Episode 215: Still on the Throne, Still Deploying Imperfect People | +Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

Good morning, friends. Good morning. We're in Isaiah chapter six, and that would be page five seventy-one in your Bible or whatever on your app. Just get there because it'll be way more fun if you're following along. A lot of times, preachers just go blah blah blah blah blah blah. You leave, and you break out, nod, get in the car and say, what did the man preach on? I have no idea. I want to tell you what we're going to preach on, then we're going to preach on it, and we're going to tell you again, and maybe you'll remember.

God qualifies those who are unqualified to serve Him for His glory. I don't know about you, but oftentimes, I know I should share my faith with my neighbors and my family or whatever, but something stops me. I feel like I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not holy enough. I'm not this enough. I'm not that enough. So I let my sense of inadequacies and maybe really being inadequate prevent me from sharing the hope that lies within me.

The Visual of Leaves and People

Now I want to give you a little visual. Look at all those leaves out there. Aren't they pretty out there? Now, this is a large factoid. It may not be true, but I figure our total number of friends and family that all of us have here is about equal to all those leaves. That's a lot of friends and family.

What do we know about all the non-evergreen trees we see out there? Most of those trees are — is it deciduous? Deciduous, okay. What happens to deciduous leaves long about November? They die and fall. So we're going to look out here in November, and you'll see a few evergreens, but all those pretty green leaves, they're going to fall to their death.

Now imagine if those are people, and we actually know the way that they would not have to die but could actually bring them to a place where they'd have everlasting life, that they'd have hope and purpose. But we didn't do anything about it. Here in Isaiah, what we're going to find is a God who only has to choose from imperfect people, but He does choose them. And then He takes away their sin and their guilt, and He gives them all that they need to do the things He's called them to do.

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

So let's go look in Isaiah six. It says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

Isaiah 6

Now, maybe you're like me, and you've read the Old Testament a little bit, and there’s this king and that king and another king. Some were good kings, most were bad kings. You can't remember all their names. What do you know about King Uzziah? Not much. Not much. He was one of the good guys. He started serving, I think, when he was very young, like 16 years old. He served fifty-two years. To give you a visual, think of some of the older people in Congress. He served as long as they have.

I have to say, for about the first fifty years, he was a good king. He had a heart for God and was faithful in being king over Judah. In fact, he even invented some cool weapons, like weapons that would shoot crossbow arrows and flick big boulders against the enemies. He did good things for his people and the people loved him. But as often is the case when somebody lifts you up, like when people lift you up, it's very easy to get what in your heart? Pride. Prideful.

And so, we see this man who for most of his life was such a godly man. But then, at the very end of his life, he gets filled with pride, and he goes into the temple and starts taking on a role that's not his. The separation of church and state, of king and priest. He takes upon himself acting as if he's a priest, going to put incense on the altar. God said, no, that's not your role. The priest actually confronted Uzziah, or sorry, Uzziah. He confronted him, and because of his pride and because he did what he knew he shouldn't do, the Lord actually judged him.

Can you imagine that our God is not only a loving Father, but He's also a holy and righteous God, and He will judge unrighteousness? And so, King Uzziah was stricken with leprosy, which meant he immediately had to leave the temple and could never go back. He had to live apart, even outside his own temple or courts. He couldn't even dwell amongst his people. He was a leper, and then, very short order, he died.

So, in Judah, which was very strong and had a great king, suddenly, the king was struck with leprosy because of his sin. He died, and all the enemies of Judah were surrounding them. It was a time not unlike this time in our country. Whatever administration you love, great. Good for you. The last two, I don't believe have done a very good job. They really haven't. Then there's COVID, and then there's — oh, did you see the stock market this week? So many things we could list: Lord, this is hard. I don't like life the way it is right now.

And so, we're giving way to fear. It was the same with Judah. Their king is dead. He'd been judged. The enemies are rising up. But then, what does Isaiah see when he goes into the presence of the Lord? What does he see? He says, I saw the Lord on a throne. What does the Bible say? High and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

The Holiness of God

And friends, this is so important because maybe you're like me, thinking, Lord, if I were You, I wouldn't let all this happen. I wouldn't let Ukraine happen. I wouldn't let abortion happen. I wouldn't let child abuse happen. I wouldn't let human trafficking happen. And I know the Lord has grieved over these things, but we're tempted to think that God is off asleep somewhere, that He's gone off duty.

And yet what Isaiah sees in a similar time is that God is not off duty. He's still very much on His throne. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is working all things for His good. His wheels turn exceedingly slow, but exceedingly fine.

So, Isaiah is reminded that God is strong, He is king, He is sovereign, and He is up to the task. Fear not, fear not. I saw the Lord high and lifted up. Look at verse two. He says, and above Him stood the Seraphim. Each had six wings; with two, they covered their face. With two, they covered their feet. And with two, they flew.

Isaiah 6

Now, first of all, what is a Seraphim? Because y'all are smart people. What's a Seraphim? A freaky-looking angel thing. How many times in the Bible is the word Seraphim used? All in this chapter. It's the only place. Right here.

But these were particular types of angels, and they kind of wig me out. It kind of looks like a human-grasshopper thing. For those of you who are really smart and have read Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, where a man wakes up and he's a six-foot cockroach, these Seraphim— they were creepy-looking. They had six wings. What's interesting is they used two to fly. That makes sense. But the other sets of wings, what do they do? Cover their eyes, their feet. Why did they cover their eyes? Because in Exodus, God said, no one can look at me and live. That's why when God passes over, they're always hidden in the cleft of the rock because God's holiness would burn a hole right through our eyeballs and brain just from His presence.

And so, Isaiah dies. Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up. The Seraphim are flying around, covered with their eyes, but they’re something — singing. They’re singing, holy, holy, holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.

Know, guys, we need to remind ourselves of the truth of those words. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. He is good. He is righteous. He is pure. He's all that we want the world to be. It's interesting that they say, instead of just saying, why don't they just say, holy Lord of hosts? Why do I gotta say it three times? Calvin, quoting John Calvin, says the reason it’s repeated three times is because God is one but also three. Holy, holy, holy, Lord.

And not only is God holy, but it says His glory fills the whole earth. In spite of what you may be seeing or feeling, God's glory fills the entire earth.

When's the last time you've actually experienced the holy presence of the Lord? See, I think as someone who was in church from zero to twenty and never experienced the holiness of the Lord, I think a lot of times we experience religion, liturgy, duties, but we often don't experience that intimate place with the Lord. And the reason we don't is because we don't show up to be with Him. And the reason we don't show up is that really, we're afraid He'll reveal that we are unclean sinners, fall short of the mark.

Holy, holy, holy. Have you ever experienced the presence of the Lord in a way that you knew it? Like, not just something you worked up? Do you experience the holy presence of the Lord? It’s healing. It's healing.

God's Power in His Holiness

Look at verse four. As the Seraphim were crying, holy, holy, holy, it says, and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

That's awesome. God is strong. He's king. He's Lord. He's seated, and His name is holy, holy, holy. But like Isaiah, how many of us could say, when we come into the presence of the Lord, when we see His holiness, we're very aware that we are not? We are not holy. We are not worthy. Who do we think we are that we could go tell somebody else about God? And so most of us don't do it.

Lawrence's are suckers for gadgets. When I say Lawrence's, I mean me, not a gnat. About twenty-five years ago, when our kids were little, some traveling salesman came to our house. He was going to sell us a fancy vacuum cleaner. I won't tell you how much it cost, but I looked it up in today’s dollars: $2,600 for a vacuum cleaner. If I had known that, I would never have let the man in my house.

The guy comes in and says, hey, Mrs. Lawrence, don’t you vacuum the rug in your great room? She did. It looked so crisp and nice. Then he pulls out a special light. I don't know what kind of light it was, but it worked on us. He pulls out this light after Annette vacuumed, and he has some kind of stick, and with that light shining at the rug, he beats the rug, and up comes about 10 billion particles. I said, oh my gosh.

He said, well, your vacuum doesn’t do too well, does it? Good thing he had a Thermax, also like a Rainbow — a very expensive vacuum cleaner that sucks dirt through water and a HEPA filter. The guy comes with his light again, says, Miss Lawrence, why don’t you take the stick this time? After I vacuum, I want you to hit the rug.

He took his fancy water vacuum cleaner, the Thermax, and vacuumed the same rug Annette had, and then Annette hit it, bam, with a stick. The light revealed what was in the rug, and what wasn't? Dust. Dirt. Particles. It was all trapped in that very expensive vacuum.

I'm like, honey, there's no way in God's green earth I'm going to spend that much on a vacuum. We could buy five vacuums for that. The Thermax guy says, but think of your children, think of the air they're breathing.

Friends, it wasn’t until the light was shown on that carpet that we realized what a terrible vacuum cleaner we had. I think it’s not dissimilar with Isaiah. That’s a stretch, isn’t it? It’s not dissimilar. He goes into the bright light of the holiness of God. That’s when he recognizes his sin.

And he might have thought, oh, I’m a pretty good guy. I love the Lord. But when he gets in the bright light of God's holiness, there’s no bragging. There’s no puffing up. Woe is me. I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people who have unclean lips.

You know what's interesting? That was his response to the holiness of God. God never said, you're wrong. No. It was the truth. What Isaiah said was true: Woe is me. I'm ruined. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips.

So rather than saying it’s not true, rather than scolding him, the Lord acts. It's actually gospel. This is the gospel in this story. The Lord knew Isaiah was ruined, and so He did something.

And so, the Seraphim fly to the altar of God. And what do they do? Let's look in verse six. Then one of the Seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken from the tongues of the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.

See, maybe you're like Isaiah. Maybe in your heart, you want to be used by God, but you’ve been saying that for forty years, right? Satan lies to you and disqualifies you so you stay in your cage. But what God does is say, basically, Isaiah, I know who you are, and I'm going to use you anyway. Like the Corinthians — not many of you are noble, not many are scholars, not many are wise, but I will use you anyway. My strength is shown in weakness.

Why does He touch his lips with a coal? That is a weird thing to do, isn't it? Because what did he just say? What was me? I’m a man of unclean lips. If you've been at church a while, you might remember I had a little black spot on my lip. Those are the kinds of things you don’t go around saying, hey, look at my black spot on my lip.

Little children might ask, why do I got that black spot? After twenty years, I was embarrassed. I was going to get it burned off or cut off, see a doctor. I went to see a plastic surgeon. First thing he pulls out is this long, cruel needle. Apparently, it had a solution inside that burns your lip.

He walks toward me, and I ask, is it going to hurt? And he says, yes, it is. I appreciate his honesty. He sticks that needle in my lip, and I tell you what, it’s like giving birth. It was that bad.

It gets worse. The doctor reaches for this device on the wall. It’s a sadistic thing, enough power to kill a cow. It heats to 5,000 degrees and burns the skin. He brings it toward my lip, and I jump off the table because I'm not numb. I scream. The nurse says I’m going to scare the children down the hall.

The device is ready and turned on, and the doctor places it on my lip. It burned almost instantly. I jumped off the table screaming. It was terrible.

Aren't you glad that when God makes us holy and addresses us at our point of sin, He doesn’t put us through that kind of torture? He took the tongues of the altar, met Isaiah at his unworthiness, and said, your guilt is gone. Your sins are atoned for.

The Call to Service

I'm going to say the same to you. If you're a believer, your guilt has been taken away. Your sins have been atoned for. You're never going to be smart enough or bright enough or worthy enough or clever enough. Just bring who you are. The Bible says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Maybe you're like the blind man. Say, I don't know much, but what I do know is Jesus — this man. I was blind, but now I see.

I don’t think we need to argue people into Christ. We just need to bear witness. Share what is true, what you know to be true in your life.

So God did this for Isaiah. And then let's see the result of it. Look at verses eight and nine — then we're done. It says, I heard the voice of the Lord, and the voice of the Lord said this: whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Do you see that? That's clever, isn’t it? Whom shall I send? That’s singular. But who will go for us? That’s plural. Do you see how the Trinity is hidden in the Scriptures? Hero Israel, the Lord your God is one. But we know from Scripture that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You can read about Ananias and Sapphira. It's clear as can be. God is one, but He's three. And it says, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? I think God's still asking that question today. Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

And I wonder, what would Roanoke be like if the church of the Holy Spirit never existed? What would our city be like? What about our friends in Rwanda? Nigeria? The Philippines? China? Vietnam? All the places the Lord has sent us as a church?

What if we were not that light on a hill? But once Isaiah sees that God has taken away his guilt and shame and unworthiness, when God asks, whom shall I send? Isaiah responds, me. The one who before ducked his head and said, Woe is me. I’m a man of unclean lips. I’m ruined.

Now, after God acts in his life, he says, Here I am. Send me. Send me.

I love what Jeremy was talking about earlier. It’s like the idea that as we get older, we think we’re just going to retire. Well, you can retire from your job, but retiring from the kingdom is not an option. These young folks need old people like us to love them, mentor them, share the hope we have.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. He's taken away your guilt. He's met you at your point of need. So there's no reason for Satan to keep you in a cage anymore. Satan lies to keep you in a cage with no door.

Friends, if the leaves fall off those trees and die, I’m cool. But if those leaves are people and they perish because we are too lazy, too self-focused, or too seized by our own unworthiness, then that's the problem.

I beg you to step forward just as Isaiah did and say, here I am, Lord. Not perfect, but I've been made clean by You. Here I am, Lord. Send me.

I'll tell you, it’s only up to Brian and Tim and Barbara. There’s only a few of those people in Roanoke who are lost that will ever come to Christ. The cool thing is that God wants to use you. Amazing. God wants to use you. You don't need a collar. You don't need seminary. He wants to use you. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.