Well good afternoon everybody
and on behalf of the church here at Ebenezer I give you a very
warm welcome to this service of recognition for James to the
pastor at this place. We're thankful that we have such
an occasion and we're thankful for the Lord's goodness and mercy
to the church here and also to James. We pray indeed that we
may know the blessing of God to be with us here this afternoon. So let's open the meeting with
prayer. Let us pray. Great and eternal
Lord God, the ruler of the universe, the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. We give thanks that we are able to gather together on
this Saturday afternoon for this service of induction for James
as pastor here and we pray gracious God for thy presence and we pray
that we may know in our own souls the Lord is here. And so Lord
we give thanks for all the mercies which have been towards the church
and congregation here and we pray that we'll continue and
bless the work and grant that thy great name may be lifted
up and honoured and glorified and our great desires as individuals
may be to praise our God from whom all blessings flow. So gracious God, be with us each,
those who speak, be with, especially be with Sam as he preaches the
gospel to us. And remember, as each for good,
we ask it all for Jesus' sake. Amen. Our first hymn this afternoon
is the hymn on the hymn sheet, How pleased and blessed was I
to hear the people cry, come, let us seek our God today. Yes,
with a cheerful zeal we haste to Zion's hill and there our
vows and honours pay. We'll stand to sing the first
hymn. Oh, please stand as close as
I To hear the people cry Come, let us seek our God today Yes, with a cheerful zeal We
haste to Zion's hill And there her boughs and honours play Ion's right happy place, Adorned
with wondrous grace, And was so straight, embraced the ground. Lives appear to pray and praise
and hear the sacred gospel's joyful sound. And David's greatest son Has
fixed his royal throne He sits for grace and judgment now He
sits in heavenly gladness He makes the sinner sad, and humble
souls rejoice with thee. Peace attend the gate, and joy
within thee wait, to bless the soul of every guest. that seek thy peace and wishes
thy increase. A thousand blessings on him rest. My tongue repeats her vows, Hey
there, silent dove, O'er my kids and kindred well. Next they hit and blasted aboard,
I saw them at the gate. Well, it now gives me pleasure
to invite Tom, the deacon of this church, to come and tell
and give a statement as to their call to James for the pastorate. So please. Firstly, I'd like to welcome
you all here to Ebenezer. It's encouraging to see so many
of you come to join us today. Especially thank you to Stephen,
who's literally landed in Heathrow this morning from his winter
break, and our brother Sam, who will be flying out next week
to Kenya again to continue working the Mombasa mission. So thank
you for sparing your time. I've been asked to speak on how
the Lord led us to invite James to be our pastor. And just over
12 years ago, we met in this building to hear the testimony
of James, his calling to preach. And we were blessed to have his
preaching to us. Many of us enjoyed his ministry.
He speaks in a way where even the youngest, the oldest can
understand him. He has a very practical ministry,
yet a very profound theology. And we were blessed with good
gospel preaching. Many of us I think at the time
were quite hopeful that maybe one day James will become our
pastor. But it was just over about a year later, we then met
back in this room for another meeting. It was a meeting which
all those who are present will never forget. It was a meeting
full of emotion. It was chaired by our brother
here, Stephen. And it was James giving us his testimony on how
the Lord was calling them to Kenya. Well, just a year later
after that, James, Elsie, and five young children went. With
our blessing, We sent them on our way, and we kept them in
membership with us. They would join us in church
meetings via Skype and Zoom. Numerically, it was a large dent
in our church, but this is what the Lord's will was for them,
and we gave them that blessing. Every three years, they would
return for a break of about three months, and we would have James
preaching to us once again. He would maybe do one or two
Sundays. But over the last nine, ten years,
the Lord has greatly blessed this church. The church has continued
to grow in congregation. Local people started coming in. Our friend Rob here, who works
as a mental health nurse, he would bring people in from the
care home. Often these people may have different
problems, drink, drug problems, and there was a great need for
these people and different ones to have that extra time, not
just in preaching, but also meeting. And myself and others were finding
it a bit of a burden, and it was becoming more obvious we
were needing a pastor. We often felt like we were a
sheep without an earthly shepherd, and the burden was becoming a
greater responsibility. But the Lord, he makes his way
clear. And it's often not till you look
back in life you will see how the Lord was weaving through
all these different things. It was during mid-summer of 2020,
James and Elsie, they were due back here as a family, but COVID
restrictions stopped their travel. They were due to take a couple
of Sundays here and he was engaged to preach at many other places.
But later on that year, I believe it was the November, James messaged
me to say they had booked a flight, that a gateway had been opened.
So he came, and it was at a time when we were in stricter measures.
People weren't allowed to travel, so we were prevented from having
visiting ministers to us. and we weren't allowed to entertain
a different one. But mercifully, the Lord had
provided James. He was staying at my parents'
in Eastbourne, and he preached to us about seven Sundays, and
he showed a very pastor-like spirit. It was a great blessing
at the time. We felt very united as a church,
and many of us enjoyed his ministry and having them back as a family.
But the March of 2021, once again, they headed back off to Kenya.
But it was soon after that, in the July church meeting, I asked
the members if they could pray earnestly for a pastor, as the
need was becoming much greater. The following meeting, in October
2021, I asked each of those members who the Lord had laid on their
hearts, and each one of them said, James. We thought this
would be impossible. The Lord has sent him to Kenya
and we didn't want to hinder God's work, but we said in faith
we would send him an invite and we will see where the Lord takes
it from there. So I now hand you over to James to continue
on how he received that call. Again, I'm very humbled that
so many have come. It's a great privilege to see
you all and to take part in this service, a very solemn responsibility
that one undertakes to come into a position of pastor and even
calling into the ministry. But when you see the Lord's hand
in it, you have no option but to follow and to walk out His
will in your life. So for the church, As you have
heard, their burden began even before we went to Kenya, but
was more pressed upon them when we came back in the COVID time.
And we were here for three months, and I preached here about seven
times. But for me and for Elsie, our
burden for Ebenezer was even before we went to Kenya. Ever since I was sent out to
preach, I always felt freedom and liberty in speaking in this
pulpit. I always had a love for this
place of worship and for the people of Hastings. Whenever I would pray in this
pulpit about our need for a pastor, it would always be pressed upon
my mind that it's me and that I was the one who the Lord was
going to place here. I also had a burden for Kenya
and the Lord was calling me to Kenya and I couldn't work out
how I was going to do both at the same time or how it was all
going to fit together. But over the process of time
the Lord led us to Kenya. And as we were preparing to go,
many different people wrote us letters, letters of encouragement. And someone wrote me a card,
and in that card it says, I don't feel that your work in England
is over. And I wrote back saying, I also
feel the same. And I quoted this text, which
stayed with me through my whole time, through the whole eight
years in Kenya. which is found in Genesis 13
and verse 3, regarding Abraham. And he went on his journey from
the south, even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had
been at the beginning between Bethel and Haiyai. And so I believed, even before we
left for Kenya, that the Lord would bring us back to England. And not only would he bring us
back to England, he would bring us back so that I would be able
to take up the position of pastoring this chapel. I only told three
people about this. One was Elsie, one was Sam, and
one was Hannah. I told them that what would take us from Kenya
would be a letter from Hastings inviting us to be the pastor
at Hastings. I didn't know when that would
be. I didn't know how it would all come about. But that's what
I believe the Lord revealed to me and laid in my heart regarding
his will for us. In December 2020, as Thomas said,
we came back to the UK, sandwiched in between the middle of two
lockdowns. And as Thomas told you, I was
invited to preach here about seven or eight times and also
taking some Wednesday services because the ministers were unable
to come. And it was an encouraging time.
And during that time some of the members did express their
thoughts regarding me coming as pastor. But I would say, as
I said to many people, when the cloud moves, we will move, and
that's been often a theme through my life and through our lives. God has led us in an unusual
way, and he has always made it very clear as to how he wants
us to move, and we were to wait until his time. And if you remember
with the children of Israel, as they came out of In Egypt,
they were told in Exodus 40 that when the cloud moves, they were
also to follow that cloud. When the cloud was taken up from
over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all
their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken
up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.
For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and
the fire was upon it by night, in the sight of all the house
of Israel throughout all of their journeyings. And so I never told them specifically in detail
what was laid in my heart, but I did tell them that I didn't
believe that I would be in Kenya for ever. Someone did ask me
directly. They asked me if I felt that
my work in Kenya was a lifelong work, and I told them that I
believed that one day the Lord would bring me back to the UK. On October the 18th, 2021, I
received a letter from the church asking me to come for a three-month
trial in January 2023. The church offered to fly us
back as a family and then after three months to fly us back to
Kenya. And after seeking the Lord's
guidance as to what His will was in the matter, whether that
was the right use of church funds and such like, and speaking with
Sam and Hannah and looking at the providential events that
were taking place in our life, we felt that the time had come
for us to leave Kenya and to return back to the UK. Although,
again, the only people that knew about our burden to this place
was those three people. And so we didn't feel it right
to reveal too much for the case of being thought of as presumptuous,
but we felt that to say that we felt our work in Kenya had
come to the end. The building work had come to
an end. We had finished building the
chapel. and such like and my work permit also finished in
December that year. Also our son Jesse was deteriorating
and the life there for him was very difficult, very isolated. He was also due to take his GCSEs
and that would either mean sending him to Nairobi which would have
been very difficult or sending him back to England to live with
Grandma but we felt that that would not be right, as Jesse
was, our responsibility is our son. And so providentially speaking,
the Lord was funneling us back to this country. And the invitation
to Hastings was part of that. And so we felt that it was the
right time to leave the mission and to start our new life here
in Kenya, in England. The text that was laid on my
mind at that time was in Corinthians, which I've quoted a couple of
times at some of the talks regarding the... In 1 Corinthians 3, 6
and 7, it says, I've planted, Apollos watered, but God gave
the increase. So then neither is he that planted
anything, neither is he that watereth, but God that gives
the increase. In my mind, the Lord takes his
servants and he uses them as instruments in his hand. And
he had used me and Elsie and our family for the planting of
that work. And now he was going to use Sam
and Hannah and the boys for the ongoing of that work. And so
we came back to the UK in December 2020 and took the trial from
January to March of that year. And then on the 31st of April,
I received that letter of invitation to come as the pastor of this
church, to which I agreed. It has not been an easy year. As we know, the word of the Lord
must be tried and tested and since making that decision, which
seemed so obvious, there have been many times that I've sat
down from preaching in this pulpit and thinking, well, I'm just
going to book a flight back to Kenya. I'm done. There's no way
I can do this. But the Lord has always encouraged
me and us and helped us to continue and been blessed, really, With
Genesis 28, verse 15, it says, Behold, I am with thee, and will
keep thee in all places where thou goest, and will bring thee
again unto this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done
that which I have spoken to thee of. And in Joshua 1, verse 5,
There shall not a man be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. And so that is what has brought
us together. We believe it to be the Lord's
will. We can look back at Providence,
we can look back at how he has guided us and brought us together
and we do feel that this is the Lord's will for us at this time
to take up the pastorate of this church, to be with this people.
Thank you. Well you've heard the testimony
of the church and you've heard the testimony of James to accept
that call to the pastor here. We need to remember that in this
situation it is a solemn and important consideration to court
a pastor and for man to accept the position of a pastor as it
concerns the well-being of eternal souls. Nothing can be more important. There are one or two texts which
I think are relevant. In Jeremiah we read, And I will
give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. We live in a day and age when
we do need teaching. We do need teaching of knowledge
and understanding. The Lord has promised to give
pastors to provide this. This is, of course, spiritual
knowledge and spiritual understanding. I'm sure it is James's desire
to do that. And then the real concern must,
of course, be but growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. God moves in mysterious
ways his wonders to perform. And it's good if we realize that,
that God's wonders are performed and they will be performed. And
we can thank him for that. So as we come to this installation
of Pastor James, We have developed a situation
where we have questions to the minister and then there'll be
questions to the deacon and questions to the church which before God
they answer. And it's good to have such a
position so that in the days to come and the months to come
and the years to come perhaps such words which have been spoken
may abide with them and be a director to all that is done and said.
We believe of course the great concern is for the honour and
glory of God and that the Lord Jesus Christ may be lifted up
and indeed honoured and glorified. So to begin with I will ask James
questions and he will respond. And the first question I ask
him is this. Do you believe in your heart
that you have been called by the Holy Spirit to the pastoral
oversight of this church and congregation? I do. then do you affirm your belief
in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of
God and as the only infallible authority for faith and practice? Yes, I do. Do you believe the
confession of faith contained in the Trust Deed of 1872 to
be founded on and agreeable to the Word of God and do you resolve
through divine grace firmly and constantly to adhere to that
confession? Yes, I do. Do you solemnly profess
that by divine grace and assistance you will always seek this church's
purity, peace, unity and extension? I do promise in the strength
of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour. Do you accept the office
of Minister? And do you engage relying upon
God for strength to discharge your duties with diligence, faithfulness,
leading the Lord's people in the ways of His holy ordinances,
teaching and governing them according to the Scriptures, and setting
before all a godly and holy example? I do, depending and trusting
in God. enabling grace. Thank you James. Now I have a question for the
deaconate and that of course is Tom and the question is do
you as church officer acknowledge and receive James Gudgeon as
your pastor? I do. Thank you. And then there's
a question for the membership. So it's a membership of all the
members of this church. To the church members, do you,
the members of the church, acknowledge and receive James Gudgeon, whom
you have called to be your pastor? and do you promise to receive
the word of truth from his lips with meekness and submit to him
in the exercise of scriptural discipline? Please will you answer,
all the church members. We do. Thank you. Would you give unto him all due
honour and obedience, seeking to support him practically through
prayer, encouraging him in the Lord, working together humbly
and cheerfully as the people of God? Thank you. And now I'll ask the congregation
to stand while we make a declaration. So if you can all stand, please. And this is the declaration.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the name of Ebenezer
Baptist Chapel Hastings, I now declare that James Gudgeon has
been inducted to the pastorate of this church and congregation
to work with the members in a ministry to which Christ, the head of
the church, has called them all. As a token of this, I now give
you the right hand of fellowship. Well, James, God be with you. Thank you. You can be seated. Now we'll have a short prayer.
Let us all pray. Most kind and gracious Lord God,
we come before Thee as the Almighty One, the One who we believe is
here amongst us on this Saturday afternoon, the One who has heard
all the responses and all the questions And we pray, gracious
God, that as this has been done, we believe in the fear of the
Lord, that thou would indeed honour this situation and grant,
gracious God, thou would abundantly bless this pastorate. Bless James in all his labours. Help him, Lord. day by day, week
by week, be with the congregation, help them to remember he is but
a man and to pray for him and uphold him. Lord, indeed, as
that case was with Moses, when his hands were held up, we pray,
Lord, that they may be able to hold up his hands. And we pray
that in all these things, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Maybe lift it up. and his name honored and glorified.
And this be a place of spiritual fruitfulness, a place where thy
honor dwelleth, a place where there is that unity and community
and blessing. Lord, we're thankful then there
is a God who is able to do far more exceeding abundantly than
we can ask or even think. And we pray that there may be
truly a heart of praise and thanksgiving continually in this place to
realise what a kind, gracious and merciful God there is. There
may be many conversions, many people come in from the surrounding
area. and Lord that it may be a watered
garden. And so Lord come we pray and
bless this people and indeed bless James. I'll now ask Tom to come please
and give out the messages and notices. So after this service, you're
all more than welcome to stay for refreshments. They are provided
in the back room. If you make your way through
this door here, help yourself to food and maybe work your way
around the car park to come back in to the building and be seated
in here, or there are a few seats in the back room. I'd also like
to take this opportunity to thank the many preachers we've had
over the years who have filled this pulpit. There have been
many blessings, and we do pray that the Lord will continue to
bless you in your labours. I'll now give out the second
hymn on the hymn sheet. Hymn number two. Jesus, accept
our humble praise. While we are Ebenezer's rays,
thou hast thy promise now fulfilled, whereon our hopes were fond to
build. Hymn number two to the tune 308. While we are here beneath the
trees, ? On our hearts we'll falter there
? ? Where our lives we'll falter there ? ? And lost at heart our fear we'll
soar ? Him from my hands we now receive,
And to thee, O earth, glory give. of His own grace above them store. sacred spirit yet lift up the
pinions of his head lift up the pinions of his head Lord, and with the spirits to exult,
help me in my counsel to declare. ? Noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam,
noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam, noam Our obligations to Thee, Lord. I am blessed from Thy fruit, Send every common favor down. Send every common favor down. Astrofish to her Astrofish to
redeem it in love Her and I for another day With Him thy glory
shall display, With us, with one united voice. God, let our old and bright prevail,
And thy alma mater yearn and sing. And I'll remember you, you see. If I could ask our brother, David
Coddington, to offer the prayer of Thanksgiving. Well, let us all pray. O thou kind, ever-merciful, long-suffering,
faithful Lord God, thou hast brought us to this day in the
history of Ebenezer Chapel Hastings, And Lord and truly, thy people
have proved in measure the truth of that thy way is in the sea,
and thy path is in the deep waters, and thy footsteps are not known. And Lord and truly, there really
was no precedent Thy people, Lord, had to be led by Thee,
for we had to prove that Thy footsteps were not known. But, O Lord, we would render
unto Thee the praise and the thanksgiving that is due to Thy
great and holy name, that we did indeed prove that Thou art
the God of the impossible. And so, dear Lord, we seek that
we may be blessed together as pastor, church and people. We plead with thee that thou
wilt take those foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for
our vines have tender grapes. And Lord, we do seek that, dear
James and Elsie, that Lord, Thou will bless them together as a
family in Thy appointed time with a suitable place to live. We do thank Thee, O Lord, for
James' parents being so willing to put them up. Lord, truly thou
art good, but all we do seek that we may be much in prayer,
Lord, that they may be settled in their own home. We do ask,
O Lord, then that Thou wilt accept of our desires to thank Thee
for every mercy, favour and blessing. And that hymn that we have just
sung, written by that godly hymnist John Kent, a man that knew much
of trouble and sorrow, worked hard as a shipbuilder in Devon. and Lord and yet thou didst lay
on his heart to pen so many wonderful hymns and Lord we thank thee
that we have sung that this afternoon and we ask oh Lord that thou
wouldst indeed hear that prayer of thanksgiving and Lord and
enable us to go on in the fear of the Lord. We do, Lord, pray
for Sam and Hannah in that great work in thy will that they and
the boys and the baby will return to next week. Lord, thou seest
that great work. Lord, the culture very, very
different to here. And Lord, we thank Thee that
dear James has never made any secret of the fact that that
culture is different. But Lord, Thou art the same God. And those many, many obstacles
that have been in the way and will be in the way, Lord we seek
to commit them all to thee and we pray that thou will continue
to bless Lord truly that little acorn that was planted and has
grown into an oak tree. We ask, O Lord, that thou will
bless Sam as he preaches to us this afternoon. We pray for every
cause of truth represented here this afternoon, and we pray,
O Lord, that each of us, Lord, whether we came perhaps with
some suspicion, Lord, that that may have been put down, and that
we may each acknowledge the good hand of God, that truly God does
move in mysterious ways his wonders to perform, He plants his footsteps
in the sea and rides upon the storm. Hear us then in heaven,
thy dwelling place. Wash us and cleanse us in the
precious blood of Jesus. We ask it all in his lovely,
all-prevailing name, the name of Jesus, and for his sake. Amen. Well, we'll now read two appropriate
portions from the Word of God, firstly in the Old Testament
and then secondly in the New Testament. And the first reading
is from Jeremiah chapter 1 and verses 4 to 10. So, Jeremiah
chapter 1, reading verses 4 to 10. Then the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.
And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I,
Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say
not, I am a child. For thou shalt go to all that
I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces,
for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the
Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, And the Lord said unto
me, Behold, I put my words into thy mouth. See, I this day set
thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and
to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to
plant. Well we see the Lord's word there
to Jeremiah and we can say and desire that James may feel the
same power of God upon him. And now turn into the New Testament
and the first epistle of Peter and we'll read the fifth chapter.
So the first epistle of Peter and reading chapter five. the elders which are among you
I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ. and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being samples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves
unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the
proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world. the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye
have suffered a while, make you perfect, established, strengthen,
settle you. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. By surveying us a faithful
brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly exhorting
and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye
stand. The church that is at Babylon,
elected together with you, saluteth you, and so doth Marcus, my son,
greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace. be with you
all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Well, I trust we can thank
God that we have such wonderful statements in the Word of God
to encourage us and to direct us. Well, now we'll turn and
sing the third hymn on the hymn sheet. It's a prayer of thanksgiving. Blessed be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love, the fellowship of kindred minds,
is like to that above. The third hymn. With a sigh that finds the cause
in Christian love, the fellowship Thou kindred, light the night
to that above. Before our Father's throne, He
doth abide. rest our fears, our hopes, our
aims, our wants, our comforts, and our cares. We share a mutual woes, a mutual
blood and spare. and open forage of earth and
empathizing air. While we part, this thought will
soothe our pains. And teach us to be kind in heart,
and hope to meet again. Just look at us, our courage
by the way. while each in expectation lives
and waits to see the day. toil and pain and sin we shall
be free, and perfect love and friendship Reign through all
eternity. Well, it now gives me pleasure
to invite Sam Kingham to come and to preach the gospel to us
this afternoon. We're thankful that he's able
to still be here. He's very shortly going back
to Kenya. And we're thankful for the fellowship he's had with
James over a number of years now. And we pray the Lord will
be with him as he goes back there and bless him. and the great
work which is taking place in Mombasa. So Sam, please come. Shall we turn together in the
word of God to Isaiah chapter 62. The book of Isaiah and chapter 62. For Zion's sake will I not hold
my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. and the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more
be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hepzibah,
and thy land Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have
set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace, day nor night. He that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and
till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. We'll leave the
reading there, and it's particularly these last two verses, verse
six and seven, that I would draw your attention to. 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 establish, until
he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. So I was walking down
at the seafront at Eastbourne yesterday. I was looking up at
the hotel buildings, some of them which go very high into
the air, and I was wondering what kind of foundation these
buildings must have. for them to be able to stand.
And even you young ones will know very well you cannot just
build a giant building upon the soil. We have to dig down first,
and the bigger the building, the deeper we need to dig. And
the reason we do so is because we need something firm upon which
to build. We must find the rock. And there
is a rock upon which the Church of Jesus Christ rests. And it is something that we have
to continually come back to. What exactly is this rock? And
what is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon which we build? There is something that strikes
us in these last chapters of the book of Isaiah which speaks
so much of the Servant with a capital S, that is the coming Lord Jesus
Christ and the kind of ministry that he will exercise as well
as the work that he will do. And something that struck me
personally in the two chapters really here, 61 and 62, with
respect to the ministry of the servant Jesus Christ, was that
his work continues. It hasn't stopped. So often we
talk, don't we, of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we don't mean that the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is finished.
We're talking about a specific part of the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which was accomplished when he was here on earth, which
was really the atonement and everything he accomplished whilst
he was here. But the Lord Jesus Christ has
not stopped working. And though he is sat down at
the right hand of the Father with respect to his work of atonement
and sacrifice, which will never be repeated and never needs to
be repeated, the Lord Jesus Christ is working today as he always
has done. And this must be the foundation
of the Church and everything the Church does, that Christ
still works. Do we not read at the end of
Mark's Gospel, that after the Lord had spoken to the disciples,
and was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of
God, that they his disciples went forth, and preached everywhere,
and who was working with them. The Lord, the same Lord that
had been received up into heaven and was now sat at the right
hand of the Father, He was working with them and confirming the
Word with signs following. And as we read through the Book
of Acts, we see this. It is the Lord who works through
the preachers. It is the Lord who changes the hearts of the
people who hear the message. It is the Lord who changed the
heart of Lydia. It is the Lord who added to the church daily
such as should be saved. And it is the Lord who intercedes
on behalf of his people. So the Lord Jesus Christ works. The spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to
the meek, and so in the beginning of this chapter, for Zion's sake,
saith the servant, will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's
sake I will not rest. The Lord Jesus Christ will not
rest until the righteousness go forth as brightness. And as
you follow through these verses, it is simply this. The Lord Jesus
Christ will not rest finally until his people, his church,
is brought to him in glory. There is something else that
is set before us here that is instructive, and that is that
God, as he has manifestly done throughout the whole history
of the Church, is pleased to use human instrumentality in
the building of his Church. I have set watchmen upon thy
walls. Now, I don't think there's anybody
here who would say that God is limited in the way in which he
will build his church. When the Lord Jesus said, I will
build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it, he could have done so in any way, shape or form that he
had been pleased to do so. And yet, he has set watchmen. upon the walls of Jerusalem.
He has been pleased to bless the foolishness of preaching
to them that believe. And why he has done so may never
be really answered to us and may just be foolish speculation
in our own minds, but he has been. It is through the church
that God has ordained primarily to bless the church. And though
he requires no means, he has decided it has pleased him to
do so. In this passage, and perhaps
you younger ones thought that this was a difficult passage
as we read through it, there are many difficulties and complexities
to it. But breaking through the whole,
there is this one theme. For sometimes God is seen to
speak. Sometimes the servant is seen
to speak. And sometimes even Isaiah speaks
on behalf of the church. But all of them together are
concerned for one thing, the glory of Zion. the glory of the
Church. And it is something for us to
ask our own selves as to whether we likewise have a concern for
the glory of the Church in our day. Now one of the ways in which
God manifests his own concern for Jerusalem is by setting watchmen
upon her walls. I, says God, have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. That is to say that God individually
takes men and places them upon the wall of the church in different
places and in many different ways. Think of some of the people
in the Word of God perhaps seeming to be the most unlikely people
who could be the watchman of the Lord that God used, Moses
who said he couldn't speak, Elijah who became so afraid after his
glorious victory on the mountain, and of all people perhaps Peter
who denied his Lord and Saviour those three times. And yet it
was him who on the day of Pentecost stood there as the watchman of
Israel and declared the truth boldly in front of men, and who
the Lord was pleased to bless his labours in such a remarkable
way. and how careful the Lord is and
how gracious the Lord is in providing these watchmen for the Church,
these men who will stand upon the wall and which shall never
hold their peace, day or night. And does not the Lord Jesus Christ
exhort us to beseech the Lord regarding this particular office,
this important office? We are told, are we not, to pray
to the Lord of the Harvest that he would send out more labourers
into the harvest, that he would establish more watchmen on the
walls for the good of the church. Those people who will stand,
as we read in chapter 58, who will cry aloud, who will spare
not, who will lift up their voice like a trumpet and show my people
their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. And looking
back over the course of biblical history and even church history,
do we not see that the health of the church is so closely often
aligned to the faithfulness of the watchmen, those who stand
upon the wall and declare what God has said? And so in the day of the Lord
Jesus Christ, The people, in so great a measure, they failed
to recognize their Messiah. And one of the reasons that could
be given is this. Their watchmen were not prepared. Their watchmen didn't have the
right message. And so the people fell with them en masse. The
days following Pentecost, we see something so different. We
see a zealous and a living church. in which they seem to do all
for the glory of God and daily meeting together and joining
together in various fellowship and in the ministry and in the
word. And why so? Because they had
begun to know what it was to have faithful watchmen again.
After such a long period of prophetic silence, now they had men who
would once more stand and say, Thus saith the Lord. looking
back over the history of the Church in the time of the Reformation,
the time of the Evangelical Revival. Were there not men at that point
placed by God along the walls of Jerusalem in various different
places with this message, thus saith the Lord. And so God raises
up and sets people in their place on the wall, those who will not
hold their peace day or night. And the Lord has been pleased
to bless this church with a watchman, with a watchman. And this is
one of the roles, one of the pictures really, as to what his
role involves. He watches for the souls of men
and women and for the church. It is essential to pray for his
faithfulness, to not pray that he would come with fair words
and smooth speeches, but pray that he may come with this, the
Lord hath said. any peter may fall and the prayer
of the church constantly for james should be this that the
lord having placed him upon the wall in this part of the church
will keep him there i have set watchmen upon thy
walls oh jerusalem These watchmen, then, are to
be known by their ceaseless labour, which, or who, shall never hold
their peace, day nor night. That is to say, really, that
these watchmen are known for the same thing that Christ was
known for. He would not hold his peace, for Jerusalem's sake
he would not rest. And so it is with the watchmen
on the walls. They will never hold their peace, day or night. The Lord did not keep silence,
and he did not rest for the sake of Jerusalem. And they likewise,
the watchmen on the wall, are to be known for this. And it
is a great blessing when the congregation and the church are
able to see the way in which the watchman placed over them
by the Lord does not hold his peace day or night. But though
these things are undoubtedly true, There is another work,
because this watchman is responsible to God, first and foremost. And though it is said that he
will never hold his peace day or night, this does not mean
that the church will always see everything that he does do. For
he is not engaged only to speak to people, but he is engaged
to speak to God. And these are things that may
not be seen by the church. There are things that are known
only to God. And if anything, these things
are of greater importance still for this reason. It is in his
study, it is when he deals with God, before he ever deals with
men, that is where you are ultimately fed or starved as a church. So
that we must uphold him in prayer for when we cannot see him, just
as we uphold him when we can see him. Everything doesn't start
the moment he climbs these stairs and begins to speak. The things
that he says must have a foundation that runs much deeper than that.
And when he has been within the holiest and has come out with
a glowing face, then you will realize the truth of the fact
that his study to him is the place where he must first deal
with God before he may ever profitably deal with the people. which shall never hold their
peace, day nor night. Not that he will never sleep,
but this is a picture of utter dedication. It is a calling. day or night. This is the great
responsibility of his ministry. It's not a part-time job, it's
a full-time job, no matter what else he must do during the week.
And the watchman is awake while others sleep. He may be awake
spiritually while others are spiritually asleep, but he is
watchful over all cases and all souls that come under his care. He remembers the weak as well
as the strong. And he remembers all, no matter
what their case is. They will never hold their peace
day nor night for this reason. His ultimate hope is the same
ultimate hope or plan, we should say, perhaps, of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which is to bring Zion to be with himself, the safety
of Zion, the safety of the Church. And this is also the desire of
the faithful pastor. They will never hold their peace
day nor night until the people are gathered in safely. The enemies
are many and the threats are great, but he is one who must
give an account. We are told, aren't we? in the
book of Hebrews in chapter 13. This is verse 17 with respect
to the office of the pastor. Obey those that have the rule
over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls
as they that must give account that they might do it with joy
and not with grief for that is unprofitable to you. or just
make a few comments on the nature of their labour. I have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night. He that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and
till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Those of you perhaps
who have a margin in your Bible will notice this. The marginal
reading is ye that are the remembrances of the Lord. Just as it is slightly
ambiguous in English, so it is in the original. ye that are
the remembrances of the Lord. That is to say that their ministry
in which they will not keep silence is a ministry of remembrance. That is what the ministry is.
And it is so in two ways. The first way is that which seems
obvious to us with respect to the watchmen upon the walls.
They must obviously remind the people. And that is so in the
public preaching, in the teaching, in the visitation, in all the
public aspects of the ministry of the Word. The people must
be reminded. And we do not need to be told,
I think, that we do frequently need reminding. How far is it
into Monday morning? And we've already forgotten,
at least practically forgotten, that which we heard on the Lord's
Day, or perhaps it doesn't even reach that far. The Lord's people
need to be reminded with respect to the Lord's judgment, with
respect to the nearness of eternity, with respect to the fleeting
nature of the things of this life. They need to be reminded
of Christ. They need to be reminded even
here of the care that Christ has for his church. And they
need to be reminded in the various practical aspects of our faith
and many other things. But yet this is not all. For
you will notice how the sentence follows. Ye that are the remembrances
of the Lord, keep not silence and give him no rest until he
make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Which is to say this,
the work of a pastor is to be a remembrancer. and they are
to remember the people, remember God to the people, and they are
to remember the people to God. These are the two foundation
stones of all of the ministry. They remind the people of God,
and they remind God of the people. Keep not silence and give Him,
that is God, no rest until He establish, until He make Jerusalem
a praise in the earth. And if there might be just a
word of encouragement for you, James, this afternoon, it is
this. The role of the pastor is seen
clearly and simply just in these two things. And we've discussed
many times that passage in Acts chapter 6, where the apostles
tried to clearly define their own labor. and they said this,
we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of
the word. And that is really these two
activities of reminding in this other form. We will give ourselves
continually to prayer, that is reminding God of the people. and to the ministry of the Word,
reminding the people of God. This is a wonderfully simple
overview of the pastor's work and this is the foundation upon
which we build and which we rest and even when the city seems
desolate and the walls seem to be crumbling, this is that foundation
to which we return. We are remembrances of the Lord
and we are not to keep silence. and we are to give him no rest
till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the
earth. This is one of those phrases
that if it were not recorded in scripture we would find it
very difficult to even say. to give God no rest. And yet
are there not those parables in the New Testament that encourage
us in this regard? The lady that was persistent
in going to the judge until she received the answer. And so we
are told, aren't we? Ask, and ye shall receive. Seek,
and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. There is this kind of glorious
persistence that the Lord gives us in bringing before him the
needs of our people. God is sovereign and yet he has
chosen to use these means to glorify himself and to build
his church. There is none of us that are
with God enough. There is none of us that remind
God enough with respect to the various people in our lives.
But this is the role of a watchman, at least it's part of his role. This is founded upon God himself. And all of the best prayer is
done in this fashion. How many times is it in the scripture
that we see prayer in this fashion? Thou hast said. That's the foundation
of it. Not, I think this would be a
good idea, or I'd like to try this, or I'd like to see this
happen. No, thou hast said, therefore do. We know that God is concerned
for Zion. We know that the servant, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is concerned for Zion. And therefore we may
pray to the Lord and bring before him that which he himself has
said, much like Nehemiah did. We mentioned Nehemiah in the
vestry. There is that time, isn't there,
when Nehemiah, he came before the Lord acknowledging the sin
of his own people and the corruption that they had faced and the fact
that the suffering that they had gone through was all on their
own account. And how does he begin his request to God? It is simply with this word,
remember. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest
thy servant Moses. Remember that, O Lord, which
thou didst say so many years ago. Remember that, if ye transgress,
I will scatter you abroad among the nations, but if ye turn unto
me and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were
of you cast unto the uttermost parts of the heaven, Yet I will
gather them from thence and will bring them unto the place that
I have chosen to set my name there." That's how he begins
his prayer. It is founded upon who God is
and what He has said. He is concerned for Zion. Are
we indifferent to the cause of Jerusalem, the cause of Zion,
for which God himself is so concerned, which the servant, which the
Lord Jesus Christ himself is so concerned? Are we not persuaded
as we look around us and throughout the world, really, of the dire
state that so much of Jerusalem is in? And are we not in our
hearts Do we not have within our hearts a desire to pray that
God would set more watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, which
will never hold their peace day or night? This is what Jerusalem
needs. More watchmen and more watchmen that will be faithful
to God's word and that will say exactly what God has said. But
let us never forget what God can do, shown what he can do. Nehemiah was given great discouragement
in his own work as he desired to build once again the walls
of Jerusalem. Many came against him, they mocked
him, and they laughed him to scorn, and they despised him
and said, what is this thing that ye do? But what did Nehemiah say? He
said this, Then I answered I them and said, The God of heaven,
he will prosper us. He is the one that put me in
this position. He will prosper. Therefore we,
his servants, will arise and build. And that is our prayer
for this place. It is our prayer for Zion at
large, that the Lord will set watchmen on every corner of the
kingdom. that the Lord will give seal
to the labourers and prosperity to the preach word. and that
in due time he will bring them to be with himself and to delight
in them as he has promised. 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 establish and till he make Jerusalem a
praise in the earth. May the Lord bless his word to
us. We're now going to sing the last
hymn, which will be followed by the
benediction, but we will not close there. We will further
sing the doxology and give thanks for the food that has been provided. Hymn number four, O for a thousand
tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God
and King, the triumphs of His grace. Hymn number four. O'er a thousand towns we'll sing
Thy great Redeemer's praise, Thy great Redeemer's praise. The triumphs of his grace, the triumphs of his grace,
the triumphs, the triumphs of his grace. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that bids our sorrows cease, that bids us all His life and health and peace. His life and health and peace. His life and health and peace. He breaks the ban of castle sin. He sets the prisoner free. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the fowler
scream. His blood to fill for me. His blood have filled for me. His blood. His blood have filled. His face hath listened to his
voice, near life the dead receive, near life the dead receive. their mournful bread, and hearts
rejoice. The humble poor relieve, the
humble poor believe, the humble poor ? Will be ? ? In him be death ? ? His
great freedom ? ? Your lucent tongues employ ? ? Your lucent
tongues employ ? Give light, behold your Saviour come, and
leave He lame for joy, and leave He lame for joy, and leave, and
leave He lame My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim, assist me to proclaim, to spread through
all the earth abroad the honours of thy name, the honours of thy
name. Merciful Lord, we ask ourselves
who is sufficient for these things, but we believe that Thou only
art our hope and our help. that without Thee we can do nothing,
and yet we believe that with Thee there is nothing that shall
be called impossible. We pray that Thou wilt help James
as he begins this new chapter of his life, and we pray that
Thou wilt help him and his family be his support, and we pray that
Thou wilt help him to stand upon the wall of Jerusalem and to
proclaim that which Thou hast said. We pray that Thou wilt
help him to be faithful and keep him by Thy power. We ask that
thou would give him faithfulness amongst the people, that thou
would give the people a ready heart to hear that which thou
hast said, and we pray that thy attendant blessing may be seen
in many different ways. We pray now that the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the
fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit will rest
upon each of us now and forever. Amen. We're now going to sing
the doxology, praise God from