The Sins of the Prophets — Keith Daniel

Isaiah’s Vision of God’s Holiness

There's a staggering chapter in the Bible that you all love. In Isaiah chapter 6, this godly Isaiah said these words, In the year that King Uzziah died, 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 seraphim, above it stood the seraphim, each one had six wings, with twain, with two he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain 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 post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, woe is me, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen a king, mine eyes have seen a 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 has touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away from thee, and thy sin purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, whom shall I send, and who will go for us, who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, here am I, send me. He said, Go, and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed.

The Sin of Unclean Lips

I would like for us tonight to look at the sin of the prophet. Woe is me, for I am undone, because, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I do not know of any sin in the thirty-four years that I have been saved.

I do not know of any sin in the thirty-four years that I have been saved, that has done more harm to the work of God, and caused more hurt among the people of God, than the sin of unclean lips. I do not know of any sin in the thirty-four years I have been saved, that has done more harm to the work of God, or caused more hurt among the people of God, than the sin of unclean lips.

James says to us in chapter 1 verse 26, If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain, it's worthless. If you are not careful with this, your whole religion is worth nothing to God.

And in chapter 3, in chapter 3, James actually says that the foremost proof of holiness, the foremost proof of holiness, of vital reality with God, is a man's ability to refrain from entering into any conversation whereby he becomes defiled in the sight of God.

In chapter 3, James actually says that the foremost proof of holiness is a man's ability to refrain from entering into any conversation whereby he becomes defiled in the sight of God. He says in verse 2, If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.

If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. You can control your whole body, he says. Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.

Behold also the sips, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, with a servant to govern and lift us free. And so the tongue is a little member, and boasts of great things.

Behold, our greater matter, a little fire, can lift. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and set us on fire. The course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell, for every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and has been tamed of mankind.

But the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison, deadly poison. Oh, how much good has been destroyed by the tongue of Christians. Oh, how much good has been destroyed by the tongue of Christians.

The Destructive Power of Christian Speech

You need not go out there, and take a knife, you know, and stab a man in the back to murder him, beloved. No, you may lose your testimony doing that. Oh, many a man has been murdered more cruelly by the tongue of Christians.

Many a man has been murdered more cruelly. Many a man's testimony has been murdered forever by one sentence, one sentence, forever his testimony murdered by one sentence from the lips of a Christian. Many a man's honor, many a man's usefulness for God has been murdered forever, forever, forever, by one sentence from the tongue of a Christian.

Murdered, murdered more cruelly than if you stabbed him in the back with a knife. You cause more suffering with your lips. In your country there is a Bible school, a very revered Bible school, and I dare not tell you the name of that Bible college, that theological seminary.

I met students in that Bible school who told me years ago that the principal was one of the godliest men in this land he was so loved. And they told me with tears of what had just happened here in your country, in that Bible school, which is a renowned Bible school in Kentucky, the principal, there was two students that said something about him.

Do you know what the church did? They threw him out. His family threw him out. He was excommunicated, and that place, that place trembled in shame at the accusations this man had thrown at him because of who he was.

I think it was two years later, those two students were the first to try and find him, and the church was searching everywhere, the leaders of the whole group, searching with, what have we done? Destroying a man at the word, lips and all.

What have we done? They did find him in the gutter, and try as they wanted, and try as they did. With all the prayer that went up for him, that man couldn't get out of the gutter to this day. They carried on speaking the lies, though they threatened his truth.

Be careful what you repeat, no matter who says it. Be careful you don't destroy somebody. Oh beloved, you don't have to go out there and commit adultery before you need to cry out, woe is me. You just need to say one sentence, and you need to cry out, woe is me.

Jonah’s Flight from God’s Commission

Woe is me. The sin of the prophets, the sin of the prophet, the sin of the prophet, but that was the sin of Isaiah. Let's look at the sin of another prophet. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai.

The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up, Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them.

But Jonah was gone down, Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, what meanest thou, sleeper?

Arise, call upon my God, that we perish not, so be it that we perish not. They said every one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation, and whence comest thou? What is thy country, and of what people art thou? Then said unto him, I am a Hebrew, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?

For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thy, O Lord, has done us a plea.

So they took up Jonah, they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly.

And after that agonizing prayer in chapter 2, we read in verse 10, and the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe upon them, and covered them with sackcloth and satin ashes, and he called them to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, take anything, let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and crying mightily unto God, Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Who can tell if God will turn from his fierce anger? Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? That we perish not. And God, God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.

He did it not. He did it not. O Beloved, Jonah had this tremendous problem, this tremendous sin of prejudice against another race, this tremendous sin of prejudice against another race. Whatever his reasons may have been as a Jew, to be bitter, and to hate the Ninevites.

Prejudice and the Universal Call of the Gospel

Whatever his reasons may have been as a Jew, to be bitter, and to hate the Ninevites. But this great sin of prejudice against another race, led him to deep sorrows, and to deep shame, and to deny God's commission and purpose for his life.

Romans 10 verse 12 says,. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him? Prejudice against another race. Prejudice against another race. And the Bible warns of prejudice against another class.

In James chapter 2 verse 1,. My brethren, My brethren, have not the face of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory, with respect of person. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come also a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect to him... wear the gay clothing, and saying to him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool.

Are ye not impartial in yourselves, and have become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world? Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

But ye have despised the poor. Ye have despised the poor. O beloved, Jonah's sin made him useless. Jonah's sin made him useless. Prejudice against another race, prejudice against another class, amazingly, can keep a Christian from holding out the gospel, the message that God longs to forgive sinners if they will repent.

Prejudice against another race, prejudice against another class, amazingly, can keep a Christian from holding out the gospel in compassion. The message that God longs to forgive sinners if they will repent.

Prejudice against another race, prejudice against another class, amazingly, can keep a Christian from holding out the gospel in compassion. The message that God longs to forgive sinners if they will repent.

Forgiveness from the Heart

But Jonah's sin went deeper than prejudice, beloved. He couldn't come to forgive others, even though he had been forgiven. We see this in the last part of his book, the tragedy. His sin went deeper than prejudice.

He couldn't come to forgive others, though he himself had been forgiven. And this in God's eyes is a terrible thing. In Matthew chapter 18, verse 21, we read these staggering words. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft are my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?

Seven times? Seven times? Jesus says unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had in payment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou o 'erst. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their Lord all that was done.

Then his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also had compassion on my fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?

And his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors. And he said, Pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

In Matthew 7 verse 1, Jesus warns us, Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And James, James says to us in chapter 2 verse 12, So speak ye, and so do, as they that should be judged by the law of liberty.

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy. He shall have judgment without mercy, that has showed no mercy. Blessed are the merciful, Christ taught in Matthew 5 verse 7. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

They shall obtain mercy. And in chapter 6 verse 12, he taught us to pray, Forgive us our debts, forgive us our debts, as we forgive, as we forgive our debtors. And went on to say in verse 14, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Sins of the prophets. The sins of the prophets will make many a man cry out, Woe is me! If ever he was to become conscious that he was suddenly in the presence of God.

Becoming Conscious of God’s Presence

If ever a man was to find himself suddenly conscious he's in God's presence. These sins will make many a man cry out, Woe is me! When they know they have to do with God. Isaiah was suddenly conscious he was in the presence of God, he had to do with God.

And friend, when you're conscious you have to do with God, suddenly your sin makes you cry out, Woe is me! When you become conscious there isn't some weak vessel standing in the front there's his voice is reaching your heart.

For no human voice can reach where God's voice reaches. And you know you have to do with God. You have to do with God. You're conscious you're in the presence of God. Oh, this man, conscious he had to do with God suddenly.

No more playing the fool. All he saw was his sin. When you come close to God that's all you'll see. And woe is me was crying out from his heart at the consciousness of his sin. Is it perhaps possible tonight that you are suddenly conscious that you're in the presence of God?

That you have to do with God concerning your sin? Not man. And your heart is crying out like Jonah, like Isaiah, Woe is me! Woe is me for my sin. Woe is me. You know Isaiah immediately confessed in shame his sin.

Cleansing and the Call to Service

Immediately he confessed in shame his sin and immediately he was cleansed. And beloved if you and I, if we confess our sins in such a way, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If only we would come in brokenness with a woe across us in our soul, the grief of what our lives must have been to God. If only that could be. Immediately he was cleansed at confessing. And the moment he was cleansed, the moment he was cleansed, the moment he was cleansed, he became conscious that God was looking for a man.

The moment he was right with God, the moment his sins were washed away, he became conscious of the voice of God calling from heaven, whom shall I send and who will go for us? He became conscious God was looking for someone only when he was cleansed.

To that moment sir, you can't hear God's voice for the others because God has only a burden for you concerning you. You can't be used by God in any, any way. Until your sin is dealt with, God has to deal.

But you and I confessing our sins, immediately God, God will wash us and forgive us and cleanse us, our sins, by his blood. And we will become conscious and like Isaiah, conscious of God's eyes running to and fro throughout the whole earth, seeking someone to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

We, like Isaiah, can lay our lives on the altar of God, the love of Christ constraining us, conscious God is longing to send someone, conscious of his longing to use someone to reach the lost, to speak through to the lost.

We can lay our lives on the altar of God and say, here am I God, send me. What is your sin tonight? Beloved, I'm speaking to the Christians who God cannot use, who God hasn't even given the slightest burden for anyone else because the only burden he has is you.

What is the thing that keeps you from being used by God? Even on your knees, you've got nothing thrust from God's heart to you. You're not conscious of God's love for others and he's not yours because you haven't heard his voice in your heart.

Compassion for Muslims and Prayer Instead of Violence

Islam, in their millions, have in their hearts such a hatred and bitterness. It has already begun. I want to ask you American Christians born of God, can God not use you like he couldn't use Jonah because Jonah hated the Assyrians for what they did against his people.

Their cruelty, their methods of hurting the people of God was something and he couldn't come to forgive them. He didn't want mercy upon them and he knew God wouldn't send him just to warn them unless he wanted to show mercy.

Tell me, are you incapable of praying in a way God can even save one Muslim, let alone all the Muslims? If every Christian in this land is capable of praying for those people, no matter what they've done, no matter what they're doing, and no matter what they're going to do.

If every Christian began to have compassion and realized that but for the grace of God you could be in the darkness of that religion. In such darkness it breathes anger, it breathes arrogance, it breathes hatred, it breathes deranged thinking.

But now we can stand here and pull them down and throw them in the hands of the devil and leave them there or we can remember Jesus died for them as much as he died for you. Tell me something, America's Christians, I preached to you this morning on how God could turn the tide on our knees as an army of God in this land and even turn the tide on Islam if we get right with God, that is, before we get on our knees as an army, the only army, the only hope America has is the army of God on its knees in prayer, undoing the strongholds of the devil in the moral issues, let alone the politica issues going on in the world that are hurting your land.

Can I ask every one of you sitting here tonight, do you love them in spite of what they've done? Because they're lost as you were and because Jesus died for them and longs to be with them. You might not be able to go there, America's Christians, but you could pray those nations to God in their millions.

I want you to answer God, every single one of you, do you honestly believe that God, if every one of this nation's Christians got right with God and got down before God on their faces and began to weep for the Muslims as we should have wept years ago, the only reason we're starting to weep now is because our skin's in its state.

But if we have compassion in spite of what they're doing, in spite of what's in their heart, in spite of what's rising up against the world and we nobody knows what we're going to do, there's one way to do anything, sir.

Don't wait for your president, don't wait for your military powers to deal with one little sect after the other where things could go just, there's one hope, Christians on their knees crying out for the salvation of the millions, and let me tell you, if we all got on our knees and began to storm heaven with compassion, with longing for them to be saved in their millions, do you honestly believe that in a few months millions and millions wouldn't be turning to God all over the Arab nations, staggering Islam to the core?

Do you honestly believe if we got down into warfare and did the war that will save the world, let alone America, from what Islam will do one day if we don't get on our knees? But prejudice can keep you from holding out the gospel even on your knees.

In a way God can answer it. It makes a man useless. Oh, I doubt that any other preacher in America or the world would say this right now, but I'm going to ask you something. Have compassion and start praying for them to be saved, for their souls' sake, not for your skin, because Jesus died for them too.

Humility, Cleansing, and Being Filled by the Spirit

Forgive. I forgave you. All your sin. Can't you forgive others who didn't even have the privilege over you? A billion miles behind you in their privilege spiritually of what, how to hear the gospel. I might be the only preacher on earth that dares to say it, but Christians, I blame you for what Islam's going to do, because Islam couldn't do a thing if Christians got right with God and dealt with their sins by coming with a war with me at last so that they had the right to pray as we heard this morning.

And only when God is cleansed can we lay our lives on note for God, even to pray for the world in a way we can expect God to turn the history of the world right now where it's heading. I want to ask every single one of you to humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord that he can lift you up, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

There's something about God ever doing anything of any value to a man, and that's you humble yourself now. Cry out the war with me in a way that God can also cleanse you, and you can become right with God.

And the moment you're right, you'll get the heartbeat of God for those nations. He's not standing looking at them and saying, I will want them all in hell for what they're doing. He's only saying if only these people that have found such grace and mercy through the gospel spreading through their land like no other land in history would have compassion on that land and those lands, though those lands are hurting them now.

As I had compassion on them and their sins, that they could have compassion on their knees and win those lands for me on their knees. I want every single child of God who names the name of Jesus as their savior, whatever your sin may be that keeps you from being used of God to say, God, tonight I come with a wall, and I come for cleansing.

But the moment I confess, as that man confessed, I will be cleansed and then I will hear the heartbeat of God when I'm right with God. You see, what God cleanses, he fills, and what God fills, he uses.

And until he cleanses, he never fills. And until he fills, he never uses. And the Holy Spirit takes control of you. That means being filled with the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit. As a result of absolute surrender to God, we're controlled.

The evidence of being filled with God, the Holy Spirit, controlled when we lay our lives on the altar of God, where God takes control of us through absolute surrender. The evidence is not tongue, it's not gifts, it's the fruit.

And do you know what the first fruit is? Love. The love of God is shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Do you want to know what the love of God is? Look at the cross. Do you want to tell me you have that love in you if you don't love everyone he died for, on your knees, in a way that God has to move in a holy obligation by your prayers?

Repentance Before Intercession

Oh beloved, your only hope, your only hope as a land is the army of God on its knees in prayer, and you will undo everything the devil's trying to do, beginning with Islam. But it must begin with your life, with your sin, for you to be able to come and be used by God.

The only prayer you have the right to ever pray, if you have sin in your life that isn't dealt with, the only prayer God will ever look at that isn't the grief to him, is God, be merciful, forgive me for my sin.

Outside of that, you can't pray for anyone else while you harbour wrongs to other Gods.