the will of God.
Isaiah answers God call is very different from men like Moses who God came to in a bush and Moses keep telling God you got the wrong guy.
and the same with Jeremiah who in Jeremiah 1:6
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
We saw their reluctance to go for God.
Yet, Isaiah is like I’ll do it.
I have no idea what it is but let your will be done.
Transformation leads to freedom and freedom leads to willingness.
Maybe you find your self today asking Am I willing?
I think this is a good place to start.
Isaiah was willing to go for God.
And I would be foolish to think that there are people in this room who are thinking— what if no one listens?
What if no one wants to hear what I have to say.
Then you would find yourself in the same position as Isaiah.
And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
God tells him what is going to happen and who he is going too and what he is going to say.
No one is going to listen to you.
They are not going to understand you.
Their ears are heavy
Eyes weak
But the people are not going to understand.
And their hearts are going to turn from God.
It is not very hopeful.
God tells Isaiah that the words you speak is actually going to harden hearts.
I mean if I was Isaiah, I would be like; “God, stop you are making it sound so enjoyable.”
Isaiah was going to be sent to the people of Isreal and at this point Isreal was doing whatever they wanted.
They refuse to follow God.
So now God is punishing His People.
It is a time of judgement.
They have had a chance to repent and they have failed to do so.
Those who only think of God as one who offers grace and mercy may have trouble with this.
I may even seem like it is unfair.
This is not the case.
God is judging the nation for their sin.
He is giving them over to their sin.
This is what Isaiah gets to tell the people.
Judgement is coming, you failed to repent and now God is going to punish you.
And we get to verse 11 and we see Isaiah say:
How long O Lord?
This is not an objection to God’s plan.
But Isaiah is heartbroken.
It is a cry of lamentation, of dismay.
And then God tells Him that until no one is left in the land, and the people will be taken from it
But in the end God still offers hope.
Even when everything is burned down— a tenth remains.
a stump will remain and out of that stump the holy seed.
We know that the Holy Seed is Christ and He came to make all things new!
And it is interesting that God is referring to a stump.
It shows that even in terrible situations that God is still God and He is still on his throne.
Yes people may not listen, people may harden hearts, and not understand, or have their eye blinded.
But out of the stump hope comes.
Did you know that even with a stump a tree can grow back.
The roots have to be good, but out a stump a tree does have the ability to grow back.
Life can still come forth even in time of destruction and judgment.
Isaiah had this willingness to go to God’s people.
When we are transformed by the Gospel, God sends us out too.
Maybe the question isn’t why is our transformation in Christ silent?
Rather the question that gets to our heart is—
“Has my life been transformed by the Gospel?”
If it has not I would love to talk with you and share with you about Jesus who lived, died, and rose again so that you could have freedom from sin.
*Maybe the question you need to wrestle with today is—
“Why is my transformation in Christ silent?”
If that is you today, maybe you need to get a more clear picture of who God is.
For others in this room who are living a transformed life, maybe today God is asking you to go to someone.
And the question for you needs to be—
“God who?”
God who do you want me to share your goodness with?
Who do you want me to share about the transformation that you have done in my life with?
Isaiah left that throne room different then when we walked in.
He was transformed by God to be on mission for God.
We have be bought with a price so that we too can be transformed and then we can go out and share the good news of Christ.
What is your response to God today?
I pray that we respond to God like Isaiah because if we do then lost souls will notice, people notice transformation, and people want to be transformed too.
What will your response be today?
Let’s Pray