Here I Am! Send Me!

Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV

 

“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. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

 

“’Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!’

 

“And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’”

 

Something that is critically missing in the church today is the fear of the Lord. Too many people are making God out to be like us, and he isn’t. Too many people are teaching God as though he is a doting grandfather in the sky, or like he is a genie there to grant our every wish.

 

The modern adulterated gospel, which is permeating the church of today, is misrepresenting God to the people, and that is why so many are not taking God seriously, and it is why they are not giving him the honor and respect he deserves. For, we worship God, not just in words, but in our actions.

 

Today’s market-driven church is pretty much all teaching the cheap grace gospel, and they are not teaching the necessity of respect, reverence, and obedience to God/Jesus Christ. They are not teaching or they are not stressing the necessity of repentance, either, which is the turning away from our sinful lifestyles to now following the Lord in surrender to his ways.

 

And a large number of them are taking it a step further away from the fear of God to say that faith in Jesus Christ does not require repentance, obedience, and submission to Christ. And many are teaching, in fact, that it is wrong to repent, to obey and to submit to Christ as Lord. And so, they are leaving people dead in their sins with a false hope of heaven.

 

But we, as the church, need to return to the fear of the Lord, for the fear of God is not just Old Testament. It is New Testament, too.

 

[Lu. 1:50; Ac. 10:34-35; 2 Co. 5:6-11; 2 Co. 7:1; Phil. 2:12-13; Heb. 12:28-29; Rev. 11:18; 14:7; 15:4]

 

For, the fear of God makes us aware of our own sinfulness and of our need of the Savior. The fear of God leads us to a vivid reality of how utterly sinful we are in comparison to the holiness of God. And the fear of God leads us to severe gratefulness for God’s saving grace, which then leads us to repentance, to obedience, and to submission to Christ as Lord.

 

Isaiah 6:6-7 ESV

 

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’”

 

The Scriptures teach that we can only come to faith in Jesus Christ if God the Father first draws us to Christ. And they teach that it is by grace that we are saved, through faith, and not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of our own works lest any of us should boast (Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-9).

 

Since God is the one who persuades us to believe in Jesus Christ, and since our salvation and our faith to believe in him are not of ourselves, lest any of us should boast, but they are gifted to us by God, then faith in Jesus Christ will submit to Christ as Lord, will repent of sins, and will obey the Lord.

 

And when we trust in Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives he does forgive our sins, but he does so much more than that. He transforms our lives. He turns us away from our sinful lifestyles to the light of God’s righteousness and holiness, and he turns us away from the power of Satan to coming under the power of God over our lives (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-32).

 

When we believe in Jesus we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. We now walk (conduct our lives) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh (Rom 8:1-17).

 

Isaiah 6:8 ESV

 

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’”

 

Now our desire is for our Lord, to please him with our lives. And now we walk with him daily, daily dying to sin and to self, and daily living for our Lord and for his righteousness. We aren’t perfect people, but lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued deliberate and habitual sin, for if we live in sin, we will die in our sins (Gal 5:16-21).

 

Now we want our lives to matter for God. We want to answer his call on our lives with “Yes!” When he says “Go!” we should want to go wherever he sends us and to do and to say whatever he commands us to do and to say. Our lives should now be committed to him and to his service and should no longer be lived for ourselves (1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; 1 Pet 2:24).

 

Have Thine Own Way, Lord

 

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907

Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Search me and try me, Master, today!

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,

As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me I pray!

Power, all power, surely is Thine!

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway.

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see

Christ only, always, living in me!

 

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