All right, if you take your Bibles
now and turn with me to Isaiah. Isaiah, as some men say, the
gospel according to Isaiah. The gospel according to Isaiah,
that's good. Isaiah chapter 62. We'll be looking
at verses one through four. And the title of my message is
The Zeal of God. The zeal of God, the hope of
Zion. You know our hope tonight, if
you're a believer in Christ, is in this. It is in the determination
of God, the will of God to save us. It is in the fulfillment
of the will of God through Jesus Christ is our hope of salvation. That is the grounds of our confidence. that we shall be saved, it is
because of this, it is the will of God that Israel be saved,
that all Israel, all spiritual Israel should be saved. Let's
read this together. The scripture says, for Zion's
sake, will I not hold my peace? And for Jerusalem's sake I will
not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of
thy God. For thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken. Neither shall thy land any more
be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah. Sorry. thy land Beulah for the Lord
delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married." That's what
that word Hephzibah means, it means my delight and Beulah means
my bride, my wife. Now As we read this verse, we
can surely see that as Isaiah wrote this passage of scripture,
as he was moved by the Holy Spirit, Isaiah shows forth in his words,
if these are the words of Isaiah, he shows forth his love for the
people of God. He says this, Isaiah said, I
will not be silent. I will not hold my peace. Until
Jerusalem is righteous, until Zion is saved, I won't hold my
peace. Now, we like Isaiah. Isaiah is
a beloved prophet to us, but you have to remember when Isaiah
lived on this earth, he was one of the most despised and hated
men of his time. Matter of fact, most believe
that that passage in Hebrews, in that hall of faith, that Isaiah
was the one that was sawn asunder. Can you imagine that Isaiah was
cut in half by the very people he preached to, by the very people
he loved, he was sawn asunder. They violently hated him. And
I'll tell you, this was the lot of many of God's prophets. to
love the people they preach to, to desire their salvation, and
yet be the most hated men, the most hated men in their generation. Jesus, when he spoke in that
cry of great compassion to Jerusalem, you remember, he said, Thou,
O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Thou which killest the prophets, Killed them and in Acts chapter
7 when Stephen was known you remember what he said he said
to them you're stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear
and you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did. Which of the prophets have your
fathers not persecuted and have not slain them that showed forth
the coming of the just one whom you like them have betrayed and
murdered. Yet, like all of God's men, though
despised and hated by the ones He preached to, Isaiah surely
had a great love and zeal for these people." Listen to that.
In his words, he said, for Zion's sake, I will not owe my peace. Though despised and hated, he
surely had great love for those he preached to. A desire for
the salvation of Israel. Therefore, as a watchman, he
determined not to keep silent. Isn't that the point of the watchman? The point of the watchman is
to cry and warn the people. Listen to me tonight. I'm warning
you, you that are outside of Christ. I am here to warn you. Judgment is coming. Justice is
coming. God is coming in vengeance. And if you're outside of Christ,
God will destroy you. So what do we say? Come in. Come
to Christ. Come now. Don't wait. Come now. It is urgent that you believe
on Christ now. We love those that we preach
to. We are resolved as watchmen to determine not to be silent
and hold our peace. He had great resolve that he
would not rest until Zion shined with righteousness. What is that?
Until they're saved. He's not gonna hold his peace
until God's people here, until God's people are brought in. That was the apostle Paul's heart,
wasn't it? He said, I have a desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. You know he wrote that when he
was in jail. They had lied on him. They had gotten him accused
of things he was not guilty of. And there he was ready to be
beheaded. And what was his desire? His
desire was that, he said, I wish myself could be accursed from
Christ for my kinsmen in the flesh. Friends, I desire men to be saved. I would to God we'd all have
that kind of love. Could you say that? Could you
say that for your kinsmen? And yet none of us have been
persecuted like that. None of us have been tortured
like that. And yet he was, he loved men. He loved and desired
them to be saved. How zealous should we be for
the salvation of God's elect? We should be zealous for that.
Isaiah was zealous. I will not be silent. You can't shut me up. I'll preach
until God's people come in. Why? He had a good hope that
God's people were going to come in, didn't he? So he knew that
they would come in. So he wasn't going to be silent.
And neither should we. Neither should we. Believer in
Christ, may God the Holy Spirit now descend and give us a heart
like that. We all need a heart like that. He should give us such a desire
to see this men that God would save the souls of sinners. I
would to God our hearts would burn with it. burn with zeal. Yet even, consider
this, consider that even though Isaiah was zealous, yet we know
this, that his zeal and our zeal, say that we could be as zealous
as he was, yet we understand this, our zeal accomplishes nothing. If we could give ourselves to
be sawed asunder, what would that accomplish? That would accomplish
nothing in the salvation of God's people. Our zeal, though we should
have it, we must have it in preaching the gospel, we should be bold.
But yet we know this, we do not trust our zeal to save anyone. My zeal does not save anyone.
Neither did Isaiah's zeal save anyone. We could be the most
zealous and faithful watchman and sacrifice our life and limb,
and this would surely give us no lasting comfort or assurance
of the lost receiving salvation. Therefore, let us now see these
words as they were really intended, not the words of Isaiah, but
the words of God. Now then they give meaning. Now
then they have real purpose. When we see the zeal of the Lord,
when we see the zeal of God, the will of God, then we have
comfort that is going to take place. God said, my counsel shall
stand and I will do all my pleasure. So what God in zeal determines
to do, you can mark it down, it's going to be done. is going
to be done. So let's see these words as they
are intended by the Spirit. They are the words of God. Now
here in this scripture, as God says, for Zion's sake, I will
not hold my peace. And Zion, no doubt, is a picture
here, not of all the men of the world, but only of the elect.
the church. Israel was an elect nation. They
were a chosen people, a peculiar people, given the very law of
God, given the word of God, and everyone else was excluded but
this one little nation. They're a picture, they're a
type of the real elect, the real church of God, the real Israel,
which is spiritual. Now Zion and Jerusalem were here
spoken of as the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But you remember what Paul says concerning this in Romans chapter
9. He said, not all they which are
of Israel are true Israel. That's Romans chapter 9, verses
6-8. He tells us, look, this is why
not all national Israel saved. because not all national Israel
is the children of promise, but the elect. Paul goes into this
concerning those two sons of Jacob, those two sons of Isaac,
Jacob and Esau. They were both descendants of
Isaac and yet one was chosen and one was hated. Jacob was chosen. He is a picture
of all the elect of God and Paul goes on to show that Israel is
chosen as a chosen vessel of mercy according to the grace
of God. It was by sovereign, free, unconditional
grace. sovereign, free, unconditional
grace and love of the Father that chose Zion, that chose His
people. It was the eternal, immutable
will of the Father that these chosen people should be made
holy and blameless before his holy justice. We see that in
Ephesians chapter one. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us, past tense, blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
According, here's where all the blessings come from according
as he had chosen us in Christ in union with Christ before the
foundation of the world for this purpose that we should be holy
and without blame before him. Here's his motive in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Here's the means
by Jesus Christ unto himself. This is all determined. This
all was determined beforehand. God chose a people and blessed
them and gave them to Christ. This is Zion. This is Israel.
This was His zeal, His determination. This surely was no small task. This decree of God to save Israel,
to save His people, required infinitely more than the objects
of his mercy and love could ever provide. When God chose to make
us holy and acceptable, he knew that we could not help, that
we could not lend a hand, that there was nothing in the elect
that could ever help God to save us. What He required to do, what
He determined to do was more than we could provide. Therefore the Father gave all
His chosen people to the care of one person, Jesus Christ His
Son. He said, I'm going to make them
holy. I decree, I determine, my zeal is that you, that my
elect should be holy and without sin, without blame. And I'm going
to do it by Jesus Christ, my son. I'm going to do it by putting
them in union with Him and making Him solely responsible, solely
responsible for all their salvation. Read this from Hebrews chapter
6 and verse 16. It says, For verily, Men verily
swear by the greater. And an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of strife." He's saying, look, when we promise
something, that's an end of strife. If we're honest, if you have
two honest men and they're making a pact, this is how you end strife.
He said, look, I promise to do it. And the guy said, okay, that's
an end of strife. We're in God. willing more abundantly
to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel.
That's that counsel we just talked about, that eternal counsel of
salvation. God's zeal, God's determination
for Zion's sake. For Zion's sake, salvation. to show to the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it with an oath, that
by two immutable things, which is impossible for God to lie,
that we might have a strong consolation to fled to refuge, to lay hold
upon the hope set before us. What is this? What hope is this
that we've laid hold on? Which hope we have as an anchor
for our soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil, whether the forerunner has for us entered even Jesus
Christ and high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Herein is our hope of Adam's
ruined race. Adam's desolate and forsaken
race that is only worthy of God's wrath and vengeance, here's our
hope, even the election and covenant of God. The election and covenant
of God is our sure anchor and Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of that covenant. As our high priest, he entered
into the veil, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with
his own blood to secure our salvation. Secure it, not make it possible. Don't listen to religion. Religion
talks about making salvation possible. I don't want a possible
salvation. I want an accomplished salvation. If it's possible, then it's possible
for me to miss it. But if it's done and accomplished
according to the will and the zeal of God, I'm not gonna miss
it. because it's done by somebody
else. It's done without my help. One preacher said it's un-mess-uppable. Bruce Crabtree I think said that,
it's un-mess-uppable. Because I can't, I didn't do
anything for it. And God says, I want you to be
so confident that I'm gonna swear to do it. That's what we have
in our text. When he says, for Zion's sake,
God is swearing that I will not hold my peace until it's accomplished,
until it's finished. I won't stop. I won't rest until
it's done. Consider the billions and billions
of Adam's race and that there was none of us good. Have you
ever considered how 0% chance of anyone being good. None good, none righteous, all
born dead in sins, every heart is set at enmity against God,
every natural man is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. Every man is spiritually judged, spiritually discerned
so that he cannot and will not embrace Christ by faith. He cannot
do it. Therefore, if God had not made
choice among us, if God had not chosen a remnant of Adam's race,
what does the scripture say? We would have all been like Sodom
and Gomorrah. You see, without election, there
would be no salvation. Election is not salvation. It's unto salvation. But without
election, there would be no salvation had God not determined and zealously
determined to accomplish it for Zion. This is the gospel. Not that salvation is an offer
of God, but that salvation is a decree of God, a promise of
God, which is fulfilled by Christ. That's what the gospel is. It
is salvation promised by God. It is salvation accomplished
by Christ. It is salvation applied by the
Spirit. It is salvation kept by the Spirit
until everyone is brought in. Jonah said it best, salvation's
of the Lord. And consider that before there
was ever a sin, this was God's determination. Before there was
ever a sin. How many times have you sinned
and said, okay, that's surely it? Well, don't you realize that
before there was ever sin in the world, this was determined?
that your sin was not, cannot object to what God determined
before the sin? God considered the sin and not
only considered it, paid for it before the sin was committed. This is the work of God. This
is the wisdom of God. This is the zeal of God. Even
before sin, Jesus swore to be the surety, the surety. You know what that is, don't
you? The guarantor. That's illustrated when, you
remember, Joseph, he required that Benjamin be brought to him
in Egypt. They didn't know it was Joseph.
And there Jacob was, that was his only son of his beloved wife
that was left. And remember, the only thing
that moved him was this. Judah said, I'll be surety for
the lad. Listen, if I bring not the lad
to thee, let me bear the blame. That's a surety. A surety takes
full responsibility. That's what Christ did. That's
what Jesus did. He took full responsibility for
the people. Full responsibility. And Jesus
says in prophecy of scripture, if I bring not all the elect,
let me bear the blame. And we know there's no blame
left. He did bear their blame on the cross, didn't he? And
he suffered in their stead. But then what? He saved them. All of them. All of them. That's a surety. Therefore, from
the beginning, the Lord Jesus Christ has not held his peace. Take this thing in your hand
and look at the very beginning and you'll know this, that even
before man was created, God did not hold his peace. I can preach
the gospel of salvation from Genesis 1.1. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and
the spirit of God moved upon the face of the water, and God
said, let there be light. Well, that's exactly what he
does in salvation, is it? The thing formed and without
void, void and without form, that's you, that's me. And the spirit of God must move
upon the water, and God said, let there be light. Light is
Christ. He's preaching Christ before
there was ever a man to preach to. God said, I will not hold
my peace. And you know what? God has not
held his peace. He has preached Christ from the
beginning and he will preach Christ until the end of time. He will preach Christ. He said,
I will not hold my peace. So from cover to cover, what
do you have? You have God preaching Christ. You have God declaring
Christ. That's what this book is about.
It's about Christ. And if you miss that, you missed
the book. The whole thing's about Christ. God's not held his peace,
has he? This covenant of grace, this
covenant of grace, God spoke this covenant of grace
at the beginning. God spoke it to Adam when he
sinned, seed of the woman, so crushed the head of the serpent.
He killed the animal, gave him a picture, gave him a tithe by
the sacrifice of that animal to cover their nakedness. You
got Cain and Abel, you got the gospel there. You can go on from
there and you see the Passover lamb, you see the great day of
atonement. All of that is a picture of Christ.
He's preaching Christ. Has God failed to preach Christ?
Never. Never has he left himself without
a witness. Always had a witness. always
preaching his son. And he said, I won't rest until
the work is done. Now, that's the second thing
he said, I won't hold. This is for Zion's sake, the
elect, according to the covenant of grace. And God said, I won't
hold my peace. I'll preach my word. And he said, I won't rest.
I will not rest until when? Until the righteousness thereof
go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that
burneth. In other words, I'm not going
to rest until I accomplish their salvation. Now I purpose their
salvation, I preach their salvation, but I'm telling you this, I will
not rest until it's accomplished. I will not rest until it is done. Behold in the work of God, what
is the work of God in the salvation of Zion? It is this, righteousness
and salvation. Righteousness and redemption. You remember that Adam, our father,
was a representative man, wasn't he? Our father was a representative
man and we were in him and made by him to be unrighteous. We were made and became sinners
by the act of one man's disobedience. I know people don't like that.
They just don't. But it just don't matter. It
don't matter what men like and what they don't like. This is
God's truth. Wherefore, as by one man. Romans chapter five and verse
12. Wherefore, as by one man, Adam's sin entered in the world.
You know, sin didn't enter the world by Satan, did it? Sin entered
the world by man. Adam. And what was the result? Death by sin. Spiritual death. And death passed upon all men. Listen why. All have sinned.
You sinned when he sinned. You sinned when he sinned. I
sinned when he sinned. He was my representative man. He was your representative man. So how then shall the elect be
made righteous? The same way they were made sinners.
By a representative, by the work of another. That's exactly what
Paul says in that same chapter of Romans chapter 5 and verse
18. Listen to this. Wherefore as
by the offense of one, listen, judgment came on to all men to
condemnation. Even so, this is how righteousness
is going to come. He said, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift upon all men under justification of life.
Whereas by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, even
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Therefore,
all the promises of God. All the promises of salvation
rested upon the work of one man. Jesus Christ. All the covenant of God, all
the glory of God, all the righteousness and salvation of Zion rested
upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ and him alone. Him alone. That's a very important word
in it, alone. By himself. It's a work that he alone was
determined by the zeal of God to accomplish. It's not a shared
work. That's religion. Throw that out. That's wrong. That's nothing
in this book talks about a shared righteousness. Shared responsibility. No, the scripture puts all the
responsibility on Christ. All of it. Therefore the word
of God and all the events of time from the beginning of the
world all have moved and pointed that one should come and save
Zion, the son of God. Now consider the divine providence
of God, that it neither varies to the right nor to the left.
Don't you know everything's going right according to schedule?
Don't you know that everything's happening according to divine
will? Don't be dismayed by what's taking place. Look at all of
the Old Testament Scriptures and how it led up to Christ.
How many times did Israel think, Oh, what's going on? What's going
on? We don't understand what you're
doing. I'm getting to Christ. That's what I'm doing. I'm getting
to the work of my Son. I'm moving everything toward
Him. And now that He's come, guess
what? He's moving everything toward the gathering of His people
and the glorification of His Son. That's what He's doing right
now. Don't be dismayed by providence. Providence, listen, providence
is God's providence, isn't it? And if God's determined by zeal
to save you, That's why it's happening for
our salvation, for our good. All things work together for
the good of them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. So all this providence has happened before was moving
toward Christ's coming. That he should come and fulfill
all righteousness and save his people by a perfect work, perfect
work. I love this scripture. Go to
Daniel. Daniel chapter nine. Look at
how God determined this. This is the zeal of God doing
this. This is God's determination. Daniel chapter nine and verse
24. Listen how precise this determination is. Take this into account. Could you ever be this precise? We got some appointments next
week at the doctor. I guarantee we're not gonna be on time or
they're not gonna be on time. Something's gonna go just so. I don't think I've ever been
to any appointment that actually went like clockwork, do you?
But God is determining something hundreds and hundreds of years
before it happens. Listen to what he said. 70 weeks
are what? Determined. Now what's going
to stop us? You think it's going to be just
shy of 70 weeks or you think it's going to be just a little
over 70 weeks or you think it's going to be 70 weeks? Spiritual
weeks. It was 490 years. It was exactly right. It was
exactly right. 70 weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon the holy city. And look what he's going
to do to finish the transgression. to make an end of sins, to bring
in everlasting righteousness, seal up the vision and prophecy,
and anoint the most holy. Oh, the timetable of God, all determined
to save his people, to bring in that righteous. Believer,
elect you who are chosen, called of God, see thy representative
who did not hold his peace, but declared without shame. He said,
I have come to do the will of God. I have come to do the will
of God. Jesus said, I spake these words
unto you, not of myself, but the father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the work. Jesus plainly tells us that he
had come not to do his own will, but the will of the father which
has sent him. What is that will? He said, this
is the will of him that sent me that whosoever believeth on
him that sent me shall have everlasting. Let's read that in John chapter
six. I don't want to mess that up. John chapter six, verse 38.
Jesus said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is the father's
will. This is the zeal and determination
of the father, which has sent me, that of all he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
that seeth the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. This is determination
of the father. This is the determination to
do the will of God. Lo, I come. In the volume of
the book, it is written of me to do thy will. And Paul said,
by the witch will, you, we are holy. By the will of God, you
are made holy by Jesus Christ doing the will of God. Accomplishing
the will of God. Look at how zealous and how vigorous
and how determined Christ was to be our representative and
do the will of God that he was not ever moved from his work.
See how none could convince him or tempt him to sin against God. No one and nothing could hinder
him, not even his death. Matter of fact, his death was
the will of God. You can imagine the joy of those
Pharisees seeing him crucified. They thought they'd put an end
to him. All the while they were doing
the determinate will of God that he should be crucified to save
his people from their sins. And so then this righteousness
that is in our text, go back to the text, it says, Jerusalem's sake I will not rest
until the righteousness thereof go forth as the brightness and
salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." This righteousness
was to be earned not for himself but for his people. Behold the righteousness of Zion
is in no way the work of Zion. Now that's I'm trying to drive
this thing home. I pray that the Spirit would
actually teach you this, that this is none of our work. It was the determination and
will of God not to rest until He accomplished righteousness,
until He had put an end to sin, transgression, and iniquity. And because His people were sinners
by birth and sinners by willful rebellion, Therefore, to bring
us to God, he must finish the transgression, that the full
measure of our transgression must be finished and justice
must be satisfied. And behold, then the zeal of
Christ, who willingly went to the cross as the only righteous
and spotless man, so that he should bear the full measure
of justice. for our sins. How many times
are you saying, oh, I'm paying for this sin. I'm paying for
that sin. Friends, you're not paying for
any sin. If you're paying for your sin,
you'll only know that when you're in hell. If you're paying for
your sin, you'll only know that when you're in hell. No one pays
for sin but one man. No one has ever fully paid for
sin but one man, Jesus Christ. He paid the full measure of the
wrath of God. He was made a curse for us. He was forsaken of God for us. That he who is the beloved of
God should be forsaken of God, condemned of God, and suffer
his holy justice and behold, He did not rest until we were
completely and perfectly reconciled to God by that offering. He did
not rest. He experienced every drop of
the justice of God. And he did not stop until justice
was extinguished. You got that? The fires of justice
are put out by his blood. God cannot require any more for
the sins of His people. What does God require of you?
Believer in Christ, Zion, what does God require of you? All that He required, it was
His zeal not to rest until it was done. And when Jesus said,
it is finished, it was done. Our salvation was forever settled,
accomplished. Now you remember those old high
priests, there was no chair in there, no chair. When I get done,
Scott, I'm going to go in there and sit down just a minute. I
get tired. There's a chair in there. But
I tell you this, those high priests never had a chair. Their work
was never done. Listen, false freewill works
religion is a religion that is never done. It's never done. There always is something more
you've got to do. It's never sure, is it? I remember somebody asking, relaying
this story to me, they were talking to a Muslim person, and a Muslim
person, they believe works just like Southern Baptist. Nothing much different from a
Muslim and a Southern Baptist, not much difference at all. One
says they believe in Jesus Christ, the other says they believe in
Allah, but really, both false and both are God, don't even
resemble the true God. But he was asked, when is enough
enough? He said, you can't ever know.
Same way with free will works religion. You never know. It's
never enough. They're always trying to please God by their
works. There's no sure salvation because
it's always dependent on their zeal. Listen, my salvation and
your salvation, believer, is not dependent on our zeal. All right, I'm going to admit
something. This week, I tell you what, sometimes I don't even
know if God was around. I feel like God has abandoned
me. But you know, my hope is in this.
My salvation doesn't rest on how I feel. It rests on this, God says, I
will not hold my peace until I've done the work. And I tell
you, when I see Christ crucified and he said it's finished, you
know what I know? The work's done. Righteousness and salvation
have been accomplished for all his elect. Scripture says, but this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for his sin, what did he do?
He rested, he sat down forever. That's how long he's going to
sit forever. Why is he sitting down forever? Because the works
finished forever. He has perfected, listen, he
said it again, forever, them that are sanctified. Zion, he
has perfected forever, all his people, every one of them. And
lastly, we see that Jesus will not hold his peace or rest to
the work of divine providence is effectually called all his
people and save them. He will not rest until every
believer is brought in. What do you think we preach for?
I'm preaching for God's people. I want you, who are God's people,
to be comforted. That's one of my directives as
a preacher of the gospel. Comfort you, comfort you, one
group of people, my people. You speak comfortably to them.
You tell them what? Their warfare is accomplished.
Salvation's done. That's what I've been telling
you the whole time. Salvation's finished. It was the zeal of
God to accomplish your salvation. To tell you about it, to accomplish
it, but not only to accomplish it, but to apply it. This is
his work. He said, I'm not, listen, look
back at the text. He said, to righteousness, go
forth as brightness. and salvation as a lamp that
burneth. In other words, that light of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ must be manifest
to his people. It must burn within their heart. Look at verse two. The Gentiles
shall see thy righteousness and all the kings thy glory. What is the righteousness of
God? Well, that's Jesus Christ. What is the glory of God? Well,
that's Jesus Christ. He said, I'm not gonna rest till
all you filthy Gentiles see it. And now he calls them Gentiles,
he says kings. You're a sinner and a king. As
God commanded the light to shine out of darkness, he has shined
in our hearts to give us the light of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. thou shall be called by a new
name which the mouth of the Lord shall name." What is his name? Is his name not the Lord our
righteousness? Scripture tells us that in Jeremiah,
doesn't it? His name shall be called the Lord righteousness
and I believe a few chapters over it says and she the church
shall be called the Lord our righteousness you see you get
a new name what was your name look at your text look at verse
4 thou shalt no be turned more turn forsaken now that was your
name wasn't it they said I'm not gonna call you that anymore
One day when I come to you and I give you life and I give you
faith, you're not going to be forsaken anymore. No, you got
a new name. You know what name you got? You
got my name. That's what he said. He said
the Lord will give them a new name. The Lord, our righteousness. And listen, we know him by a
new name, don't we? We know him as Jehovah Shalom,
Lord, our peace. Don't you know Him by that name?
The Lord our righteousness? You know Him by that name? Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is
near. The Lord is there. You know Him
by that name, don't you? Because now He resides in you.
How do I know He lives in me? I don't see these epiphanies.
I don't see these visions. How do I know God? Do you believe
on the Son of God? Well, that's how you know He's
in you. It's because you believe on the
Son of God. You trust in Christ. And notice what this new name,
he said this, and thou shalt be, look what you're going to
be, and thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Do you know that we are the crown
that sits upon his head? We are jewels in his crown. fashioned
by his own hand and determination. And we are his diadem. You know,
I think of that when I read this, I thought of Esther. You remember
how she was so scared to come into the presence of her husband,
the king, until he had to, you know, if he did not yield his
scepter to her, if he did not say, come, then she would be
killed. Listen, we the church are His
scepter and we say, come to Him, come to Him. We are His preachers
and we are calling men to come now to Christ. Come now. You want to know if you're one
of the elect? One of these that He's determined to save? You
want to know? Do you believe on the Son of
God? This is the evidence. It's the only evidence. Faith
and love. That's the evidence. Hope in
Christ. That's the evidence. The grace
of God upon your heart. Now look at this. He said, Thou
shalt no more be termed forsaken. We were. That's what we deserve. Isn't that right? Oh God, how I deserve to be forsaken. I deserve to be abandoned. That
was my name, forsaken. But he says no more. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Neither shall thy land anymore
be termed desolate. Oh, my soul is desolate, barren
of any fruit of righteousness whatsoever. God said no more,
no more. Why? He's given me a fruitful
nature, a new nature. Thou shall no longer be termed
desolate, but thou shall be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah. Hephzibah means this, my delight. My delight." Do you know you
delight the Lord? Do you not understand that God
is always happy with you? I didn't say you feel like He's
always happy with you. We never feel that way because
we always know our guilt. We know our shame. We know our
sin. We know what we deserve. God
said in the covenant of grace, I will give you a new heart.
I'll put my law in you. But this is what you're going
to do. You will loathe yourself. I do. I do. It's part of the
covenant. We loathe ourselves. But see,
I'm going to be delightful because of Christ. I am the delight of
God because of Christ, because of my union with him, because
this was the zeal and determination of God from the beginning, that
I should be in Christ and that Christ should be, he would not
rest until he accomplished that work, not rest until he had brought
me in. And you listen, he will not rest
until I'm in glory, body, soul, and spirit. He will not rest until all of
his people are brought in. You wanna know what God's doing?
That's what God's doing. He's calling in his people. And
he said, they're my delight. And notice this, thy land Beulah.
Beulah means bride and thy land shall be married. Look over with
me just real close in closing. Look over at Psalms 45. I love
this psalm. It is a beautiful psalm. It is
the heart of God pouring out. That's why it said, my heart
is indicting a good matter, and the matters concerning his son,
his king, and the majestic ride of his king, the success and
victory of Christ. The conquering of his people,
the setting up of his throne. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Verse six, thy scepter, thy kingdom
is a right scepter. Thy love is righteousness, hate
is wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Is
that not Christ? That's healed. That's healed.
Now listen. And this what he says about his
garments, all thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia
and out of ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. Now
here's us, king's daughters, who are among the honorable women.
Upon the right hand did stand the queen in gold of ophir. That's you and me. That's the
church. That's the church. Hearken, O daughter, and consider
and incline thy ear. Forget thine own people, and
thy father's house, the house of Adam, you forget that. You
hear me? You forget that. We've left them. They're no longer our father's
house. So shall thy king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is
thy Lord, and worship him. And the daughter of Tyre shall
be with thee a gift. Even the rich among the people
shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious."
Where? Within. Her clothing is of wrought
gold. She shall be brought into the
king in raiment of needlework. Now who did that needlework?
Who made that robe? that garment who made her beautiful,
it was Christ. According to the zeal of God,
he made her, he made you and me beautiful before God, giving
us the robe of his righteousness. And with gladness, I'm sorry,
she shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework,
the virgins, her companions that follow her shall be brought unto
thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall
they be brought. They shall enter the king's palace. Instead of thy fathers shall
thy children be, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered
in all generations. Therefore shall the people praise
thee forever and ever." God's people. God's people. He is made to be his bride. his
bride. So what is the zeal of the Lord?
He said this, I won't hold my peace. From the beginning, I
made a covenant to save Zion. I've given them to Christ, and
I won't hold my peace. I've told you from the beginning
that Christ should come, and I won't hold my peace until righteousness
and salvation is accomplished, and that's exactly what Christ
did. He accomplished it, and I will not hold my peace, and
I will not rest until all the Gentiles and the kings, talking
about elect, shall see it. See the righteousness and the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and be brought in, and
they shall no more be termed forsaken. They shall be my bride. they shall be my delight." So then, believer, upon whose
shoulders does your salvation depend? Yours or God's? Yours or Christ's? I'm going to read it. I told
you I'd close. I guess I didn't I meant it,
but I didn't mean it, I guess. I'm gonna read it to you anyway.
Isaiah chapter 9. You know this very well. Unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon, what? His shoulders. and his name by
his people, they shall call him Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace of the increase
of his government and peace. There shall be no end upon the
throne of David and upon the kingdom to order it. To establish
it with judgment and justice. From henceforth, even forever,
listen, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will reform this. All believer, if God would give
us just a moment of grace by faith to see the finished work
that God's zeal is set forth in the salvation of his people,
nothing can stop it. Nothing can hinder it. Not even
you. Not Satan and all his hosts.
In fact, everything is working toward it. And he said, I won't
rest till it's done. My friends, you know this. Whatever God determines to do,
He does. He'll do it. He'll do it. Pray God comfort
you.