Isaiah chapter 6 is the scripture reading this afternoon. We finish our series treating this chapter this afternoon looking at the last five verses of the chapter. Isaiah 6, we read the chapter in its entirety. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain He covered His face, and with twain He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly. And one cried unto 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 moved at the voice of him that cried. And the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. Now the words of the text. And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes. they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.' Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten, shall be consumed, as a teal tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, So the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." So far the reading of God's holy, infallible Word. It will be profitable to have our Bibles open this afternoon. We're going to turn to a few passages this afternoon together. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the passage before us this afternoon is a very significant portion of Scripture. To see the significance of these verses, just consider, these verses, and specifically now verses 9 and 10, are quoted at least five times in the New Testament Scriptures. Verses 9 and 10 are quoted in the book of Matthew, they are quoted in the book of Mark, in the book of Luke, in the book of John, and in the book of Acts. And in Romans 11, there is such language that you could also say that Romans 11 is also quoting these verses in Romans 11. In each of the first six books of the New Testament, these words are quoted. These verses are certainly more quoted than the verses at the beginning of the chapter. In fact, a case could be made that these verses are the most quoted verses from the entire prophecy of Isaiah. And according to how the New Testament uses these verses, it's these verses in the last part of Isaiah 6 that explain not only the reaction to Isaiah's ministry, but also the reaction of the people to Jesus' ministry and to the Apostle Paul's ministry. That makes these verses very significant. But there's more. Because congregation, just consider this. What really lies at the heart of Isaiah chapter 6 as an entire chapter? Because you see, many people know the first verses from Isaiah chapter 6. We know the vision that Isaiah receives. We know what the seraphim say before the throne. We know that Isaiah cries out, woe is me. And we also know his response when the Lord asks, who will go for us? Here am I, Isaiah says, send me. We know these things. But not many people know about these last few verses. In fact, the tendency is to preach on the first half of Isaiah 6 without preaching at all on the second half. Yet when you look at the chapter as a whole, what really stands at the center of the chapter? What stands at the center of the chapter is Isaiah's call here to being a prophet. After all, it's these verses and Isaiah's commission that explains why Isaiah receives the vision in the first part of the chapter to begin with. Isaiah receives that glorious vision of the Lord sitting on his throne, high and lifted up, in order that he might be ready for these instructions at the end of the chapter. So it's these verses that really stand at the heart of the chapter. And finally, what we must also say by way of introduction is this. Just as much as the first half of this chapter reveals who God is as the thrice holy, transcendent, sovereign God, So also these verses at the end of the chapter further reveal who God is as the thrice holy, transcendent, and sovereign God. We must not fail to notice how this passage stands as a whole. Just as God's sovereignty and His glory is on display for us in the first half of this chapter, so it is on display for us in these words we consider this afternoon. In these verses at the end of the chapter, God reveals that He is a God who hardens hearts. He is a God who does not want to save all men head for head. God reveals that sometimes He sends His prophets not to soften the hearts of the people, but to harden the hearts of the reprobate. And He does it all according to His own good pleasure. And we must see that all of this is the case exactly because it is God who's the one who sits on the throne, high and lifted up. He is the God of perfect holiness. He is the God whose glory fills the earth. Both parts of the chapter, the first part and now this part, reveal who God is as a thrice holy God. We take as our theme this afternoon, Isaiah's calling to preach. We notice three things. First, the calling. Second, the purpose. And third, the goal. The calling that God gives Isaiah is clear. Preach to the people. Preach the truth to the people. Preach the truth clearly to the people. and preach, and be rejected. That's the calling. Isaiah, you will preach My truth clearly to the people, and you will be rejected. That calling comes out in verse 9. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. To translate verse 9 more literally, we could translate it this way. And he said, go and tell this people, hearing, you hear, but understand not. And seeing, you do see, but you perceive not. The point is, Isaiah's calling was to make the people hear so that there was no doubt as to what they were hearing. Hearing, you hear. His calling was to make the people see so that there was no doubt as to what they were seeing. Seeing, you indeed see. And the emphasis of the language then is this. Make the people hear and make them see the Word of God. Preach the truth clearly. And you do that, and the result will be that they will reject you. Intellectually, they will understand. Intellectually, they will understand everything you are telling them. But in their hearts, they will reject it. Spiritually, in their spiritual deadness, they will not receive it. To be perfectly clear, we should say this, Isaiah's calling was not to make sure that the people did not believe. Of course, that was not Isaiah's calling. His calling was simply to preach clearly. But the result would be that the people would reject him. He must preach indiscriminately to all Even though they will reject Him, He must keep on preaching. Even though no one is asking Him to preach, and they ask Him to stop, He must keep preaching. Now when you read through the prophecy of Isaiah, you see that that's exactly what He does. He makes the Word of God very clear to the people. Over and over, Isaiah shows the people and warns the people of the judgments that are going to come upon them. We saw that from chapter 5 a few weeks ago. Woe unto you! Woe unto you! Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes! You go to the end of chapter 57, Isaiah declares, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. You go back to chapter 1, Isaiah's clarity in preaching starts already there. He describes the people in verse 6. He says, from the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, no health in this people, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. He preaches judgment. and their true circumstances. But then over and over, Isaiah also preaches the Gospel to the people. Think of Isaiah 55, verses 6 and 7, where Isaiah says, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord. And He will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. The point is, throughout the entire prophecy, Isaiah is very clear. In Isaiah 53, Isaiah speaks of Jesus Christ with clarity that is unmatched in the Old Testament. He tells them over and over again, there is salvation in Jesus Christ. Repent of your sin, turn to Him, and you will find that though your sins are red as scarlet, your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow. But the result will be that the people will reject Isaiah and the message he brings, and they will reject the God who sent him to them. When we move on to verse 10, we notice that God uses some striking language to refer to this people to whom Isaiah must prophesy. Notice in verse 10 that God does not refer to the inhabitants of Judah as His people. Instead, he refers to them as this people. There's a sense of reproach in the language. These people are no longer my people, God says. They are simply this people. Preach to them, Isaiah, and the result will be that they will reject you. They will hear the truth, they will see it, and they will reject it. Congregation, part of what makes these verses in Isaiah 6 so significant is that these words are carried over into the New Testament and applied to the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ Himself and the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Let's turn to the New Testament for a moment to a few passages. We find this passage in Isaiah 6 quoted by Jesus in Matthew 13. Let's turn for a moment to Matthew 13. In Matthew 13, Jesus has just spoken His first parable. The parable of the sower and the four different soils. The different responses to the Word. And in Matthew 13, verse 10, after Jesus gives the parable, His disciples come to Him and ask Him, why do you speak in parables? And this is what we read in Matthew 13, verses 11 and following. Matthew 13 verse 11, He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." That's why Jesus spoke in parables, so that His preaching would be as clear as possible, so the people could hear and understand, What Jesus was saying, there was no possibility for them not to understand. And yet, although they heard what Jesus was saying, the result would be that they would reject it. They didn't hear it with spiritual hearing, but their hearts were hardened against Jesus. Jesus' calling to preach was the same as Isaiah's. He understood his own ministry and the reaction to his preaching in the light of Isaiah 6. Let's turn to another passage, John 12. Mark and Luke also quote from Isaiah 6, but they quote it in the same context as Matthew, applying it to Jesus' parable of the sower. In John 12, Isaiah 6 is quoted in an entirely different context. In John 12, Jesus is at the end of His public ministry. And the words we read in John 12, verses 37-41, are words that are really explaining the result of Jesus' whole ministry. Let's read John 12, verses 37-41. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Isaias, the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe because that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. Jesus' earthly ministry experienced the same thing as Isaiah's earthly ministry. And the language here in John is striking. They could not believe because, that Isaiah said, the Word of God is clearly set before the people, it's obvious to them who Jesus is as the Christ, and yet the people reject Him. Let's turn to one more passage. Acts 28. Verses 23-29. The very last chapter of the book of Acts. Acts 28, starting at verse 23. In Acts 28, Paul is in Rome. And what you have in Acts 28 is really a summary statement. Not only of his preaching in Rome, but his whole preaching throughout his missionary work. And this is what we read in Acts 28, verse 23. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed. After that Paul had spoken one word. Notice now, Paul says, For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. There are many things to glean from these different passages. What we should see is that the ministry of Isaiah is going to be no different than the ministry of Jesus or the ministry of the Apostle Paul. This was Isaiah's calling. Go, preach to this people and they will harden their hearts and they will refuse to believe on the Lord. This is also the calling of ministers today. Go and preach. This is the calling of the church of Jesus Christ today. Go, preach. Preach God's Word. That's what you need to do. Preach the Word of God just as it's found in God's Word. Preach it only as you find it, and the results will be what they are. As Isaiah himself prophesied, the Word of God does not return unto him void. It will accomplish His purpose. This reality is a great comfort to faithful ministers in the real world when they see little fruit upon their preaching. This reality is a great comfort to missionaries who labor and labor and preach faithfully like Isaiah and like Jesus and like Paul. And perhaps in the end, they're tempted to give up the preaching because it seems there's no positive fruit. The calling from God is simply this. Preach the Gospel. I will take care of the results. Well, here congregation is where we must move quickly from the first point of the sermon to the second point of the sermon and see also the purpose. And what we should notice from the text in Isaiah and the way that it's used in the New Testament passages, especially in John, is that the purpose of God with Isaiah's preaching is exactly this. that through the preaching the people would be hardened. So far I've said in the sermon that the result of the preaching would be the hardening of the people. But now what I'm saying is going a little further than that. What I'm saying now is this. The very purpose of God in sending the preaching would be so that through the preaching God might harden their hearts. That was the purpose God had in commissioning Isaiah. That purpose comes out very clearly in the passage itself. In Isaiah 6 verse 10, notice the first word. Make. Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy and shut their eyes. God is saying to Isaiah, Isaiah, this won't just be the result of your preaching, but this is My purpose in sending you. I commission you. Make the heart of this people fat. The language is, cause the heart of this people to be fat. Notice again in verse 10, the next part, where you find the word last. Preach to them clearly, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed. Lest. That's very striking. Preach to them, make the gospel so perfectly clear to them so that lest they should be converted, they instead are hardened. Now that wasn't God's only purpose in the preaching. God's purpose in the preaching is always, first of all, ultimately for the sake of the gathering of His elect. We'll see that yet in the sermon in the last verse of the chapter, when it talks about a small remnant. But the point is, with these words in verses 9 and 10, the emphasis of God at the moment is on how God is going to send the preaching with the purpose of hardening the hearts, of the wicked reprobate. That's the purpose in sending Isaiah. And if you have any questions about that, then we need only go back to how the Apostle John himself uses these verses in John 12. John 12 verses 39 and 40, Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. That they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart. They could not believe. Exactly because God sent preachers to blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the wicked reprobate. Think about it this way. God knew that the people would harden their hearts at the preaching of Isaiah. The hardening is caused by the preaching. God knows this and yet God still sends Isaiah. sends Isaiah that this might be done. And now take that reality and apply it for a moment to Jesus's ministry and the ministry of the Apostle Paul. First, Jesus's own ministry was characterized by this. He preached and God sent him to preach that many of the people might have their cup of iniquity filled up, that they might be hardened. And they were hardened even to the point where they crucified Jesus. And Paul, the greatest missionary there was, he preached to the Jews, and their hearts were hardened, and that opened the door for Paul to go to the Gentiles. God uses faithful preaching today to accomplish that same purpose. Now, recognizing this truth is something important for us, something to ponder. First of all, we see in these verses the power and the importance of preaching. Preaching is what God is pleased to use to accomplish and carry out His eternal plan of sovereign predestination in both election and reprobation. It's through the power of the preaching that hearts are saved and brought to Christ. And it's also through the power of the preaching that hearts are hardened and the cup of this world's iniquity is filled up. Second of all, we see in these verses that the preaching of the gospel is not a grace to all who sit under it. That's what common grace teaches. Common grace teaches that the preaching of the gospel is a grace. It is an expression of God's favor to everyone who's sitting under the preaching. However, in Isaiah's earthly ministry, in Jesus' ministry, in Paul's ministry, this was certainly not the case. A large purpose of Isaiah's ministry was not to show grace, but to harden. That's expressly what God is telling Isaiah right here at the outset of his ministry. We should be clear that the preaching of the gospel is not a grace to every person who sits under the preaching. Third of all, we see in all of this the foolishness of the strange doctrine of the free offer of the gospel, which says that God sincerely desires from the bottom of His heart that all men be saved. And in the preaching, He is expressing His deepest, sincerest desires, His inmost desire to save all those who are sitting under the preaching. God's revealed will with Isaiah 6 is exactly the opposite. This is not His hidden will, this is His revealed will. In Isaiah 6, God reveals that His purpose is not so that everyone who sits under the preaching might be saved, but He expresses that His expressed desire with Isaiah's own preaching is that the heart of this people be hardened. What this passage teaches in Isaiah 6 is exactly what Paul teaches in Romans 9, where Paul says, whom He will, He hardens. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardeneth. God calls, God commands all people, seek ye the Lord while He may be found. But to many, God also says, I use this word against you. That though this clear call of the gospel goes to you and you understand it, nevertheless, through that very clear call, your heart might be hardened. That you might not seek the Lord and be saved. And Isaiah 6 teaches that God Himself is not passive in the hardening of sinners. God sends Isaiah exactly with the purpose that the majority of Judah would hear the Word and rebel against it. Fourth of all then, what we come face to face with in this passage in Isaiah 6, and again in Jesus' ministry, and again in the Apostle Paul's ministry, is the sobering reality of reprobation. That's what stands at the bottom of this. God has not only decreed to save some unto eternal life, but God has also decreed to reject some and bring them in the way of their own sin to eternal condemnation. Not only is the salvation of God's elect a matter of God's sovereign will and His sovereign power, so that He has mercy upon whom He will have mercy, but there's also the other side of that doctrinal coin. Whom He wills, He hardens. He is the potter. Man is the clay. And God is the holy, transcendent, sovereign God who accomplishes His eternal purposes of sovereign predestination. Electing some and governing all things unto their salvation and reprobating others and governing all things unto their condemnation. Now congregation, when you see that, When you see that Isaiah is being sent to Judah, to his own people, in order that these things might take place. Then you also understand why it's so necessary for Isaiah to receive that vision at the beginning of this chapter. Congregation, I think if I had been in Isaiah's position, and the Lord had said these things to me, go and do this. And watch me as I use that preaching to harden the hearts of these people. I think I would be inclined to say, Lord, I don't really want to be used that way. Lord, I don't want to have a ministry where the main way in which thou art working is to harden the people. A ministry speaking full of judgments upon this people. That's too burdensome for me. But when you look here at Isaiah 6, what has God given Isaiah to help him in this hard calling? God says, look, Isaiah, see Me in My glory, sitting on My throne, high and lifted up. See Me as the sovereign God. who is perfectly right in doing His good pleasure. See Me as the Holy One worthy of all your devotion, worthy of all your service. See Me as the Glorious One who works all things to the glory of My name. And now listen, Isaiah, and obey My voice. And it's in the way of God showing Isaiah His glory, that God strengthens and equips Isaiah to bring a hard message to the people of Judah, and knowing even what the result of that preaching is going to be for them. Their condemnation. This is an important word for us. Why do people struggle with the biblical truths of God's sovereignty? with election and reprobation. Why do people deny reprobation? Why do they want their false views? I think if we could give only one answer to that question, it would have to be this. They haven't seen God sitting on His throne high and lifted up like Isaiah saw God in this chapter. They haven't seen God's holiness, or God's sovereignty, or God's transcendence like Isaiah saw it. Isaiah doesn't argue with God, he doesn't quibble. Isaiah knows that God's words are perfect because God is holy. Congregation, this is a word for us. This is why it's so important for us in our daily mundane moments in life to be captured by the sight of God's glory and God's holiness as Isaiah saw in chapter 6. And then seeing the holiness of God, we must also remember this. The wonder of it all is not that God should harden hearts through the preaching, because that's what everyone's response would be. But the great wonder of it all is this, that there are any whom God in His glorious grace chooses to save through the preaching. Because by nature we are all unclean, by nature we are all undone. Seeing Isaiah's willingness, we should also see at the same time Isaiah's deep concern for the people. That's what is expressed at the beginning of verse 11, where Isaiah asks, how long? With that question, Isaiah is expressing his heartfelt pain at what God has just revealed to him. This is not a rebellious question. Isaiah was ready to do what the Lord called him to do. And yet this mission that God gives Isaiah is going to bring untold grief and pain and agony for Isaiah. He's going to see his countrymen, whom he loves, reject the Gospel. He's going to experience God's decree of reprobation in a very real way, and it's going to be dreadfully painful for him. John Calvin referred to the decree of reprobation as that terrible or that horrible decree In the same sense that we just sang in a moment ago, terrible is He. He is terrible in His dignity. He said, the decree of reprobation is a terrible decree. Not because it was bad. Because it's so sobering. And it's such a hard teaching of God's Word. And when you experience the reality of reprobation in your own interactions with others, then it's a grief to your soul. An untold grief to your soul. And so Isaiah says, how long? And God says in verse 11, And what God is talking about there is the Babylonian captivity, which would take place about 170 years after Isaiah. So Isaiah is going to bring this word, and then other prophets are going to keep bringing this word after Isaiah. Jeremiah, Micah, and Ezekiel in the Babylonian captivity. As a result of Isaiah's preaching, the church is going to be mostly wiped out. Does that strike you? As a result of Isaiah's preaching, The church is going to be mostly wiped out. The church in the form of the nation of Judah. The congregation, as we see how God answers Isaiah's question, we also see that there is an ultimate goal that God has in all of this. And that goal is this, the saving of a remnant. You see that in the final verse of the chapter. In verse 13 we read, But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return. That's talking about the return from Babylonian captivity. And then you read, And shall be eaten. And what that means is that the remnant that returns from the Babylonian captivity will itself be consumed. That remnant itself that returns from Babylon will be heavily chastised. It too is going to fall into sin and experience further chastening. Experiencing God's judgment. So that out of the remnant itself, there's going to be only a remnant. A remnant out of a remnant. And if you think that Judah itself is but a remnant of the complete twelve tribes of Israel, it's a remnant of a remnant of a remnant. And then the verse goes on, "...as a teal tree, or as a terebinth tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves." And the meaning there is they still have life in them even though you cut down the tree to the stump. There are some trees like that. You cut them down to the stump, some trees are dead. Other trees, you see a twig coming up in the spring because there's still life. in the roots of that tree. That's what the Holy Seed is going to be. So the Holy Seed shall be the substance thereof. Though Judah will be cut down like a tree in God's judgment, from the stump of that tree of Judah there will sprout forth life once again. And that will be the Holy Seed. And of course, congregation, that's not just a reference to the remnant. In a very striking and beautiful way, that's a reference to Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ Himself ultimately is that sprout that will shoot forth. He is the branch out of the stump of David. That's even how Isaiah refers to Jesus a few chapters later in Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11, verse 1, where Isaiah says, There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Jesus is that branch. So ultimately, that's even the goal with Isaiah's preaching. To preserve a remnant and ultimately to bring forth salvation through Jesus Christ, the branch that will spring forth out of the stump of the nation of Judah. To bring forth salvation through Jesus Christ to God's elect people. And this is a theme that Isaiah really develops throughout his entire prophecy. The theme of a remnant. This is what Isaiah says already in chapter 1. Isaiah 1, verses 8 and 9, where Isaiah says, the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge, a small cottage in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. A very small remnant. Because really, we should be utterly destroyed by hailstones and fire, just like Sodom and Gomorrah were. A very small remnant. And that was only because of God's grace. That's how it was in Isaiah's day. That's how it was in Jesus' day. That's how it was in Paul's day. A remnant according to the election of grace. That's the language of Romans 11, verse 5. A remnant according to the election of grace. For truly, the remnant itself is only because of God's grace. That's also our experience today, too. A small remnant. As it were, 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. In a very powerful way then, this chapter, these verses, put things into perspective. Because this is what we need to confess about ourselves. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. We should have been as Sodom and as Gomorrah, because by nature, we're no different than Sodom and Gomorrah. Like I said at the beginning, these verses at the end show us who God is as the King of Glory. The Sovereign, Transcendent, Holy King. They show us who God is as such in just the same way as the verses at the beginning of the chapter. What we should see in it all is the marvel of God's grace. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we are reminded again of why the prophets might not always be the first passages that we turn to. For they speak often of judgment and of destruction. And yet, mingled in the word of judgment is a word of promise to thy people, thine elect. And there is always that call to repent and turn unto the Lord. We pray, Father, preserve us as part of the remnant. The remnant of a remnant of a remnant. Keep us humble, Father. Show us Thy glory, that we might be humble and meek, even as Isaiah was, and continue to serve Thee faithfully, even though sometimes we experience that Thy purposes in our lives are hard and difficult. Bless this preaching then, Father, to our comfort, to the strengthening of our faith, and to the glory of Thy great and holy name. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.