The Bridegroom's Call

All right, brethren, let's go to Isaiah 61. This is where I was at and where I was studying when I began to be so blessed by that passage in Hosea. So I decided I would devote a whole message to that this morning. So, this is Christ speaking. It's who's speaking here. And he says there in verse one, he says, for Zion's sake, now that's his people. That's us who he's called. He said in Hebrews 12, you've not come to that mount that might be touched. You've come to Mount Zion, heavenly Jerusalem. Paul said, Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all.

Christ is there with the spirits of just men made perfect and he's speaking through the gospel in this earth as it goes forth. He said, for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace? He's not gonna be quiet. He began this sermon back in Isaiah 60 And he said, arise, shine, thy light is come. And then he tells us in Isaiah 61 at the beginning, he said, the spirit of the Lord God's upon me, the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. Christ is the one speaking when the gospel goes forth.

And he said, I will not hold my peace. For Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace. He said, 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. This gospel's a lamp to our feet, and he's the light.

We need the oil of the spirit to believe. He said, and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. Who's our glory? Who's our righteousness? They're gonna see Christ. That's who. We're Gentiles, he called us, that's who we look to. We see Christ, his righteousness, his glory.

And he said, 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, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah. Here's what it means. Hephzibah means the Lord delighteth in thee. Beulah means you're married.

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. That's saying to the church that he's gonna call his people in, like we're being married, they're coming to us. And he said, and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Now here's gonna be our focus. The Lord is the husband of his church. He's our God, he's our savior. And in verse five, he said, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. This is a remarkable thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is our maker. and our maker is our husband. He said, go with me to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. He said, in verse five, he said, thy maker is thy husband. You realize for a true believer, everything we are as a believer, Christ made.

He didn't use anything of Adam, anything we are naturally. He gave us a new spirit. Faith's a gift. Repentance is a gift. All the fruit of the spirit's a gift. And when he carries us to glory, everything will be his creation. He's our maker. He made us. We're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And he says, the Lord of hosts is his name. All the heavenly host that he made is at his disposal to use. He has a host of angels to protect us at all time.

That means everything he created, he made it for him to glorify him. One of the things that we're going to see in glory that's going to be amazing is we're going to see how everything he created was created to glorify him. You know, we've seen how he said if a seed falls into the ground, except it fall in the ground and die, it abides alone, but if it dies, it brings forth fruit. He made that seed to picture that, him. And everything that he created is for him, to glorify him. And all the hosts, he rules it, he owns it, he made it, and it's all gonna glorify him.

He said, he's your redeemer. He bought us with his blood, where he is. He said, he's the Holy One of Israel. He's our holiness. He said, the God of whole earth shall he be called. That means Christ Jesus is the fullness of God. He's God and he's our husband, like we saw this morning. Now, let's go back to this text and let's see what we can learn from this passage. Isaiah 62, verse one.

Christ promises he shall not rest till he calls his bride to the marriage. He shall not rest. He says here in verse one, for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace. And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, two things here, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

When he calls his Gentiles, they're gonna see your righteousness and they're gonna see your glory. They're not gonna be looking at you and me, that's us. We're not looking at Peter, Paul, and Jane. We're looking at their righteousness and their glory. We're looking at Christ. He's their righteousness and their glory. And they're gonna see your righteousness and your glory. Christ said, they're gonna see me. They're gonna look to me. Verse five, drop down there.

For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. In other words, he's gonna call his people. He won't rest, he said, till he's called his people in. Now, we played the harlot. We became guilty. So, we cannot contribute to this thing of salvation. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's the end of our input. We sin.

So our text declares first, he said, I won't rest, I will not rest for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness. Our Lord came down to be the righteousness of Zion, to be the righteousness of Jerusalem.

What he did, he did for his people. That's what he says there, for their sake, I will not rest till their righteousness has gone forth. He is that righteousness. And he came down and he took flesh to establish his people in perfect righteousness. And that's what he did at Calvary's Cross. He finished that work. He said, it is finished. He came down and he was made of a woman, made under the law.

Then he was made sin for us. He was made a curse for us. And by doing so, he made us the righteousness of God in him. He did that for us. Jerusalem, for Israel, for his elect, and he accomplished it. He did not rest. He went back and sat down, because that part of the work he finished. Redemption. Redemption. But he has to call us. He has to call us. And so he said, I will not hold my peace. The voice that's going forth that's going to call us is his voice. I will not hold my peace.

He said, until the salvation thereof goes forth as a lamp that burneth, this gospel's a lamp to our feet, and he's the light of it, and it's by him giving the oil of the spirit that the light burns in you and you have light. Now at the cross, he sanctified us by his one offering. Hebrews 11, he said, he came to do the will of God, he came to fulfill the law for us, but you can't separate righteousness and holiness. because for him to establish us in righteousness, he had to be perfectly holy in heart, and he was from the womb. And we were in him, and so by the witch will, by him doing the will of God, he sanctified us forever by his one offering. And now he's gonna send this gospel and the Holy Spirit, and he's gonna shine the light in our heart, and he's gonna make us see, and by doing that, He's made us holy within.

Samuel said, thou art my lamp, O Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. And our Lord said, I'm not gonna rest until I've sent forth my gospel, and they see I'm their righteousness and their holiness, till they're called in. And when he sends the gospel, and the gospel's going forth, he pours in the oil, he gives the spirit, It's all of him. Look here, back there at Isaiah 61. I'm not gonna read it all, but he said, the Spirit of the Lord guides upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek.

And then down there in verse three, he said, he's the one that gives the oil of joy for mourning. In the place of our mourning, he gives the oil of joy. He gives the Holy Spirit. by which we see him, and that's how come we're not mourning anymore. We're rejoicing the Lord Jesus. This is all his work to sanctify his people.

Ephesians 5.25 said, Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's how he justified us and made us righteous. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word.

That's his glory. That's not my glory. That's not your glory, that's his glory. I hear folks saying that you're gonna contribute to sanctifying yourself. You ask the children of Israel at Mount Zion how that worked out for them. He said, wash yourself. So I'll be, you'll see me on the third day. And they went to washing themselves.

All that the Lord said, we will do. When they saw that fire and that mountain quaking, they ran back and said, Moses, you go up, we're gonna die if we try to go up. The Lord's gonna make his child know he's our justification and he's our sanctification. Of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that he that glories, glories only in the Lord.

And when I hear men argue about that, say, when I have to contribute to my sanctification, The only thing they're telling me is, he ain't been made wisdom to you yet. You ain't even got the first thing. Because when he's made wisdom to you, you're gonna see he's all. He's all.

Not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified, having already justified us, By his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Everybody he justified, he will get them under this gospel, and he will send the Holy Spirit, and he will pour in the oil, and the light will shine. Paul said, the reason we preach Jesus Christ and not ourselves is because God who shined the light out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.

And now we know the power's not of us, it's of him. We're just an earthen vessel. The power's of God, not of us. What flowed out of his side? Blood and water. Blood is our righteousness by the blood. Water, he's gonna wash us and make us holy. He is the fountain open for sin, He robes us in His righteousness, and for uncleanness, He creates a new Holy Spirit. And when He does that, He gives you faith to look away from you to Him, and He robes you in that snow-white wedding dress of His righteousness. And He makes you see He's your perfect sanctification too. And He keeps leading you.

And so look at Psalm 45.3, Psalm 45.13. Look about, find out about, he's the king, the king of kings. Let's hear about the king's daughter. Psalm 45, 13.

The king's daughter is all glorious within. That's being made holy by Christ. All glorious within, and her clothing on the outside is of wrought gold. His righteousness imputed to us through faith in him. 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 into the king's palace.

And Christ said in our text, I won't rest till I've done it. I won't rest till I've done it. Now secondly, let's go back to our text. We saw this morning the betrothal. All right, he made that, he made that, is spoused to himself. He did it from eternity, then he does it in your heart. And this text right here is, he's calling the bride to the marriage. That's what we're, we come to hear the gospel, and he strengthens us in every, we're going through the wilderness, he's calling us to the marriage. And when the groom had prepared that place for his bride, then he got his groomsmen together, and they went And it was called a midnight procession.

And they would go and they had trumpets and everybody was rejoicing and happy. And they went to where the bride was. And she had all her virgin companions, her bridesmaids. And they went blowing the trumpet. And this is where you get the parable of the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. They all slept and slumbered. But the foolish virgins didn't have any oil in their lamp.

But the bride, you reckon that bride was watching for him? You reckon she was excited? And those closest to her, they were excited. They were watching and waiting. And they heard that trumpet. And the call went out. This was from Matthew 25, six. At midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him.

See, we're the bride. but we're also in this party with the groom calling his people to him, just like when they came to where the bride was. He's using us to preach the gospel, and he's calling his people, and they're joining with us. And he said, I won't hold my peace till they're all called, till they're all robed in my righteousness. But the groom went with them to call the bride. He didn't just send his groomsmen out, he went with them. He had to go, he had to get to glory for calling his people and calling his bride to himself. He promised, we saw this morning, the espousal, he said all those things he would do for us. So he got to go with them.

And that's why John the Baptist, when they came to him and they said, are you the Christ? He said, he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. That's Christ. He said, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And he said, this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, I must decrease. John said, I'm just the best man. I'm just here to preach him, but the voice that gives me joy is his voice.

And so it is for his bride. It's his voice doing the calling. When the gospel goes forth, Christ, He's going to in power speak, and you that know Him have experienced it. That's when you see you're the sinner, that's when you see He's everything, and that's when you're made willing, when He speaks.

But He's with His host, and as we're calling, looking for the bride, going to the bride, He's calling others, and together we're on the way to the marriage feast, And this was a joyful thing. When they would do this, they were rejoicing, just like John said, I'm rejoicing in his voice.

They were happy because of Christ. And then the bride with her maids would join in with them, and then they'd all go back to the marriage. And that's beautiful to me. I'd like to see weddings start doing that again. So once they called the bride, they're headed to the marriage now.

And it says here, Isaiah 61 verse 10. This is us rejoicing. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. He's clothed me with the garments of salvation, covered me with the robe of righteousness. You couldn't get into the marriage feast without the garment, the wedding garment. That wedding garment Christ gives to us is his righteousness. So we're in this time of the betrothal, but now We've been lawfully espoused to Christ. We're waiting to be called to the marriage. We're waiting for the bridegroom to come and take us back.

And we don't want to be like the foolish virgins. They didn't have any oil in their lamp. This is exactly what Paul was referring to when he said this. He said to the Corinthian brethren, they had all these troubles and they were arguing over stuff that didn't amount to nothing.

And he said, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you, betrothed you to one husband, and he said that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. We're lawfully betrothed to Christ our husband, and he's coming to fetch us to bring us to the wedding. So Paul said, so don't be flirting with the world, and don't be going back to that first husband who's already died the law, putting flowers on his grave. You have one husband, you keep looking to Christ, you keep watching, being ready, be in his word. He said in that parable of the virgins, he said, watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh.

I guarantee you one that was watching, that was that bride. And I tell you, if we're his, and he's really made us joyful, we're watching for him. And by His Spirit, He'll keep you watching from Him. Now let me give you this third thing. When Christ calls us, He gives us His name. When He's called us and married us, He gives us His name. Verse 2, He said, Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Verse four, he said, thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

Now we're forsaken and desolate in ourselves. In ourselves, we're Gomer on the slave block. We've sinned, we've played the harlot, we've gone after our lovers, altogether unfaithful. But on the cross, Christ was forsaken in the place of his people for our sin. And so now that he's put that sin away, he promises you will never be forsaken. You won't even be called forsaken anymore. That's what his promise is because of his blood. Justice is satisfied.

He said, in your corrupt nature, you were desolate. You remember Isaiah 54? Right after, He gives Isaiah 53, showing how Christ laid down his life for his bride, and Isaiah 54, he says, he said, the desolate, he tells you, extend the lengths of your tent, get ready to have more children, because he said, many more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife. The false religion, legalists, the Pharisees, they were the married wife.

They appeared to have a bunch of children. And what did they do? They persecuted the Lord's people just like, who was it? Was it Panana that had kids and Hannah didn't have any kids? And so Panana jabbed Hannah, because Hannah couldn't have kids. That's the Pharisees. That's Main Street religion persecuting the Lord's people.

And the Lord said, don't you worry about that. He said, you're the desolate, but you're going to have many more children. And he tells us right here. You're not going to be called desolate anymore. You're not going to be called barren anymore. For one, he's created a new life in you, and he's going to produce your fruit now. You're going to have fruit personally, but through this gospel then, he's going to bless it in the hearts of his people, and he's going to produce more fruit. We're going to have more children, because he's producing them. And he said, and you'll be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. You're going to be called Hephzibah, That means the Lord delighteth in thee. How could the Lord delight in me? How could He delight in you?

It ain't but one way. Perfect in Christ. Perfect in Christ. That word Lord there is God. That's Jehovah. God the Father's gonna delight in us because He's delighting in His Son. That's why. And He said, and you're gonna be called Beulah Your land shall be married. That means you're married. You're married to Christ. Be loved. And the Lord delighteth in you.

And this is what he said about this new name. In Revelation 2, 17, he said, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. That's Christ. And I will give him a white stone, just like you get an engagement ring, I'll give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receives it.

He said, back in Isaiah 56 5, he said it's gonna be the best name that can be given. He said, I'll give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. Can it get better than being a son and a daughter of the Lord? He said, I'll give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. What is it? Go with me to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. I'm gonna read you two passages here. Jeremiah 23.

In verse six. He said, in his days, Christ's days, back up there the verse before, he said, there's gonna come unto David a righteous branch and a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Go with me to Jeremiah 33. In verse 16, Jeremiah 33, verse 16.

Again, verse 15, he says, the branch of righteousness shall grow up unto David and execute judgment and righteousness in the land, and in those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. That's a name better than a son or daughter. He gave us his name, the Lord our righteousness. Righteousness is not just a doctrine. Righteousness is not something to argue over with folks. Christ is our righteousness. We have his name now.

All this is because he allured us into the wilderness, spoke comfortably to us, and he said, you know, we're gonna call me You're not going to say, I'm a hard taskmaster and my yoke's heavy and I don't want to be under your yoke anymore. You're going to call me Ishii, my man. That's my man. You ever said, you ladies ever said, that's my man. That's what he said you're going to say. That's my man right there. That's my husband. All right.

Now, I got a question. If anybody's sitting here and for the first time, You've been calling him bolly, you've been calling him hard, and this ain't fair, and saved by grace, and without my word. You've been doing that. And today, you started hearing this message, or here recently, and you find out, I don't know what to do. I'm not ashamed to call him Isha. I'm not ashamed to call him my husband. That's what he does. He makes you unashamed. He said, my people will not be ashamed.

What do you do? What did you do when you fell in love with your man? What'd you do? You ran head over heels in his arm. You run head over heels in the arms of Christ. You run to Christ and cast it all on him. How do you do that, preacher? It's a work in the heart. I can't tell you how to do it. But he'll draw you. You'll know.

Join with us in this wedding party and keep coming with us. We're full of joy. We're on the way. We're calling the bride and we're on our way to the marriage feast. Join with us. Now let me talk to you who have been a spouse to him. I got one last joy to show you right here. One last joy. This is a joy you're gonna run this race looking forward to right here.

John saw it. If you wanna look there, John saw it in Revelation 19. I'll show you this real quick. He saw the host there, big, big number, and then somebody, you know, they tap on the champagne glass, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, somebody tapped on the glass, got everybody's attention.

And somebody called out and said, praise our God. And when they did, the voice of the multitude began to cry out, hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And in verse seven, he said, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. How did we make ourselves ready?

Look at the next word. And to her was granted. That's how we made ourself ready. Something was given to us. That she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saint. We just saw it. The Lord our righteousness. That's our wedding garment.

And he said unto me, write, blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Happy, we're happy. This is a, now why are we, now let me, that's wonderful. That's what it's gonna be like getting called to the marriage. Now let's go to Isaiah 62 and look at this. Here's why we're blessed.

In that day, he said, he will present us to himself spotless and without blemish. all because of what he did and his work. And he said, verse three, and when he does this, thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. You're gonna be his jewel and he's gonna hold you up as his prized jewel, is what it says. And in verse five it says, and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

Now listen, we were the joy set before him. That's how we kept him running that race and go suffer that cross for us. He said, we're gonna suffer some crosses, but the race is set, he said it. And he's the joy set before us, and that's the joy. We're gonna be calling that marriage feast and we're gonna see him and know him. And we're gonna be singing with the multitude, hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth and joy of all joys. We're gonna be joying only in him. He is going to hold us up as a royal diadem. What he did, what he created, what he made, his bride. and he's gonna rejoice over us just like a husband rejoices over his bride.

That's amazing. That is amazing. And here's the thing about it. Right now, we can't even really enter into that because we see ourselves sinful. And we didn't do anything. But in that day, it's gonna be as happy and as right and as natural for, as a new husband and a new bride, to just be rejoicing over each other. We're going to be one with him. We're going to be one with him.

The Bridegroom's Call

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