Good evening, everyone. We're
going to begin our evening service by standing and singing 489.
Glory to His name, 489. ? Down at the cross where my Savior
died ? ? A word for cleansing from sin I cried ? ? There to
my heart was the blood applied ? ? Glory to His name ? Glory
to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
applied. Glory to His name. I am so wondrously safe from
sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within, there at the cross where
he took me in. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
applied. Glory to His name. O precious fountain that saves
from sin, I am so glad I have entered in. There Jesus saves
me, keeps me clean. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
applied. Glory to His name. Come to this fountain so rich
and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Saviour's
feet. Lunge in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood
applied. Glory to His name. Thank you. Bible reading will be Psalm 61.
Psalm 61. Hear my cry, O God, attendant
to my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a
shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings, Selah. For thou, O God, hast heard my
vows. Thou hast given me the heritage
of those that fear thy name. Thou wilt prolong the king's
life, his years, as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth,
which shall preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy
name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. Our heavenly merciful Father,
we thank you for once again allowing us to gather together to assemble
to hear your glorious gospel declared unto us. Father, what
a great, great blessing it is and a mercy that we are able
to gather together in this little corner here in Nixa from week
to week. where others, O Lord, do not
have this opportunity. And Father, we thank you for
this. And will you remember us into the unknown future? All
things are perfectly in your hands. And Father, allow us to
rest completely in you, knowing that all things are perfectly
in your control. And Lord, continue to provide
for us, whether it's financially or wherever our needs are. And
Father, we thank you also for Brother Eric, where you again
allow him to stand before us. Father, remember him in mercy
as he hopes to declare the glorious gospel to us also this evening. Father, continue to give him
strength and courage in his studies. Encourage his heart, Lord, that
he may be enabled, Lord, to declare the glory and the unsearchable
riches of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Michelle
also. Continue to be with them. Give
them all that they need. And Lord, we thank you for allowing
Brother Scott to come this evening. You have given him enough strength
and health. Lord, remember all of us. You
know perfectly what each and every one stands in need of.
And Lord, we also think of our loved ones. Oh Lord, will you
remember them in mercy and call them out of nature's darkness.
And Lord, if it would please you, will you grant them that
true gift of faith, whereby they have a longing to hear of their
only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for giving
us this true saving faith in our hearts, where we are no longer
fiddling with religion, with confusion. But Lord, you have
stopped us. You have given us ears to hear
and eyes to see. And we thank you, Lord, for saving
us from the darkness of religion. And you have shown us, Lord,
the light, the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for
this full and free salvation. And, Lord, will you pour out
your grace upon us this evening? For Jesus' sake alone, amen. We're going to sing out of the
softback. I'm going to sing number 13 again. We just sang it. Let's
do it again. Deeper than the stain has gone. We're singing that to a new tune,
as you remember. Dark the stain, the soil man's
nature. Long the distance that he fell. Far removed from hope and heaven. To deep despair and hell But
there was a fountain open And the blood of God's own Son Purifies
the soul and reaches Deeper than the stain has come Praise the
Lord for his salvation. God still reigns upon his throne. And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. Conscious of the deep pollution,
sinners wander in the night. Though they hear the shepherd
calling, they still fear to face the light. ? This the blessing
consolation ? ? That can melt the heart of stone ? ? That sweet
balm of Gilead reaches ? ? Deeper than the stain has gone ? ? Praise
the Lord for his salvation ? God still reigns upon His throne,
and I know the blood still reaches deeper than the stain has gone. O unworthy we who wander, and
our eyes are wet with tears, as we think of love that sought
us through the weary wasted years. Yet we walk the holy highway,
walking by God's grace alone, knowing Calvary's fountain reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. Praise the Lord for his salvation. God still reigns upon his throne. And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. When with holy choirs we're standing
In the presence of the King And our souls are lost in wonder
While the wide rope choir sings ? Then we'll praise the name
of Jesus ? ? With the millions round the throne ? ? Praise him
for the power that reaches ? ? Deeper than the stain has gone ? ? Praise
the Lord for his salvation ? God still reigns upon his throne. And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. Thank you. Thankfully that block goes deeper. Good evening. Alright, we're going to be in
Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah 62, looking at the first
four verses. Now last week we were in chapter
61, obviously, and we were looking at the last five verses there,
and we took notice of what our God was revealing to us in those
verses, the truth of his word in those verses which say to
us, which declare that God saves his people one way. And that
way is through the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we are made to
understand that our salvation is all of the grace of God. Verse 8, we see that He brings
it to pass sovereignly. He is sovereign God, able to
do according to His own good pleasure. The next verse saying
that it's through the preaching of the Gospel that life is given,
when the Spirit gives us the hearing of faith, so that we
hear what is preached and are not offended by what is said,
but Faith is revealed in us to receive that Word that is heard
and to rejoice in it. And verse 10, this Gospel preaching
exalts the salvation that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
works for His people. And the Church, the Bride of
Christ, she rejoices in that word and she rejoices in glories
in Christ her Savior. And then in verse 11, we're reminded
that this whole world is the garden of the Lord. His people
are throughout that garden. and He sows the seed of Christ
in them to bring forth that life from them. so that they praise
Him and glory in Him. Now this week it follows on from
that same word. This is the same prophecy. It's the same message that the
prophet is preaching here. And it declares that God is not
going to rest in that which is His good will and pleasure. He will not rest until His goal
is reached. And what is that goal? But it's
to send forth the Gospel, to make known the salvation that
the Son has wrought for His people in their redemption when He came. in the flesh, fulfilling all
the law, all the word of prophecy, fulfilling all the word of this
book which was spoken by God concerning him in promise to
his people. Christ came and fulfilled all
that word and He gave His life, laying down His life as the sin
substitute of His people. And so, God is not going to rest
until He makes His people know that word, to know of that redemption,
to know that they are justified by the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that it's revealed in them by regenerating grace
of the Holy Spirit. It's a gift of God. This salvation
is a gift of God and God is not going to rest until every one
of His sheep hears that word and salvation is wrought in them
and they believe on Him. This is the church's glory. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our glory and the church is His glory. He's glorified in the salvation
of His people. When you think about the wickedness
in this world, just what you yourselves see individually,
what you see and think, this is just awful, what's going on
here, or what I see in this, or what that person has done,
that's awful. What I see in my own heart, in
my own thoughts, Lord, this world is wicked. And then to know that
God is accomplishing His grace, His salvation in His people,
that's amazing. We think that salvation is some
easy thing. No. Salvation is impossible for
man, and it costs the Son of God His life as our sin bearer,
making Himself an offering unto the Father to put away our sin
forever. And so it's a glory to him. And God has purpose to make this
glory known to the ends of the earth. Because as it's declared,
we hear the glory of God. And sinners saved, glory in that
Savior. Glory in the salvation of our
God. I've titled this message, Until the Last Sheep is Saved. So we're continuing now from
what the prophet said last week. So let's read verse 11 of Isaiah
61. The Lord had just promised, that
as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth
the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord
God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before
all the nations. You see, our God is sovereign,
and whatsoever He wills to do, that He will do. He's sovereign. whatever he pleases. Thankfully, he is good and perfect,
holy and righteous, and all that he does is wonderful and perfect
and holy. And because he's sovereign, nothing's
going to prevent him, nothing will stay his hand or say to
him, what doest thou? What do you think you're doing?
A creature cannot say that to God. God does as He pleases. And He has told us His will and
purpose is to cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before
all the nations. And so the sovereignty of our
God is seen in all the things, all the workings done in the
earth. All things in general are working
according to the will and purpose of God. You know, Nebuchadnezzar,
he was a king of Babylon many hundreds and thousands of years
ago, and he saw, and he understood, he learned that God is sovereign,
and he said, What's recorded in Daniel 4.35, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. We're nothing in God's sight,
and we can't say to Him, what are you doing? What do you think
you're doing, Lord? We're reputed as nothing. And
he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? And so we see that that's true
in all things going on in the earth. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are subservient to the will and purpose of God.
And God is sovereign in salvation. It's not as Man likes to teach
that man is the determiner of his salvation, that his will
is what determines whether or not he'll be saved or not. God's
will is sovereign. God determines who hears and
who believes. And so, as recorded by Paul in
Romans 9, verse 15 and 16, he records where God said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, so then it's not of him that
willeth. It's not of your free will or
mine. It's of God's will. Nor is it
of him that runneth. It doesn't matter what works
you think you're doing to please God. That's not what saves a
person. Going by our works, we'll all
be judged and cast into hell for all eternity. If it depended
on my works and depended on your works, it's all instead by God
that showeth mercy. That is whom Christ laid down
his life for. his blood, inscribe their name
in the Lamb's book of life. They shall hear, they shall be
delivered from the wrath to come." So when the Lord gives his word
saying that he's going to bring it to pass, it shall be brought
to pass. And that doesn't matter whether
man wants to cooperate with it or not, God's will shall be done. And so he says here in our text,
Isaiah 62 verse 1, 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. Now he says it's for Zion's sake
and for Jerusalem's sake. Who is this Zion and who is this
Jerusalem? And do you and I have an interest
in this word to Zion and Jerusalem? Or is that just for the Jews?
Is it just for the Jews or do you and I have an interest in
this word? Well, let's see. First look at
Galatians chapter 4. Galatians 4, 26. All right, Galatians 4, 26. But Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Paul's writing to the Gentiles.
Jerusalem is the mother of us all, Jew and Gentile. Look over at Revelation 21. Revelation
21 verse 2. Revelation 21-2, And I, John,
saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This is the New
Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His bride. It's His church. Jew and Gentile
make up the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're His church. So Jerusalem concerns all believers,
all the children of faith, all the children of Abraham, that
is the children of promise who have the faith of Jesus Christ
revealed And then, lastly, look at Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 verse
22 through 24. Hebrews 12. Okay, verse 22, but ye are come
unto Mount Zion. He had just said, you haven't
come to Mount Sinai, where the giving of the law was, and the
thunderings, and the lightnings, and people being put to death
if they touch the mountain. But ye are come unto Mount Zion.
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. And so, brethren, the Lord is
speaking to you who are His church. You are Jerusalem. You are Zion. You are the Bride of Christ. You're His people, and He's speaking
to you. And he says, for Zion's sake
will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not
rest. God is going to cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth. to come from his church, all
them that are scattered throughout the earth, and he's not going
to be silent in this. That means God is sending forth
words of joy and peace. He's sending forth word of your
forgiveness, that your sin has been put away, that that which
stood opposed to you Having any relationship with God, that has
been taken care of and put away by our mediator, by the one whom
God sent to remove the obstacles, to take away the mountains that
stood in our way and opposed to us. to take away the enmity
and the death that is in us by nature that we should hear and
rejoice in Christ. God says, I will not be silenced
in this. I will not hold my peace. I will
not rest. In other words, he's saying,
I will be heard. He's sovereign God, and he will
have his word heard by the people throughout the world. As he says
in another place, Isaiah 55, 11, so shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Now, how is God's
word heard? How do we hear the voice of God? Is it in the thunderings and
the lightnings when the rain comes down heavy? Is that the
voice of God that we hear? It's the gospel. It's the preaching
of the gospel. That's how we hear the word of
our God. You know, men can read the Bible. You can read the Bible in your
own private time. And men can go to religious services. And after they've read the Bible,
it's very easy for man to close the book and to set it aside
and feel good with himself. And a man can go to religious
services and sit through the services and do what the other
people are doing there. And afterwards, he can feel good
about himself. But you set a sinner under the
preaching of the gospel, and if God attend that word, He'll
speak to the heart of the sinner. His word is a double-edged sword
dividing asunder the soul and the spirit, the joints and the
marrow. It divides us. It lays us open
before the true and living God. And so when a sinner hears that
word, if God doesn't show mercy to that sinner and leaves them
to themselves but opens their ear to hear what's being said,
they'll be offended. They'll be angered. because it
cuts against the grain of their self-righteous religion. It offends
them, and they're angry, and they're hurt by it, and they
go away. But if God attend that Word for the good of that sinner,
if He has mercy and compassion on that sinner, and gives them
the hearing of faith, and that Word is met with faith, meaning
it comes into good ground, prepared ground, they hear it, and they
rejoice. they're glad. Even if they're
troubled by it for a time, the Lord has purposed it for good
when He causes the sinner to hear it by the hearing of faith. And so, God's saying He's going
to send forth His gospel to a people that shall hear it. He's going
to search them out with the preaching of the Word because by the preaching
of the gospel word, that's how sinners are saved. That's where
the spirit attends that word with power to raise them up,
to quicken them and awaken them out of spiritual death and a
spiritual stupor and a spiritual slumber. So that's how God teaches
the sinner at first, and that's how he teaches us every hour.
I can attest, just sitting, being someone who sat in the pew myself,
that there were many times where the Lord came to me and addressed
my own heart, my own thoughts. my wickedness and dealt with
me in the preaching of that word. And as I carry that word, and
he showed me over and over again the truth of that word. And that's
what he does for you, his people, whom he loves. You follow Christ. You will not walk in darkness.
He teaches you. So even when you go astray, he's
the one who turns you and says, don't go this way. Don't go that
way. Follow Christ. Stay upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's a mercy. It's compassion. It's grace for you. It's kindness
and love for you. In 1 Corinthians 1, 21 through
23, you can go there, 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. He says, for after that in the
wisdom of God, The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For
the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. There's
a natural order in men's minds and what they want to be met
with and what they want to hear. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness.
We know that the natural man doesn't want to hear this. We
know that the natural man wants his ears tickled. He wants to
hear what he wants to hear. how he wants to hear it. But
God, who is sovereign, knows exactly how he's going to save
his people, and he's going to save them according to his own
good pleasure, bringing us to see our absolute and utter need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that we come dragged
by our sovereign God to the Savior. We come in a way, in an inexplicable
way, That's hard to know exactly all the nuances that God does,
but He breaks us down in our pride and in our arrogance. He
shows us our sin. He shows us our need of Christ.
And we see, by the power and glory of God, the sufficiency
of Christ to save me, the sinner. Lord save me, have mercy on me. So that we don't come as we would
come as dead sinners, but we come as living souls quickened
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 18 there, 1 Corinthians
1.18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. The reason why you now believe
is not because you're flesh, not because you're better, not
because you and your flesh is any different from another sinner.
It's because God came to you and you and you and you and you
in power and chose to be merciful and compassionate to you. And
though you don't see yourselves as you would see, God knows exactly
what he's doing. causing you to walk by faith,
trusting not in your own strength and what you see in yourself,
but trusting His word of promise to you, and causing you to cry
out to Him by the spirit of adoption, Abba Father, have mercy on me,
Lord. Cleanse me, receive me again,
Lord, for mercy's sake, not because I deserve it, but because you've
promised in your word, your son, Jesus Christ, Lord, thank you,
thank you. And so Paul says it this way
in 1 Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians 2, and in verse
13, he says, for this cause also, thank we God without ceasing. God has done a work for you that
has not been done for other sinners, not because we're any better,
Not because we're less of a sinner, but because God would be merciful
and compassionate to us. Because He is gracious. for Christ's
sake to us. Because when ye receive the word
of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. And so our God makes a distinction
between his people and those whom he passes by. between his
Jacob's and the Esau's. God is merciful and compassionate
to whom he will be merciful and compassionate. And so God manifests. You wonder, well, who are the
people of God? How do I know if I'm a child of God? Do you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Because He manifests that faith
and that hope in you and that love for the Lord Jesus Christ
that says, I must have Him. If I don't have Christ, I shall
perish in my sins. I shall die in the way. I shall
die a sinner and be lost forever. I must have Christ. And so he
reveals that faith in us. Romans 10, 16, and 17 says, But
they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah saith, Lord,
who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ are obeying the gospel. That's the obedience
of the gospel. You that believe Christ are obeying
the word of God which has come to you saying, this is salvation. Look to my son. Believe him. I have provided him a ransom
for your soul. And he has delivered you. He
has shed his blood. And it's cleansed all your sins.
Trust him. Believe Him. Follow Him. That's His Word to you. And you that believe His Word
are saying, yes Lord, you are right. You are just. Lord, thank
you. Thank you. Now our Lord says
He will do this until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. So what God is saying is that
His gospel will be preached until the last sheep of God hears that
word and believes. Once the last sheep is brought
in, There's no more purpose for the gospel to be preached. There's
no more purpose for the voice of the bridegroom to be heard
in any city. There's no more purpose for the
bride to be heard and the bridegroom to be heard saying, come, come
to the fountain of blood which is open for sinners. Come and
be plunged in the blood for the forgiveness of sins. Come to
Christ Jesus, the Savior. So the brightness is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His justifying righteousness
in you. What He has done to purge you
of your sins and giving Himself a sacrifice and coming as our
surety to pay our debt of sin owed to the Holy God. He is our
justifying righteousness. And so the sinner saved sees
their completeness, the completeness of Christ's finished work that
God sent him for this very purpose, not to show us how to save ourselves,
but he sent him to save us from our sins, to be our savior. Christ himself is the salvation
of his people. It's not the things that we do.
It's not the things that we say we believe. We believe Christ. We come to a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we have love in our hearts
for him. And cry out, Lord, help me to
love you as I ought to love you. Help me to follow you and obey
your word as I ought to. Because Lord, I'm weak and foolish
in this flesh. And this flesh is darkness, and
this flesh is corrupt. Lord, have mercy and have your
way with me. And so Christ has come to cleanse
us of our sins and to make us whole in Him. He is the great
physician who heals the sick, who heals the diseased with sin
and death. Those who are dead in trespasses
and sins, Christ is the one who gives life to the dead sinner. Romans 10.4, for Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. It's
that we don't come in the works of the law. We don't come through
the works of religion. We don't come because we've made
ourselves righteous. We come believing the truth of
God, the word of God, which declares that sinners are saved in Christ.
Peter says it this way in 2 Peter 1.19, let's turn there. 2 Peter
1.19. Thinking of the brightness, the
word shall go forth as brightness to his people. He says in 2 Peter
1.19, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto ye
do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in
a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your
hearts. Christ is that brightness. Christ
is the one who shines into our dark hearts. That's the darkness
where we as sinners in our flesh won't come and don't want to
come into the light. God in mercy and in power and
in glory comes in and destroys that darkness, destroys that
enmity, puts it away by the grace and power of himself. And the
lamp that burneth is the Spirit of God, it's the regenerating
grace whereby you have been given life again, spiritual life, in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see in Christ how that
he reveals life and power and glory in his people. And I'm
going to stop there and let you rejoice, encourage you to rejoice
in what your Savior has done for you and says, I promise I
will not stop until my word goes forth and accomplishes that will
and purpose to save each and every one of my people whom I
chose for my love's sake, and gave to Christ as an inheritance
of them. And he rejoices in you, even
as you rejoice in him, because you are the work of his hands. You are the product of his seed
and his workmanship. So rejoice in glory in Christ
your Savior. Amen. All right, we'll close with some
prayer and then we'll have a hymn and be dismissed. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your mercy. We thank you for
your grace, your abundance of grace in your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you
have a purpose in all that you are doing and that you shall
accomplish your will and purpose here in the earth through the
preaching of your word and you will be heard by your people
who will hear that word, empower, and rejoice in what you've done
for them, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Lord, we're so
thankful for his precious blood, his effectual blood, his wonder-working
salvation in delivering us from death and from darkness. And from enmity against our God,
we thank you, Lord, for what he has done for us, undeserving
sinners. Lord, it's in Christ's name that
we praise you and give thanks. And we pray that you would continue
to even use us to send this word forth. And you would call dead
sinners. by the gospel, that you would
save every one of your lost sheep, Lord, that you may come again.
We look for that day. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Okay, brother. Our closing hymn will be in your... closing hymn is going to be in
your... top there. Under the... clear,
yeah. Here is love, vast as the ocean. Pardon? Yeah, I know, it's close,
yeah, exactly. Let's see, let me make sure I
get the right song here. There is love as vast as the ocean,
and kindness as the flood. When the Prince of life I ransom,
Shed us His precious blood, Who His love will not remember, Who
can cease to sing His praise, He can never be forgotten, Throughout
heaven's eternal days. On the Mount of Crucifixion,
fountains open deep and wide Through the floodgates of God's
mercy flowed a vast and gracious tide. Grace and love, like mighty
rivers, poured incessant from above. Then heaven's peace and
perfect justice saved poor sinners by His blood. in thy truth thou
dost instruct me by thy spirit through thy word and thy grace
is all sufficient oh how sweet to rest in thee oh thy fullness
thou art pouring thy great love and power on me without measure
full and boundless my heart to thee thank you