Sermon

Ep 361 | "Here I Am, Send Me" - Brian Osburn 1-3-21

Church of Christ - Bakersfield, Ca

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  1. Great to be together. It's good to see you.

  2. And we were just thankful just to see one another and the time

  3. of sickness and people have been affected by this virus and

  4. certainly we care for them, we pray for them that they become

  5. better, but it's good to assemble this morning together

  6. as gods family, to Give Him worship to give him honor and

  7. Glory. We see a neat thing happen.

  8. Kind of within this scene here that we're going to talk about

  9. this morning with Isaiah and I want to read verses 1 through 8

  10. just to introduce our thoughts this morning of what happens

  11. here with Isaiah. It says, beginning in verse 1 of

  12. Isaiah chapter 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the

    Isaiah 6 chapter mention

  13. Lord sitting on the throne high and lifted up and the train of

  14. his robe, filled the temple above it, stood seraphim.

  15. Each one had six wings with two. He covered his face with two, he

  16. covered his feet and with two he flew and one cried to another

  17. and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts.

  18. The whole earth is full of his glory.

  19. And the post of the door were shaken by the voice of him, who

  20. cried out and the voice was filled with smoke and the house

  21. was filled with smoke. And so I said, woe is me for.

  22. I am undone because I have a man of unclean lips and I dwell in

  23. the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes, have seen the

  24. king, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to

  25. me having in his hand, a live coal, which he had taken with

  26. the tongs, from The Altar, and he touched my mouth with it.

  27. And said, behold this has touched your lips, your iniquity

  28. is taken away and your sin purged.

  29. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send?

  30. And who will go for us? Then I said, here, am I Send me.

  31. And we have just In this passage here.

  32. One of the most significant things and events that happens

  33. in the life of Isaiah. And so we find Isaiah.

  34. He's called to be a prophet of the Lord here at on this

  35. occasion. He sees this Lord, he sees the

  36. Lord, he's there sitting on his throne and the angels.

  37. They're they're worshiping their, their proclaiming, the

  38. glory of the Lord. And I left this scene, as it's

  39. painted for us. There's the Lord, he's high.

  40. He's lifted up showing his Holiness.

  41. He's showing his reign. He's pictured here as being

  42. higher than any other thing than the Angels.

  43. They're they're proclaiming that the whole earth is full of his

  44. glory and certainly it is And you see a similar praise, that's

  45. happening when you go to the Book of Revelations, Revelations

    Revelation 5 chapter mention

  46. chapter 5, but on a grander scale with the numeral

  47. innumerable host of angels that are gathered there.

  48. In that particular scene that John is witnessing and their J,

  49. Angels, gathered around. Jesus proclaiming his glory and

  50. honor. And when you it's a blessing to

  51. be able to see seems like this inscription Picture and just a

  52. glimpse of what's beyond and how great it's really going to be to

  53. be with the Lord and to worship Him.

  54. Seeing the Majesty of the Holiness of the Lord with Isaiah

  55. here. Seeing how greedy is Isaiah

  56. acknowledged I'm a nobody. I'm a sinner, I'm unclean.

  57. I am undone. He saw himself as unworthy here

  58. in the context as he standing before the Lord.

  59. And that's how we might see ourselves sometimes as we might

  60. picture ourselves before the Lord, because we are, we're

  61. really I'm worthy. We are unworthy to be in his

  62. presence. We are unworthy to even be

  63. called his children. And the reason for that is

  64. because the sin in our lives compared to the Holiness of God.

  65. That causes us to put things in such a perspective.

  66. But here in Isaiah, when you look at what happens, one of

  67. these seraphim, one of these angels flew over to Isaiah

  68. touched his lips with the hot coal from The Altar and Proclaim

  69. your iniquity, your sins. They've been taken away.

  70. You've been forgiven? Perhaps maybe this made Isaiah

  71. feel better. Maybe it gave him a boost of

  72. confidence seeing that his sins had been forgiven after.

  73. Considering himself, not to be worthy a sinner before the Lord.

  74. now forgiven, And having understood that and the Lord.

  75. Now, asking the question, whom shall I send and who will go for

  76. us? It seems to me from the response

  77. here that Isaiah did not skip a beat.

  78. He was ready, having the understanding of what the Lord

  79. had done for him. Singing, I'm going to go for you

  80. here. Am I send me?

  81. I want to do. What your will is?

  82. I want to be sent forth. To live a life for you and to

  83. Proclaim. To proclaim a you to other

  84. people. and, Maybe, I don't know, put yourself there in

  85. Isaiah shoes there for a moment. I mean, how would you respond

  86. seeing what great thing that the Lord has done for you?

  87. How would you respond? Would there be the type of

  88. excitement excitement that Isaiah shows here?

  89. To be able to go and be a servant.

  90. Maybe perhaps, would you be hesitant?

  91. Maybe considering the dedication.

  92. It's going to take the time that the sacrifices That might be

  93. involved. so, you can have mixed responses here, but Isaiah

  94. Isaiah is willing to be sent. You know, when we talk about

  95. being sent, I'm not really talking about being sent to a

  96. foreign place. Of course, we send some of our

  97. Brethren to work in foreign lands or in foreign places and

  98. they do great work. There and churches are are being

  99. established churches are being strengthened because of the

  100. dedication of mana and families that go.

  101. But maybe being sent to our neighborhood, maybe being said,

  102. to the people who are around you at work or around you at school.

  103. Is their fear is their hesitancy.

  104. Are we as eager or not? As eager?

  105. As Isaiah to be sent. Well, let me discuss just

  106. briefly this morning. Just a few.

  107. A few things that might hinder us from having the type of

  108. attitude that Isaiah had within this context here.

  109. And I want to, first of all, talk about Moses.

  110. Moses beat example of really what not to do.

  111. And Moses, he was kind of in a similar situation where God

  112. wanted him, he wanted him to, to speak to Pharaoh.

  113. So that is people could be set free and Moses wasn't quite.

  114. So eager to do just that in fact to remember that God was

  115. speaking to Moses. He appeared to him through the

  116. burning bush and God had this to say to him in Exodus chapter 3.

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  117. Verse number 10, it says come. Now therefore For and I will

  118. send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of

  119. Israel out of Egypt. Now based upon what the Lord

  120. wanted for one and Moses to do our, he wasn't quite excited

  121. about that because he responds this way in verse number 11.

  122. But Moses said to God, who am I? That I should go to pharaoh and

  123. that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.

  124. And so the first excuse that Moses gives is that he didn't

  125. feel worthy enough to fulfill this task or maybe he didn't

  126. think he was the right man for the job.

  127. And when you look at Isaiah, yes, he did not consider himself

  128. to be worthy or yet. He was still willing to obey the

  129. Lord, though, with Isaiah. And maybe maybe we could feel

  130. like that at times. Maybe we think that there's

  131. someone else who is perhaps more adequate to share the gospel

  132. with others than maybe myself. But when we begin to doubt in

  133. ourselves that we were never going to carry out what God

  134. wants us to do then, yes, we might not be worthy to tell of

  135. the greatness of a savior who saved mankind, but God wants us

  136. to tell of the truth of the scriptures.

  137. He wants us to tell of the good news.

  138. And the reason why he wants us to do that, is he beat.

  139. He desires everybody to be saved.

  140. Everybody. There's another excuse that

  141. Moses gives to God and will continue on.

  142. Now in Exodus chapter 3 now in verses 12 and 13.

    Exodus 3 chapter mention

  143. It says so he said I will certainly be with you.

  144. The Lord is assuring Moses. Don't worry, I'm going to be

  145. with you when this happens when I send you out to pharaoh, and

  146. this shall be a sign unto you that I have sent you.

  147. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you saw serve God.

  148. On this mountain, the Moses said to God indeed when I come to the

  149. children of Israel and say to them, the god of your father's

  150. has sent me to you and they say to me, what is his name?

  151. What shall I say to them? So here is excuse, number two,

  152. from Moses that he wouldn't know what to say. after being sent,

  153. he was afraid that he wouldn't have all the answers if Pharaoh

  154. resisted I'll let you in on a little secret.

  155. We don't know everything. And we don't have to know

  156. everything. It is okay to say I don't know.

  157. It is. Okay.

  158. I say this all the time when at in my profession talking to

  159. people with their computer problems, some things I really

  160. don't know. But Google is my friend and

  161. Google will tell me. And people are good with with

  162. you telling them, I don't know. Because you get back with an

  163. answer but honesty plays an important part in this and so

  164. you could take the same approach with others.

  165. It, if they ask you a question regarding a belief, if they ask

  166. you a question regarding maybe a scripture, Or particular passage

  167. that you don't have the answer answer to it's okay to say well

  168. I don't know but I'll tell you what.

  169. Let me get back to you on this. Let me go home.

  170. Let me study this and I'll get back to you on this and people

  171. are okay with that, in fact what it does, it sets up a study or

  172. sets up, another study with them, And so you're able to

  173. discuss that maybe even more things could come up through the

  174. Bible study people, appreciate honesty and the reality is, we

  175. can't know everything, we really can.

  176. Sometimes it does take studying to find the answer, but we

  177. should never be afraid to be set because we might not know what

  178. to say or we might not have all the answers.

  179. And that's what Moses is trying to do here.

  180. He used another excuse. Let's go to Exodus chapter 4,

    Exodus 4:10–12

  181. verses 10 through 12, then Moses said to the Lord O my Lord, I am

  182. not eloquent neither before before nor since you have spoken

  183. to your servant but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.

  184. So the Lord said to him who has made man's mouth who has made or

  185. who makes the mute the death, the seeing of the blind have not

  186. I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and

  187. teach you what you shall say. So a third, excuse that Moses

  188. gives here is that I am not really a good speaker.

  189. I am not a good presenter. I'm not going to be very

  190. effective with pharaoh. I am really the not the right

  191. guy for the job. Something, maybe we get

  192. tongue-tied. Sometimes when we're nervous or

  193. afraid we might forget what to say.

  194. No one is perfect. And very few of us have just the

  195. right things to say. But I like what Paul wrote about

  196. this when he referred to himself, presenting the gospel.

  197. And this is in First Corinthians chapter 2, verses 1 and 2 says,

    1 Corinthians 2:1

  198. and I Brethren when I came to you, did not come with

  199. Excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you, the

  200. testimony of God. What he says for, I determined

  201. not to know anything. Among you except Jesus Christ

  202. and him crucified. and I think there's a key when Paul is

  203. saying this to these Brethren here, he wasn't worried about

  204. being an eloquent speaker among people or among the brethren All

  205. he was concerned about, was the message?

  206. And that message was Jesus. And really, that should be our

  207. Focus. That should be our attitude,

  208. just share, the good news about Jesus and and the truth of the

  209. scriptures. And don't worry.

  210. About how good or not. Good.

  211. You are in relating information to other people.

  212. The message is going to shine through whatever you say.

  213. It's about the message. And not the messenger.

  214. And lastly, Moses, he pleaded this with God.

  215. In Exodus chapter 4 verse 13. But he said O My Lord please

    Exodus 4:13

  216. send by the hand of whomever else you may soon and after all

  217. the excuses that he gave God Mosley, simply ask God, please

  218. just find somebody else. He tried to talk his way out of

  219. it. He was convinced, he was not the

  220. man for the job. But we can look at what Moses

  221. did before the Lord and say, let's not be like that.

  222. Let's not give those types of excuses when it comes to our own

  223. individual responsibilities. And sharing God's word and

  224. proclaiming it. Let's not reason or try to

  225. convince ourselves that were not able to do it, or we are not the

  226. person to do just that let others do it, you know how God

  227. felt. After Moses gave these excuses,

  228. or said these things to him. When you look at the next verse

  229. in verse number 14, it tells us that God was angry at Moses for

  230. offering all these excuses for trying to get out of his duty.

  231. God was mad. We don't want the Lord mad at

  232. us. We don't want the Lord

  233. disappointed at us because we would rather have someone else

  234. do it and not tuck to take on that responsibility.

  235. So, after seeing really what not to do, when we're called, I want

  236. to take a look back and Isaiah and see what motivated and drove

  237. him to be so willing to answer that call from the Lord.

  238. You know, when you consider how Isaiah reacted to the vision, At

  239. first being unworthy to be fought before the Lord.

  240. It is remarkable as to why Isaiah was so willing to be a

  241. messenger of God. And I believe it was a reaction

  242. on Isaiah's part to the event that his sins in general, had

  243. been taken away and his iniquity was removed as well.

  244. And so he understood what the Lord had done for him.

  245. He had that realization of what the Lord had done for him and he

  246. was willing then to devote his service to the Lord because of

  247. the mercy. And because of the grace that

  248. had been shown to him by the Lord when he didn't deserve it.

  249. And in that same light, We are so many years removed from

  250. Isaiah. But we read in scripture, the

  251. Messiah Jesus himself came to this world, he lived as a man

  252. who was free from sin, he died on the cross, he was buried and

  253. was resurrected from the dead on the third day.

  254. And we find that the reason why all this happened, why Jesus

  255. went through all these things. Was for me.

  256. It was for you. It was for the whole world.

  257. To have their sins washed away. It was a way for God to extend

  258. his love and mercy and Grace upon people.

  259. And I know, you know that But to know it to the point to drive

  260. you and it put it forth into action and to be excited about

  261. it as Isaiah was excited about the mercy and the Forgiveness

  262. that he had received to be willing to be sent out. and for

  263. us to have that same Drive, the song upon this realization.

  264. That prompts us to obey the gospel and become a servant of

  265. the Lord is what happened with our.

  266. That's exactly the case with Isaiah with it.

  267. He had been forgiven want to be that servant I love what what

  268. what David wrote regarding Psalm 51 and I want to read verses 10

  269. through 15 here. and it really, I love looking into David's

  270. heart when he writes these Psalms because we relate, We can

  271. relate in one way or another, no matter who reads.

  272. This, his Psalms create a me, a clean heart o God and renew.

  273. A steadfast Spirit within me. He says, do not cast me away

  274. from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

  275. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your

  276. generous Spirits. I love verse 13.

  277. Then I will teach crimes a transgressor.

  278. Your ways and sinners shall be converted to you deliver me from

  279. the guilt of Bloodshed. Oh God, the god of my salvation.

  280. And my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

  281. O Lord. Open my lips and my mouth shall

  282. show forth. Your praise.

  283. As David wrote, here we are to be a people who are being who

  284. are willing to be sent in order that those who are lost, might

  285. hear the saving message of the cross for again, he says here, I

  286. will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be

  287. converted to you. And that's a great great

  288. opportunity for everyone of us to do that, we have a chance to

  289. let others know that Jesus died for them, so that their sins

  290. would be forgiven. And as our sins had been for

  291. have been forgiven, they could be saved as Jesus has given us

  292. that opportunity to be saved in eternity, in heaven.

  293. And so, having this realization now, I know we've heard it over

  294. and over and over about the Glorious.

  295. The good news of Jesus Christ, how great the Lord is that he is

  296. able to save us that he even wants us to be his children.

  297. Having understood that compared to, what we once were, or will,

  298. we would be without him having that drive.

  299. Now, that Zeal, that Isaiah had a long with the rest of God's

  300. Messengers. You know, you had the apostles.

  301. You read what they went through in the book of Acts.

  302. Those people knew what I meant to be saved.

  303. Those people knew. Of the cost.

  304. But they were so thankful for what the Lord had done for them

  305. and it drove them to many trials.

  306. Persecutions. Many threats.

  307. To not preach that message. They still proclaimed it though.

  308. They still proclaim the message of the Cross because to them it

  309. was a joy. To them.

  310. It was a blessing to them. Was it was a privilege. and the

  311. scripture says, They did it. They found this blessing to be

  312. found worthy to save others because of the truth of the

  313. Gospel. Telling others about the saving

  314. power of Jesus and it really shouldn't be embarrassing to us.

  315. It should not be difficult to us.

  316. But to counter the blessing and a privilege that.

  317. For one thing, we ourselves have been saved but also others can

  318. receive that same grace and mercy that God has shown So

  319. Isaiah he was ready. Isaiah was willing to proclaim

  320. the Commandments of the Lord, the apostles, they devoted their

  321. lives to saving souls and in retrospect to all those who have

  322. dedicated their lives to Towing the world of the saving power of

  323. Jesus, we should be a people to preach the truth.

  324. And to stand up for the truth and not be ashamed of the truth.

  325. There's an old song that we have sung through the years.

  326. I love to tell the story. It will be my theme in glory to

  327. tell the old old story of Jesus and his love.

  328. Is that your attitude? Is that your drive?

  329. To love to tell the story. It should be, if it's not we're

  330. in a new year. New year, brings new resolutions

  331. new goals, for people. If you're one of those

  332. individuals that sets goals or seds resolutions, perhaps, this

  333. could be one of them if maybe, or maybe the strengthen it, or

  334. maybe if you haven't done so resolved to do that, Resolve to

  335. do that. Precious Souls need to know the

  336. truth. We needed to know it and we've

  337. been saved by it. Why not share it, why not?

  338. And so let us always have the drive.

  339. Always have the attitude of here.

  340. Am I send me? Send me.

  341. And I hope that through our study this morning.

  342. That maybe maybe renew a spirit within you.

  343. Maybe challenge you, whatever it is.

  344. I hope that you've been edified through the teaching of the word

  345. this morning and that God has been glorified through our

  346. teaching as well with the study of his word.

  347. We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

  348. Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

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