James Merritt - Sent, Send Me
I wanna begin with a little thought experiment. I don't do things like this often, but so whether you're joining me right now online or you're watching by TV or you're here in the room, I want you to do something for me a little bit strange. I don't do it often, but I want all of you right now to close your eyes. Everybody, no peeking. Everybody close your eyes and close them really, really tight. I'm gonna say a word in just a moment. When I say that word, I want you to focus on the image that first comes to your mind, okay? Everybody's eyes close tight, all right here's the word. God, what do you see when you hear that word? What's the picture that popped up behind your eyelids? All right, you got it, all right open your eyes.
Now, let me tell you why I wanted you to do that. Many years ago, there was an American pastor. His name was A.W. Tozer. He made one of the greatest statements I've ever come across and I believe it's absolutely true. Here's what he said. He said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. No religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. The most determining fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart can see God to be like". That's not just true theologically, it's true scientifically. There were two sociologists from Baylor University, they interviewed, surveyed 4,000 adults. They asked him, asked them this question, what is your view of God?
And here's what they found that it's really kind of lazy. They found out that the way people picture God determines their attitudes on everything from economics to justice, social morality, war, natural disaster, science, politics and love. And what Dr. Tozer said, what the scientists said, absolutely go together. What we know is that the most important thing about you, the most important thing about me, the most important thing about us is not how much money we make. It is not what we look like, is not what kind of car we drive. Not what kind of house we live in. The most important thing about you is how you see God. The most important thing about me is how I see God. And the reason is very simple because how I see God will determine how I relate to God. And it will determine how God relates to me.
So let me just give you some examples. If you see God as the man upstairs, how many times do you hear that? If you see God as the man upstairs, kind of like the gray-haired god of Homer Simpson, you'll treat him just like the man upstairs. If you see God as the mean old-man god who not only hates sin, but doesn't really care for sinners, loves to punish them and send them to hell. You've probably won't want anything to do with that god. If you see God as the good old-boy god like Morgan Freeman from "Bruce Almighty". Just the good old-boy god, he's just your buddy. He's just your homeboy, then here's what you'll think. You'll think I can do anything I wanna do. I can live any way I wanna live. I can go anywhere I wanna go. I can say anything I wanna say, I could be anything I wanna be, but me and God, we're cool. He's just a good old-boy god.
Then if you see God as the bellhop god, you ring the bell. He does what you wanted to do. Then you believe He's here to serve you. You're not here to serve Him. And you'll believe that His one job in life is to give you everything you want and the first time he doesn't, you kick him out. So it's so important about how you see God. Then let me give you a little clue. If you wanna see God the right way, there's only one way to do it. You need to see God the way God sees God, you need to see God the way God sees Himself, because it's only when you see God for who He really is, that you will see who you really are. And you'll see others for the way they really are. And see, once that happens, once you get that right picture in your mind, there's a word we use around here called sent. And it takes on an entirely new meaning.
We are in a series if you're a guest of ours today called, All Things New because we believe in our church, the best life, the greatest life, the only life to live is to cross-saved life and that's life where we worship. We've talked about that. It's a life where we serve. We've talked about that. But today we talk about a life that is sent. By the way, this is not an idea that we made up. It actually comes from a vision that a prophet named Isaiah had about 2,800 years ago. If you've got a copy of God's Word and you wanna look on with me, we're in a book in the old Testament called Isaiah, just start at Genesis, keep turning. You hit Isaiah chapter six. And here's what you're gonna find out. Isaiah's got this vision, he's got a front row seat. He's got a 3D view of God, of what God really is and what God is really like and who God really is. And when Isaiah got this 3D front row vision of God, his life was never ever the same. From that moment on, you know what he became? He became a sent person. And the reason he was sent is the reason we ought to be sent as well.
If you ever attend our church, you'll find out that the end of every service, we say three words, you are sent, but I wanna answer the question. Why are you sent? Why should you be sent? Why would you want to be sent? Well, Isaiah tells us three reasons. Number one, we are sent because of the holiness of God. We are sent because of the holiness of God. Now Isaiah begins by telling us the exact year this vision took place. Listen to what he says. "In the year that king Uzziah died". Already got a question. Was that an important year? It was if you were Uzziah, big time, big year. "In the year that king Uzziah died," he said, "I saw the Lord". Were, "high and exalted, seated on the throne. And the train of his robe filled the temple".
Now is it's very important to Isaiah that this man died but it was also important to the entire nation. Let me tell you why. Uzziah had rained about 52 years and he was one of the good guys. He was a great, great king. He had strengthened the defense of Jerusalem. He had led the nation to economic prosperity. The nation had enjoyed 50 years of peace and security. No wars were fought, no soldiers died, but then he dies. Now back in that day, in that culture, whenever the king died, your country was the most vulnerable it could possibly be because when the king died, enemies would kind of surround that country kind of like vultures going after a piece of meat because the leader had died. The commander in chief had died and there was an enemy on the horizon named Assyria. She's ready to pounce. This king is dead. The government's in disarray. Nobody knows what's going to happen.
A black cloud of fear had blocked out the sunshine of joy and it happens to the nation. It was almost like a tsunami of uncertainty and it flooded the heart of this nation and morale was at an all time low. Kind of reminds me of a place I live in today. You notice when you read verse one, there are two kings in that verse. There's a king who has died like all kings do, but there's one King who lives in can never die. There is one throne that will never be empty. And that is God's throne. And as I was reading this verse, it was amazing. I was working on this message the day after all of this happened and I said, "I've got to say this". I don't wanna stop. I wanna say the word out to all of us who are listening right now, I don't care whether you're Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or independent.
Listen to me, what will always matter the most and should matter the most is not who is sitting in the Oval office of the White House, but who is sitting on the throne of the universe. That's the only thing that counts. That is the only thing that matters. And by the way, this ruler doesn't serve any party. This is the God who is high and exalted, who is in complete control, who knows exactly what He's doing. So he's got this vision of God, right? So I want you to see, here's God high, exalted, sitting on a throne, but now listen to what happens. "Above him were seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, with two they were flying and they were calling to one another, Holy holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory".
Now you may think I'm being hyperbolic or you may think I'm kind of exaggerating. I honest to God, believe that in all the Bible, that is the single most important picture of God you will ever, ever find because in that, in those two verses, we find out once and for all, forget what Homer Simpson thinks or what anybody else thinks. We really find out so this is who You are. This is what makes You God, You are the thrice Holy God. If you were to go to all the lexicons and all the dictionaries and all the sources of the world and you were to find one word that would characterize God, it had to be holy. God is a holy God. Did you know that every 12 times the name of God is mentioned in the Old Testament, the word holy goes right beside it. As a matter of fact, you may not even know this. The adjective holy is used for God more about God than all of the other actions in the Old Testament put together.
See contrary to popular opinion, the chief attribute of God is not love. It's not mercy. It's not grace, is not compassion. It's not power, is not knowledge. The chief attribute of God, His holiness. The most difficult, but people ask me sometimes what is the most difficult book in the Bible for you to read? It's not maybe the hardest to understand because that's probably Revelation, but the most difficult book is Leviticus. I tell people, sometimes people say, "You know what? I'm going to read the Bible completely through this year". Now here's what I always say to them, "Be aware of Leviticus".
Let me tell you what Leviticus made me a speed reader. I'll just let you kind of figure that out. It's hard and yet it's one of the most important books in all the Bible, because you know what the theme of Leviticus is holiness. If you wanna know what kind of a God we serve, read the book of Leviticus, that word, holy, holy, this occurs 87 times in that book. And what the author of Leviticus is telling us is just how holy God is. So when you read the book, here's what you're gonna find. Holy priest wearing holy clothes in a holy land, in a holy place using holy utensils and holy objects, celebrating holy days, living by a holy law, all for the purpose that Israel might become a holy nation.
You know why the word holy there's repeated three times? Do you know why? You know why they say to God, holy, holy, holy, it's not because God's deaf, is not because he didn't hear it the first time. You see it in Hebrew poetry repetition is the method that you use when you wanna emphasize something. When we would emphasize something, here's what we do. We underline it or we italicize it or we put it in bold print or we put an exclamation point right after it. But when the Jewish people wanted to emphasize something, here's what they did. They just repeated it over and over and over. And when something was mentioned, three times, that that was their way of elevating it to the greatest degree and giving it the greatest importance. Only one time in the entire Bible, only once is any characteristic of repeated of God three times and that is the word holy. Not love, not mercy, not grace, not justice, holiness.
Why? Why is it so important that we understand God is a holy God, because that tells us something about this God, that doesn't go well with the 21st century. This is a God who always sides with good against evil. This is a God that always sides with right against wrong. This is a God that doesn't care what the polls say. This is a God that doesn't care what laws Congress passes. This is a God that doesn't care what nine Supreme court justices say, this is a God that says, "I determine what is right. I determine what is wrong. And if I say it's right, it's always right. And if I say it's wrong, it is always wrong. And I'm always far one on I'm always against the other".
One of the best presidents, in my opinion, I'm a big study of presidents, I love to collect presidential biographies. I've read many of them. And one of my all time, favorite presidents. And I think one of the really all the best was ever was a guy that many of you probably even remember know about his name was Calvin Coolidge. He only served one term. One of the most popular presidents we ever had, he just didn't want to serve another term. He could have been elected twice, but he only served one term. One of the things I admired about him was, his nickname was silent cow because he was a man of very few words. He was very taciturn. He wasn't a very talkative guy. He didn't say a lot. He was just kind of a quiet guy. I read that one time he went to church and his wife for whatever reason didn't go and so he came back home and his wife said, "how was church today"? He said, "fine". She said, "what did the preacher preach a good sermon"? And he said, "yes". She said, "what'd he preach about"? He said, "sin", she said, "what did he say"? He said, "he was against it".
Now, the same God that is for the sinner, is against sin. And the reason why God is against sin is because He is a holy God and because of His holiness, we are to be set into a world of sin, to share with all sinners. There is a holy God in heaven that wants to be right with you and want you to be right with Him. I'm sent because of the holiness of God, but there's another reason y'all wanna be sent. We are sent because of the heart of God. We are sent because of the heart of God, not just the holiness of God, but the heart of God. Now, look what happens. As soon as Isaiah sees the holiness of God, when as soon as Isaiah says, "that's what You're like. That's who you really are, that is your picture of you".
Notice his reaction. "At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 'Whoa, to me,' I cried. 'I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty". Stop, think about that. Who's saying this? This is Isaiah. This is not a pimp. This is not a drug dealer. This is not a thief. This is not a robber. This is not a felon. This is not a murderer. This is a prophet. This is a man of God. He was a para-god, a virtue in decency and morality. Everybody looked at Isaiah said, "that's what you ought to be like. I want to be just like him when you grow up". And yet, when he looked through the window and he saw God on his throne and all of His holiness, that window became a mirror that showed him himself in all of his sinfulness.
And see, this is what happens. You will never see the real you till you see the real God. Did you hear what I just said? You will never see the real you until you see the real God. Put it this way. You'll never see yourself for who you really are until you see God for who He really is. You'll never see yourself, who you really are till you see God for who He really is. In the spiritual journey that I began as a nine-year-old boy, there's one thing I've learned over all these years. The more I think about God, the less I think about me, the more I think of God, the less I think of me. See most of us, most of us live in one of two extremes, to be honest with you. We're either full of God and empty of ourselves. Or we're full of ourselves and we're empty of God. But when Isaiah saw who he really was, he didn't like the picture. He said, "I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips".
You know what that word ruin means? Bankrupt. I thought it was a good guy, Lord. I thought it was a fine man, Lord. When I saw You, I'm spiritually bankrupt. I'm ethically bankrupt. I'm morally bankrupt. I'm internally bankrupt. That word for ruined, it literally means to come unraveled. When Isaiah saw God for who He was and himself for who he really was, what he saw all of a sudden, all that righteousness, all of his goodness, all of his credentials, all of his popularity, crumbled to dust before a righteous and holy God. Listen, when God is high and exalted. Here's what will happen when God is high and exalted, we will be low and taken down. You're strong with America, we got the wrong view of God. Oh yeah, we're cool, God. Yeah, we're cool. You're not gonna like this, that's okay. Yeah, we can turn our back on what You said about marriage and say, yeah, homosexual marriage is cool.
And yeah, we don't care what the Bible says about life. If you can't have the baby just aboard it. I can go on and on, but that's our view of God. He's okay, we're okay. But then we see the true heart of God. Look what happens. "Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin, atoned for". Now look what God does for Isaiah. He didn't disagree with Isaiah. He didn't say, "oh Isaiah, your problem is low self-esteem. You need to see a therapist. No, your problem is you just don't know how good you are". He didn't argue with him. He said, "you know what? You're right, you are ruined. You are spiritually bankrupt. You a man of unclean lips. You need help because there's only one remedy for sin and that's forgiveness. And there was only one avenue for that remedy. And that is atonement".
Listen, forgiveness is free. Here's the good news, you ready? Forgiveness is free, but it's not cheap. It's free, but it's not cheap. Someone has to atone, somebody has got to pay for. Somebody has got to compensate for any sin that's done. So he takes the coal. Did you see what he said? He takes the coal but where did the coal come from? He said it came from the altar. See, there was an altar right next to that throne. What's an altar? That's where the blood of sacrifices were shed for the sins of the people. You remember the Old Testament, you don't, I'll refresh your memory. On the annual day of atonement, the Jewish high priest would take hot coals and incense. And he would go into that most holy place in that temple, he fill that room was smoked. Then it would sprinkle the blood of that sacrifice on the mercy seat. And God would look at the blood on that mercy seat. He would smell that incense and that smoke. And he would say, "okay, your sin has been paid for. Your sin has been atone far. I forgive you of all your sin".
Now does that picture I just painted for you. Does that remind you of anything? Does it remind you of anybody? It all reminds you of the cross and it'll remind you of Jesus 'cause that's exactly what happened at the cross. God said, "you know what? Somebody's got to pay for your sin, but you can't pay for it because you can't pay for something infinite with a finite life that won't work". So God sends Jesus to die on the cross. And God took the blood of His own Son and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of His own heart and said, "I will forgive you". Let me tell you why I say that. Listen to me. When you look at the cross of Jesus, you see the heart of God. When you look at the tears of Jesus, you see the heart of God. When you look at those nail-scarred hands that one day, we will all see if we know Him, you see the heart of God. When you see the suffering of Jesus, you see the heart of God. When you see the death of Jesus, you see the heart of God.
You say, "why are you telling me that"? 'Cause I get sick and tired of hearing people do this. Well, the God of the Old Testament, He's not the God of the New Testament. No, He is not. He is one in the same. The God that loves us in the New Testament is the God that loves us and the Old Testament. And you need to understand the God of compassion in the New Testament is the God of compassion in the Old Testament, the God of grace in the new Testament is the God of grace in the Old Testament. And listen, here's the beautiful thing. I want you to understand this about this great God that we serve. When we sin, when we blow it. When we fail, when we mess up, when we do wrong, when we break His law and we break His heart, His first instinct is not to judge us. His first instinct is to atone for it. His first instinct is to say, "let me put you in a place where I can forgive you". It is because of the heart of God that we are sent, God has a heart for everyone without Christ to know that Christ has atone for their sins.
You know why you all wanna be sent because of the holiness of God. Why should I wanna be sent because of the heart of God. But then Isaiah say one last thing, we are sent because of the hope of God. We are sent because of the hope of God. Okay, so here's the good news. Isaiah good news for you. Isaiah has this vision of God. He sees himself who he really is. I am ruined, I'm undone. I'm coming apart, I'm bankrupt, woe is me. Not so fast, Isaiah, "not so fast my, friend" as the coach would say. Isaiah, here's a coal from the altar. Your sins have been paid for. Your dirt has been washed clean. Your soul is as white as the driven snow. Good for Isaiah. Some of you're sitting there right now, saying, "man, that's me, that's where I am, pastor". Bruce talks about being a seven-year-old boy. I was a nine-year-old boy and I gave my life to Christ.
And some of you say, "man, that's me. I saw myself who I really was. And I realize that Christ died for me and came back for me and I realize I needed Jesus. And I gave my life to Christ and he changed me and saved me, converted me and cleanse me and boy, I am good to go". Good for you. But what about the rest of the world? What about your next door neighbor? What about the person that you live next door to? What about the person that you work with? What about your golfing buddies? What about your fishing buddies? What about your hunting buddies? What about those civic organizations you're a part of, what about them? So you hear this, watch this, this is so cool. Isaiah says, "then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'whom shall I send and who will go for".
You expect them to say me, kind of strange. Whom shall I send, oh, by the way, who will go far us, are you talking about? A tremendous experience that Isaiah's having. He is so close to God. He's listening in on a conference call between the Trinity. They're talking to each other. God, wasn't talking to himself when He said, "who will go for us"? So what are you saying? God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, every single time you walk into the doors of this building. Every single time you watch these words on TV or watch these words online, watching right now. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is asking that same question every time before you leave, who will go for us? Who shall I send? Now that you've seen my holiness. Now that you've seen my heart, how many of you will leave where you are and go share the hope of the world. And then you see Isaiah's finest moment, you ready?
Listen to this, he said, "Here am I, send me". Boy, what a refreshing answer. God says, "whom will I send? Who will go for us"? I won't say this to fuss you, I'm just being honest. I've pastored over 40 years and I pastored five churches. And can I just be honest? Do you know what the vast majority of people say to that question? When God says, "who shall I send, who will go for us"? You know what most people say? They say, "there he is, send him. There she is, send her". Not Isaiah. He said, "here am I, send me". There's a little small difference there, but I do want you to notice it. You notice he says, and by the way, in the original Hebrew, that's the order, "Here am I". So what do you mean? He didn't say, "Here I am", that would just point out his location. He said, "Here am I, this was his application".
You know what he was doing? He was applying for the job. He was saying to God, give me the green light. I'll go. You need somebody take me. If I'm the only one that will go, send me. I've told you before, I will say it again. Jesus Christ did not leave heaven and come to earth to be born of a Virgin, live a perfect life, die on a cross and come back from the grave. He didn't do that just to save you. He didn't do it just to save you. And He didn't do it just to save you. And He didn't do it just to save me. How selfish would that be? Now I'll tell you why Jesus came. He came to save you and save me so that we in turn would share with other people, they can be saved too because Jesus said itself, "No man lights a lamp and keeps it under a bushel". Here am I, send me.
As you know we no longer have a draft in this country. We have a volunteer army, totally volunteer. That's why I so admire people in the military because if you see somebody in the military, nobody made them go. Nobody put a gun to their head. They just voluntarily like you my brother likes to volunteer say, "yeah, I wanna serve my country". And I'm in the territory for all of you men and women who have served our military. Thank you for the bottom of our heart. Thank you for serving our country. You volunteer, just did it. Well, God also has a volunteer army. Did you know that? God didn't draft anybody. You say, really? Yeah, there's just one difference. He expects everybody to volunteer. He expects everybody to put on the uniform. He expects everybody to pick up the gun and the weapon. He expects everybody to take the oath. He expects everybody to go through bootcamp and then He expects you to go wherever you are sent.
Now, as any soldier might expect, I'm gonna be honest. I'm not gonna pull any punches here. You're not always sent to easy places 'cause listen to what he says to Isaiah. Now listen to this. He says to Isaiah, "Go and tell this people". He says, okay, but then he warns him. Now they'll be every hearing, but never understanding. They'll be ever seeing, but they'll be never perceiving. So let me just go ahead and warn you before you get out here and say, okay, I'm ready to go. The work's not easy. The places you'll go to will be hard. We're to share the best years. But I got news for you. You're gonna run into hearts that are hard. You're gonna run into eyes that are blind. You're gonna run into ears that are deaf.
The best news I've ever heard in my life is the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I come here to tell you of all the people I've seen saved, I've seen far more people say no than say yes to Jesus. So I'm not trying to paint a rosy picture. It is hard. But what you need to understand is once you go and once you share your mission is accomplished, that's all God wants you to do. So, as we get ready to leave here in just a moment, I got three questions I wanna ask you. If you can't answer yes to all these three questions, one of us has failed. I failed to get the point across or you just didn't listen.
Have you seen the holiness of God? Do you understand? He's not just a man upstairs and he's not cooled everything we're doing right now. And it doesn't matter what the polls say. It doesn't matter what the Hollywood says. It doesn't matter what Washington says. He's not cool with everything that's going on right now. Have you seen the heart of God? God says it's not My will that anybody parish, I want everybody to come to repentance. And then have you seen the hope of God? Because what we're talking about is the only hope of the world. Now, if you say pastor, "I've seen one, I've seen two, I've seen three". Then when God says, "who will go for us? Who shall I send"? You know what you'll say, "here am I, I will go willingly, gladly and joyfully". So last thing and we're finished.
One of the greatest preachers that ever lived is Charles Spurgeon. He was kind of the founder of the mega church. Unbelievable pastor. He taught, actually formed a Bible college. He was the president and the chief professor and he trained a lot of preachers. One day, he was in class and he always opened up for questions and one of his students asked a question so many people ask. They said, "pastor Spurgeon", they said, "what about people who have never heard about Jesus? What about those people"? He said, "can people who have never heard about Jesus, be saved"? Spurgeon said, "it's a troubling question for sure", but listen to this. "But even more troubling is whether those of us who know the gospel and do nothing to bring it to loos people can be saved".
Let that sink in. It's troubling question but even more troubling is whether those of us who know the gospel can do nothing to bring the lost people can be saved. And then you closed with these words. "If Jesus is precious to you, you will not be able to keep your good news to yourself. You will be whispering into your child's ear. You will be telling it to your husband. You'll be earnestly imparting it to your friend. Without the charms of eloquence, you will be more than eloquent. Your heart will speak and your eyes will flash as you talk of his sweet love. Every Christian, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter".
In my quiet time this morning, as I was reading God's Word and reading my Bible, I'm in the gospel of Luke and I read this verse and every time I'll read it, it really gives me almost trembling. Jesus said, "if you are ashamed of Me and My words in this generation, I'll be ashamed of you when you stand before My Father in heaven". Now you may sit there and you may say, "oh, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of Jesus. I'm not ashamed of the gospel". If you're not sharing Jesus and you're not sharing the gospel, what difference is there between you and the person who's just honest enough to admit they're ashamed of the gospel. That's why I love what Paul said. "I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek". So today let us all say before we even asked to go, before I even tell you, will you go, let's go ahead and say right now in our hearts, "oh God, here I am, send me".
Would you pray with me right now. With heads bowed, with eyes closed. You know why Isaiah was sent? To share the best news anybody will ever hear. Let me tell you something. Listen to me. I don't care if you're a member of the Chamber of Commerce. I don't care if you won the Presidential medal of freedom. I don't care if you were voted father of the year. I don't care if you give half of your income away to charity, your righteousness is like filthy rags before a holy and a righteous God, you need a savior. You need somebody that can do for you what you cannot do for yourself and that's pay for your sins.
That's what Jesus did on the cross. And He came back from the grave so that you would accept Him and trust Him and then turn around and begin to share Him with others. I'm looking at some of you right now in this room. And some of you listen to me right now. I'm coming into your living room, I'm asking you, do you really know Jesus? Have you really been saved? Has God taken that coal off the altar and cleansed your heart? If you say no, he hasn't, but I want him to, would you just tell him that right now? Would you just pray this prayer? Would you just say:
Lord Jesus, I have finally seen You the way You are. And I realize I'm a man, I'm a woman of unclean lips. I am undone, I am spiritually bankrupt. I need a savior and You're that savior. Lord Jesus today, this moment right now, I ask You to come into my heart. I ask You to save me. I ask You to forgive me of all of my sins. I repent and turn away from my sins and I trust You to save me right now. You are my Lord. You are my savior. And I thank You for what You have done today. Help me Lord Jesus, to live for You the rest of my life.