Let's begin our service by standing
and singing 17, Come Thou Fount, 17. Thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing Thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love. ? Where I raise my Ebenezer ?
? Hither by thy help I'm come ? ? And I hope by thy good pleasure
? ? Safely to arrive at home ? ? Jesus sought me when a stranger
? ? Wandering from the fold of God ? He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy goodness like a fetter Bind
my wandering heart to Thee Thank you. I would like to read Psalm
132. Psalm 132. A Song of Degrees. Lord, remember
David and all his afflictions, how he swear unto the Lord and
vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob, Surely I will not come
into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed. I will
not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until
I find out a place for the Lord and habitation for the mighty
God of Jacob. Lo, we heard it at Ephrata. We found that in the fields of
the wood we will go into his tabernacles, we will worship
at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest,
thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with
righteousness, and thy saints shout for joy. For thy servant
David's sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed. The Lord
hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it. Of
the fruit of thy body will I sit upon thy throne. If thy children
will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach
them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore.
For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here
will I dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her
provision. I will satisfy her poor with
bread. I will also clothe her priests
with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There
will I make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp
for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with
shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish. Our heavenly and merciful Father,
we thank you. Once again, you have allowed
us to assemble together this evening. And Lord, from week
to week, you allow these doors to be opened and you provide
provision, Lord, for us to come together to assemble. Oh Lord,
what a great, great blessing it is. You have shown us mercy
and continue to have mercy upon us. And Lord, we thank you for
your full and free salvation. You have saved sinners who can
never save themselves. Father, if you would let us go,
we would only turn back to our evil ways. And Father, we thank
you for your gift of faith, whereby we can behold the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Lord, remember us this evening
that we may rest in Christ. And remember Brother Eric, Lord,
where he hopes to stand before us again. Father, give him the
wisdom and the strength and the courage to continue. Father,
remember him as he studies and remember him as he stands here
again this evening. Pour out your grace and mercy
upon him, Lord. Give him the words to speak.
And Lord, allow us to listen. Separate us, Lord, for a short
time this evening. And also, Lord, we think of those
that listen faithfully through the Internet and through the
video and Facebook. Lord, remember them also where
they are. You know perfectly all their needs and struggles.
And remember us also, Lord, those that gather with us with various
health issues and struggles and concerns, Father, that we may
find comfort in the Lord Jesus Christ and that we may be able
to help one another. Father, remember us as this local
assembly. We continue to gather, but Lord,
it all awaits your blessing and your help. And Father, will you
bless it if it is in your divine will that this may, this work
may grow and be established in this community. Lord, remember
our loved ones. Nothing is too difficult or too
wonderful for you, Lord. And will you call them out of
nature's darkness and incline their hearts, Lord, draw them
with cords of love, and pour out your mercy and grace upon
us all, for Jesus' sake alone. Amen. Our second hymn will be number
77, Son of My Soul, 77. ? Son of my soul, thou Savior dear
? ? It is not night if thou be near ? ? O may no earthborn cloud
arise ? ? To hide thee from thy servant's eyes ? ? When the soft
dews of kindly sleep ? ? My weary eyelids gently steep ? ? Be my
last thought, how sweet to rest ? Forever on my Savior's breast. Abide with me from morn till
eve, for without thee I cannot live. Abide with me when night
is nigh, for without thee I dare not die. ? Be near to bless me
when I wake ? ? E'er through the world my way I take ? ? Abide
with me till in thy love ? ? I lose myself in heaven above ? Good evening, brethren. We're
going to go to Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah chapter 62. Our text
is verse 10. But the verses 10 through 12,
from that context there, this text is about the will of our
God in sending forth his glorious gospel to gather in his sheep,
to gather in his people for them to hear the glorious good news. And this word is to go forth.
It's to be preached, proclaimed, declared by the church until
his return. You know, sometimes we don't
know what we should say to others and we feel blocked in our mind
and our mind goes blank and we struggle thinking that we wouldn't,
I wouldn't know what to say, I don't know how to say it. But
when we just step back for a moment and realize I'm a sinner, And
the people that I'm speaking to are sinners. They need the
same thing I need. And my God has given to us the
healing balm. He's given to us that glorious
good news, that gospel, to preach this word, to declare this word,
to tell others what the Lord has done for us through His Son,
Jesus Christ. And that's a good word. It's
good news. Tell that to sinners. And He
declares this. We see this before we get into
the text. In Revelation 14, verse 6, we
see that our God is declaring to us this word, this good news,
is going to be preached to the people until the end of the day. And it's a word glorious, so
glorious that it's to be declared throughout the world, throughout
the heavens. He words it this way in Revelation
14, 6, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven. This is above the earth. This
is declaring it so all can hear, all can see, all can hear this
word having the everlasting gospel. to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him,
for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."
We have a glorious gospel, and it is to be proclaimed. It's
to be declared as this word shows forth. And so the Lord has declared
that this word go forth to make the way plain for the people,
to declare the salvation that God has provided in his son,
to prepare that way, to clear out the obstacles and to say
what the Lord has done, what he has accomplished for sinners. for His people. We're to make
it accessible. We're to make it available to
sinners. Because this is the healing balm.
Christ is the salvation of His people. There's no other hope
for sinners. And Christ did the whole work.
The work's finished. It's all complete. we declare
a finished salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're to
go forth laboring in the field of harvest to tell them what
he has done. to declare this word. And our
God will manifest that word in the hearts of his people. Manifest
that faith and that hope in them. We don't have to twist their
arms. We don't have to convince them of something just to get
them to be like us. We proclaim the word. We declare
the word faithfully of the finished work of salvation by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He makes it effectual in the hearts of His
ordained sheep, those who will believe, and they believe it.
They will hear it and they will believe. So we're going to focus
on verse 10 tonight. I've titled this message, Go
Through the Gates. Go Through the Gates. Let's read.
this command here in verse 10. Go through, go through the gates. Prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up
a standard for the people. The people need salvation. Sinners need salvation. The Lord
has a people. He has a flock. Other sheep I
have, them also I must bring. you that are the sheep of God
Christ says I have other sheep I have other sheep and them I
must also bring go through go preach this word to those out
in the world out in the nations out in the streets out in the
cities go and preach this word because I have other sheep that
must hear and they will hear we're not going on a fool's errand
We're going on a successful errand for the Lord, the work of the
Lord. We're going to preach his word because he's going to call
out his sheep. They need salvation and this
salvation is declared in this gospel word, this good news.
of what Christ has done for his people. And so the Lord here
is speaking to the people of his kingdom. He's first speaking
to pastors and teachers and preachers and evangelists. He's speaking
to those who declare the salvation of God, who've been healed themselves,
who've been forgiven themselves for their sins, for their wickedness. For their evil devices the Lord
has healed us, He's cleansed us of our sin, and shown us Christ. He's caused us to flee to the
refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ, not because we're righteous,
but because He's righteous, and He justifies His people in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the refuge. He's the Savior.
He's the salvation of God. And so He's speaking to us, telling
us to declare this word for the healing of the people, for the
healing of the nations. He tells those who love His appearing
and who look for His return, go, declare this word, proclaim
it to the sinners. Our Lord is telling His people,
go in faith. Go in faith, trusting the Lord
to give it success, not to doubt, not to be unbelieving, but to
declare it. And when you go, clear out the
obstacles. Pick up the stones in the way. Pick up the branches in the way,
those things which man naturally stumbles over. Well, don't I
need to stop smoking cigarettes first? Don't I need to stop drinking
first? Don't I need to stop doing this first? Why don't you come
and hear the gospel? Christ will speak to your heart.
Why don't you come and hear what He has done. Listen to what He's
done. Hear His Word. Sit and listen. Because this Word is for sinners.
And He'll instruct your heart. He'll tell you what to do. And
it won't be the words or instruction of a man. It'll be His Word speaking
to you. And He'll comfort you. He'll
guide you. He leads you in the paths of righteousness for His
namesake, for His namesake. And it'll be effectual, made
effectual in your heart, because that's what He does for His people. And so we're to clear out those
things which people stumble over so easily and get turned aside
by this thing and that thing. Look to Christ. Look to Christ.
So these words, go through, go through the gates. These words
are encouraging words. They're uplifting words. They're
inspiring words. Go through, he says. Go through in faith,
carrying this word. The first to hear it are believers
who know the truth. He's speaking to you that know
the truth. You that have the wisdom of God,
meaning you that have Christ revealed in your hearts by the
Spirit of God who has spoken to you and made you to hear this
word. Now, I looked up these words
go through. I wanted to see what is the sense,
because when you read this verse, go through, what is the Lord
saying there? What does he mean, go through
the gates? Well, it means to pass over. It means to carry. It means to take away. To go
away. It means to pass beyond. To go
beyond the gates, go through the gates, taking something with
you. Go out carrying something with
you. And so in this sense, believers
are called on by God to go out from their familiar boundaries. those positions of safety that
they're comfortable in. And he's saying, trust me, I've
given you a glorious word, a successful word that others need to hear,
that sinners need to hear. I have my sheep They also, I
must bring. I must call them out of the sheepfold
that they're in, that way of darkness, and bring them out
to where I lead my sheep. And I must bring them into my
sheepfold. Bring this word. Go out from
what you know and trust the Lord. Carrying this word. just speaking
of what he's done for you, what he's done for you. Now sometimes
God will use means to help us go out through that gate. In
fact, he's always going to use means. He's always going to be
the one that that takes us out from our familiar surroundings
and our safety and our comfort and he'll bring us, he'll send
us to do his word. He's the one who makes us willing
in the day of his power. He's the one who makes us obedient
unto him, and he uses various means to do that. The first one
we'll look at is in Acts chapter 8. Let's go there. Acts chapter
8, and we're going to look at verse 1. verse 1 and verse 4 as this example
here. We're told there, and Saul was
consenting unto his death. That's speaking of Stephen's
death. Stephen had been preaching the word faithfully. And Stephen
had spoken that word very directly to those people. And men don't
like it when you speak directly to them. They don't like it.
They get upset. And they'll turn on you. And
they'll rend you to pieces. They don't want you to make that
word personal to them. It makes them angry. And Stephen
was faithful to preach that word to the Jews. And when he said,
you're stiff-necked, And you're doing what's wrong. You always
do what's wrong. You always resist the Holy Spirit. And they turned on him and they
stoned him. They put him to death. And Saul,
before he was called to be an apostle, was in agreement with
Stephen being put to death. And at that time there was a
great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria except the apostles. The apostles were called to stay
there in the midst of the persecution and the suffering and to faithfully
proclaim the word of God to the people there in Jerusalem but
the Lord cause that persecution to send out, to push out others
beyond the gates of Jerusalem, to go out, go through the gates
of Jerusalem now and carry that word wherever you go. It says
verse four, therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word. And so we see how our God is
able, even in in afflictions, even in difficulties, in trials,
and in tribulations, even in persecutions, God is able to
effect obedience in the hearts of his people. His word is to
go through the gates. And he makes his people obedient
to that word. He makes it effectual in the
hearts of his people, howsoever it pleases him to go out the
gates and to proclaim that word as the Lord has commanded us.
And so he's able to do it, able to do it. And that persecution
caused those believers to go through, go through the gates. It makes me think of that word.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run, let us go
through the gates, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Go through, go through the gates. And we're called to prepare the
way, prepare the way of the people. What is the way? The way is Christ. We're to prepare the way, the
way of Christ. He alone is the salvation. He's
the word that the people need to hear. That's what comforted
your heart. That's what delivered you from
death and darkness. and from false religion, it was
Christ, hearing Christ. That's who we are to preach.
We don't know anything else. When we think there's something
else to say, we're stupefied, we're made fools. We don't know
anything else but Christ. That healed us, that comforted
us, he comforted us. Preach him, preach Christ, preach
Christ to the people. His voice is the voice they need
to hear, not ours, but Christ. Let us recall how the Lord used
John the Baptist, because he was sent before the Lord to prepare
the way of the Lord, to prepare the way for the people. He was
sent before the Lord. So let's go to Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one, and you're
gonna be in verse 16. And while you go there, let me
go Malachi. That's the same passage but in
the Old Testament. I'm going to read first, before
I read with you in Luke, I'm going to read Malachi 4, verse
6. So the Lord says he's going to
send one in the spirit of Elijah the prophet, or he's going to
send Elijah. And he says, verse 6, and he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children. and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
So he says he's going to turn the heart of the fathers to the
children and the heart of the children to their fathers. I
don't know what that means. What does that mean, Lord? I
don't know what that means. in fulfillment of exactly what
that means, we have Luke who does know what that means, who
has been given the Spirit, who has the wisdom of Christ, who
was instructed by the apostles and taught this by the Spirit,
and it's an exact example of precisely what that word means.
So let's read it in Luke 1.17, because he tells us. he shall
go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts
of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." And so
the Lord, and because he's speaking to you who do believe, who do
know the word, the word of promise, who do know the promise, see
the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to you who have been instructed
to have a heart for the children, to those who don't know, to those
who are ignorant, who haven't heard and don't have the wisdom
and to take that wisdom which God has given you of Christ because
God has made him unto you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, and to take that wisdom and to instruct the disobedient,
those who don't know the way of salvation, those who haven't
heard, those who are trying to work in their works of religion
and their ways and to make themselves better and to do this right and
to stop doing this, maybe then God will be merciful to me. Let
me tell you, how that God saves sinners. Let me tell you the
one who justifies his people, who laid down his life, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the faithful, obedient savior, the one who came and
did the will of his father. That's what he's saying. And
so here we've been instructed by one who is a father, one who
has been given wisdom and been instructed in what this means.
And now we know, oh Lord, that's what you mean. Let me be faithful
with that light, that hope, that word you've given to me. And
let me tell others who are walking in disobedience that they too
would know the wisdom of God, that they too would hear the
voice of Christ. And so lift up. those rocks and
branches and potholes and things that are strewn in the way. That's
what John the Baptist did. He prepared the way. The mountains
were brought low and the valleys were brought up so it was a straight
way for the people to walk. It was made simple and plain
to know the way of salvation. that no, it's not buried down
in catechisms and in these things and knowing these doctrines precisely
and being able to fight this person over here and to shut
that person up over there. It's to know Christ, the simplicity
of Christ, that Christ saves sinners and he saved them. They
are delivered from their death and destruction. Look to Him.
He's the Savior. Believe Him. He receives all
who come to Him, all who cry out to Him, Lord, save me. He's
a faithful, kind, gracious Savior who saves His people to the uttermost. We're to tell them what Christ
has done for us. He's gracious. He's gracious. He's kind to all who need Him,
all who seek Him. Tell them what the work is that
Christ has accomplished. Preach Christ. That's preaching
Christ crucified. What is that? What he did, the
work that he finished. He came in the flesh like unto
us, but without sin, fulfilling all the law of God, fulfilling
all the righteousness of God. And he went to the cross bearing
his people, bearing their sin in his own body and went to the
tree and gave Himself, made Himself a sacrifice for us to atone for
our sins, to put them away forever, to remove the stain, to remove
the offense, to remove the curse of the law which we were under,
to remove those obstacles that we ourselves cannot move. We can't take them out of the
way. We can't remove our sin. We can't take away the stain.
But Christ did. Christ did. He put it away for
His people. And He gives His people life
and light and liberty from those dead works. He lifts off the
veil that blinds the heart and the minds of sinners. He takes
away those things that prevents us from seeing and beholding
Him. And God uses the preaching preaching of that word, the preaching
of Christ to prepare the way of Christ to his people, to prepare
that way for him to come to the people, to reveal faith in them,
to give them the hearing of faith. John's preaching was ordained
of God to point to the people the coming of Christ. It was
to prepare that way. And Christ did exactly that. He came right on the heels of
that ministry. Where John preached it, Christ
came. just as he preached it there. Now our Lord sent out
70 chosen men. He chose 70 men and sent them
out two by two to preach the gospel in the cities wherever
he purposed to go. Let me read this to you in Luke
10 verse one. After these things, the Lord
appointed other 70 also and sent them two and two before his face
into every city and place whither he himself would come. He sent them before to preach
that word wherever He would go. Do you see the glorious picture
in that? That we preach the word, and
we preach it to whoever, whosoever the Lord brings for us to hear,
and the Lord's gonna make it effectual wherever He's going
to come. Wherever He's going to go to
the people, whoever He's gonna go to, He's gonna send that word
first. He's gonna send that word, that
gospel word, before him and then he's going to come and he's going
to reveal himself to those sinners before ordained of him. Now, yes, some of that seed will
fall on deaf ears. And he tells us that parable
of the good ground and the bad ground. He tells us that there's
some that that seed is going to fall on hardened ground and
the birds of the air are going to come and just take it away.
It's not going to produce nothing, nothing. And then other seed
will fall on some hearts, and they'll spring up quickly, receiving
it with joy. And then as soon as persecution
comes, and those difficulties, they'll wither and die, because
they have no root in them, right? They'll lose their job. They'll
get into car accidents. They'll get into fights with
their friends. Things will all seem to fall apart. And they'll
say, well, wait a minute. I thought it was supposed to get easy now. begin to be chastened, and the
Lord begins to put their flesh to death, they despise it. They despise the chastening of
the Lord, and they don't endure, and they fall away. Others, see,
will fall on the hearts of those who will go for some time, and
they'll seem to be faithful for a long time, but then the cares
of this life, and the desire for riches, and the things of
this world will begin to dazzle their hearts and minds, and they'll
pursue and go after those things. and that'll be the ruin of them,
but there is some for whom that word will go into good ground,
and they'll receive it, they'll hear it by the gift of God, and
Christ will come on that word, and he'll bless their hearts.
making it effectual to them, and he'll settle them, he'll
keep them, he'll lead them out of that false way, out of the
false sheep holds, and bring them into his fields, into his
pastures, with his sheep, and there he'll feed them. And so
we preach Christ, we preach him, and trust that he's gonna go
and make that word effectual. We're to cast up, cast up the
highway, remove the obstacles that men are standing, stumbling
over, Declaring to them there's no works, no will, no merit,
no righteousness of our own that we can bring. God has provided
everything, everything in his son. So don't preach those things
that make men stumble. Don't say, well, now you need
to fix this first. Now you need to get yourself a good clean
pair of clothes and then you can come and show up. No, come
as you are. Just come and hear the gospel.
Come and hear the gospel. The Lord will speak to your heart.
Don't I need to put this thing away? I don't know. the Lord
will teach you, come and hear the gospel. Come and hear what
the Savior has done for sinners. And ask him to teach you, ask
him to instruct your heart, ask him to answer the questions of
your heart, because he's faithful to teach his people, to feed
them, to build them up, to strengthen them in the Lord. And so we bring
that word of Christ, we bring that salvation of God near to
them, to those sinners because their need is great and only
Christ heals and we know how he heals because he healed us.
We're sinners. We're sinners saved by grace.
Remember what he's done for you and take that word which healed
you and comforted you and declare that word to others. Declare
what He's done for you. Exalt the Savior. Exalt the Savior. That's how we prepare the way.
Exalt the Savior. And that brings us to the next phrase which says
lift up a standard for the people. Lift up a standard for the people.
Declare what Christ has accomplished for sinners. He tells us you
that preach." And he says, if I, if I be lifted up, will draw
all men unto me. John 12, 32. If I be lifted up. First, that's
a reference to what our Savior did. He faithfully came and did
the work of his Father. He went to that cross and was
sacrificed for the sins of His people. He fulfilled all the
will of the Father for His people. And so you now go through the
gates. Carry that word to sinners. Exalt the Savior. Speak of Him. Tell others what He's done for
you. And He says, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all men to me. I'll draw them to me. I'll bring
them to myself. You just preach. You just declare
that word. Prepare the way. Prepare the
way, because I'm coming to my people. I'm bringing my salvation
to my people. Boast of, just boast of what
the Savior has done for you. Boast of him. Speak of him. And
he'll draw them to himself. I'm gonna read from Isaiah 5,
verse 26. Isaiah 526, our Lord says, and
he will lift up an ensign, he'll lift up a banner, he'll lift
up the salvation to the nations from far and will hiss unto them
from the end of the earth. And behold, they shall come with
speed swiftly. And so the Lord calls and draws
his people to himself when the ensign is lifted up, when Christ
is exalted. Now, when we've done that, and
the Lord blesses it, then the people who hear you and receive
your word, it's because they hear the Spirit of God saying
to them, go through, go through the gates, carry out, leave this
falsehood, leave this idolatry that you're in. Go through the
gates, leave all this behind. Abraham, go out from the land
of your fathers. Go out, and I'll reveal myself
to you. I'll lead you. I'll teach you. And he says,
you preach this word, and they'll hear it. And they'll hear the
Spirit say, you go out. Now, you get out of this false,
vile, dark ways. Leave this perishing world behind. Come out of the false hope of
man's kingdom. Flee from the Sodom and Gomorrah. Flee from this wickedness. Don't
stay here. in these things of death, in
false religion, in dead works religion, come out. Come out
from it. Our God faithfully calls his
people out of the way of death and into the way of Christ. Reading
from Revelation 18.4, we John wrote, and I heard another
voice from heaven saying, come out of her my people, come out
of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues. So we've seen here that the Lord
first speaks to believers. And he says, you go out, you
go through the gates, through the gates of the city, and you
proclaim this word. you go and declare to sinners
what he's done for you. And then those sinners who hear
it, they hear the spirit saying, go out of those dead works, come
out of that plague filled city, come out of that filth and vile,
come out of the goat barn and come into the sheep pen where
the Lord gathers his people. And we've seen them, that this
is the refuge for sinners. This is what our God and Savior
has given to us, this refuge for sinners, that we are to go
to Him, to flee from idolatry, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. They flee from dead works and
they run to Christ because they've heard the word. And your Savior
is now their Savior. And that word which you heard,
they've now heard. And that which you believe and
are comforted in, they believe and are comforted in. The Lord
has delivered them by that exact same Savior. That same Word. The same Savior who saved you
saves all His people. That's why we preach Christ.
There is no other hope of salvation. There is no other word to preach.
We declare what we've heard and what has comforted our hearts. We preach what we've been sent
to preach and the Lord raises them from the dead. Now, there's one last perspective
that I want to see. We've seen where the Lord speaks
to us to go out with this word, and then we see how the Lord
declares to other sinners to flee from their false hope, to
flee from idolatry. And so there's one more perspective
we'll look at, and then we'll close. Sinners, when they come
out of idolatry and false religion, Christ says to them, now you
go through. go through the gates. That is,
enter the city. You flee into the city, the city
of refuge that I have prepared for you and my son, my salvation. He brings them to the city of
salvation. He brings them to the church
where the gospel is preached where the Word is ministered
to them, to feed them, to settle them, to heal them, to comfort
them, to grow them in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, to fellowship with them because we all go through
trials and difficulties, afflictions and sorrows, and we're comforted,
and we comfort one another. with the comfort that we ourselves
have also been comforted with. And so the Lord gathers his sheep
together that we may minister that word, that word of comfort
and the hope that we have in Christ. And so that language
is also in scripture, going into the city. Turn over to Isaiah
26, Isaiah 26, verse one and two. Isaiah 26, 1. In that day shall this song be
sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in. So we go out preaching
this word. They hear it and flee from their
dead city of the idolatry. And the Lord tells them, you
run, run to the city. Come in, open the gates, brethren.
And what he's saying there is really what we've been hearing
this whole night. Over in Revelation 4.1, I'll
read it to you. John says, after this I looked,
and behold, a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice
which I heard was, as it were, a trumpet talking with me, who
said, come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be
hereafter. Brethren, we preach that door
which is opened in heaven. That door is Christ, and Christ
is the one who opened that door to heaven. He's the one who has
prepared the way, made the way unto the Father in righteousness,
in holiness, in peace, in acceptance, and in joy forevermore in life
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the door open, and our God
sends us to preach that door open, to say, as John said, I
looked and behold. the door opened in heaven. The
Lord Jesus Christ, look to Him. He is the salvation for His people. Believe Him. All who believe
on Him shall never be ashamed. All who believe in Him, the prophets
tell us, their sins are forgiven. Their sins are washed away, they
are white as snow. We preach that door opened in
heaven. And so in the preaching of Christ,
we go through the gate. Whether we're going in faith
to proclaim it, whether we're fleeing from idolatry, or whether
we're going into the city, we're trusting Christ because he is
triumphant. He has triumphed gloriously. He's overthrown all our enemies.
He's put down all our obstacles. Everything that prevented us
has been dealt with and put down. And the way is straight now in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all been accomplished by
Him. And we have a word of triumph.
We have the word of deliverance for sinners. And they receive
it. They who receive it, receive
it triumphantly by the grace and power of God. Let's look
at Isaiah 60 verse 11. Our Lord there says, Therefore
thy gates shall be opened continually. They shall not be shut day nor
night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles,
and that their kings may be brought. That gate is open for you to
go out and preach it, and for sinners to come in, until the
end of the day until the end when the Lord comes again, the
gate is open. We preach an open door in heaven. We preach today is the day of
grace. Hear him, believe him, look to
him. And he gives us this word of
comfort. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
and the offspring of David and the bride and morning star. And
the spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth
say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. I pray the Lord bless that word
and give us all the courage to go through the gates, to hear
his word and to take that word, carry that word to sinners, declaring
to them that very hope of our salvation that we've heard. And
we're so blessed with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Lord, for this word of triumph, this word of victory, this word
of hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see, Lord, how you effect
disobedience in our hearts, how you show us that the gate is
open. Go and preach Christ. Go and preach him. Lord, help
us, help us to hear it, help us to believe it, to go in faith,
and to declare this triumphant, victorious word, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the hope of sinners. And Lord, cause others to hear
it, cause that word to fall on good, prepared ground, that it
would be received and grow up and become fruitful, some 30,
some 60, some 100-fold. Lord, that you would fill your
churches with believers, with saints who have heard the comforting
word, who rejoice in what Christ has done for them, that they
too would go through the gates. Lord, we thank you for your power,
your might, your glory. Lord, you know all things. We
ask, Lord, that you would indeed help us, help us in this work,
help us in this endeavor. Lord, point us to that gate and
help us to go through it faithfully with this word, and that we would
see your work, your power, your glory in bringing sinners in. We know, Lord, that you are the
successful Savior, and we ask that you would indeed bless this
word, establish it here with us, Lord, and establish it in
our hearts first, and may it be profitable to many in this
city. and in this area. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's see. I'm going to switch our closing in. I think it's 201. Tis the grandest theme. Let me
just check. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's titled different. He is able to deliver it. I just
wanted to switch that. and I had to find my music here. 201. ? Tis the grandest theme through
the ages from ? ? Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue ? ?
Tis the grandest theme that the world e'er sung ? ? Our God is
able to deliver thee ? ? He is able to deliver thee ? He is
able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
Him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest theme in the
earth, O'er me. Tis the grandest theme for a
mortal's dream. Tis the grandest theme, tell
the world again. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Go thy sin oppressed, go to Him
for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. grand esteem let the tidings
roll to the guilty heart to the sinful soul look to God in faith
he will make thee whole our God is able to deliver thee He is
able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
Him, for rest, our God is able to deliver thee. Thank you.