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Securing the Sheep
2 Peter 1:1-11 (1-2)

As you know, tonight we kick off a new Sunday night study.
We are looking at the second letter of Peter.

And as we commonly do, before we dive into our detailed study,
I sort of like to give the book a little introduction.

I like for you to see the whole,
So that when we go back and start looking at the parts,
You will know more accurately what we are looking at.
(If I dump a bunch of pieces of wood on your floor you would be confused, but if I first show you a picture of a dresser, then the pieces begin to make sense)

(1-2) “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;”

We know here that Peter is the writer,
And we see how he identifies himself.

“a bond-servant”
I’ve told you before, the word here is DOULOS and it speaks of a willing slave.

Its roots are in Exodus

Speaking of a slave who must be set free:
Exodus 21:5-6 “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

It is one who was under the full charge of his master in all things,
And one who was there willingly.

“apostle”
This indicates that Peter was sent by Christ on a special mission
With full authority.

1 Thessalonians 2:5-6 “For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed — God is witness — nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.”

So in one sense, he was a lowly slave,
And in the other sense, he was a divine ambassador.

So it is with all who serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
But there is obviously more to be learned
About who exactly Peter was.

Peter was formerly known as Simon.
(It was actually Jesus who changed his name to Peter)

He was NOT the first disciple Jesus ever called,
In fact, it was Peter’s brother Andrew who led him to Jesus.

PETER WAS NOT THE FIRST, BUT HE WAS THE LEADER

Matthew 10:2 “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;”

Simon (or Peter) was called “the first”
This is obviously not a chronological reference
Since he was not the first to follow Jesus.

Rather “first” translates PROTOS
“chief”

The same word Paul used when he called himself “the chief of sinners”
Or “foremost of all” sinners.

Peter was the leader of the 12
(that is perhaps why most of the time we see Peter doing the talking)

NOT ONLY WAS PETER LEADER OF THE DISCIPLES,
BUT PETER WAS ALSO GRANTED LEADERSHIP OVER THE CHURCH.

Matthew 16:18-19 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

It was Peter whom the Lord singled out in John 21

Three times telling Peter to “Feed My sheep”

And it is obvious that this was a responsibility that Peter accepted.

On the day of Pentecost
• It was Peter who arose to address the masses
• It was Peter who confronted their decision to crucify Jesus
• It was Peter who gave the invitation for salvation
• And when the early church had issues, they came to Peter
We could easily say that Peter was a man
Who was fully concerned about the flock of God at all times.

He was a true pastor in every sense of the word.

Where Paul was the traveling missionary, continually planting churches,
Peter stayed to take care of the flock.

(This does not mean Peter never went on mission,
He was actually the man who saw the first Gentile convert – Cornelius)

BUT PREDOMINANTLY PETER WAS A PASTOR
This was his duty, this was his charge, and he fully embraced it.

That also helps us understand what Peter said in his first epistle.
1 Peter 5:1-4 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Peter knew his role as a shepherd of God’s flock.
After all Jesus had said, “Feed My sheep”

And Peter encouraged others in a similar role to do the same.

And so while it should be obvious to us,
It becomes especially clear now that Peter was a man
Who was devoted to the flock of God.

AND THAT IS WHY HE WROTE THIS LETTER.
He writes (1) “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours,”

He is writing to those who have made a profession
To be followers of Christ, just as Peter did.

It was this same group that Peter addressed in his first epistle
As those who were “scattered”,
And Peter wrote to encourage them in their suffering.

And so Peter was a man who was
Fully concerned about God’s flock at all times.

And now, according to 2 Peter
He was concerned for them even after he would be gone.

2 Peter was written just before Peter’s death.

You may remember that our Lord
Had previously revealed to Peter how he was to die.

John 21:18-19 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”

Jesus told Peter that his life would end with the death of a martyr.

And apparently Jesus has now also revealed to him
That it is time for that death to occur.

2 Peter 1:13-14 “I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.”

So here we have Peter,
• The leader of the disciples,
• The leader of the early church,
• A man consumed with the well-being of God’s flock.

And he knows that it is now time for him to die.

This is the end, and this letter holds his final words
Of encouragement to the flock he is about to leave.

When Moses was about to leave he preached Deuteronomy
When Paul was about to leave he wrote 2 Timothy
When Jesus was about to leave He preached “The Upper Room Discourse”
And as Peter is about to leave he gives 2 Peter.

The purpose is clear.
He wants the flock to remain strong, even after he is gone.

2 Peter 1:13-15 “I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.”

Every good preacher understands that when he preaches,
He is not just preaching for the invitation
That will occur in the next 30 minutes.

He is also preaching for decisions
That will be made in the next 30 years and beyond.

Every faithful preacher longs to have his flock
Prepared for the moment before it arises.

And that is precisely why Peter is writing this letter.
So that they will be prepared in the future.

Peter is also writing because he knows what is coming.

When Paul gave his final address to the Ephesian elders he said:
Acts 20:29-32 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Paul knew that when the shepherd is gone
The wolves will try and attack the flock.

He also knew that the only hope for the flock was if
They would stay committed to the truths of God’s Word.

“I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up”

Before Jesus left, He told the disciples:
Matthew 7:15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

And now before Peter leaves, he sends along the same warning to us.

2 Peter 2:1 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

Peter knew that savage wolves were coming.
He knew that they would try to deceive the flock and devour them.

And therefore he knew that the only hope for the flock
Was to be built up on the word of God.

2 Peter 1:19 “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”

2 Peter 3:17-18 “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
And so you understand the purpose of 2 Peter.

It was written by a faithful shepherd who is leaving the sheep.
But he desperately wants to prepare the sheep for what is coming.

And just in case you doubt the accuracy of Peter’s prediction.
In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter said false prophets will come,
Secretly introducing destructive heresies.

By the time Jude wrote his epistle, the wolves had arrived.
Jude 4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

That means for us Peter’s encouragement is very important.

He is telling the flock how to survive
In a world filled with wolves.

His letter closes with:
2 Peter 3:17-18 “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

So tonight, let’s begin our study of 2 Peter
And understand the importance of a true knowledge of God,
So that we are not easily led astray and devoured by the wolves.

I want to start our study by reading the first 11 verses.
(Because these make the first thought,
And you really can’t study any part of it independent from the whole)

READ 2 PETER 1:1-11

If you’ve ever worked one of those mazes some people start at the beginning and try to work their way to the end.

Others have found it easier to start at the destination
And work their way back to the beginning.

That is sort of the approach
We are going to take to these first eleven verses.
(FIRST IN OVERVIEW, AND WE’LL COME BACK IN THE FOLLOWING WEEKS TO GET THE SUBSTANCE)

The point of these first 11 verses is clear to us:
THE SECURING OF THE SHEEP
We know that because of verses 10-11
(10-11) “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

Peter’s main concern is that none of those he is writing to stumble,
And thus fall away from the faith.

He knows that if they never fall away, then
“the entrance into the eternal kingdom…will be abundantly supplied.”

So he is writing to make sure the sheep are not snared
To stumble and fall away from the faith,
But that they stand strong until the end and enter the kingdom.

This is why he stresses that they make certain that they are God’s flock.

(10) “be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you”

In other words,
• You claim to be called by God and chosen by Him.
• You claim to be His child; His sheep.
• You claim to know God.

But you need to stop and make sure that this is really the case.

One of the key phrases in these first eleven verses is the term “knowledge of God” (2) again in verse (3) again in verse (8).

Peter stresses the true knowledge of God
Because there IS such a thing as “false knowledge of God”

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Jesus spoke of those who had a false knowledge,
Made obvious because it did not result in obedience.

PETER WANTS HIS FLOCK TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT IS NOT THEM.

They make certain, by examining their fruit.
(8-9) “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.”

Now we will see the specific qualities in a moment,
But it is obvious that Peter is looking at a list of fruit
And telling his readers that if this fruit is not only evident in their lives,
But also on the rise, then they have a “true knowledge of our Lord Jesus.”

On the other hand, if these qualities are not present,
Then they are “blind or short-sighted” and they have forgotten
That the whole purpose of salvation was to purify you from sin.

And so the path is becoming clear.
• We don’t want you to stumble from the faith.
• The way to not stumble is to make sure you are really in the faith.
• The way to know if you are really in the faith is to examine your fruit.

WHAT IS THE FRUIT?
(5-7) “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”

These are the attributes that ought to be present in the life of anyone
Who claims to have a true knowledge of Christ.

And as we noted, according to verse 8, these qualities not only need to be present,
But should also be “increasing”.

And so Peter simply asks his readers to examine their lives,
And see if it is obvious that they really do know God.

And that poses for us another question.
WHY ARE THESE ATTRIBUTES GOOD INDICATORS THAT I KNOW GOD?

Today people bank on all sorts of things to prove they know God.
Religious involvement
Participation in baptism
Having prayed the sinners prayer
Family heritage

Many people use those types of things as indicators, but Peter didn’t.

He used “diligence” “faith” “moral excellence” “knowledge” “self-control” “perseverance” “godliness” “brotherly kindness” and “love”.
WHY ARE THOSE THE INDICATORS?
Because you can’t achieve those things in your life by your own ability.
If you have those things it is because God gave them to you.

(3-4) “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

It is God’s divine power that gives us what we need
For “life and godliness”.

And that divine power comes
“through the true knowledge of Him who called us”

It is God who has granted us “His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you become partakers of the divine nature”

All those attributes listed in verses 5-7
Are divine attributes, not earthly attributes.

And therefore Peter says that we should carefully examine ourselves
To see if we have them, and if they are increasing in our lives.

If they are, then we truly know God and we are protected from stumbling, and we can be assured of entering the eternal kingdom.

If they are not, then we have cause for concern, and it is apparent that we are “blind or short-sighted” and need to return to the Lord.

HENCE, THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO THIS COIN
THE DIVINE SIDE – in which God equips us
THE HUMAN SIDE – in which we take full advantage of His equipping

And the result to that is
That we know we are in the faith, and we are kept from stumbling.

So the study of these first 11 verses is clear:
THE SECURING OF THE SHEEP

And in it we learn that
A true sheep is one who knows God and follows God.
John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
And Peter wants to make sure that all of those who read this letter,
Evaluate themselves in such a way.

WHY DOES PETER BEGIN THIS LETTER LIKE THIS?

Because he is about to die,
And he knows that the wolves are coming.
And he knows that the wolves will exploit with false words and deceive people and lead them away from the faith.

And if those he is writing to do not have a true knowledge of God,
Then they will most certainly be led astray,
And will never make it into the kingdom.

(And we will get into the specifics next time)

SO IN CLOSING, LET ME REMIND YOU

There is absolutely nothing in your life that matters more
Than your relationship with Jesus Christ.

If you are right about everything else, but wrong about that,
Your entire eternity will be in shambles.

SO MAKE SURE IT IS REAL
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”

We live in a day where people get routine checkups.
Mammograms
Physicals
Blood tests

If that is true physically, how much more important is it spiritually.
• Getting tested is not always pleasant.
• Getting negative results can be extremely painful.

But how important is it to know the truth
So that it can be corrected while there is still time?

So let me encourage you, put Peter’s advice to practice and “be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

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Isaiah’s Passion – Part 7
Isaiah 61-62 (62:10-12)
November 17, 2024

I realize it’s been a little bit of a lengthy journey working through these two chapters where we have taken a look at Isaiah’s passion.

But certainly we can all agree that we need lengthy looks at such topics.

One thing the church cannot afford to do
Is grow apathetic in regard to our missional mandate.

We are left here for this purpose,
To declare the glorious excellencies of Christ to the world.

It is very easy to get consumed with so many other jobs and activities,
• But when we lose sight of that one main job it really causes one to wonder what we are doing.

So it’s good to get a look at the passion of a man
Who faithfully preached for nearly 60 years
To one of the most difficult congregations any many has ever faced.

• They were blind
• They were deaf
• They were stubborn
• They mocked him
• They told him to stop
• They never repented
• They refused to believe

AND YET ISAIAH PUSHED FORWARD.
We need that kind of endurance.
We need that kind of passion in our lives.

And so it is a blessing to examine these two chapters of Isaiah
AND BE REMINDED OF
What the Spirit of God can do in the heart of His people.

Isaiah was a hypocrite.
• He was a man of unclean lips who lived among a people of unclean lips.

• But one encounter with the living God…
• One commission by the Savior…
• And the equipping of the Holy Spirit…

• Turned him from hypocrite to prophet and a faithful one at that.

We need that same work of revival in our lives.

WELL TONIGHT, as good as it has been,
LET’S BRING THESE TWO CHAPTERS TO A CLOSE.

We’ve seen:

#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61:1-11

We saw that he was anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach.
His preaching was relentless and he focused on two main subjects.

A. The Gospel of Salvation
B. The Glory of Salvation

You can go back through the book and see that:
• Isaiah was relentless, even repetitive.
• He never strayed, he never waivered,
• He just preached sermon after sermon after sermon on the gospel and the glory of salvation.

#2 THE PROPHET’S COMMITMENT
Isaiah 62:1-12

We began to talk about the things that fueled his commitment to the ministry.
• Where did he find the strength?
• Where did he find the encouragement?

A. HIS VISION (1-5)

We learned that Isaiah never took his eyes off the prize.
• He heard what God had promised to do through his preaching
• Even though it may be seemingly slow in coming, Isaiah never let go of that promise.

He would preach…
1. Until Israel’s Righteousness Was Real (1b)
2. Until Israel’s Testimony Was Evident (2)
3. Until Israel’s Glory Was Restored (3)
4. Until Israel’s Marriage Was Healed (4)
5. Until Israel’s God Was Rejoicing (5)

God had promised all of those things.
God still promises all of those things.
Isaiah used those promises as motivation to never quit.

He believed God to be faithful.
• That belief gave him the needed strength to keep preaching for nearly 60 years.

B. HIS PASSION (6-9)

Isaiah was certainly filled with a vision of God’s fulfilled promises,
But Isaiah was also filled with a God-given passion for the job.

When the Holy Spirit indwells a person, passion comes with Him.
You see it in all the prophets and saints of old.
• The Holy Spirit becomes like a “fire in the bones” as He was to Jeremiah.
• Paul said, “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”
• He said, “I am under obligation” and “I am eager”

And we understood that
It wasn’t only God’s promises that fueled Isaiah,
But it was also God’s Spirit who fueled him
By giving him the necessary zeal to endure.

And Isaiah was specific about what this Holy Spirit zeal was for.
1. To Preach Without Resting (6)
2. To Pray Without Ceasing (7)
3. To Proceed Without Wavering (8-9)

Such zeal and such fire from Isaiah
Could only come from the indwelling Spirit of God.

And so we learned that that if you want to be faithful in ministry.
If you want to be committed to the task.

Then you need vision and passion.
• You need to understand the promises of God
• And you need to be filled with the Spirit.

Lacking either one of those will have devastating effects
On your faithfulness to your calling to proclaim the gospel.

But Isaiah was filled with both
And he was able to preach to blind, deaf, and stubborn people for nearly 60 years.

Well there is one more thing we look at TONIGHT
As we understand the commitment of Isaiah.

We saw his vision
We saw his passion
3) HIS MISSION (10-11)

(10-11) “Go through, go through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples. Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes; Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”

What we mean here is that Isaiah had a clear understanding
Of exactly what God called him to do.

Yes he knew that God was going to restore Israel to Himself.
• That was the fueling vision.

Yes he knew that men were called to preach without resting and to pray without ceasing.
• That was his Spirit induced passion.

But that also begs the question:
Preach what?
Pray for what?

And certainly our churches need clarification on this today as well.

The American church sends many to the mission field this very day
Who are faithful to go BUT confused on what to do when they get there.

Far too many think the main mission is HUMANITARIAN.
• They are consumed only with meeting physical needs.

I know they talk like they are using such missions as a gateway to share the gospel, but I’ll be honest, I’ve been a part of several such mission ventures and most of them stop short of gospel sharing.

• They hand out food…
• They hand out clothes…
• They render some medical care…
• And quite possibly that comes with a “Jesus loves you”,

But they stop far short of proclaiming the actual gospel of repentance from sin and faith in the finished work of Jesus.

• Very few are ever fed and told to repent of their sins.
• Very few are ever clothed and called to leave their pagan religion.
• Very few are ever treated medically and told about the finished work of Jesus
on the cross.

THAT SIMPLY IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
We certainly do not begrudge physical care,
Especially from a nation and church as wealthy as ours.

But there needs to be a revived commitment
In the real mission of preaching the gospel.

Others go and preach, but they preach A FALSE GOSPEL.

Of all the things that the United States of America imports and exports
The absolute worst of them all is the prosperity gospel.

And you can talk to African after African (the men I am most involved with)
• And they will all tell you that this prosperity gospel is a curse
• Which has been exported from our nation to theirs.

THIS IS ALSO UNACCEPTABLE
And so it’s not enough to go, there must be preaching.
And it’s not enough to preach, it must be truth.

So while we appreciate Isaiah’s vision
And while we appreciate Isaiah’s passion
We need to know more.

What exactly was he told to preach
And what exactly was he told to pray for.

That is where this segment comes to a close this evening.

You actually read in verse 11 these words, “Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth, “SAY…”

• We find here what the message is.
• We find here what the prayer request is.

And we find what Isaiah was committed to his entire life.

And I want to break this down a little more too,
Just to understand the intricacies of the mission.
WHAT IS THE MISSION?

PREPARE THE WAY (10)

(10) “Go through, go through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.”

There is a literary clue there in that verse
That helps us clarify the point a little better.

Two commands are repeated.
That is a literary clue meant to cause us to focus on what is important and the message we dare not miss.

• “Go through, go through the gates”
• “Build up, build up the highway”

This isn’t difficult to grasp.

We found out this morning up in verse 6

That Isaiah is speaking to the remnant.
• He had told “You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;”
• We discussed that and understood it better as, “You who make mention of
the LORD” or “You who know the LORD”

Isaiah was calling the remnant who know the LORD
To wake up and never stop shouting
The message of the watchman to the people.

Well, it is that same remnant that Isaiah is addressing here in verse 10
When he tells them, “Go through, go through the gates…”

Anyone want to guess the word we’re going to focus on?
“Go”

“Go through” is one word in the Hebrew (AW-VAIR)
It means “to pass over or by or through”

And that is exactly what we have been called to do.
Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 10:7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

It is the equivalent of us in here tonight saying,
“Get up, go through the door”

• Certainly we are commanded to gather…
• Certainly we are commanded to worship corporately…
• Certainly there is plenty of reason to meet here as the church…

But we don’t stay here all week.
We get up, we go out the door, and we do the work of missions.

There is a hands-on approach that is required here.
• Isaiah is NOT ASKING the remnant only to pray for the lost.
• Isaiah is NOT ASKING the remnant only to financially support his ministry.
• Isaiah IS ASKING the remnant to go.

And when we go we see the command, “Clear the way for the people;”

Isaiah speaks as though there are obstacles and stumbling blocks
That are in the way hindering people from coming to Christ.

THIS IS WHY
We can’t just sit in the church and tell them to “come join us”.
• There are barricades…
• There are barriers that must be removed so they can come.

LIKE WHAT?
And don’t go WOKE on me here.
• When I say barriers to people coming to church I am not talking about racial barriers or gender barriers or socio-economic barriers.
• It’s not that the church is too mean or too conservative so people are blocked from coming.
• Those are not barriers.

THE BARRIERS SCRIPTURE MENTIONS ARE
The barriers of sin that hinder men from drawing near to God.

When Jesus spoke of stumbling blocks
He referenced men’s SIN as the problem.

Matthew 18:7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes!”

The stumbling blocks that keep men from Christ
Are those that the world places.
It is love of the world and sinful pleasure and fallen thinking.

Think about the wealth of the Rich Young Ruler
• That caused him to flee from Christ.

Think about the pride of the Pharisee
• That caused him to reject the call.

Even when Jesus speaks to John the Baptist in jail,
• Who is confused as to why he is in prison,
• And doubting whether or not Jesus is in fact the Messiah.

Matthew 11:4-6 “Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”

John was about to stumble over his suffering.
He was about to stumble over his pre-conceived ideas of who the Messiah should be.

And there are many more such stumbling blocks
That hinder our world from trusting in Christ.

Even as believers we are told
That in order to faithfully follow Christ
• We must throw off such hindrances or stumbling blocks.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Jesus told Peter that he was a “stumbling block” to Him
• Because Peter was setting his mind on man’s interests instead of God.

SO YOU UNDERSTAND THE POINT.
• This world has hindrances that keep them from embracing Christ.
• This world has hindrances that keep them even from coming to the church in
order to hear about Christ.

SO WHAT DO WE DO?
• We “go through, go through the gates,”
• And we “clear the way for the people.”

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
• It means we confront stumbling blocks!
• It means we tear down those walls built up against Christ.

Listen to Paul:
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”

We take the truth of God
And we confront those fortresses that are built up against Christ.
• We confront the sin that traps and ensnares man.
• We call for repentance.
• We offer freedom.

We see this in Jesus
Every time He approached a Pharisee and said, “Have you not heard..?” or “Do you not know..?”

He was destroying fortresses and speculations
That He might present the truth of the gospel.

Hopefully you are already here in your mind
Picturing the ministry of John the Baptist.

Isaiah prophesied about him back in chapter 40.
Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

That is what John did wasn’t it?
• We see him in the gospels confronting men for their sin
• And calling them to repentance
• He was removing stumbling blocks that would prevent men from following Christ.

Matthew 3:5-10 “Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Luke 3:10-14 “And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Now, doing any of those things which John commanded
STILL WOULD NOT SAVE THOSE PEOPLE.
You can’t be saved just by giving up your coat.

So what was John doing?
• He was breaking down stumbling blocks.
• He was removing the things that would keep those people from following Jesus when Jesus walked by.

WE DO THIS.

We go out these doors and we confront the sins
And the backward thinking of the culture
That keeps them from the glorious Christ.

AND THEN WHAT DO WE DO?
We “Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.”

WHAT IS THIS HIGHWAY?
• Earlier Isaiah called it “the highway of holiness”.

We lift high the righteous standard of God.
We reveal to men that type of men that God demands them to be.

We call men to “be holy” as He is holy.
We call men to be righteous and pleasing.

Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount
• And explained in detail the very righteousness of God
• And then told people, “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

We preach the Law of God
• Which identifies the perfect and practical holiness of God
• And we bid men to measure their lives by it.

Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler,
• “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

NOW, WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?
Are we suggesting that they can save themselves by their works?
Of course not!

• We are revealing to them a standard that can only be fulfilled in Christ.
• We are showing them God’s expectation which is beyond them in every way.

WHY?
• So that when Jesus walks by, and we say, “Behold, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world.”
• They will run to Him.

We remove the barriers and we build up the standard.
THIS IS WHAT ISAIAH CALLED THE REMNANT TO DO.

1. Go through those doors,
2. Crush the stumbling blocks
3. And lift high the holy standard.

This is the work that we commonly refer to as PLOWING.
• Prepare the heart for the gospel.

So we PREPARE THE WAY
Then we PREACH THE PROMISE (11)

“Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, “Lo, your salvation comes; Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”

Can you hear the call of John the Baptist here again?

Isaiah 40:9-10 “Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Behold, the Lord God will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him.”

Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

That is also the calling you and I have.
1. We go out to these sinners whom we have confronted in their sin.
2. We go out to these sinners whom we have confronted with the holy expectation
of God.

And at that point they should be totally broken…right?
They should see God’s righteous expectation
And that their sin had caused them to fall short of it.

• They should be poor in spirit and mourning over their sin.
• They should be meek in their attitude and hungering and thirsting for the
righteousness which they do not have.

And once they reach that point what do we say?

WE SAY, “Lo, your salvation comes; Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”

Do you want to see when John the Baptist did this?
John 1:29-37 “The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”

THAT’S IT ISN’T IT!
We show men their need for a Savior
And then we point them to that Savior!

We show them who He is and what He has done.

• We reveal to them that He is the fulfillment of the righteousness which they
seek.
• We show them how He fulfilled the righteous requirement of God for their sin.
• We show them how He is the Lamb of God, slain at Calvary as the
punishment for their sin.
• We show them how He will accept them if they will follow Him.
• We show them how He is returning and will reward all those who deny
themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.

But we also show them that it is NOT OPTIONAL.
• For this same King who will gather the wheat into His barn will also burn up
the chaff with unquenchable fire.

“His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”

THAT IS THE MESSAGE.

First we go out and PLOW
Here is where we PLANT THE SEED
• We break up that hardened ground, we remove those rocks,
• Then we cast the seed of the gospel.

AND LOOK,
• We know that some of it will fall on hardened soil (so did Isaiah.)
• We know that some will fall among the weeds (so did Isaiah.)
• We know that some will fall among the rocks (so did Isaiah.)
• But we also know that some will fall on the good soil and it will bear fruit.
• We know that the remnant will be saved.

And this was the driving passion of Isaiah.
• He was a spiritual farmer!
• He was devoted and committed!

AND HE CALLED THE REMNANT TO JOIN HIM IN THIS EFFORT.
He called us to also go through the gate, break up the rocks,
And plant the seed of the gospel.

Equipped with the gospel…
Filled with the Spirit…
We are called to go and do the same things Isaiah did.

The prophet who said, “Here am I, send me”
Now extends his hand to you and says, “Will you join me?”

What a calling!
What a passion!

But there is still one more aspect to his ministry.

He prepared the way
He preached the promise
PRESENT THE REDEEMED (12)

“And they will call them, “The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord”; And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”

This is what we call HARVESTING

Jesus told us the fields were white for harvest.

Here Isaiah speaks of those who,
By the sovereign prerogative of God,
Have responded to the call.

• They have repented of their sins.
• They have called upon the name of Jesus.
• They have denied themselves, taken up their cross, and are following Jesus.
• They are clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ.

And who are they now?
• They are “The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord”
• They are called “Sought out, a city not forsaken”

They are the people whom Christ purchased,
• They have been found and called and returned to Him.
• They were sought and they were bought.
• They have not been abandoned, they have not been forsaken.

Christ came for them and Christ saved them.
And He used the remnant, armed with the gospel,
And powered by the Spirit to do it.

And we find that this has been A RESCUE MISSION.
There has been a search for the lost children of God,
And Isaiah was commissioned to go and help find them.

• He was eager to go, for God had saved him,
• He asks you to join him in the efforts of calling God’s children, Christ’s bride,
back to Him.

WHAT A CALLING!

And how marvelous will it be on that day,
• When a lost sinner repents and trusts in Christ,
• And you are able to bring that redeemed sinner, estranged from his father,
• Back home to Him.

What a blessing to part of the mission!
What a blessing to part of the search!

Can you see why Isaiah was so emboldened?
Can you see why Isaiah was so passionate?

He was on a mission to bring God’s children back to Him,
And it didn’t matter how many times he failed,
He was fueled by the promise of his success.

See, our mission is NOT a losing mission.
Our calling is NOT failing calling.

Oh sure we will face rejection.
Sure, we will face blind, deaf, and stubborn people.

But at the same time we are armed with the promise:
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

Paul said it like this:
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”

Paul knew the end result was triumph!

William Barclay wrote:
“The highest honor which could be given to a victorious Roman general was a Triumph. To attain it he must satisfy certain conditions. He must have been the actual commander-in-chief in the field. The campaign must have been completely finished, the region pacified and the victorious troops brought home. Five thousand of the enemy at least must have fallen in one engagement. A positive extension of territory must have been gained, and not merely a disaster retrieved or an attack repelled. And the victory must have been won over a foreign foe and not in a civil war.
In a Triumph the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the Capitol in the following order. First came the state officials and the senate. Then came the trumpeters. Then were carried the spoils taken from the conquered land. For instance, when Titus conquered Jerusalem, the seven-branched candlestick, the golden table of the shew-bread and the golden trumpets were carried through the streets of Rome. Then came pictures of the conquered land and models of conquered citadels and ships. There followed the white bull for the sacrifice which would be made. Then there walked the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains, shortly to be flung into prison and in all probability almost immediately to be executed. Then came the lictors bearing their rods, followed by the musicians with their lyres; then the priests swinging their censers with the sweet-smelling incense burning in them. After that came the general himself. He stood in a chariot drawn by four horses. He was clad in a purple tunic embroidered with golden palm leaves, and over it a purple toga marked out with golden stars. In his hand he held an ivory scepter with the Roan eagle at its top and over his head a slave held the crown of Jupiter. After him rode his family; and finally came the army wearing all their decorations and shouting lo triumphe! Their cry of triumph. As the procession moved through the streets, all decorated and garlanded, amid the cheering crowds, it made a tremendous day which might happen only once in a lifetime.”
(cited in MacArthur’s commentary of 2 Corinthians, pg. 68-69)

Paul knew that triumph was coming for him.
• There was no chance that Christ would not receive the spoils of His conquest.
• There was no chance that Christ would not receive the reward of His suffering.

Paul wasn’t put off by those who rejected.
• He wasn’t discouraged by those who did not respond.
• He knew why.

2 Corinthians 4:1-4 “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

He was not put off by the blind, he knew what was going on.
He knew the gospel ended in glory.

SO DID ISAIAH.
• He knew the remnant was coming.
• He knew Christ was coming.
• He knew the kingdom was coming.
• And he was going to be a part of it!

DO YOU SEE THE PASSION?
DO YOU SHARE THE PASSION?

DO YOU WANT TO BE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER?

As John Piper asked in that sermon clip I showed you last Sunday, “Do you want your life to count?”

Do you want to be one of those who presents the lost to Christ?
Do you want to celebrate in the triumph?

• Then go out the door, and start plowing the field.
• Go out the door and start planting the seed.
• Go our the door and find Christ’s lost bride.

No one is happier at the harvest
Than the one who did the work to produce it.

download here

Isaiah’s Passion – Part 6
Isaiah 61-62 (62:6-9)
November 17, 2024

You know we are in a segment examining the heart and ministry
Of this prophet we know as Isaiah.

#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61

Where we saw his commitment to preach.
• The Gospel of Salvation
• The Glory of Salvation

#2 THE PROPHET’S COMMITMENT
Isaiah 62

We are seeking to understand his commitment
To preach the gospel for nearly 60 years
Even though his congregation was blind, deaf, and stubborn.

LAST SUNDAY we looked at the first explanation.
1) HIS VISION (1-5)

We simply realized that Isaiah was
Incredibly fueled by the promises of God.

HE KNEW God had promised to:
1. Make Israel righteous
2. To make Israel the light of the world
3. To restore Israel’s glory
4. To return and restore His marriage relationship to Israel
5. To once again make Israel a nation God rejoiced over

Isaiah knew that was where God was taking the nation.

HE ALSO KNEW
That God would use his preaching as the method in which that marvelous future would be brought about.

So Isaiah’s vision of God’s fulfilled promises
Was a great means to fueling his commitment.

We said that we need to fuel our commitments in the same way.

We need to understand things like:
• God’s elect will all come, and Christ will lose none
• That the day of the Lord will come
• That once the gospel is preached to all nations the end will come
• That Christ will save Israel
• That Christ will return to reign on His glorious throne in Jerusalem

Those are the types of promises that can fuel our ministries as well.

When we know that our efforts will succeed and not fail
It is so much easier to persevere in an “out of season” type culture.

1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

Well, still on the topic of Isaiah’s commitment,
Let’s look at another thing that fueled that commitment.

His vision
2) HIS PASSION (6-9)

(6-9) “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, “I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.” But those who garner it will eat it and praise the LORD; And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.”

I realize the overarching theme of these chapters is the passion of Isaiah,
But here we get to take a more detailed look at it.

I think I would begin here by simply making sure we understand
The difference between PASSION and OBLIGATION.

Or maybe we should say, the difference between ZEAL and DUTY.

Certainly we understand the Christian duty; the Christian obligation.

We’ve read:
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I think of Paul telling the Romans:
Romans 1:14 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.”

Or what he told the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 9:16 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”

Those types of statements would definitely fall under
The “duty” or “obligation” category.

We know the command. We know the mandate. We know what we’ve been told to do.

And as those who have surrendered our lives to the service of Jesus Christ, such a mandate should be enough.

I am not minimizing at all the fact that
Our Lord has clearly articulated for us the work we are to be doing.

But at the same time we do understand that
We can at times disregard mandates and commands.

The Lord has commanded all believers to the mission,
But we know that not all believers are obedient to that command.

• They have the knowledge, but they lack the passion.
• They have the mandate, but they lack the zeal to carry it out.

Isaiah had both, and it is his zeal that we want to better understand.

There is obviously a difference between duty and zeal.

Paul, for example, clearly had an obligation,
But it was his zeal that caused him to carry out that duty.

We remember him telling the Romans:
Romans 9:1-3 “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”

He told the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 12:15 “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?”

He told the Philippians
Philippians 1:8 “For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

Those aren’t just statements of obligation or duty,
That is passion, that is zeal.

He told Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:8-10 “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

That is man who is not only commanded to preach,
But who will burst if he doesn’t get to.

We think of Jeremiah
Jeremiah 20:9 “But if I say, “I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.”

And as we have said, this same passion was evident in Isaiah.

Isaiah 62:1 “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.”

So I hope we understanding the point here.

• It is one thing to have the mandate.
• It is one thing to have the command.

• Anyone can read the Great Commission.
• Anyone can read Acts 1:8 about going to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and
the world.
• Anyone can be told that they cannot hear without a preacher.

But what is it that causes those commands to penetrate the heart of a person and consume them with the mission?

THAT IS PRODUCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Remember, (61:1) “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me…”

It was the Spirit of God writing the words of God on Isaiah’s heart
That produced in him the passion that was necessary.

THAT PASSION IN ISAIAH WAS CLEAR.
For nearly 60 years he hasn’t stopped.

And what we have here in verses 6-9 of chapter 62
Is Isaiah seeking to stir up that passion in you.

• He is going to preach to you this morning.
• He is going to challenge you.
• He is going to exhort you.

It is his hope that the Spirit of God will also fill you and embolden you
To be zealous for the things of God.

He is going to show you what passion looks like.

AND THIS IS NEEDED.

For no one could argue that the American church
Has a wealth of Bible knowledge.
We have more access to more resources than anyone in the world.

We are heavy on knowledge, what we need is zeal.

I had great conversations with Brother Stephen Muigai this past weekend.
We spoke of all the benefits that we have as the American church.
• We can read books on anything, it’s all available.
• Swahili on the other hand, which represents over 200 million people, have nearly none.

They have no resources, but they have zeal; they have passion.

I’ve told you about Brother Charles Masanja in Tanzania:
I can still hear Charle’s voice in my ears saying “We will go from village to village and town to town and we will not stop until we spread the gospel everywhere.”

That is zeal.
That is a fire in the bones.

This is what Isaiah has; this is what he wants to see in each of us.
And I dare say, this is what the American church needs.

C.H. Spurgeon, “If you never have sleepless hours, if you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous. You do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief and yet must beat high with holy ardor. The heart must be vehement in desire, panting continually for God’s glory, or else we shall never attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us know.”

SO LET’S TALK ABOUT ZEAL.

Let Isaiah show us what true zeal looks like.
By this we can discern whether or not we have it.

There are 3 things we learn here as we listen to Isaiah speak about passion.
The first two are commands, the third is an encouragement.

PREACH WITHOUT RESTING (6)

(6) “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;”

In that verse we first recognize a spiritual reality.

“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen”

Certainly we are going to make a spiritual application out of this,
But just in a simple sense we understand what a “watchman” is.

This is a man who has been appointed to stand on the wall of the city,
And he has one job.
• He is to watch for approaching danger.
• He is to identify any pending threats to the city.

People down in the city are protected by the wall, but the wall limits visibility,
So someone has to stand on the wall and watch what’s going on outside the city.

There is only one main requirement for a good watchman,
THAT IS VIGILANCE.

They have to care enough about the people to stay awake and stay alert.
• Their task isn’t overly complicated.
• They don’t have to fight off an enemy.
• They don’t have to devise the plan of defense.
• They don’t have to rally the troops.

Their one job is simply to recognize the threat and report it.
That is the basic job of a watchman.

And this job became ILLUSTRATIVE of a faithful prophet of God.

“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all night they will never keep silent.”

Here God speaks of a watchman,
And it is obviously one who has seen a threat
For “All day and all night they will never keep silent.”

• A watchman has no need to report unless he has seen a threat,
• But in that case he is responsible to make sure that his report is heard.

This was the chief analogy God used in his calling of Ezekiel.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 3:16-21

• Ezekiel came roughly 100 years after Isaiah
• Where Isaiah saw this danger from a distance, Ezekiel saw it with his own eyes.
• And he was called to operate as a spiritual watchman.
• God reiterated that same message to Ezekiel again in chapter 33.

But you understand the role of a watchman.

And we see then WHAT they do,
And HOW they are measured.

A good watchman – “all day and all night they will never keep silent.”

We realize that Isaiah was also a watchman, and a good one.

For he said:
Isaiah 62:1 “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.”

A good watchman announces the danger until the people listen.
They never stop ringing that bell until the people respond.

Isaiah understood the call.
And as we have said, he was passionate about the call.

And what Isaiah wants is that same passion from you and me.

He says, “You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves.”

I think that is a little bit of a misleading translation there.

“remind” translates (ZAW-KHAIR)
And it can be to remind, but it is also translated “make mention of”

As in:
Isaiah 63:7 “I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has granted us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has granted them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.”

The ESV translates this verse:
“You who put the LORD in remembrance…”

The KJV translates it:
“ye that make mention of the LORD…”

And this seems to be the idea here.

God has placed watchmen
Not to remind Him of the coming judgment,
But rather, as those who know God, to remind everyone else.

It follows the question we have asked the last couple of weeks.
At what point do you give up proclaiming the gospel?
At what point do you stop warning the wicked?

• When do you give up on the salvation of your children?
• When do you give up on the salvation of your coworker?

The message here of Isaiah is “take no rest for yourselves;”
Do not grow tired or weary.
Do not stop out of frustration or exhaustion.

As John was told in the Revelation, “prophesy again…”

Paul told Timothy
2 Timothy 4:1-2 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

This was the zeal of Isaiah
And he now bids that this become your zeal too.

He is asking those who have seen the coming danger
And who know the truth of the coming judgment, to sleep later.

Wake up!
Get up!
And go warn the people.

IT SPEAKS OF URGENCY.
It speaks of SELF-SACRIFICE.

• When was Jesus ever too tired to minister to the people?
• When did He ever send them away for a time of self-care?

He was passionate.
He was zealous.

And it is not a good look on the American church
When we do not share that zeal.

BUT WHAT DO YOU DO if you don’t have that kind of passion?
What do you do if it’s just not in you to have that kind of zeal?

Well, where did Isaiah’s zeal come from?
Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;”

Zeal comes from the Spirit.

SO WHAT ARE YOU SAYING PREACHER?

Are you saying that if I’m not zealous to share the gospel that I don’t have the Holy Spirit?

THAT COULD DEFINITELY BE IT.
• We know the Holy Spirit is a missionary,
• And one of the reasons you don’t share could very well be that you have never yielded your life to Christ
• And been indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

If that is you, then you need to repent and yield your life to Jesus Christ,
Believing in His work on your behalf,
So that you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.

THAT COULD DEFINITELY BE IT.
• I’ve been to many cemeteries in my life but I’ve never heard any of them having conversations.
• The dead don’t speak to one another.
• And that is true in evangelism.

Now, while it could be that you are unredeemed,
That is NOT NECESSARILY THE CASE.

It might not be that you don’t have the Holy Spirit,
It might be that He doesn’t have you.

YOU MIGHT BE WALKING IN THE FLESH

Do you remember Paul’s command?
Ephesians 5:18-21 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.”

It might be that you need to be filled with the Spirit.

That DOES NOT MEAN that you don’t have the Holy Spirit, or that you don’t have all of Him.

What it means is that you have not given Him all of you.
You are walking in rebellion or idolatry or iniquity or laziness.

The issue might be that you need to repent of sin in your life,
Start letting the word of Christ dwell within you richly
And watch how the Holy Spirit turns your apathy into zeal.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE KEY,
A lack of zeal indicates a lack of His influence in a life.

Isaiah calls you to get up, you who know the LORD,
And “take no rest for yourselves.”

He wants you to preach without resting.
That is passion; that is zeal.

That’s not all he wants.
PRAY WITHOUT CEASING (7)

(7) “And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

First it was to take no rest for yourselves
And here it is a call to not let God rest either.

Jonathan Edwards wrote:
“It is very apparent from the Word of God that he often tries the Faith and patience of his people, when they are crying to him for some great and important mercy, by withholding the mercy sought for a season; and not only so, but at first he may cause an increase of dark appearances. And yet he, without fail, at last prospers those who continue urgently in prayer with all perseverance and “will not let him go except he blesses.”
Sited in: (Ortlund, Raymond, [Preaching The Word Commentary: ISAIAH; God saves sinners; Crossway Publishers; Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 416)

Raymond Ortlund told a story about a WWII concentration camp survivor:
“Otto Kristian Hallesby was a Norwegian theologian who resisted the Nazis during World War II and suffered for it in a concentration camp. He understood what it meant to pray all the way through until God answers. He said that prayer is like mining. Prayer is like boring holes deep into the rock of human hearts. It’s work. It tries our patience. We can’t see results. But in God’s time, he places the dynamite and lights the fuse, and the rocks crumble. God has called us to give him no rest until he makes a revived church the praise of the earth.”
(ibid. pg. 416)

I realize there is a sense in which badgering God can seem irreverent.

But what the saints of old have recognized is that
Often times God uses these lengthy times of prayer
To focus us and grow our faith.

The fact of the matter is that HIS WORD TELLS US to “give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

We think of the traveling friend:
Luke 11:5-8 “Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

Certainly we remember that persistent widow:
Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’ ” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

The issue there is clear.
GOD IS TESTING OUR FAITH.

He’s looking for a Jacob
• Who will wrestle and refuse to let go until God grants the blessing.

He’s looking for the person who truly believes
• That when we ask God for a loaf He will not give a stone
• And when we ask God for a fish He will not give a snake.

He’s looking for the person who will latch on to what Jesus taught:
Matthew 21:22 “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Or again:
John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

Or again:
John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

He’s looking for the person who believes what James said:
James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

He’s looking for the person who believes what John said:
1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

AND THIS IS PASSION!

Could this be another area of lacking passion in the American church?
A lack of commitment to pray for revival?
A lack of commitment to pray for the lost?

• HAVE WE NOT LEARNED the doctrines of grace?
• HAVE WE NOT LEARNED about total depravity?
• HAVE WE NOT LEARNED that man is dead in sin and must be awakened
even to hear the gospel?

Since only God can awaken the dead,
It seems we should be more consistently asking Him to do it.

Someone would then respond and say, “Well if God is sovereign and He is choosing who to save then it doesn’t make sense that I should pray. He’s already decided what He’s going to do.”

“WHY PRAY IF GOD IS SOVEREIGN?”

But as R.C. Sproul once answered, “Well it certainly doesn’t make much sense to pray if He’s not!”

WE SERVE A GOD WHO IS SOVEREIGN.
• We serve a God who can in fact do whatever He desires.
• There is no request we can present to God that is too big for Him.
• There is no sinner we can lift to Him that is beyond His reach.

THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE.
It has never been about God’s ability or God’s willingness.

Jesus highlighted for us what the problem is
Regarding our commitment to pray.

In that story about the persistent widow Jesus asked,
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

• The issue is a lack of faith.
• The issue is a lack of belief.
• The issue is a lack of passion and zeal.

Isaiah said, “give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Don’t stop until God does what He promised to do.
Don’t fall asleep…
Don’t get lazy…
Be focused, be vigilant, keep watch and pray!

And again we have to ask ourselves

Does my passion show up in my preaching?
Does my passion show up in my praying?

If it is absent, I must ask God to work repentance in my heart and fill my heart with the word of God that I might be filled with the Spirit.

These are the secrets to Isaiah’s longevity and commitment.
He was filled with the Spirit and the Spirit provided passion.

That passion allowed him to preach with resting.
That passion allowed him to pray without ceasing.

PROCEED WITHOUT WAVERING (8-9)

(8-9) “The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, “I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.” But those who garner it will eat it and praise the LORD; And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.”

Here we come back again to Isaiah’s view of the promises of God.

What happens when I preach and preach and preach and no one listens?
What happens when I pray and pray and pray and nothing happens?

Do I just give up?
Do I determine that it’s just never going to happen?

No, you remember something.
“The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm…”

Who is at God’s right hand?
Who is the mighty army of the Lord?
• That is Christ.

What did God swear?
What did God promise?

“I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies; Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored. But those who garner it will eat it and praise the LORD; And those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary.”

And we are back again to those wonderful Millennial promises of God.

• It was the day Isaiah greatly anticipated.
• It was the day when Israel was dwelling securely with her Messiah.

No longer is Israel raided and plundered by her enemies.
In that day Israel will be restored and Israel will be blessed.

GOD SAID HE WOULD DO IT.
GOD SWORE HE WOULD DO IT.

So you go and tell the people that He is going to do it.
“Take no rest for yourselves” as you go and announce His promise.”

And you go to God in prayer and give Him no rest until He does it.
“And give Him no rest until He establishes And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

Hold Him to His promises and proclaim them everywhere.

2 Timothy 1:8-12 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

This is why Isaiah was able to be committed.
• This is why he did not burn out in ministry.
• This is why he did not retire and give up his post.
• This is why he did not fade out and disappear.

He was faithful for nearly 60 years to the ministry God called him to
AND IT WAS BECAUSE
He was armed with God’s promises.
He was filled with God’s Holy Spirit
And the Spirit filled him with zeal to see those promises fulfilled.

• He would preach without rest.
• He would pray without ceasing.
• He would proceed without wavering.

The American church needs this passion restored.
We need this commitment renewed in us.

We need to feast on God’s Word
Until we are filled with the Spirit
And dripping with His passion and zeal for the lost world around us.

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Isaiah’s Passion – part 5
Isaiah 61-62 (62:3-5)
November 10, 2024

We want to pick back up tonight where we left off this morning.

We’ve seen:
#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 62:1-11

Where Isaiah was filled with God’s Spirit and commissioned to preach.

What did he preach?
1) THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION
2) THE GLORY OF SALVATION

We looked at that a few weeks ago.

This morning we turned to the second aspect of Isaiah’s passion.

#2 THE PROPHET’S COMMITMENT
Isaiah 63:1-12

And we are breaking this commitment down into three parts.

1) HIS VISION (1-5)

Isaiah’s vision is vital to understanding his commitment.

He was committed to the commission God had given him.

As we saw in verse 1, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,”

Here was a man who faithfully preached for nearly 60 years
Despite preaching to a blind, deaf, and stubborn audience.

Even when they mocked him, he continued.
Even when they told him to stop, he continued.

This is remarkable and inspiring to us.

For many of us often feel like we are also in a nation
Of blind, deaf, and stubborn people who do not want to hear the gospel.

Certainly we do not have it as bad as Isaiah,
• But we do understand the ramifications of living in our post-modern culture.
• We understand when Paul told Timothy to preach the word “in season and out of season”.
• We do have some understanding of that.

So when we see a man like Isaiah,
Who is in a culture even more closed than ours,
Faithfully preach for nearly 60 years
We are interested in where he found the strength to be so committed.

And that is what we see here in these first 5 verses.
We called it: HIS VISION.
• It is the future end that Isaiah looked toward.
• It is that future end that God had promised.
• It is that future end that Isaiah expected.

He knew what God had promised about a returning nation of Israel.
He knew what God had promised about a righteous remnant.
He knew that God would use his preaching to accomplish it.

And so even though Isaiah had not seen it yet,
He kept preaching faithfully as he looked to the promise.

In short, Isaiah would preach until those promises became reality.

LIKE WHAT?
We saw two this morning.

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REAL (1b)

(1b) “Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.”

• He was not satisfied with hypocritical and phony religion.
• He wasn’t stopping until they were actually redeemed and righteous.

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR TESTIMONY IS EVIDENT (2)

(2) “The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”

• Isaiah was not satisfied with a people who hid their light under a basket.
• Isaiah was not interested in flavorless salt.
• He was going to preach until the people of Israel were shining their light and sharing their flavor all over the world.

There are 3 more expectations Isaiah had for Israel that he worked toward

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR GLORY IS RESTORED (3)

(3) “You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”

Isaiah is well-aware of the current condition of the nation.

They were a nation that suffered great affliction because of their idolatry.

Isaiah even knew that in roughly 100 years after his ministry
Israel would be removed from the land and exiled into Babylon.

He saw a nation that was about to lose glory.

He even spoke about it in his preaching.
Isaiah 3:1-8 “For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread And the whole supply of water; The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder, The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter. And I will make mere lads their princes, And capricious children will rule over them, And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder And the inferior against the honorable. When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying, “You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge,” He will protest on that day, saying, “I will not be your healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people.” For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence.”

Isaiah saw a people who had so offended God
That God made a mockery of their political leadership.

He removed men of wisdom and character
And replaced them with unworthy men, women, and children.

But Isaiah also knew that when Israel finally came to their senses
That God would restore the nation with His glorious presence.

Isaiah 4:2-6 “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.”

We saw the promise even recently:
Isaiah 60:1-2 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.”

Isaiah knew that judgment was coming for the people.

But he also knew that God had promised
That one day their glory would return.

He knew that today they were rejected,
But there is coming a day when they will once again be glorious.

“You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”

You see words like “crown” and “diadem”
Which are words that speak of a returning monarchy.

There is coming a day when Israel will reemerge
Even as a political kingdom with Christ at the helm.

And we know WHEN that will happen.
• When Israel finally repents and returns, as Peter told us,
• Then Christ will return and He will rule and reign from His glorious throne in Jerusalem.

Isaiah wasn’t going to stop preaching until glory is restored.

And there is a great motivation for us as well.

At what point do we stop calling sinners to repentance?
At what point do we stop preaching the truth that sanctifies?

We stop when sin is totally eradicated and glory has come.

Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 13:8-12 “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

There is coming a day when
We will no longer need to boldly proclaim the words of God.

That day is when the perfect comes.
That day is when glory occurs.

Until that day we strive and we preach and we evangelize
Seeking to pull men from sin and push them on to glory.

Isaiah saw a promise of coming glory,
And he wouldn’t stop preaching until that glory was revealed.

What an encouragement for us.

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR MARRIAGE IS HEALED (4)

(4) “It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”;

Well certainly we understand this reference.
Israel, having rejected Christ, and thus been broken off.

Isaiah 50:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

We see Israel, even to this very day in that role of a Gomer
Who abandoned the Lord through idolatry and has thus been sent away.

But we also know that HER RETURN IS PROMISED by the Lord.

Isaiah 54:4-8 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. “For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God. “For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the LORD your Redeemer.”

Isaiah went on to say:
Isaiah 54:11-14 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires. “Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal, And your entire wall of precious stones. “All your sons will be taught of the LORD; And the well-being of your sons will be great. “In righteousness you will be established; You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; And from terror, for it will not come near you.”

We know that Israel is the LORD’S Gomer.
We know He will bring her back.

We’ve read in Zechariah
• How He will pour His Spirit of grace and supplication over them and they will mourn for Christ and return to Him.

We know that
• God will graft them back in again.
• He will restore them to Himself.

We know that
• “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”.

AND ISAIAH KNOWS IT TOO!
And he won’t stop preaching until it happens.

This is his vision for Jerusalem.

“It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, (Hephzibah) “My delight is in her,” And your land (Beulah) “Married”; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.”

That is to say that God will return to your land and dwell within it.
• He will return to the land.
• He will marry His bride.
• He will reign with her in glory.

This broken marriage of the Israelites will be healed, God promised it.
Isaiah isn’t going to stop preaching until he hears the wedding bells.

And again, it is a great example for us.

Do we not also know that the elect are coming?

Have we not read what Jesus said:
John 6:37-39 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”

Jesus said that every one of the elect will come to Him.
• He knows who they are.
• We don’t know who they are.

But we know that the method through which He calls out His elect to Himself is the preaching of the gospel.

SO WHAT DO WE DO?
We preach like Isaiah did
Until every single one of His elect has come home.

And we know when they all come home,
He will bring us all home to Him.

Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

We haven’t seen that day yet, but we know it’s coming.
• We know that when all of His wheat is safely in His barn
• Then He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

We think of:
2 Peter 3:8-9 “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Christ will not come and destroy this world
Until ever single one of His elect are brought home.

• He is patient.
• He is not willing that a single one of His elect should perish.
• But once they all come, He will return.

We talk often about the TIMING of His return in relation to Israel.

We know that when they repent and return
That Christ will return for them to rule and to reign.

But is there any indication anywhere that the salvation of the Gentiles marks the coming of the Lord?

ABSOLUTELY!

Matthew 24:14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Jesus said the end wasn’t coming
Until this gospel is preached to every Gentile nation.

Romans 11:25-26 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”

Paul indicated that Israel isn’t going to return and believe and be saved
Until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

After that, Israel will return, and then Christ will follow.

Does that motivate your urgency to preach a little more?

• Are you tired of this corrupt and wicked world?
• Are you ready for the King of Justice and the Prince of Peace to reign?

Well He’ll come once Israel repents and returns.
And Israel will repent and return
Once the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

That makes modern day Isaiah’s out of us all.

We determine not to be silent
Until all of Christ’s chosen have been restored to Him.

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR GOD REJOICES (5)

(5) “For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.”

How much of God’s dwelling with Israel could be described as patient frustration?

• They grumbled with Him at Massah and Meribah and He said, “For forty years I loathed that generation.”
• Through Hosea He asked, “How long shall I put up with you?”
• Eventually He departed from them during the days of Ezekiel.

But even in Isaiah’s day we saw the LORD’S frustration with them.
He wasn’t satisfied with them, He was grieved.

Remember that song of the vineyard?
Isaiah 5:1-4 “Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?”

Do you remember the grief of the vineyard owner
At how pathetic His vineyard had turned out?

When we read on and we learned that
• The vineyard owner abandoned His vineyard and allowed it to be ruined.
• Then we found out that God was the vineyard owner and Israel was the vine.

THE POINT BEING,
There just wasn’t much for God to rejoice over regarding Israel.
• They never listened.
• They never repented.
• He called them false sons.

He was grieved over them until eventually He left them.

We might say the romance was gone.

But Isaiah knew that God had promised that
One day He would draw them back to Himself
And in that day He would rejoice over them.

“And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.”

Some of you know, perhaps most of you, but Zek recently proposed to his girlfriend Lindsay.

If you want a measurement of his excitement.
• On Monday, he had asked me to pray because he was going to talk to her dad.
• Monday evening I looked on the location app to see where he was because I
was curious if he was done and how it went.
• When he showed up on the app he was parked at a jewelry store.
• I texted him, and he said, “Lindsay’s dad gave me his permission!”
• And hour later Zek called his mom and said he was engaged.

That’s what you call excitement.

About an hour after that, they both called to tell the rest of the family
And it was plum nauseating to listen to them.

They were so goofy, gooey, mushy you just wanted them off the phone.

The point is that he is a man who can’t contain his excitement
And rejoicing over having found a bride.

And that type of excitement is what Isaiah uses as an analogy
To explain how God will feel about Israel.

“as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.”

We’ve seen the prodigal father running to meet the wayward son.
• That’s the picture.

Now think about YOUR EAGERNESS FOR THE LORD TO RETURN
And take you home to be with Him.

Think about the joy and excitement of the day
When we attend the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Does it surprise you to know that
Christ is just as excited about that day as you are?

Does it surprise you to know that
He anticipates that day as much as you do?

That on that day not only will you rejoice over Him
But He will rejoice over you.
And we preach until that day comes to fruition.

We know what Christ is doing now:
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

Christ is washing us and purifying us to make us worthy to be with Him.

And as those who are committed to preaching the gospel
We understand that this mission is ours.

Listen to Paul:
2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.”

Paul’s desire in his ministry was to wash the Corinthians thoroughly
So that they would be the bride Christ desired and deserved.

That speaks then to our commitment to continue to preach as well.

Christ deserves a pure bride.
Christ deserve a spotless bride.

We go out into the world and we preach
That the bride might come home

And when she comes we continue to preach
Until she is spotless and blameless and beautiful just like He wants.

THESE THINGS WERE THE GOALS OF ISAIAH.
He had heard the promises of God.
He knew these things were future reality.
• He knew God would call all her.
• He knew God would confront her.
• He knew God would correct her.
• He knew God would cleanse her.
• He knew God would consecrate her.

And He knew that God would do all that through
The preaching of the gospel of salvation and the glory of salvation.

SO ISAIAH PREACHED.

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet.”

HE WOULD NOT STOP.

We see that his commitment was a result of his vision.
• He could look ahead to the fulfillment of the promises of God.
• And he would preach until he saw them fulfilled.

And again we ask what is your vision?

What is your desire for those you are around?

Will you have the commitment of Isaiah to say,
“I will not keep silent…I will not keep quiet,”

I’m going to preach until my kids
• Are saved, sanctified, and resting in the presence of Christ!

I’m going to preach until my neighbor
• Is saved, sanctified, and resting in the presence of Christ!

I’m going to preach until everyone in this church
• Is saved, sanctified, and resting in the presence of Christ!

THAT WAS ISAIAH’S PASSION.

He had latched on to the promises of God
And he would not stop preaching until he saw them fulfilled.

Colossians 1:25-29 “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

You hear the same commitment don’t you?

There it is church.
Grab hold of the promises of God and go preach them until faith is turned into sight.
• Preach to the lost
• Preach to the redeemed
• Preach to the mature

Preach until:
• Their righteousness is real
• Their testimony is evident
• Their glory is restored
• Their marriage is healed
• Their God rejoices

That was Isaiah’s vision and it fueled his commitment.

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Isaiah’s Passion – Part 4
Isaiah 61-62 (62:1-2)
November 10, 2024

As you know we are here studying Isaiah 61-62
And we are discussing Isaiah’s passion for ministry.

We remember
• This hypocritical man with unclean lips and an impure heart
• Who entered the temple
• And was crushed to the core before a Holy God.

We remember
• God graciously forgiving Isaiah and purifying him from his sin.

And we remember
• God commissioning this prophet to go and preach to a blind, deaf, and stubborn people.

And to Isaiah’s credit he has been faithful.
For almost 60 years Isaiah served as a prophet to the people of Israel.

And although he was maligned as a babbler
And told to stop talking about the Holy One of Israel,
Isaiah never stopped.

HE WAS FAITHFUL.

We are examining that passion and learning a great deal about
What it means to be a missionary in an unfaithful world.

We spent a few services on chapter 61 where we saw:

#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61:1-11

We saw that he was filled with God’s Spirit and commissioned to preach.

The message of Isaiah was clear.
• He preached the Gospel of Salvation.
• He preached the Glory of Salvation.

We traveled back throughout this book and saw
How often Isaiah offered forgiveness to sinners
And how often he revealed to them the glory of salvation.

And as we have noted,
THIS IS A MESSAGE THAT
• Continued to the apostles as Peter preached the same message to the Jews.
• Continues today as we preach that message even to the Jews.
• Will continue even to the end as God faithfully calls Israel back to Himself.

Isaiah was commissioned to preach and he preached.

BUT THIS MORNING we move to chapter 62
And we take a look at the second aspect of Isaiah’s ministry.

#2 THE PROPHET’S COMMITMENT
Isaiah 62:1-12

What we are going to see in this chapter
Is not only the things Isaiah was committed to,
But also the motivation behind Isaiah’s commitment.

You’ll see that he was committed to preaching and to prayer
And certainly we wish to focus on that,

But even more you’ll see WHY he was so committed to those things.

And maybe that is a good place for us to start.

DO YOU STRUGGLE
• With your commitment to preach the gospel?
• With your commitment to pray for the salvation of the lost?

YOU WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST.
There were times when even great men in Scripture
Seemed to struggle here.

Think for a moment about Moses
Leading the children of Israel out of Egypt.
• He climbed the mountain
• He received the commandments of God
• As he was on the mountain the people fell into idolatry

Exodus 32:9-10 “The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

And you remember that this statement from God
Prompted the intercession of Moses.

Exodus 32:11-14 “Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”

What happened there?
• If you’re not careful you’ll walk away thinking God just had an irrational fit of rage and Moses talked sense into Him.

We know better than that.
• We know that God made promises to Abraham, as Moses pointed out, and God will never break that promise.

COULD IT BE THAT
• God was instead prompting a little intercessory zeal out of Moses?
• God was perhaps teaching Moses’ heart about the necessity of shepherding these suborn people?

Of course He was.
God was motivating Moses to be an interceding shepherd for His people.
(indicating perhaps Moses found difficulty doing that consistently)

We see the same with Amos many years later.
Amos too was fed up with the people he was preaching to.
• One even wonders if Amos was beginning to enjoy the messages of judgment
that he was preaching to them.

And then God approached Amos in a very similar way.
Amos 7:1-6 “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the LORD. Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “This too shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.”

That is a very similar story isn’t it?
You have God pronouncing judgment, the prophet interceding,
And God changing His mind.

Now we know that God is IMMUTABLE.
We know what Samuel taught us:
1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

We know what David taught us:
Psalms 110:4a “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind…”

So we know this is not a case of God being fickle
And Amos straightening Him out.

No, as with Moses,
God is motivating Amos to be more than a messenger of doom.
God is prompting Amos to intercede for the people he is preaching to.

Perhaps Jonah would also be a good illustration here
• Who had to receive mercy at the bottom of the sea before he was willing to go and warn the Ninevites
• And even then God had to teach him a lesson on compassion to keep him from desiring their judgment.

ONE MORE EXAMPLE HERE.

John in the book of the Revelation was given the tremendous blessing of witnessing Christ in all His glory and the end of all things.

At one point John was told to eat the scroll he was given.
It simply means he was told to
Fully digest this message of the final doom and judgment.

And he was told that he was going to like what he read.
Revelation 10:8-10 “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”

As John first digested this message of the doom of the wicked,
John admittedly enjoyed what he saw.

There was something sweet to him about the coming destruction of sinners and the redemption of the world.

But John also said that this scroll which was initially sweet
Became bitter in his stomach.

IN SHORT,
God allowed John to ponder the full ramifications of the coming judgment.
• Yes God’s justice would be poured out.
• Yes sin would be conquered.
• But that would also mean many souls in judgment.

And prompted by this revelation we read:
Revelation 10:11 “And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

John, go preach again.
• Go tell them again.
• Go warn them again.

You see what I am talking about then when I say that
There were times in Scripture when even the prophets or apostles
Perhaps struggled with a proper motivation.

What kept them going?
What kept them preaching?
What kept them praying?

With several of those guys it was the startling horrors of judgment
That prompted them to get up and preach and pray again.

But Isaiah’s motivation was a little different.

I’M NOT SAYING Isaiah wasn’t motivated by the coming judgment to go and warn sinners that he might pluck them from the fire, SURELY HE WAS.

But in this chapter where Isaiah bares his soul
And shows us what pushed him forward
We find that his deepest and truest motivation was
THE PROMISES OF GOD.

Isaiah knew what God had promised to do for Israel
And this promise kept him pushing forward
In order that he might see it fulfilled.

This is a great motivation for you and I as well.

We’re going to break down Isaiah’s commitment here in chapter 62 into 3 segments to help us see it a little more clearly.

1) HIS VISION (1-5)

• This is the goal of Isaiah’s preaching.
• This was the end-game that he looked at.
• This is what he was striving for.

And again to grab that low-hanging fruit we see that his vision
Led him to faithfully preach to the people of Jerusalem.

He said, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,”

There is commitment.
Isaiah clearly articulates that he’s not going to stop.

We know that in chapter 30 that emphatically told him to.
Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

These were a people who had enough of Isaiah’s sermons of salvation.
• They resented being told they were in need of forgiveness.
• They resented the insinuation that they were prisoners in need of freedom.
• They resented the notion that they were somehow broken and needed to be fixed.

And they emphatically told Isaiah that enough was enough.
“Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

PUT YOURSELF IN THAT SITUATION.

Imagine preaching to a people
Who have emphatically told you that they don’t want to hear it anymore.

We live today in a nation that likes to say,
“We can talk about anything except religion or politics.”

Some of you will face such issues in a few weeks at Thanksgiving
Where some family member will try and impose and sanction on you
That the subject of religion is off limits.

WELL THAT IS WHAT ISAIAH FACED.

And yet his response was, “NOPE!”
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet.”

He doesn’t even appeal to the glory of God or the worth of the gospel
As if to say that God deserves to be heard
And His message deserves to be proclaimed, though certainly that is true.

Isaiah says that he won’t stop preaching “For Zion’s sake…and for Jerusalem’s sake”

He will not stop preaching
Because of what his preaching is meant to accomplish for them.

SEE,
• Isaiah has been shown God’s plan for Israel.
• Isaiah has been shown the glory of their salvation.
• Isaiah knows that their salvation will come about through preaching.

So Isaiah will not stop preaching
Until they are saved and experience the glory God promised.

He will not stop, “UNTIL…”
ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE FULFILLED

No go back for a moment and recall his commissioning one more time.

Remember that God told him he was going to blind and deaf and stubborn people who would not hear or see or understand.

And you remember that Isaiah’s response to this clarification was to ask God, “How long?”

Isaiah 6:11-13 “Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

Isaiah was told from the outset
That his ministry would be long and seemingly unfruitful.

However God also promised
That through his ministry “there will be a tenth portion in it”
• He was promised a remnant that would return.
• He was promised a remnant that would be saved.

Isaiah ignores the banter of the blind and deaf
In favor of the promises of God.

What a message of commitment to each of us!

We don’t know who the elect are.
They could be anyone.

We know that not all people will accept our gospel,
But we preach it for the sake of those who will!

It’s what Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:10 “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”

That is Isaiah’s motivation as well.
• He knows that God has promised to save some
• And he is committed to preach to them until they are saved.

What an example for the church.

But let’s examine more than that.
• What exactly was Isaiah believing he would see?
• What exactly did Isaiah think God had promised?
• What was the “end game” that he was looking toward that would be the result of his preaching?

You see them there.
Isaiah states one in each verse.

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REAL (1b)

(1b) “Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.”

One thing we learned early on in the book of Isaiah is that
Israel was FILLED WITH RELIGION,
But they were extremely SHORT ON RIGHTEOUSNESS.

We remember chapter 1 and God’s announcement that He was sick of their sacrifices and their festivals and their prayers.

Isaiah 1:13-15 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”

Their righteousness was phony.
It was nothing but empty ritual.

Isaiah had said on the day that he was saved
• That he was a hypocrite with “unclean lips”
• And that he lived “among” hypocrites “with unclean lips”.

THAT WAS TRUE.

Israel had no righteousness.
• We remember that parable of the vineyard in chapter 5 when God planted
this vineyard and expected good fruit but received none.

Isaiah 5:7 “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.”

ISRAEL WASN’T RIGHTEOUS.

Isaiah preached to offer them the gospel.
He preached that if they would repent and trust in God that He would wash their sins away.
• He promised that their scarlet sins would be white as snow.
• He promised that their crimson iniquities would be like wool.

God would forgive them and God would justify them.
He would impute His righteousness to them.

Isaiah reiterated that very promise in chapter 61
Where he looked to the future of the redemption of Israel and heard them singing:

Isaiah 61:10 “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Isaiah knew that Israel wasn’t righteous, but God had promised that through his preaching a remnant would be.

So Isaiah would not stop preaching “until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.”

He wasn’t going to stop until they repented, trusted,
And were clothed in the very righteousness of Christ.

THERE’S YOU A BENCHMARK CHURCH.

What is the end game of your ministry?
What is the goal of your preaching?

For years in churches it was “decisions”.
• For years all we really wanted was people to walk an aisle and make a decision
and get baptized.

We measured success in decisions and baptisms.
We didn’t care that most of the people we baptized never returned.

That is NOT how Isaiah measured his ministry.
That is not what he preached for.

He preached until he could see righteousness
Pouring out of the people he preached to.

Think about Paul to the Galatians:
Galatians 4:19 “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you”

There’s a goal.
Not to stop until I see Christ in you.

Many years ago when I was still in high school
Our family made a living building cedar log furniture.

We actually got pretty good with a chainsaw.

• One summer we were on vacation in the mountains and saw a man who was
carving bears with a chainsaw out of a log.
• My mom said, “Rory, you should do that.”
• I pointed out that such art was beyond my skill set.
• To which the artist making them replied, “It’s actually easy, you just take a
log and grab a chainsaw and cut off everything that’s not a bear.”

In a spiritual sense Paul said that is what he was doing to the Galatians.
I’m just going to preach and confront and work on you
Until there is nothing left but Christ.

When I see Christ in you, then I’ll stop.

Think about what he wrote to the Colossians:
Colossians 1:28-29 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

• I want you to be “complete in Christ”

He told the Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

Paul said that the purpose of preachers was to see men grow into “the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

To preach until they look like Jesus.

The goal is not church membership.
The goal is not decisions.
The goal is not baptisms.
The goal is righteousness
Oozing out of the lives of those we preach to.

John said:
3 John 4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

There’s a motivation for you church.

And is this not something God has promised?
Has He not promised that He is conforming us into the Christ’s image?

Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”

AND THIS IS WHY WE PREACH.
We preach TO THE LOST that they might be saved, set free,
And conformed to the image of Christ.

We preach even TO THE REDEEMED because
We are not yet completely like Christ and we long to be.

What a missionary vision!
To preach until Christ is formed in you.

But that’s just the first promise Isaiah was counting on.

I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR TESTIMONY IS EVIDENT (2)

(2) “The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”

He said, I’m not just going to preach until I can see that you are righteous.
I’m going to preach until everyone can see it!

I’m going to preach until “The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings you glory;”

Again, this was the problem of Israel.
They didn’t shine their light in the midst of the nations.

If you will remember,
Isaiah revealed that they were just like the nations.
Isaiah 2:5-8 “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners. Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots. Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.”

Isaiah had revealed that there was virtually no difference
Between the lifestyle of Israel and the lifestyle of their pagan neighbors.

You could look at the pagans and then you could look at Israel and you’d have a hard time telling which one was which.

Isaiah was going to preach until the difference was obvious.

Do you remember this same problem showing up in the New Testament?

Remember what Paul said to the Jews in Romans?
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

Paul said, that they were confident that they were “a light to those who are in darkness” and yet in reality you couldn’t tell the difference at all.
• They opposed stealing and yet they stole.
• They opposed adultery and yet they committed adultery.
• They opposed idolatry and yet they worshiped them.
• They were all talk, there was no light.

That’s exactly what Jesus told them in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

I hope you are detecting His sarcasm there.
Jesus looked at His Jewish audience and said, “You are the salt of the earth”
• The only problem was they were tasteless salt that was only good to be thrown
out.

Jesus looked at His Jewish audience and said, “You are the light of the world”
• The only problem is you are a hidden light.

What good is salt that won’t taste or light that won’t shine?
NOTHING!

To which Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

DO YOU HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS?
LET’S SEE IT!
Show it to the world!

James 2:18 “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Well that was Isaiah’s point too!
• You may claim to have righteous light, but no one can see it!
• I’m going to preach until your light is evident to everyone!

And incidentally, God had promised that too!
Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”

• God had promised that one day His great Light would come.
• God had promised that the remnant would repent and trust in that light.
• God had promised when Israel did that, then their light would shine to the world too!

And Isaiah said, “I’m not going to stop preaching until the light is shining out of you and the lost world takes notice of it!”

We saw it again in Chapter 61:
Isaiah 61:9 “Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.”

God had promised that their salvation
Would be obvious and recognizable to the world around them.

And Isaiah recalls that promise here, even saying, “And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”

We see that new name later down in verse 4, it is “Hephzibah”
Which is translated “My delight is in her,”

The world will stop calling Israel by names of contempt.
They will start calling her the people in whom God delights.

Their righteousness will be obvious to the world.
And Isaiah says he isn’t stopping until that happens.

And there again is a great missionary commitment.

To not stop preaching until your righteous life
Is absolutely apparent to everyone around you.

Paul told the Philippians:
Philippians 2:14-16 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.”

Paul said that he knew he was not laboring in vain
When he saw the Philippians living different from the world.

• When he saw them no longer grumbling or disputing,
• But walking in the love and humility of Christ
• He knew that their light would be shining bright!

That was Paul’s commitment.
To preach until every pagan in Philippi
Recognized that these people were different.

That is certainly my calling and commitment.
• To preach to you until you look different than your neighbors.
• To cover you with the word of God until the bucket comes off and the light
shines forth.

Preaching the word of God is meant to wash off your camouflage.
Preaching the word of God is meant to make you stick out.

That is what kept Isaiah going week in and week out.
That is why he kept preaching.

God had promised that his people would be so righteous
That they would shine like a spotlight in a coalmine.

Isaiah wasn’t stopping until it occurred.

There are 3 more promises Isaiah references here as motivation for why he preaches, but we’ll have to look at them tonight.

But are you beginning to see Isaiah’s vision for Israel?

It actually wasn’t his vision, it was God’s vision
And it was a vision that would be fulfilled through preaching.

So Isaiah committed to preach until it was fulfilled.

What is your vision?
What promise of God is motivating you?

I can tell you immediately the one that motivates me.
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

God has promised that His word does not return void,
That His gospel is powerful, and that if I would preach it,
He will use it to accomplish His work.

I cling to that above every wild-hair idea I might have.
That is the verse burned into my heart.

What is the promise you cling to?
• What is the vision you are chasing?

What is your vision for your children?
• What are you hoping to see accomplished in their lives?
• What is the promise that you are clinging to as the end goal you are pursuing?

What is your vision for this church?
• What promise are you clinging to as God’s promise to this church?

What is your vision for our community?
What is your vision for your Sunday school class?
What is your vision for our KFC kids?
What is your vision for our youth?

What promise are you clinging to?
What action has God called you to that you might see it fulfilled?

Are you committed to it?
Are you striving for it?

Isaiah had a vision to see God’s promises become a reality.
So he preached until they became reality.

• That is ministry!
• That is a missionary!
• That is what the Holy Spirit produced in him.

It is a good challenge to us.

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s ake I will not keep quiet.”

Can you say that?
• For my kids sake I will not keep silent…
• For this churches sake I will not keep quiet…
• For this city I will not keep silent…
• For my coworkers I will not keep quiet…

Not until they repent of their sin, trust in Christ,
And Christ is beaming out of them for all the world to see.

That is Isaiah’s vision.
We’ll see the next 3 tonight.