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 whole 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 uncleanness. 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. 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 inhabitants, 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." So the problem facing Isaiah is that he has been called to go to the people of Judah, but they're not listening. He has already been preaching without effect. Now I can tell you that any pastor with even a little bit of a pastor's heart can tolerate most anything but this. It's one thing to bear insults and persecution if that were to be the law of a minister. It would be one thing to bear conflict and turmoil and opposition and loss and all kinds of things. But there's something about this in its own way that can feel worse than the idea of death itself. I think this would have been a very, very hard thing for Isaiah to deal with and a hard thing for God to even commission him with. Now, we're not given to know Isaiah's feelings at the time that he had the vision. What I want you to see is how the four parts, there are four parts to this chapter, how they hang on each other. They all go together very significantly. First of all, the vision, Isaiah's vision of the Lord, and second, Isaiah's broken response to that vision. Then the Lord's question, and then Isaiah's mission. So, Isaiah's vision of the Lord, Isaiah's broken response, the Lord's question, and Isaiah's mission. So, how does the thing begin? Well, it began with that awesome sight, didn't it? Amazing sight of the glory of God. And this one sight is going to change everything. So, look with me for a moment at what this man was given to see. You see the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus sitting on a throne. He's high and He's lifted up and the train of His robe is filling the temple. It is a beautiful, a glorious scene. Utterly astounding. A demonstration of the power, of the reign, the majesty of Jesus Christ. I mean, we say majesty, and there's something about that evokes something in us. And here's a man confronted with a sight of it. And now he sees, along with the sight of the Son of God in glory, he sees angels all about the King. And these angels, we know, are not marred by sin. They don't sin. And yet, even they are seen covering their faces because the holiness of God is so other, is so transcendent. I think about what this must have been like. And the sound of these angels as they cried out, Holy, Holy, Holy. That sound was maybe like the sound in Revelation 19 where it was the sound of many waters. But, Whatever it was, for a man to have seen and heard these things must have been shattering. Here on the throne is the very king above all other kings. Some of us have been confronted with somebody of significance, of fame, and we've been shy, we've been awestruck. Here is a man standing before the king who is the king above all other kings. in glory, His royal robe, filling the whole of the temple, as if declaring to Isaiah that this is your King. And then these angels, as they're crying again and again, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. Now, do you think, Isaiah, he's seen what he's seen. Do you think Isaiah needed that reminder? He's been confronted with a sight of God. and a sight of God in glory and in power and in majesty, that he need the reminder. This is an awful sight. Awful, wonderful sight. I think the man already would have been trembling. Now comes the reminder, the song and the cry of the angels, Holy, Holy, Holy, the whole earth is full of His glory. And then the posts of the door are shaken by the voice. Invisible, powerful, demonstration of just who it is with whom Isaiah is dealing. The whole place is filled with smoke. And all of this is calculated to show Isaiah something of the vast, vast difference between him and his God. You know, we must never forget this. We are inclined, I think, to forget it. I think that we're inclined sometimes to give this doctrine lip service. We will say that he is majestic. We will say that he deserves our awe and our reverence. We come into the house of worship and we're quiet and we try to be still before him. And yet we can, all along, we can be quiet and yet absent the awe that becomes the people of God. Believe me when I say there should never be anything but awe among the people of God. There ought to be gladness. We talked about that this morning even. A gladness as we come. Joyfully coming to the house of God, but there ought to always be a holy sense of awe. George Swinnock said that God expects the best of living sacrifices. The hearts and spirits of men. He said, oh how much is an ordinary slight performance below and unsuitable to so great and glorious a prince. And then he said this, he said, God will sooner overlook your forgetfulness of Him in your trade or travels. In other words, in your work, your traveling, than in His tabernacle. And then he said, he added these words, he said, I wish therefore that I may never enter rashly upon it. How many times we come into the church, we've come before God and hardly thinking we know where to be here. Hardly a thought of preparation, he says, So he says, I wish that therefore I may never enter rashly upon it but may ordinarily take some pains beforehand to awe my heart by a serious apprehension of the unconceivable greatness, jealousy and holiness of that God to whom I am approaching. There is a sense in which I think if we were to, you know, we know that if we were to see God there would be something of us that would be startled by the sight. We've come to know this God whom we read and study about in the scriptures. We've come to know Him in relationship with Him. I think if we saw Him, there would be something about Him that would startle us. We would all of a sudden realize who it is that we've been dealing with. But we ought to be preparing, shouldn't we? Should we not, in a sense, be reminding ourselves regularly of who He is? Well, whatever may have been true before this incident, in this moment, Isaiah knew something. better than he'd ever known it before and perhaps better than he'd ever known it again. That between him and his God was this infinite distance that could not be calculated. Here he stood before one so, so full of power. He spoke and what happened? The whole world was formed. He didn't get to work and make a universe. He spoke. The words of His command were formed and the stars were called into existence. This One who was and is so holy, even perfect angels could not bear to look on Him. One who is so worthy of glory and praise, the elders and the angels gather about Him, never ceasing to sing praise to Him. And here is Isaiah, a creature, a sinful creature, looking on that. Now, don't you find it interesting that this is Isaiah's preparation for ministry? God is going to ask, as we were talking with the children, was He going to ask, children, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Now, wouldn't you think it maybe more natural For God to have presented Isaiah with a glimpse perhaps of hell. Maybe give him a bit of a picture of the agonizing cries of the people that are in hell. Maybe a sight of the people of Judah, lost in their sin and heading full speed to that place of eternal torment. Maybe even a glimpse of the suffering heathen and all that they go through and their hopelessness in this world and the horror that awaits them. That would have been very helpful maybe. You know that when men today stand pleading in churches, the cause of missions, they often do that. Sadly, sometimes they don't even do that, but often that's exactly what they do. They plead with their listeners to consider the condition of the lost, to consider their present suffering and the horrifying future that awaits them, and then do something. Now, that's not unbiblical. I'm not going to say that there's something wrong with that. Christians, because they have been indwelt by the Spirit of God, are motivated by the love of Jesus for the lost. And the Lord gave Himself, He gave us, I should say, the Lord Jesus Himself gave us some of the most vivid pictures of hell that are found in the Scripture. And He meant for us in giving these things, He meant for us to believe these things and to act accordingly. You know, for us to think that a Christian could look on an unbeliever Believing in the reality of hell and not feel a sense of compassion and urgency is quite repulsive. It's impossible, utterly impossible for us to love our neighbor without longing to see them rescued from darkness and from hell. Even as it ought to be impossible for us as Christians to think about the gospel and to think about what God has done for us and not to be utterly overflowing with gratitude. So it ought to be impossible for us to look on our neighbors who are unbelieving without compassion and urgency. But it's not the way that it happened with Isaiah here. And I think it's very important for us to see this. You see, God gives Isaiah what he most stands in need of. Instead of a side of the misery and trouble of man, he gives him a side of his own glory. I think there's a danger sometimes, even in the church today, that we can call men to do the work of missions. And a call to do the work of missions can take on the very thinking and philosophy of the world. On one hand, I would insist And I think that we stand with Scripture when we say that there ought to be a compassion for the lost. We understand, as Paul has made so very clear, that if we do not go to them with the gospel, if we do not bring to them the knowledge of the Savior, we have no right to claim that we love them. To say that we love our neighbor even as we hand out soup to them without the gospel is to lie, is to be dishonest. But more important, more important than them and their condition and their suffering is God. Please understand that if you go wrong here, you will go wrong everywhere else. This is what's going on in the church today. I think what happens so often is when the church has started with their condition and started with their suffering and their plight. And then, of course, then begin to have compassion on them, which is good. And having then a desire for their rescue. Many times in the church, people haven't got very far before they begin to have trouble with the very notion of hell because they started with man. But Christianity doesn't do that. Christianity begins with God. So what happened when Isaiah had this vision? Well, this is the second part. He was floored, wasn't he? He says, I'm undone. I'm undone. He's been pronouncing woes on the people just in the very previous chapter. Now he says, woe is me. In the sight of the majesty of God, he cannot help but also see his own desperate sinfulness. You can be sure that the more that you have of self-assurance, the more that you have of pride, the more at ease you are with your condition, the less that you know of God. On the other hand, the more that you are given to know of God, the more that you will know brokenness and humility and even something, if I may say it, of self-loathing. you will hate and despise the sin that you find. Here is the strange paradox of the Christian that he can rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory and yet look upon himself and groan under the sight of what he finds. You know that the Christian who has caught a sight of the majesty of God will find that that sight never ever makes him feel good about himself. It's the very opposite of what the world so longs to do for us, as it tries to build up our self-esteem. A sight of the majesty of God never makes us feel good about ourselves, but when by grace I'm safe in Christ, I see a sight of God. That sight makes me feel good about Him. And there is the reason for my joy, and there is the reason for my gladness. It's nothing of self-esteem, but it is all worship and gratitude. I want you to see that this man, who of all men might have been the very most familiar with God, when he saw God in His glory, when a veil for just a moment was taken away, and he saw a tiny glimpse of the majesty of God, he was overcome with awe. I would say to you, brothers and sisters, that when we have known something of the true and living God, it takes away from us that lightness and triteness that is so natural for us. And in its place, in the place of that lightness and that triteness instead, there's a solemn reverent awe. Every revival I've ever read about was characterized by a reverent awe of God. But you see, now Isaiah was prepared for the question. Now he's prepared. Here he is undone, because he who is but a creature who dwells among a sinful people has seen the King, the Lord of hosts. How many times have men and women heard the call, the invitation of the gospel, have heard a question, something like the one that was put to Isaiah, and their answer is, well, don't look at me. I'm not going. You know, all around us, through the church, there are the names and the faces of people who have the audacity to quibble with the Word of God, who dare to say, I'm not doing that. I'm not going. You send somebody else. And people who, in spite of all the information that they have, still can manage to muster up the courage to say to God, I have more important matters to attend to right now. Sorry. You know, my father, remember that man? My father has died. I gotta go bury him. Can't come now. Can't come to the wedding feast. I'm sorry. Have some work that needs to be done on the field. Can't leave the nets to fish for men. I have a living. that I have to make. For Isaiah, it's going to be different. Remember that. It wasn't because Isaiah was a better man, but because God in His grace gave Isaiah a picture of the distance between him and God, both as a creature before His Creator, and more particularly, as a condemned sinner before a holy king. Now, what is this man going to say now? Is he going to say, no, I'm not going to go? This man is undone. He's nothing. He stands before one to whom belongs power and glory and honor with nothing to give but unclean lips. He doesn't dare speak. And now God has touched his lips in picture form, spoken to him of the grace by which he stands. In Christ, this man's iniquity has been taken away and his sin has been purged. That's the picture that we're given there. Of course he's going to go. As we read that, we ought to be thinking, of course, yes, He's going to go. Send me too. If we've caught a sight of the majesty of God. So listen to the question. You know, children, what the question is? Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Who will go for us? We talked this morning about the publican, the Pharisee, that parable that Jesus told. So imagine for a moment that the question was put to both of them. What do you think would have been their reply? On the one hand you've got the Pharisee who thanked God that he's not like that guy over there. Thanked God that he was a more godly man. And the publican who on the other hand dared not even lift his eyes to heaven but cried out for mercy. Which of those do you think would have said, send me? We know the answer, don't we? The man who went home a forgiven and justified man was the man who would go. The man who knew the joy of sins forgiven, who had eyes to see his sin, eyes to see what God had done for him, of his desperate inability to save himself, and the wonderful way in which God had met his sin. God gave Isaiah something that we must all be given to see with eyes of faith. God doesn't do the same thing to us. He doesn't give us such a sight as He gave to Isaiah. But what we must have is a sight of God by faith. If ever, we will respond. So God, even now, He asks the question. And He's going to ask the question of you. He asks the question of each of us. Whom shall I send? Who's going to go for us? Jesus said the field is ready for harvesting. Hundreds and thousands and millions are marching merrily to eternal hell. Some we know that in this country are going to go in spite of everything that they know. And there are those, on the other hand, who are in other nations who are going to go because they've never... well, not because we know they're going to go because of their sin, but they're going to go never having heard the good news. And so God asks, who will go? And who's going to go to the people of Telsenburg? Who's going to go to the people of India? Who's going to go to the people of Africa? Who's going to go to the places that nobody else will go? And I will tell you right now who is going to answer the way that Isaiah answered. It is those who have been given to know something of His glory and something of their sin. The ones who are going to say, yes, send me, are the ones who know that they have been forgiven much, who, because they have been forgiven much, long for others to know the grace that they have found, who so overcome with the joy of pardon and forgiveness, want others to share in that joy and that wonder. who are so glad of the good news that they have heard, want to tell the good news to others. What would you think of the men who heard the good news that there's a way for men and women to be rescued from this problem called cancer and did nothing? But it's not just that. It's those who, like Isaiah, know why they must go. This is critical. This is, to me, the key. If you look at me at the fourth part of this passage, you see what the message this man has been given. So, what's going to happen? Well, he's going to preach to them. He's going to warn them. He's going to plead with them to return to God. If you read through the whole book of Isaiah, you'll find that this is exactly the case. What will be the result? The result in verse 9. 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. So is that it? That's what Isaiah is to do? Imagine Isaiah maybe would say, well, I thought they'd want to hear the good news. I thought they'd want pardon. And God says, no. They will hear, but they won't hear. They will see, but they won't see. They will remain in ignorance because of their stubborn, willful blindness, and this will be their punishment, that God, He says, I will restrain my hand of blessing and harden them, even as I did to Pharaoh. Can you believe this moment in this man's life, what it must have been like to hear that? Isaiah, go, but don't expect fruit. Go and preach, but your preaching will only harden them. They will only reject you. They will sit there, and with their ears, they're going to hear every single word that you speak, and they will get up out of their pews, and they'll walk away just like they came in, and nothing's going to change. That's your ministry. That's your life. I don't want you to give up. I don't want you to decide that this isn't for you, because it's for this exactly that I've called you. And do you think that if you were Isaiah, you would have asked, wait, why? Do you think maybe Isaiah... because Isaiah knew these people. These were his fellow brothers and sisters. He might have said, don't you understand my heart for these people? I love them. I can't bear the thought of going to them and nothing happening. It's not right. It's not rewarding. Why in the world should I be called to do this? Which brings us right back to the vision. Do you see why God granted him a sight of His own majesty? Why instead of giving him a picture of hell, he gave him a picture of the glory of God. And do you see why every man who will be of any use to God must be given to see with eyes of faith something like this? Because we don't ultimately go for them. I remember that story of Paris Reedhead, how he was so disillusioned by what he saw and found when he went to Africa as a missionary. He said he was motivated by the pictures of lepers and he was not wanting his fellow men to suffer in hell after such a miserable existence in this world. Now confronted with the fact that these people didn't want to be saved, didn't want rescue from sin, loved their sin, wanted to stay in it. He said he was angry. He was angry with God. He said, I felt as if I had been sold a bill of goods. As if he had been fooled into going. What was the point of going? Why would God send him? He shares how as he wrestled with God, he heard God saying to him, I didn't send you out there for them, I sent you out there for me. This is why. This is why Reedhead was sent. This is why Isaiah was sent. It was for him. You see what a vast, vast contrast there is between Christianity and between humanism. And how radically and sadly and tragically that humanism has crept into the church and taken hold of so much of what we do. We're inclined, I think all of us at times, so quickly to give up. We want to throw in the towel when it's for them. Why in the first place was Isaiah given this vision? So that he would know why it was that he was sent. So he would know why he would go to a people who would refuse the message. It was so that God would get glory. Some of us, maybe we would have to say that every single one in this church, part of this church plant, has been guilty of murmuring. Not unlike the Israelites in the wilderness. I think some of us have to confess, you know, we've been murmuring about the challenges. of doing a church plant, murmuring about obstacles, murmuring about impossibilities and we want fruit, and there hasn't been fruit like we'd like. There hasn't been success and growth and conversions like we'd like. But God says, I want my reward. I didn't send you out there for them. I didn't send you to Tilsonburg for their sake. I sent you out there for me. That I might get glory. That I might receive the reward of my suffering. and congregation. What is it to us? How many we will impact? What is it to us if God in His providence has arranged all these circumstances just the way He did to save one? One for whom He died. Is that not enough for us? Are we going to complain because of what we have failed to get out of it? Do you see why the need for a vision of God? We are not here for any other reason than for Him. For no other reason than that we may go out into this community for the elect's sake, for those for whom He died, to get Him His reward. Even if that is one person. Even if that is simply doing as Isaiah did and going and preaching and they're hearing and not hearing and they're seeing and they're not seeing. But God gets the glory. Do you know that as a church plant, we may not have been given the circumstances that we hoped for. But we have been given a task and we have been given a community. And God says to you and to me, Who will go? What is it to you if the reason that you go is so that they should keep on hearing but not understand? What is that to you and to me? What is it to you if only your God might get the glory that he deserves? Oh, I long for the church to get a sight of the glory of God. That God would give you and me a glimpse by faith of His Majesty. That with faith we might begin to hear the cry of the angels, Holy, Holy, Holy. That we would be renewed, that we would be reinvigorated in our mission here in Tilsonburg. Because God has given us a mission, He's given us a community, He's given us a people. And I know that if only there were three and four coming in, and next week another three and four coming in and being converted, we would be so encouraged, we'd be so reinvigorated. But my prayer is that we would remember, that I would remember, what is the cry of those who are around about our God. That we would be reminded of what we are in the presence of His dread majesty. And what He deserves. What He has endured. And that with that glimpse, with a memory of all that He has pardoned and all that He has forgiven, that we would cry out an answer to the question, send me. I'll go. Maybe we would have to admit, I don't know what's going to come of it. I don't know if in four years I'll be still saying with Isaiah, how long? How long? But I'm going to go. I'm going to take the gospel to them. I'm going to remain faithful to the mission that God has given to me. Because why? Because you, O God, love them. Because you died for them. And I will go that you may get your reward. Congregation, do you hear him? Whom, he asks, shall I send? And who will go for us? Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Let's go to God in prayer. Our Fathers, we come before you, we want to confess to you that There has been amongst us something of unbelief. Father, we have been discouraged sometimes, we have been frustrated and disappointed, as we have sought to do the work of the Church, sought to be a light and an example to this community, sought to bring to this community the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and yet without much in the way of results. Father, we want to tell you that we are sorry that we have cared so much for man and sometimes lost sight of you. And, O God, we pray that you would give us, by faith, a sight of your glory. You help us, O God, to see something of what you are and what you deserve. We will remember what the Lord Jesus Christ has done And that it would be our heart's cry to give something back to him, that Jesus would receive his reward from us. Father, our first concern would not be what their response is. That our first cry would not be for something of results and success. But that our great longing would be that we might give honor and glory to you. Father, we don't understand sometimes how it is that you get glory for yourself. how it is that you might, in a place like Isaiah was in, in a ministry like he was given, bring honor to yourself. But Father, we know that you know what you are doing. We know that you are wise. And O God, we do desire so much that you would be adored by men. We want you to receive the honor and the glory and the praise that you deserve. We want Jesus, who suffered and died for us, to receive His reward. And so, O God, we pray that You would use us. That, Father, that You would help us to say, send me. And we might go willingly and gladly for Jesus' sake. Oh, thank You, O God, for the wonderful grace You've given to us. for your wonderful way of dealing with your people. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for the privilege that we have to give testimony to this community of the glory and the holiness of a great King. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's join together and we'll sing number 316 in the Red Book. The Mighty God the Lord. you