I said chapter 52, and I want
to read just one verse here, verse 7. And I particularly want
just to dwell for a few minutes with you on those last statements
that are in this verse. Now beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good. that publishes salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. I had a pastor friend of mine
I was talking with the other day, and he said his young daughter
came up to him and said, Dad, how do we know that we're serving
the right God? How do we know that we're right
concerning God? And he says, Sweetheart, one
of the best ways I can tell you that we know we're right, we
serve and we worship the God of the Bible. There is but one
God, and we find Him in the Bible. And this is that God that we
find in the Bible. This is Zion's God, the God that
reigns. Say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Zion, the church, the body of
Christ, believers in Jesus Christ. Poor Zion, she has a thousand
and one fears, and fear has parted him. And it's the Lord's purpose
and it's good pleasure that Zion be dispelled of her fears, because
the scripture says that fear has parted him. Fear is not made perfect. He's not mature in love. God has not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. The only
fear that the believer should fear is God himself. Let us be in the fear of the
Lord all the day long. Let us have grace whereby we
may serve God acceptably. Yet sometimes Zion, blesses her
heart, she fears. She has all these fears. But
you know not a single fear that Zion has is a just fear. She has no cause
to fear. I sometimes wonder, and I bet
you do too, if other people grapple with all the fears that I grapple
with. A thousand and one fears, but
they're all unjust, and they're really sinful. A fear that's
contrary to the fear of God is a sinful fear. Zion has no cause
to fear. Look here with me some scriptures.
I want you to take your Bibles with me. Look here with me in
Isaiah. We'll spend Isaiah just for a
minute, but take your Bibles right quickly and turn to chapter
35. Look here at chapter 35. God has given Zion, His church,
precious promises to dispel her fears. And He's filled this book
with them. And He's given her these promises.
He's given us these promises to dispel our fears that we have.
And look here in Isaiah, the 35th chapter, and look in verse
3. at verse 4 and 5. Strengthen
ye the weak hands, confirm the feeble limbs. Say to them that
are of a fearful heart, Be strong and fear not. You know what this
tells us. This tells us that there are
some of God's children who by nature, by their very nature,
have a fearful heart. It's almost like they can't hardly
help it. It's just their nature to fear.
And yet they're children of God who are instructed to fear not.
And you've seen them, and I've seen them, and sometimes I've
been one of them. Every time fear came, the first
thing they did, their trouble comes. When trouble comes, when
they got themselves in a circumstance, the first thing they did was
fear. First thing they know to do is
fear and get so angry. So the Lord writes to them here,
and He says this, Fear not, behold your God will come within you. Even God will come with a reward,
a recompense, and He shall come and He shall save you. Now, this here is to dispel our
fear, Zion's fear, when she is in it's in, no matter what circumstances,
when she feared, the Lord said, fear not, be strong. The Lord
will come and He will save you. Now I used to have an old, old
man, used to know him years and years ago, and he always had
this saying, and he always told it to God's people. He always
had this saying, and it was so common with that dear old man.
He said, the Lord may not come, when you want him to, but he'll
always be right on time. And that's comforting, ain't
it? He'll always be right on time. He's never late. Say of
Zion, fear not, for the Lord your God will come and save you. And how many days in our life
since the Lord has regenerated, we needed to be saved. We're
in a situation or circumstances where we can't save ourselves,
we need deliverance. And here the Lord says, don't
fear. You poor weak hearts, I will conquer and will save you. Now
some of us have been on the way for a while and we've experienced
that happening. We know what it means to wait
on the Lord and instead of fear, Be of good courage. Wait on the
Lord and be of good courage, because He will show up and He
will save us. And look here at what else. Look
here at this promise. Fear not, the Lord thy God will
come and save you. Look at chapter 41. Look here
at verse 10. I don't know how all these promises
apply, but I imagine if we studied them closely, we'd probably find
them. places in our life where these
promises would apply to us. In chapter 41, verse 10, Fear
thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee. with the right hand of my righteousness. All they that were incensed against
thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be as nothing, and
they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them,
and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee.
They that were against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing
of naught. For I the Lord thy God will hold
thy hand. save unto thee, fear not, I will
help thee, fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel,
for I will help thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel." That's a precious promise there. I'm going to be
with you, and I'm going to uphold you with the right hand and my
strength. Fear not. Look here at what he
said in chapter 43, and look in verse verses 1 through 5. Here's a promise, fear not. But
now thus saith the Lord that created thee, chapter 43 verse
1, O Jacob, ye that find thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have
redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When you pass through the waters,
I'll be with thee. And through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Saba for thee, since thou wast precious in my sight. Thou hast been honorable, and
I have loved thee. Therefore I will give men for
thee, and people for thy life. Fear not, for I am with thee."
That's a precious prophecy. And he gave it because Zion has
a tendency to fear. And look here in chapter 54.
Look at this, chapter 54. And look in verse 4 and 5. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, confused, or frustrated, for
thou shalt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, and thou shalt remember the approach of thy
widowhood any more. For thy maker is thy husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth. shall he be called. Look
down in verse 13. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.
In righteousness shalt thou be established, thou shalt be far
from oppression, thou shalt not fear, and from terror it shall
not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by thee. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth
forth an instrument for his work. And I have created the waster
to destroy. But no weapon that is armed against
thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt sleep in death. This is
an inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord." The way he seems to be saying here
is, Zion, don't fear anything but me. When they say a confederacy,
when they say let's join together in a confederacy, the Lord said
don't join with them, and don't fear their fear. But sanctify
the Lord in your heart. And let Him be your fear. And
brothers and sisters, when we fear God, and when we walk in
the fear of the Lord all the day long, nothing else is to
be feared. Nothing else is to be feared.
Fear not, O Zion. Fear not. But you know something,
all these promises, all these promises, we could have found
so many, Isaiah, this book is just full of them. But what comfort
could all these promises that I've read to you, What comfort could they give
us, and what good would they be to us if our God who did not
make these promises, if he did not reign as he said? He gives
all of these promises, and then he comes here to verse 7 of chapter
52, and he instructs his preachers to announce this to Zion, to
the children. And here's what it is, thy God
reigneth. A promise is not worth anything
it takes to rise if he that made it is not able to bring it to
pass and fulfill it. Webster's and Vines and some
others gives this definition of reigneth, to reign, thy God
reigneth. It means to rule, to control,
to purpose. to determine, to dispose, to
discriminate, to prevail, to gain the victory, to succeed. Thy God reigneth. Fear not. Say unto Zion, Thy God has succeeded. Thy God reigneth. Thy God gets
the victory. Now here's something very important.
And I think the Holy Spirit wrote this like this for us. You often
talk to people. I used to have a dear friend
of mine, he was a pastor friend of mine years ago, he's dead
now. And I talked to him about these scriptures like this, God
reigned. And I encouraged him to preach
from these scriptures, but he never would. And he said one night he was
hesitant to preach some of these scriptures because he didn't
understand them. Well, I had my suspicions concerning the
dear man that it wasn't so much a lack of understanding as it
was believing in himself. Some people say we would preach,
we'd preach the God that's in this scripture if we understood
it, if we knew all the ins and outs and the workings of it all.
But we don't understand. about how God reigns. How are
we to explain all these things? Well, you notice the Holy Spirit
didn't say it here. When you come to the absolute
knowledge of all things, then you preach it. He didn't say
that at all, did he? This is a good lesson for me
as a preacher, for you folks as teachers, and Jehovah Witnesses. Here's what you're supposed to
say. Just say it. Just say it. Say unto Zion, Thy
God reigneth. And sometimes that's another
thing. Sometimes the dear children of God are in these fears that
they can't shake off and in awful circumstances, they don't know
what to do, and all you have to do is say to them, Thy God
reigneth. You don't have to explain. You
can explain. How do you explain to Joseph?
that he was going to be governor over Egypt when he was sitting
down in prison with his feet swollen in the stocks. He didn't
understand it, we couldn't have understood it. All somebody needed
to do was to go down there and say to Joseph, God reigns, God
reigns. And you know what he would have
said? Oh dear brother, thank you for reminding me of that.
I forgot that. You know, I've been down here
crying and hurting, and He stopped. I forgot! God made me these promises
when I was younger, and now I thought for sure everything's working
against me. But here, you reminded me, the same God who made those
promises, He reigns. Just say it. Just say it. And
say it to Zion, because Zion needs to hear it. Zion needs
to hear it. She has these promises. She needs
to lay hold of by faith and just say to Zion, Thy God reigns,
He rules. But not just to Zion. Look over
here in Psalms 96. Here's somebody else we can say
this to. God reigns in everything that entails. Look in Psalms
96. God reigns. He rules. He controls. He determines. He purposes. He prevails. He gets the victory. He succeeds. God reigns, not
just as I am, but look here. Begin here in verse 1 of Psalm
96. O sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his
name. Show forth his salvation from
day to day. Declare his glory among the evil,
his wonders among the people. For the Lord is great and greatly
to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods. For the gods of the nations are
idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are
before him. Strength and beauty are in his
sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, O ye kindred
to the people. Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. Just give to him the glory due
his man. bring an offering and covenant
to his courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness, here before him all the earth, and say among
the heathen that the Lord reigneth." Tell the church that, because
she needs to hear that. But tell the heathen that too.
Tell everybody. Tell the nation. Our God reigneth. Lost men need to hear that, don't
they? They need to hear that. I tell you, if they ever come
to the place where they're overwhelmed with their sins, a sense of their
sin against God and their perishing state, they need to know there's
a God who reigns in that land. That God is able to deliver them.
I tell you, this is the only hope you and I have of this poor,
perishing world. If God doesn't reign, then you
and I have no hope for this world. If He doesn't reign in this world,
then you know who does reign. I tell you, isn't it awful to
think that God suffers sin to reign? Somebody's got to be reigning,
ain't they? And I tell you, if God lets sin
reign, if God suffers sin to reign, then that brings death. The wages of sin is death. And
then, when it's finished, then hell comes. This world should
be thankful that God reigns. And I tell you, the devils that
have been turned loose in this world today seem like it's full
of devils. And devils hate humanity, and
they'd destroy it if they could. This world better thank God that
He does reign. I do, don't you? That's the only
hope we have for any sanity in this world. If God didn't reign
over devils, if he didn't reign over creation, if he didn't reign
over providence, can you imagine what an awful place this world
would be to live in? It would be unbearable. No peace of any
kind. No sanity of any kind. Say among
the heathens, Thy God reigneth, Zion's God reigneth. How far reaching is this rain?
What does God reign over? Say unto Zion, Thy God reigneth.
Say unto the heathen, Thy God reigneth. What does He reign
over? Look at that. Look here, 1 Chronicles chapter
29. Very familiar scripture. This
is David's prayer. 1 Chronicles chapter 29. This is a good way for us to
pray. Learn to pray like this. Like
King David. Here's what he said in 1 Chronicles
chapter 29. How far reaching is God's reign? Say, I am designed by God's reign.
What does He reign over? David tells us here, verse 10. Wherefore David blessed the Lord
before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou,
Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and for ever. Thine,
O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the
victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in
the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor
come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all. Therefore, reaching
his God reign, it has no limits. He reigns over all. Say unto Zion, Thy God reigns
over all. Listen to this verse of Scripture.
The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble. The Lord sitteth between
the cherubims, let the earth be livid. The Lord is great in
Zion. He is high above all the people. Therefore, let them praise his
great and terrible name, for he is holy. He reigns over all. This is my Father's world. This
is my Father's world. Oh, let me never forget. Though
the wrong seem also strong, he's the ruler yet. He's the ruler,
yet He reigns. This is my Father's work. The
battle's not yet done. Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
and earth and heaven be one. How can we know that for sure?
Because our God reigns. God is reigning. He reigns over
all. Well, how detailed is His reign?
How detailed is our God's reign? He reigns over all. We know He
reigns in heaven, and we know He rules among the inhabitants
of this earth. Daniel 4.25 tells us that. But
how detailed is it? He reigns over the nations, and
He reigns among the nations, but how detailed is it? Well,
I'll tell you what the Master said about our Father's reign.
He said, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. That's
pretty detailed. Maybe not with me, he's laughing
at me, maybe not with me, but in with you and in with Clark
and Shane. That's detail, eh? And he says,
not one hair of your head will perish but at the will of your
Father. Not one hair, that's pretty detail.
Sparrow flies through the air? Sparrow ain't worth very much,
is it? But God removes that sparrow. And it don't fall to the ground
without his knowledge and his will and his decree. It's minute. That's how detailed it is. Every
situation, everywhere you go, when you lay on your bed and
sleep, when you rise and go to work and go into this world,
God rules every last thing. Old Ralph Barnum used to say,
I'd be afraid to go out in the front yard if one grain of of
the control of my God. He rules it all. He rules it
all. Say unto Zion, thy God ruleth. A couple of more scriptures and
we'll close. Always two attitudes when we
stress this. Always two attitudes. Look over
Revelation. Zion loves it. The children of
God love it. They take great comfort in that.
It dispels their fears. It makes them lay hold of these
promises, because they know their God that made them is able to
fulfill those promises. Zion loves this. Look here at
Revelation chapter 19. Here's something that's taking
place in heaven. Look here in verse 1. Let's read
just a little bit. Step through verse 7. After these
things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven. They
were saying hallelujah. Salvation, glory, and honor,
and power to our Lord, the Lord, our God. Now, we know what people
are doing in heaven, don't we? We know what they're doing down
here. We know what they're doing up
there. They're worshiping. They're worshiping the Lord,
their God. Glory, and honor, and power to the Lord, our God. True and righteous are His judgments,
for He hath judged the great whore. which did corrupt the
earth with her fornication, and he hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hand. And again they said, Hallelujah,
and her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty
elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that
sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah. And a voice came
out of the throne saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and ye that fear him. both small and great. And I heard,
as it was the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Hallelujah,
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to Him." I've never had a day in my Christian life
When I thought and believed that my God reigned, that made me
sad. It always makes me glad and it
makes me give honor to Him. Our God reigned. Look back over here in chapter
11. Here's another attitude. The old Sioux don't know it,
don't love it, don't believe it, don't need it. Here's an attitude there. Look
in Revelation chapter 11, look in verse 16. And the four and twenty elders,
now here's the wind up of everything. The four and twenty elders which
sat before God on their throne, on their seats, fell upon their
faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thanks, we give thee
thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and was, and art to
come. Because thou hast taken to thee
thy great power, and hast reigned, and the nations were angry."
Different attitude, that. Different attitude. Zion is glad. Oh, she saw her prophet. She
saw her comfort in the truth that her God reigneth. But here
the world looked upon Him as a reigning God, and they gritted
their teeth and said, we hate Him. We hate this God. I talked with a young fellow
one time for quite some time. He was a dear friend of mine
since I was a teenager, rebellious. He went off to work down in Texas.
He called me on the phone one night. He may have got me out
of bed. He called and he said, I just have to tell you this.
I hate your God. I hate your God." And I think
it surprised him when I said, I know you do. That's natural. But I said, the God whom I love
and believe is able to break you and save you. God reigns. And we're glad, aren't
we? Our Father in heaven, O our reigning
God, our sovereign Lord in heaven, even our Lord Jesus Christ, our
God, our Redeemer, our Husband, our Savior, our faithful Creator. We stop this evening and instill
our hearts before you. Forgive us for our awful sin
of unbelief. Forgive us for not opening your
word and taking it to heart. Forgive us for we feared circumstances,
feared other things, and not walked in fear of our God all
the day long. Oh Lord, when we believe you,
when we simply take you at your word, we find great rest. And
when we remember that you are our God who reigns, our souls
are so encouraged and happy and we're glad. We're just creatures and we take
our place before you. The world owes its stability.
We all owe all unto you because you reign. And we bless you for
it in Christ our Lord. Amen. Christ, would you come
and endow us to be friends and wives before you.