I find it hard to believe what many of these television preachers preach and teach most of the time. Much of it is UNSCRIPTURAL AND RIDICULOUS! They make the Lord’s work look bad! When one comes up with a new idea for making more money, the others seem to follow.
I am sure there must be some good ones, but sometimes in watching these television preachers you can not help but wonder if there are any good ones.
Illus: They remind me of John, who was a salesman who often came home with some kind of unusual gimmick.
His wife Marsha had long ago given up trying to get him to change, but he would often come home to surprise her with some kind of gimmick she had never seen before.
One day, John came home with another one of his unusual purchases. It was a robot that John claimed was actually a lie detector.
He placed it over in the corner.
It was 5:30 that afternoon, and Tommy, their teenage son had not returned home from school. Tommy was over 2 hours late. When he finally came home his dad said:
• “Where have you been? Why are you over 2 hours late getting home?”
• Their teenage son said, “Several of us went to the library to work on an extra credit project.”
• The robot then walked around the table and slapped Tommy, knocking him completely out of his chair.
• Tommy’s father said, “Son, this robot is a lie detector, now tell us where you really were after school?”
• Tommy said, “We went to Bobby's house and watched a movie.”
• His mother said, “What did you watch?”
• Tommy said, “The Ten Commandments.”
• The robot went around to Tommy and once again slapped him, knocking him off his chair.
• With his lip quivering, Tommy got up, sat down and said, “I am sorry I lied. We really watched a girly show.”
• His father said, “I am ashamed of you son. When I was your age, I never lied to my parents.”
• The robot then walked around to John and delivered a whack that nearly knocked him out of his chair.
• Tommy’s mother, Marsha, doubled over in laughter, almost in tears and said, “Boy, did you ever ask for that one! You can't be too mad with Tommy. After all, he is your son!”
• With that the robot immediately walked around to Marsha and knocked her out of her chair.
Like I said, when it comes to these television preachers, sometimes you wonder if any of them are preaching the truth.
When you hear these television preachers talking, you have to take into consideration that they are talking to people who want to believe the kind of stuff they are promoting. So they tell them what they want to hear.
God does talk to us, but not in an audible voice. For example, God talks to us in two ways today:
(1) HE TALKS TO US THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES
(2) HE TALKS TO US THROUGH PRAYER
He does this as we clear our minds of the things of the world and spend time with Him in prayer. He puts His thoughts in our mind. This is how He now talks to us.
However, during the days of Isaiah, God spoke to His prophets through visions where they often audibly heard the voice of the Lord.
According to Isaiah 1:1, this is how God spoke to Isaiah.
Now God can still do this if He chooses to do so. However, many people today that claim to have all these visions and revelations live a questionable lifestyle.
Illus: They remind me of the VP Debate between Lloyld Benson and Dan Quayle, when Vice President Dan Quayle made reference to John F. Kennedy’s experience.
Senator Quayle did not directly compare himself with Kennedy in terms of accomplishment, but in terms of time of Congressional service;
• Quayle served for 12 years
• Kennedy served for 14 years
When it came time for Senator Benson to respond to the reference he had made to Jack Kennedy, he said, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!”
From the Scriptures, we know these great prophets that God spoke to in an audible voice, and these television preachers are NO ISAIAH!!!
Before we dive into the message of the Book of Isaiah, we first want to take a look at THE MAN…ISAIAH.
I. THE MAN
I want you to grasp everything you possibly can from this Book of the Bible.
Isaiah is considered by many as one of the greatest prophets in the scriptures. He is considered to be one of the Major Prophets because the Book of Isaiah is a very large book that covers many topics in the scriptures.
He had a great deal to say about the Son of God who would be coming over 700 years later.
So then, let me introduce you to the great Prophet Isaiah. The introduction to the book tells us that he was the son of someone named Amoz.
That means very little to us, unless we consider the Jewish tradition that Amoz was a brother to King Amaziah. This would make King Amaziah Isaiah’s uncle. It would also make him the cousin of Amaziah’s son, King Uzziah.
Being a part of the royal family explains why it seems that Isaiah enjoyed a free pass into the royal courts to speak.
ISAIAH WAS ROYALTY. He was the perfect person to speak to the kings on behalf of God. His ministry extended across the reigns of four kings.
Look again at Isa. 1:2, we read, “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”
Jewish tradition again suggests that it was because of his ministry for the Lord and his relentless passion to speak for God that he was put to death by King Manasseh.
Before we can fully appreciate the life of Isaiah, we need to re-visit the life of King Manasseh for a few minutes.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LIVE DURING THE TIME OF KING MANASSEH?
Illus: To understand what it was like, I would like to remind you of what took place on Friday the 14th of April, 1999. Wall Street experienced its biggest one-day fall in history, ending a week in which US markets lost $2 trillion in value.
• This great loss was equivalent to Germany’s entire economy.
• Virtually all of the losses came in the Information Technology sector and what had been called the "dot-com bubble" became the "dot-com crash."
• Bill Gates saw his personal fortune drop $30 billion in a few hours.
• In the following months, more than 430 Internet companies closed up shop and 100,000 people lost their jobs.
What point am I trying to make? Simply this, things can change suddenly.
For example, during Hezekiah’s reign, revival struck the land. In spite of a brief downturn as the result of pride, things were going well in the nation of Judah spiritually and materially under Hezekiah’s rule. God was responding to his people’s repentance and faithfulness with revival blessing.
Then Hezekiah became sick and the prognosis was not good. He was told he was going to die and he needed to get his house in order.
Look at 2 Kings 20:1, we read, “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”
When he received the news, the Bible says he cried out unto the Lord to spare Him, and God added fifteen more years to his life.
Look at 2 Kings 20: 2-6. We read, “Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.”
Listen, it would have been better had Hezekiah died in the PERFECT WILL OF GOD than to live in the PERMISSIVE WILL OF GOD.
WHY WOULD I SAY SUCH A THING?
When he received this news, Manasseh had not been born yet. It was during these fifteen years that Manasseh was born, who was one of the most ruthless, ungodly kings in Judah’s history.
The scripture says of him, in 2 Chronicles 33:9, “So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.”
He undid everything his godly father had done.
Illus: One day, Josiah Wedgwood, English maker of the famous Wedgwood pottery, was showing a nobleman through his factory.
One of Wedgwood’s employees, a young boy, was accompanying them.
The nobleman was profane and vulgar. At first, the boy was shocked by his irreverence; then he became fascinated by the man’s coarse jokes and laughed at them.
Wedgwood was deeply distressed. At the conclusion of the tour, he showed the nobleman a vase of unique design. Its exquisite shape and rare beauty charmed the man. As he reached for it, Mr. Wedgwood purposely let it fall to the floor.
The nobleman uttered an angry oath and said, "I wanted that vase for my collection, and you have ruined it by your carelessness!"
Wedgwood answered, "Sir, there are other ruined things more precious than a vase which can never be restored. You can never give back to that young man who just left us, the reverence for sacred things which his parents have tried to teach him for years. You have undone their labor in less than half an hour!" (Morning Glory, Sept.-Oct., 1997, p. 32)
Manasseh seemed as if he was bent on going to hell, and he lived his life like he was trying to take everyone he could take with him.
Illus: Ronald Reagan, as a young man, worked at a radio station and sometimes played records of sermons. Sometimes he would set the record to play in the one-man operation and sneak out for a cup of coffee. One day he got a call at the coffee shop from the station’s owner telling him to get back to the station immediately, and after that night he was fired. He returned to the station to find the record skipping, "Go to hell, go to hell..." (Reader’s Digest)
Th life of King Manasseh seemed like he was headed straight to hell and wanted to take everyone he could take with him.
The Bible says, in 2 Kings 21:1-2a, “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.”
It would have been better that King Hezekiah never prayed that prayer asking God to extend his life. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER THAT MANASSEH HAD NEVER BEEN BORN!
It was during this time, that Isaiah, who had lived during four kings, was put to death. ISAIAH WAS PUT TO DEATH BY KING MANASSEH!
There is a reference in Hebrews 11:37 about God’s heroes being sawn in two; Isaiah is said to have been killed this way.
Isaiah was married and he called his wife “the prophetess” (8:3) suggesting that prophecy was the family ministry, not his alone.
They had two sons:
• One named Shear-Jashub (7:3), which means, “a remnant shall return”
• One named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, which means, “quick to plunder.”
These names were given as prophecies of what was to come, and a reinforcement of the prophet’s predictive message.
Isaiah himself was called a man of God, implying that he was more closely related to God than most people.
He was a servant of God, specially commissioned to do God’s work. And he was a messenger of God; his words were authoritative because they were spoken in the Name of the Lord.
We have looked at THE MAN. In the next sermon, we want to look at THE MESSAGE.
Conclusion:
I. THE MAN (1 of 2)
II. THE MESSAGE (2 of 2)
