Personal Revival & Missions

I mean, thank you, pastor. It's a blessing to be with you.

And I met your pastor back in 2023 when we were on a trip to

Israel and sensed very quickly a oneness of spirit.

And like Pastor Boots said, it's a blessing to to have like

minded friends in the ministry and to meet faithful men who are

standing for the Word of God across the globe.

So it's a blessing to be here. Thank you for the invitation to

come. It's much appreciated and it's

really an honor and a privilege to be with you.

OK, A number of folks during the trip have asked me where they

can find more of my sermons. And so I'll just mention a

website that might be a help to you.

It's called Baptist expositor.com.

So if you want to write that down, if you're looking for more

preaching from down under Baptist Expositor dot com.

Most of my preaching is through books of the Bible.

And so if you go to that website, you can click on the

Old Testament and find a series I've done to date on Old

Testament books. You click on New Testament, find

series I've done to date on New Testament books.

And then there's also a topical section with various series on a

number of different issues like music, tongue speaking and other

things. So I hope that'll be a blessing

to you and many of our folks back home.

Now listen to your pastor regularly since he's been and

Courtney Lewis as well, he's been over to preach and that's

fine by me. I tell our people, if you want

to listen to sermons, get tapped into a good solid man.

Obviously your primary instruction comes from your

local church and your own pastor.

That's always priority one. But if you're going to listen to

sermons, I encourage people there's no need to link up with

some false teacher online or some compromise preacher.

There's plenty of that out there.

Better to listen to someone who's on the same page and

someone who's going to tell you tell you something from God's

word. So if that can be a blessing to

you, then by all means, feel free to look that up.

And otherwise you can find us on sermonaudio.com.

Just look up the the website there and trust.

That'll be a blessing to. You turn with me to Isaiah

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

And the choir song was really timely this morning.

Believe the Lord is leading in relation to the message for

today on that wonderful theme of the holiness of God.

And we're going to be confronted with the holiness of God this

morning on in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 as we look at

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

the theme personal revival and missions, Personal revival and

missions, there is a link between personal revival.

And missions Isaiah chapter 6. And we're going to read from

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

verse one through to verse 8. The Bible reads 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 had six wings.

With Twain he covered his face, and with Twain he covered his

feet, and with Twain he did fly. One cried unto another and said.

Holy, holy, holy. Is the Lord of hosts, The whole

earth is full of his glory. The post of the door moved at

the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I'm a man of

uncling lips, and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean

lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Then flew one of the Seraphim's unto me, having a live coal in

his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the old,

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched

thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying.

Whom shall I send? And who will go for us then said

I, here am I, send me. Let's pray.

Gracious God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity

to come into your holy presence this morning.

Lord, we come not upon the basis of our own works, our own

merits. We come only by the precious

blood of the Lord Jesus Christ into your presence.

Lord, we come this morning because You are the source of

all life and blessing and without You we can do nothing.

We need Your hand to rest upon us now for this time of

preaching. Still our hearts in Your

presence take away from our hearts anything that would

distract. Lord, we pray that Your word to

find a ready entrance into our lives.

We pray, Lord that You would move in our hearts today, that

You would revive us. Lord, help us to see You afresh

for who You are, the thrice holy God of eternity.

And we pray, Lord, that then we would be open to being used to

view in this great work of missions.

We pray. So bless us now we ask in Jesus

name, Amen. I don't know about you, but I

really want to see the Lord do a mighty work in these last days.

And as we talked about, I think it was on Friday night, how we

are living in a day-to-day where there is a dearth of labourers,

how we need labourers. And one of the reasons why, as

we're going to see in the passage today, one of the

reasons why we don't have labourers, I believe is because

of a lack of revival in our churches.

People are not hearing the call of God because of sin in their

lives. So we come to this very powerful

passage of Scripture and here we have the death of an earthly

king. And Isaiah 6 opens with a vacant

throne in Israel, but an occupied throne in heaven.

And while earthly leaders come and go, God remains unchanged,

unchangeable. God remains there on his throne.

He can never be impeached. He can never be removed.

He's the eternal, everlasting, unchanging God.

So the earthly king was dead, but the King eternal was on his

throne. His I died approximately 740 BC

after reign of 52 years. Overall, he was a good and godly

king, but like many many, many kings, that success went to his

head and he had a failure towards the end of his life.

Perhaps Isaiah was encouraged by the presence of Uzziah in his

life as a godly king. We don't know, but whatever.

At this particular time in Isaiah's life, Uzziah was

removed from the scene and God granted Isaiah a fresh glimpse

of his glory. And what I want you to see in

our passage this morning is that there are 4 clear steps that we

can trace in the life of Isaiah that led him down the path of

personal revival and toward usefulness for God.

Let's note those four steps that we also need in our in our

lives. Number one note in verse one

through 4 what I would call Isaiah's vision.

Isaiah's vision in one verse one through 4 in the year that King

Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and

lifted up what a glorious description we have here of God

seated in power and in majesty. God granted Isaiah a fresh

vision, a fresh glimpse of his glory.

In fact, it seems to me that very often in the Word of God,

when God was about, when God called a man to special service,

very often he gave that man a glimpse of his glory that would

have an would make such an impression upon that man as to

prepare him for a life of service.

And if there's something that we need in our day, we need to get

a fresh glimpse of the glory of God.

We need to get a fresh vision of who God is because today we're

living in a day where people have a very light view of God.

People have a very wrong view of God, and this passage brings us

back to the reality of. Who God really is.

Look for a moment at what Isaiah saw.

He was confronted, we could say, with the Highness of God.

He was confronted with the Highness of God.

As I seize God there exalted, exalted.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord

sitting upon a throne. Don't miss these words.

High and lifted up. Is there any higher than our

God? Is that not our God this

morning? Our God is a God who is high.

In fact, he is above all. There is none higher than our

God. And we need to get back to that

high and exalted view of God because there's a move out there

today that says, well, we just need to bring God down to the

level of the people. Listen, folks, you will never

bring the eternal God down to our level.

He is high and he is lifted up. And the low views of God we have

in our day are destroying churches.

God is not a rap star. God is not a pop star.

God is not the man upstairs. He is the thrice holy God of

eternity. And if there's something we need

today, it's a revival of reverence for God.

God is not your buddy. God is not your boyfriend.

And many churches across Richmond today have, have, have,

have have a very low view of God.

You say, how do you know? Because they're dancing, they're

jumping around, and clearly they've lost sight of the.

Highness and the holiness of God.

As I 5715 For thus saith the high and lofty one, listen to

these words that inhabiteth eternity.

Can you even wrap your mind around eternity?

From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

God is so immense and God is so awesome and God is so powerful

that he is described as one who inhabits eternity.

I dwell in the high and holy place, says God with him also

that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of

the humble and to revive the heart of the the contrite ones.

And so here Isaiah got a glimpse of the Highness of God.

He saw God exalted in his sovereignty.

He saw God exalted in his. Majesty verse 6 verse one again.

And his train filled the temple. The train.

That comes from the word train comes from the the word there to

hang down. It's it's it, it was a feature

of of the ancient monarchs where they would have a long flowing

Rd. there a long flowing train, symbolic of their high position.

We have something similar today or, or something that might help

you to understand what the train means.

Doesn't mean a Choo Choo train. OK, OK, a bridle.

A bride often has a train, that big long thing that flows out

behind her there, and it's a, it's a symbol of, of, of glory

and beauty. And so here we find that God's

train, God's glorious robe, as it were, probably a robe of

light. OK, Isaiah's trying to describe

this majestic scene as he looks upon this exalted one upon the

throne, and he sees the glory of God as like a beautiful train

there filling the temple. And so Isaiah saw God in His

Highness, there exalted in his sovereignty.

He's the king upon the throne, and he saw God there exalted in

His Majesty. In fact, how can we even begin

to? Describe the majesty and the

glory of God. How can human lips begin to

describe what we see here? So he was confronted with the

Highness of God. We need to get back to a proper

view of who God is and His position.

He is higher than the highest. He is above all.

But as I was also confronted in this vision with the holiness of

God, the Highness of God, but also the holiness of God, look

at verse 2 through 4. Above it, referring to the the

throne, there stood the seraphims.

Each one had 6 wings. With twain he covered his face,

and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the

Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his

glory. And the posts of the door moved

at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with

smoke. How can we begin to describe the

holiness of God? The holiness of God and the

holiness of God is the major emphasis of the passage here.

And it's emphasized #1 in the seraphim's posture, the the.

Holiness of God is emphasized in the Seraphim's posture.

You see that in verse 2 above it stood the seraphim.

So as as Aziah describes this throne, he sees these beautiful

heavenly creatures with six wings positioned above the

throne of God. Very close to the presence of

God. And these creatures there, they,

with two of their wings they cover, they cover their feet in

the presence of God. With two of their wings they

cover their faces in the presence of God.

And with two they fly, symbolizing swiftness in

service, readiness to praise, readiness to do the will of God

there. But don't you get a picture

there of the holiness of God? Because remember, these

Seraphim's have never sinned. They are pure and sinless

creatures, and yet even as pure sinless creatures, they are so

full of reverence and so full of awe for the holiness of God that

they veil their faces. They dare not look upon God's

presence so, so profound is their respect and their

reverence for God. And they cover their feet again,

a symbol of their humility in the presence of God, and they

cry continually one to another. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of

hosts. That's quite different, isn't

it, to the modern church that says let me dance in Jesus

presence and, and let me lift myself up in the presence of

God. No, you find in the Bible when

people were truly confronted with the holiness of God, they

fell on their paces. And we need more of that in our

churches today. More of reverence for God, more

awe and wonder. Of the God we serve.

We've lost the fear of God. We've lost the awe.

We've lost the reverence for God in our day.

We need to get back to it. Where is the holy or in fear of

God in our day? Let's remember the God we serve.

He's at an eye. He's almighty.

He's all powerful. He's before all things.

He's the Creator. He's everlasting.

He's ever present. He's El Shaddai, God Almighty.

He's Elohim, God of power and majesty, The Creator.

He's God. He's glorious.

He's holy. He's high.

He's the high and lofty one. He's immutable.

He's immortal. He's invisible.

He's indescribable. He's unchangeable.

At the God we serve is the I am. He's just.

He's Jehovah, Jehovah Jaira, the Lord will provide, Jehovah Rafa,

the Lord who heals, Jehovah Nisi, the Lord, our banner,

Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is peace, Jehovah, Raah the Lord,

our shepherd, Jehovah to said, can you the Lord, our

righteousness, Jehovah Sabayoth, the Lord of hosts, Jehovah

Mekanoshim, the Lord who sanctifies, Jehovah Shema the

Lord is there, that's our God. He's king.

He's king of Israel, He's king everlasting.

He's king of kings and Lord of Lords.

He's marvellous, majestic, mighty God, most high God.

He's never changing. He's omnipotent or powerful.

He's omnipresent everywhere present.

He's omniscient, he knows all things, He's the only wise God.

He's perfect, he's pure, he's powerful, he's potentate, he's

provider, He's ruler, Redeemer, self existent, self efficient,

sovereign, sinless. The same yesterday, today and

forever. And he's victor over sin and

death and the grave. That's the God we serve.

That's God. The holiness of God.

He's emphasized in the seraphim's posture that posture

of reverence in God's presence, and it's emphasized #2 in the

seraphim's praise. Verse 3 And they cried, 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 in the house.

Was full of smoke. And so these heavenly creatures,

as they fly above the throne of God, they are continually crying

out, notice, one to another. I find that interesting.

No doubt the anthem of praise was directed towards God on the

throne. But notice, it's like they will

not allow each other to forget this attribute of God's

holiness. They're crying one to another as

it were, reminding each other holy, holy, holy Lord, God

Almighty. And isn't it significant that

out of all of God's attributes, the attribute that most

impressed these holy creatures was God's holiness?

God has many attributes, but there is a strong emphasis in

His Holiness in the Bible. Did you know that this is the

only attribute of God that is repeated 3 times in this kind of

pattern? Holy, holy.

Holy Lord, God Almighty, we don't read in the Bible

gracious, gracious, gracious, and God is gracious.

I'm not denying that. We don't read merciful,

merciful, merciful repeated in that way.

And God is merciful. We're not denying that.

But I'm just saying, if we're going to understand something of

the God we serve, we must understand that He is holy.

What does holiness mean or what does it refer to?

Well, it refers to the absolute purity of God.

How can we even begin to describe the purity of our God?

Light of very light, holiness speaks of the otherness of God.

It means to be set apart is not God.

Is not God above his creation and over his creation and

separate to his creation. We could put it this way, there

is none like God. There is none like him.

The word holiness emphasizes the purity of God, the otherness of

God, and we could say the above Ness of God.

There's none like him. He's God alone.

You know, this vision had a huge impact on Isaiah because you

know what one of his favorite titles for God is in his book?

It's the Holy One and the Holy One of Israel.

As you read the book of Isaiah, you will find that about 30

times he refers to God as the Holy One and the Holy One of

Israel. In fact, there's very few of

those references outside of Isaiah.

There's just a couple elsewhere. Most of that, that title we find

the holy, the Holy One and the holy one of Israel.

That's found in the book of Isaiah.

I believe if you could, if you could have met Isaiah and said

Isaiah, what is God like? He would have immediately said

God is holy. Psalm 99133 the Lord reigneth.

Let the people tremble. He sitteth between the

cherubims. Let the earth be moved.

The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the people.

Let them praise thy great and terrible name.

For it is holy. Look at the effect their praise

had upon the temple there. Verse four.

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried,

and the house was filled with smoke.

There was a literal shaking. Whether Azar is actually seeing

this vision in the actual temple in Jerusalem possible.

Or perhaps he's been given. No doubt he's been.

He's been given a vision there in heaven itself.

Whatever we see here, the posts of the door, literally.

Convulsing at the mention of God's holiness.

There's a shaking there in the temple of the mention of God's

holiness. And while we don't look for a

physical shaking of a building this morning, we do need to have

our hearts stirred and we need to be shaken and in a good way

at the mention of God's holiness.

Oh, how we need a shaking in our day and we need a reviving and

we need a moving in our hearts. You say, how's that going to

come about? Well, it's going to start with

us seeing God for who he is. So we have eyes, eyes, eyes,

vision. What's your view of God this

morning #2 look now at eyes, eyes, confession, Isaiah's

confession. Look at verse 5 and I want you

to see the Word then, then the Word then in verse 5, and then

the word then in verse 6. Describe the effect this

powerful vision had upon Isaiah. Then said, I woe is me, for I am

undone, because I'm a man of uncling lips, and I dwell in the

midst of a people of uncling lips, for mine eyes have seen

the King, the Lord of hosts. Do you see the pattern here?

When as I got a correct view of God, he then got a correct view

of Himself. When Isaiah saw God exalted in

His Holiness, when Isaiah saw God exalted there in His

Majesty, he came away with a very accurate view of himself.

And that's what we need today. We need to see God for who He

is. We need to see God exalted in

His Holiness. And then we need to see

ourselves as we really are in His presence.

And Isaiah confessed 2 things. Lord, I am undone.

I am undone. That word undone is a very

powerful word. You drill into that word and it

has the idea of to be destroyed, to perish.

It's like as I said, Lord, I'm done, I'm finished.

I'm, I'm, I'm cut off. I, I, Lord, I perish.

This same Hebrew word is translated perish in Psalm 49,

Psalms 49:12

verse 12, brought to silence Isaiah 15, verse one.

Cease. Jeremiah 14 verse 17.

Jeremiah 14:17

Cut off Jeremiah 47 verse 5 and cut down Zephaniah one verse 11.

Jeremiah 47:5

By the way, the King James Bible is a wonderful resource.

There you study a word, you find how the translators use that

word in other places, and it can give you a beautiful picture of

the spectrum of meaning in that. Word that the Holy Spirit gave.

And so he say, he's basically saying, Lord, I'm speechless.

Lord, I feel cut off. Do you know what happened?

Isaiah gained a deep sense of his nothingness and his

unworthiness in God's presence. You read the first five chapters

and he there was some powerful preaching there from Isaiah.

But this was a turning point in his life.

He came to realize that really he was nothing before God and we

have to come to that place. And again, society says the

opposite. This is society we live in says,

well, you just pump yourself up and you discover the inner

champion within you and you just need to release that champion.

Is that not the lot? That's a lot of the preaching

out there on YouTube and the Christian television, so,

so-called. It's all about you pumping

yourself up and you, you've got what it takes.

No, If you really want to be used of God in this area of

missions, if you really want to be used of God in Christian

service, you have to come to the place where you realize that you

are. Nothing, and God must be

everything. Lord, I perish, I'm undone.

It's interesting, isn't it, that God often has to undo us before

he can use us. You know, God is in the business

of breaking us so that then we might be useful again.

It's the opposite to the way we think.

Well, here are my strengths. Here are my weaknesses.

I'll you know, I'll focus on my I'll try and build my weaknesses

and and here's my strengths. Well, hang on.

Maybe the Lord might have to actually even break some of

those strengths that you might learn to rest on him and trust

him. Let.

God undo you in His presence. We have to come to the place

where we realize that in and of ourselves, we don't have what it

takes to serve God. We don't have what it takes to

do anything for God. That's the right kind of

humility we need in the presence of God, and that's the place of

usefulness when we come to realize that it's not us, it

must be God who does the work through US.

Lord, I am undone. We could say this is really a

death to self experience for Oz I.

You know, we need to learn what it means to say I perish as it

were, or I died in Christ and embrace the cross.

Do you realize that God views you as a believer, as one who?

This is the position, the position we have in Christ.

He sees you as one who, who, who died with the Son of God.

Galatians 220. I'm crucified with Christ.

Romans 66. There talks about the old man

was crucified with him there that the body of sin might be

destroyed. God sees you as one who was

buried with his Son and raised in your life in his Son.

And we have to learn to embrace the cross in service and say not

I, but Christ as I was confession.

He said I'm undone #2 He said I am unclean.

I am undone, I am unclean. Look back at look back at verse

5, then said, I woe is me, for I am undone because I'm 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. You see how Isaiah got a sense

for his sinfulness in the light of God's holiness.

I am unclean you know you really have to come to that point in

your life for salvation before you ever become be used of God

in service. Just just make an application

here. You know you have to come to

that place in your life where you recognize that you are

unclean in your sin as I646 but we are all as an unclean thing

and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

You've got to come to the place in your life where you realize

that you are what the Bible says, a Sinner for all have

sinned. Romans chapter 3 verse 23 and

Romans 3:23

come short. The glory of God the Bible is so

clear. Romans 310 as it is written

there is none righteous, no not one and we define sin according

to God's word. Read first John chapter 3 verse

1 John 3:4

4. Sin is the transgression or the

breaking of the law. All you have to do is run your

eye over the 10 commandments and you'll realize that you are not

a law keeper, you are a law breaker, and therefore you are a

great Sinner in the eyes of God. And for salvation you must come

to that place where you're willing to say, Lord, I am

unclean. And the only thing that can wash

me clean, the only thing that can make me whiter than the

whitest snow is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh how the Lord Jesus loves you. And he came and he died.

He lived a perfect life and he died a perfect death upon the

cross. And you must come as a guilty

Sinner, as an unclean Sinner. Oh, how filthy we are in our

sin. Oh, how dirty we are and how

depraved we are in our sins. We are unclean and we are naked

in the presence of God. But we come there and with that

spirit of repentance, acknowledging that we are

sinners before God, and then reaching out the empty hands of

faith, receiving by faith God's free gift of eternal life.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

And when you'll do that, he'll cleanse you.

He'll make you clean. He'll make you white as snow.

That's where it all starts. But you have to also come to

that place in a sense, like as I did as a believer when it comes

to Christian service. You see, there's the cleansing

for salvation, but there's also an ongoing work of cleansing for

service. Salvation happens once in our

lives. It's a one time event.

Save forever. Once saved, always saved.

But aren't you thankful that cleansing is not only available

for salvation, but cleansing is available for sanctification?

And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive

us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Aren't you thankful for the power of confession and the

power of. Cleansing in your life as a

believer that you might be usable for God.

And so as I was acknowledging the fact that he's that is that

that he that he was, he's acknowledging here his sin and

his unworthiness to speak for God.

Notice that Isaiah was most conscious about his lips.

I understand that as a preacher, he's a man who's endeavoring to

speak for God. And whether you're called to be

a full time preacher or not, we're all called to speak for

God, aren't we? And it doesn't take very long

when you look at God's holiness to realize I have unclean lips.

Lord, how can you? And I'm still, I still wonder

this, how can God take unclean lips and use them to preach his

word? Well, the answer is cleansing,

as we're going to see in a moment, I am unclean.

Notice then he says, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean

lips. See how Isaiah when he was

confronted with God's holiness, it brought him to a realization

of his own uncleanness, but also the uncleanness of those around

him. Now note the order he started

with his own sin first, then the sins of others.

And when you really get a sense of God's holiness in your life,

you will firstly see your own uncleanness before you see

everybody else's. But when you get revived in the

presence of God and you see God for who He is, it'll not only

give you a consciousness of sin in your own life, but you'll

become more sensitive to the sin around you.

You know, today we are so desensitized to the very vilest

of sins, and the holiness of God will bring sin into sharp

clarity. Do we not live in a wicked age?

Does that not break our hearts? Not only the sin in our own

lives, but how we live in a sinful generation, a generation

that blasphemes the name of God, a generation that has

popularized and normalized the vile sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And there's something wrong today where Christians don't

seem to care anymore about sin in the nation.

You say what's happened? They've lost sight of how holy

God is. You know, our problem today, our

problem is we laugh about sin rather than mourn about sin.

Do you know our problem is today we're more interested in

covering up sin than confessing sin.

You know, a lot of churches today like that.

You know, pastor's been involved in calling some of that out.

God bless him for that. But there are a lot of pastors

out there. Their main interest is cover sin

over keep the keep cover over the child molestation.

Cover over the adultery in the fornication in the church.

Don't deal with it. Whatever you do, make sure

nobody finds out they've lost sight of the holiness of God.

I don't care if they call themselves independent.

Baptists don't care what they call themselves.

If you are covering over sin and not dealing with sin biblically,

you have lost sight. Of the holiness of God, there's

something wrong with you. The holiness of God not only

produces A soberness about sin in my own life, but it also

produces A sharpness to the sin of a nation.

Isaiah's vision, he saw God. Isaiah's confession, then said I

woe is me. Interesting, isn't it, how you

read Isaiah? And he was saying, woe to this.

You read the first five chapters.

Woe unto the drunkids, woe to this, but he came to that place.

Woe is me. And you're going to find in the

Christian life, you know, when you when you got saved, you said

very much, Lord, save me from sin, but you're going to find

this. In the Christian life, you're

going to get to the place where you say, Lord, save me from me.

Lord, save me from sin. That's how you get saved.

Oh, but Lord, now as a Christian, save me from self.

Woe is me. In me, in my flesh, Romans 7

dwells no good thing. Lord, deliver me from the body

of this death. Lord, apply the cross to the

self life that I might be usable for you #3.

Look at our eyes cleansing, and you'll notice the word then

again in verse 6. Then flew one of the seraphims

unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken

with the tongs from off the altar.

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched

thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

God saw sorry, as I saw God in His Holiness, and in His

Highness. Then said I Woe is me.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me.

Verse 6. Laid it upon his mouth, my

mouth. Verse 7.

You see the sequence here? Confession leads to cleansing.

Confession brought cleansing and ultimately equipping.

Let's look at three points about this cleansing.

Firstly, we could say it was a fast cleansing.

A fast cleansing then flew one of the seraphims.

No doubt this seraphim was sent by God.

They are there to serve the purposes of God and the will of

God and one of them is dispatched very quickly there.

Aren't you thankful that when we come to God and we acknowledge

our brokenness, we've. Acknowledged our simpleness

before God. Aren't you thankful that

straight away the heart of our God is to cleanse us in response

to our confession? I'm so thankful for that.

It tells you something about the grace of God and the love of God

and the and the goodness of God that God would be so willing to

cleanse us and to purify us in our Christian.

Lives the fast cleansing. It was a fiery cleansing. #2 is

a fiery cleansing. Look back at verse 6.

Then flew one of the Seraphim's unto me, having a live coal in

his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the

altar. Do you see here that the

Seraphim flew swiftly to the altar there in the temple, no

doubt the altar of sacrifice, the place where the lambs would

be slain and then burned upon the altar.

And I love the picture there. You see, the altar of sacrifice

speaks of the cross. It speaks of the Lord Jesus

Christ. Where are you going to find

cleansing at the cross? Where are you going to find

cleansing? At the feet of the.

Lord Jesus and here, as it were, the seraphim takes the blood

stained coal off the older, flies over there to to Isaiah

and applies that glowing coal to the lips of Isaiah.

Cleansing is applied. You know, I find it interesting

that the seraphim had to use a pair of tongs to touch the

coals. You know the the angels as as as

exalted as their position is, they don't know what it is to

receive cleansing as a Sinner. And the seraphim could not touch

this coal of redemption, as it were.

The seraphim could not touch this coal of cleansing.

But that coal of cleansing could touch Ozai.

Isn't it a wonderful thing to be cleansed?

It was a fiery cleansing. It was a fiery cleansing.

Number three, it was a focused cleansing.

Notice that the cleansing was applied to the specific area of

need. As I confessed, I'm a man of

unclean lips and God immediately applied cleansing to that area

of need. And that's that's how we need to

confess sin in our lives. Vague confession brings vague

relief, but specific confession brings specific relief.

Don't tell God about your sin in vague terms.

You tell him what he did, what you did.

Specifically. It's like with your children,

they, you know you, they've done something wrong and they try and

sort of generalize things and make it sound not too bad.

No, tell me what you did. What did you do, boy?

Tell God what you've done. He knows about it already

anyway. And when you're willing to tell

God what you've done, that's really what confession is.

It's to agree with God about your sin.

It's to confess plainly your sin.

When you confess your sin to God in that manner, God will apply

His cleansing. To that area of need, the word

purged we see in the verse here. It's an interesting word.

It comes from the Hebrew word translated repeatedly as

atonement in the Old Testament. Purged sin atoned for.

Don't you see the picture here? Isaiah, as a man of God, needed

the touch of God, the special, special touch of God upon his

lips in order to give him the power to speak God's words.

I tell you, that's what we need today.

We need preachers whose lips have been touched with the fire

of God. We need preaching that is not

preaching that is spoken in demonstration of men's man's

wisdom, but is spoken in demonstration of the Spirit and

of power, that our faith would not stand in the wisdom of men,

but in the power of God. That's the kind of preaching we

need today. Oh God, deliver us from cold

preaching and dead preaching. God, give us some preaching

that's been fired with fire off the altar.

That's what we need today, not some strange fire, not some

charismatic fire, but the genuine power of God.

There needs to be warmth and and our preaching needs to be alive

with the presence and the power of God.

And that comes by God's men getting in the presence of God

and realizing their unworthiness and their unusefulness really in

their humanity, and casting themselves upon God for His

cleansing and His equipping and His empowering.

For service how we need that touch?

Upon our lips. That's the thing that scares me

the most, frankly, as a preacher, that I could be

preaching even doctrinally accurate sermons, but with no

power. It happens today.

There are preachers in pulpits, and give credit where credit's

due, they may even be preaching sound doctrine, but it's hollow

and it's empty. There's no touch of God upon it.

And we need to be, to be. Touched by the fire of God, as

it were. Amen.

That our preaching might be a glow for the Lord.

And so we see His cleansing #4 at Isaiah's Commission.

We've seen His vision, His confession, His cleansing, and

now His Commission. Look at verse 8 and verse 9 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.

And he said, Go and tell this people as I as Commission.

Now let me draw your attention to three important features of

this Commission #1. The sequence leading to this

call. The sequence leading to the

call. I believe the sequence in the

events of the passage are significant.

Isaiah did not receive this call at the beginning.

First he had to get a fresh vision of who God was that then

he might see himself as he really was.

There had to be a purging of sin out of his life, a clearing of

the blockage of sin in his life. And once Isaiah had received

that cleansing from God, once Isaiah had done business in the

presence of God, and it had and had experienced a measure of.

Spiritual revival. Then, and only then was he able

to hear God's call. Whom shall I send, and who will

go for us? That is very significant.

You know why I, I believe this with all my heart.

You know why so many there's, there's such a dearth of labours

today. Do you know why so many are not

hearing the call of God? I don't believe it's because God

stopped calling. I believe that people can't hear

the voice of God and can't hear the heart of God in relation to

missions because their lives are so full of sin.

And when your life is full of the blockage of sin, you're not

going to have any interest in reaching a lost world for Jesus

Christ. You're not going to have the

kind of heart you need to have to reach the World when your

life is full. Of sin.

Sin is stopping revival in our churches.

Sin is what's stopping young men from surrendering to the call of

God. You say why so little revival in

our day? Why so few laborers?

Because the average young man today is full up to his eyeball

eyeballs with pornography. And how are you going to

possibly hear God's call to you? How are you possibly going to

hear God's voice about the great need of the harvest fields of

the world if you're full of pornography?

You know why so little zeal for missions today?

Because the average independent Baptist watches way too many

dirty movies. The average independent Baptist

today watches way too much trash on television.

How many times do you have to hear?

How many times do you have to hear the name of your blessed

Saviour Jesus Christ blaspheme before you will shut that

program off? How many immodest scenes do you

need to see? How many dirty scenes do you

need to see before you will say enough?

Enough in light of the presence of God.

Might be good to go home today in light of this message and

think about the holiness of God and think about what you have on

your computer. Think about your Netflix

subscription. In fact, a little suggestion for

you. Just get off of Netflix.

Disconnect from that. Won a revival today.

Sin. Dirty movies.

How many? How can you as a Christian?

How can you as a Christian watch some movie with some lewd

inappropriate scene in it? How is that OK?

It happens in our churches. Is it really God honoring for

you to play that video game going around blowing off heads

all day? Amen.

And hacking people to pieces. In fact, I remember back, I

remember somewhere in the Bible about the world being full of

violence before Noah's flood came.

Do you remember anything about that?

Yes. Amen.

Why no revival today? Because some of you are wrapped

up in the online sewers of social media.

And let's just be honest this morning, while some use some of

those platforms in a disciplined and character way, most of

social media is a sewer. Instagram.

It's called Instaporn in the world.

That's its nickname, Insta porn. Why?

Studies have been done by family research groups that find

literally within seconds, you can access an almost limitless

supply of pornographic imagery and links to more and more

pornography. Because guess what?

Those massive big pornography companies have embedded

themselves in those major sites. Word to parents.

If you let your teenager have an unrestricted smartphone with

unrestricted access to the Internet, you are a fool.

Yeah, that's true. You are a fool.

In fact, I've seen enough as a pastor to date to say this.

If you give your teenage boy a smartphone with unrestricted

access to the Internet, you've basically signed their spiritual

death warrant. That's true.

You see, that's a bit dramatic, I'm telling you.

I struggled enough as a teenager with my thought life without the

TV in the home. I struggled enough as a teenager

with my thought life without a smartphone.

And if I had lived, if I had grown up as a teenager in the

smartphone age and my parents had given me one, I'm about

99.99% sure I would have looked at the wrong thing.

What do you? Think your teenage is going to

do with that smartphone with unrestricted access to the

Internet in their bedroom? You know the strange woman has

found her way into the bedrooms of most independent Baptist

homes today. The digital strange woman.

And I'm not trying to sound like I'm some sort of prophet.

It would not surprise me at all if there's a man under the sound

of my voice in this building who has a problem with pornography.

That's you. You need revival and you need

help. So I could never come forward.

My pastor will smash me. No, he'll try and help you.

But the longer you go on with that in your life, it's going to

clog up the wellsprings of revival in your life.

And as long as you spend more time on Facebook than having

your face in God's Book, there will be no revival.

That's the reality today. The average Independence Baptist

spends way more time on Facebook than they do having their face

in God's Book. And you sit there before the

service, browsing social media. Couldn't you have one day off?

Couldn't you have one day off and just have one day for the

Lord? That wouldn't hurt you, you

know. I'm not against technology and

the appropriate use of technology.

You say why are you preaching this?

Because I'm seeing the digital world destroy many families,

destroy young men, and don't think you're exempt as a young

woman. Oh well, it doesn't affect me.

I'm a woman. Yes, it's affecting our young

girls and the self harm culture that's being promoted on TikTok

and the pornographic culture that's being promoted on TikTok

and the pornographic culture that's being promoted on

Instagram. We're living in a world that is

going to hell in a sea of vile imagery.

And if ever there was a day where we need to get a hold of

the holiness of God and to translate our understanding of

the holiness of God into practical life, it would have to

be in 21st century America, 21st century Australia, where we have

more access to the sordid sins of the wicked nature there than

at any other time in human history.

Literally today, within a few taps, you can be into the depths

of depravity. I'm tired of seeing good

Christian young people get destroyed and sometimes they're

in really good homes. But somewhere mum and dad lost

the plot. Thick as a brick.

Thick as a brick. And I've even seen, Listen, I

can tell you about a young man right now, and he grew up in a

clean home, homeschooled, no television.

And yet somewhere the parents dropped the ball with the laptop

and he was getting up at night and accessing the depths of

iniquity on his mother's unprotected, unsupervised

laptop. This is a little bit fresh in my

mind because of the conference I just preached at for brother

Courtney. But his sister, there I was

preaching on some of these things and she said I'm, she

said, I want you. I want you to know you're free

to share this story with other people.

She said what you said is true. We home schooled our children,

but I had a laptop. My daughter found out the

password to that laptop and unbeknownst to me, when I would

go out to the shops or go to do something or be out of the home,

she was getting into that laptop.

She got onto social media and she got tangled up in

lesbianism. So what happened to her?

She's seriously messed up. She's in her 30s now and still

hasn't found her way back to the Lord.

She may not even be saved, but it happened in a good home,

schooled home, an overall godly home.

But the parents were unwise and didn't think.

And she said you share that story to warn others.

You know, you need to think as a parent about every device in

your home. And if that device has

accountability and protection on it, and that includes you as a

wife, well, it doesn't affect me.

I'm a woman. Firstly, that's a lie.

You have a sinful flesh and you can get wrapped up in the in the

whole thing. In fact, many women get caught

up in emotional affairs you might not be so attracted to.

Naked pictures. But you can get caught up in

some emotional affair with some old school contact who's not

your husband. Plus you should be setting a

good example for your children. Plus, you don't want your kids

to maybe somehow get. Access to that phone and get

into things because kids work out technology very quickly.

My kids have told me things about my iPhone and features

that I didn't even know existed and they barely touched the

thing. Guess what, if you don't give

your teenager an iPhone, they will live.

They'll live. Your son won't die.

In fact, don't we want our kids to just enjoy their childhood?

I'm thankful that overall I enjoyed my childhood.

So poor. Oh, you poor guy, you didn't

have ATV. What did you miss out on?

Well, I missed out on having my mind scarred.

That's worth missing out on. I missed out on a whole learning

a whole bunch of evil things you say.

What did you do? We climbed trees, we fell out of

trees. We dug holes, we fell in.

Holes. We broke arms, you say?

That was wonderful. Well, not the breaking of the

arm part, but you know, I didn't break.

I'm actually the only one who didn't break a bone.

I helped my younger brother break one on accident.

Yeah, it's always an accident, isn't it?

But somehow the older brother's got some hand in it.

So we were jumping, we were jumping off this box and

grabbing onto a bar, and I just moved it back to give him a

high, you know, just moved the box back a bit and he jumped

again, sailed past, broke his arm in two places.

I didn't tell Mom and Dad about that until later.

I thought I'd admit that detail from the report.

It's great to see children enjoying simple things.

So what do your kids do? We take them to the fruit and

veg shop we go to. We get our we get our fruit and

veg from a little Indian grocer because it's about half 1/4 of

the process of the major grocery stores.

They just love it. Think man, these kids are

homeschooled. They get excited over fruit and

veg. Why no revival?

Ungodly music. Do you really?

Think you're going to hear hear Ma send me?

Well, you've got that stuff pounding in your ears with its

sensual beat and its sensual lyrics.

Do you really think you're going to have a heart for missions,

young ladies, while you're listening to Taylor Swift?

Taylor Swift has zero wisdom for your life.

I mean, how ridiculous. Basically singing about your

dysfunctional life and this love life you find it.

You know you're looking for what other stupidity?

And Ariana Grande and and Doctor Dre and and and and Kanye West

and $0.50 and and and Snoop Dogg.

How stupid is Snoop Dogg? And I know I got into rock music

as a teenager and it had a profound effect on my heart.

When I was a teenager. It was the Backstreet Boys.

Oh, the Backstreet Boys. What a bunch of idiots.

Well, Pastor, I'm glad you haven't mentioned the oldie

Goldies. Elvis, The Beatles.

Do you know how much do you know how much destruction those men?

Do you know how much they destroyed America?

Do you know how much they undermined the moral fabric of

your nation? And not just our nation, but

Australia? In fact, The Beatles came.

Back in the 1960s to Adelaide and you can see footage of it

and it had a profound effect. I mean I think about a million

people showed up or something to try and see them and it had a

huge effect. Australia was never the same

again. My grandmother, who is from the

World War Two generation, said everything changed in the 60s.

It was the IT was the decade of rebellion.

Against authority and rock'n'roll.

And men like Elvis and The Beatles were no Saints.

They were wicked men. They were serial adulterers,

serial fornicators. And just don't listen to that

stuff. How are you going to have

revival when you're listening to rock'n'roll music?

Why no revival? Violent video games.

Apart from anything else, you're wasting a lot of time.

And I'm not saying that there aren't some.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there aren't

some wholesome programs and things that we can watch as a

family. We do that as a family, even

some films, not against that. But the point is we're careful.

We're watchful. You have to just be careful in

this digital age and make sure we're not allowing things into

the home that can white Ant the spiritual lives of our children.

You know, D or Moody back in his day, How many of you have heard

of D or Moody? Great evangelist here in

America, from America, Chicago area there.

You know what he preached against in his day?

He was preaching against the Sunday paper.

He said people go home after the morning service and they fill

their minds with all these silly articles and things.

And he said they come back Sunday night.

And he said if I if Gabriel himself showed up to preach, he

wouldn't make a dent on them because their heads are so full

of the trash from the newspaper. What do you say today where the

average independent Baptist can't get off of Facebook on

Sunday, can't stop looking at Insta porn?

I mean, Instagram on Sunday. I'm.

Serious. That's why there's no revival.

You know, independent Baptist. Love talking about revival, love

shouting about revival, but I find they don't really like

dealing with the. Issues that are stopping revival

and I find it's independent Baptist.

When things go quiet, that usually means we're on to

something, usually means we're getting down to dealing with the

issues. I know I've grown up in

independent Baptist churches and I love independent Baptist

churches, but I know the culture and.

Amen and Amen and Amen when? Things go quiet.

That usually means we're getting down to business.

Well, no revival. Lewd literature.

This is a big danger. It's been well said.

What images do for men, literature does for women.

You get wrapped up as an older woman, maybe in all those slushy

romance novels as a wholesome there are wholesome love

stories, and not against those. There's even wholesome love

stories in the Bible. But I'm talking about steamy,

slushy, sensual, immoral stuff. No wonder there's no concern for

missions. How are you going to have any

concern for missions while you're reading that junk?

Why no revival? Immorality and perversion

amongst God's people. Why no revival?

Well, because of idolatry in the area of sports.

Now, is sports simple in and of itself?

No. Can it have some time in our

lives? Probably a tiny bit, but that's

quite different to the average independent Baptist who knows

way more about the names of the sports stars than they know

about the names of the heroes of the faith.

And I'd much rather actually have my kids look to godly

preachers and things as their heroes than some baseball player

or football player who may be good on the field, but he lives

like the devil off the field. It's great we had your pastor

over and a lot of our young men now have got what they call the

Steve Boots haircut. The Pastor Boots haircut started

a new trend. I don't mind.

I'd rather young men get excited about a preacher from America

than get excited about some idiot playing soccer.

So do you see the sequence leading to the call?

There was this work of spiritual revival in Isaiah that then

brought him to the place of readiness to hear God's call.

The blockage of sin was removed. We need to do some business with

God this morning. Maybe you at the end of this

service need to come forward and you need to get on your face

before God and say God, there's some music in my life I need to

get off my iPhone. There's some unclean shows that

I'm involved with. I'm going to disconnect from

them. And that includes, by the way, a

lot of these trashy podcasts. And they may not be.

Even very sinful, but they're just useless as far as eternity

is concerned. Ladies, Candace Owens is not a

good role model for you. She just spews out endless

gossip and trash and speculation and and conspiracy.

Don't waste your time on those kinds of people.

Andrew Murray. Wisely observed, great advances

in missions are always connected with a deep revival of spiritual

life and a high devotion to the Lord Jesus.

Great advances in missions are always connected with a deep

revival of spiritual life and a high devotion to the Lord Jesus.

The sequence leading to the call, we need to wrap up the

sensitivity to the call. Look back at verse 8.

Look back at verse 8 also, I heard the voice of the Lord

saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?

Do you see that there's a new sensitivity in ours eye now, now

that he's dealt with sin in his life, now that he's confessed

sin in his life and. Experienced God's cleansing.

Now there's a new sensitivity to this great work upon the heart

of God. And when you get close to God,

you will find that missions is on His heart.

And now he hears this question that is upon the heart of the

eternal God. Whom shall I send and who will

go for us all? How we need some young men today

who would hear that call, hear the call of God.

Whom shall I send and who will go for us?

And all that? We would have more men today who

would fall on their knees and say, here am I send me.

That same question comes ringing down to us today.

God's heart has not changed and he's still asking, whom shall I

send and who will go for us? Maybe there's a young man on the

sound of my voice this morning. Maybe you've got your life

mapped out and you think you're going to have this career and

you're going to pursue money and do this.

Maybe you need to come to that place this morning of saying.

Lord, here am I, I'm willing, you said, but I'm not sure if

I'm called yet. We'll at least say, God, I'm

willing. Make yourself available and see

what God will do. The sequence leading to the

call. The sensitivity to the call.

Finally the surrender to the call.

The surrender to the call. 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. It's interesting to me that God

did not directly address Ozai here.

He simply allowed Ozai to hear the Godhead expressing that

searching question. Whom shall I send and who will

go for us as I would need to voluntary, voluntarily surrender

for this task? God's not going to force you

either. But there is no greater

privilege than the privilege of being a preacher of the Word of

God. And maybe as a young man, you

need to beg God, make me a preacher, abuse me.

God, here am I send me. But you can't say here am I send

me until you first confessed. I am undone.

I am unclean. In many ways, I think that's the

burden of the message this morning.

The blockages of sin in our lives must be dealt with.

Then and only then, will we really be able to do something

for the Lord in the area of missions.

Let's have every head bowed, every eye closed, every head

bowed, every eye closed. Let me ask you this morning, are

you saved? Have you come to that place in

your life? Of being willing to admit I am a

Sinner, I need Christ. Forgive me, Lord, for my sin.

Cleanse me in my blood. Would there be any this morning?

Well, every head is bowed and every eyes closed.

The piano begins to play with. There'd be anyone here this

morning who would just be willing to put their hand up and

say, Pastor, If I'm honest this morning, I'm not 100% sure that

I've been saved from my sin. If I was to die today, I'm

really not 100% sure where I would go, where I would spend

eternity, but I'd like to deal with that today.

If that would be you only Pastor and I are looking around.

Would you just raise your hand? If that's you this morning,

Pastor, pray for me. And I'd like to know more about

how I can know for sure that my sins are forgiven and that I

have eternal life. Would that be you?

Anyone here? Would you just raise your hand?

If that's you, I need to know where I'm going to spend

eternity. Pray for me as you close.

Anyone at all. Maybe you're here today and you

say, pastor, I know I'm saved, but if I'm honest, there's some

pretty serious sin in my life. Maybe not even serious sin, just

a sinful habit. All sin is serious, isn't it?

To God? The Lord spoken to me this

morning about clearing out some blockages in my life that have

been stopping up the worlds of revival.

If that would be you, I'm not going to come after the service

and ask you to tell me what it is.

But would you be willing just to humble yourself and raise your

hand and say, pastor, pray for me?

There's some things in my life that God has spoken to me about

that I need to deal with. Yes, Amen.

Anyone else, just raise your hand and slip it back down.

Amen. Pastor, pray for me as you

close. There's some sin in my life.

There's some issues in my life that I mean.

I need to deal with. Maybe parents, you've raised

your hand. So pastor, pray for me.

There's some changes in my home I need to make.

God's convicted me about some things I've allowed in my home

that need to change. Would you raise your hand if

that's you, Amen. I'm going to have a pastor come

and finish the invitation as he sees fit.

But let me encourage you as the invitation is given.

If the Lord has dealt with your heart, what better place to

start that work, of allow that work of revival to start, but to

come forward in the local church and do business with the Lord as

we bring our service to a close. Thank you.