What a blessed, blessed prospect of entering the city four square
where there is no night and no darkness and no crying and no
reason for any. What a blessed prospect. Open
your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 14. You will find my title for my
message in verse 32. The prophet asked, what shall
one then answer? What shall one then answer? My text will be the last paragraph
of this chapter, verses 29 through 32. In this short paragraph, We're given a prophecy of Israel's
ultimate victory over Palestine, the land of the Philistines,
Israel's great, constant, unrelenting enemy. God here declares that
his people, who had been through all their history, shall prevail
over their foes and shall take the spoil of their foes. And he's not talking about that
physical piece of land over on the other side of the world.
He's talking about his Israel, the church of God's elect. This
is also a prophecy of the great wealth of Judah during the reign
of Hezekiah. Though Judah was but a small,
small, insignificant nation, Judah was God's nation, God's
chosen, God's choice people, under God's constant care, even
in their most adverse circumstances. Let's read verses 29 to 32 together
and see what God says about his chosen royal nation, his church. Rejoice not thou, O Palestina,
because the rod of him that smote thee is broken. For out of the
serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall
be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor
shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety. thou will
kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. Howl,
O gate, cry, O city, thou whole Palestina art dissolved, for
there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone
in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the
messengers of the nation? that the Lord hath founded Zion,
and the poor of his people shall trust in it. Isaiah here foretold how the
nations of the world would be astonished at the preservation
and prosperity of Zion among such great numerous enemies. And so they would send messengers,
messengers to inquire about these things. And the answer to be
given was this. When they come and ask, how is
it you've survived Egypt? How did you survive all those
times of captivity? How did you survive Babylon?
How have you survived and increased in the midst of great trouble?
Here's the answer to give. The Lord hath founded Zion. and the poor of his people shall
trust in it. Of course, you know that Zion
represents the church of God. All who are born of God are spiritual
Zion. Every time you read the promises
of God concerning the land of Israel, Israel, Jerusalem, Judah,
or Zion, every time you read those in the Old Testament, just
immediately think, this is talking about me. This is talking about
God's church. All who are born of God All who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ make up the Church of God, whether
they're found in the garden with Adam and Eve, or whether they're
found in Egypt with Moses, or whether they're found in captivity
with the children of Israel in Babylon, or whether they're found
in Danville, Kentucky. All who are born of God, all
who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, all who trust the
Son of God are God's church. His Zion is Israel. Zion, representing
the church of God, is despised, persecuted, and abused. It always
has been since the days of Cain. Cain hated Abel and murdered
him. And from that day to this, the
enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent seed never
diminishes in any degree. It continues in all ages, in
all places, wherever the banner of Christ crucified is uplifted. You need not be surprised when
men oppose you. You need not be surprised when
men speak evil of you. You need not be surprised when
men deride you, belittle you, and seek to extinguish your voice
from the earth. That's what they did with our
master, that's what they did in the beginning, and that's
what they will do to this day. Not just the political world. Not just the political world.
I know we all get kind of stirred up with politics and we get,
me too, get bent out of shape with the laws that men make and
the things they do, but it's not just the political things.
You can well expect every political society and the powers of that
society, in the name of God, to do things contrary to the
gospel of God's grace and God's church. Don't expect otherwise. It is not going to happen. But
the church, professed church, the religious world, throughout
history, be the religious world of dominance and power in any
society, in any country, or in any place, Baptist or Mormon
or Hindu or some other form of idolatry, it matters not, it
matters not, The religious world is set as the great whore Babylon
in constant opposition to God's truth and God's gospel and God's
church. Because Antichrist is always
against Christ. That's just the way things are.
Don't expect things to change. But as the world looks upon God's
church, recognizing that we are a small, insignificant part of
society, and we are. We are. The world looks at God's
church despised, persecuted, and abused, and we get their
attention. We get their attention because
they just can't figure us out. They just can't figure out how
we have our origins, where we get our strength, what inspires
us, what moves us, what keeps us going. God's church might
well be compared to the bush that Moses saw burning with fire,
but was not consumed. The bush burned, but it was not
consumed. And the church of God has burned
in the fires of bitter persecution since the beginning. And yet
she's not consumed, but only increases. Don't you find that
amazing? The more God's church is opposed,
the greater her influence. The more she is resisted, the
greater her usefulness. The more men seek to stamp out
her existence, the more she increases. though insignificant in itself. It was just a bramble bush. Every
time I watch one of those Westerns and you see the bramble bush
just blowing across the desert, that's what I think of. I think
of that bush that Moses saw. Insignificant, just utterly insignificant. That's God's church in this world. That's Grace Baptist Church in
Denver, Kentucky. That's you and me. Though we
are weak, insignificant, useless things in ourselves, of absolutely
no benefit spiritually, righteously to the good of men's souls, yet
the Lord God was in the midst of the bush. And we are the house and temple
of God. God dwells in our midst. As we assemble together, the
Spirit of God comes with us. Christ is present with us. Our
Father watches over us. The angels of God attend our
meetings to learn of redemption, grace, and salvation as we worship
God our Savior. The Lord is with us. The Lord
is with us. And when we leave this place
tonight and go our separate ways to our homes, the Lord is with
us. And when you go to your job tomorrow or go to your field
to work, the Lord is with us. God is always in His church and
with His church. Hear me, children of God, Jehovah
walks with you. We walk with God. We walk with
God, God walks with us. We dwell in Him, He dwells in
us. That means all is well wherever
we are. whatever we are doing, whatever
we experience. Something else about the likeness
between that bush and the church. God spoke out of that bush. God spoke out of that bush. Hear
me. God speaks out of His church.
God does not speak to man, but out of Zion. Hear me. God does not speak to men but
out of Zion. Everything God says to you, teaches
you, instructs you in. Every word you hear come to you
in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day is what
God has spoken out of Zion. God has his place where he is
worshiped, where he speaks, where he shows forth his power, and
that place is his church. God Almighty throughout the ages
has spoken to sinners through the instrumentality of his church. God doesn't speak through learned
men and seminaries and colleges. God doesn't speak through councils
and groups of men gathering together to decide what God's will and
purpose is. God speaks by his word out of
Zion to his people. Our text speaks of men from nations
of the world, nations all around us, asking questions about God's
church and the answer we are to give. What shall one then
answer the messengers of the nations? This is how you answer. The Lord hath founded Zion and
the poor of his people shall trust in it. And let me bring
this text as close to home as I can. The men and women of Danville,
Kentucky, Boyle County, many around the world, look at this
little insignificant, meaningless, obviously useless congregation
of sinners, insignificant people, people of no name, no reputation,
no wealth, no power, and they look at us with astonishment. Anger, but astonishment. Contempt,
but astonishment. They're astonished at our existence. They're astonished at the ministry
God's given us. You may or may not apprehend
this. In his wise, adorable, and good
providence, for reasons known only to him, God has given this
assembly a voice that's heard literally around the world. Literally around the world. And
wherever I go, folks have already heard of me and of you. And curious
people ask questions. I can't tell you the number of
times we've had telephone calls or meet folks later and find
out where we meet, who we are, and I'll get a telephone call
and answer the phone and can't believe they're talking to me.
I actually answered the phone. They just presume this is a huge
congregation with a huge staff and folks taking care of things.
They're always curious. In God's good providence, we
have attracted the attention of the world, both this community
and the world. How's that? By the distinctiveness
of our doctrine, we unabashedly declare the gospel of God's free
sovereign grace in Christ. We unabashedly declare God hath
saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to
our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus. We unabashedly declare that Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, actually redeemed his people and saves
his people. We do not hesitate to declare
that God sits on his throne in absolute sovereignty, rules the
world in absolute sovereignty, and none can stay his hand or
say to him, what doest thou? We declare without hesitance,
all of God's elect shall be saved by him. And that just makes us
stand out like a sore thumb. We're known for our singular
boldness of claim. And that claim is we are God's
true people. We are God's true people. We
are the circumcision. which worship God in spirit and
have no confidence in the flesh, rejoicing only in Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer. We and we alone are God's people. Folks say to me, you think you're
the only one saved? No, no, but I do tell you the
only one saved are the folks who know God. You think you're
the only one saved? No, no, they're scads up. I go preaching to them all the
time. But I'm telling you, nobody knows God except those who trust
Christ alone. Lord and Savior not themselves
not the decision not their will not their works not their feelings
not their religious training Christ only Christ Jesus Christ
crucified everybody else is uncircumcised They've not been born of God
We're known because of the claim we have and enjoy of great privileges
God's heaped upon us. Blessed of God with all spiritual
blessings in Christ from eternity. Blessed of God. It's very common
today, and I don't know why this is the case. I find it more so
among black folks I meet than anybody else, but I saw a lady
walking down the airport the other day, yesterday, had a T-shirt
on. I don't much like to read T-shirts.
Sometimes I can't help it. They said, blessed and grateful. That's a pretty good attitude.
That's a pretty good attitude. But folks say, have a blessed
day. How are you? I'm blessed. In
this style, I'm blessed. Well, I'm not talking about something
to say. I'm talking about reality. We
are a people blessed of God. Blessed of God from eternity. Blessed of God in every aspect
of life. Blessed of God in every moment
of time. Blessed when sometimes things
feel bitter and painful. And blessed when we rejoice and
laugh at God's goodness. But always blessed. Blessed of
God in Christ with blessings that last through time and endure
to eternity, having come from eternity. and they are invariable,
unchangeable, always the same. I used to respond to a friend
of mine. I used to do business with him
in Anstead, West Virginia. He ran a car lot, he and his
dad owned it. And he made a profession of faith
in one of the churches and after a while started acting real religious.
And he had said to me, he said, the Lord bless you. And I would
always deliberately respond, Bob, he has, he is, he will. He has, He is, He will. You are looking at a blessed
man. I'm looking at a blessed people.
We're gods, we're gods. And we are known by the ministry
God's given us. From you, the Word of God has
sounded through the world. Now it's a good thing to have
this attention for men. whether they rejoice or oppose
us. When men ask questions concerning
us, that's a good thing. God in his providence thereby
gives us opportunity and means yet more to spread his truth
in the earth. And we should always be ready
to answer them. So let me help you answer the
questions. First, I'm sure like me, You
sometimes ask yourself why people ask so many questions. Why they
ask about God's church. Why they ask about this church.
Why the people of this world talk so much about it and yak
so much about it. I get written up pretty often
in various papers. And I sometimes wonder why folks
pay any attention. I'm often asked things by people
who have absolutely no interest in the things of God. They ask,
what do you believe? What makes you different? What
do you do at your church? What don't you do? What makes
you think you're right? What gives you right to condemn
me? What gives you right to judge me? All things they supposed
to be so that aren't necessarily so at all. What's the difference?
God's people have always had to deal with such things. Do
you know that, In the early days, God's church was persecuted because
eating the bread and wine at the Lord's table, they were accused
of practicing cannibalism. Do you reckon anybody really
thought they did? Do you reckon anybody really thought they did?
Of course not. It was just a pretense. Another
reason to deride and belittle things. And we're often accused
of things. Folks know are not so. When the Jews triumphed over
the Philistines, and were later delivered from the Babylonians,
their enemies were astonished at them. How could such a small,
weak nation survive such great conflicts? They were confused. And the curiosity gave God's
people an opportunity to speak, as happened with Daniel when
he was in Babylon and his friends. Some inquire about the church
with contempt. They're just nasty, and you want
to be nasty back. That's just our natural way.
Somebody asks a nasty question, you want to get strike out. Don't
do that. The servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle with all men, patient, apt to teach,
in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves. If God,
peradventure, will grant them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of
the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. So when ignorant
men ask questions that you once asked, don't get too upset with
them, they're ignorant men. I've never known anyone in my
life to become angry with a blind man because he couldn't see.
But we in spiritual things act otherwise. The best thing for
us to do in responding to folks, our most severe critics, our
most severe adversaries, is simply to speak the words of God's grace
given to us, experienced by us. Others inquire about the things
of God out of nothing but curiosity. They just, something happens
that gets them curious. Just curious. I can't tell you
the number of people I know who that have heard the gospel, and
God saved them just because they just couldn't get over the curiosities.
Just gotta find out what's this fella saying. What are these
fellas teaching? I've told you before, one night
I was preaching in New South Wales, Australia, in Newcastle,
Australia, and the little chapel was less than half the size of
this auditorium, and it was packed out. Folks were standing outside,
standing outside the windows, outside the door, and as I was
preaching, I noticed a fella run by. He just ran down the
street, down the sidewalk, and just a few minutes, here he came
back. And he ran back up the street. And he ran back down
and stopped. And he sat down on the front steps. And the next
week, he came and confessed to Christ and believed his baptism.
Brother Don McMurray baptized him. God gets his own as he will
at his appointed time. So don't be upset with men's
curiosity. Look at it as a, Oh, maybe God's
doing something. Whitfield was preaching the gospel
one time, and some folks came in just to poke fun at him, jeer
him, and two of the boys out of the three went on with their
work, and the third one, after he just jeered just a little
bit, he just got plumb silent. He came in to shout down God's
messenger, And God spoke by his messenger to his heart and put
him down in the dust in repentance. And then there are some who inquire
of us because God has awakened in them an interest in Christ.
I won't read it to you now. I read it several times this
afternoon as I was looking over my notes, but it'd take a little
long. Read the fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon again.
You're very familiar with it. The Lord's come to his garden,
gathered fruit from his garden, and then, see, here's his voice. He says, open to me, my sister,
my spouse, my love, my dove, my undefiled. And she says, not
now, not now. But he won't leave us alone.
Oh, thank God, he won't leave us alone. He won't leave us to
ourselves. He won't leave us to our devices.
But he put his hand in by the hole of the door. Oh, aren't
you thankful? Sometimes when you least expect
it, he just puts his hand right in your heart and you can't resist
him. And you rise to seek him. And
as she goes about the streets seeking him, she comes to the
watchman who faithful men take away her veil and reprove her
and wound her and expose her sin. And she cries, if you find
him who my soul loveth, tell him I'm sick of love. And she
speaks to some folks called the Daughters of Jerusalem. Now I
preach the song of Solomon Numerous times and I preached from it
numerous times and I've read it a lot and I I Might have been
right about daughters of Jerusalem sometimes, but always wonder
who are they? I'm just really not sure Maybe they are other
believers like you. Maybe they are folks who profess
to be believers. Maybe they are folks who don't
know what's going on. But she says, she says, tell
me, oh, daughter of Jerusalem, if you see him who my soul loveth,
tell him I'm sick of love. And they said, how come? What is your beloved more than
another beloved? And she says, let me tell you
about him. Oh, let me tell you about him. Let me tell you about
him. He is the fairest of all. He is greater than all. He's
more beautiful than all. He's stronger than all. He's
worthy of all. And she proceeds to tell the
daughters of Jerusalem about her beloved. That's how we're
to answer those who would deride and belittle us. Even out of
just curiosity, it may be the Lord has spoken to them. Whenever
men come, whatever the reason for their questions, It's impossible
for people to be indifferent to God's church. They will make
inquiry of you, his saints. And when they do, always be ready
to give an answer. Well, what are the questions
they ask? We live in this area where that
two very sad events in church history have taken place in this
part of the United States, Kentucky and Tennessee, particularly on
over into Arkansas. At the same time, there were
two really sad things that happened. Alexander Campbell started what's
called the Church of Christ, and there was huge division.
Campbell was himself an Arminian Presbyterian, but most of the
folks in the Campbellite Church began with Baptists, splitting
off from Arminian Baptists and starting that heretical sect. At the same time, J.R. Graves
and his followers started what's called landmarkism. And landmarkers
aren't quite as bad. They're not heretical. I wouldn't
suggest that at all. But they had the idea that you're
not a true church unless you can identify yourself with a
church that came from a church that came from a church all the
way back to John the Baptist. And that's where the true church
started. And the problem with that is When they read their
history, they stretch a lot. They stretch a lot. I was sitting
in the home of a preacher friend of mine in West Virginia shortly
after I started pastoring there. I was just 21 years old. He was
a nice man. I liked him. He was one of his
landmark fellas. And I was telling Diane about this the other day.
She knew him. And he had two volumes sitting on his bookshelf.
And I was over there visiting one day. But they were written
in Old English. They'd never been updated. And
I just had a pretty good hunch that that fella didn't know how
to read Old English. And I had read them. And I said
to him, Jim, what do you think about these Waldensians here?
Oh, they were great badgers. That's where we came from. I
said, let me read you something about their confession. And started
reading to him about them baptizing babies and stuff like that. That's
not in there. That's what I'm reading, Jim. It's in their confession.
They stretch their history. But folks in this area want to
know, what's your origins? Our origin is in the purpose
of God in his sovereign electing love. And that's all, that's
all. We are his, we are born of his
spirit, called by his grace, gathered in his name, because
he chose Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved. We're his. He loved Jacob and hated Esau,
and so we're his. Who are you? What's the history
of your church? Glorious things. Glorious things
of thee are spoken, O city of God. You read those words in
Psalm 87, three. Glorious things of thee are spoken. And after he says it, he uses
that long pause, Selah. Stop and think about this. All
our history is a history of glorious things. Read the history of the
church. Go back and read the history
of the church. From the very beginning, when
men began to call upon the name of the Lord in Genesis chapter
four, from the very beginning, what's their history? Redemption,
redemption. God created this world to be
a stage upon which he would act out the unfolding drama of redemption,
the saving of his people by the power of his grace, by the blood
of his son. And our history is a history
of redemption. Over and over and over and over
and over and over and over again. Throughout history, these 6,000
years, our history is written redemption. Our own history as
individuals. Oh, how God has delivered us. time and time again out of difficulty
and trouble from which we could not extricate ourselves. and
would not if we could, but he delivers us. Ours is the glorious
history of divine providence. Oh, how God has worked all well
for our good, according to his purpose. Our history is a history
of grace, of preservation. Now listen to me, of increase,
never diminishing. of increase, never diminishing. The Lord still adds to his church
daily such as should be saved. And you who are his, God will
see to it that in all your experiences in this world, his blessings
are only multiplied, never subtracted. Who's the head of your church?
By the head of our church is Christ the Lord. Not a man, not
the Pope, not the deacons, not the church board, not the elders,
not even the people all together. Christ is the head of his church. He makes the rules. He gives
the orders. He supplies the needs. But if
you're a true church, you gotta have a charter. What's the charter?
You can read about it in Galatians chapter four. Jerusalem, which
is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Our charter
is freedom. Men and women born into this
kingdom, the Lord says concerning them as he did Lazarus when he
was raised from the dead, lucid, and let him go. Our chardom is
freedom, just freedom, freedom from sin, freedom from darkness,
freedom from the curse of the law, freedom from the fear of
death, freedom from all danger, freedom in Christ Jesus the Lord. But what's the law? You gotta
have some regulations. What's the law of your church?
It is this book and its totality, this book. not any creed, not
just one part of this book, but the whole book, not just the
10 commandments, but the whole book, not just the regiment of
the law, but the whole book. The law of God's church is all
scripture given by inspiration of God. This and this alone is
our rule book. We have no rights and we should
have no desire to invent other laws and other rules. And we
have just one treasure. That's the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Now, turn back to Psalm 48. I
want you to see this. What's the security of God's
church? It matters not whether I'm talking
about this congregation or another. Our only security is Christ.
I have watched preachers preceding me do everything they could to
secure the faithfulness of the churches they pastored when they
were gone. And they rarely succeed. They rarely
succeed. what will secure the faithfulness
of this assembly. Only if God's pleased to keep
you. But whether He keeps this assembly
faithful or not until tomorrow, God's church, God's kingdom is
kept secure by the bulwarks of God's salvation. Look here in
Psalm 48 verse 12. Walk about Zion, Go round about
her, tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that ye
may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our
God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Well, why should we answer these
folks who ask such things of us? If you're like I am, you
sometimes get tired of answering ridiculous questions. But men,
when they ask us about the things of God, as I said earlier, God
is just opening for us a door. We ought to always look at things,
God's opened a door. Now let me be wise how I speak,
how I respond. By my response, God may silence
the objections. He may be pleased to save them.
He may be pleased to glorify himself. He may be pleased to
do so if we direct our answers Not to us, but to him. Not to our work, but to his work. What should we answer those who
inquire of us? The Lord founded Zion. The Lord founded Zion. We are in ourselves, but poor,
sinful people. We trust our souls upon the foundation
of all saints, the saints of all ages, the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself. That's the basis
upon which we rest, the foundation upon which we are built. Let
us ever lean heavy on him. And we trust to it. We trust to that foundation. But not to the men, not to the
women of Zion, but to the foundation. Not to the people, but to the
foundation. We don't pin our faith on any
man's shoulder. We don't pin our faith on any
man's shoulder. Brother Murrow read for us back
in the office a few minutes ago, the fifth chapter of First Thessalonians,
great chapter of instruction. Paul writes to the Thessalonian
believers and he says, despise not prophesies. You don't despise
the preaching of the gospel. Don't ever treat that as a light
thing, an insignificant thing. And then he says, prove all things. You go prove what the pastor
says. You go home tonight and search
the scriptures and see if what I've told you is the truth according
to the scriptures. Abstain from every appearance
of evil. Abstain from every form of doctrine
that has the smell of free will or works in it. Abstain from
it. That's no good. What's wrong with it? It smells
like free will. It smells like works. That's enough. I'll just
stay away from it. No, thank you. Don't want any.
I won't have it. But the people of God trust to
the foundation. upon which the Lord has founded
Zion. And that foundation is Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And trusting Him, we shall not
be put to shame, not in this world nor in the world to come. And when the Lord God is finished,
The Lord Jesus will lay the topmost stone in its place, crying grace,
grace unto it. And God will be glorified in
Zion, his church, in you and in me. Oh, Spirit of God, will
you graciously use us while we walk on this earth? for the glory
of God, for the honor of our Savior,
for the engagement of your people, and we ask nothing else. We ask nothing else. Amen.