Isaiah chapter 62. Begin our reading in verse 6.
The Lord God here says, I have set
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace, day or night. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silent, and give him no rest till he establish, and
till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Now here in this
text, our God decrees the setting of watchmen upon the walls of
Jerusalem. They are not to keep silent,
but they have a message that they are to preach day and night. In the marginal reading of this
verse, we read this, those that make mention of the Lord. In
the reference, it's remembrances. We don't use that word very much.
But those who make others to remember. to remember. These watchmen are remembrances
of the Lord. These watchmen, who are they? They are those called to preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are called to preach and
not keep silent day or night. We are called to stand upon the
walls of the church, here pictured by Jerusalem, and we are to preach
the gospel of Christ. Go to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. The apostle testifying to a young
preacher named Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 14. He told him about there will
be some that deny the faith, that won't believe. But of those
that do, he said, of these things, all the things that went before,
put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they
strive not about words, to no profit, but to the subverting
of the hearer's study, to show thyself approved unto God a workman
that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth, but shun profane and feigned babblings, for they will increase
unto more ungodliness." And in chapter 4 of that same thing,
he says, I charge thee. Therefore, before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
at His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word. Preach the Word. Be instant in season and out
of season. What does that mean? when it's
popular and when it's not. Day, when everybody's enjoying
it, or night, when everybody's against it. Preach the Word constantly,
forever. Preach the Word. Give Jerusalem
no rest. Keep preaching the Word constantly. Preach the Word. Reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. That's what we
are to do. Preach the Word. Now notice,
we are not called to speak of new things. Somebody who is called
to bring your remembrance of something is not called to speak
something new, but rather something you already know. Isn't that
right? How in the world can we preach
you to remember something or someone that you've never known
How can you remember somebody you've never known? You can't.
I'm preaching to you who know the Lord. To you who know Him,
remember Him. Remember, our gospel is very
old. It's not new. It's very old. It's ancient as
God Himself. And so we don't bring new things.
Therefore, our gospel that we preach calls our hearers to remember
not events or circumstances but a person. Every time I want to point you
to a person, I want to show you a person. I want to show you
Christ. Not the Christ of my own making,
not the Christ of your imagination. That Christ will not profit us
anything. I must show you Christ as He
reveals Himself in His Word. Therefore, in our determination,
It is our determination as watchmen to preach to you Jesus Christ
and His salvation. And this gift, this is no doubt
a gift. To be able to preach is a gift. Because not all men are called
to it. Not all men are called to this work. But rather it is
a gift and it comes with authority. Authority. And my authority to
preach to you is the Word of God. That's what I preach. The Word of God. And these preachers,
these watchmen are gifts of God. You know, preaching is not a
vocation. It's not something you choose in your counseling
classes. You know, when kids have counseling
classes and you set your degree plans and your orders for college,
and somebody comes in and says, well, I want to be a preacher.
No, you don't. No, you don't. That's not the
way you go about it. God calls men to preach. And
I don't need any approval from any man. That's what God does. And you know what God does when
He calls a man? He gives him a hearing. That's what God does.
I remember when I first felt the call to preach the gospel.
I came to my pastor and I said, well, pastor, I believe the Lord
called me to preach. He said, that's good, Fred, that's
wonderful. And he left me. He didn't say
a word to me. He turned around and left. I
was never so offended in my life. I thought he'd called me to preach.
I thought he'd surely let me have the pulpit. And I come to
find out, he said, if God calls you to preach, He will open the
door. And he has. That's what he does.
He calls men and he opens the door and he gives them a hearing. And the people they are called
to preach to desire only one thing to hear. And that is remembrance. They want to hear the gospel
again and again and again and again because they need it every
single day of their life. They need to hear it again. Christ
is all. Christ is all. Christ is all.
That's what we need to hear. And so what did Watchman preach?
Christ is all. Christ is all. What about this? Christ is all. I'm scared. Christ is all. I'm
worried. I don't know if God is saying,
Christ is all. Believe on Christ. And I shall
be saved. Christ is all. And these men
are gifts. You read that in Ephesians. He
gave gifts unto men. Some apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And these preachers
are sin of God, gifted of God. And have the unction and power
of the Holy Spirit for one purpose. To bring to remembrance the things
of Christ. That's all we do. No wonder the world don't want
to have anything to do with us. How many times have you heard,
this is boring. I mean, children, this is boring.
Because they don't know Him. They don't know Him. They can't
remember Him. This has no meaning for them. It has meaning for us. We are
called to bring you to remembrance, to declare. How can you tell
a true watchman from one that is not? As many claim to be watchmen,
make no mistake, all who preach another gospel than the one revealed
in this book are anti-Christ. Let that sink in, because it
should. Paul says, as I told you before,
beware of them. Why? Because they're very attractive,
very alluring to the flesh. Paul says, beware of them. But
John calls them even something worse. He calls them antichrist.
Go to 2 John. You can read it for yourself. I don't have it written down,
but 2 John 1. Let's see. In verse 7. For many
deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ. Anti-Christ. See, even in John's
day there were anti-Christ. Those who did not believe in
the deity and humanity of Christ are anti-Christ. I tell you,
anybody who does not believe in the victory and success of
Christ is anti-Christ. Paul, using extreme language,
and he said, if we. He said, if I come back tomorrow
and I preach to you any other gospel than that which I have
preached to you, or an angel come down from heaven, and preach
to you another gospel than that which I have preached to you,
let them be accursed." Let them be damned. That's what he said.
Let them be damned. What was this horrific gospel
that was taught in Galatia? It was Christ plus something.
Christ plus circumcision. You understand that Christ plus
anything is damnation. If you be circumcised, Paul said,
Christ shall profit you what? Nothing! And what I do, I continually
bring this to your mind, continually bringing this to your remembrance.
Any message of salvation by work, ceremony, obedience, or free
will of man is the preaching of Antichrist. It is an abomination
In its preparation? In its proclamation? And it's
an abomination to whoever believes it. God says to anyone who believes
another gospel, another God, He said, Whosoever chooseth you
is an abomination. Only the true watchmen of God
are those who preach that salvation is completely of God. That salvation
in its planning, its execution and fulfillment are solely by
the wise and powerful triune God. So this morning it is my
intent as a watchman, even in my weakness, even knowing my
frailty, it is my heart's desire to bring again to your remembrance
the things of Christ. to bring to your remembrance,
why? For your comfort. For your faith. That you be rooted and built
up in the faith which you have been taught. And it is also my intent for
you who are lost, you who are lost, that this same
gospel that I preach to those who remember, It is my hope that
God would give you such knowledge of Christ that you can remember,
that you can see who He is. And so my message all the time
has a dual purpose. His comfort to those who are
saved, it also calls the lost to salvation at the same time,
same gospel. And I this day, I plead with
the lost, you who are lost. I do desire that you come to
Christ. And I tell you, you should come
now. You should come now. You should believe on Christ
now. But how can you believe on Him that you've not heard? I tell you, there are many who
claim to be Christ that are not. Jesus said this, He said, If
any man say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there is Christ,
believe him not. Just because a man stands in a pulpit and
says Christ, does not mean that he is preaching Christ. That's
no sign. Just because someone said Christ,
doesn't make them a Christian. Just because someone believes
even Calvinism. I read an article this week,
J.C. Philpott, he said his dad wouldn't
even allow him to sing some of the hymns that were personal. Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me. He
wouldn't let him sing that. Why? Because it wasn't cleft
for them. They didn't know. And he wouldn't
allow him to say it. You see, it doesn't matter who... And he also said that when you
raise up your children, you can raise them up in whatever, and
they can become little patriots. If your home is full of patriotism,
they'll grow up to be little patriots. He said they can even
bring up little Calvinists. How many in your home are little
Calvinists? Who know all the points, but have no knowledge
of Christ. So, beloved, believe not every
spirit, but try the spirits to see whether they be of God. Because
many false prophets are going out in the world. If I were to
say, this is Christ. Look, this desk is Christ. Don't
believe it. That chair is Christ. Don't believe
it. Lo, that man is preaching Christ over here. You better
go listen to his message. That's the only way you'll know
if he's preaching Christ, if he is truly a watchman. For there
is only one Christ. I want you to understand that.
There are not many Christs. There are only one. There are only
one. Only one Savior, and He is in
heaven, and He has sent men to declare by giving them authority
to be His ambassadors. For we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did by us beseech
you, be you reconciled in Christ's stead. We are ambassadors. Now, does the ambassador get
to make up his own message? Does the ambassador get to do
anything but represent the ambassador, the one who sent him? No, we
don't get to do anything else. We can only point you to Christ.
We're not given authority to preach anything but Christ as
He has revealed Himself in Holy Scripture. You know, when Peter,
he said, I saw The light. When Jesus was transfigured,
I saw His glory transfigured before my face. I heard the voice
of God from heaven. And you know what He said? But
we have a more sure word. A more sure word. What is that?
The prophets. The scriptures. This is a more
sure word than anybody who ever heard a voice from heaven. So
we have no authority to preach anything else but this. Now then,
what is our message? So now seeing what a watchman
is, what is his message? Look down in verse 10. This is what God says to those.
He says, Go through, go through the gates, prepare you the way
of the people. Cast up the highway and gather
out the stones. Lift up the standard of the people. Now we are called to preach the
gospel who have ourselves gone through and believed. We ourselves
have gone through. I'm not telling you anything
I don't already know. You know, I refrain on purpose
from telling you anything I don't know. There's a lot I just don't
know. But I'm not going to tell you
that. I'm going to tell you what I do know. What I do know by
experience of grace is that Christ is all. Went through the great
gates, prepared you the way of the people, cast up the highway.
What is this? Preach it plainly. Clearly, so
everybody can understand from the youngest to the oldest. I
want you to understand the Gospel. Christ is everything. Christ
is all. There is no other salvation.
There is none other name given among men whereby we must be
saved. It is only in Christ and Christ
alone that salvation comes. And here is our message. Behold,
the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye
to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold,
His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him." Now at this
time, the Lord had not yet come. The Lord Jesus Christ was coming.
And so He says, Behold, thy salvation cometh. He's coming. He's coming. Christ was promised to come even
from the garden. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent. Christ is coming. When Abel slew
the Lamb, it said, Christ is coming. When God delivered Israel
from Egypt by the Passover Lamb, it said, Christ is coming. And everything since then has
been moving toward Christ coming. From our very birth, being one
with Adam, we're born spiritually unable and unwilling to come
to God. Christ made this clear. He said,
no man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me
draw him. You know, I love it. Jesus, He
said, I'm the bread of life that's come down from heaven, except
a man eat My flesh and drink My blood. He will have eternal
life. You eat My flesh, drink My blood,
you'll have eternal life. And they began to murmur. Bicker. How can this be? He said He's
a breadwinner. I don't understand how can this
be? They began to murmur and complain. He said, what are you
wasting your time for? Why are you murmuring? Why are
you bickering? You can't come to Me. You can't believe what
I said. Except the Father, which has
sent Me to draw you. Except God draw you, you'll never
see the salvation of God. But it was in this dead condition
that God found Adam, and this is the dead condition He finds
us in. He finds us all in this dead condition. And what does
He do? He declares this gospel. My salvation
cometh! Thy salvation cometh! Christ
is coming. Christ is coming. That's how
God finds us, only this time He says, my salvation's already
come. See, then He was coming. Now,
He's already come. He's already come. And by this power of the Holy
Spirit, this message quickens our hearts. It raises us from
the dead. This salvation comes by our gospel
that is preached to you. Thy salvation cometh. I tell
you this, sinner, thy salvation has already come. It's already come. The one promise to come has come. The One which God had by types
and pictures in the Law and Prophets has come. He who said in the
prophecy, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me, has come. And what has He done? He has
done the will of God. He said, Lo, I come to do Thy
will, O God. What is Thy will, O God? What
is the will of God? By the which will we are sanctified. through the offering of the body
of Christ once for all. He came to do the will of God. What is that? To save His people. That's what He came to do. He came to save His people. And
notice, He says, and His reward is with Him. His reward is with
Him. What is the reward of Christ? What is it that He brought with
Him but the payment for our sins? You see, He was
the payment. He was the reward. Our reward
was death. If you want to know what you
deserve, that's it. All your works put together deserve
hell. That's it. You don't deserve
anymore. Our just sentence is eternal
condemnation, yet behold, thy Savior has come to save us. And
as our representative, He brought His payment with Him, even His
perfect humanity. He came in the flesh in order
to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He came to provide righteousness. and by death redeem." That's
what He came to do. And that was His work. He said,
and His work was before Him. Jesus said this in John 9, 14,
I must work the works of Him that sent Me. In Luke 12, 50,
He says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am
straightened until it be accomplished. I am arrested until it be accomplished. I am constrained until it be
accomplished. Jesus Christ came into the world
with one purpose, one goal, to glorify God by His obedience
and death. That's what He came to do. The
work that God gave Him to do. The work God gave Him to do was
salvation. Not make it possible, but accomplish
it. to finish salvation. Our Lord and Savior had His work
before Him, and He was straightened until it'd be done. He was straightened. There was nothing... Who could
stop Him? Who could stop Him from doing His work? In order to save His people,
His church, His elect, His chosen, He must, as the God-man, As our
mediator, He must have done the work. And what was this work? As I've told you before, He came
down from heaven where He reigned as the eternal God and Savior.
We preach this One who has all wisdom and power and glory, equal
with the Father and the Spirit, and yet He became a man. Why
would he do such a thing? Would you? No. No, we wouldn't. He did. He did it for a reason
because you needed a representative. You had a representative that
failed perfectly. And you died in Him. But in order
for God to give you life, you had to have another representative.
He came as a representative man to do what we could not. And
the Son of God in sovereign love was set up to be our Savior from
eternity, has come in time and accomplished the work. We preach
that the Son of God, who is perfect and cannot fail, has accomplished
salvation. He has finished the work. And I tell you, all our salvation
rests on it. Your eternal soul, your immortal
soul rests on the completion of that work. If He had failed,
if He has failed in one thing, you and I are doomed forever. If He has left one thing for
you to do, we are doomed forever. The more I grow in grace and
knowledge of Christ, the more I'm convinced of that, that if
one hair's breadth, one thing is left for me to do, I am damned. But this is the gospel that I
bring to your remembrance. He who set the work before Him
has accomplished the work. I bring this to your remembrance,
that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in
His sight, but Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Therefore, you who are called
by the Holy Spirit..." And that's what happens next. He said, "...and
they shall call them a holy people." The redeemed of the Lord. That's
what He calls His church. To everyone that believes, you
are called the redeemed of the Lord. This is the joy. Thy salvation
that cometh has come. The work that He has done, that
He was to do, He has done. So then, is there any who need
salvation? You see, I've got a perfect Savior.
I'm an ambassador to a perfect Savior. Is there a perfect sinner? Only a perfect sinner needs a
perfect Savior. That's it. Complete sinner. Are you poor and needy? Are all your works filthy rags
before God? Then look to Christ, whose work
He has come to do, He's done. When He was on the tree, He said
Himself, It is finished. Father, the work that You have
given Me to do, I've done it. I've done it. And now then, I
want to look briefly at that last chapter. I'm just going
to go over this with you. And I want you to see the work
in detail. That's what the next chapter reveals, is this work
of the Savior in detail. The prophecy here, the prophet
says, Who is this that cometh from Edom, with garments dyed
of bozrah? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. So the prophet
then, knowing the watchman is to call and to declare the salvation
is coming, now then in a vision he sees him coming. He sees him
coming, not to accomplish salvation, but this is coming after his
accomplishment. How do we know that? Well, first
of all, we see it's the Lord Jesus Christ because He answers,
I that speak in righteousness mighty to save. Who else is mighty
to save but Christ? He's the only one that's done
the work. And then the prophet asked about His garments. He
says, wherefore are they red in thine apparel, and thy garments
like Him that treadeth the wine fat? You know who did the crushing
of the grapes for the wine? The lowest servant. The guy that
was the worst. He was the lowest man on the
totem pole. He had to be the one to go down
into the wine vat and squish the grapes to make the master's
wine. And it was no light, easy job
either. When that guy got done, he was
dead tired. That's why this is surprising
when he's coming in these garments stained that He comes not tired, but He comes in the glory of
His strength. What is this? What is this a
picture of? It is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ as He was made sin for us. As He was made the lowest
among us that He bore our sins in His own body. And as God poured
out the justice on Him, He tread the wine fat of the wrath of
God alone. That's what He says. I have tread
the wine press alone. And of the people there was none
with Me. You see that Christ our Savior, the work that He
had come to do is tread out the wine press of the wrath of God.
That He would squeeze out the juice of God's justice that was
against us. And He did it alone. What part do you have in your
salvation? What part? Where were you when He tread
out the wine fat of God's justice? What part did you have in that?
I had no part. He said He did it alone. Of the
people there was none with me. For I will tread in mine anger
and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled
upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. This is
also speaking, He has come from the wine fat, but He says He
also will tread. This is not something that He
has done, but something He also will do. He will trample our
enemies. He will trample His enemies.
All those outside of Christ will suffer under the foot of the
Son of God. They will die in their sins.
He will trample them as easily as a grape. He said, for the day of vengeance
is in mine heart, and the year of the redeemed has come. You
know what happened the same day that He was crucified was the
same day He redeemed us. The same day vengeance was poured
out on all our sins, He redeemed us. He redeemed us. I looked, and there was none
to help. I wondered, and there was none to uphold. Therefore,
mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury, it upheld
me. Who brought salvation? Christ did. He did it alone. And I tell you, He will tread
down His enemies when He comes again. But as for now, verse
7, I will mention the lovingkindness of the Lord, and the praises
according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the
great goodness toward the house of Israel which He hath bestowed
on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of
His lovingkindness. This is it. Surely they are My
people, children that will not lie. So He was their Savior. We are His people by election. We are His people by redemption.
And we are His people by calling. And we will not believe a lie. We will not turn away from this
gospel. Christ is all. And this is our comfort in all
their affliction He was afflicted. And the angel of His presence
saved them, in His love and in His pity redeemed them, and He
bears them and carried them all the days of old. How are you
going to make it through? Believer, you're in trouble.
You're in trouble. The world's against you. Satan
tempts you. And your own wicked heart is
daily bringing you into sin. How are you going to make it? Because He cares. See, I didn't tread the wine
fat. But I was in there in His heart. I was with Him. He carried me. And He carries me now. And I shall be saved. And so when it all ends, where
will the glory go? Who receives the glory for all
this? God gave you a watchman. He gave
a message. You heard the message and believed
it only by His grace. And what was the message? Christ
came, Christ died, and is risen again. You believe it, and you're
afflicted. Who's going to carry you? The
same One that redeems you, He's going to carry you. Why? All
the responsibilities on Him. If He's your surety, what responsibility
do you have? Believe on Him and love one another. May God give us such hearts to
believe and trust in Him.