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Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 
chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. I alluded to this portion this 
morning in our consideration of the holiness of God. And I 
thought it would be good for us to look at the call of Isaiah 
the prophet, chapter 6, verses 1 to 13. We learn a lot about 
the Lord God in this particular passage. I believe that will 
complement what we studied this morning. But as well, I think 
if we understand the call of Isaiah the prophet, we learn 
a lot about the entirety of this particular book. It is a long 
book. It is a very detailed book. But 
in the very passage in Isaiah chapter six, there are several 
key themes that are impressed upon the prophet that come up 
over and over again in the book itself. So I just want to read 
beginning in Isaiah chapter 6 at verse 1. 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 had 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 posts of the door were 
shaken by the voice of Him who cried out, and the house was 
filled with smoke. So I said, Woe is me, for I am 
undone, because 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 live coal, which he had taken with 
the tons 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. Also I heard the voice of the 
Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then 
I said, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell 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 shut their eyes, lest they 
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand 
with their heart, and return and be healed. Then I said, Lord, 
how long? And He answered, Until the cities 
are laid waste and without inhabitant. The houses are without a man. 
The land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far 
away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the 
land. But yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be 
for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump 
remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its 
stump. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for the call of Isaiah. We thank you for the instruction 
that it gives us concerning you. And we pray, Father, that you 
would help us to grow in our understanding of your character 
and of your person. We ask, Lord God, that you would 
just fill each one of us now with your Spirit. And we pray 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, the prophet Isaiah 
was an 8th century prophet, and the entirety of his book was 
written from about 740 B.C. to about 685 B.C. In fact, in the year that King 
Uzziah died was 740 B.C. As an 8th century prophet, Along with his contemporary Micah 
the prophet, who is very similar in a lot of his subject matter, 
just a whole lot shorter, they prophesied primarily to the southern 
tribes of Judah. Hosea was a contemporary who 
targeted the northern kingdom. He too was an 8th century prophet. Now along with Micah, Isaiah's 
focus was to tell the people that there was a coming judgment, 
that there would be exile. Now as he moves on in his prophetic 
message, there is not only exile, but there is a promise of restoration. But as well, Micah, or Isaiah, 
was unique in that he lived at the time that the northern tribes 
were taken into captivity by Assyria. He had seen firsthand, 
he had witnessed firsthand the wrath and fury of a covenant-keeping 
God. The northern tribes continued 
in their apostasy. They continued in their defection. 
God promised that He would send Assyria, and lo and behold, He 
did so. And in 722, the northern kingdom 
fell to Assyria, who was the world empire. So, Isaiah witnessed 
that. And then he comes to Judah and 
he is urging repentance upon these people and promising another 
foe, promising Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. They 
would be the means that God would use to bring judgment upon the 
southern tribes. And we see certain aspects of 
that in what we read here this evening. But I want to consider 
the call of Isaiah the prophet under three considerations. The 
first is the vision of the prophet, what he saw according to verses 
1-7. Secondly, the mission of the 
prophet, verses 8-13, where God highlights very specifically 
Isaiah's mission. And in this particular context, 
Isaiah's mission was a very negative one. I've often thought it must 
have been psychologically difficult for this prophet to be essentially 
told, you are going to be a means of judicially hardening the people. They're not going to listen to 
you. In fact, through your preaching, their hearts are going to be 
dull. Their ears are going to become heavier. They're going 
to shut their eyes. They're going to be confirmed 
in their godlessness and they will, in fact, be judged by Babylon. So, Isaiah was not given a church 
growth method. Isaiah was not called to success. In fact, Isaiah was called to 
just the very opposite. So, God's grace is manifestly 
upon this prophet as he embarks on a task that was very difficult 
to be sure. So, the vision, the mission, 
and then thirdly, the message of the prophet. several elements 
that emerge from this particular call that come up again and again 
in the rest of the prophecy. But notice first, with reference 
to the vision, we see the throne room. We are immediately taken 
up. We are immediately given. how 
it was when Isaiah was called to missionary service. In the 
year that King Uzziah died, as I already said, 740 B.C., I saw 
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train 
of His robe filled the temple. Uzziah was a good king in Judah 
and did much to increase her bounty. No doubt when he died, 
the people were very much perplexed, very much dismayed. The idea 
here that he sees God enthroned above makes the juxtaposition 
or the contrast very clear. That though a good and godly 
king may die, the Lord on high will never be cast off his throne. The Lord on high never ceases, 
the Lord on high never ever stops in His great reign. Though earthly 
kings reign and die, the Lord God reigns now and forever. During the exile, the pre-exile, 
post-exile, the people of Israel and Judah would do very well 
to remember this. That the horse may indeed be 
prepared for battle, but deliverance comes from the Lord. And then 
He describes this glory that He saw. I saw the Lord sitting 
on a throne high and lifted up God is exalted. He is a royal 
king. He is the sovereign of the universe. 
He is majestic. He is almighty. He is one to 
be gazed at, to be worshipped and glorified. The throne indicates 
two things. That He is king and that He is 
a judge that most certainly exercises a rule and that it is most certainly 
according to His righteous standard. The train of His robe filled 
the temple. We've had a couple weddings here 
recently, and we see the train on the wedding gown. And we see 
it flowing, and that's to promote or to show the centrality of 
that particular figure. Nothing against the men that 
were involved, but it's all about the ladies on wedding day. It's 
all about the ladies and showing their thunder and demonstrating 
their beauty. And that train of the robe sort 
of calls attention to that. Sometimes there's attendants 
holding it up. Sometimes you have to move things 
away so that they can make their path wearing that thing. Well, the prophet says the train 
filled the temple. This was palm. This was glory. This was majesty. This was excellence. This was no king Uzziah. This 
was no good king in Judah. This was no bad king in Judah. 
This was the king of kings and the Lord of lords Himself. It 
is a glorious and a wondrous scene. His robe filled the temple. And then he sees these seraphim. 
Notice, it says each one had six wings. And with these six 
wings, the prophet is very clear. It says with two he covered his 
face. God is so glorious and His power 
and majesty is so blazing that these holy angels have to cover 
their face. They don't just gaze upon Him 
in unhindered or unfettered intercourse, but rather they have to cover 
their face because of His purity, because of His majesty, because 
of His excellence. Remember when Moses had dealings 
with God, he came down, he had to put a veil over his face. With two wings, these angels, 
they covered their feet and with two wings they fly. And they 
cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. These burning 
ones, which Seraphim indicates, do not cease declaring, holy, 
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. All royalty is served by attendants. There's always accompaniment 
when a dignitary arrives. He has assistance for this. He 
has attendance for that. Well, God the Lord is no different. In this particular case, He has 
these holy seraphim who do nothing else than cry out, Holy, Holy, 
Holy is the Lord of hosts. That is a defining characteristic 
of Isaiah's Lord. In this book alone, the prophet 
refers to God as the Holy One twenty-five times. The Holy One 
of Israel. That phrase or that identifier 
only comes up two other times in the rest of the prophetic 
literature. Certainly this impression or 
this vision that Isaiah saw of his exalted Lord made that impression 
upon him. When you are confronted with 
the holiness of God, you don't soon forget it. When you are 
confronted with His Majesty, when you see Him in His blazing 
glory, it's not something that you just say, well, that was 
kind of cool, and then you move on. No, those people who have 
been brought face to face with the holiness of God are affected. They are changed. They are different 
than when they had come into contact with it before. E.J. Young says, Isaiah is to be called 
to a ministry in which the sovereign power of God will be displayed 
and in which judgment is to be prominent. In preparation for 
such a ministry, there must be a vision of God's holiness. And that is precisely what the 
prophet reports here. Notice his response to this. What would you have done if you 
had seen the Lord high and exalted? If you had seen the train of 
His robe filling the temple? If you had seen these seraphim 
attending Him, crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The prophet does something unique. 
Well, not unique to him, but unique to us. We don't always 
think this way. In fact, there are some who have 
taught even in our own generation. One man has said that he was 
shaving his face and Jesus came and appeared to him. Pastor John 
MacArthur said, what happened? What did you do? The implication 
being, you should have fell down as a dead man before His feet. 
That's the biblical response. When Ezekiel is confronted with 
the holiness and glory of God, he falls as a dead man. When 
John sees the ascended, risen, glorified Lord on the island 
of Patmos, what does John the Apostle do? He says, I fell at 
His feet as a dead man. You don't confront this holy 
God in your own sin and just say, hey, how you doing, buddy? 
That's not what the prophet does here. Look at what he says. Verse 
4 says, The posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him 
who cried out, let alone the voice of God. But the angelic 
response caused the place to shake. And the house was filled 
with smoke. So I said, Woe is me, for I am 
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. The lips are unclean 
because the heart is unclean. The prophet bemoans. The prophet 
confesses. The prophet laments that that 
very organ which God called him to use in terms of the prophetic 
ministry is utterly disgusting. It is vile. It is wicked. He 
says, I am undone. I am ruined. I am destroyed. This is precisely the response 
that men have to the holy God Almighty. We aren't praying with 
somebody that is on our level. We are coming before the God 
of heaven and earth. He not only confesses His sin, 
but He confesses the sin of His people as well. He says, I am 
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean 
lips. And then notice reason why. What 
brought him to this conviction? What is it that made this impression 
upon him? He says, for my eyes have seen 
the King, the Lord of hosts. You see that, brethren? When 
you come to see God as He is, you can't help but seeing yourself 
as you are. You can't help but seeing how 
far you have fallen short of the glory of God. That's why 
we must preach the holiness of God. That's why we must preach 
the holy law of God. We must preach His character 
so that men will come face to face with the holy God. And they 
will say, woe is me for I am undone. Because it's only then 
that healing takes place. When we deceive ourselves and 
when we say in the presence of a holy God, you know, I'm okay. 
I'm not as bad as that one. I'm not as evil as this one. 
I'm doing alright with what I've got. No. This was Isaiah the 
prophet. When he sees the holiness of 
God, he says, I am undone. My eyes have seen the King, the 
Lord of hosts. Now notice, God deals with his 
sin. The atonement for sin, verses 
6 and 7, Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand 
a live coal, which he had taken with the tongues 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." Or your sin atoned for. God sees the blemish 
in His servant. God sees that which offends in 
His servant. So God sends the angel to deal 
specifically with the prophet's mouth so that he would be a means 
by which God could use to go and preach to the people. Calvin 
and E.J. Young comment how necessary the 
Word is in conjunction with the sacraments. Not only does the 
angel come and touch his lips, but the Lord explains this. The 
Lord tells him what he is doing. Calvin said, let us therefore 
learn that the chief part of the sacraments consists in the 
Word, and that without it there are absolute corruptions, such 
as we see every day in potpourri, in which the sacraments are turned 
into stage play. God not only dispatches the angel, 
but He explains the significance behind this. He explains, not 
only to Isaiah, but ultimately as well to the readers, what 
is going on. I have atoned for your sins. 
I have taken care of your iniquity. I have covered it. Now, you are 
a vessel in My hand. And that brings us secondly to 
the mission of the prophet. Verses 8-13. Notice the counsel 
of the triune God. Verse 8. Also I heard the voice 
of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? I take that as a reference to 
the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That 
triune God that we see in Genesis chapter 1, let us make man in 
our image. That triune God who in Genesis 
11 comes down, or let us go see what men are doing on earth with 
reference to Babel. This is the triune God taking 
counsel in terms of who will go on behalf of God for the ministry. And look at what Isaiah does 
here. Then I said, here am I, send me. I just think this is 
beautiful. I think this is very much unlike 
what we might do. We like to really prove that 
we've got our sin dealt with. I can't serve God just yet. I've 
got to agonize for six months. Oh Lord, I know you've atoned 
for my sin, but I'm not ready to serve you just yet. I have 
to do something else. I have to purge it more. I have 
to feel bad. I have to punish myself. It's 
not just Romanism and their self-flagellation. It's Protestantism as well. We 
don't always understand the grace of God. We don't always understand 
atonement for sin. We don't always understand the 
fact that God purges. God imputes righteousness. God 
calls us to act on His behalf. He doesn't call us to go and 
sit for three months and feel bad. And when we have grieved 
over our sin, we then come and raise our hand and say, Here 
am I. No, when the triune God says, Whom shall we send? Who 
will go for us? the prophet's hand goes up. I 
believe that this indicates that this man understood the forgiveness 
of sin. This man understood all too well 
atonement for sin. That he didn't have to add to 
it, he didn't have to make up any deficiency, he didn't have 
to feel bad, he didn't have to do penance, he didn't have to 
go pray certain prayers, but rather God had dealt with his 
sin and so he raised his hand and said, here am I, send me. 
And then God gives him this specific direction. Note the reference 
in verses 9 and 10. This people. Judgment's begun. God is not calling Israel at 
this point, or Judah at this point, my people. He is distancing 
himself. We see this in the prophets very 
often. When it comes for chastening, when it comes for judgment, God 
calls them this people. They're no longer my people. 
They're being cut off. The time for corporate chastisement 
was upon them, and God calls them this people. Notice verse 
9. And He said, Go and tell 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 shut their eyes, lest they see 
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with 
their heart, and return and be healed. This morning I said that 
the godly man delights in the sovereignty of God. This is sovereignty. This is sovereignty. God is sending 
Isaiah the prophet as a means to judicially pardon these people. They would have so much information, 
they would have so much light, but in their rejection of it, 
in their stiff-arming of the prophet and of God Himself, they 
would bring judgment upon themselves. Alexander said, the thing predicted 
is judicial blindness as the natural result and righteous 
retribution of the national depravity. This end would be promoted by 
the very preaching of the truth. See, in this instance, God isn't 
keeping preachers from them as a means of judgment. Like He 
promises later in Amos 8, days are coming when there will be 
a famine for hearing the Word. It's just the opposite here. 
It is through preaching, it is through missionaries, it is through 
prophets, it is through their testimony that God is judicially 
hardening them. So I've always thought it's very, 
very, very scary when we live in a Bible bell and people do 
not profess faith. People can become Bible hardened. People can get to the point where 
they've heard it all. They don't need to hear any more. 
That's a horrific place to be. God in this instance is using 
the Word, using His testimony to bring judgment upon them. 
Alexander says, this end would be promoted by the very preaching 
of the truth, and therefore a command to preach was in effect a command 
to blind and harden them. And some might be tempted to 
say, well, that doesn't seem very fair. God is dealing with 
sinners. It's justice. God is dealing 
with sinners. It is justice. Retribution. God is a just judge. If you want to say, that doesn't 
seem very fair, you need to take a silent position and stand before 
the sovereignty of our God. E.J. Young said, it was not a 
darkness and a famine of hearing the Word of God that would destroy 
this nation. It was light. Too much light. 
It was this very light which would blind the people. God speaks 
of having judgment upon them. Notice the prophet in verse 11. 
Then I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, until the cities 
are laid waste and without inhabitants. The houses are without a man. 
The land is utterly desolate. We trace through the prophets 
and we find that come to fruition. When Babylon comes, when Nebuchadnezzar 
comes, that is precisely what happens. They destroy Jerusalem. They take the people captive. 
They lead them, however many hundreds of miles away, into 
Babylon. They are brought up in a pagan 
land, in a heathen land. They no longer know the language 
of Judah. They're speaking Babylonian. 
God is telling them. He is setting forth the program. 
The prophet says, Lord, how long? And God says, until the judgment 
is finished. He's not going to back down. 
He's not going to relent. He is going to carry out his 
particular will. E.J. Young commenting on Isaiah's 
question. He says, one cannot but admire 
and even love Isaiah for his willingness and readiness to 
serve God, even though he was told that his labors would be 
fruitless. From this we learn the necessity for continuing 
in the work of the Gospel, even when outward success does not 
appear to attend our work. It's a great comment. Great for 
me. Hopefully it is for you, too. 
I realize it's warm. That's one of the things about 
the warmness. It makes our eyes get heavy. Worst place I ever 
preached, not because of the people or anything like that, 
but because of the time. I used to preach at the state 
penitentiary in California, at one particular yard, at one o'clock 
on a Sunday afternoon. They had just had lunch, and 
it was always in the 90s. It just had an effect upon the 
eyes. So rouse yourselves up. Listen. We get three hours of you on 
Sunday. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah 
is saying here, what E.J. Young is commenting here. The 
prophet understands God's Word through him is a means of judgment 
and hardening. He asks how long. He would never 
ever see them repentant. He would never ever see them 
turning from God's judgment. He would only see further decline, 
further apostasy, and further spiral downward. So Jung says, 
from this we learn the necessity for continuing in the work of 
the Gospel even when outward success does not appear to attend 
our work. It may be that apparent lack 
of outward success is in part due to our own efficiency. Our 
task, however, is to be faithful. May God grant that His church 
may have ministers who, above all else, are faithful, even 
as was Isaiah. I always find this very intriguing. He's not being called to a ministry 
of success. He is not being commissioned 
in the church growth movement. He is not being provided a formula 
by which if he goes and he establishes ten godly families and they continue 
to do certain things, X, Y, and Z, then the Lord will provide 
for them a hundred people at the end of the first year. And 
by the end of the fifth year, they'll have several hundred 
people. And if they just keep following the formula, then everything's 
going to go just hunky-dory. That's not what Isaiah got. Isaiah 
got, you're going to be a means in my hand to bring judgment 
upon these people. And Isaiah was faithful. Isaiah 
was faithful. That brings us to consider thirdly 
and finally the message of the prophet. Several themes emerge 
in this call that will come up again and again in this book. 
The first is the exaltation of the Lord as King. That's going 
to come up frequently in the prophet Isaiah. In the year that 
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and 
lifted up. At the very beginning of His 
ministry, this is O. Palmer Robertson, the contrast 
is set between God's rule and man's. Even the best of Israel's 
kings are sinners. Men with feet of clay. But despite 
the rise and fall of human kings, the Lord continues uninterruptedly 
on His throne. The exaltation of the Lord as 
King. Several places in this book. 
Chapter 24 and verse 23. I'm going to rehearse a few of 
these so you get the feel that what's going on in this call 
of the prophet, several key themes emerge that will come up again 
and again in this book. Isaiah 24, 23. Then the moon 
will be disgraced and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts 
will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders 
gloriously." Chapter 33 and verse 22. Chapter 33 and verse 22, 
for the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The 
Lord is our King. He will save us. You see, throughout 
the prophet Isaiah, that emphasis upon God as the exalted King 
comes up again and again. Isaiah 43, 14 and 15. Isaiah 
43, 14 and 15. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, 
the Holy One of Israel, for your sake I will send to Babylon and 
bring them all down as fugitives, the Chaldeans who rejoice in 
their ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, 
the Creator of Israel, your King. Isaiah 52, verse 13, a servant 
song of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, my servant shall deal 
prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled 
and be very high. That's the Lord Jesus. And in 
fact, I think Isaiah 6, what he sees is the Lord Jesus in 
His pre-incarnate glory. The reason I believe that is 
because John tells us that in John 12, verses 40 and 41. These things Isaiah said because 
he saw His glory. So, the exaltation of the Lord 
as King. A second key theme in the call 
of Isaiah the prophet. We've already alluded to it. 
the attribute of holiness as the defining characteristic of 
Isaiah's Lord. This holy, holy, holy is the 
Lord of hosts will emerge again several times in the book. As 
I mentioned earlier, 25 times he is referred to as the Holy 
One of Israel. He also refers to God as Holy 
One four times. In the rest of the prophets, 
the title is found only two other times, both in Jeremiah chapters 
50 and 51. In Isaiah, just reading a statement 
here with some texts, says this holy God will show Himself to 
be holy by His righteous deeds. 516. He is the Holy One, the 
Holy One of Jacob, who must be regarded as holy. Chapter 10, 
chapter 29, chapter 8. His name and spirit of Sabbath 
day in His arm are holy. The place of His dwelling is 
holy. The sanctuary, the house where He dwells, is holy. The 
road leading to Zion is characterized as a highway of holiness. All 
the cities of His land may be called holy, and His people are 
holy as well. Holiness is a defining characteristic 
of Isaiah's Lord. A third key theme that emerges 
in the call of the prophet is in verse 3. And that is the universal 
character of the Lord's domain. The whole earth is full of His 
glory. I love the way Ralph Davis puts 
it concerning God or Jehovah or Yahweh. He says that Yahweh 
was not some ghetto deity. He wasn't just the deity of a 
small group of people occupying a small piece of land in an otherwise 
massive earth. Jehovah is not a ghetto deity. Jehovah is God the Lord supreme 
over the entirety of the cosmos. God the Lord who made, God the 
Lord who sustains, and God the Lord who redeems His people from 
their sins. The universal character of the 
Lord's domain. The whole earth is full of His 
glory. The theater for the display of 
God's glory is the entirety of His universe. Isaiah 25, 7 and 
8. It says, And He will destroy 
on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all 
people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will 
swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears 
from all faces. The rebuke of His people He will 
take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 28. 
Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 28. It says, Have you not known, 
have you not heard, the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of 
the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary? His understanding 
is unsearchable. And chapter 45, verses 12 and 
13. Chapter 45, verses 12 and 13. I have made the earth and created man 
on it. I, my hands have stretched out 
the heavens, and all their hosts I have commanded. I have raised 
him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He 
shall build my city and let my exiles go free, not for price 
nor reward, says the Lord of hosts." God owns the earth. God governs it. God chooses whom 
He will save. In this particular instance, 
Israel was the covenant people. They sinned. They defected. They 
apostatized. God would chasten them and send 
them away. He would regather them. He would restore them. 
In the time of Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi, they would come 
and preach to these restored people. The stage would be set 
for the coming of the King, the Lord Jesus, who in His incarnation 
would come to die and rise again. The Lord is sovereign over the 
earth. A fourth aspect or a fourth key 
theme is the sinfulness of God's own people. When He bemoans the 
sin of Israel in verse 5, and I dwell in the midst of a people 
of unclean lips, this comes up over and over and over again 
in the prophet Isaiah. The idea is, you have sinned, 
you have departed. In fact, in Isaiah 58, he says, 
it's not that the Lord's hand is... Let me just read it. Isaiah 
58, verse 1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up 
your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression 
and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily 
and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness 
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me 
the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching 
God." And in this particular instance, he is speaking ironically. 
Because he outlines two religious expressions that the people are 
not doing in a manner that is faithful. Their Sabbath and their 
fasting is a complete betrayal of God's holy ordinances. And 
then notice in 59 verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened 
that it cannot save, nor is it heavy that it cannot hear. The 
problem, your iniquities have separated you from your God and 
your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not 
hear. For your hands are defiled with 
blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your 
tongue has muttered perversity. So the sin of Isaiah's contemporaries 
is a constant theme in this particular book. Isaiah chapter 1 sets the 
stage. The people of God have plunged 
themselves into sin. In fact, in verse 21 it says, 
How the faithful city has become a harlot. It was full of justice, 
righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has 
become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are 
rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes 
and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, 
nor does the cause of the widow come before that. In Isaiah chapter 
5, He gives this parable of the vineyard and how He's going to 
judge the people. And one of the reasons is because 
they've committed various sins. And in verse 24, He underscores 
the main problem. Isaiah 5, 24, Therefore, as the 
fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, 
so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend 
like dust. Why? because they have rejected the 
Law of the Lord of Hosts and despised the Word of the Holy 
One of Israel. And then a fifth and a final 
theme that emerges is the coming exile and restoration. He's already 
alluded to that in chapter 6. We already read it. We don't 
need to rehearse that. But the coming exile, that they 
would be sent off in judgment, but there would be restoration. 
In fact, you get to Isaiah 40, the focus then shifts. It is 
upon the servant of the Lord who would come and save His people 
from their sins. So I think if you keep those 
five key themes in your mind, it gives you a help to understand 
the entirety of the prophet Isaiah. Well, brethren, we learn from 
this the glory of Jesus Christ. You may ask how, it doesn't say 
Jesus Christ. Later revelation defines for 
us that Isaiah's Lord is Jesus, John 12. Christ is glorious. In the year that King Uzziah 
died, he saw Christ high and exalted. He saw the train of 
his robe filling the temple. He saw these angels confessing 
and professing, holy, holy, holy. No accident in his life and ministry 
on earth. Even his enemies confessed his 
thrice holiness. Remember Pilate says three times, 
I find no fault in this man. I find no fault in this man. 
I find no fault in this man. Thrice holy Christ sitting upon 
his throne. The Lord of Isaiah and the Lord 
of his church. We also notice the unchanging 
character of God. He has not changed. He still 
deals in this manner. His holiness is still burning. 
His sovereignty is still in effect. He's not changed. He's not undergone 
some sort of a car wash. He said, the car washed yesterday. 
Never do that, because then it'll rain the very next day. Right 
along there with the red lights. But it's not as if God went through 
some car wash. The Old Testament angry wrathful 
God is now the New Testament loving, kind God. Jesus Christ 
is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He still holds 
us responsible. He still deals with us. He will 
chasten us. Thirdly, what emerges here that 
we see continuously is the sinfulness of man. The sinfulness of man 
is the problem in our generation. It's not a lack of knowledge, 
it's not a lack of education, it's not a lack of money, it's 
not bad socio-economic policy. All those things may be factor 
to contribute to a jacked up society, but the fundamental 
problem of mankind is sin. Woe to those who call good evil 
and evil good. That's from Isaiah 5. That was 
the day and age in which the prophet lived and moved and had 
his being. That was the day and age in which he was prophesying 
judgment to come. Brethren, that's descriptive 
of the day and age that we live in. Woe to those who call evil 
good and good evil. As well, we ought to learn in 
this particular passage, in this particular call of Isaiah, service 
to the Lord. Whom shall I send and who will 
go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me. You may not be 
sent to prophesy utter defeat and destruction to the nation 
of Israel. You may not be sent as a pioneer 
mission to some people that have been unreached or have heretofore 
been unreached. But there is something that the 
Lord is calling you to do. And if you have been saved, it 
is saved to serve. You're not saved just to sit 
and bask in it. You're not saved just to grow 
moss, but you are saved to serve Him. To use your gifts, your 
talents, your resources, your abilities, and serve Him. It may not be in the manner of 
a C.H. Spurgeon, but you must serve Him. There ought to be 
a willingness in everybody to raise up their hands and say, 
Here am I, Lord. Send me. Lots of times people 
have all kinds of ideas how we can do stuff, but they wait for 
everybody else to do it. Take the charge or take responsibility. God is laying something upon 
your heart. Serve Him. And then finally, we need to 
trust God. God is sovereign in His government. If ever there 
was a man who could have walked away in utter despair, it would 
be Isaiah. Remember Jonah? What upset Jonah? God was merciful and saved Nineveh. 
That made Jonah mad. I wonder what Isaiah would think 
about that. What are you, crazy? You're seeing 
people respond to your preaching and you're upset? You're seeing 
people favorably receiving the Word and you're getting mad? 
There's a whole lot more faith as the prophet Isaiah to preach, 
to teach, and to declare in a time of non-revival. To preach, teach, 
and declare in a time of declension. To preach, teach, and declare 
in a time of judgment and chastisement. I think we learn a lot from Isaiah 
the prophet in terms of faithfulness to our callings. All the apostles 
said in Corinthians, moreover, it is required of stewards that 
they be found faithful. When Paul gives the charge to 
Timothy, preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season, 
convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching, 
he gives him two reasons. The first reason, or the second 
reason, we'll just say right away. The second reason is Paul 
was leaving. He was going to die. For the 
time of my departure is at hand. So he's charging Timothy to be 
faithful in proclaiming the Word. The first reason is for the time 
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. What's 
the response to a time when people will not endure sound doctrine? 
Preach the Word. Not change up. Not move the pulpit. Bring in the stage. Get the puppets 
and the ponies and give them what they want. You don't accommodate 
sinners as if they know best. You don't pander to felt or perceived 
needs. You give the people what God 
has ordained for their well-being. You preach the Word. Be ready 
in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with 
all longsuffering. For the time will come when they 
will not endure it. They will accumulate for themselves, 
because there's always these guys, teachers that will tickle 
their ears. Teachers that will prophesy peace, 
peace, when there is no peace. Paul's charge to Timothy, in 
the midst of apostasy and defection from the Gospel, is to preach 
the Gospel. Would to God that He'll raise 
up a whole host of men, like Isaiah, like Timothy, that'll 
preach the Word, leaving results to God, leaving blessing or cursing 
to God, but carrying out the task of expounding and applying 
God's holy truth. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank you for this call of the prophet Isaiah. We thank you 
for the instruction that we received from this section of Holy Writ. 
And I pray that you would just impress these things upon our 
minds and hearts, help us to be a prayerful people as we live 
in a day not unlike the time when Isaiah prophesied. And we 
would ask, Lord God, that you would just strengthen and fortify 
men who are tasked with preaching the Word. We pray that they, 
like Isaiah, would be relentless in the pursuit of expounding 
accurately the truth of Holy Scripture. We pray that You would 
protect this local church. I pray for my brother Cam and 
for myself that You would cause us to fear You, cause us to be 
afraid, Lord God, of ever mishandling Your truth. And we pray that 
You'd raise up men from within this congregation to be faithful 
and able expositors of Your Holy Word. And we ask in the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.