Turn back to Isaiah 62. The title of the message is an urgent message. We have
an urgent message to preach to sinners. Sinners need to hear this message. You knew someone that was dying
and you knew the cure. You had the cure given to you
in your hand. Would you casually go over to
their house? With urgency, you would go to
their house. With urgency. You would go with
excitement. You would go with great hope.
And that's the way we who preach should go. And that's the way
all who believe the gospel should go out from here throughout the
world. Urgent. The preaching of the
gospel and the saving of sinners is
urgent business. It's urgent business. Scripture
says, Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take
it by force. It's urgent. I must have it. Like Jacob said, I'll not let
you go till you bless me. Till you bless me. The Scriptures
speak of seeking the Lord. How? With all the heart. You never find in the Word of
God where we are commanded to seek the Lord half-heartedly.
It's with all the heart and it's diligently. We are to seek the
Lord diligently. If I asked you to do something
diligently, you'd know what I was talking about. You'd know it
means to get after it, give great attention to it. This is how
we are to seek the Lord. Diligently. No one has ever been
casually saved. The Lord never, when He walked
on this earth fulfilling His ministry, He never went about
His Father's business casually. He said the Son of Man must suffer. It says He set His face like
a flint to go to Jerusalem. He said He must die. I must die. It's urgent that I die. As he says over there in verse
7, give him no rest. Give him no rest. This is an
urgent matter. We should never let the truth
that God elected a people and will save them at the appointed
time make us lazy. After I wrote that down, I thought
truth, I had to follow it up with this. Truth never makes
a man lazy. The truth of God choosing a people,
the truth of Christ dying for that people will not make a people
lazy. No, it makes you urgent to get
it out. We have good news to tell. We have something to tell. We have someone to preach to
dying men. We haven't. I'll tell you what it might do.
It might reveal it, but it won't make you lazy. Paul always preached
the Gospel as though it was his last sermon. I believe every
time he preached the Gospel, he preached it as if it was his
last one. I believe he did. Servant in
spirit. I wanted you to hear this. You know, Paul said his heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel was what? That they might
be saved. He didn't say, well, Some are
chosen and some are not chosen, and I'm not going to worry about
it. No, he said, my heart's desire is that my countrymen would come
to know Him whom I know, whom I've come to know. Paul, who
was an enemy of Christ, struck down on the road to Damascus,
came to know Christ. Christ was revealed in him. And
he said, I want everyone that hears me to know Him. Who was it he said this to? Felix
or Griffith? He said, I would to God. Except
for these chains that you knew that you had what I had, that
you knew Him. He said, oh, except for these bombs that you knew
Him. Paul said there in 2 Corinthians
5, knowing the terror of the Lord, we do what? Persuade men. We don't talk them
into a profession. that we urgently press upon men
who God is, who Christ is, and what He's done. Therefore, God
and His prophets will not hold their peace. That's why I read
today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Some have said this is Isaiah
speaking. Some have said it is God speaking.
But after reading this yesterday and today, I've come to the conclusion
it's this. It's both. Isaiah didn't speak
anything that God didn't speak. It says, for Zion's sake will
I not hold my peace? I will not shut up. I will not
rest. I will not be quiet because most
people don't like it. Well, they're just going to have
to get mad. Because he says, for Zion's sake, for the church,
Speaking here of Zion and Jerusalem, they represent the church. He
said, I'm not going to hold my peace. God has never held His
peace since the fall, has He? He hasn't done it. God has been
proclaiming the gospel of His Son ever since the fall. In the
garden, He said, the seed of the woman is going to bruise
Satan's head. Satan will bruise his heel. And from that time
all the way through Scripture, God has been proclaiming the
gospel through His preachers, His prophets, and His saint.
And His prophets have been proclaiming the same gospel ever since the
fall. For Zion's sake, you know everything
that happens, happens for the church's sake, for your sake.
Everything happened today, whether you like it or not, happened
for your sake, for your good. for your salvation. It happened for your good. For
Zion's sake I'll not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake
I'll not rest. I won't sit back on my laurels
and rest. Oh, he said, I'm not going to
do this. You know, I thought today, although
we rest in Christ from our labor, there is a rest remaining for
the people of God. Yet we labor in his vineyard. We labor in preaching and in
praying. We preach the gospel and we call upon the Lord to
bless, just as we did here. We plow and we plant and we look
to God to give the increase at the appointed time. I can assure
you this, there is no harvest where there is no labor and where
there is no planting. There is no harvest. And we shall
not rest, and listen, until the righteousness of Christ, who
is the righteousness of His people, goes forth. It is set forth very
clear. It shall be as clear as the noonday
sun by whose righteousness we are saved. If you leave here, If you leave
here tonight, and it's not clear to you by whose righteousness
we are saved, I failed. I failed. He said, I'm not going
to rest until it says here, until the righteousness thereof goes
forth. That's brightness. Well, we know that the only righteousness
there is is the righteousness of Christ. And the salvation
that we have in Christ, He said, I'll not rest until the salvation
And I believe we apply this to Christ. Until the salvation that
we have in Christ shall be as bright and as evident as a burning
lamp. Until it's evident that Jesus
Christ is my all in all. That Jesus Christ is all my salvation. He said, I'll not rest until
that's made known. And the Gentiles 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." Salvation is going to come to the Gentiles
as well as those Jews. We have it. Thank God we have
it. He has not left us in darkness. We know. We know Him. The world
is going to see the church's glory that the Lord has put upon
her. Now, they may not see it in this
world. The world is not going to acknowledge much of that.
But her glory is going to be seen. The glory of His people
is going to be witnessed. And He says, I'm going to give
them a new name, a glorious name. You know what that is? Sons of
God. Sons of the living God. That's
your name. And then He gives us another
couple of names down here. But the Lord shall give her this
new name, not something she made up. We didn't make this name
up. We didn't name ourselves. He
did. He made us sons of God. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon you, that you shall be called the
sons of God. And this new name will fit her new character. Righteous. Righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God said over there in Revelation, Behold, I make all things new. A new heaven and a new earth and
a new people. to inhabit that new earth. I make all things new. Nothing
that defiles or offends shall enter into His kingdom and that
new heaven and that new earth. There won't be a trace of sin
left. Not at all. He said, I'm going to make all
things new. And when He does this, when He does this, thou shalt
be a crown of glory. in the hand of the Lord. And
a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. No more shame. You know when you look back on
your natural life, that old self, you look back with shame. I know
you look back with shame. But there's going to be no more
shame, no more sin, no more sorrow, Glory. Where? In His hand. In His hands. Crown of glory. It says in Ephesians
2, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works.
The Lord has made us, not we ourselves. We are the sheep of
His pasture. He says, you're going to be a crown of glory
in My hands. by the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are made to be a crown of glory in His hand, a vessel
of honor, a vessel of honor, His jewels, royal diadem, jewels. We are going to be unto the praise
and glory of His grace. That's all we're going to be. And our beauty is this, Him. Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is
our glory and our beauty. Someday we'll see that. Someday
we'll be able to grasp a hold of that. And we will not be called forsaken
anymore. No one will be able to call us
and say, we're God forsaken. No, no, we're not God forsaken.
No, we're not forsaken. And we're not desolate anymore.
We were desolate. But not no more. You're a fruitful
people. That's why he's saying you are a fruitful. His church
now, his church is a fruitful church. You have love, joy, kindness.
That's the fruit of the Spirit. They're fruitful. And you're
not going to be called forsaken or desolate. These two words
describe us by nature. But not now. In Christ we are
a fruitful people. Now we shall be called Hepzibah. Here's what this means. She is
my delight. For the Lord delighteth in thee. Think of who delights in you.
This ought to humble us. That the Lord would delight in
us. I look this word delight up today. It means to please
greatly. It means to take great pleasure
in. It's hard to comprehend, isn't
it? But in Christ, the Lord takes
great pleasure in you. Takes great pleasure. And you'll
be called Beulah. That means married. Fruitful. Not divorced. Not widowed. But married. And married to the
Lord. He's our husband. We have a husband.
I thought of this today as I was going over this, and I asked
myself this question. Do we really think of our relationship
to Christ as a real marriage? Do we think of it as a real marriage? We will be careful what we let
our affections go after. He said to that church over in
Revelations, you left your first love. But when we stop and we
get off to ourself, we think and meditate that our relationship
to Him is a true marriage. It's a true marriage. There's
a true Union now, a real union between the believer and the
Lord Jesus Christ. A real one. Notice what he says
here in verse 5. For as a young man marries a
virgin, so shall our sons marry thee. They have come to thee,
possessed of thee, as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride. Oh,
he brags on his bride. Loves his bride. She's beautiful. That's the way the Lord rejoices
over His people. So shall thy God rejoice over
thee. Oh, God rejoice over you like
a young man rejoices over his bride, young bride. And then He gives us here God's
care and protection of His people. He says, I have set watchmen
upon thy walls. He has many enemies. The church
has many enemies. This world and all of Satan and
his evil angels, every one of them would like to destroy the
Lord's church. Every one of them. All the enemies. Innumerable enemies in this life.
But he says here, I have set watchmen from thy walls, O Jerusalem."
God has provided watchmen for his church to warn the people,
to warn the people of danger, and to warn the people of false
prophets. And to warn them of spiritual
slumber. That can happen so easy, can't
it? And their armor is the Word of
God, the sword of the Spirit. And here's their duty. They shall
never hold their peace. What kind of watchman, what kind
of soldier would he be who is put up on the wall to look out
for the enemy And when he sees the enemy, he doesn't say anything
about it. That's the kind of watchman you
ought to shoot, really. But that's not God's watchman.
He says they'll never hold their peace. They shall not be quiet
or timid in the face of danger. We've been going through the
book of Acts. How many times has Paul's life, by looking at
it, I've been laid on the line. Paul said in one place, I count
not my life dear unto me. I don't know that we could ever
be a good soldier until we get to that point. Until nothing
else is really dear to us except Christ and the good of His people. They shall always proclaim the
truth, and they will proclaim it boldly. You know, Paul talked
to Timothy about that. Over there, he talked to Timothy
about that. He said, Don't you be ashamed
of me, of the gospel, nor of me, his prisoner. And they do it day and night,
instant, in season and out of season. There is no season for
preaching the gospel. It's wherever God opens the door
and gives the opportunity. God's preachers are to step in
and preach Christ boldly. even at the expense of their
life. John Bunyan spent, what was it, 12 years in prison? How
many of those men spent so much time in prison? Because they boldly proclaimed
the gospel. Because the watchman, the watchman
declared truth, warned of the enemy, exhorted the people, reproved,
rebuked, and exhorted out of the Word of God. And they shall always bring to
your remembrance the things of Christ. It says here in verse 6, ye that
make mention of the Lord. You know what that is? Remembrance
of the Lord. You that are remembrances of
the Lord. Keep not silence. Don't draw back. No, don't do
that. He says, keep not silence. Many
down through history have tried to silence God's preachers, but
they failed. They failed. He said, keep not
silence and give him no rest. Call upon him till he establish. I cannot establish. I cannot
establish this church. till He establishes, till He
does it. He establishes His people. He's
the one who sets our feet upon the rock and establishes our
goings. He does it. But give Him no rest, or we are
to do this, call upon Him and give Him no rest till He make
Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Speak to God for the people,
even though God shall save His elect, We are to call upon Him to do
so until He saves the last one. And the church is appraised,
it says, in the earth. But I think that may have more
reference to that new earth. She has too many enemies here
until God establishes her feet on that new heaven and new earth.
To the praise and glory of His grace, Notice what he promises
here in verse 8 and 9. The Lord has sworn by His right
hand, by His power, His right hand of power, and by the arm
of His strength, surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat
for thine enemies. I won't do that no more. And
the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine for which
thou hast labored, but they that have gathered it shall eat it,
and praise the Lord, and they that have brought it together
shall drink it, In the courts of my holiness, in my presence,
the blessing is sure. It's sure, because it all rests
in Him. It all rests in the Blessor. It just depends who the Blessor
is, isn't it? If you're going to have the blessings,
God said, I will give your corn to the to your enemies. I won't
give the label of your hands to your enemies. I like the way
that's written. It's not that the enemy came
in and overtook us and we were too weak. God said, I'm the one
that did it. Because of your sins, because of judgment, I
gave it to them. It's not that they were stronger
than me. My hand is not shortened that it cannot save. I did this. I did this. And then he says here and there,
go through, go through, keep the gates open. John Gill said
this is referring here to the church. Keep the gates open for
sinners. Welcome sinners, welcome. That's what I want to say. I have often said on the radio
program, If there's a sinner listening to my voice, I have
good news. I have good news for you. Prepare you the way of the
people. Prepare the way. Cast up, cast
up. The highway, gather out the stones, the stumbling stones,
those things which would cause us to stumble. Lift up a standard
for the people. We ought to remove all the stumbling
stones. We ought to make the way plain,
not complicated. Life's complicated enough, isn't
it? We're not that complicated if
we just take the Word of God and preach Christ, who is the
standard. He's the standard of the people.
A standard is a way. It's a place for them to go to
or come to. Christ is our standard. We lift
Him up for the people. And it says here in verse 11,
and I'll wind this down, He says, Behold, the Lord hath
proclaimed, here's a proclamation from heaven. God hath proclaimed from heaven
until the end of the world, the gospel has gone throughout the
world. Because his people are scattered throughout the world.
Here's a proclamation. Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
say to the church, Behold, give attention to this. Pay attention
to this. Thy salvation cometh. Thy salvation. Not a salvation. Thy salvation for a particular
people. He cometh. And behold, here's
the salvation. His work. His reward, it says. His reward. He's the salvation.
He is. Oh, it's a person. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. And His reward is with Him. You
know what that reward is? Everlasting life. It's with Him. It's His to give. It's His to
give. It's with Him. Eternal life. And His work. It says His work
is before Him. His work. His work of redemption. His work of redeeming His people.
His work of buying them back, purchasing them back, paying
the price. It's beforehand. Now, here's the result. Listen,
as a result of His work for us, His work of redemption, and His work in us, now here's
what they're called, the holy people. and they shall call them
the holy people." We have redemption. We have the Redeemer who cometh
and He redeems. I tell you this, without sanctification,
without being made holy in Him, there is no salvation. The blood was supplied has satisfied the law and the
blood is applied by the Holy Spirit in regeneration, sanctification
of the Spirit. They shall be called holy. They
shall be called holy. The redeemed of the Lord, that's
who he's talking about. They are the ones who shall be
called holy. And listen, and thou shalt be called Sought out. He sought you out. God sought him out. He's on your
trail. He's on your path. He's on the
trail and path of every one of his sheep. Sought out. He sought
you out before the world began. He sought you out in time. You're
sought out. That's the beginning of it. Here's the end of it. A city
not forsaken. You are sought out and not forsaken. He's never
forsaken us. Ever. Those are the kind of promises
that you can hold on to when you can't see the light of day. When you can't see anything. When all looks bleak and bare,
not forsaken. Not forsaken. Wouldn't you say that's a complete
salvation? After going through these verses, and I haven't even
scratched the surface of what ought to be preached and how
it ought to be preached, but we have a complete salvation
in Christ. You couldn't be no more complete.
You are complete in Him. Well, I think that's an urgent
message to tell, don't you? I think that's an urgent message
to tell sinners of a Savior who has come to redeem sinners. What
a message. What a Savior. Okay, Mike.