Let's turn back to Isaiah 6,
if you will. The prophet Isaiah begins the
6th chapter with a vision. He said, In the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. I don't know much about spiritual
dreams and visions. I never have had a dream that
I thought was from God, or that I thought had some spiritual
significance. I never have, speaking for my
own personal experience. I cannot say where others are
concerned, but I can say this definitely. I've never had a
dream in which I thought God was speaking to me. I've never
had a vision in which I thought God was speaking to me. And I'll
go one step farther than that. I have never heard anyone give
a dream or a vision which I thought was from God. Never have. I've heard some folks tell about
their dreams, and I've heard them try to interpret their dreams,
and some say they have had dreams and visions in which God spoke
to them. But as I say, it's not my business
to question another man's experience. You can get in a lot of trouble
when you begin to question people's experience. It may be their experience. I don't know. God may be speaking
to them. I do not know. I do know this. Here is a vision. Here is a vision to be believed. Here is a vision that we can
certainly know is from God, and we can certainly know that God
sent it for a purpose in the life of this man Isaiah, and
it's a vision and a dream that we ought to covet, certainly
a vision that we want to have. For it can and it should be our
experience by faith. This can be and should be our
experience by faith. Now the first thing that I want
to point out tonight is this, that the vision which Isaiah
saw was a vision of the glory of God, as Ed prayed a moment
ago, or that we might have a greater vision or a greater sight of
the glory of God. Well now, King Uzziah, it says
here that he died. There's something very significant
in that. It would seem that Isaiah could
open this chapter with just this word, I saw the Lord. But he
says in the year, in the same year that King Uzziah died. Who
was King Uzziah? Well, King Uzziah was the 10th
king from David. King Uzziah reigned about 800
B.C. King Uzziah became king when
he was only a 16-year-old boy. And King Uzziah had a successful
reign. He had a good reign. King Uzziah's
reign was blessed of God. He defeated the Philistines.
He drove away the Arabians. He was a powerful king. He reigned
until he was about 52 years of age. But toward the end of his
reign, something happened. King Uzziah was lifted up with
pride. He had been a good king. He had
been a successful king. He had been a victorious warrior.
Israel had prospered under his reign. But King Uzziah became
a proud and presumptuous man. And in this proud spirit, one
day he went down to the temple. And the high priest Azariah was
there. But King Uzziah came to the priest
and he said, move out of my way. I'm going into the temple. And
the high priest Azariah said, it's not permitted. for you to
go into the tabernacle, into the Holy of Holies. And King
Azariah said, I am the king, and I plan to go into the tabernacle
and I plan to offer up an incense, a sacrifice of incense. I plan
to burn incense on the altar unto the Lord. And the high priest
Azariah said that even a king cannot do this, that no man can
approach God except through the high priest. And it's the business
of the high priest to burn incense, it's the business of the high
priest to offer the sacrifice, it's the business of the high
priest to put the blood on the mercy seat, and it's not the
business of the king. And King Uzziah, as I said, had
been, since sixteen years of age, the king over all of Israel,
he had had his way. And he had been successful, he'd
been powerful, and he'd been victorious. And it made him very
proud. and he told the high priest to
move out of his way. And King Uzziah went right into
the tabernacle, into the temple, and there on the altar of incense,
just in front of the veil, the double veil, he offered an offering
unto the Lord. And when he came out of there,
he was covered with leprosy from the sole of his feet to the top
of his head. And he died a leper. He never
again came out in public. He died a leper. This is God's way. There's only
one way to God, and that's through Christ, the High Priest. Whether
you're a king or whether you're a slave, whether you're a governor
or whether you're a servant, whether you're high or whether
you're low, there's no way to God except through Christ. And
when a man tries to bypass God's way, he's a fool like Uzziah. Lifted up in his pride and in
his presumption to ignore the great high priest is to incur
the wrath and judgment of Almighty God. And that's the reason that
Isaiah begins the sixth chapter with this statement, because
it was the judgment of God that fell upon this great king. In
the year that King Uzziah died, he died a leper. And he died
under the judgment of God. And he died under the wrath of
God. And in that same year, Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. Now then, who is it that Isaiah
saw? Isaiah saw the supreme glory
of Jesus Christ. That's who he saw. Now, brethren,
can you be sure that this is the Lord Jesus Christ about whom
Isaiah is talking? I think so. Turn to John 12.
I think in John 12 that this is the Scripture here, John 12,
verse 37, which refers back to this vision. In the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And over in John 12, verse 37,
it says, talking about the Lord Jesus,
though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him. That the saying of Isaiah, now
that's Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled when 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 hearts, that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. And these things, said Isaiah,
when he saw God's glory, when he saw the Lord's glory, and
spake of Him." That's who he's talking about. He's talking about
the Lord Jesus. Christ said no man has seen the
Father at any time, at any time. He that hath seen me, Christ
said, hath seen the Father, but no man hath seen the Father.
And when Moses said, Lord, show me your glory, the Lord said,
Moses, no man can look on me and live." Every appearance in
the Old Testament of God is an appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here Isaiah saw the Lord
Jesus Christ. He got a correct view of Christ. This was the most significant
hour of his life. This is the most important time
of his life. And the most important thing
for you and for me is to get a correct view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For he that seeth the Son, he
that seeth the Son and believeth on him as he sees him, he that
seeth the Son and believes on him in that character, hath everlasting
life. He that seeth the Son." Now,
some people in Matthew 7 said, Lord, we prophesied in your name.
Now, they prophesied in the name of somebody called Jesus. And
we cast out devils in your name. They cast out devils in the name
of somebody whom they had seen by faith named Jesus. And in
your name we did many wonderful works, and they did those works
in the name of somebody whom they saw named Jesus. somebody
whom they visualized, somebody of whom a picture appeared in
their hearts, this man Jesus. And the Lord said to them, I
never knew you, I never knew you. Now, he didn't know them,
they didn't know him. They believed on somebody named
Jesus, and they preached in the name of somebody called Jesus,
and they built many wonderful works in the name of somebody
called Jesus, but Christ said, I never knew you, so evidently
the Jesus in whom they believed and the Jesus whom they saw was
not the Lord Jesus, because he said, I never knew you. Evidently
it was that Jesus that Paul talked about in 2 Corinthians 11 when
he said, they preach another Jesus. Isaiah said, I saw the
Lord, the Lord. I saw the Lord. Now man's got
to get a correct view of Christ, for whom he sees, he believes.
And he that seeth the Son, But it's got to be the Son, not a
son. It's got to be the Lord, not
a Lord. It's got to be the Christ, not
a Christ. He that seeth the Lord Jesus
Christ, and believeth on him in that character, hath everlasting
life. Now that's mighty important.
He saw the supreme glory of Christ. Now look at the second thing.
He saw the sovereign glory of Christ. It says here, I saw the
Lord. I saw the Lord, and he was sitting
on a throne. Christ is enthroned. He's the
enthroned King of kings. He said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. He said, I have all power over
all flesh. Turn to John chapter 5 and listen
to him talking here in the 5th chapter of John, verse 21. John
5.21, the Lord Jesus said, "...as the Father raiseth up the dead,
and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will."
Isaiah said, "...I saw the Lord, and I saw him sitting on a throne."
A throne! Look at Luke 10, verse 22. Our Lord said this in Luke 10,
22. All things are delivered to me of my Father. And no man
knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is
but the Son, and no man knoweth the Son except the one to whom
the Son will reveal him. And no man knoweth the Father
except the one to whom the Son will reveal him. Now I'm charging
this, I'm charging as Paul did over in 2 Corinthians, I'm not
saying that men aren't preaching Jesus. I think they are, but
I think they're preaching another Jesus. I think they're preaching
another Jesus. I'm not saying men aren't preaching
the gospel, I'm saying they're preaching another gospel. And
Paul said, he that cometh will preach another Jesus, whom we
have not preached, another spirit, whom you have not received, and
another gospel, which you have not accepted, and another Jesus,
and another spirit, and another gospel won't do. He said, I saw
the Lord, and he was sitting on the throne. In Revelation 118, our Lord Jesus
said, I have the keys of hell. Now when you close your mind
and think about the Jesus in whom you believe, and the Jesus
in whom you trust, and the Jesus who came down here to save you,
when you close your eyes and visualize him, how do you picture
him? Have you had a vision, have you
had a correct vision of the Lord? Do you picture him as a weakling,
as a defeated individual, as a pitiful, powerless, pleading
character? Or do you picture him, as Isaiah
saw him here, sitting on a throne, holding in his hands the keys
of hell, holding in his hands the keys of death, holding in
his hands the keys of heaven, holding in his hands the keys
of life, sitting on a throne? I'm saying to you that while
he was here on this earth, every act he performed was a sovereign
act of mercy. He went about doing good, and
he went about performing acts of mercy. But I'm saying every
person whom he called, he called deliberately, Matthew, follow
me. James and John, I will make you
fishers of men. Every person whom he healed,
He heals sovereignly. He turned to the man on the bed
and said, take up your bed and walk. I don't find the Lord indiscriminately
and indefinitely and impersonally going out and just healing everybody
with the sound of his voice. But I hear him and see him healing
sovereignly. Acting as an authority, as a
king, every person whom he raised, he raised on purpose. He said,
Lazarus, come forth. Every person whom he forgave,
he forgave deliberately, thy sins be forgiven thee. Not all
sins be forgiven, thy sins be forgiven thee. I say unto you,
he said, I say unto you, thy sins be forgiven thee. I say
unto thee, thy faith hath made thee whole. That is Come down. He was strolling through a crowd
one day and a woman sneaked up behind him and reached out and
touched his garment and was made whole. He turned to the disciple
and said, who touched me? And the disciple said, well Lord,
these people, there are hundreds of them around here and I'll
bet you at least 500 of them have touched you. What do you
mean, who touched you? Somebody touched me. I perceive that dunamis
power has gone out of me. And this woman said, I did it,
Lord. Why'd you touch me? Lord, I've
been sick for twelve years, and I've tried every physician on
this earth that I've known. I've spent everything I've got,
and I'm no better, and I knew if I could just get to you, I'd
be made whole. Woman, great is thy faith. Great
is thy faith. While on this earth every act
of mercy was a sovereign act of mercy. Look at John, chapter
2. Listen to this. John, chapter 2, verse 23. John 2, 23. Now, when he was
in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But he
didn't commit himself unto them. Well, if he'd been like some
of these high-pressure preachers, he wouldn't have let one single
believer slip away. He wouldn't have let one single
Sunday school pupil slip away. He wouldn't have let one single
person, it was a head to count, slip away. Here was a bunch of
people. They believed, they believed, they believed. Christ did not
commit himself to them. He knew them. He knew what was
in them. And he needed not that any man
should testify of man. He knew what was in man. Isaiah saw the Lord. He saw the
supreme glory of Christ. He saw the sovereign glory of
Christ. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. And I want you to look at this.
Sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. Higher than any throne. lifted up above all thrones. But look back here. I see another
word that caught my attention, the word sitting. I saw him sitting
on the throne. Isaiah saw not only the supreme
glory of Christ and the sovereign glory of Christ and the infinite
glory of Christ, but he saw the, and here's something we need
to learn, the patient glory of Christ sitting on a throne. Men and women are rushing about
to and fro, pacing the floor, lying awake at night. Old Hyman
Appleman said one time he was in a meeting years ago, I heard
him years ago when I thought he was preaching something, and
he said every night after the meeting he'd go home, he'd go
to bed, he'd lie there and roll and toss, he'd get up and put
his clothes on, he'd go out and walk the street. And one night
he said he just came back in the backyard and sat down to
swing, and he's swinging back and forth. He's crying and rastling,
quarreling and finding fault, and he said the Lord seemed to
say to him, Hyman, what are you trying to do? And he said, Lord,
I'm trying to straighten these people out. And the Lord seemed
to say to him, according to what he said, was, Hyman, if you ever
get them straightened out, they'll be just like you are, and they
won't be any better off. And he said, I was able to leave
them in the hands of God and go to bed. While we are walking
the floor and while we are fussing and fuming and lying awake at
night and trying to do the work of God, the Lord is sitting on
his throne. He is sitting on his throne. Turn to Psalms chapter 2. God
is sitting, Christ is sitting. He's not standing up. He's not
concerned and worried, he's sitting on his throne. In Psalms 2, look
at it, verse 1 through 4, Why do the heathen rage, and the
people imagine a vain thing? I'm not telling you to pray any
less, or give any less, or witness any less, or go any less. I'm
simply saying do it in the spirit of patience, because he's sitting
on his throne. He says here, the kings of the
earth sent themselves, and the rulers are busy taking counsel
together against the Lord and against his anointing, saying,
let's break their bands, this whole nation's going to pot,
this whole world's going to pot, let's cast away their cords,
and he that sitteth in the heavens shall lie. That's funny. That's
real funny, God says. and God the Lord shall have them
in derision." He's just sitting in the heavens. In Hebrews chapter
1, turn over there a minute, Hebrews the first chapter, verse
3, and I'm not just preaching to you, I'm preaching at me.
In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3, listen to it. Who being, talking
about Christ, who being in the brightness, who being the brightness
of his glory, who being the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sin, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high." He sat down. And then if you'll turn to Hebrews
10, listen to this, Hebrews 10, verse 11. What I'm saying is we need to
get a correct view of Christ. A wrong view of Christ is to
have a wrong foundation, to have a wrong profession, is to have
a wrong direction, is to have a false God. And he says in Hebrews
10, verse 11, every high priest This is Old Testament priesthood,
daily ministering, daily offering, oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, out of the great uproar Our Lord is going to bring divine
order. Amid the darkness, disease, death,
and destruction, our Lord sits on a throne of infinite omniscience,
and he cannot be shaken. He knows all things. And, God,
you think this CNO timetable down here is accurate? You see
God's timetable. ever trains on schedule, and
every train makes a stop on time. He saw the patient glory of Christ. And then next, he saw the court
of Christ. Now this is interesting. Look
at verse 2. He said, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord, Jesus Christ. I saw him sitting patiently on
the throne High and lifted up above all principalities and
all powers and all rulers. And then he said, I saw his court.
And the word above here, really the better word, is about his
throne. Stood the seraphim. Now who are
the seraphim? The seraphims are the messengers
or ministers of Christ. the angels of ministering spirits,
but also the ministers of Christ, the preachers of his gospel.
They are about his throne. Now, the word seraphim means
burning, and that's what he says in Psalm 104. Turn over to Psalm
104. In Psalm 104, verse 4, listen
to this. Psalm 104, verse 4, he maketh
his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire, a burning fire. About the throne are the seraphims,
the messengers, the ministers of God, who are flaming fire,
who are burning fire. It says here that each of them
had six wings. Of course, this is figurative.
And it says here, with two wings, each one covered his face. You
know why he covered his face? Before the Lord, every true minister
of God, every true witness of Christ, every true messenger
of the Lord realizes that he is nameless
and faceless, and he covers his face in humility. Just like they
came out to John the Baptist, they said, who are you? Well,
he could have said, I am the miraculously born son of Zechariah. I am the forerunner of the Lord
of Glory sent by God. I am the man whom thousands of
people have gone out to hear. I am John the Baptist." But he
didn't. They said, Who are you? He said,
I'm a voice. That's who I am. I'm a voice
in the wilderness, in the desert places, and I'm a voice that
just hears a cry, Prepare the way of the Lord. And these ministers
of Christ cover their faces in humility. In humility. Because every true minister of
Christ is nameless and faceless. To Christ be the glory. Then
it says with two they covered their feet. And Dr. John Gill says the better word
there is they covered their body conscious of their imperfection.
Conscious of their waltz. and conscious of their conduct,
and conscious that their walk and their conduct and their conversation
is far from perfection and dare not be open before God. And then
with two they did fly, always ready to hasten and to fly, to
do the will of God and to preach the gospel and to deliver the
message. And here's their message, verse
3, And they cried to one another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts, so holy that he hates all sin, so holy that he'll punish
all sin, so holy that he'll not clear the guilty, so holy that
in order to redeem a sinner, his righteous law must be honored
in the person of his divine Son, so holy that justice has to be
satisfied in the precious blood of his well-beloved Son, so holy
that he will make a new earth because sin has contaminated
the first earth, and so holy that he will someday destroy
the old heaven and make a new heaven. That's our mission. Because
the Lord is holy, Christ came. And because the Lord is holy,
Christ was born under the law. And because He's holy, He obeyed
the law. And because He's holy to redeem
His His people, he had to die under the justice of a righteous,
holy God. He's a holy God, that's our message. That's what they cried, holy,
holy, holy. And you're not holy enough, that's
the reason you need Christ. And Christ is so holy that he
can't have anything to do with you until you're made holy. That's
the vision. All right, let's see the second
thing. He had another vision, verse 5. After he saw the Lord
and the supreme glory of Christ, and the sovereign glory of Christ,
and the patient glory of Christ, and after he saw our Lord's eternal,
infinite glory, he saw the flesh. He says in verse 5, Then, then
said I, it is, woe is me. For I am undone, I am cut off,
I am wretched." How come him to say that? He said, I dwell,
I have unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. How come him to say that? Well,
he tells you, for mine eyes have seen the King. Now, brethren,
a correct view. of the majesty and glory of Christ
will give you a correct view of yourself and of everybody
around you. And the reason that most people
do not have a correct view of themselves is they have not seen
Him. And the reason most church people
do not have a correct view of the fall of man and of the condition
of man and of the need of man is because they haven't seen
him. They haven't seen him in the glory and beauty of his person. They haven't seen him in the
fullness of his grace. They haven't seen him in the
infinite glory of his holiness. They haven't seen him. They've
seen a Jesus, but not this one. Not this one. Not this one. You know, you'd think that Isaiah
privileged, Isaiah honored, Isaiah particularly chosen to have a... When I hear people tell about
their dreams, boy, they don't talk this way. When I hear people
talk about their visions, they don't talk this way. Why, you'd
think that Isaiah, having seen the Lord, would say, Oh, what
a happy man I am, I've seen the Lord. But he said, Oh, I'm cut
off. and no hope for me. I'm undone,
I'm wretched. Woe is me!" Looks like he'd be
saying, I'm favored above all people. You never had a visual
of it? I have. You never had a dream? You want
to hear about mine? Boy, I had one. You'd think he'd
be going out autographing Bibles. Or you'd think he'd write a book
on how to attain the victorious flag. That's what most people
I know who've had a dream or a vision, they start writing
a book on how to get there. Because they've been there, you
see. how to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and how to be
filled with the Spirit, and how to enjoy the fullness of the
victorious life, and all these how-to books. But here's a man,
I know he saw the Lord, I know he had a clear vision of Christ,
and he came away saying, Oh, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a
man of filthy lips. When he saw Christ One old Puritan
said this, when he saw Christ, the impurity of his flesh was
revealed. This man Isaiah had been chosen
of God to go forth with God's message in God's name. But before
he could go, God must prepare him. So he was brought into a
state which to human judgment would disqualify him. would disqualify
him from all usefulness. Now, you wouldn't select a man
like this to do the preaching, would you? You wouldn't. This fellow here sitting around
talking about he's undone, this fellow sitting around talking
about he's unclean, this fellow talking about he's undone, he's
cut off. Why, this would disqualify him
from all human judgment and from the human standpoint, this would
disqualify him from being the preacher, from being the prophet.
He doesn't have a positive mental attitude at all. God's knocked
all the confidence out of him. God's knocked all the confidence.
God left him weak, God left him helpless, God left him with a
sense of unworthiness, God left him with a sense of inability,
God left him feeling less than nothing, and you want to make
him the captain and the king? No sir. Human nature just says
it's not the way, but it's God's way. The death of self is the life
of grace. Except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone. Now, it may get some more
wheat just like it around it, but it will abide alone as far
as real wheat is concerned. But when it falls into the ground
and dies, plumb dead, plumb dead. And Christ said it will give
birth and it will bring forth. God will never do anything for
you until he's undone you. When we're weak, Paul said, then
we're strong. We can only be filled with the
all-sufficient Christ when we've been emptied of all of our own
sufficiency. Now, that's what happens when
a man gets a correct view of Christ. You know, in human nature we
grow from childhood to manhood. In spiritual world, you go from
manhood to childhood. Because Christ said, except you
become as a little child, you won't enter the kingdom of heaven.
Suffer the little children to come unto me, for such is the
kingdom of heaven. You know, here it says that Isaiah
lamented the uncleanness of his lips. When he saw the Lord Jesus,
When he beheld him in his glory, in the fullness of his grace,
in his power, and he was, all of his confidence was swept away,
all of his presumption, all of his strength melted, and he's
lying in the dust. You know the first thing he thinks
about is his unclean lips. And I think there are two reasons
why he lamented the uncleanness of his lips. Number one, I think
he wanted to join those seraphims in their song of praise. I think
he did. He watched them, and they were
saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And he was thinking, I'd sure
like to join them in that song of praise, but my language is
unfit. to sing God's praises. I don't
have the words, I don't have the vocabulary, I don't have
the ability because my lips are unclean. And then I think the
second reason why he lamented the uncleanness of his lips is
because he was a preacher. And his lips were the instrument
of his office. And he was the most conscious
of sin where he felt the most need of grace. And I think maybe
the third reason is because that the tongue is the greatest instrument
of sin of the whole human body. You know, it says in Proverbs
6, verse 16, the seven things God hates, and you know, three
of them are related to the tongue. Three out of seven. And then
the scripture says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth
speaketh. As a man thinketh, so is he,
or his expression come out of his heart. Well, thank God he didn't stop
there. The next verse says this, Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand. What is that coal?
What does it represent? He took the tongs, and off the
altar he took a burning coal. That's the word of God. Turn
to Jeremiah 23. That's what it is, the word of
God. That's what a minister uses is the word of God. That's what
a messenger delivers is the word of God. That's what God uses
is his word to announce forgiveness and pardon. The gospel comes
from the word. In Jeremiah 23, 29, he says this,
"...is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord." My word is a
fire. And here this seraphim, this
messenger of God, came with a live coal that he'd taken with the
tongs from the altar. What's the altar here? It's the
altar of burnt offering. It's the altar where the lamb
was sacrificed and slain, and its body offered for sin. This
is the sacrifice of Christ. And from that burnt offering,
from that altar of Christ's sacrifice, this messenger of God came with
the doctrine of pardon, for it comes from the sacrifice and
death of our Lord. Without His sacrifice and without
His offering, we have no message of pardon. We have no message
of forgiveness. And he came and touched my lips
and he said, and here's the amplified version, your iniquity and guilt
are taken away, your sin is completely atoned for, and it's forgiven. And it's forgiven. Well, first of all, he saw the
Lord. He saw the Lord. He saw the sovereign
Lord. He saw the infinite supreme glory
of Christ. He saw the grace of the Lord.
And then he saw himself unclean, wretched, miserable, blind, naked,
diseased, and dead. And he cried out in a confession
of that guilt and shame, O God, woe is me, I am undone. I'm cut off, there's no hope!
That's what the word undone is, cut off. I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. I have seen the Lord. And then
the messenger came with a message of forgiveness, with a message
of grace, with a message of atonement, right off the altar, right off
Calvary's mountain, right off Golgotha's hill, and touched
my lips. And he says, All put away. All
put away. All right now. Verse 8, And then
I heard a voice saying, Whom shall I send? and who will go
for us. Now then, Barnard used to say,
You can't come to verse 8 until you've been through verse 1 through
7, because a man can't tell what he doesn't know any more than
he can come back from where he hadn't been. Old Isaiah in chapter
8 had something to tell, because he had been there in verse 1,
2, and 3, and he had seen the glory of the Lord. and he'd been
there in verse 5, and he'd seen the flesh. Oh, under God he'd
seen the flesh. He was never the same. But thank
God in verse 6 and 7 he'd seen the mercy of God, he'd seen the
atonement of Christ, he'd seen the grace of our Lord, he'd seen
the source of all mercy, the offering, the sacrifice. The Lord chooses and appoints
his servants. Don't you ever think he doesn't? I want you to turn to a couple
of verses. First of all, to Jeremiah 1. Now then, verse, I want you
to see this, verse 8 there, he said, Who shall I send? That's
not a frustrated God that's looking for help. That's not a powerless
God that's looking for a volunteer. I'll show you what that is in
a minute. But first of all, I make this statement according to the
rest of the Word of God. God always chooses his people.
He said, You didn't choose me, I chose you. That's a fact. No
use trying to deny it. That's a fact. He chose us in
Christ before the world began. And here in Jeremiah, chapter
1, verse 5, he said to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. And before you came forth out
of your mother's womb, I set you apart, I ordained you a prophet
unto the nation. Then I said, Lord God, I can't
preach, I can't speak, I'm a child." God chooses his prophets, but
he never forces his prophets. God chooses his people, but he
never coerces his people. He never forces them. God will
choose you for heaven, but he won't make you go there. God
chooses to redeem you from your sins, but he will not make you
leave them. That's right now. But the Lord
said unto me, don't you say I'm a child, for you shall go to
all that I shall send thee. You're going to do it, and you're
going to do it willingly. And whatsoever I command you,
you're going to speak. And don't you be afraid of their
faces, I'm with you to deliver you." And then the Lord put forth
his hand, and he touched my mouth. Our people shall be willing,
I promise you they will. My sheep hear my voice, I know
them and they follow me. I don't chain them and drag them,
they follow me. Another shepherd they will not
follow, another voice they will not hear, my voice they'll hear. They'll follow me. They're going
to follow me, and they're going to do it willingly." And he put
out his hand, and he touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto
me, I put my words in your mouth. I have this day set thee over
the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to
destroy, to throw down, to build and to plant. That's all your
work. Turn to Acts 9, verse 15. Here's
another, what I'm saying is this, God chooses his people.