Turn together to Isaiah chapter
62. Isaiah chapter 62. We'll begin reading at verse
6. Isaiah 62, verse 6. The Lord God says, I have set
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. which shall never hold their
peace, day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silence and give him no rest. Give him no rest till
he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. In the opening verse of this
chapter, verse one, Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks. He tells
us in this opening verse that he would not rest until every
chosen ransomed sinner was saved by his grace. Look at verse 1.
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace. For Jerusalem's sake
will I not rest. I read this just a little while
ago. And I turned over to a place in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 10,
and I read about him. And it says that he is entered
into his rest. Here he says, I will not rest. until the righteousness of Zion,
the righteousness of Jerusalem, the righteousness of his elect,
the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness. As I won't rest until the righteousness
of my people is clearly seen and the salvation thereof as
a lamp that burneth. He is determined to save his
people. And indeed, by his accomplished
redemption, he has saved his people. He has caused the righteousness
of Jerusalem and of Zion to shine forth with the brightness of
the sun. That righteousness that God requires,
he has performed, and his people are with him in glory representatively. And so in that sense, he has
entered into his rest. And yet, he is working the salvation
of his people in the earth today. In verse 7, in our text this
evening, the Holy Spirit commands his watchman, gospel preachers,
specifically, in a sense, you. who are responsible in your own
sphere as ministers of our God. Those whom he set upon the walls
of Zion and upon the walls of Jerusalem. He says, give him
no rest. Give him no rest until his church
and his kingdom is complete. Until all his elect had been
saved by his grace. What an astounding command. For
you who have already gotten the bulletins for next week, you
can look at this at home, but learn what this means. The Lord
says, give him no rest. That means that our God and Savior
commands you and me. He commands us to exercise opportunity
with him. He would have us be as passionate
about the building of his kingdom and the saving of his people
as he is. He would have us just as passionate. He says, give me no rest. Don't cease to plead with me
for that which I have purposed and that which I have promised.
Secondly, importunity. This opportunity in prayer I'm
speaking of prevails with God. Hold your hands here in Isaiah
and turn to Luke chapter 11. Opportunity prevails with God. What do we mean by opportunity? I mean relentless intercession. Do you remember when that woman
of Samaria was called by our Lord Jesus to himself when she
knew the Lord Jesus? She left her water pot sitting
on the well and went back into Samaria to tell folks of the
Christ. That in its essence is what's
portrayed when our Lord speaks of fasting. You give up that
which is natural. That which is ordinary. That
which is needful. for that which is all-consuming. The Lord God would have us as
passionate about the saving of his people as he himself is. Look what it says in Luke chapter
11. In verse 1, his disciples said,
Lord, teach us to pray as John the Baptist taught his disciples
to pray. And the Lord Jesus gave us the
model prayer, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name, and so on. Then down in verse five, and he said unto them, which
of you, you asked me to teach you to pray. He asked me to teach
you to pray. Now I'm telling you what it is
to pray. Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him
at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey
has come to me and I have nothing to set before him. And he from
within shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door is now
shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot arise and
give to thee. Verse 8, and I say unto you,
though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend,
yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as
many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask, and
it shall be given you. If I could read this quite literally,
let me read it very literally. Ask and keep on asking. If you can be content with no,
you'll get no for an answer. Ask and keep on asking, and it
shall be given to you. Not to seek and keep on seeking. And you shall find you shall
find me when you seek me with your whole heart, God said. Knock. Relentlessly knock and it shall
be open to you. For everyone that asks. Persistently
ask. Receive it. And he that seeketh
findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Our Lord
says, after all, if a son shall ask bread of any of you that
is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? Now watch our master's conclusion
to this. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? With God, now listen to me, prayer
always prevails. True prayer. the effectual fervent
prayer of the righteous man avails much. You see, prayer, real prayer,
is born in the heart by the Spirit of God. God reveals to us His
purpose and inspires prayer in our heart for His purpose and
we seek His purpose to be accomplished. The Lord told David, said, I'm
going to build you a house, I want to establish your kingdom, And
there's going to be a man sitting on your throne forever. And David
said, therefore, thy servant has found in his heart to pray
this prayer. Do they do just what you said you would do what
you purposed? The Lord God would have us to
be as passionate about the building of his kingdom, about the saving
of his elect as he is. Importunity prevails with him. And third, learn this. opportunity
on our part is a sure sign a sure sign of coming action on God's
part how often have you in your life
as a believer tried your best to pray about something you want and you can utter the words and
utter them every morning and every day at noon and every evening
and every night before you go to bed and repeat them over and
over and over again and you know as often as you speak the words
you've just gone through the motions of muttering words and sometimes you pray and you know you've spoken with
God sometimes occasionally when you can pray when you can pray
passionately seeking from God when you can pray that's a sure
sign God's about to do something oh God teach me then to pray
for this fourth thing is true as well. Indifference on our
part, indifference about our sons and daughters, indifference
about husband and wife, indifference about mom and dad, indifference
about your neighbor, indifference about your most implacable enemy,
indifference on our part is a sign of uselessness at best and at worst a sign of judgment
that's sure therefore the Lord God says give
him no rest now let's look at these 12 verses of Isaiah 62
together This is what I want to convey
to you. There is an urgency, children
of God, about eternal matters. There's an urgency about eternal
things. It can't be compared with anything
on this earth. An urgency about the things of
God that makes half-heartedness apathy and indifference horrible
and intolerable God forgive me for half-heartedness forgive
me for indifference forgive me for apathy and burn my heart
with passion for the things of God the glory of God the gospel
of God and the salvation of God's elect Isaiah 62 We'll begin at
verse one. I want to show you three things.
I won't be long. Talk to you about God's purpose.
And about Zion's Watchmen and then. About. God's work. In verses one through five. The
Lord Jesus speaks. I know it's the Lord Jesus speaking
here for the words cannot possibly be the words of another. He speaks
about his purpose. Our God is a God of purpose. And God's purpose is sure to
be accomplished. Now, I'm stressing this evening
and will stress this evening our responsibility. Whether we
do or do not exercise our responsibility properly, God's purpose will
be accomplished. He leaves us to ourselves that
too is in his purpose. Look at God's purpose. For Zion's
sake, the Savior says, will I not hold my peace? For Jerusalem's
sake, will I not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth
as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth?
and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness the Lord speaking
now concerning Zion and Jerusalem the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness
the righteousness that I have established that I have given
to you the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings
thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth
of the Lord shall name Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the
hand of the Lord 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, for the
Lord delighteth in thee. And thy land shall be married.
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. Now watch this. And as the bridegroom
rejoiceth over the bride. Forty years ago, I was standing
in a packed church building. About four or five hundred people
there. And they started playing that wedding march on the organ.
And I turned around, doors opened, and there she came. Man, I can't
tell you, I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. Now listen to this. So shall
thy God rejoice over thee. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine
it. God Almighty so rejoiced over
me as a bridegroom over his bride. That's what he says. The one speaking here, I said,
is our Lord Jesus. That one who says the zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up. So great was his zeal for our
salvation. So great his zeal for our souls. So great his zeal for our redemption. So great his zeal to accomplish
it that he spent the whole night in prayer often while he walked
on this earth. What must those prayers have
been? What must that zeal have been? This I know, it is God's purpose in this world
to save his people. And everything he does, he does
according to that purpose. Turn to Romans 8, 28 one more
time. Romans 8, 28. I know you can quote it. I want
you to look at it. This is the purpose that's purposed
in the whole earth and God's going to accomplish it. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. And here's his purpose for whom
he did foreknow. whom he loved and foreordained
and predestined and approved of and accepted from eternity.
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son. These people whom God loved and
chose before the world began, he predestinated to be exactly
like Jesus Christ, the God-man, the second Adam, our blessed
Savior, the Son of God. that he might be, that Christ
might be, the firstborn, the chief one, the preeminent one
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And when he's
done, the whole world the whole universe. All the kings of the earth and
all the princes and all the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness. He will show off his work before
wandering worlds the myriads of the dead will be displayed
to them our righteousness in Christ Jesus forever. God purposed
from eternity to publish righteousness through the earth by the preaching
of the gospel, to proclaim righteousness, to make it known. And he calls
it thy righteousness. God makes known my righteousness. He's talking about the righteousness
that is ours by virtue of our union with Christ. Christ's righteousness
is our righteousness. He shall show all the people,
the kings and kingdoms of the earth, the glory of His people.
And when He's finished, He says He will give us a new name. Turn
to Revelation chapter 2. I want you to see two or three
things here. Revelation 2, verse 17. He said, I'm going to give you
a new name. You should be called my people. You should be called
Hephzibah, that is, my delight is in her. You should be called
Beulah, no more forsaken, no more desolate, but married. Revelation
chapter two, verse 17. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white
stone. I'll give him food from heaven,
and I will give him a stone that declares pardon, forgiveness,
justification, innocence, no guilt. And in the stone, a new
name written, a name which no man knows except the one that
has it. No man understands the name.
No man knows it, except he that receiveth it. Chapter 3, verse
12. Him that overcometh, I will make
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall no more, he
shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which
is New Jerusalem. which cometh down out of heaven
from my God, and I will write upon him my name. In Jeremiah 23 6, what's his
name? Jehovah Zedkinu, the Lord our
righteousness. Now, what's the name he writes
on your head? Jehovah Sidkenia the Lord our righteousness a
name that no one can understand except the one who receives it
He says I will not hold my peace. I Will not rest until this is
done now in verses 6 through 9 in Isaiah 62 The Lord speaks
to us about Zion's watchman You remember he said, I will give
you pastors according to my heart. Pastors which shall feed you
with knowledge and understanding. And here he describes them. Isaiah
62 verse 6. I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day nor
night. Ye that make mention of the Lord
keep not silence. Give him no rest till he establish
and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn
by his right hand and by the arm of his strength. Surely I
will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies. And
the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for the 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. Gospel servants, gospel preachers,
God's servants are watchmen. Watchmen. Phil Simpson, if I'm God's servant
to you, I'm a watchman for you. A watchman. Watchmen for the
souls of men who warned them and declare God's righteousness
and thereby clear themselves of the blood of all men. Watchmen
who watch for your souls as they that must give account. Watchmen
are concerned for those under their care by divine appointment. And for them, they are responsible. Watchmen. Watchmen who are set
exactly where God would have them upon the walls of Zion in
the place where God put them, set there by divine appointment,
by divine decree, by divine gift, by divine providence, a watchman
set where God would have them. I had no question at all from
the first time I came here This is a place God had for me. I
called my wife. I may have told y'all this may not have. I said,
for the first time in my life, I found some folks who desperately
need and desperately want a pastor. And if they call us, we're moving
to Danville. Just that simple. And I tried my best to make it
difficult for you to call, because I want to be sure this is where
God has things. Do you think about going somewhere? Never.
Never. No. This is where God sent me.
But what about this, that this is where God's no other consideration,
no other. Once you consider that, no, no,
this is where God's put me. I have no question. That's the
case. And I'm responsible for your soul. Nothing else about you much matters
to me. Nothing else. I mean, nothing else. Watchman
over your souls. It's my responsibility as you
go about the city that I continually direct you to the Redeemer. And
it's my responsibility to take away your veil and expose
your sin and wound you that you may seek healing from his hand. The watchman's business really
is three things, and these three things are incessant for the
watchman. It's my responsibility to speak to you for God. And I can't do that. I can't
possibly find a message anywhere in this book for Larry Brown
and for Sally Ponson. I can't do that. But if God will
speak through me by his word, I can speak equally to Larry
Brown and Sally Ponson. But it's my responsibility to
do that. And that's what preaching is. Getting a message that Brother
Richard said from God's heart to my heart to your heart. The
watchman's responsibility, secondly, is to keep God's people in remembrance
of God's Son, to set Christ before you constantly. And the third
responsibility is to plead with God for his people. Give him no rest. Give him no
rest. I love what Robert Hawker said
concerning this. He rightly asked this question.
What could be more blessed and what service so honorable as
to be always engaged in speaking from God to the people and bearing
the people in the arms of faith and prayer before God. Oh, spirit of God, make me such
a watchman. Then in verses eight and nine,
the Lord himself assures us, gives us his own promise. that
he will indeed save his people. He says the Lord has sworn by
his right hand, by the arm of his strength, surely I will no
more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies. He says concerning
your wine, you will drink it in the courts of my holiness.
We've been robbed by Satan, stripped by sin, condemned by God's holy
law, But in Christ. We have all. And we have all
fullness in him of grace and glory, and we shall eat and drink
of the bread and wine of his grace in the courts of his holiness
when we stand before him and before the tree of life and the
river of the fountains of the water of life, all these things
for eternity. as they're described in Revelation
7 and in Revelation 22. One more thing. The Lord speaks here about our
work. My work as a watchman. Our work
together as watchmen in our day. God's servants are preachers. That's their calling. That's
their duty. That's their delight. Now, this
third thing, the Lord tells us about our work. He tells us the
message we're sent to proclaim. In verse 10, we're to show sinners
the way. Go through, go through the gates,
prepare you the way of the people, cast up, cast up the highway,
gather out the stones, lift up the standard for the people. I have read, I don't know how
accurate it is, whether somebody's just elaborating a little bit
with their fanciful thinking, but I have read from folks who
are supposed to be representing things historically, that the
children of Israel in each of their lands were in those cities,
they had cities of refuge. They were to go out regularly
and clean up the road. They had street signs with a
finger pointing, refuge this way. So that anywhere in Israel,
a man needing to flee to a city of refuge could see the way.
But not only that, they would send out crews to make sure that
all the places that had gotten washed out were leveled up. Anything
that fall on debris or trees or brushes in the way, they clear
them out. They cast up the way and make it clear so that it
was easy for the manslayer to get to the city of refuge. That's
our business. That's our business. Ours is
to make the way smooth and easy and plain and clear. The Lord
God has given us a banner. It's called in Psalm 60, a banner
of truth. And that banner of truth is Christ
Jesus the Lord. Look at verse 11. We're to preach
up Christ. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world. Say ye to the daughter of Zion,
behold, thy salvation cometh. Remember when Simeon held the
child? Lord, now let us now thy servant depart in peace for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. He is not just our savior. He
is salvation. All of salvation is what he is. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. Christ, the banner of truth,
is God's salvation. His reward is eternal life. And
his work is before him. His work of redemption and grace. He has us in His hands a crown
and a diadem, not a crown on His head. We add nothing to His
glory. A crown in His hand, a diadem
for His glory, for the praise of His name. We are to proclaim
to sinners the certain results of Christ's finished work. Oh,
how very precious How very sweet are these promises. Sparkling
like diamonds throughout the book of God. Promises that speak
of God's absolute determination to save his own. And these promises
are all yea and amen in Christ. Look at it. They shall call them. Who shall? The whole world. I don't have any idea what the
torments of the damned are. Just can't imagine. But added to all the other is
this. The screeching demons of hell
and the screeching horrible cries of the damned will only be increased
by the perpetual constant awareness of the blessedness of our souls
in Christ the Lord. They shall call them, watch this,
the holy people. Those that we burned at the stake,
they're the holy people. Those that we tormented, they're
the holy people. Those that we despised, they're
the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. Those are the folks
the Savior purchased. Those are the folks the Son of
God bought. They shall call them sought out. sought out. God will make the whole world
to know and to know forever. To his perpetual praise, our
perpetual happiness, and the perpetual torment of the damned,
I sought them out. Sought out. Aren't you glad he
sought you out? Sought out by all the intricate
workings of providence and all the marvelous purpose of grace
and all the mighty work of his spirit sought out. And they'll be called something
else. Look yonder. as Don Fortner seated around
the throne before the Lamb of God in the place prepared for
him before the world was. And the reason he's there is
because God just wouldn't forsake him. A city not forsaken. Oh, blessed Savior. inflame our
hearts with that zeal that ate up your heart that we may give
you no rest until your people have been gathered around your
throne. Amen.