In this very famous chapter,
Isaiah says that he has received a vision of the Lord. But what
did Isaiah see? When he saw the Lord, what is
it that he saw? And that's an important question.
I'm not just asking that question necessarily out of curiosity. It's an important question because
every person that God saves sees the exact same thing, gets the
exact same vision of our Lord that Isaiah got here in Isaiah
chapter 6. So I've entitled the message,
Every Believer's Vision of Christ. I use that title because every
person God saves sees these same seven things that Isaiah saw
when he saw the Lord. Now before Isaiah could see the
Lord, and this applies to us too, everything blocking Isaiah's
Everything taking up his attention and taking Isaiah's attention
elsewhere had to be removed before he could see the Lord. He says
here in verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
also the Lord. Now, if you would care to turn
over 2 Chronicles 26, we won't read this whole chapter, but
if you would read this chapter, what you'll find is many things
about King Uzziah. If you read this chapter, you'll
find that Uzziah began to reign when he was just 16 years old.
He became king at 16. He reigned for 52 years. And
all during that time, Uzziah was a good king. Scripture says
he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. He sought
God in the days of Zechariah, the prophet. Uzziah had a well-trained,
well-armed, very large army. And he used that army to conquer
all the nations around Israel. He subdued them all. He was a
great builder, an architect. He built walls and bulwarks and
towers. He dug many wells and he had
a water distribution center. Husbandry was important to him.
He wanted the farmers to have water. He dug wells and created
this water distribution system so they'd have access to water.
And his fame spread across the whole earth, everybody heard
about King Uzziah. And Isaiah was impressed with
King Uzziah. He wrote down everything Uzziah
did. He was just so impressed. Now,
they were cousins, but I don't know that that necessarily had
anything to do with it. He was just fascinated with this King
Uzziah. I mean, he's something else.
But, verse 16 of 2 Chronicles 26, after all this, 52 years
of good king, following the Lord. But when he was strong, Wayne
had said in his prayer that the Lord would remind us daily, everything
we have comes from him. Here's why that's such a good
prayer. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his
destruction. For he transgressed against the
Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense
upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in
after him, and with him the fourscore priests of the Lord that were
valiant men, and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto
him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense
unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated
to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for
thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from
the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and he had a censer in
his hand to burn incense, and while he was wroth with the priests,
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in
the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar. Nazariah,
the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and
behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him
out from thence. Yea, himself hasted also to go
out, because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was
a leper until the day of his death, and he He dwelt in a several
house, a house of separation, being a leper. For he was cut
off from the house of the Lord, and Jotham his son was king over
the king's house, judging the people of the land." Now you
see what happened there. Uzziah got too full of himself. He'd been prosperous and the
Lord blessed him, and he got full of himself. And he thought,
I don't need that high priest. And he tried to go offer incense
to the Lord, bypassing the high priest. Bypassing the mediator. And God killed him for it. God put him to death. Showing
you and me, we cannot, no man, I don't care how powerful he
is in this world, no man can approach God apart from Christ
our High Priest. We cannot approach God without
Christ our mediator. And if we do, we'll be killed
because no man can be in his presence. And this is the lesson
that we learn from King Uzziah. Now, after Uzziah died that way,
I'm sure Isaiah was shaken by this. After he died that way,
then Isaiah saw some things about the Lord that he had never seen
before. And these are truths that God
shows every sinner that he saves. Now, first, Isaiah saw Christ. Now, this may be very obvious,
but sometimes it's good for us to point out the obvious. If
anyone's going to be saved, they must see the Savior. Isn't that
right? You have to see the Savior. That's
exactly who Isaiah saw. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah didn't see Jehovah. It
doesn't say here that he saw the Lord, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital T. That's Jehovah. He didn't see
Jehovah. He saw also the Lord. He saw
Adonai, God who is Lord of all. Now, you know, Isaiah didn't
see the essence of God. He didn't see the Father. No
man can see God and live. Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the man, Christ Jesus. If you look over in John chapter
12, I'll make good on that. He saw a pre-incarnate appearance
of Christ. John chapter 12, verse 37. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the
saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe,
because 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 These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake
of him. Isaiah saw whose glory? The glory
of Christ. And he spake of Christ because
that's who he saw. If God ever saves us, he's going
to show us the same thing. He's going to fill our vision
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have to see him. Salvation is to know him. God's
going to show him. to every person he saves. We're
going to see Christ. Second, Isaiah saw that Christ
is the sovereign king of kings. He says, in the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. Now, Uzziah
had been king of Israel, and Isaiah was impressed with him.
I mean, and rightfully so. Uzziah was something else. But
the Lord Jesus Christ is King of Kings, Uzziah pales in comparison
to seeing Christ the King. And you'll notice Isaiah didn't
see a babe in a manger. He didn't see a man on a cross.
He didn't see a man in a tomb. You know why? That work is finished. The work of his incarnation is
finished. The work of his sacrifice on
the cross is finished. The work of his death is finished.
He's not in the tomb, he's risen. Isaiah saw a king sitting upon
his eternal throne. And he saw Christ because Christ
is king. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sovereign Savior. If he sits on the throne, he's
the sovereign. And that means he saves whom
he will, when he will. And that's his right because
he's king. And nobody can question it because
he's king. But now I want you to see this.
The king is seated. He's not worried about anything. He's not pacing up and down the
floor worrying, oh, you know, is everything on purpose? Is
it going to be accomplished? You know, will it all work out?
No. He's seated at complete ease. He's not wringing his hands,
looking over the master of heaven, wondering, well, will this one
receive me or will this one protect me? You know, will it turn out
to be a false profession of faith? What will we do? No. He's seated
knowing he's working all things after the counsel of his own
will. He's seated at complete ease. He's king. And he's seated because
the work of redemption is finished. Now, the high priest never sat
down in the temple. Because His work was never done.
There was always more for Him to do. Always another sacrifice.
Always had to trim the lamps and put stuff on the tables. I mean, just constant work. He
never sat down. But Christ our Great High Priest,
He's the King Priest. And He sits. There's no more
sacrifice to offer. He's already offered the sacrifice
that puts the sin of His people away. And He sits. Because the
work of redemption is finished. And if God ever saves you and
me, he's going to show us Christ, the sovereign king. We're going
to see this, believe this and love this. It's not something,
you know, gosh, he just breaks my hands and my will and so I
just have to bow to this because it's so. No, he gives me a heart
that loves this. I love this fact. I'm in Christ's
hands to do with as he will. I love it that way. Because you
know why? That'll make me fall at his feet
and beg him for mercy. And he delights to show mercy
to sinners. Our Savior sits on a throne. But it's a throne of grace. It's
a grace that sinners can approach and find mercy and grace to help
in time of need. But don't ever forget this. It's
a throne. Now it's a throne of grace, but
it's the throne of the sovereign. And that's what Isaiah saw. Third,
Isaiah saw Christ exalted. He said, I saw also the Lord
sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. Now Isaiah thought Uzziah was
something else, because Uzziah began to reign at 16. That's
pretty spectacular. Christ was born king. Uzziah
pales in comparison. Isaiah thought Uzziah was something
because of how long he ruled. 52 years is a long time for a
man to reign and reign well. He pales in comparison. Christ
reigns eternally. Not only is there no end to his
reign, there's no beginning to it. He eternally reigns as king. Isaiah thought Uzziah was something
because Uzziah conquered all those nations. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the mighty conqueror. He's not just conquered nations.
He's conquered sin, death and hell and made a show of them
openly. He's the mighty conqueror. Isaiah
thought he was Iowa something because all the many things that
he built. I want you to take a look at the church our Lord
Jesus Christ has built. He built it. He put every stone
in his place and he built it upon the foundation of himself.
He's the chief cornerstone and it is a glorious church. without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He built the perfect building,
the perfect church, His body. Isaiah thought Uzziah was something
because he reigned for 52 years and during the 52 years he did
that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. But he did mess
up at the end, didn't he? Our Lord Jesus Christ has pleased
the Father completely and utterly. pleased the father. He always
did that which pleased his father and never one time made a mistake.
Never one time sinned and did something to displease his father.
He always pleased his father. And Isaiah saw the king's train.
Now the king's train is his glory. It's his majesty and dominion.
It's like the longer the train you have, the more majesty that
you have. Isaiah said his train filled the temple. The glory
of Christ fills this earth, just utterly fills it. Now, I grant
you, not everybody sees it and not everybody acknowledges it,
but His glory fills the earth. And the glory of Christ fills
His church and everybody in God's church sees it and acknowledges
it and loves it. His glories fill the church. And if God ever saves you and
me, He's going to show us Christ exalted above Everything that
we hold dear. Everything. He's greater than
our parents. You know, oftentimes I hear this
objection to the gospel more times than I can count. Well,
I believe what you're saying. I could believe what you're saying.
I see what you're saying, but I could never believe it. Because
if what you're saying is true, my parents are lost and they're
in hell. That's heartbreaking. That may
be so. But if we ever see the Lord Jesus Christ, he is exalted
above all. I don't care who it is. Exalted
above our parents, above our doctrine that we hold so dear,
above our church membership. He's exalted above our works
and our righteousness. He's exalted above all. He's king and his train fills
the temple. Now fourth, Isaiah saw and he
heard some preachers. Verse two, 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. Now these seraphims represent
God's preachers. God's preachers are messengers,
and that's what an angel is, is a messenger. And when God
saves anybody, he's going to send them a preacher. He's going
to send them a preacher, an under shepherd to feed them in the
Word of God. But now God's preachers are no
better than anybody else. They're just like everybody else. They're sinners saved by grace.
And you see that in these six wings that they have. These seraphims,
they use two of those wings to cover their face because we're
ashamed of ourselves. That's what we do. We cover our
face. No man can look on God and live. Moses learned that
lesson. God said, you can't see my face.
I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock and I'll take my hand
off. You see my hind parts. We cover our face because we
can't see the face of God and we cover our face in shame because
of our sin. They use two of those wings to
cover their feet because we're ashamed of our walk. This applies
to every believer, and I know God's servants. How beautiful
are the feet of them, upon the mountains are the feet of them
that bring glad tidings of good things. They might be feet to
look good to somebody else, but not to me. I want to cover them.
I'm ashamed of my walk. But they use those other two
wings to fly, swiftly to go where God would send them to go. To
go with God's message where he sends them. And that applies
to every believer. Every believer is not a preacher.
But every believer's got a work to do, got something to do God
gave me to do, and they go do it. Because those two wings that
they use to fly go swiftly where the Lord would send them. Now,
God's preachers are no better than anybody else, just like
everybody else. But they do have a message from
God. They do have God's message. And that message that God's preachers
have is the fifth thing that Isaiah saw. Isaiah saw God's
holy. Verse three, one cried unto another
and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole
earth is full of his glory. Now God killed Uzziah, why? Because
God's holy. You're not going to approach
him outside of the high priest, outside of a mediator. No sinful
man can do that. No man can approach God without
the sacrifice that God's appointed because God's holy and he will
punish sin. And these angels are proclaiming,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Their message is God's
holy. They're proclaiming the personal
holiness and righteousness of Christ. And secondly, they're
proclaiming Christ who is the believer's holiness and righteousness.
Not only does God impute righteousness and impute holiness to his elect,
Christ himself is our holiness. He is our righteousness. Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And God's chief attribute is
his holiness. Now, God doesn't demand the best
that we can do. God demands absolute perfection,
absolute perfect holiness. We can't provide that, but God
demands it. He's not going to lower his demand
for his people. So God provided holiness for
His people in the person of His Son. And the only way sinners
like us can ever be holy and righteous is in our Lord Jesus
Christ and Him who is our righteousness and our holiness. His righteousness
imputed to us. When Christ came incarnate, He
lived as a man and He fulfilled all of God's holy law so that
God can be holy and still justify sinners because of the obedience
and the righteousness and the sacrifice of Christ. And when
Christ died, all of that law in its entirety was done away
with. It was finished because Christ
put it away through the sacrifice of himself. That's what we see
in verse four. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Remember those posts that held up that tabernacle? When
the voice cried, all those posts shook, crumbled, and fell down. That's the law being done away
with. Well, what voice was it that cried? It's the voice of
our Lord Jesus Christ. When He cried from the cross,
it is finished. One of the many things that was
finished was the law. and the ceremony and the sacrifices
finished. And to show that it was finished,
to show that's exactly what he meant, God tore that veil in
the temple. It separated the holy place from
the holy of holies. God tore it in two. Showing that
the way to God is now wide open. Because it's finished. In the
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. The law and the ceremonies are
done. And that's the very voice you and I will hear if God ever
saves us. You don't hear just the voices of You're not going
to hear the voice of the old writers. You're going to hear
the voice of God. It's not an audible voice. It's
the ear of faith speaking to you through His Word. Revealing
Christ to you with the cry, it's finished. It's finished. And
the smoke filled the house because God was present. Remember in
the Day of Atonement, the high priest would come in. He'd have
the incense and he'd be burning the incense and the incense would
fill the holy pole. so that he could look directly
upon the mercy seat where the Shekinah glory of God dwelled.
The smoke filled the house because God's present. If God ever saves
you, He's going to fill you. He's going to fill you with His
presence. What did Paul say? Don't you
know you're the tabernacle of God? You're the place where God
dwells. God dwells in His people, sitting
on the throne of the heart, ruling and reigning. And God's going
to give you a new nature, a nature that's filled with holiness,
the holiness and righteousness of Christ. That's what Isaiah
saw. The law's finished and Christ
comes to fill his people. But then Isaiah saw the sixth
thing. He saw himself. Now, now that
Isaiah is seeing these things of Christ, now he can see himself
as he is. Look at verse five. 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." Now Isaiah
saw himself as a sinner, cut off from God because of his sin. He knew that he was a sinner.
Do you know how he knew that? Because he finally saw Christ
in his perfection. Then he knew he was a sinner. I'm undone. Now I see. I'm ruined
and I'm dead in the fall of Adam. And he abhorred himself. Just
like Job. Job said, I heard of you with
the hearing of the ear. But now mine eyes see you. I
see you. Wherefore, I abhor myself. Daniel saw the Lord. He said,
after I saw him, there remained no strength left in me. John,
we read it there. Revelation 1, the Isle of Patmos,
he saw the Lord and he felt his feet dead. Now I see myself as
I am. And Isaiah also saw this. He
saw every son of Adam in the same boat that he is. We're all
sinners. We're all fallen in Adam. He
saw original sin in Adam because he saw the second Adam. He saw
the Lord Jesus Christ in his holiness and righteousness and
glory. And then he understood. Nobody
else can help me. The preacher can't help me. The
priest can't help me because they're just like me. There's
no helping them. My only hope of salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I know that because now I see
him. I see myself and I see him. And the conclusion is obvious. My only hope is in that king
sitting on a throne. And brethren, this is why we
simply and plainly preach Christ as plainly as we know how, we
preach Christ. We don't preach about Him. We
preach Him. We preach Christ who is my righteousness. Because when I see the righteousness
of Christ, that reveals my unrighteousness. When I see the obedience of Christ,
that reveals my disobedience. When I see the love of Christ,
Wayne read about it. He read about the love of Christ.
That reveals my hatred. When I read of the wisdom of
Christ, that just reveals my ignorance. When I read of the
faith of Christ, that reveals my lack of faith. The revelation
of Christ reveals who I am and reveals my need of Him. I need
Him. He's everything I'm not. He's
everything that I need. Now, Isaiah mentions he's got
unclean lips. He doesn't mention his heart,
does he? So how do we know that Isaiah meant he's totally depraved
in his nature and in his heart? Because out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. It's not that which goes in a
man which defiles him, it's that which comes out of him. His lips
are defiled because his heart's defiled. And everything that
comes out of it is defiled. Now in these previous chapters,
Isaiah's been pronouncing woe on a lot of people, hasn't he?
Rightfully so. God's pronounced woe on them.
Woe is coming to them. Rightfully so. And you know,
it's easy to see woe in everybody else, isn't it? Oh, you look
at all the world. It's easy to see there's woe
upon this world. I mean, I just am shocked that
the Lord allows it to continue. I'm just shocked. And the only
reason He allows it to continue is He's got sheep. And they've
not been called to Christ yet. That's the only reason that he
can allow this thing to continue, and there's woe coming to this
world. But I'm telling you, it's another matter altogether. When I see, I'm the problem. When I see, woe is on me. I've told you this before, and
you children will understand this. I grew up from the time
I could understand language. I mean, I can never remember
not believing in total depravity. Ever. I always believed that. One day God showed me I'm totally
depraved. I always believed in the fall
of Adam. I always believed mankind was
ruined in Adam. I always believed that. Up here? One day God showed me I'm ruined
in Adam. And now it's not woe on everybody
else that doesn't believe. It's not woe on everybody else
that don't believe the gospel. It's not woe on everybody else
that doesn't come to Christ. It's woe is me. I'm undone. And worse than that fellow that's
out there in the bar that's never set foot in a church, that's
never one time heard God's preacher. I heard it all my life. And I
thought there's no hope for me. Woe is me. I'm the rebel. I'm the problem. That's another
matter altogether. And that's what Isaiah saw. He
saw himself as the sinner in need of the Savior because he
saw Christ. And that's exactly what God's
going to show every one of us. If in his mercy, he ever saves
us. Now, the seventh thing Isaiah saw, he says, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm the sinner. Then,
see the order of these things is important. God showed Isaiah
forgiveness of sin in the blood atonement. Look at verse 6. Then
flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his
hand, which he had taken with tongues from off the altar. And
he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this has touched thy
lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged. Now this live coal was laid upon
Isaiah's lips and his sins purged. Now why is that? Because of where
the live coal came from. It came from off the altar. It
came from the brazen altar where the sacrifice for sin was burned.
And that shows us forgiveness of sin. Now we're sinners in
need of forgiveness and God's provided forgiveness. And that
forgiveness is only found in the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He was made to be sin for his
people. And he suffered all the wrath
of God for that sin. He shed His blood to pay for
that sin. And the blood was taken and sprinkled
on the mercy seat. It was applied. And Christ roast
in the fire of God's wrath against sin. And He died because justice
was satisfied. So now, the Holy God will never
demand another death for sin. Not if Christ died for you. Everyone for whom Christ died
can never die. God's holy justice won't allow
it because the substitute has already died. The death that
your sin demands. So sin's purged because Christ
took the sin of his people away and it's gone. His blood has
blotted it out. God says it doesn't exist anymore. Taken away forever. Purged from
his people. I still fight with sin every
day, don't you? Sin is purged in the conscience of a believer
when the blood's applied to our hearts. Now, the blood must be
applied. The blood has to be applied.
And when the blood's applied to our heart, our conscience
is purged. Sin is purged. Our conscience
is purged. We have a guilty conscience.
Oh, I sinned. But Christ has already died for
it. He's already paid for it. Just like when the cold touched
Isaiah's lips, his sin was purged. when the blood is applied to
our hearts, our conscience is purged of sin. And this is the
message that God's preachers preach. In verse 8, 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 look over at Psalm chapter
40. This sounds to me a whole lot like our Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. The Father says, Whom shall I send to redeem the elect? Who shall go for us? Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, who shall go for us? And Christ the Son
speaks and says, Here am I. Send me. Psalm 40, verse 6. Sacrifice and offering thou dost
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is written of
me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within
my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips.
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Christ said, Hear
my, send me. and he came to save his people
from their sins. He fulfilled the law as a representative
of his people and he died to pay their sin debt. But Christ
also came as a preacher. It's Christ who declares the
righteousness of God to men. It's Christ who declares how
sinners are made righteous in him. Christ came and he declares
God's salvation. He declares a just salvation. that doesn't have any contribution
from the sinner. This is an act of God, a just
salvation. Christ declares God's loving
kindness. We'd never have any idea God
loves sinners if He hadn't sent His Son to die for them. Christ
declares God's truth. Now we see mercy and truth are
met together in Him, in Christ. Christ declares how God can be
both just and justifier. It's a salvation of truth that
reveals the true character of God. And because Christ came
and accomplished the salvation of His people, and He first declared
it to us, now men can be sent of God to go preach the gospel.
And the only reason we have a message to preach is Christ came, and
He suffered, and He died, and He rose again. And God calls
men to preach, and they go. They go willingly. declaring
God's message to men. They declare this message what
Isaiah saw. They declare the total depravity
of man. All have seemed to come short
of the glory of God. We can't do the first thing that's
good or right or just. So our only hope is salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's good news. Now that
is good news. We are totally depraved. God
sent the Savior of sinners. And even though that is such
good news, I want you to look how men received the message
of God's sovereign grace. Verse 9, 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, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert and be healed. Men will hear
the gospel, but they won't understand. You can understand the words
that I say. I try to be very careful with
the words that I use, that they're simple, easy words. Everybody
can understand. You might be impressed I read
the dictionary, but you're not going to be impressed with Christ.
If I don't use the words, you can't understand. You see what
I'm saying? You understand what I'm saying. Everybody in this
room understands exactly what I'm saying. The Bible is not
difficult to understand. The problem is we don't love
it. We understand the concepts, the ABCs of the gospel, but we
don't love the gospel because we don't see the first thing
Isaiah saw. If we don't ever see Christ,
we'll never love the gospel and never be able to understand the
gospel because the gospel is Christ. And men, in their nature,
just refuse to believe it. And men can refuse to believe
so long that God will give them over to their unbelief. You know,
that's what scared me so much when I realized I'm the problem. I've rebelled against this my
whole life long. It could be God's just going
to turn me over to my nature, my unbelief, because He doesn't.
God will shut their eyes so they can't see. God will shut their
ears so they can't hear. God will shut their hearts so
they can't love Christ. Look over in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. We look at this in our lesson
Sunday morning. God will give them over to judicial blindness. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 10. And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." God gave
them over to judicial blindness. Well, how long? How long do we
have to preach this message to a people who will not hear, a
people who refuse to believe it? That's what Isaiah asked. Look at verse 11. Then said I,
Lord, how long? How long do I have to preach
this message to a people that refuse to believe? And he answered,
until the cities be wasted without inhabitants, 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. How long? You preach until men see that
they're dead. You just keep preaching. Your
job is not to make men believe. Your job is not to create results.
You preach until God gives them an understanding. You preach
until they see they don't have any life in themselves. They're
desolate. They've got no life and they've
got nothing in them to sustain life. You preach until they see
that the Lord would be just and right to forsake them for their
sin. That's so. But you know, none
of us would ever believe. If God left us to our nature,
if God left us to our way because of the unbelief and rebellion
that's in all of us, we just constantly hear preaching and
never believe it. But God. But God has chosen the
people to redeem. God's going to have mercy on
somebody. Look at verse 13. But yet in it, shall be a tenth,
and it shall return, and shall be eaten, 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." In
a few chapters, Isaiah is going to ask the question, he must
have been preaching a good while. Lord, how long? Who has believed
our report? God's elect, that's who. That's
who's going to believe our report. Now, Isaiah uses this amount,
the tenth of the people, and that's an exact number that doesn't
represent a tenth, but it does represent an exact number. It
represents the exact number of God's people. Now, what do you
think of when you think of a tenth? Well, we all think of the tithe,
don't we? That's immediately what we think of. A tenth is
the tithe. God's portion was a tenth of
everything. Now, that tenth that belongs
to God. It's not a tenth of Adam's race.
God saved many more people than that. The tenth that belongs
to God represents His elect. He chose those people to belong
to Him. And those people shall be saved.
They'll hear and they'll believe and they'll see the same vision
of Christ that Isaiah saw. God's law demands that God's
elect be saved. The same way God's law demanded
the God's law demands the salvation of God's elect because Christ
died for them. He took their sin away and he's
given them eternal life and God's law demands that that happen.
Just like God's law demanded the time. Well, I'll just preach to the
elect then. How are you going to find them? How are you going
to tell? Because I'm here to tell you
God's elect look just like every other son of Adam. You can't
tell the difference. They're born spiritually dead,
just like every other son of Adam. Every one of them. That
teal tree, oak tree Isaiah wrote about here. You know, in the
wintertime, they lose all their leaves. And they look dead. I mean, in the wintertime, that
oak tree looks exactly like a dead tree. No difference. But just
wait. And when spring rolls around,
you're going to see life start to spring forth. And in a shockingly
short amount of time, that tree is going to be full of green,
full of life. I sure look dead. How'd that
happen? Life was in it. It looked dead,
but life was in that tree. Now, my friends, that's the believer.
We don't look different than anybody else. If you take a picture
of us, God, it looks just the same as every other rebel. It's
awful. And in our eyes, you know where
we see ourselves? It's that tree in the wintertime,
stripped of all of its leaves. God stripped us of all of our
glory and stripped us of all of our goodness. But there is
a difference. Now, we can't see it externally,
from the outside, but there's a difference. God's put life
in His people. He's put His Spirit in His people.
Look in 1 John chapter 3. God's given His people a new
nature. And it's going to spring forth into life. 1 John chapter 3. Now you look
at them. Boy, they look dead. But just
wait. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now, right now, I know
we look like that dead tree in the wintertime, but right now
are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. Thank God. I don't want to be
like this fraternity to you. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. That holy seeing It shall be
the substance. It's the life that's inside His
people. And it's in them. Because God's
put it in them. Christ is that holy seed that's
in His people. They're born of the incorruptible
seed. The Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. And that makes all the difference
between them and the dead tree. If you're still there in 1 John
3, look at verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God." Then he's going to have life,
because God gave it to him. Christ purchased it for him,
and he's going to have it. That's the vision that Isaiah
saw, and that's the vision every one of us is going to see, if
God in his mercy is ever pleased to save us.