CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SERIES
16 – THE PROPHET ISAIAH
This morning, we’re continuing with our sermon series, entitled CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and we’ve been talking about the lives of some of the greatest in the Word of God and seeing how they have had CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
And it’s been encouraging! Because we are understanding that no matter…
--who we are
--what we’ve done
--where we’ve been
We too can have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Now, this morning, we’re going to bring to a conclusion this phase of the SERMON SERIES in that we are no longer going to be discussing the lives of people in the word of God
Now, so far, and by way of reminder, we’ve talked about…
--Adam
--Abraham
--Joseph
--Daniel
--Job
--Moses
--David
--Simon the Cyrenian
--Hannah
--The Canaanite Woman
--The Woman with the Issue of blood
--The woman in the parable of the unjust judge
--John
And last week, we finished a 2-part look at the APOSTLE PETER
And oh, I wish I could go on with these, because I wanted to look at others like…
--Paul, the Apostle
--Joshua
--Some others as well
Now, we are not going to finish CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, because when I get back from camp meeting, we won’t be looking any longer at the PEOPLE of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, but we will be looking at THE PRACTICE of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Where we’re going to be looking at personal, practical things we can do to have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
But today, I want to finish out our look at the people of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS by talking with you about ISAIAH
Because of all the people in the Bible, the great prophet ISAIAH had one of the most dramatic CLOSE ENCOUNTERS in the Word
And this being WORLD MISSIONS SUNDAY, I believe that this will tie in real well
Let’s read…
Isaiah 6:1-9 ( KJV ) 1In 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. 2Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6Then 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: 7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8Also 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. 9And he said, Go…
INTRODUCTION
Without question, Isaiah is the great statesman prophet of the Old Testament
Unlike the other lesser known prophets, Isaiah walked among royalty
He was a frequent to the JEWISH WHITE HOUSE in Jerusalem
He enjoyed audiences with the KING
Unlike Amos, who was a simple plowman, or Ezekiel who was a priest, Isaiah was a STATEMENT
He was a kind-of Billy Graham of his day, only with a stronger message
His ministry spanned the reigns for four kings
He was married to a PROPHETESS and his children were mightily used by God as well
When you read the entirety of the book of Isaiah, you will see how his prophecies span time and eternity
He spoke to the present condition of the people then, but he saw for into the future
He prophesied of the…
--the virgin born Lord in 9:6
--the crucified Lord in chapter 53
He saw the millennial kingdom, where the lion shall lay down beside a lamb, and a little child shall play on a snake’s hole
He spoke of a time of unparallel peace when…
Isaiah 2:4 ( KJV ) …they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
His writings rival that of any in English literature
Some of said that the book of Isaiah is in itself a little Bible
The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters, the Bible has 66 books
The book of Isaiah, in the first 39 chapters speak of judgment, but then, abruptly, in the last 27 chapters, there is a message of grace and of the coming Christ
And if you know anything about the Bible, the Old Testament ahs 39 books and the New Testament has 27 books
There’s without question that the book of Isaiah and the man had a MAJOR impact
But none of it would have happened, without what we read in our text this morning
In other words, NONE OF THIS would have happened without ISAIAH having A CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD
And this is WORLD MISSIONS SUNDAY, and we know…
--that the harvest is plenteous
--that there’s much to be done
--that the laborers are few
And desperately, in this critical hour, we need…
--men and women
--boys and girls
--teenagers
--seniors
--married people
--everyone
To have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS like Isaiah
And I think that Isaiah kind-of gives us a PRESCRIPTION on how the have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and the result of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
And so, this morning, we see Isaiah’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS in three parts
First of all, notice if you will…
1. ISAIAH’S UPWARD LOOK
It happened when King Uzziah died!
In other words…
--it was a time of national crisis
--it was a time of transition
--it was a time of uncertainty
And history will record that Uzziah was one of the greatest and godliest kings of that time
And now, all that was changing
Does that sound like today?
Aren’t we standing on the threshold of GREAT CHANGE
This is election year, and our nation is in crisis
We don’t know who we’re going to get
We may get a president who attended a church where the preacher said God should damn America
We’re in nation of crisis
And if there’s ever a time for us to have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS it’s now!
And I want you to know that what Isaiah did is what we must do
He looked UP – he looked beyond…
--the earthly king, to the heavenly king
--the earthly throne, to the heavenly throne
People ask me, “What happens if Obama gets elected?”
I don’t know about you, but I’m going to…
--keep looking up
--have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
It doesn’t matter who is up in the polls, it matter’s who sits on the THRONE!
And really, it doesn’t matter who is PRESIDENT, it matters who is LORD
And Isaiah in a time of crisis, took and UPWARD LOOK
And he saw the Lord high and lifted up
And then, something happen, after that UPWARD LOOK, secondly, we see…
2. ISAIAH’S INWARD LOOK
Because when He saw the Lord high and lifted up, and saw God in all HIS HOLINESS, he recognized sin in his heart and life
And that’s the way it is – the closer we get to God, the more we will recognize our faults and failures
And if you…
--never have to say you’re sorry
--never have to repent
--never feel you own sinfulness
You haven’t had a CLOSE ENCOUNTER lately
And the Bible says that Isaiah said “Woe is me!”
You know how many times he said “WOE” in the book of Isaiah before this chapter? 8 times! 6 times in chapter 5
But when he saw his sinfulness, he said WOE IS ME
And if you want to have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, it will happen you quit…
--saying someone else is your problem
--saying the preacher is your problem
--saying your boss is your problem
When you say WOE IS ME!!
Because I tell you, when you’re in the presence of the THRICE HOLY GOD, you will fall on your knees and say, “I am undone!”
And the Bible says that God didn’t leave him that way!
Isaiah got a touch from the altar
Let me tell you something – GOD LOVES YOU JUST AS YOU ARE, AND HE WILL TAKE YOU JUST AS YOU ARE, BUT HE LOVES YOU TOO MUCH TO LEAVE YOU AS YOU ARE!
And I want you to know that God purged his sin
And I want you to know that if we’re going to have CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, it’s going to take a revival of HOLINESS!
Someone said, “Is holiness popular where you’re from?” “No, but it’s popular where I’m headed!”
If we want CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, we must have…
--an UPWARD look
--an INWARD look
And then, finally, understand…
3. ISAIAH’S OUTWARD LOOK
Because when you’ve had an UPWARD look and an INWARD look, you can’t help but have AN OUTWARD LOOK
And He said, “I’ll go!”
Why is it that…
--there are shirkers and not workers
--people aren’t doing things in the church
It’s just plain because there is NO CLOSE ENCOUNTER
And this is a day that NEEDS CLOSE ENCOUNTERS!
• If you line up all the lost people of the world, the line would circle the globe 39 times
• There are 345,000 births every day
• The line of lost people will grow 20 miles longer every day
• If we drove 50 miles per hour for 10 hours a day it would take us 4 years and 40 days to get to the place the line ended from the day we began
• But the line would have grown 30,000 miles longer during the trip because of birth
• If we stopped time, no more births or deaths, it would take 320 years to win the lost in the United States alone, 4,000 years to reach to whole world
Somebody needs to…
--to get STIRRED
--weep between the porch and the altar
--CLOSE ENCOUNTERS!
You think you can’t do it?
Edward Kimball was determined to win his Sunday school class to Christ. One of the boys, a teenager named Dwight Moody, tended to fall asleep on Sundays, but Kimball, undeterred, set out to reach him at work. His heart was pounding as he entered the store where the young man worked. “I put my hand on his shoulder, and as I leaned over I placed my foot upon a shoebox. I asked him to come to Christ.” But Kimball left thinking he had botched the job. His presentation of the Gospel seemed halting, and he was downcast. Moody, however, left the store that day a new person and eventually became the most prominent evangelist in America.
On June 17, 1873, Moody arrived in Liverpool, England, for a series of crusades. The meetings went poorly at first, but then the dam burst and blessings began flowing. Moody visited a Baptist chapel pastored by a scholarly man named F. B. Meyer who at first disdained the American’s unlettered preaching. But Meyer was soon transfixed and transformed by Moody’s message.
At Moody’s invitation, Meyer toured America. At Northfield Bible Conference, he challenged the crowds saying, “If you are not willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made willing?” That remark changed the life of a struggling young minister named J. Wilber Chapman.
Chapman proceeded to become a powerful traveling evangelist in the early 1900s, and he recruited a converted baseball player named Billy Sunday. Under Chapman’s eye, Sunday became one of the most spectacular evangelists in American history. His campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina, produced a group of converts who continued praying for another such visitation of the Spirit. In 1934, they invited evangelist Mordecai Ham to conduct a citywide crusade. It was during that crusade that Billy Graham was converted
And Edward Kimball thought he had botched the job!
IN CLOSING
This is world missions Sunday
Let me close by telling you the story about the lady who talked with me at Dorothy Gurganas’s grave
She said her brother said – DO ALL YOU CAN FOR JESUS!
Let’s commit to doing that today!
