The light, if made fast, falls
leaving time. The darkness deepens morning. And other helpers, fulfilling
comforts free, help of the hopeless, so abide with me. Safe. ? Through its cold ebbs
out life's little day ? ? Earth's joys grow dim as glories pass
away ? ? Change and decay in all around I see ? O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. What but Thy grace can for the
tempter's power? Oh, like Thyself, my guidance
taken me. Oh, cloud and sunshine, oh, abide
with me. Oh, plow thy work before my closing
eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks, and
Earth's faint shadows fade. In life, in death, O Lord, abide
with me. Lord abides with us all will
be well. Thank you Bree. Donnie Bell was supposed to be
here this weekend and for several reasons had to cancel at the
last minute. So I'm going to preach in his
stead tonight. If you'll open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah chapter 62. I've titled this The Watchman's
Message. There's a lot in this passage of scripture that could
be said about the watchman, but I don't want the focus of this
message to be on the watchman. I want it to be on his message.
You might say, well, what is a watchman? Well, the first thing
that comes to my mind is the second part of that word, man. And man at his very best state
is altogether vanity. A watchman is just a man. But
God is pleased to use one beggar to tell other beggars where to
find bread. He's pleased to use one sinner to tell other sinners
about the Savior. It's a humbling experience for
us all, isn't it? Faith comes by hearing. It doesn't
come by studying. We don't have opportunities for
people to make contributions of their opinions when it comes
God uses the preaching of the gospel to save those whom he
saves. And he does it through watchmen. I'm so thankful for these brothers
that are here this weekend to point us to Christ. That's what
the watchman does. He doesn't draw attention to
himself. Think about some of the men that the Lord called
out in scripture John the Baptist was a watchman. He said, he said,
I must decrease and he must increase. The purpose of the watchman is
to say with what John said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sins of the world. That's the watchman's responsibility.
Look here. I, verse six in Isaiah chapter
62, I have set watchmen upon thy walls. Jeremiah, when God called him,
said, I cannot speak, for I am but a child. Every watchman feels
that way. Every watchman feels the way
Moses felt when he said, who am I? Who am I that I should
go? Who am I that I should speak
for God? I've set you upon the wall in
order to alert the people and tell them about their Savior. When God called Isaiah, Isaiah's
first words out of his mouth was, woe is me. I'm a man of
unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean
lips. Who am I? Who am I? Nevertheless, God uses
watchmen, doesn't he? And I'm so thankful. Watchmen
are faithful. You know, the measure of success
of a watchman is as much as we want men to hear from God and
believe the message. The measure of success of Watchmen
is not in the number of people that hear, it is rather in their
faithfulness to be true to the gospel, true to God's word. And that's our hope this weekend,
that God would give us faithfulness to be true Paul, when he spoke
of himself and the responsibility that God had given him, said,
I am least of all the saints that I should go and preach the
gospel to the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ? What can I
say? What can I say? The Lord rebuked
the church at Corinth because they were setting up the watchman
higher than they should have. Some of them said, well, Well,
I'm of Apollos." And another would say, I'm of Cephas. And
another would say, well, I'm of Christ. And the Lord rebuked
them for that. He said, Paul said, Apollos planted,
I watered, God gave the increase. God gave the increase. It's the
Lord. And I want to make a statement not
for provocative sake but in order to show you something from the
scriptures. Watchman in the strictest sense of the word are not teachers.
They're not teachers. They're guides. They guide God's
people through God's word to see what God has said and what
God has done and to learn and to hear from God. He's our teacher. You remember when the Lord sent
Philip to meet with that Ethiopian eunuch? and the eunuch was reading from
the book of Isaiah. And Philip said, understandest
what thou readest? And what did that Ethiopian say?
How can I unless the man should guide me? Does the prophet speak
of himself or is he speaking of another? And beginning right
there, Philip preached unto him Jesus. Now, turn to me to 1 John. chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2. Look with me at verse 27. But the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you. That's the unction of the Holy
Spirit. That's the one that the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking
of when he said, it's expedient for you that I go away, for if
I go away, the Comforter will not come. But when he comes,
when he comes, he'll teach you all truth. And now the Lord said,
you have the Spirit of God to teach you. And you need not that
a man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth
you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
is hath taught you, and you shall abide in him." Now, this causes
every child of God to say, oh, Lord, give me your spirit. Give
me your spirit. And that's why the Lord said,
if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the
Holy Ghost to them who ask him? You see, anything you can learn
from a man, you can unlearn from another man. But when God teaches
you, the Lord said, they shall be all taught of God. So the
watchman's responsibility is not to teach. The watchman's
responsibility is to guide. And he knows that the Lord's
going to make it effectual to the hearts of his people. He's
going to teach them. Go back with me to our text. The watchman sent of God to Jerusalem. That's the church. It's the means
by which God grows His church and saves His people. It's through
the ministry of this watchman. He said, I have set watchman
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. Ezekiel 3, verse 17, the Lord
said to the prophet, Son of man, I have made thee
a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word
at my mouth and give warning to them from me." That's what
the watchman does. And God's people, they just want
to know what God says. What does God say? Don't try
to to debate it or defend it or just declare to me, thus saith
the Lord. What does God have to say about
it? We are ambassadors. An ambassador
doesn't have a message of his own. He's taking the message
of the King and delivering it to the people. And so the Lord
says, I've given to Jerusalem to set on her walls watchman,
which shall never hold their peace." Now, we know that a watchman
is telling the truth because he keeps telling us the same
thing. You remember in Isaiah 6 when after Isaiah had his lips
cleansed by that coal that came from off the altar, which picture
is exactly what you preach, John? The fiery wrath of God that fell
on the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses our lips of that uncleanness. And then the Lord said, Who shall
go? And Isaiah said, Here am I, send me. And then the Lord
said to the prophet Isaiah a statement that is most... This is so humbling
to me, this is so sobering to me because it's the most often
Old Testament passage quoted in the New Testament. When God
said to the prophet Isaiah, They will have ears but they will
not hear, eyes but they will not see. Their hearts are going to be
hardened. They're not going to believe you, Isaiah. And Isaiah
said, Lord, how long do I have to do that until the cities be
wasted without inhabitants and the land be utterly desolate?
Isaiah, you just keep preaching the gospel. And so the Lord says,
I have set upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace, day or night. What are they going to do? They're
going to make mention of the Lord. They're going to talk about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was an incredibly intelligent
man and very well-educated. He said, I profess to know nothing
among you save Christ and Him crucified. All I can do is make
mention of Him. All I can do is tell you about
His glorious person and His accomplished work of salvation and then trust
that the Spirit of God will do His work to make that truth effectual
to your hearts and teach you, lead you to Christ, cause you
to believe, cause you to believe. God doesn't give us faith, we
can't give it to one another, can we? They shall never hold their peace. They're going to be faithful
stewards of the gospel. Paul said, I fought a good fight.
I finished my course. I've kept the faith. I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God, and I charge you. He told Timothy, I charge you,
therefore, before God, who shall judge the quick and the dead,
the living and the dead, that you preach the word, preach the
word in season, now to season. Timothy just keep telling them,
just keep preaching. And that's what we've come here
to do this weekend, to preach the gospel in hopes that God
would give us ears to hear and eyes to see. But it's not the
watchman's duty or responsibility or ability to do any of that,
is it? It's the Lord. God told Nicodemus,
the Lord told Nicodemus in John chapter 3, said, Nicodemus, all
your education, all your religiosity, you can't see the kingdom of
God. You can't even perceive of it.
You have no understanding of it lest you be born of the spirit.
The natural man cannot receive things of the spirit. They're
spiritually discerned. He cannot know them. He cannot know them. Lord, give us your spirit. Give
us your spirit. Give the watchman faithfulness
to declare what you have said and give me the ability to hear
and to believe from you. Go back with me to our text. Verse 7, and give him, now that him is
a reference to God. And so the Lord is commanding
the church and the watchman to give him no rest till he establish
and until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. It's his church. It's his gospel. It's his work. That's why the Lord said to Peter,
when Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God, and the Lord said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh
and blood didn't reveal that unto you. My Father which is
in heaven has made it known unto you. And upon this rock, the
declaration that you just made about who I am, I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is God's work. Right here on this pulpit, this
has been here for several years now. Psalm 127 verse 1. I put it here to remind me and
every other watchman that ever gets up here, except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the
Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Everything
we do is in vain. unless the Lord is pleased to
bless it. How dependent we are on Him. Scripture says that the Lord
added to the church daily such as should be saved. God adds
to His church. God's the one that opens the
eyes of our eyes. He's the one that regenerates us. He's the
one that causes us to believe. Salvation is of the Lord. Nothing we bring to the table.
God has to do it all. I've said to our folks on many
occasions, the Lord's gonna do it all or he won't do it at all.
Yes, that's it. Notice in the last part of verse
seven, until he make Jerusalem a praise, a praise in the earth. Right now, Jerusalem doesn't
get much attention in this world. Now, that city over there in
the Middle East, I guess, got some attention recently when
they decided to move the embassy to Jerusalem. But that's not
what it's talking about here. This is talking about the church.
It's talking about those little band of believers that gather
in faraway places like the churches where you came from and the church
where we gathered here tonight. And the world's not taking notice
of us. They don't even know we're here. They don't care. They don't know that the only
reason they're here is because we're here. They don't know that. When the last of God's elect
is called effectually to faith in Christ, that's it. God's going to roll this world
up like a scroll that's going to be done with. He's finished.
The only reason this world exists is for the salvation of God's
people and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one day, one
day, you know the Lord Jesus Christ has a trophy wife. He's
gonna parade her as the trophy of His grace before all of creation
and say, look at her comeliness, look at what I have done for
her. And he's gonna be glorified in it. And so the Lord says,
give him no rest. continue to plead with Him until
He makes Jerusalem His bride, the glorious trophy of His grace,
bringing attention to Himself when He's finished with this
world. Look with me at verse 8. The
Lord hath sworn. When God swears, it's just It's,
when God speaks, it's said, it's true, it's settled. But here the Lord has sworn.
He's made a sworn covenant. He's made a promise. And that's
why we hang the hopes of our salvation on His promises, knowing
that He is faithful to keep all of His promises. Our God cannot
lie. And now the Lord says, I have
sworn What is he sworn? By his right hand. You remember
in Isaiah chapter 53 when the Lord said, when Isaiah said,
who hath believed our report? And then in our version of the
Bible, the second part of that verse is a statement, or it's
another question actually in our text, to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed, but in fact to whom the arm of the Lord
revealed is the one that believed the report. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the strong right hand of God, and he's got to be revealed.
This gospel is hid from the natural man. He's got to reveal it. So
the Lord said, I'm going to swear by my right hand and by the arm
of his strength, surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat
for thine enemies and the sons of the strangers shall not drink
thy wine for the which thou hast labored." Now, in free will works
religion where some of us came from, the fruit of our religious
labors was used in the hand of the enemy to give us false hope
of our salvation. We took comfort in thinking,
well, we're serving God. We must be saved. We must be
right with God. We're doing what we're supposed
to be doing. We're worshiping God. We're serving
God. We were worshiping and serving
the God of our own imagination. In fact, we were worshiping and
serving ourselves. We'd set ourselves up on the
throne of God, and our enemy was taking our labor, the fruit
of our labor, and using it against us until the Spirit of God came. and caused us to see that all
that which we were trusting in was iniquity, was unacceptable
to God. The Lord caused us to have a
need for the Lord Jesus Christ when he stripped us of all of
our righteousness. We were ignorant of God's righteousness,
thinking that we could establish our own righteousness, not knowing
that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth, but we didn't know that. And so the Lord says,
I swear I'm no longer going to give your fruit to your enemy
to be used against you. But look what he says in the
next verse. But they that have gathered, they shall eat it and praise
the Lord. Isaiah chapter 55, why do you
labor for that which is not meat? You spend money for that which
satisfies not. What? You've done all of this. Hearken ye unto me." That's what we do. We spend money for that which
is not bread and we labor for that which satisfies not. God
says, eat that which is good. Let your soul delight itself
in fatness. They that have gathered it, they
shall eat it. He's talking about feasting on
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life. His life is
our life. We're bound up in Him. We have
union with the Lord Jesus Christ so that everything He did in
His life, He did with His people. Picture of a woman who is bearing
a child. Everywhere that woman, everywhere
that mother goes, that child goes with her. And everything that mother does.
There's the picture. We're in Christ. And I used this
illustration last Wednesday night and I've been thankfully corrected
on it. The connection that the baby
has to the mother in the womb is not connected with veins. Otherwise, all children would
have the same blood type as the mother. The placenta doesn't
have a hard connection to the wall of the uterus. Everything
that exchanges between the mother and the baby exchanges by gas. And the only thing that the baby
has to give to its mother is its waste. And everything that
the mother gives to the baby is nourishment. And then that,
what a picture. What a picture. We're dependent
of, it's the spirit of God. The spirit of God is called the
wind of God, isn't it? And He's the one that enables
us to have that union with Christ. And the Lord says, delight yourself
in fatness. Notice in the last part of verse
9, but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the
Lord. They're going to give Him all the praise. They've given
Him nothing but their waste. and He's given them everything
in nourishment by His Spirit. And they have brought it together,
shall drink it in the courts of My holiness." That's what
we hope. The Lord said, if any man thirsts,
come unto Me. Drink from the river of life
freely, freely. Look at verse 10. Go through. go through the gates." Here's
the watchman saying to the people, the Spirit and the Bride, what
do they say? Come, come. Paul said, follow me as I follow
after Christ. Come, go through the gates. The veil has been rent. In the
Old Testament, the priests were stationed outside of the temple
warning the people to stay away. particularly when the high priest
went in once a day on the Day of Atonement and made that sacrifice
in the Holies of Holies. Anybody came near to that, they
were put to death. And now, when the Lord Jesus
Christ bows his mighty head on Calvary's cross and cries, it
is finished, the work of redemption, my blood has been shed, the mercy
seat has been covered, what happens to that veil? The veil is rent
from the top to the bottom, miraculously, And now the spirit and the bride,
they don't say stay away, they say come, come. We have a forerunner,
he's gone before us. He's prepared the way. As we
saw in Isaiah chapter 55, his word will not return unto him
void. It will accomplish the purpose
for which it was sent. What was the Lord Jesus Christ
sent in this world to do? To save sinners. Did he accomplish
that? Yes, yes. Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare you the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up
the standard for the people. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
that standard and we're to lift him up. As the serpent was lifted
up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
And I, if I be lifted up, will draw him into me. Our hope is
to be able to lift up Christ. that our eyes might be drawn
to Him and all the hope of our salvation would be in Him. And here we have a picture of
men that would go out and prepare the roadway for the coming of
the King, moving the stones and the impediments out of the way,
the sticks and the stumbling blocks, whatever they might be.
And the Lord says, that's what the watchman's to do. Another
picture of that is that the cities of refuge that God gave for the
children of Israel when they fled from the avenger of blood,
those cities of refuge being a picture of Christ and the signs
were to be maintained and the roads were to be prepared so
that when a man needed to get to a city of refuge there wouldn't
be anything in his way. He could flee to that city. And
so the Lord says here's the watchman's responsibility, remove The obstacles. The obstacles. What are some
of the obstacles that we put in the way of coming to Christ? Well, one obstacle that men have
is, well, I just haven't, I don't think I've had the feeling yet. I want to be a faithful watchman
to you tonight and I want to say to you, that's a stone in
the way. That's a stick in the road. Feelings
come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. They're deceiving. You might feel bad. You might
feel real good about it. You didn't feel lost when you
were lost, did you? No. No. My only warrant is the Word
of God. None else is worth believing. Trust what God has said. Don't
trust your feelings. The Lord says, get those things
out of the way. Well, I don't know if I know
enough yet. How much do you suppose that Ethiopian eunuch knew? I
mean, he was from Ethiopia and he got word that there was a
God in Israel that was the true God and the Lord had put it on
his heart to go find out. He had gone to Jerusalem, hadn't
been there long, acquired a copy of the text and was brand new
to to any writings of the Lord. And here he is reading and he
asked Philip, he said, what doth hinder me to be baptized? What
did Philip say? If thou believest with all thine
heart. He didn't say, well if you can
parse the verbs of the Hebrew and if you can understand the
the historical events that took place in the history of Israel
and if you can... No, he didn't say any of that.
Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And what did that eunuch say? I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. That one you just preached to
me, I believe what you told me. You see, thinking that you have
to have more knowledge or thinking that you have to have a better
feeling to come to Christ, those are the impediments that those
are obstacles. And the Lord says, get them out
of the way. Get them out of the way. Do you know that you're a sinner? By that I mean, do you know that
you have no righteousness in everything about you? I've made
this statement. Our folks, I'm sure they're tired
of hearing it. Maybe not. I hope not. I hope not. The most simple and clear verse
of Scripture in the Bible to me that describes what we are
is in Romans chapter 3 when God says, all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. So the simple question is what
in your life falls short of God's glory? Everything. That's why God says
he looks down from heaven, he sees that every imagination of
the heart is only evil and that continually. So that's what we
are. Do you believe that about yourself?
Do you believe that you've got some righteousness? Or do you
believe yourself to be a sinner, falling short of the glory of
God? That's the only knowledge. That's
the only knowledge. that a sinner needs and that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior for sinners. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy
to be accepted in its entirety and it's worthy to be accepted
by all men. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Sinners. What more do we need to know?
And I've heard people over the years say, well, you don't know
what I've done. You have not yet sinned to the
uttermost. And the Lord Jesus Christ saves
to the uttermost. Let's say for the sake of argument
that you hadn't done that thing that you feel so bad about. Would
you then be more redeemable, more acceptable, more pleasing
in God's sight, would it be easier for God to save you? You see
the self-righteousness in that? If I hadn't done this? When the Lord saved that demoniac
in the Gadarenes, the demons spoke out of him and said, our
name is Legion. Legion. He was a wild man in
a graveyard cutting himself with rocks and naked and no sanity
about him whatsoever. The Lord put him in his right
mind and clothed him and sent him home, didn't he? Possessed
with a legion of demons. The thief on the cross didn't
have anything to recommend him to God, did he? You see, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Then God calls
him a murderer. The scripture says that that
thief on the cross was a murderer. He's a murderer. You see, it's nothing more than
a stumbling block to say, well, if I hadn't done something or
if my sin's too bad. And then there's the idea that,
well, I don't know if I can If I've been sorry enough yet, I
can remember in religion, I want to confess something to you all
in religion. I was a preacher in religion for years before
the Lord was pleased to save me. And I can remember back preaching
a message on repentance. And I had three points to the
message. In order for you to repent, you had to have a sense
of your sin, you had to have a true sorrow for your sin, and
you had to have a separation from your sin. And all I was
doing is putting obstacles in the road, keeping men from Christ. Because the truth is, how can
we have a sense of something that we're not even aware of? We can't have a sense of sin.
Sorrow? Sorrow? How sorry do you have
to be? Turn to me to Isaiah, Psalm 38.
Psalm 38. When someone apologizes to you
for an offense, you judge the sincerity of that apology based
on whether or not you think they are able to have some understanding
of the pain they caused you. If they're glib about it, if
they just say, well, I'm sorry, please forgive me, and you know
that they That apology doesn't mean anything, does it? How sorry do you have to be before
God? You've got to know from God's perspective what your sin
caused. That's how sorry. How are you
going to be sorry enough? Look at Psalm 38 is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 17, for I am
ready to halt and my sorrow, my sorrow is continually before
me for I will declare mine iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to Calvary's cross, he took with him not only the sins of his
people, he took his people. We were in him. He's expressing
the sorrow that God required in order for that apology to
be sincere. We're not capable. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one who knew the real evil of sin. And when he bore it in his body
upon that tree, he experienced sorrow before God. owning our
sin as his own, owning his people as his own. He expresses his
sorrow and God forgives us because Christ. You see, to think I've
got to be sorry enough in order to be sincere, you can't be sorry
enough. You're not sincere. We're just
not, are we? We don't know. We're so accustomed
to sin, We're so numb to it, it doesn't really bother us much,
does it? It really doesn't. What do we
need to know about our sin? We need to know what it took
God to put it away. The prophet said, when the spirit
of grace and supplication is poured out upon the house of
Jerusalem and on the inhabitants of Israel, They will look upon
Him whom they have pierced. They have pierced. The Lord Jesus
Christ had to feel the full burden of sin and suffer the full wrath
of God's justice in order for my sin to be put away. And that's
what He did. He had a sense of sin. He had
a sorrow for sin. And He delivered us from sin. He separated us from it. Reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. When the Lord Jesus
Christ died on Calvary's cross, he removed our sin from us as
far as the east is from the west. We died in him. Paul said, oh,
that I might know him, the fellowship of his suffering, that I could
believe that when Christ suffered on Calvary's cross that I died
in him. I was crucified with Him. And then there's another stumbling
block men put in the way. I'm ashamed to say that I did
it in ignorance, didn't know any better, but I put this stumbling
block in men's way. Well, you know, you've got to
clean up your life. first before you can come to Christ. Charlotte Elliott was an unbeliever,
lived in England. She had a friend that wanted
her to hear the gospel. She wouldn't come to Charlotte
Elliott, wouldn't go to church with her. So her friend invited
Charlotte Elliott to her home for dinner one night. And unbeknownst
to Charlotte Elliott, She also invited her pastor in hopes that
maybe he'd have a chance to talk to her at dinner. And so he asked
her about the condition of her soul as they were eating and
Charlotte Elliott made it known to him that she wasn't interested
in talking to him about that. That was the end of the conversation.
A few days later, Charlotte Elliott saw that pastor on the streets
in London and went up to him and said, your question to me
the other night has haunted my soul she said she said you asked
me about coming to Christ and she said how do I come how do
I come and he said to her just like
you are she's the one that wrote that
hymn in our hymnal just as I am without one plea, but that thy
blood was shed for me. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark spot, to thee whose blood can cleanse
each spot, O Lord, I come. Come just like you are. Don't
try to clean up your life. You're not going to be able to
do it. You know, that's what people
do. They try to clean up the outside of the cup when the inside
is full of corruptions. Leave the cleaning up to him.
He'll take care of it. He knows how to grow children, how to discipline
them, and how to raise them. So here it is, look at verse
10, go through, go through the gates, prepare you the way of
the people, cast up, cast up of the highway, gather up the
stones, lift up the standard. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
a tribe stone, a precious stone, a stone that was rejected by
the builders and God has made to be the head of the corner
and men stumble over Him. He is the stumbling stone Why is he such a stumbling stone?
Because men are looking to all these other obstacles as the
hope of their salvation. You see, you're either going
to stumble over Christ or you're going to stumble over all these
things that men say you have to do to get to Christ. And the
watchman, what's he say? Clear the road, put up the sign,
raise the standard, tell them to come just like they are, just
like they are. Don't try to fix anything. Verse 11, Behold, the Lord hath
proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter
of Zion, Behold, look, thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation cometh. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
salvation. And He came in the likeness of
sinful flesh, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem
those who are cursed by the law. He came in His incarnation. And
then He entered back into glory. He came back to His rightful
throne when He ascended back to the Father after having accomplished
the salvation of His people. He went back and was seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high. And that's what, when
Isaiah 55 says, my word will not return unto me void, it will
accomplish the purpose for which I send it. And John said, in
the beginning was the word and the word was with God. God's
watchman and God's people take great comfort in knowing that
when the gospel is preached, it's not going to return void.
God's going to make it effectual. But the living word, the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself ascended back into glory and took with
Him the names of those for whom He lived and died and He ever
lives to make intercession for us right now, right now. Was the watchman to declare,
Thy salvation cometh, He cometh in His incarnation, He cometh
when He ascended back into glory. He comes now in the power of
His Spirit when He gives eyes to see and regenerates His people. In the day of His power, He comes. Our hope is that He will come
right now. Save us, Lord. Save us. Come
in Thy power. And then we have the hope of
knowing that one day that eastern sky is going to split. The trump
of God will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised, and
those of us which are to remain will be caught up together with
them in the Lord, and so shall we ever be with Him." Comfort,
comfort ye one another with these words. Tell them that their salvation
cometh. Behold, look at this, now we're
going to close. Behold, His reward is with Him. Now what is the Lord Jesus Christ's
reward? You are. His bride is His reward. That's His reward. His bride. His people. His church. And His
reward is with Him. And His reward is with Him now
and His reward will be with Him for all of eternity. Why? Because
His works went before Him. And He's the only one that that
can be said about. You can't say it about you, you
can't say it about me. But that's what men do. They try to recommend
themselves to God by their works. Cast those things out of the
way. They're keeping you from Christ. It's our righteousness. As you
said, John, it's our righteousness that keeps us from Christ. But his works, his work, his
perfect work of obedience to the law, his work of redemption,
his shed blood on Calvary's cross, his, God saw the travail of his
soul and was satisfied. God's satisfied with the work
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. He's satisfied with His sorrow.
He's satisfied with His sacrifice. He's satisfied with His Son.
This is my beloved Son. Hear ye Him. In Him I'm well
pleased. And the only question you and
I have to ask ourselves is am I satisfied with the same thing
God's satisfied with or do I think I need to do something more,
add something to it, take something away from it? and they shall call them the
holy people." Look at verse 12. The holy people. Yeah. In Christ, we're without sin. Perfect. Made perfect. Sanctified. That's what that
word holy means. He that sanctifyeth, he's the
one that did it. And they that are sanctified
are all as one. whereby he's not ashamed to call
them his brethren." Why? Because they're holy. Daniel
saw the Lord, he said, my comeliness was turned into corruption and
God said, you're going to be comely with my comeliness. I'm
going to put my beauty on you, my strength and my glory is going
to be on you so that as I am, so are you. the holy people, the sanctified
people, the redeemed of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ actually
redeemed His church. He didn't make an offer of redemption.
He wasn't trying to redeem anybody. He bought them. The Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's cross wasn't making an offer of salvation
to me and you to be accepted or rejected by us. He was making
an offer to the Father, an offering to the Father in Himself. And
the Father accepted his offering. And we're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold. Oh no, we're redeemed with the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, bought with a price.
He's redeemed us. Thou shalt be called sought out. Sought out. See, God's elect
are going to seek out God's people. They're going to seek out being
where God's people are and where the gospel of God's grace is
preached. And he's going to seek them out, isn't he? A city not forsaken. Not forsaken. The Lord Jesus Christ cried on
Calvary's cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Christ
had to be forsaken of God when he was made sin for us that we
would never be forsaken. A city not forsaken. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. What a promise. This is the watchman's duty,
isn't it? This is the church delight to hear about Christ
and what he's done. Might God give us faithfulness
to lift up Christ. Brother Bert, number 103. Let's stand together, please.
Number 103. It's a blessing. One day when heaven was filled
with its praises, one day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men. My example is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He is coming, O glorious
day. One day they led him up Calvary's
mountain. One day they nailed him to die
on the tree. Suffering anguish, despised and
rejected, bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justifies freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day! One day they left him alone in
the garden. One day he rested from suffering
free. Angels came down for his tomb
to keep vigil. Hope of the hopeless, my savior
is he. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. my sins far away rising he justified
really forever one day he's coming oh glorious day One day the grave
could conceal him no longer One day the stone rolled away from
the door Then He arose, over death He had conquered, Now is
ascended, my Lord evermore. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified, freely
forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day! One day the trumpet will sound
for his coming. One day the sky with his glory
will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved one's
bringing. Glorious Savior, this Jesus is
mine. Giving He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Married, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming, O glorious
day. Tomorrow morning, 10 o'clock. Get here early, okay? All right,
let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
you would remain with us and keep us, Lord,
and remind us of the things that we've heard. Lord, we pray for
your Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us to Christ. Pray that
you bring us back here safely tomorrow and be pleased, Lord,
to bless time of worship and be glorified in it. Thank you
for the sweet fellowship that you give us one with the other.
Pray that we'd be encouraged by it. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. He was forsaken.