I Can’t Hear You God!

Last night Bro Brad Lowery preached from Isaiah 6:1-8, a very familiar passage that we looked at for the very first time. Don’t you just love it when that happens?! You want to? Read it then:

    “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 tongs 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.’” (Isaiah 6:1-8)

Oh yeah Bro Dave, I too love that verse, Isaiah 6:8, in fact…wasn’t that the power verse on K-LOVE just recently? (For the record I listen to K-LOVE; it started in my hometown).

Beloved, as Bro Brad taught last night, we can’t get to verse 8, “Here am I! Send me”, until we go through the first seven verses.

Before we do that, let me ask you a question. How in tune are you with God? What does His voice sound like to you? Would you know that you were hearing a word from God if He spoke it? I would guess 95% of you reading this right now never stop long enough to hear His voice in the manner Isaiah did.

Bro Brad reminded us that before Isaiah went before the King Lord Jesus, Israel had their King Uzziah. They worshipped him. Uzziah was Israel’s Ronald Reagan. He was the hope of mankind. And then he died, and with him died the hope of the Israelites. Sixteen years after Uzziah died, his grandson took over the government and was wicked. In Reagan years that would be from 1988 – 2004; just to give you a point of reference.

Back to our text.

Not until King Uzziah died did Isaiah see the Lord on His throne in all His majesty. When was the last time you saw Jesus in this way? Most times we see our Lord in a shotgun email prayer request and can’t understand why we aren’t receiving a word from God. But Bro Dave, I even got a read receipt from the Lord! Well how about that!

When Isaiah stopped looking towards earthly kings and saw the One and Only King, He saw the glory of heaven. And at that moment he was convicted of his sin; his materialism; his idolatry; everything he had put on the throne of his life was wiped away by taking a moment to stop and stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he confessed his wickedness; look again at verse 5:

    “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.’” (Isaiah 6:5)

Here is where Bro Brad had me see this passage again for the very first time. What we can take from this verse is how I go, so goes the community. How the church goes, so goes the community. Isaiah said he was a man of unclean lips, and because he is so he dwells in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

How the church goes, so goes the community.

Now Bro Dave, I understand that, but don’t you get discouraged with all you see around you? Dear brothers and sisters, you know my heart. You’ve read my rantings long enough to know I mourn over the state of the union, as I know you do.

That is why I want to share with you what the Lord told me last night how to deal with this. As I was praying last night as the service was winding down and God was dealing with people all throughout our church, the Lord showed me what to do.

Through the Holy Spirit I finally saw how to deal with all the wickedness around me.

We can call it a holy shield for our eyes. Don’t worry, it’s not complicated, it’s not expensive, and it doesn’t take a lot to do this. It’s actually a very simple device we can use to shield our eyes from all the wickedness around us.

Wait for it…

It’s called a mirror.

Huh? M-I-R-R-O-R

In olden days they called it a looking glass.

Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ high and lifted up in all His glory, majesty, and splendor a cried out, WOE IS ME, FOR I AM UNDONE! BECAUSE I AM A MAN OF UNCLEAN LIPS.

Have you ever done that? Yeah, when? How long has it been?

And did you receive the cleansing? Did you receive the forgiveness of sins that conviction and confession brings? Has Jesus washed you clean? Have your lips been touched by a live coal from the altar and purged your sin?

When that happens beloved, then and only then is when we come to verse 8:

    “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.’”
    (Isaiah 6:8)

Sharing the fourth truth that Bro Brad taught last night, after conviction, confession, and cleansing comes the commission.

We can not hear God and know His will for our lives until we get right with Him. No more idols, no more King Uzziah’s in our lives.

We need King Jesus.

Do you know Him? Is He your Savior? You know He is the only way into Heaven. All faiths do not lead to God as George W. Bush so blasphemously said. It was blasphemous because it was contrary to King Jesus:

    “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6)

I think we have a choice to make here: we either believe the worldliness of George W. Bush and others like him, or we believe Jesus.

One of them is either lying or deluded.

Choose carefully, your spiritual hearing is at stake.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2011 David Jeffers

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