Isaiah 6:9–10

0:00 In high school, I was a normal high school kid who liked to do normal high school things. Play sports, hang out with friends, watch Antiques Roadshow, etc., etc. Of course, I'm talking about the PBS series that may or may not still be airing, where people would bring in items from their homes or basements, like old chairs, dusty lamps, letters that their third cousin gave them from Theodore Roosevelt, all sorts of things, and they would bring them to these experts to be looked at.

0:39 Well, one such episode, there's a man in his 60s, and he brings in these cups that he bought in the 1970s and to quote him he said they weren't worth much but he liked them when he saw them so he decided to buy them. Well he brings them to this expert and shows him the cups and the guy starts looking at them and to his surprise he finds out that they're 18th century rhinoceros horned cups from China worth 1.5 million dollars. What this man didn't have with these cups was he didn't have eyes to see. He knew he liked it. He knew they were cool, but he had no idea what he had. He liked them, but he didn't know anything more. I think that's why people love this show and things like this is they like it when the right object is brought to someone who has eyes

1:40 to understand what they're looking at. We love it when we can experience a moment like this when we see something and then we realize what its value is. It's thrilling to be a part of something like that. Tonight's passage addresses a people who did not have this experience. They had no eyes to see the truth. Let's look together at the passage. It is Isaiah 6, 9 to 10, and it's in the front of your bulletin. And he said, go and say to this people, keep on hearing but do not understand. Keep on seeing but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their eyes heavy and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. So our passage tonight centers on God giving Isaiah a task of preaching to a

2:42 people who would not see or hear his message. They continually, our people have continually turned aside from the truth from the message of repentance that God had proclaimed to them and God had given them over to it what I want us to see from this passage tonight is this as Christians we ought to rejoice that God has given us eyes to see and ears to hear and we're going to think about that with two points first we're going to think about it as salvation is a gift. And then second, we're going to think about it. Salvation is a miracle. Salvation is a gift and salvation is a miracle. All right, let's think about this. Back to our passage in Isaiah.

3:30 Let's think about Israel's history. God, Israel is God's chosen people. Out of all the nations in the world, God has chosen Israel. He set them apart to be his people, to be his representatives on earth. He's given them the law. He's given them the prophets. And yet, as we read the story of in the New Testament of Israel, we see time and time again that Israel turns away from God. They turn away from following after God, from putting their faith in God, and they turn to idols. Isaiah lays this out in in uh earlier in this book so isaiah 2 8 says this their land is filled with idols they bow down to the work of their hands to what their own fingers have made so god has given israel a commandment you shall have no other gods before me and what israel is doing is they're bowing down to idols that they have made instead and they're not doing this in in secret they're

4:35 doing this out front. So Isaiah 3, 9. For the look on their faces bears witness against them. They proclaim their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to them, for they have brought evil upon themselves. Because of this, because Israel has continued to turn away from God, God has sent the prophet Isaiah who will pronounce judgment on them. And this judgment is you won't hear God's word any longer.

5:09 You will not hear it because God has given you over to your sin. So the word is there, but they don't hear it. What has happened to Israel is they have become like the idols that they worship. So if we look back at our verse, we see, make the heart of this people dull, their eyes heavy, blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. So you think about an idol made by human hands.

5:41 It has eyes, it can't see. It has ears, it can't hear. It's dull. And that is what has happened to Israel. They have hearts that cannot respond to God's word. What I want to think about for us though here is this. This is a reminder for all of us. It is not being a certain type of person, right? Israel, God's people. It is not that that saves us.

6:15 We are not owed to salvation because of who we are, because of who our family is, because of who we're the family we were born into instead we see the only way to see the only way for our eyes to see the gospel is for God to open them to give us the gift of faith this is what Jesus says in Matthew 13 right after quoting this passage he says blessed are you speaking to the disciples blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear for truly I say to you many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

6:55 What do we have that others don't as Christians? We have been saved by grace through faith and it is a gift of God. Christian, do you treasure this? Do you see this gift that has been given to you by God to have eyes that are opened, to have eyes that can see the truth of the gospel. Our eyes are awakened, and it is a gift from God. I think one tendency that some of us in this room might have is to, even as Christians, to fear, maybe I have a heart that can't see.

7:36 Maybe I have eyes that can't see. And if that's you, what I would encourage you is to say, if you have put your faith in Jesus, If you have turned from your sins and placed your faith in Jesus, then your eyes have been opened. You've seen the beauty of Jesus Christ. You are a new creation. Trust what God has said in his word. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed. Behold, the new has come. Trust that that is true.

8:08 If you're not a Christian, this passage is a warning to you. The gospel, the truth of God's word can have a hardening effect on your heart. And so if you have not turned to put your faith in Jesus, do so today. Today is the day of salvation. God sent his son to live a perfect life, to die on the cross for your sins.

8:39 He took your sin. You received the righteousness of Christ if you put your faith in him. And after three days, God rose him from the dead, defeating sin and death. So if you haven't done that, I would encourage you tonight to do that. Turn from your sins and put your faith in Christ. Talk to anybody around you about that. Amen, John. So first, salvation is a gift. Second, salvation is a miracle. Let's think again about Israel. They were God's chosen people.

9:12 God brought them out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea. The glory of God dwelt in the temple. And yet none of that was enough. Their hearts were far from God. I want to go back and read Isaiah's story here and think about that in contrast to Israel's story. Isaiah has this vision in the beginning of chapter 6. And what it is, is he sees these seraphim with six wings and they're around the throne saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

9:46 The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook. And Isaiah has eyes to see. He says, woe is me, I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs in the altar and he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips.

10:20 Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. God did a miracle in Isaiah's life. He opened up his eyes. And for all of us here who have trusted in Christ, God did a miracle. He opened up our eyes to see the beauty of Christ. God did that. He worked miraculously in Isaiah, and he works miraculously in us. So I want to talk to the children here for one minute. All right, so pay attention to me.

10:52 Think about this. There are Israelites. That's my child. There are Israelites, right, who were there when they look behind them and they see Pharaoh's army coming to kill them. And the Red Sea, right in front of them, opens up and they walk across the sea in dry land. They saw all this happen. There were people during Jesus' day who sat there on the ground, on the grass, or the dirt, and they saw Jesus take five loaves of bread and two fishes and fed 5,000 people with him.

11:37 They saw that happen. And yet, some of those people didn't trust God in faith. Some of those people didn't believe in Jesus. Being around the church, around Christian parents, around Christian friends, even seeing God do amazing things is not enough. You have to turn from your sin and turn to Christ in faith.

12:08 You have to do that. And so, I would encourage you all to do that. Parents, we can do everything right. We can use all the right words. We can have all the catechisms. We can have everything. But ultimately, we must pray and ask God to do a work in our children's hearts. Pray, pray, and pray more. Anytime you find yourself worrying about whether God will save your children, allow that to be a cue that takes you straight to the throne of God.

12:43 And pray that he would do a miracle in their hearts. do the thing that we as human beings cannot do, which is open their eyes to see Jesus. For those of you who have been sharing the gospel with someone for a long time, pray that God would do a miracle. Continue to share the gospel. We don't know what the Lord is doing. I spent a couple years in China right after I graduated from college, and I had met this guy in uh at the at the college and he was helping me uh learn learn mandarin and he helped me to uh translate like to translate my testimony into mandarin and he had helped me with all this stuff like spiritual stuff but his heart was dead right he he he just wanted to be friends that's what I thought. And I, you know, I spent a year with him and almost like every day we spent time

13:48 together. And then I kind of just, I just kind of moved on. I moved on. Well, I saw him like the next year and I decided, you know what, I'm going to tell this, I'm going to share the gospel with this guy one more time. And I shared the gospel with him and he believed the gospel. God opened up his eyes to see the truth of God's work. That's what the Lord can do. We can't do that ourselves. So continue to share the gospel. And then think about Isaiah here, right? Faithfulness for Isaiah was to do what God asked him to do, was to preach to a people that he knew would not respond in the way that he would want them to respond.

14:39 Whatever God does, rejoice. Continue to faithfully share the gospel, knowing that ultimately God is the one who does the work, not us. Salvation is a miracle. It is a gift. God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. Do we see this as a miracle for what God has done? Rejoice in the blessing of seeing and hearing the gospel. Let me pray.

15:11 Father, we thank you that you have opened our eyes to see Jesus. Jesus, we thank you for saving us from our sins. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to rejoice this week in the truth that you have done that for us. And I pray for open doors for the word that we could tell others about that. In Jesus' name, amen.