Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah
chapter 62 and verse 11. Verse 11. Behold, the Lord hath
proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter
of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is
with him and his work before him. Isaiah 62 and verse 11. Right through the Old Testament,
there is a reinforcing of the message of salvation in that
God himself would come, would come to this earth and that he
would put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The first promise
given in the Garden of Eden and that then was followed through
with many promises through the prophets and in the types and
the shadows. So the dear saints, they knew
of the coming of the Lord. Solomon, as he made thee and
dedicated the temple, he says that heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee, how much less this house that I have builded, that
will God in very deed dwell upon the earth. You know, of course,
that first temple was destroyed. Another was made. Those who'd
seen the first one, they wept over the second because it was
nowhere near as beautiful. But the prophet said the glory
of that latter house would be greater than the former. And
we read in the portion in Mark and Matthew where our Lord comes
and especially we remember it on this, what is commonly referred
to as the Palm Sunday. when our Lord comes into Jerusalem
in that last week or four days before He was to be crucified. He went over this morning, how
that in Exodus, the Passover was instituted, and they had
to lay up a lamb on the 10th day of the month, and then on
the 14th it was to be slain. And it is the Lord's triumphant
entry into Jerusalem He is that lamb. He was the one coming to
be slain. And he went into that temple. He truly was upon this earth
and what he accomplished on this earth is vital for our salvation. Dear Job, he puzzled also at
it. He said, how can a clean thing
come out of an unclean. All of those that are born into
this world are polluted with sin. And yet Job knew. He knew that the Redeemer, and
he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth and he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth. He knew that. But how could he
be spotless? How could he be clean? How could
he be free from and he tamed us in, he knew the need of that,
that was taught in the Passover lamb, spotless, without blemish,
it had to be. And yet we know through the overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit, how God brought that about. And then to have,
right through the years of our Lord's life, Enduring the contradiction
of sinners against himself, the temptations of Satan, in all
of his life he lived perfect, pure, spotless, no sin, and then
to be brought willingly, freely, to offer himself a sacrifice
at Calvary. The work that our Lord did at
Calvary, he is coming to fulfill these Old Testament prophecies,
is to be proclaimed and set forth to the end of the world. The
passage that we read here and that our text is in, it speaks
of the Church of God. A church that shall gather together
the Gentiles, in verse 2, and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness
and all kings thy glory. The church clearly called the
Church of God. The Christians called Christians
first, the disciples first called Christians at Antioch, the people
of God, united to the Lord Jesus Christ, coming under that persuasion
of the apostle, determined to know nothing among men save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Or as he writes to the Philippians,
that he humbled himself even unto death, the death of the
cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow. So we have here 700
years before our Lord came, approximately so with Isaiah, the prophecies
of the church, of the Gentiles, of the preaching of the word,
of the declaration of those things that God hath done and will do
in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to look with the
Lord's help this evening. Firstly, a message to the Church
that is unto the end of the world. Our text says, Behold, the Lord
hath proclaimed unto the end of the world. And then secondly,
the message. Thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation cometh. And then
thirdly, two important aspects of His coming. Behold, thy salvation
cometh. Behold, His reward is with Him
and His work before Him. And each of our three points
are things in our text that are to behold. Three points to behold. Three times in this text. Behold,
the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye
to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold,
his reward is with him and his work before him. So the first
thing is a message to the Church and to the end of the world. May you always remember that
in the preaching of the Word, or hearing of the Word, it is
not just rehearsing what is in the Holy Word of God, we are
to preach the Word, it is not just to set forth doctrines and
teaching, but it is to bring a message, to bring the word
of the Lord, to bring that which the Lord would have to be told
unto his people. And there is a big difference
in that. We can expound a verse, we can
open up parts of the scriptures, but as far as hearers are concerned,
or even we that speak, there's no message to us. There's no
word of the Lord that is given to us. You know, if we were to
have a person that we wanted to convey something to, So if
we wanted to arrange a meeting place for them, someone else
was going to see that person first, we'd get a bit of paper
and we'd write on that paper, or we'd just tell that person
to tell them, but we could write it down and say to them that
we're going to be in such a place at such a time and date, and
that is the message, and as the message is given to them, then
it has an effect. It conveys information. It brings to them what we would
have them to do. Our Lord gave many messages to
his people. He gave them those words as to
where he should meet them after he'd risen from the dead in Galilee,
appointed places. but especially we have the message
of the Gospel. It is God telling us, God speaking
to us, God giving us a message. And so it is here a message that
is proclaimed, Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end
of the world. The preaching of the Gospel is
the proclamation of the Gospel. It is the authoritative declaration
of the Word of God. It is not just a meditation upon
the Word. Some may refer to it as that.
But the preaching of the Gospel is the authoritative declaration
of the message from the Lord. We think of how John in his epistles
opens his first epistle and he says in verse 5 of chapter 1,
this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare
unto you. And of course there's many aspects
of that message, but what he says is that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. And so that is the message that
John is saying, we've heard from the Lord and we are declaring
it unto you. And it imparts knowledge, it
imparts the Lord's will, it conveys that which is vital for us to
know personally. Not just a bystander in the race,
not just one like I used to work with years ago, He used to love
the Bible like the Old King James Version, especially like the
13th chapter in 1 Corinthians, and the way that it sets forth
love and charity. And he used to love the language
of it. But he never saw the need of
salvation himself. never heard the message of the
Word of God at all. Yes, it was set before him, it
was told him, but in his heart and in his life he never gave
any evidence that he'd actually heard that message at all. Sometimes we can give people
a message and they don't do what it says. We might say to them,
didn't you get the message? Why weren't you there? Didn't
you get the message? Someone might receive a phone
call. You're not there. They write down the message on
a piece of paper. And again, it's the idea that
it is conveying what has been said, the important part of it. There are many things in the
Word of God. We look at the accounts because
it is, it is the coming of our Lord traced through the nation
of Israel. It is a historical book. It is
a book where there's prophecies and where those prophecies come
to pass. There's many things you think,
I wish you'd told a bit more about that account. It leaves
many things out. It doesn't explain how this happened
or that happened. But that's not the purpose of
the Word of God. The purpose of the Word of God
is a message from the Lord concerning salvation. Many times when I
was in my training and studies, especially for engineering, we'd
want to know a little bit more about what a certain subject
was teaching. We'd want to go on a bit more.
We'd ask the teacher and he'd say no. You don't need to know
that for the exams this year. This is all you need to know.
Don't waste your time on that. You'll get to that maybe next
year, or another year, or maybe it's not in the syllabus at all.
I often think where there's something and you think, well, why is not
that in the Word of God? It's like the Lord kindly saying,
that's not part of my message. You don't need to know that for
your soul. I kindly omit it so you don't
waste time. Spend time on that and neglect
your soul and the true message of salvation. When our Lord spoke
to the two on the way to Emmaus, in all the scriptures, the things
concerning himself, he didn't say to them, and then there's
a lot of other things that are not in the scriptures. And I'll
have to tell you them because you'll never find them in the
scriptures, no. The Scriptures had everything
that was needful. That's why when we have the account
of Lazarus and the rich man, and the rich man said that surely
if one was to be sent from the dead, then his brethren, his
five brethren, that they would believe and they would be prevented
from going to that place of torment. But the Lord said they have Moses
and they have the prophets. If they hear not them, Neither
will they believe, though one rose from the dead. And our Lord
did rise from the dead, but many, many of the Jews did not believe.
No, the word is sufficient, the message is there, and it is to
be proclaimed unto the end of the world. Preach the gospel
to every creature. Yes, every nation, every kindred,
and every tongue. The one miracle that was given
at the Day of Pentecost was that those that were there miraculously
could speak in another language that they had not learned. And
those nations of the people drawn to Jerusalem at that time could
understand, understand their own language. They heard the
Jews speaking in their language. And what were they speaking?
the wonderful works of God, our glorifying God. At the time of
Babel, when man said that, well, instead of being spread out over
the earth, we will stay in one place, we'll build a tower so
we don't get scattered, the Lord came down and confounded their
languages and caused that they be scattered. But at Pentecost,
it's the other way around, the Lord gave the gift, miraculously
then, of languages. So the gospel would go out into
every nation and kindred and tongue. And the Lord gives today
those that have wonderful skills in languages. I cannot speak
another language, but I know we've had neighbours that have
known and be able to speak fluently seven languages. our very skills
to be able to do so. Some of our friends joining with
us online tonight know several languages. It is a great blessing
to have that gift. And that gift was given at Pentecost
so that the gospel would be spread. But how did the Lord make sure
it would be spread? Why did they not all stay at
Jerusalem and stay close together and not go out? He said to them,
when they persecute you in one city, then go to the next. That's how the gospel would be
spread, by persecution, by causing the people to move. And even
in more recent times, we find the movement of people, the movement
of God's people, is through persecution and trials. The Lord has said,
behold, behold this, draw attention to it, notice it. The Lord hath
proclaimed unto the end of the world. The Lord hath proclaimed. Proclaim through his holy word. Proclaim through his servants. His voice is heard. Paul said
of the Thessalonians They received the word, not as the word of
man, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Samuel, he saw and thought that
the voice that was calling him, Samuel, Samuel, was Eli. He knew
Eli very well. But it was the Lord that was
calling him. The Lord speaks to his people
through his servants. I remember that. The Lord hath
proclaimed unto the end of the world. And not only is it to
the ends of the world, but also in time. The Lord says, Lo, I
am with you always, even unto the end of the world. There will
always be, until the world ends, a preaching of the gospel. The
Church of God will always be there, and His people will be
gathered together And when he comes again, when the Lord comes
again at the end of the world, and every eye shall see him,
the Lord has a message to those of his people then, when ye see
these things, come to pass, look up, for your redemption draweth
nigh. But the other aspect of our first
point here is, it speaks as in past tense, behold the Lord hath
proclaimed, unto the end of the world. And we are reminded that
it is the same gospel, though it is and was preached by types
and shadows and in the Old Testament, it is the same message of faith
in the Son of God. The children of Israel drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. It is the same faith, same faith,
described in Hebrews 11 that goes back to Abel and it goes
back to Enoch and all those Old Testament saints. They died in
faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar
off and were persuaded of them, they embraced them, those promises
were all in the Lord Jesus Christ. So our text tells us very clearly
that this proclamation It has already been made, it is already
been made, and in our day it is very clearly made, and it's
clearly made unto the Church of God. Say ye to the daughter
of Zion, say to the Church of God, say to the individual daughters,
the converts of Zion, the converts of the Church of God, there's
a message to each individual one. In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation,
the messages to the angels or pastors of the churches, the
seven churches, and at the end of each message, he that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And so, a message to the church,
and it is unto the end. of the world. The Lord does have
something to say to every generation. There are those that would say,
well, it's 21st, 22nd century or whatever. These are very different
times and it needs different things. Salvation is just the
same. It is from generation to generation. The promise is unto you and your
children, even as many as the Lord thy God shall call. And it is a good thing to remind
ourselves that the Lord has still a message and the word of God
is still to be proclaimed and preached. And may we have that
hearing ear. to what the Lord has to say. But what does he have to say?
In our second point, we have another behold. Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, thy salvation cometh. In Isaiah's day, It was a word of prophecy, a
word that was greatly needed. Isaiah was prophesying in the
days of Hezekiah, in the days when the ten tribes were brought
into captivity by Assyria, swallowed up, as it were, by Assyria. It
looked very much like Judah would join them, but the Lord wonderfully
appeared Also with Hezekiah, he was told that he should put
his house in order, die and not live, and yet there was not a
line through to the promised Christ. His was the line. And
again, it needed to be reaffirmed that thy salvation cometh. It's not going to stop dead or
be cut off. It was still coming. And the
Lord gave to Ezekiah a son, and the line continued. Then, a couple of hundred years
later or so, we find them in Babylon. And again, needed to
be reminded that the Lord still has his message. You know, sometimes
we can have expectation from the Lord, whether in Providence,
whether in our souls, whether in the Church of God. And we
say, like in Isaiah 49, the Lord hath forgotten us. He's forsaken
us. He's not doing what we thought
he would do. We've sought him, we cannot find
him. We look for blessing, we're not
blessed. We look for increase, and we're
minished and brought low. The Lord says, but can a woman
forget her sucking child? The son of her womb, yea, they
may forget, yet will I not forget thee. I've graven thee upon the
palms of my hands. Thy walls are ever before me. The Lord had a message directly
for these Old Testament saints. Behold, thy salvation cometh. It still comes. It is coming.
And we know, we've read the account there in Mark and right through
the Gospels, that our Lord Jesus Christ did come, did not only
just come into this world, but he came, he came to Jerusalem
as that willing offering, as one that has said, no man taketh
my life from me, I lay it down of myself. This commandment have
I received from my Father, I have power to lay it down, I have
power to take it again. He is the Paschal Lamb, He is
the substitutionary offering, so that instead of the Israelites,
the firstborn dying, it was the Lamb that died in their place.
And the Lord's promise, when I see the blood, I will pass
over you. That is the salvation, not salvation
outside, of Christ, not salvation without blood, but thy salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the God of salvation. And as we have it in Psalm 68,
our God is the God of salvation. Salvation is deliverance from
and deliverance to. God has shut the door of hell,
delivered his people from destruction and from hell, and delivered
them to heaven. It is a twofold salvation, not
half. It fits his people that he has
saved for heaven. We could rescue someone from
drowning, we pull them out of the water, And there they are,
they're alive, but they're drenched and not fit to stand before kings
or in a wonderful place at all. But if we were not only to give
them life, but to clothe them and to bring them where they'd
have a provision of everything that they needed, and get a little
glimpse of what the Lord has done for his people, There is
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There's not just no condemnation. It is eternal bliss in heaven. And that is the message of our
Lord in that beautiful prayer of John 17. Father, I will that
they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory. Not just to save them, but to
have them with him. That's a great thing, isn't it?
You know, we might show a kind deed to a homeless person. We might give them food. We might
provide perhaps a roof over their head. But if we were to say to
them, no, I want you to be with me. You come into my home. You share all what I've got.
What a difference that that is. Heimreiter says, partner of my
throne shalt be. Saved for a sinner, lovest thou
me. Thy salvation cometh. The salvation
of the Lord is bound up in one name. There's one name given
among men whereby we must be saved. If ye believe not that
I am he, ye shall perish, In your sins, says our Lord, I am
the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And our Lord Jesus Christ did
come. He has come. But what is so vital
for you and I is that He comes and our salvation comes personally. That we be saved personally. And those beautiful promises,
that they that wait for him, he shall appear, he shall come. Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
behold thy salvation cometh. There is a set time to favour
Zion, and he said, yea, that set time is come. In Hymn 76, a time not to propose, but called
by grace. And there is that set time. And
those that seek then shall find the time when the Lord shall
pass by his people and bid them live. It's a wonderful encouragement,
isn't it? Now if we thought we were going
to catch a bus, we went to the bus stop and we waited and we
waited and we thought, well, the time is surely gone when
this bus should come, And we're very anxious, will it come at
all? If someone who knew that bus route very well came to us
and said, don't worry, it's always a bit late, it will come, you
know. That would really calm our fears,
to be told that. Bus still not in sight, but just
to be assured it was coming, makes such a difference. and
for those that are seeking the Lord, those that are waiting
for Him, to be assured and told that that which they seek for,
that which they wait for, their own salvation, Thy salvation
cometh, the Church of God's salvation, but the individual members of
the Church of God, the daughters of Zion. What a message! As we said, physical, personal
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has come. He will come. He will come in the day of grace.
He will come and save all of those for whom he has died and
risen again. They will be called by grace
as one of the doctrines, the Calvinistic faith, irresistible
grace. They that are chosen, they will
be called. And those that are elect, they
will be called. We're exalted to make known our
calling and our election sure. Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
behold, thy salvation cometh. We have the authority of the
word of God that he will come for his people. He will come
at last, at the last day. The world will not end, not by
a nuclear explosion, it won't end by man and the Lord not know
of it, no. There will be wars, rumours of
wars, and no doubt there will be nuclear wars before the end
of the world. But the Lord has determined when
the world shall end. And he shall come with power
and great glory and in the clouds, and every eye shall see him.
And the earth shall be remaining in such a way, we might say,
peaceable way, that men like in Noah's day are still buying
and selling and marrying and giving in marriage. And the Lord
has assured us in that, that he will come in the clouds with
power and great glory, and his people that are alive shall meet
him in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. What a message
then, a message for this Old Testament church, a message that
saw the Lord Jesus Christ come, a message that sees him come
by grace and blessing, converting, giving the new birth, and saving
her people from their sins, and a message that points to the
coming of the Lord at last to take his people home. Say ye
to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. But there
is a third behold in our text. Each one draws our attention
more and more closely to draw attention to the Lord's coming
and the Lord's salvation and what is to be proclaimed in the
Church of God. So the last one, the third point,
is Behold. And there's two important aspects
of Christ's coming. Behold, His reward is with Him
and His work before Him. These are ways that we shall
know Him and know His coming. Two important things that we
are told. Firstly is what is with Him. We're told that His reward is
with Him. You might say, well, what is
this that is a reward? It's a blessed thing to have
respect unto the recompense of reward. Many that, or most that, are
lost, they cannot see past earthly things. They live for time, they
live for the day. They want their things in this
life, when our Lord Told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man had everything in
this life. Lazarus had nothing. Many that
have everything, they'll say, why do we need religion? Why
do we need faith? What will it profit us? What
will it add to our bank balance? How will it make us any better?
But for the people of God, they're not looking for those things.
They are like in Hebrews 11. They embrace the promises. They see them afar off, they
embrace them. They confess that they are strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. And they're looking for that
which is not here below. They're looking for that which
is not of this earth, not of treasures of earth. but for that
which is above. And the expectation of blessing
of this reward is not in the sense that we follow the Lord
for loaves and fishes. If we have salvation, if we follow
the Lord and believe Him, then He would do this for us, that
for us, and in those material ways. The reward that the Lord
has is what the Lord reproved a people that followed Him for
loaves and fishes. He says, no. He says, seek that
mate that endureth unto eternal life. And that life is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He comes with it. He brings everything
with Him. Those things are with Him. The
blessings are with Him. And we must remember that, because
everyone that is seeking the Lord, if they're seeking and
brought to seek in the right way, they are empty, they have
nothing in themselves, they have no righteousness of their own,
they're nothing but sin and disgrace. Perhaps to use another illustration,
if you had a person that had been saved from drowning. And
there they were, they had got no clothes to stand up in, nothing
to use at all. And they said, well, a parent
is coming or someone is coming to you. And they said, but no,
I've got nothing. Don't worry, you'd be told. When
they come, they'll have everything. They'll have some fresh clothes,
they'll have some towels, they'll have some food, they'll have
everything that you need. And what a contrast that is.
A person has nothing but needing many things and told that the
one that's coming to them has got everything that they need.
And that is the message for the Church of God. However empty,
however vile, with no righteousness, Everything will be provided by
the Lord. I love that verse in 1 John chapter
1. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Because many times I've thought,
well, what's the good of confessing my sin? Because next minute,
I'm doing the same thing again. I can't change my heart. And yet the Lord says, no, you
confess your sins and when I come, I will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. I will do that. I will take care
of your besetting sins and your need. I will deal with those
things. Our immediate thought is, no,
we must deal with them. The hymn writer says, no, I cannot
promise future good to bring. And the Lord knows that we cannot
do anything good. The apostle says, the good I
would, I do not. And the evil that I would not,
that I do. A wretched man that I am. But
his thanks is that it shall be through the Lord that he shall
be delivered. When the Lord comes, when the
Lord blesses, he will bring everything with him. Psalm 130, verse 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
spiritual Israel, well and natural Israel. For with the Lord is
mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities. Everything with him. Mercy and
redemption, plenteous redemption. What is the verse before? The
verse is before, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait. Do you
wait? Do I wait for the Lord? In his
word do I hope. Do you? Do I wait and hope for
the Lord in his word? My soul waiteth for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. There is a soul waiting and looking
for him to come. And the message is, say ye to
the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh, behold
his reward is with him. When he comes, you come with
mercy, you come with truth, you come with grace, you come with
every blessing, everything that a poor sinner needs, you come
with life, you come with that which is just so suited to a
poor, needy sinner, freely to give them salvation. That Israel
hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy and plenteous
redemption. He shall give life to his people. You know the woman of the well
of Samaria, she knew one thing that would happen when the Lord
came, Messiah's came and she said to the Lord Jesus, she didn't
know him, she didn't know who he was, he was a stranger, and
she wondered out why he, being a Jew, was to talk to a woman
of Samaria. And she said to him that when
Messiah's cometh, he shall tell us all things. That's the one
thing she knew about Messiah's. In our texts we know that when
He comes, His reward is with them. He will bring with Him
His graces, He will bring what is needed. But what did He just
say to that woman? He told her about her life, He
told her about the five husbands that she'd had and the one that
she had now was not a husband. When she'd go and then He said
to her, I that speak unto thee am he. But when she went to the
Samaritans, to her people, she didn't say, there is a man that
told me that he was the Messiah. No, she said, come see a man
that told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ? In effect, she has said, the
one thing I knew that he would do when he came, he would tell
us all things. And he's told me all things about
my life. And that was enough to convince
her. With Nathanael, before that Philip
called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. That
was enough for him when he came and our Lord said that to him. He then saw that he was the Christ. Those that receive blessing from
the Lord, when the Lord visits their songs, They have imparted
from the Lord. Like the woman with the issue
of the blood, or virtue, there's the treasure in Him, the blessings
and gifts in Him, the change that He makes. It strengthens, lifts up, encourages,
enlivens, He calms the fears of the people
of God, clothes them with righteousness, fills them with peace, blesses
them with love. Those things come from Him. We
know it doesn't come, and every child of God knows it doesn't
come from them. Regarding the interpretation
of dreams, Daniel, Joseph, both of them, They said, it is not
in me. God will give an answer apiece.
Not in me. And every child of God knows
I have nothing. I'm but an empty, poor, hell-deserving
sinner. But Thou hast everything. My
treasure is in Thee. I need to be united to that living
vine, to receive the sap, to receive life, or else I will
never bear fruit. I'll never bring anything but
the evil fruits of my old nature. But receiving of that life, and
from the root, from the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall have everything. It's a vital message, isn't it?
For poor, hell-deserving sinners, that when the Lord comes, He
has just what they need. to deliver them from hell and
to fit them for heaven. But that's not the only behold.
There's two things. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. His work before him. Something
goes before the Lord. Something intimates his coming. The Apostle Paul He says to the
Galatians that the law is a schoolmaster unto Christ. When our Lord did
come, literally, there was one foretold that would go before
him, and that was John Baptist, to make ready a people prepared
of the Lord, so that people were in expectation. They were being
prepared. And he came preaching repentance,
preaching the need of a change. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
came. God's people are a prepared people
for a prepared place, but they're also a prepared people for a
prepared saviour to make ready a people for the Lord. The Lord, when he sent forth
his 70, where did he send them? He sent them into every place
where he himself would come. And I've often been encouraged
in that. The Lord won't say, I'm going to send one of my servants
to that church or to that place. but I'm never gonna bless his
ministry, and I'm never gonna come there, and I'm never gonna
bring salvation there. No, there is an expectation where
the Lord sent his servant that he will follow, and that he will
bless that word, and the Lord will come. And the people will
lose sight of the servant, and they'll see the Lord. And that's
what happened with John Baptist, wasn't it? When he pointed out
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said, behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world, the disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. And that is a blessed effect. When the word is heard through
the ministry, that they end up following the Lord. His work
is before him. He draws the people. The Lord said, no man can come
unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him, I'll raise
him up at the last day. There are those things that go
before the Lord's coming. He creates an aching void the
world can never fill. He brings one into want, into
conviction of sin in more or less way. He gives them a hearing
ear. They look for His coming, they
want Him to come, and their prayers are to that end, that He'll come
and He'll bless them, and He'll deliver them and save them. They
feel the poverty of their prayers, the poorness of their prayers,
that they so want Him. They say with one of old, Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief. But His work is before Him. Are we overlooking what already
is the Lord's work in us. He will not forsake the work
of his own hands. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. When does
that good work begin? Not when he comes and blesses
that soul with full assurance, with forgiveness and pardon,
but when they first are in want, when they are yet feeling afar
off, and they feel their need and their sin, and they hunger
and thirst after righteousness. That's when the good work begins,
when that soul is quickened into life, and they hear this message. And this message is to be an
encouragement to the daughters of Zion, encouragement to the
Church of God, and may it be to those of you that wait, look
for His salvation, Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the
end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy
salvation cometh, Behold, his reward is with him, and his work
before him. The Lord bless his word. Amen.