BRIEF REVIEW: In trying to explain preaching to someone recently, my mind settled on Isaiah 6:1-8 as a very relevant passage for every preacher to hold in mind about the nature of what we do when we speak for God.
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 one had six 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. Then 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. 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 thine 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. - Isaiah 6:1-8.I. First of all, WHO IS THIS GOD THAT SENT THE PREACHER?
A. HIS TITLES:
1. ADONAI
2. THE LORD OF HOSTS: This title is used twice for God in this passage. Of course when we see LORD in all capital letters in the Old Testament, we know that is a translation of the Hebrew unpronounced name for God. It is often pronounced in English as Jehovah or Yahweh. Let's examine this title for the God Who called the preacher.
a) THE SELF-EXISTENT ONE: The most basic translation for Jehovah would be "I AM." He has always existed and will always exist. No other thing or other person brought Him into existence or can take Him out of existence. And He is the ONLY one that is self-existent this way. In Creation, He is the "First Cause" to which all other things owe their existence. In the Universe today, He is the Great Sustainer holding all things together, for "He is before all things and by Him all things consist" - Colossians 1:17. He needs nobody else and nothing else. He can do whatever He wishes whenever He wishes. He is the "blessed and only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords" - I Timothy 6:15.
Let us apply this to the preacher. Preacher, I say unto you as I must say to myself, God does NOT need you! God can do whatever He wants to do without you. If God so chooses, God can strike you eternally silent today and still save whomever He wishes to save and strengthen whomever He wishes to strengthen and build up whatever church He wishes to build up. He can even choose to do more good without you than with you. Therefore, notice:
i) YOU PREACH SOLELY BY THE GRACE OF GOD: Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ - Ephesians 3:8. GRACE. Unmerited favor. You have not earned the right to preach. You do not deserve the privilege to preach. You are not entitled to preach because of your ability, your study, your intellect. You are allowed by God to preach simply because Self-Existent God said so.
This should be an amazing thing to you and me. This should put us in mind to never take this grace for granted. We should have the attitude of David: "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?" - I Chronicles 17:16.
A preacher with this attitude will never abuse his pulpit for his own purposes. He will be extremely careful what he says and does not say. He will be on his guard as to how he conducts himself. He will realize that God can take him out of preaching more easily and quickly than He put him in.
Jim Bakker, a former false teacher of the "prosperity doctrines" finally read the Bible all the way through for the first time while in prison. He sat down in his cell and for the first time carefully studied the verses that he'd previously abused to teach prosperity. He came to the conclusion that he was disastrously wrong and even titled his book, "I Was Wrong." In his book, he says that he is amazed that God did not strike him dead as a false prophet. If he had been concerned about that previously, he would have avoided a lot of problems. If we preachers will concern ourselves with that possibility, it will make serious Bible students of us before we stand up and preach.
ii) THE SELF-EXISTENT ONE HAS GIFTED YOU: Our first real introduction in the Bible to what the name Jehovah, "I AM" truly entails is when Moses talked to God in the burning bush.
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:13-14.Notice next what this I AM did for Moses when he balked at preaching. After giving Moses the signs to prove that "I AM" had appeared unto him, we see the following:
And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. Exodus 4:10-12.Not only does the Self-Existent One NOT need us, but He can use whomever He chooses. The key is that whomever He chooses, He will gift for His mission and they must speak the words that He gives. We should not reject this grace of preaching, as Moses tried to, nor should we take upon ourselves more than God has given us.
iii) THE SELF-EXISTENT ONE CAN GET THE JOB DONE: We don't need to come up with novelties. We don't need to stick to formulas for preaching. We don't need to stick to time limits. We don't need our ideas of "cute" or "funny" or "ironic" or "interesting." Outline alliteration is not necessary. In short, preachers need to abandon their man-centered or self-centered approach to sermons and simply communicate what God has said.
b) ...OF HOSTS? A common title for God in the Old Testament is "The LORD of Hosts." Hosts of course refers to armies, such as armies of angels. Preacher, do you realize that you are not only preaching to people, you are also preaching to angels? Angels are apparently gathered with us when the local church meets, I Corinthians 11:10. They are students of the word of God and anxious to understand it, I Peter 1:12. God forbid that you should preach your opinion in front of an angel that has come to hear the word of God.
3. THE KING: The third title for God in this passage is "the King." You, preacher, are an ambassador for the King of kings. You are an emissary.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5:20.Did you catch that, Preacher? "As though God did beseech you by us." Everything you say in your preaching is to come through as though God were speaking directly through you. And, "We pray you in Christ's stead." Everything you urge anyone to believe or to do is to be as though Jesus Christ Himself were urging them to believe or to do the same.
There is no room for your opinion, for conjecture, for speculation, for anything more than what God is beseeching the people, what Christ is urging the people.
You speak for the King.
B. HIS ATTRIBUTES. We move now from the titles of the God Who called the preacher in Isaiah 6 to the attributes of that God as revealed in the passage. Watch for this on Part 3.
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