Good morning everyone. Turning
the Bibles to Isaiah 52. We are coming up to a 10 year
anniversary in our church, and one of the most significant differences
that I have noted, and I am sure most of you have, between us
and the churches that surround us, is our dedication or our
faithfulness by God's grace to the Gospel, and the difference
in regard to that Gospel as to what others preach. But it's not only a point of
contention with other churches and other professing Christians. It's also what's significant
about our unity here amongst us. We've seen that in Acts 4,
that there's a unity, a oneness of God's people. In spite of
where we come from and the differences amongst us, our different interests,
our different experiences throughout our lives, there is one point
of common ground and that is our relationship with the Lord
Jesus Christ and our declaration of that relationship. It's because
he works personally in each of his people. Hi, how are you? We're reading from Isaiah 52
in a minute. And so he does. He works personally within his
people in their conversions and he continues to reveal himself
again and again and again in their lives. And we find ourselves dealing
with an individual, not a theory, not a doctrine, but a person.
We've seen in Acts, as we move through Acts, that it is a foundational
book in regard to the structure and position of the Church and
purpose of the Church in this world, of Gospel Churches, New
Testament Gospel Churches. These are the last days. This
is the Gospel Age. And our God does everything perfectly. He is sovereign over every molecule. He is sovereign over every atom,
every experience, every instance that has ever taken place in
this world from the creation of this world and He will be
to the end of this world. He does all things perfect and
He has no reason ever to change. these foundational lessons from
the Book of Acts as the Lord establishes His Church, we can
apply that to ourselves personally here today, 2000 or something
years later. So He does deal with His people
personally, and these are foundational things in regard to the Church. And in Acts 1.8 we are told the
purpose of the Church in this world, the chief purpose, and
it's to be witnesses. Not witnesses of a fleshly theory
that's been contrived by men and suits our own flesh and our
own desperate desire to ascend to heaven. Not witnesses to theories
or doctrines that have been gathered and gleaned out of the Bible
as if to present to men a way of salvation through their wisdom
and their activities. We are witnesses of a person.
We are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are witnesses
of the God that we have met in our salvation. That message doesn't
change because He doesn't change. We have unity together because
we all know the same person the same saviour and the same husband. So I want to read a little bit
about this witness and the origin of this witness. So we are looking
at Isaiah 52 and I want you to just as we read it, as we begin
reading it, to imagine a woman who has a perfectly loving husband
who has provided all things necessary for her, but her desires overtook
her And she sold herself into harlotry and into sin. And because of the consequences
of the sin she sits in bondage. She sits well aware of the futility
of her efforts and her labours. She sits knowing that she has
no hope. And then a messenger comes. And this messenger brings a message
in which she hears her husband speak to her. Her offended husband. And he comes and he speaks to
her through his witness of love. And it's a time of love. So I
want to just read some of this letter and make a few comments
along the way. Awake, he says to her. Awake and put on thy
strength. She sits where she sits because
she has no strength, but she's had a strength in her husband
from eternity and she's encouraged to put on that strength again,
to be reminded. Awake, put on my strength as
I am. Put on my beautiful garments. O Jerusalem, the holy city. She
sits in her sin and in the consequence of her sin, as black as black
can be, and yet she has a righteousness in her dear husband that has
been established from eternity, a righteousness in which she
has acceptance and has always had acceptance before God. It
is the basis of grace. For henceforth there shall no
more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself
from the dust." This is the dust of the world, the dust of the
oppression of Satan, the dust of that lie that we left the
Garden of Eden holding onto. Shake thyself from the dust and
sit down, O Jerusalem. She's called to She is called
to divert her attention and her confidence from this world and
the consequences of sin, and to rest in her husband and in
his righteousness. Loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the Lord,
you have sold yourselves for naught. What profit is there
to be gained for our souls in our own strength, in our own
wisdom, in our own activities really? As much as we are encouraged
by many messages around us that salvation is on the basis of
our own wisdom, our knowledge of good and evil, our strength
and our ability to suppress our sin, to choose a better way and
to live under the bondage of the law, We have no gain. And you shall be redeemed without
money. It's an amazing declaration of
the grace of God, isn't it? Completely and absolutely and
perfectly preserved in the activities of another, and recipients of
it, even though we are undeserving. Now remember this woman as she
reads this, or as this message is read to her. For thus says
the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to
sojourn there." And that's what we did. We left the Garden of
Eden and we walked out of that Garden of Eden in Adam. We were born into this world
and we walk according to our flesh in this world under that
lie of Satan that we embraced in rejecting our Saviour, our
God and our Husband. We sojourn. Egypt is a great
example of this world, not only the religion of this world, but
of this world and the sin in this world. And we sojourn there and the
Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Again, the Assyrian is
a picture of the strength of this world, of Satan and his
minions, of the dominance of the religion of this world and
of the sin of our own flesh which oppresses us even after our conversion. Now therefore, what have I here,
saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught? What gain is there for God? They
that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord. And
my name, now listen to this, continually every day is blasphemed. That's a description of this
world. It's a description of the bondage of false religion.
Every day, continually, the Lord's name is blasphemed. He's made
a commitment to his people for eternity. When they sit in sin,
when they sit under the oppression of Satan, and under the bondage
of this world and the bondage of the natural religion of men,
what glory is there for God? We are to be witnesses of our
God by declaring His glory in this earth. Therefore, says our God, therefore
my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know that
in that day that I am He that does speak, behold, it is I."
See, he reveals himself to his people in the Gospel. He does it personally, he does
it in love, he does it in mercy, he does it in grace. He reveals
himself. And there is a knowledge that
His people receive in this experience. In John 14.20 we're told that
in that day we will know that He is in His Father and that
we are in Him and that He is in us. There's a union revealed
between the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church, His wife, His
people. In Philippians 3.8, the Apostle
Paul counts all his righteousness, all the attainments of his religion
as loss for this knowledge. It is the promise of the New
Covenant. The Lord says that he will be a God to his people,
that they shall be his people. and that no more will they teach
each one, saying, Know the Lord, as if we can suddenly know the
Lord by some wisdom and some activities of our own. He says that each of them, from
the least to the greatest, will know him. That's the basis of
our witness, isn't it? A personal saving knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So imagine this woman again.
She's been brought the most wonderful news by a messenger of God that's
declared the wonders and grace that she has still even though
she's fallen and even though she's rejected her husband. The amazing grace that she has
in him and his amazing faithfulness. And now God asks a question. in verse 7, which should be a
question that all the children of God ask. How beautiful, how
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace. The children of God have
a peace with God that was established in eternity and is unchanged
by our failings and our fallings. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace,
that bringeth good tidings of good, that publish salvation. That's what the declaration is
in the Gospel, that the Lord Jesus Christ has saved his people
from eternity. And not anything that they do,
not anything that Satan does, not anything that this world
does, will stop that salvation. You see a summary of the Gospel
is here at the end of this verse. That saith unto Zion, thy God
reigns. That's what we declare. That's
what we experience. And that's what brings unity
amongst us. That message, that Gospel message. And that's what causes us to
stand apart from others. We've been accused so many times
of our dogmatism about the Gospel, but when you meet the Lord, that's
all that's important, is to declare Him faithfully. When you meet
the Lord you realise that it is this message that comes to
that woman that declares perfect salvation. That is the only hope for souls.
If we love souls, and the Lord makes his people love the souls
of men, our great issue is to be faithful to their souls and
to proclaim the Gospel. And that's why he says there
in verse 8, "...thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, and
with the voice together they shall sing. For they shall see
eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion." When he gathers
his children together and when he sets his church in the midst
of this world and continues to draw his people out of this world
and gather them together, This is the message and this is the
purpose, and it's a uniting purpose of his people. He declares, Break
forth into joy. Sing together, you waste places
of Jerusalem. That's what we were, isn't it? That's what we are in our flesh.
Just waste places of Jerusalem. Yet by the grace of God and through
the message of the Gospel, The Lord hath comforted his people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the world
shall see the salvation of the Lord. He promises that he will
draw people himself from every nation. It was a promise he made
to Abraham. It's a promise he continues to
make. Every nation will be represented
before the throne of God. Represented in those He has loved
for eternity, and those He has revealed Christ in, and those
who are gathered together to declare that same message of
salvation. And then there is warning in
verse 11 isn't there, in regard to this message. depart ye, depart ye. Go ye out from thence, touch
no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her,
that's her, the false religion of the world. and be ye clean that bear the
vessels of the Lord. So again that's another reference
to our witness. We bear the Lord in our witness.
We are vessels, and yes we are earthen vessels, and we are failing
and we are falling. But we declare an amazing message,
a message of life and hope to the Lord's people. And He says you shall not go
out with haste. We know that our God is sovereign.
We know that He is for us. We know that no matter what the
world throws at us, what difficulties come our way, He has all things
in order and He has our good and His glory at the forefront
of His purposes. So we don't go out with haste
or by flight. For the Lord will go before you
and the God of Israel will be your rearward or rearguard. We are surrounded. We are made
to know that we are surrounded by the grace of God. Again, think
of this woman. Think of the amazing grace and
the amazing experience it is for the Lord to reveal such salvation
and such grace to her in spite of her failings. Now these last three verses Often
it seems that they are better read in Isaiah 53 and I agree
to some point. We need to remember that there
is no chapter divisions in the Word of God in a sense. But there
is a beautiful bridge here between what we have just read and where
Isaiah 50 goes as it explains the workings of the cross and
the exchange of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. But it is also
a wonderful description How and why do we depart from the false
religion of this world? What's the purpose? What's the
foundation of our salvation? And it's in our amazing God,
and it's a reference again to our witness. Look. Behold, thy
servant shall deal prudently. He shall be extolled and be very
high. And that's what we do here. We
lift Him up. That's what we do in our witnessing
to people. We lift up the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look at us.
Look at Him and look at what He's done in the lives of His
people. And as many as were astonished
at Thee, only those that have come to know the Lord are astonished
at just how brutally our Saviour was treated. Just how brutally
we treated Him in our rejection of Him. His visage was so marred more
than any man and His form more than the sons of men. It was
horrific and it was brutal. But we can never feel anything
of that until He moves us, until He moves in our hearts and we
realise that that's our Husband that we did that to. As many as were astonished at
Thee, Then read verse 15, So shall he sprinkle many nations. Again this is the sprinkling
of his blood of redemption, the covering of that blood that brings
peace and unity between us and our Father in Heaven. The kings
shall shut their mouths at him. We're all kings, aren't we? We
all left the Garden of Eden kings of our own life. It's not just
a reference to Satan and the religious leaders. But when we come to know the
saving grace of God in the Gospel, it will shut our mouths. We'll
have nothing to say about our own righteousness and our own
activities. It will shut our mouths. For
that which had not been told them, shall they see. We don't hear this in anywhere
else but the churches of God. We don't hear the Gospel anywhere
else. It is nowhere else in the world but on the mouths and in
the mouths of people who come to know the Lord Jesus Christ
personally as a Saviour and as a Husband. And that which they had not heard
Again, they haven't heard of the Gospel until the Lord causes
them to hear the Gospel. Shall they consider? It is just an amazing miracle
of God that He has been pleased to use a declaration of His mercy
in the lives of His people as the message that He sends to
others that are lost in the world and sit in darkness. And He attends
that message with the power of His Holy Spirit and causes them
to experience the same saving grace. So again in Acts we see
this message that resonates out into the world perpetually and
throughout time as the Lord He visits his people in love and
causes them to just share that experience with others.