Before we look at our last text, I wanted to review what we've gone over the last three messages and like to hear what you took away from each one of those. We don't have time for more than one or two. But it's not a testimony so much as, what did you take away? I just want to make sure you did take something away. And if you didn't, I want to give you something to take away. But I think, hopefully, you did. So the first message was about the local church and its role and mission. So without looking at a bookmark, what did you take away? Someone, one or two of you? Just to remind us, just to review. It's good to review, right? Yes, sir. All right. Very good. You got two in there. That was good. So praying is helping together. helping together. You can help a missionary on the other side of the world, just like you're right there by his side when you're praying for him. And I was talking to Mrs. Wingrove earlier today, and she was telling me that was an encouragement to her to know that she is laboring for missionaries in her prayers. She's not able to do as much physically, but she's praying. And we appreciate that, and I know we'll all benefit from that. And then you mentioned, what was the other one? Hearing, right. So when they come back, you want to be listening to them and rejoicing in what God has done. Any other on that one? Yes, sir. All right, very good. I was hoping someone would mention that. You can refresh. the missionary when they're on furlough. Paul said to the Romans, when I get there, I want to have ministry with you, I want to have some kind of spiritual blessing to you, I want to be a blessing, but also I want by you to be refreshed. And so that's a wonderful ministry that you'll have with missionaries when they come back on furlough, or when you heard Ben say it, you know, he's refreshed when he comes here. And that means a lot. It means a lot when people are sweet and when they love us and show interest and pray for us. It really means so much to a missionary. Anything else on that one? Okay, the second one was, I've been trying to keep these straight in my mind. The second one was, okay, it was about how God uses various gifts in the ministry. So anything you took away from that one? You said, I can't remember that one either. That was this morning, first one, OK? Does that help? Yes, sir. OK, good. I talked about four different people in particular. Can you remember any of those? All right, Luke. What about Luke? All right, he was a medical doctor, but he was also involved in the preaching. Remember that we talked about the Macedonian call? He said, we know that God has called us for to preach the gospel to those in Macedonia. Okay, Luke was one, who was another? Okay, talked about the couple that labored together. And as far as we know, these were not preachers, but they were well-informed believers, right? So well-informed that they could teach who? Hey, Apollos. You think about that. You take that one home and think about that. That's like, just think about the best preacher you know, whoever that might be. And this couple take him into their home and they instruct him further. That's amazing. Okay, good. And then the last one was, thank you, John Mark. So what do you take away from John Mark? Yes, sir, Mel. All right, don't quit. Yeah, that's probably the one we need to remember. All right, so we're gonna go back to basics. If you would turn to Isaiah chapter six, this is going to be, really you've got two aspects here in this text. You've got something that is so profound. I honestly struggle to know how to preach it. It's just so rich. On the other hand, We're really just going to go back to basics. What do we need as we serve God? And as we are in ministry and as we think about missions, what are the right views? That's the way I'm going to approach this tonight or today. We need right views about three things in order to serve God properly. We need a right view about the sovereign, right? A right view about the sovereign. This is easy. You can remember this outline. Then we need a right view about self. And we need a right view about service. That's simple. So let's look at Isaiah chapter 6. Famous text. And we're going to see that in order to serve God properly, we need a right view of the sovereign. A right view of self. and a right view of service. So Isaiah 6 verse 1. 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 post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. So there is the right view of the sovereign. Now let's look at the right view of self. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone. Why? 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 tongues 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? So here we get the right view of service. Then said I, Here am I, send me. 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. Well, that prompts a question in Isaiah's mind. So he says, 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 there is a contrast, contrary to what we might think. 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. So as we get into this text, and it is a marvelous text about Isaiah's call to the ministry, it's hard to totally explain why it's not in the first chapter of Isaiah, because you wonder, has he already been prophesying in verses chapters 1 to 5? It would seem that that's the case. Whatever the case, this is life-changing for Isaiah. This is a life-changing experience. And the reason it is is that he, first of all, gets a right view of the sovereign. As we think about the world, we realize that it is in chaos. I don't know a better word for it. Maybe you do. But I get to the point where I don't want to look at the news. Because there's always, for one thing, the news media tries to hype everything. But there are things going on that are chaotic in our country and around the world. And as we travel around the world, we realize that a lot of places are just as chaotic as America, and some are even worse. We need a sovereign. And the comforting thing is that we do have that. The sovereign allows the chaos for time. He's gonna deal with the chaos and he's gonna deal with those who cause it. But he is sovereign. And we see here a right attitude, a right view of the sovereign is to first of all realize man's frailty. I don't know if you know much about King Uzziah. But he reigned for like 50 some years. And during that time, Israel prospered. What happened when Israel prospered? Remember that story? It tells us that Uzziah became proud. And what did God do to humble him? He became a leper. He became a leper. So Isaiah saw all of that. He saw the country prosper. He saw Uzziah's skill. He saw his capability to lead the nation. But he also saw his pride, and he also saw what happened to the man. And so the king died. So we start, as we think about the sovereign, we need to realize the contrast with man. But then we see the majesty of God, and this is what Frankly, I feel really unable to picture for you like I would like. But when we think of the king sitting on a throne, what does the Bible say about God as far as Him being visible? Well, it says He's not visible, right? God is Spirit. So how can He be sitting on a throne? Well, probably the best answer is that this is the Lord Jesus. Because we know that he had a body, he became a man. And we know from the book of John that Isaiah saw Christ in John chapter 12. It tells us very clearly that he saw Jesus in this vision. So we have the sovereign in his majesty sitting on a throne high, lifted up. His train, you see the edge of his garment. Is this something that would change you and me necessarily? I'm thinking of that because recently I got an email from one of our missionaries and this lady was saying, you know, I would like to talk to a former missionary who's now in heaven and ask him what he would think about situations now. And it dawned on me that even if we could ask someone who's already in heaven They wouldn't know as much as what we know in the Word. You understand what I'm saying? We have all the answers right here. His testimonies are to be our counselors. I wouldn't know any more talking to someone in heaven than I already know right here in the Word. And it's the same thing about Christ. A vision is not really any better than getting into God's Word and seeing Him in the Word and experiencing Him in the Word. So we might say, well, I'd love to have that kind of vision. But really, would that change us if we don't have a heart for the word right here? This word is majesty. This word is glory. This word is what changes us. So this is God's majesty, but don't think that this is going to change you or me. It's kind of like those who were in hell. And he lifted up their eyes and they said, well, you know, we don't want our relatives and our brothers to come here. Send somebody to tell them. Send somebody who's raised from the dead. And the answer is, well, if you even did that, they wouldn't believe, if they don't believe the word. So we have this wonderful vision, but don't, as we go through it, think that having this vision is what changed Isaiah. It was really his heart toward God. that changed him. But this did, no doubt, put awe into his heart and mind because he saw something else. Besides the Lord, besides the sovereign, he saw the seraphim. And this is really the only time in scripture where we actually have that word used that way. We have other references to the verb where it means to burn. These are flaming angels. literally flaming, maybe also on fire for God. And they have a burning zeal. And we also see His holiness there in verse three, holy, holy, holy. And maybe a reference there to the Trinity. So there's all at God's holiness, and there's all at God's glory. As you look around the world, you say, I don't see a lot of glory. Well, we're looking at the wrong things. We're looking at man, right? What man has touched doesn't have a lot of glory. But what God has made is full of glory. When you think about the order, the creation that God has made, even the beauty of creation, even this time of year, we see the fall colors, and we see the mountains, and we see the oceans, and we see the rivers, and we see the glory of God. And then we see the power of God. The whole temple shook at what? A voice. The whole temple moved at a voice. What can the voice of God do? You know, it's possible to hear the voice of God. That has happened in scripture. I've never heard God's voice. I don't know what it would be like, but apparently it produces all. And then you have, this house filled with smoke. And what's the significance of the smoke? Well, smoke can indicate fire, it can indicate judgment, it can indicate a number of things. But Isaiah sees the Lord and he apparently sees the Lord Jesus Christ. So he has a right view of the sovereign. But then we have a transition. Maybe not what you would expect. You could expect, after seeing the glory of God, Isaiah just praising Him. Singing songs of praise and just saying, this is amazing. But that's where the next point comes in. That's the right view of self. A right view of self. You say, this is exaggerated. No, it's not. These words are strong. Notice he uses two words here that are quite amazing. Then said, I woe is me. When that phrase occurs in the Bible and even in Isaiah, it indicates that the person is in a place of helplessness. There's no It's almost like there's despair, woe is me, I can't believe what's coming upon me. Let me just give you a couple of examples of that. Turn back to chapter 3. Look at Isaiah chapter 3. Just to give you a few other references to this word. Verse 9, the show of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul. For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Now who's it talking about there? It's talking about those who are like Sodom. And we can understand that they might say, woe is me. But we're talking about a prophet sent by God. Remember what we talked about? That word sent indicates a true prophet. We're talking about Isaiah. We're not talking about Sodom. But Isaiah says, woe is me. Look over at chapter 24. Well, let's just, I won't look at all this. Let's look at Lamentations chapter five. If you'd go to Lamentations, and one other reference to this woe word, and I think this will help us. Lamentations chapter five, again, this is written by Jeremiah. And he's talking about God's nation, not really so much God's people because these folks have turned away from Him. But notice what it says in Lamentations 5 verse 16. The crown has fallen from our head, woe unto us that we have sinned. So as you trace this word, you can look it up in other places, there are a number of references to it. It usually is related to the fact that the people have sinned and they realize God's judgment is just about to fall. So when Isaiah says, woe is me, he's scared. He's not taking lightly what he has come to see about himself. And notice the next word. For I am undone. I don't know if your Bible has it, but mine has a reference in the margin describing that Hebrew word. You see that? Anybody else have that? Anybody? Nobody? Well, maybe you need a wide margin Cambridge like I have, and you know those kind of things. But it says this, that word means cut off. Not just undone, but cut off. Here's a prophet of God saying, woe is me, I'm kind of in this situation that Sodom would be in if God judged them. I feel like I'm cut off from God. Why? Because I'm a man of unclean lips. My language, my talk has not been what it should be. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I've been listening to them and sometimes apparently agreeing with them. And they have rubbed off on me. How did he come to see himself rightly? It's the contrast. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So let me ask you, do you have a right view of self? You say, well, I don't want to think about myself that badly. Well, that's really the starting point for all of us. That's how you get saved. You may be here today and you're not a believer. Or maybe you say you're a believer, but you've never seen yourself like this. God says the heart of man is desperately wicked. It's incurable by human means. The depths of depravity in man are frankly scary. How do I know that? Because I know my own heart. And what is there at times just frightens me. I think, whoa, where'd that come from? Well, it didn't come from you, it came from me. It's in there. And we know that as we watch the world and we know Christians. Christians struggle. Christians sometimes fail miserably, right? If we're going to have the right kind of service for God, the right kind of missionaries, the right kind of church people, we've got to have, first of all, a right view of the sovereign. A serious worship, for instance. A serious focus on the word, serious emphasis on prayer, serious emphasis on holiness, because that's what he is. But then it has to be a right view of self. I don't know if you've ever heard of the little book called The Valley of Vision, but it's about 300 pages, maybe a little more, and it's prayers by Puritans. And it talks about all kinds of things, but it has sections about thinking about self. And you read some of those prayers and you think, you know, is it right to talk about myself in those terms? And the answer is, it is. Now that's not the end of it. We are stinking spiritually. We are like a worm. We are sinful. We do have within us the capability of committing any sin. Thankfully, that's not where it ends, right? That's what salvation is all about. It takes people like that. Such were some of you, he tells the Corinthians. You were all kinds of people. You were liars, and you were homosexuals, and you were adulterers, and you were murderers. unethical, you're all those things, such are some of you, but now you are saved, now you're washed, now you're sanctified. But the basics for Christian service are a right view of, number two, a right view of self. He talks here about, in verse seven, that's what he calls it. Verse six, let's read that one. Nun flew one of the seraphims, had a live coal. Taken off with the tongues, he laid it on my mouth and said, this has touched thy lips and thine, what? Iniquity is taken away. And thy sin purged. Ben referenced 2 Corinthians 4 about being vessels of clay. Paul also in 2 Corinthians talks like this. He talks about God always causing us to triumph in Christ. Now how do we triumph in Christ? You know that context? He says, to some we are a saver of life, but to some we are a saver of death. Now, are we triumphing when we are a saver of death? As a missionary, you face that. You give the message, right? And some of those will reject it. And in that case, you're a saver of death. And what do you say to that? You say, well, I wouldn't want that kind of responsibility. That's what Paul said. He said, who is sufficient for these things? And what's the answer? None of us are sufficient in ourselves, but he makes us sufficient. He makes us, he uses us for his glory. But Paul says we are, you know, we're nothing. Isaiah says he's a sinner. A right view of self is absolutely necessary. for serving God. But then finally we have a right view of service. How should we view Christian service? Well, in order to serve we have to first be cleansed, right? But once we're cleansed, then we are obligated to serve the King of Kings. How do we do that? Well, notice Isaiah's example. It's really a wonderful example here. So he says, he heard the voice of the Lord, and the Lord asked this question, and he's asking it today in this service. Whom shall I send? Notice that word send again. And who will volunteer to go for us? Again, maybe a reference to the Trinity. But God's asking the question, who will go? Now, when we make a commitment, normally we want to know what we're committing to, right? Isn't that normal? Don't you normally want to do that? If you buy something, you want to know how much it costs. You think about Christian service, you say, well, what am I going to be getting into? Well, that's not really the right question, according to this text. The question should be, is God asking me to serve Him? That's where it starts. Whatever that is, let me ask you a question. Did Isaiah know what he was volunteering for? Look at it. Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Here's what I want you to do. No, God hasn't told him what He wants him to do. What does Isaiah say? He doesn't ask. He just volunteers to serve God. Here am I. Again, my Bible in the margin says, behold me. That's literally what Hebrew means. Look at me. Here I am. I'm ready. Take me, please. Send me. That sounds dangerous, doesn't it? I don't know what I'm getting into, but here I am. Please look at me, send me. But that's the right view of service. You don't get to pick and choose what God wants you to do. Say, well, I don't like that. That's the way it is. We don't get to pick and choose, and that's a good thing because we don't understand enough to make a good choice. God knows a lot better than we do. I didn't decide to come back to Greenville, Dr. Bertori decided that. No, he didn't decide that one either. Ultimately God decided it, but it wasn't what we were thinking about. It's not really what we want to do, is it? Now a lot of times God gives us our heart's desire, I understand that. But a lot of times there's a bit of a surprise in this. Maybe you can ask Ben later. I don't know his testimony, how he ended up interested in Indonesia, but that might not have been on his radar for a while. I don't know. It wasn't, so. How does this work? Well, it works that you first just say, I volunteer for whatever you want me to do. You say, well, what if it's hard? Well, we'll get to that. That's where we're going. Look at it now, verse 9. So God said to him, okay, I'll take you. This is what I want you to do. Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. I'm not going to read all that, but let me just point out. Four times in the New Testament, this text is quoted. And why do the New Testament writers quote it? They're explaining why the Jews will not receive Christ. They're explaining why the Jews are resistant to the Gospel. He says, this is happening. This is what Isaiah said would happen. Interesting to look that up in all those texts. And I'm not going to do that now. But God says, this is what I want you to do. And who here would think that's an exciting ministry? It's not. Right? No missionary would like to have a ministry where you go and tell the people, and they don't hear, and you know they're not going to understand, and you know they're going to reject, you know they're going to close their eyes, you know they're going to close their heart. That's a hard ministry. And Isaiah, once he heard it, said, well, okay, how long do I have to do that? And what was God's answer? Well, you need to look at it again until the cities be wasted. In Isaiah's case, you know, if you read the history, this is what happened. It was until he died and beyond. So you do this the rest of your life, Isaiah. But I think there's a big encouragement here in this text because look at verse 13 again. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten." So it seems to suggest that most of Israel is going to be wiped out. There's going to be a remnant. They may come back. When they do, they're still going to be persecuted and maybe even destroyed. But nevertheless, there's going to be a stump. And I have some pretty big bushes. I don't know what they're called, but I have big bushes in our backyard. They get up to about 20 feet high. I cut them back to about right here. I would like to cut them lower. I think I'll do that next time. But guess what they're doing now? Growing back. So even though they're almost wiped out, the ministry is not totally fruitless. God's going to do a work even in the midst of all that judgment, there's going to be this holy seed. And really, you think about it, if he's talking about a tenth, that's a pretty good, that's a pretty good portion. That's a pretty good return in ministry. You think of, you know, if you could see one out of ten saved who you witnessed to and hear the gospel, that'd be pretty encouraging in a lot of mission fields. So I come away with This view of service, it's not my decision what I do. It's God's decision. I need to be willing to say, here am I, you decide. I don't get to say, okay, well, I don't like that. Give me some other choices. That's not up to us. I don't have the wisdom to make that decision anyway. Right view of service is, Here am I, send me, if it's a difficult ministry, give me grace to do it. And that's what Isaiah did. And think about it this way, and we'll conclude on a positive note here. When you think about the end of the book of Isaiah starting in chapter 40 through Isaiah 66, there is a lot of wonderful change and blessing prophesied there in the book of Isaiah. So how do you think God encouraged this prophet? He encouraged him with his word. He encouraged him with what good things are going to happen in the future. Yes, there's a lot of judgment up through chapter 39, but there's also a lot of blessing and wonderful millennial promises as well in the latter chapters of the book of Isaiah. The call is going out, really, I think the application is to every believer. It's not just for Isaiah. You need a right view of the sovereign. I was listening yesterday to a podcast about a missionary, and he was talking about the missionary call. And he said, one of the ways you know you're called is that you understand who God is. You understand who God is? You can't really go as a missionary until you understand who God is. He's not like those idols. He's not like the God of Islam. Do you understand who you're serving? You've got to understand that. You've got to start with the sovereign, and then you've got to understand yourself. If you think you have it in you to serve Him and be effective, then you're going to be utterly disappointed. You cannot do it. We can do how much if we're not abiding in the vine? Nothing. Nothing. But then we have to have a right view of service and let Him decide. And if He wants us to go, that would be great. If He wants us to stay, that would be great. We just ask Him and we serve Him where He's placed us and He will use us and He will accomplish His will. He's prophesied a whole lot in the book of Isaiah and He's going to accomplish every word of it. And it's great to be a part of that. Right view of the sovereign, right view of self, and a right view of service. And we'll all do well if we just have those. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you for giving us the example of Isaiah. We know that he learned very much in this vision, and he shares it with us. Help us to understand who you are. Help us to understand who we are, and help us to understand how we are to serve you. I pray that there would be no one here who refuses to serve the King. We thank you for what you will do. You've promised in this very book that your word will not return void, so accomplish your will with it, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.