That's the Lord's blessing this
morning. Our Father, we pray that you
would open our hearts now, fill our hearts with the gospel, that we might truly hear Christ's
voice and worship. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Now, last time we were here,
we saw that this is Christ speaking. It's his feet preeminently that
are beautiful. He said in verse six, Isaiah
52, six, he said, therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore
they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold,
it is I. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good. that publishes salvation,
that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Now today we're gonna
hear Christ's word concerning his preachers that he sends,
thy watchman, thy watchman. He says in verse eight, thy watchman
shall lift up the voice. With thee voice together shall
they sing. For they shall see eye to eye
when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Christ Jesus is the prophet,
priest, and king of his people. He gets glory for all three of
those offices. That's why those offices were
created by God in the earth, was to glorify Christ. He's the
prophet, priest, and king of his people. And so he sends his
preachers. They are his ascension gifts
to his church and to his local assemblies in particular. God
the Father ordained that he will save his people through the preaching
of the gospel. That's God's purpose. And we read it in 1 Corinthians
121. After that, the world by wisdom
knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. If God saves somebody,
It's going to be through the preaching of the gospel. He may
use his scriptures to give you a hunger and to begin the work,
but he's going to bring you under the gospel. You're going to cross
your path with the gospel of Christ and you're going to hear
Christ exalted. That's what Paul said. We saw this last time in Romans
10, verse 14. The Lord saves whosoever calls
upon Him. But how shall they call upon
Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they believe in
Him whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? But it's not just any preacher. How shall they
preach except they be sent? Sent by Christ. sent by Christ
and he quotes our verse. So God the Father gave the glory
to his son to provide his preachers. They're his gifts by the work he accomplished for
his people. Look with me at Ephesians 4,
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 8. Ephesians 4 verse 8, and you
can read further right here. This is a beautiful passage of
why the Lord saves through the preaching of the gospel. But
he says here in verse 8, Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive. His people were captives and
he led us who were in captivity, he led us captive, he took us
captive. And he gave gifts unto men, verse
11. He gave some apostles, some prophets,
and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers. Now look
with me at Jeremiah chapter 3, Jeremiah 3. In verse 14, Jeremiah
3, 14. He says, turn, O backsliding
children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. That's
Christ speaking because He's the bride. He's the husband.
We're the bride. His church is the bride. He said,
I'm married to you. I will take you, one of a city,
two of a family. See, He didn't come to save everybody. But he said, I'll take you one
of a city, two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And
I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass when
you be multiplied and increased in the land, In those days, saith
the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember
it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done
anymore. Now, by the Spirit of the Lord teaching us, we know
that the ark of the covenant typified the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like the law was put inside the ark, the law of God was in
Christ's heart, and he fulfilled the law for his people. And so
he's the mercy seat. That mercy seat on top of the
ark, that's what propitiation means. He's propitiation for
the sins of his people. So we don't go back to the old
covenant anymore. We don't go back to the ark of
the covenant. We stay on Christ. That's not in our mind now as
far as thinking it's needful we look to Christ. Verse 17,
Jeremiah 3, 17, at that time they shall call Jerusalem the
throne of the Lord. and all the nations shall be
gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither
shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil
heart. By the Spirit of the Lord, now we know, like Paul said,
Jerusalem, earthly Jerusalem, pictured heavenly Jerusalem.
It pictured heavenly Mount Zion. You've not come to a mount that
might be touched. You've come to Mount Zion, heavenly
Mount Zion, to Jerusalem, to Christ. seated on his throne
and he's making his elect from all nations flow to that mountain,
to that city. Now we know, it says verse 18,
in those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of
Israel and they shall come together out of the land of the north
to the land that I've given for an inheritance to your fathers.
He makes his elect one. The two and a half tribes of
Judah, I mean the one and a half tribe of Judah was divided from
the other tribes called the children of Israel, he makes his elect
one along with his elect Gentiles. Verse 19, but I said, how shall
I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land
and a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said,
thou shall call me my father and shall not turn away from
me. That's what the Lord works in the heart of his people. When
the Corinthians were saying, you know, I'm of Paul, I'm of
Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I'm trying to put one preacher over the
other and using that to divide with each other, Paul said, he
said, they're all yours. Christ gave them all, they're
thy watchmen. He said, all things are yours.
Let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. whether
Paul or Apollos or Cephas, all are yours and your Christ and
Christ is God's. Paul said, let a man so account
of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God. So Christ gives his preacher.
He gives his preachers. Now, why are his preachers called
watchmen? Why are they called watchmen?
It's because they watch for the souls of his people. The Lord
typified this. You know, anything that the Lord
uses as a picture in the scripture, he made that to glorify Christ. Well, he ordained it and he made
so that Jerusalem had these walls around it, earthly Jerusalem
had these walls around it, and they would put watchmen on those
walls, and if danger was coming, they would sound the alarm. And
that's the picture what his preachers are doing. Look at Ezekiel. Ezekiel
chapter three, verse 16. Ezekiel said, it came
to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my
mouth, and give them warning from me. Christ's faithful preachers
that he sent, and they're all faithful by him, by his grace,
they get their message from Christ. He said, you hear the word from
my mouth, and then they give the people warning, and that
warning's not coming from a man, it's coming from Christ. The
gospel is the warning that no sinner will ever be saved by
our works, brethren. That's the warning. You can't
be saved by your works. You can't be saved. You have
to be saved from your sins. You're dead in sin by nature. And sins, as believers, sins
are still in our old nature. You have to be saved by Christ
alone. And so that's the warning we're
continually preaching. It's not our person and it's
not our works. It's Christ's person and it's
his works by which we're saved. Read on there, Ezekiel 3, 18.
When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest
him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked
way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity,
but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn
the wicked and turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked
way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.
All sin is iniquity, but when the Lord uses the word iniquity,
you know this, I've told you this many times, when he uses
the word iniquity, he's speaking particularly about religious
works, works under the law that are inequitable. They do not
equal the righteousness God requires. And that's what all men by nature
think they're good, and some good in them, so God's gonna
save them, They think good works are going to outweigh their bad.
No, it's all iniquity. It's all iniquity. And this is
a very serious charge to God's true watchmen. We have to stand
and preach the gospel. Every time we preach, no matter
how angry men get about it, because this is the charge Christ gives
us, we get the word from Him and we have to warn the people.
If you warn them and men die anyway, the watchman's free from
their blood. But if you don't warn them, they're
gonna die. False preachers are preaching
a message that it's just gonna leave men in death and they're
gonna die and meet God and be condemned. But the false preacher's
gonna be condemned too for not preaching the truth. Now that's
serious, brethren. Look at Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. This is why we have this statement
right here. The Spirit of God says, Hebrews
13, 17, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves,
for they watch for your souls as they that must give account,
that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that's
unprofitable for you. You know, nothing causes more
grief to a true preacher of the gospel, nothing causes more grief
than those who stiffen up their necks and refuse to trust Christ,
refuse to wait on Christ, trust Him to work in the midst of His
people, work in the hearts of His people. And it's unprofitable
because those who will not have Christ's preacher to rule over
them. And we're not lording over anybody.
We're not trying to make anybody do anything. The way God's preacher
rules is preaching Christ. And it's Christ who rules. But
here's the thing, if a person won't submit to Christ's preacher,
he's not submitting to Christ either. That's just fact, that's
what the text is saying. The Lord told Samuel, they have
not rejected thee, they have rejected me, that I should not
reign over them. But nothing's more joyful to
God's preacher than to see the Lord's people submit to Christ
and trust him for everything. That's what John meant when he
said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk
in truth. Christ is the truth. We walk
by faith in Christ, the truth. And that gives his pastor great
joy. Great joy. Now, next, our text
says that God's true preacher declares Christ boldly. We declare Christ boldly. Back
in Isaiah 52a, Thy watchman shall lift up the voice. That means
you're gonna speak boldly, clearly, dogmatically the truth of the
gospel. False preachers don't preach
Christ. False preachers preaching is a lot like a horoscope. When
you read a horoscope, it's worded in such a way that it can apply
to anybody. Whoever's reading it can say,
oh, that applies to me. Somebody in a totally different
situation can read it and go, yep, that applies to me. That's
how false preachers preach. They mutter and peep so it can
apply to anybody that hears it. God says to the law and to the
testimony, to the law, to the scriptures, and to God's testimony
concerning his son. That's what this book is about.
God's testimony concerning his son, the record God's given of
his son. To the word and to the record of God. If they speak
not according to this word, There is no light in them. Now that's God's word on false
preachers. If they're not speaking the truth
of Christ, they have no light. They're not just misguided. They're
not just off a little. They don't have any light. Look
at Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. Somebody would get
mad at the Lord's preacher, call him a false preacher and all
this, but then they claim they are saved under him. Here's what
God said, if he's a false preacher, then you wasn't saved under him.
Listen, what Jeremiah 23, 32. Jeremiah 23, 32 says, behold,
I'm against them that prophesy, preach false dreams, saith the
Lord. and do tell them, and cause my
people to err by their lies and by their likeness. Yet I sent
them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit,
this people at all, saith the Lord. Now get that. All the churches you see and
all the preachers there are in this world that are not preaching
Christ, these people flock to them by the multitudes, That's
no wonder, brethren. You know all the groves, the
Lord, in the Old Testament, they left Jerusalem. You know, the
false king that was ruling Israel, he told them, you don't have
to go up there to Judah. You don't have to go to Jerusalem.
You can worship here. It's too far for you to go there.
So he made them a calf for them to worship where he was. And
then they started making groves all around Israel. And the Lord
said, They go to those places just because the shade is good. There's some shade trees there
and they like it. It's a pleasant place to sit.
Soothes their conscience. All these churches and all these
groves that you see, the Lord said, I didn't send them and
they shall not profit this people at all. That's the word of the
Lord. I'm giving you warning from the Lord's mouth. That's
his word. But by Christ's power and by
His grace, His preachers lift up the voice for all to hear
and preach the grace of God in Christ boldly, clearly, dogmatically,
not leaving room for, you know, when I stand here and preach,
if I'm not sure on a verse, either I'm not gonna say anything about
the part I'm not sure about until I am sure about it, or I'm gonna
skip over that part, and I'll come back to it later. But when
you hear me say something, I have studied it, prayed on it, looked
it up, and when I speak it, I'm certain what I'm telling you
is according to this word. Absolutely certain. And the only
thing the Lord's preacher says is, you know, people will hear
a message, as soon as it's over, they're gonna run up and say,
I object to something you said. Well, you just heard it. You
just heard it. You took one minute and come
up and gonna object about it. How about go home and take as
long as the preacher took before he spoke it? Go home and pray
over it and study it and look on it and then come if you got
a question. But that's true, God's preacher,
he's not just gonna preach flippantly off the cuff, he's gonna come
making sure what he says is a word from the Lord. He said in Isaiah
62, In verse 6, he said, I have set watchmen upon thy walls,
O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night.
Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him
no rest till he establishes, till he makes Jerusalem a praise
in the earth. And by his grace, that's what
his preachers will do. He called false prophets dumb
dogs that can't bark, that can't give the warning. And those who
refuse to believe on Christ, they hear this gospel, they refuse
to trust Christ. If you're somebody that doesn't
believe Christ, you're in grave danger. Scripture says the wrath
of God abides on you. And if you was to die today,
you'd die in iniquity, you'd meet God. And He'd cast out those
that meet Him without Christ. But you can't save yourself.
You cannot do anything to save yourself by your works. What
do you do then? Well, if the Lord's given you
a heart and you know I have to have salvation, he said, seek
ye the Lord while he may be found, while he may be found. Call on
him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way.
Well, I think it's this way. Forsake it, no matter what you
think. It's what God says. forsake it. Well, I believe my thought on
it is this, let a man forsake his unrighteous thoughts. What's
God's thoughts on it? What's God's counsel? Let him
return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our
God for he'll abundantly pardon. If you come to God truly confessing
your need that you're a totally ruined sinner and you must have
mercy. You can't be saved by your works.
It's gotta be grace. It's gotta be God's mercy. Mercy
withholding from you what you deserve. Grace giving you freely
what you don't deserve. You come to God with that heart.
He will have mercy on you. He already has if you can do
that. And for you that do believe him,
look at 1 Peter 5. Here's what he says to you and
me, 1 Peter 5, verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom
he may devour, whom resist steadfast only one way, in the faith, trusting
Christ to save you. That's the only way. that the
same afflictions, are you afflicted? Oh, I'm afflicted, nobody's suffering
like I am. My brethren just don't understand,
they're not suffering like I am. Look, knowing the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. He's working
the same thing in your brethren, Christ is. But the God of all
grace who called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that you've suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever, amen. Now, back in our text, and this
is something I really want you to see. In our text, Christ declares
that his preachers are in agreement with each other. But more importantly,
we agree with Christ the voice. And when we preach, it's Christ
the voice preaching. All right, watch what he says
here, verse eight. He says, Isaiah 52, eight, together with the
voice shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the
Lord shall bring again Zion. You know, Christ said, this is
in Isaiah, I mean Hebrews two, he said, I will sing God's praise
in the great congregation. That's what the preaching of
the gospel is, is a singing of God's praises. And Christ said,
I'll do that. You know who Miriam pictures?
The sister of Moses. She led the congregation in singing.
You know who she pictures? She pictures Christ, who leads
his congregation in singing. He gets glory in everything.
Well, in this preaching, it says his preachers, his watchmen,
together with the voice shall they sing. Yes, we're in agreement
with each other and our voices are in agreement when we speak,
but that's Christ the voice. Look back at Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, he's given
the charge to his preacher. You know verse one and two, speak
comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak to my people, tell her
her warfare's accomplished. And then look at what he says
now in verse six. The voice said, cry, the voice
did. The voice said, cry. Who's that
voice? That's Christ. He said, they're
going to know my voice. They're going to know my voice. The voice said, cry. And the
preacher said, what shall I cry? And the voice said, you cry and
tell them all flesh is grass. All the goodness thereof is as
the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people's grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Peter quoted
that. He said, we're born of incorruptible
seed by the word of God. He said, because all flesh is
grass. It dies, it withers, it fades. He said, but the word
of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word whereby
the gospel is preached unto you. Lay aside your malice and your
envy and your evil speaking of one another and desire this word
like a baby does its mother's milk. So back in our text now,
look what he says there. Together with the voice shall
they sing. When Christ preaches preaching,
this is what I tried to show you when I was showing you there
in verse Isaiah 52. In verse six, my people shall
know my name. They shall know in that day that
I am he that does speak. Behold, it's I. Now, the Lord's
people, the Lord's preachers see eye to eye. We're in agreement,
and we're in agreement with Christ. John said that which from the
beginning we've heard, we've seen with our eyes. They literally
saw the Lord eye to eye. And they said, we looked upon
him, our hands have handled the word of life, the life was manifested,
we've seen it. And bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested
unto us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us and truly our fellowship is with the father and his son Jesus
Christ. They saw Christ eye to eye, literally eye to eye. But
they were given hearts to be in agreement with him and see
eye to eye with him, in agreement. And so the church is founded
on the preaching of the apostles that Christ sent, that he sent. But all Christ preachers now
are in agreement just like they were. We're in agreement now
just like they were because we're all taught by the same Holy Spirit,
by the same voice of our Lord Jesus. You know, when men found
fault with one of the Christ preachers, I've had them do this
to me, they've come to me, and they start trying to put down
another faithful preacher. Well, we're not in competition
with each other, we're preaching the same gospel. We're not, and
we see eye to eye. All true preachers preach TULIP,
but we don't just preach the doctrine TULIP, we preach that
doctrine magnifying Christ in TULIP. What's the acronym mean? Total depravity. How do you preach
Christ from that? In Adam, scripture says, all
who he represented died. Even so, in Christ, the last
Adam, shall all who he represented be made alive. See, we exalt
Christ, we preach you. We preach unconditional election.
God the Father chose the people, but where did he choose them?
In Christ. And when the Lord reveals Christ in you, you say,
Ephesians 1 through 3, Be God the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places according as he chose us in Christ. It's not just the
doctrine that saves, it's Christ of the doctrine that saves. We
preach limited atonement, particularly redemption. Christ said, I lay
down my life for the sheep, for the sheep, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken, God said. We preach irresistible
grace by God the Holy Spirit. But it's not just that he's irresistible,
it's that he makes you behold Christ who's irresistible. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. We preach
perseverance of the saints, which is really preservation. Who does
the preserving? Christ Jesus, our Savior. Being
confident of this very thing, he which has begun a good work
in you shall perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. Paul, when he began his letter
to the Corinthians, they had all that trouble at Corinth.
So divided and so messed up at the church of Corinth. It's always
been that way, brethren. Churches are gonna have problems.
But what was Paul's message to them? He said, God shall confirm
you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were
called under the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The same one that called you is gonna keep you. That's our
message. So see, we're not just preaching,
you know, It's one thing to preach what men call Calvin's theology. It's another thing to know Christ
of that theology. Calvin didn't come up with that.
Christ, God the Father, is who declares the gospel. It's his
counsel. Not only do God's preachers lift
up their voices in agreement, But like I said, we lift up our
voice together with Christ. Christ said, my sheep hear my
voice. And I know them and they follow
me. That's why Paul said to the Thessalonians, he said, we thank
God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God,
which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but
as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh
in you that believe. When you hear the gospel preached,
I preached Thursday night on how much we need the gospel.
And here's why. Because when you hear the gospel
preached, God's people know I'm not hearing the voice of a man,
I'm hearing the word of my Savior. They shall know in that day it
is I, Christ said. They gonna know I'm the one speaking.
John, what did John the Baptist say? He said, I'm the voice of
one. When you hear my voice, you hear
the voice of one in the wilderness, Christ Jesus. So then, faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by what? By the word of God. By Christ speaking the word in
the heart. Preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness. It was to us too. Because when
you just was hearing a man, when you was lost and dead, you just
heard a man and it's just foolishness to you. Why are those people
so carried away with that? But when he spoke in your heart,
it ceased being foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. Power of God. Why? For therein,
Paul said, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, from Christ Jesus the faithful into that heart of faith
he's given to you. And from then on, those justified
by Christ walk by faith, trusting him. And he'll keep you walking
that way. All right, let's go to hymn and prayer. Oh, Lord, we're so thankful that
you chose your son to be the prophet, the priest, and the
king of your people. You have all power as king to
move mountains to bring us under the gospel. As our high priest,
you're faithful to intercede for us. Right now, Lord, as we
pray to you, the only way we can approach your holy presence
is knowing we have an advocate with you, Father. And as our
prophet, Lord, we're so thankful that you've given your son the
glory to preach the gospel affectionately in our heart. He is truly our
salvation. Lord, you didn't put it in our
hands. You trusted him, and we thank you. We thank you. Keep us knowing the value and
needing Christ continually. Lord, be with your people today
as they meet for this same purpose. speak into their hearts. Wherever
your people gather, wherever they're hearing your word preached,
Lord, we pray that Christ is the preacher and that he's preaching
affectionately in their heart. This is the health of our soul.
We don't need everything else in this world. Bodies are going
to die. Everything else we think is so
needful. It's all just gonna perish and
go back to the dust. But Lord, your word liveth and
abideth forever. This is the word whereby we live
and abide forever. Christ Jesus, the incorruptible
seed. Thank you so much, Lord. Grace,
what grace. We were so blind, we were so
lost. And look what you've shown us,
revealed to us and taught us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Lord, we fail, we fall, we fumble around. Our sin, our unbelief. If you leave
us to ourselves just for a minute, that's one minute that we will
totally forsake you. Lord, we ask you to keep us,
keep us, keep us needing this gospel, needing Christ. In his name we ask it, amen.