Good evening everyone. Let us
begin our evening service by standing and singing 340. Nearer,
still nearer, 340. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. Fold me, O fold me, close to
thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Nearer, still nearer, nothing
I bring. Not as an offering to Jesus,
my King, Only my sinful, now contrite heart, Grant me the
cleansing Thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign, All of its pleasures pumped and its pride. Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified,
Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Nearer, still nearer, while life
shall last. Still safe in glory my acre is
cast, True endless ages ever to be, Nearer, my Savior, still
nearer to Thee. Nearer, my Savior, still nearer
to Thee. Thank you. One second. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
3. Colossians 3. I'm going to read the first 11 verses. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify,
therefore, your members which are upon the earth. fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God
cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which ye also walked some
time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these,
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after
the image of him that created him. where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy in blessing this people here, gathering us
together as a body, the body of our Savior, Lord, we thank
you for this mercy, because we know that it's of your grace. It's of your work, of your hand,
that Lord, there's a love in our hearts for our Savior, that
there is faith in us, which looks to him alone. Lord, we know this
is your work. It's the work of your Spirit.
And Lord, we thank you for it. Everyone here, and Lord, we thank
you for your mercy in giving us your word. We pray that you
would bless your word, that you would give us the hearing of
faith, that we would hear and see our Savior, and that we would
receive the word which you've sent, and that we would rejoice
in this salvation which you've given to us in Christ. Lord,
we pray that you would be merciful to each one who is suffering
and struggling and going through various afflictions. Lord, that
you would help us, that you would cause us to cry unto you in faith
by your spirit. And Lord, that you would hear
our prayer by the grace and mercy which you show to us in your
son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us in our endeavor
to get the word out that your people may hear it and be fed
with Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
establish this work here and that you would bless us in mercy
with your grace, with your presence and your spirit. And Lord, we
pray that you would help us this night to worship you and to glory
in our Savior, for you are worthy of all honor. glory, praise,
power. Lord, we thank you for this.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's sing Beneath the Cross
of Jesus 309. I'm sure we all know this hymn.
I don't think we've sung it here, but it's a familiar one. 309. Beneath the cross of Jesus, I
fain would take my stand. The shadow of a mighty rock within
a weary land. A home within the wilderness,
a rest upon the way, from the burning of the noonday heat and
the burning of the day. Upon the cross of Jesus, mine
eye at times can see the very dying form of one who suffered
there for me. And from my smitten heart with
tears to wonders I confess, The wonders of His glorious love
and my own worthlessness. I take across thy shadow for
my abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of his face. Content to let the world go by,
to know no gain nor loss. My sinful self, my only shame,
my glory, all the cross. Thank you. We're going to be in Isaiah chapter
62. Last week we were looking at
verse 1, where we saw that our God declares to us, He tells
us that He will not rest until His purpose his goal in saving
his people until that purpose is accomplished. And so he says,
I'll be heard. I'm going to be heard. My word
is going to go forth. Because the way that the true
and living God is heard by us, as he's ordained it and purposed
it, is through the preaching of the gospel. And so he calls
his people, he assembles his people, gathers them to hold
forth this word. This is the word of life, that
through the Lord Jesus Christ, you are justified from your sins. You are made righteous by his
righteousness. And He sends His Holy Spirit,
which blesses us, which gives us life from the dead, regenerating
us, giving us a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ, by His grace
and mercy, whereby we hear by the hearing of faith. We hear
that word by faith. And so, God has purposed that
His people are going to hear Christ. He's purposed it, that
you that are His, you will hear this glorious good news, and
that you will receive that word by faith, because you are born
again by the will of God through the gift of eternal life through
His Son, Jesus Christ. And so God says, I'll be heard.
And he's heard through the preaching of the gospel. Paul says it this
way in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18. He says, the preaching of
the cross, that's the preaching of the gospel. We're speaking
of what Christ came to do, to accomplish as our sacrifice,
as our surety, as our substitute in dying on the cursed tree for
his people in his burial and his resurrection. That's the
preaching of the cross and what he accomplished in that work. To them that perish, that's foolishness. That's nonsense. That God would
save you by a substitute, by the work of another, but unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God. which encompasses
that God brings that Word to you, to your hearts, with power,
overcoming your death, overcoming your deadness and deafness and
blindness to these things of God. And so we hear Him, we hear
His Word, we believe his word and we believe on his son through
the hearing of faith, which he gives us, the hearing of faith.
Now he says in Isaiah 62 verse 1, this was last week's verse,
he said, 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 so the gospel here is described as the brightness
of Christ, and the preaching of Christ goes forth as the burning
of a lamp, a lamp being like a lantern, they would call it
a lamp there, and it sends forth light wherever it goes. Now,
turn over to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4, we're gonna
look at verse 6. 2 Corinthians 4, 6, for God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts. The God who created the heavens
and the earth, brought forth light out of darkness, now shines
in our dead hearts, giving light, bringing brightness to our dead
hearts. In the face, he says, to give
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. And so, Through the preaching
of the gospel we are exalting, lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ,
where sinners hear of the salvation of God, how a sinner is justified
before holy, righteous God. Through that preaching, through
the preaching of Christ, God makes known to you who are His
sheep, His chosen people, the salvation that He has provided
in His Son, Jesus Christ, in justifying you with His righteousness,
in making you righteous, and blessing you with the gift of
eternal life through the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Now, in the
next three verses that I want to look at tonight with you,
we see the effects of the brightness of Christ. We see the effect
of that word going forth and shining unto you as a lamp that
burneth. as a lamp that's lit by God for
the purpose of giving you life and light and liberty in His
Son. And what He shows us is that
all people will see it, all kinds of people, Jew and Gentile, and
they'll be called by the name of Christ. And He shows us that
His people shall become disciples of Christ. They won't be indifferent
to this Word. They won't be careless with this
Word. But He shall keep them. He shall
draw them. He shall give them a heart for
their Lord and Savior. And they shall be to Him a crown
of glory. crown of glory, declaring what
he has done for them. And they shall be married to
Christ, because the church is the bride of Christ. They shall
be married. So that's what we'll see in the next three verses.
I've titled this, The Brightness of the Burning Lamp. The Brightness
of the Burning Lamp. So I said, all people shall know
the salvation, and they'll be called by Christ's name. So let's
look back in the text in Isaiah 62, verse 2. 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. And so the first thing that we
see here is salvation is for all peoples. In other words,
God is declaring to us that there is one way of salvation. Man thinks, based on what we
see and know, man thinks that there's many ways to God. Man
thinks that he can come to God pretty much any way that he pleases
to try and approach unto God, and that God will just accept
it, and that God will receive that one doing his best to come
to God in that way. But God is making it known to
his people there is but one salvation. There is one name in whom we
come. That name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
His Son. So that we're not fooled, we're
not deceived in trying to come to God in our own self-righteousness,
in our own vile, dirty works. God is making it known to us
that He's provided the way of salvation. That we don't know
how to save ourselves. That when we come to God our
way, we're coming to him as an enemy. We're counting him as
an enemy. You look back at what Adam did
in the garden when he rebelled against God. The first thing
he did when his eyes were open was to run to the woods and to
cover his nakedness. He knew that he was a sinner.
He saw his shame and the shame of his wife and they covered
their nakedness. And then when they heard the
voice of God coming, they hid from him. They didn't come out
and talk to him because they counted him as an enemy, as an
enemy. Right away, they died spiritually
when they sinned and ate of that tree. And so the Lord is showing
his people that all his people come one way through Christ,
and that is the way of faith. His children are children of
faith. So the Old Testament, you say,
well, what was the purpose of the Old Testament? If we all
come now in faith, if we all come to Christ, what's the purpose
of the Old Testament? Well, the Old Testament served
its purpose. It served its purpose. It had
a dual purpose in that, in one sense, it preserved Israel. It kept them under the law so
that they didn't just go out in total rebellion and God destroyed
them before the seed should come. So in one sense, it preserved
them, keeping them in line to a certain degree so that they
weren't destroyed till Christ came, till the promised seed
should come. And the law had served its purpose
in preserving Israel till Christ came. And the other purpose we
know well, which is to show us our sin. Because anyone looking
to the law, and beholding the law, and doing their best to
keep the law, quickly finds out if they're honest with themselves,
I am a guilty, vile sinner who comes short of the glory of God. And so Christ came. And when
He came, He came under that law, that perfect law. Paul tells
us there's nothing wrong with the law. It's a perfect law,
but man, we, in our flesh, cannot keep that law. And so when Christ
came and it was all preserved, Israel was preserved and that
law was still there. Christ was born under that law
and He kept it perfectly. He fulfilled all the law, all
the righteousness of His people so that He showed Himself to
be the perfect man, the fit sacrifice for His people. He honored the
Father well in all things. And so by keeping that law and
dying as our substitute, he fulfilled all the will of God for his people
to put away our sin by the sacrifice of his holy self, to put away
our sins and to make us righteous in him. And by his death, he
established grace for us. He established the covenant of
grace for us that God may be gracious to you. And in being
gracious to you, He's just. God's not doing anything wrong
by forgiving you of your sins, by washing you of the blood and
in the blood of Christ. God is just to do that because
Christ established all that for His people. What a gracious Savior. What a gracious, kind, and loving
Savior for His people. And so in 2 Corinthians 3.6,
our Lord tells us that He has made us able ministers of the
New Testament. We come not preaching the law,
not turning you away from Christ to go back to the law now for
your righteousness, but to keep looking to the Lord Jesus Christ,
to look to Him who is salvation. We're not ministers of the letter,
but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. And so we're not saved by Christ
in order to become lawmongers now and to become students of
the law and to interpret the Old, the New Testament rather,
by the Old. But rather we understand that
that word which was given to us here was showing us types
and pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ who's now been revealed
to us by the grace of God. that we might know him of whom
this word spoke, declaring to the people the promise of God
that the Son should come and put away our sins for good forever,
and that we would know the true and living God through the one
whom he sent. He is the Christ. He is salvation. And so in our Lord we learn that
we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Jew and Gentile. There's not
two ways to come. There's not many ways to come.
There is but one way. And all people who are saved
are saved that one way, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through
faith. And God makes this salvation
known through the power of Christ in the preaching of the gospel.
Look at what Paul wrote in Romans 1. Romans 1. Romans 1, verse 16 and 17. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. And what he meant when he wrote
that, he was saying, I'm not preaching circumcision. I'm not
preaching the law for salvation. I'm not preaching the law for
your righteousness. I'm preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm not saying things just to be liked by men and to
be accepted with my countrymen. who now hate and despise me,
he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm going to keep preaching
that one word of salvation, knowing that the Spirit of God is the
one who blesses it to your heart with the hearing of faith. So
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. And so through the preaching
of Christ, declaring that word, that Christ's salvation, the
Spirit, taking that word, blesses it to the heart of His saints,
to the heart of the people of God, that they hear it with faith
and say, yeah, That is my hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not
looking to the law. I'm not looking to my works.
I'm not looking to my goodness. I believe that if I'm saved,
it's in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He is the salvation of
God. And so our Lord declares, the
Gentiles shall see thy righteousness. Back in Isaiah 62 too. You will
see thy righteousness, that which was revealed to the Jews, and
all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name,
which the mouth of the Lord shall name. And so this is the promise
of God. And the Gentiles who never had
the law, that weren't stumbling over Christ, they had no trouble
seeing the mercy, the power, the salvation of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. When that word was preached by
Paul, they saw the brightness of Christ. They saw the glory
of Christ. It came and shone into their
dark hearts as a lamp that burneth. And they were delivered from
the darkness. And they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they weren't stumbling.
And so it's a sad, sad thing to see that so many legalists
in our day They have the glory of Christ being declared and
revealed in the New Testament, by which they could go and read
the Old Testament and see the Lord Jesus Christ, who said to
the Jews, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. And so I was thinking about it.
You know, people, you know, talk about hermeneutics, which is
the study of how to understand the scriptures. And they, you
know, highlight the context of it, and they give you certain
rules for doing some exegesis, some understanding of what the
scriptures are saying. But the chief rule, the one rule,
the single rule for understanding the scriptures is to see it in
the light of Christ. See that scripture in the face
of Christ because it all testifies of Him. And if you're not seeing
Christ in the scripture, then you're not understanding what
the scripture is saying. You might get a good historical
understanding of what they were thinking at that time, but if
you don't see Christ, you're missing life, because Christ
is the life of his people. And so Paul says that we are
all children of faith. And he says in Romans 3, 28 through
30, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles who didn't have the law? Yes,
of the Gentiles also. Seeing it as one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith. And so by Jesus Christ we establish
the law and faith looking to our Lord in perfect righteousness
because he is the righteousness of God and you in him, or the
righteousness of God which he receives." Now we're told here
in this verse that we're given a new name and it's a name that
declares that Christ is our salvation. There's debates. People wonder,
what is this new name? They talk about, well, what name
is this that we are given? And they're looking at various
scriptures. And we'll look at several of
those scriptures, but understand that all of it, when you boil
it down, it's one thing. It's the name speaks of and declares
to us that Christ is our salvation. You that see the name that I've
been given is Christ is my salvation. You understand it. That's what
the scripture is saying, that Christ is our Lord. And so when
you look at a scripture like Acts 11, 26, it says all the
disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. It's because
we are made in the image of Christ. We are born again of his seed. We're patterned after him. We
live by Him. Christ is our Savior. He's our
Lord. And some think that the new name
here is Hephzibah. Now that sounds crazy at the
moment, but in verse 4, it says the name Hephzibah. And it reflects
what Christ has done for us. Christ has made us Hephzibah,
which means desirable. Christ has made you. You that
have no hope in your own righteousness, that have no hope in your religion,
that have no hope in your understanding or wisdom, that have only a hope
in Christ, it's because Christ has made you desirable. When we were in religion, when
we were doing the works of this world and of this flesh, we were
wearing rags, filthy rags of fleshly righteousness. And our clothes stunk with self-righteousness. They stunk of vain things. As I was thinking about that,
I remember I used to go to a gym, I'd say it's about 20 years ago
now, maybe 15, and I would go early in the morning and there
was an older man there that I don't think showered very much. And
maybe just put the same shirt on over and over again because
it really reeked bad and he would just everybody would stay far
far away from him because it smelled really bad and I noticed
you know sometimes if I'm wearing a shirt for a second day and
I move around I notice whoa I don't smell so good I need to get clean
and the thing is when we're in our own religion and in our own
works we think we smell good and we think we're doing well
in our works But thank God who declares this gospel whereby
we see the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and look down
on our own hands and in our own rags and see filth and stench
and that which is not accepted to God. Because anyone coming
to God in their own works and in their own wisdom and understanding
is rejecting the wisdom and understanding that God gives his people in
the face of Jesus Christ. And so, you that look to Christ
are blessed. Blessed. That's why you're looking
to Christ, is what I'm saying, because God has blessed you to
look to His Son, Jesus Christ. And Christ has made you desirable. You are a sweet-smelling savor
unto God because you have been plunged in the blood of Christ,
washed anew by Him. And so we are His and accepted
of God. We are desirable to God because
we come in the scent and in the savor of Christ. In the same
way that Isaac received Jacob gladly when he came in the scent
of his brother Esau. Because Isaac loved Esau. God loved Jacob. And so we are
Jacobs who come in the scent of our brother, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we're received of the Father.
We delight the Father in Him because we are Hephzibah, desirable
in Christ. So the name that we're given,
it's pointing to Christ is my salvation. Christ is my hope. Christ is my all. So if you look
at a scripture like Revelation 13, I'm sorry, Revelation 3,
look there, Revelation 3, verse 12, we see here that it's also
speaking of this name which is given to the children of God,
this name. Revelation 3, 12. Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God. And he shall go no more
out, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name
of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh
down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my
new name. And so here it says, I'm gonna
write the Lord, the Lord Christ, Jesus Christ is gonna write the
name of my God and the name of the city of my God on his people. So where have we heard something
similar to that? We'll turn over to Jeremiah,
Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, verses five and
six. Here in this passage, we'll look
at the name of my God. The name of my God, Jeremiah
23, five and six. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days, this is speaking
of Christ, the eternal King, in his days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, the name
of my God, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. That's the name of our God, the
Lord our righteousness. Now turn over to Jeremiah 33. Jeremiah 33, verses 15 and 16. Here we're given the name of
the city of my God. The name of the city. In those
days and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to
grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved. and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called." This is referring to the city of God
now. She shall be called the Lord our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. And
so the name of our God is that God is our righteousness. Christ
is our righteousness. And the name of you, the people
of God, is that Christ is my righteousness. And so the name
that we're given is Christ is my salvation. He's my Lord. He's
my all. He's made everything to me. And so all the people of God
are children of faith. We all come in faith, looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing He's my all. He's my salvation. And so we come out of every kindred,
tongue, people, and nation. And so through this preaching
of the gospel and the hearing of faith which is given to us,
we hear the voice of Christ, and by His power and glory, we
live. We live. All right, now let's
look at the second blessing. The second blessing, which results
from God sending forth His gospel, Him accomplishing His will to
send this word forth for His voice to be heard by His people,
is that through this gospel and his work, his power, his brightness
shining in your dark hearts, giving you life, is that you
shall be a glory and an honor of God who saved us. God who
saved us. So look at verse 3, Isaiah 62,
3. Here the church, to the church
of the faithful, he says, thou shalt also be a crown of glory
in the hand of the Lord. and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God. And so God sends forth the brightness
of his word, the brightness of Christ into your hearts to give
you life because in our works we're vile. In our works we're
sinners. In our works, our ways are the
ways of death. And so we could bring forth no
righteousness but to the glory and praise of Christ you shall
be righteous by Him. By Him. We're made fruitful by
our God in Christ. We saw on Sunday, it said in
John 15 verse 8, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear
much fruit. So shall ye be my disciples. And so we're one with Christ
in an inseparable, unbreakable union. We are one with Christ,
connected to Him, and we bear the fruits of our Lord and Savior. We bear His fruit to the praise
and honor of our God who saved us. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
13. Hebrews 13, and let's look at
verse 20 and 21. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work to do his will. working in you,
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And so, the Lord
is saying that you that are my people, who see the brightness
and glory of my Son, You shall be delivered from death. You
shall be delivered from the prison of darkness. You shall hear his
voice. You shall believe on him because
you are a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal
diadem in the hand of thy God. And so we're a crown. on the
head of our Savior. We're a crown. In other words,
it's to his glory that he worked this salvation in sinners who
have no power or strength or might of ourselves and sinners
who were dead in trespasses and sins. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things are become new. Now turn over to Revelation
19. Revelation 19, let's read a few verses here. It says, and I saw, verse 11,
and I saw in heaven, and I saw heaven opened, and behold, a
white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful
and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Heaven is open to the glory and
praise of your Savior. The reason why heaven is open
and we have an entrance into that heaven where God dwells
in light and in eternity. The reason why there's an opening
into heaven is because of the faithful work, the love of Christ
for you, his people. He's the one that opened heaven
unto us by the sacrifice of himself and given us life. Verse 12,
his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns,
many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word
of God. And so the Lord's telling us
that on his head were many crowns, because our Savior conquers the
hearts of his people. and turns us, delivers us from
the pit of death and from the enmity in our minds and hearts
against the true and living God. He turns that so that we rejoice
to know Him. We rejoice to worship Him. We
give Him thanks for saving us and delivering us from that death
and that enmity that was in us. so that He's all our glory. Every child of God who is saved
and turned from death is another crown of glory, one of the many
crowns that He wears on His head. Because He's glorified. That's
how dead we were. That's how impossible salvation
is for you and me. But it's not impossible for Him.
And it's to the glory and praise of His name. So every child of
God who believes on Him is another crown of glory on his head. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. Why? Because he's our Savior. He's our Lord. He's our King.
And we are happy to follow him. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And so we
follow our Savior. We follow him. And so this is
all because our God would send out this gospel to seek out his
lost sheep, rather than condemning us and just wiping off the table
and getting rid of us in the wrath of God, he came in mercy
and delivered us from that wrath and gave us life in himself and
made us partakers of his inheritance with the saints in life. All
right, now, the third point here. We've seen how the Christ people
are gathered from across the world, Jew and Gentile, all given
one name, the name of their Savior, the name that Christ Jesus is
my salvation. He's my Lord. And we're made
new creatures in Christ so that he is our crowned king. and our
salvation is to the glory and praise of his name. Now the third
thing we're told, which results from this gospel, is that we
shall be married to Christ. We were forsaken. We were vile. He says in verse 4, Isaiah 62,
4, thou shalt no more be termed forsaken. Neither shall thy land
anymore be termed desolate. That's what our sin did. Our
sin left us forsaken and desolate. But God, through his Son, reconciled
us to himself. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah,
and thy land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in thee, and
thy land shall be married. And so that's what they mean.
Hephzibah means delighted or Yeah, that God delighteth in
thee, and Beulah, that you shall be married. Married to the Lord. We were betrothed to Christ.
We were given to Him before the foundation of the world. And we fell in sin. We fell in
darkness. We polluted ourselves. And we
did that which our hearts wanted to do in darkness and in wickedness. But that never changed Christ's
mind. Christ never turned in His love
for you who were given to Him in eternity past. It never turned His heart or
mind. He came faithfully to do for us what we couldn't do for
ourselves in becoming and being born in the flesh, like as we
were, under the law, fulfilling the law perfectly, and went to
that cross, bearing the sin of you, his people, to put that
sin away, to make you accepted to God, so that God now delighteth
in you. And He's coming again. He's robed
you with His righteousness. He's put His Spirit in your hearts. He dwells in your hearts by faith,
giving you life and hope, peace and joy and love for Him forevermore. He's done that for you, His people. And He shall return again to
take you to Himself, to marry you in that heavenly day. And we shall be forever with
the Lord. And that's a great comfort to
the people of God. And so that's the brightness
that he sends forth. That's what he's shown to us
in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we're made
desirable in him and made precious unto our God. And it's all because
he is faithful and righteous and glorious. Amen. All right, let's close and pray.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace, for your
mercy in saving us and putting away our sin and putting away
our filth and putting away that which is our shame, making us
righteous to you. Lord, help us to hear that word
always with the hearing of faith. to delight and glory in our Savior
and what he's done for us. Shine this word brightly in our
hearts, Lord, and in our minds. Keep us, Lord. Turn us from this
world and this flesh and keep us following our Savior and walking
in the brightness of his glory. Lord, let thy word be to our
feet a lamp shining on the path that we may know how to go, that
we would stay upon Christ, for He is the way. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn will be 296,
All the Way My Savior Leads Me, 296. All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. Oh, the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial,
feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Lo, a spring of joy I see. Gushing from the rock before
me, Lo, a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed mortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. Thank you.