Let us call upon the name of our covenant God together in congregational prayer. Our Father which art in heaven we call upon thee who art the majestic almighty God the creator of the heavens and the earth and he who by thy mighty power doth visit the earth and cause all men to know that there is a God in heaven There is a God who rules the winds and the rains, who rules the thunder and the lightning and the storm, who rules the tornadoes and the shaking of the earth. There is a God in heaven and His name is Jehovah. We come before Thee in this morning, wondering with great wonder at Thy power that Thou hast displayed. Thou art indeed very great, and art clothed with honor and majesty. Thou hast covered thyself with light as with a garment. Thou hast stretched out the heavens like a curtain. Thou hast laid the beams of thy chambers in the waters. Thou hast made the clouds thy chariot. Thou walkest upon the wings of the wind. Thou hast made thine angels winds, spirits, and thy ministers a flaming fire. We have seen Thy power and the tokens of Thy majesty in the creation in this week, and see the devastation that Thy storms bring in the breaking of the trees, their mighty limbs and their mighty trunks, and the constant flashing of the lightning in the night sky, so that the night, moment by moment, is illuminated like the day, and the rumble and crash of thy thunders in the heavens, so that all men upon earth know themselves to be small, and know themselves to be fragile, and know themselves to be weak, passing things. But thou dost rule over all, and thou dost endure forever. And we thank Thee, Father, that that power by which Thou dost send the storm is Thy power by which Thou dost save Thy church. For Thou dost come in judgment for the sake of Thy church. All around Thee is thick darkness and clouds, with Thy lightnings flashing and Thy thunders rumbling. And Thou dost sit for judgment over men. Thou dost declare the truth, though all men are liars, and all men have said something other is the truth. Thou dost declare the truth. Thou dost declare that the cause of Jesus Christ is Thy cause, that the cause of Jesus Christ is the right cause, that the cause of the salvation of Thy people and the deliverance of Thy church is thy purpose with all things, and that the destruction of the wicked and the casting away of those whose cause is man is right and just and good. We thank thee, Father, that thou dost come with such fierce and mighty judgment for the salvation of thy people, for we are weak and unable to deliver ourselves, but thou art great and thou art strong. And as thou hast come with the power of the storm, and all of the tokens of thy majesty, so thou hast also cleared the storm. And this too is thy power, and doth cause all men to know that thou art great. Though all men will deny it, and though all men will ignore it, and sear their consciences with a hot iron, thou dost cause the earth to know that there is a God in heaven. For as the winds blew in, and the storms fell upon the earth, so thou didst cause the winds to blow away, and the sun to rise again, and the earth to be renewed and refreshed with the rain and the lightning and the storm that thou hast sent. And truly, Father, this is thy majesty and thy power that thou hast revealed unto us, for we who ought to spend our entire life under the gloom and darkness and doom of destruction and judgment, have had the Son of Righteousness rise upon us with healing in His wings. Thou hast caused the warmth of Thy love to shine through the Lord Jesus Christ upon Thy church. Thou hast redeemed and rescued us from all our sin and all our death, and hath not cast us into the abyss, where the storm must break over our heads eternally without abatement. But thou hast given unto us the blessing of Jesus Christ, so that coming down upon us now and forever, without any let up, without any waning, is the riches of thy blessing in Jesus Christ, the riches of salvation, the comfort of thy love, the refreshment of thy gospel, the covering of our sins and the declaration of good tidings to the sinners and the lowly. We thank Thee, Father, for what Thou hast given us in Jesus Christ. This is Thy power and Thy majesty and Thy glory. O Lord, our God, Thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. We thank Thee for bringing us into Thy house this day. have longed to come into thy courts for here is rest here is the gospel of our savior that calls unto us who are weary and heavy laden that gives unto us a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light the yoke of our lord's finished work and the burden of His perfect obedience, so that all that is required is finished, and all that thou dost seek has been given. We thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast given us all this, all this obedience of our Savior and His atonement as our own, that we who are sinful, we who are the chief of sinners, might find rest and peace in that gospel of our Savior. Cause that thy word might go forth with power this day, wilt thou open thy servants' lips and close them not. Wilt thou cause that what proceeds might be the message of heaven, though proclaimed through the voice of a mere earthly man, an earthen vessel, may it nevertheless be the message of heaven itself, so that we here upon this earth might hear the tidings of heaven. the good tidings and the glad tidings of great joy which thou has sent to all people that unto us is given in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord and that thou has given us life and salvation through him whose name is Jesus Jehovah's salvation so that the wonder of our deliverance, which we could never work, hath been wrought by thee. We pray that thou will give us ears of faith that we might hear the gospel proclaimed, that we might believe those things that are spoken, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and searching the scriptures, whether these things be so, and finding these things to be the truth of thy word, that the old waste places are rebuilt and that there is a restoration of the desolations and finding that these things are done by Jesus Christ who is the repairer of the breach and the builder of thy church that we might rejoice and be glad and have comfort and know that though man can do nothing but destroy the church and cause her to depart in apostasy, that our Lord Jesus Christ always preserves his church and reforms her and gives unto her the blessing of salvation and his gospel. We pray that thou will remember us in our needs. Our needs are many. We are frail and weak. Will thou remember us in our sicknesses and our recoveries and our surgeries and our time of restoration. We pray that in all of these things, we might see that though our days pass here swiftly, that thy word endureth forever. and that because of the Lord Jesus Christ we endure forever with him in thy love. We pray thy blessing upon Audrey. Continue to watch over her in her recovery. We thank thee for the measure of recovery that thou hast given, and wilt thou continue to bring her to full health in due time according to thy will. Thou remember all of us in our sorrows and afflictions, as well as in our joys, that in all things we might find Thy fullness to be abundant, and indeed that we might overflow with Thy goodness and Thy blessings to us. We pray that Thou wilt forgive the sins that we have committed. We thank Thee for the gospel of our salvation, that Jesus Christ, the righteous, hath stood in our place under Thy curse, and hath given us His righteousness, that we might stand in His place under Thy blessing. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt give to us this comfort and this peace. Thou keep us also from sin, giving unto us a life of a shining light, the light of Jesus Christ Himself, who is the light of the world, who shineth in the darkness, and cause that as the world is consumed by all of its filth and iniquity, all of its perversion, that Thou wilt preserve us and give unto us a life of gratitude unto Thee, that men might see our good works and glorify Thee, our Father, which art in heaven. Cause, Father, that their darkness not stain us, but that the light of Jesus Christ might illuminate them. And this according to Thy will, for Thou art our God, faithful and true. Hear our prayer now. Answer us in Thy mercy. For Jesus' sake. Amen. We worship the Lord in the giving of our offerings. The first offering is for the general fund and the second is for benevolence. Psalm 91 Psalm 91 In this psalm, the psalmist is comforted by God as his refuge. That idea of refuge appears again and again throughout the psalm. Verse 1, we sing of the secret place of the Most High in which we reside, under the shade of Him that is the Almighty. The psalmist, who is Jesus, says of God, verse 2, that God is his refuge still. his fortress and his God, and he will trust in him. Then verse 3 on the next page, he shall assuredly save thee and give thee deliverance. And then comes a list of all of the troubles that seek to overthrow God's people, all of the opponents, And yet God's people, having God as our refuge in Christ, need fear none of these things. There's plague, there are adders, there are dragons, there are lions, there are the foes and the wicked, and yet in all of these things we are kept safe. Verse 9 gives us the key to understanding our safety, and that is the righteousness of Christ. Verse 9, because the Lord who constantly my refuge is alone, in the Most High is made by thee thy habitation. Because Christ made God his refuge, the Most High was his refuge. And then verse 14 is another part of that key, because on me he set his love, that is God speaking, about Jesus, because on me, that is God, he, that is Jesus, set his love. I'll, that is God, save and set him, that is Jesus, free. Because my great name he hath known, I will him set on high. He'll call on me, I'll answer him. I will be with him still, in trouble to deliver him. and honor him, I will." And so on with verse 16, so that here God gives that glorious promise of salvation and everlasting life to Jesus Christ. And that is our promise from God in Jesus Christ, our head. We'll sing at this time verses one through nine, which is the first three stanzas, going on from one page to the second page, the first three stanzas, verses one through nine. I think we've heard the tune several times now, so I won't ask the accompanist to play through it all once. We'll sing verses one through nine of Psalm 91. ♪ At the limitless secret place of the Most High reside ♪ ♪ Under the shade of clean ladders the mighty shall abide ♪ ♪ I love the Lord, my God, no slave He is, my refuge still ♪ ♪ He is my fortress and my God ♪ ♪ And in him trust I will ♪ ♪ Assuredly he shall be safe ♪ ♪ And if he ever rest ♪ ♪ From soft of father's care enthroned ♪ ♪ A voice so vast ♪ His banner shall be high, thy trust under his wing shall be. His faithfulness shall be a shield whene'er were I to thee. Thou shalt not be to be afraid, for terrors of the night Lord, for the arrow that doth fly, thy day will lift its light. Lord, for the pestilence that walks in darkness secretly, destruction and a blister may open thee. A thousand epitaphs I shall fall on thy right hand shall lie. Ten thousand dead yet unto Thee, which shall at once come nigh. Only Thou with Thine eyes shalt look, and Thou beholder be. and thou there in the just reward of wicked men shalt see. Because the Lord who constantly my refuge is alone, We turn in God's word this morning again to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61, to hear the good tidings that God hath anointed Jesus Christ to preach. Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord, Men shall call you the ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double. Everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I, the Lord, love judgment. I hate robbery for burnt offering. And I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. This is God's word, holy and inspired. May he bless it to our hearts this morning. Our text is verses four through six. They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the aliens shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord. Men shall call you the ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." Beloved congregation and our Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah 61 is the chapter of the good tidings that God speaks to His people. The good tidings that God gives to His people through Jesus Christ, whom He has anointed to preach to them. the good tidings that he sends to those who are sinful, the good tidings that he sends to those who are broken, so that they who have no hope of themselves, who cannot even begin to find hope in themselves, have all hope and all comfort and all peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the one who says, in verse 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. And as we saw those meek there, refer not to those who are virtuous with the virtue of meekness, but to those who are low with the wickedness of sin. Good tidings are sent to sinners who can otherwise expect no good tidings. And the good tidings that God sends to the sinners is that God saves us by the work of this Jesus Christ who is the preacher and who is the anointed of Jehovah. In the text that we considered last time, verses 1 through 3, we saw those good tidings to the sinners, so that those who have iniquity, those whose feet are swift to shed blood, those who are liars and murderers, they hear the good tidings of the Lord, the good tidings of their salvation from their sin and their death. In the text that we consider this morning, the anointed of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, continues to preach good tidings, but now concerning the church, the church institute that is. When he refers in verse 4 to wastes and former desolations and all these things that are broken down, he's referring to that nation of Israel in her cities as an institution. so that here we have the restoration and the rebuilding and the renewal of the institute that is the church. And that's good tidings because the church institute upon this earth always tends to apostasy. That's all she can do by her own power. That's what men always do upon this earth. They take hold of the institute and they depart from the Word of God and bring it into disobedience and suffer the spiritual destruction of their apostasy. The good tidings for the Church of Jesus Christ, for the Institute of the Church, which is made up of the members of the body of Christ and the people of Jehovah God, the good news for the church in her institution is that God repairs her and that God so repairs her that the church of Jesus Christ upon this earth will be established and will remain until the Lord Jesus Christ comes. This is good tidings for us. who as members of this church could never preserve this church and could never rebuild her. The good tidings is that through Jesus Christ, who is the repairer of the breach and the builder of the wastes, the church of Jesus Christ is established. And so we consider this, glad tidings this morning under the theme, repairing the old waste cities. In the first place, consider the meaning. In the second place, consider the manner. And in the third place, consider the fruit. Building the old waste cities, the meaning, the manner, and the fruit. The prophet speaks in verse four, using the language of utter devastation, So that he sets before us a scene of a nation and all of its cities that were laid waste. This is the language that the prophet uses in verse 4. The old wastes, the former desolations, the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. The prophet there is describing an earthly scene, which has a spiritual meaning and a spiritual correspondence, but he's describing there an earthly scene of utter devastation. If you would walk through the land that the prophet is describing, you would see everywhere the buildings broken down. You would see the walls of the city smashed. You would see their gates burned. You would see smoke rising from the rubble. You would see dead bodies lying everywhere. The scene that the prophet describes is a scene of utter devastation, waste cities, and old desolations. The prophet here is describing the devastation of the nations of Israel and Judah. At the time that Isaiah prophesied, Israel was just being destroyed by the Assyrians, and Isaiah prophesied also of the coming destruction of Judah by Babylon. And now by the time Isaiah stands in Isaiah 61, the perspective that God has given him is that of being whisked ahead hundreds of years in history to be stood there and to look around at this devastation of Israel and Judah. No matter where you go through those nations, they are utterly destroyed. The cities had been overrun by wicked men. The Assyrians had marched into Israel and burned her cities and taken her people captive. The Babylonians would march into Jerusalem, would destroy the temple and would take the people captive. So that Isaiah here is describing the devastation of those nations as they were overthrown by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The Assyrians and the Babylonians had left wastes. They had left desolations. They had wasted the cities. And for a long, long time now, those cities had been destroyed. If you were to summarize what the prophet is saying in verse 4, as you look around at all of the devastation and destruction, you would say this word, uninhabitable. That's the summary of what he's describing. Uninhabitable. Israel is uninhabitable. Judah is uninhabitable. No one can live there. No one can live in that land of God. Oh, there were a few who were left by the Babylonians to take care of the fields. And the Assyrians brought in some Samaritans who were instantly destroyed by lions. But you look at the cities as Isaiah describes them, at the waste that had happened under the Assyrian and Babylonian invaders and say, Israel and Judah are uninhabitable. And the devastation of Israel and Judah was no accident. This devastation of Israel and Judah was due to the sin of the people. This is a description of devastation that God had prophesied against them for their iniquities. The people were not innocently living in Israel and Judah, faithfully following the word of God, and suddenly a marauding nation came in to take over. Israel and Judah were living in hatred of God. They despised his law. They despised his worship. Every man went his own way doing that which was right in his own eyes. The people of Israel and Judah had lived in wickedness. And now their cities are uninhabitable. They cannot stay there anymore. They have to be taken away into a far off land. The nation of Israel scattered and dispersed into the lands of Assyria so that they could hardly be found anymore. And the people of Judah being taken into Babylon and dispersed so that you could hardly find them. Because of the sins of the people, these lands were uninhabitable. And this idea of the desolations and the wastes is a constant theme that runs through the prophet Isaiah from the beginning to the end. In the very first chapter, chapter 1, verse 7, we read of these devastations and wastes. Isaiah 1, verse 7. Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. And then all the way at the end of the book, Isaiah 64, Isaiah 65 and 66 are about heaven, but all the way to the end of the book, Isaiah 64 verses 10 and 11, thy holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem, a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste. And those are just two of the references from the beginning and the end. You can go through the book of Isaiah and find again and again, the wasting and the desolation that was brought upon the people. And all of this for their sin and for their iniquity, as the prophet says in Isaiah 64, right before the desolation of Judah and the holy and beautiful house wasted, we are all as an unclean thing. and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." There's the church. There's Israel. There's Judah. There are her cities, those places where she dwelled with God in his land. It's all waste. It's uninhabitable. The church of the Old Testament laid waste. And for God's people, that was a cause of great sorrow, so that she looked at those cities and wept. But for most of the people of Israel, the devastation of the cities was nothing to lament. Most of the people of Israel went off into captivity into the Assyrian lands, never to be seen again. A few, a tiny, tiny few would be brought out. One of a city and two of a family. And the same thing for Judah. When she was brought into captivity in Babylon, only a tiny little remnant would be brought back after 70 years in that captivity. Most of the people were happy in the Assyrian lands. Most of them could make their home in Babylon. They did not need to return to the temple at Jerusalem to rebuild it and to that city and rebuild its walls. Most of them could live happily wherever they were scattered throughout the length and breadth of the earth. But for God's people, the devastation of the cities of Israel and Judah was a cause of lament and of great grief, so that there they sat, these sinners, who knew what they had done, and who would ask each other, What is going to happen to us now? What in the world have we done? What sins have we committed expressing the greatness of their sorrow and their guilt for their iniquity? All of that devastation of the old wastes and the former desolations and the waste cities and the desolations of many generations, all of that is the earthly picture of the spiritual New Testament reality. The New Testament reality pictured by the devastation of those Old Testament cities is the spiritual ruin of the Church Institute in apostasy and in the judgment that God brings upon apostasy. Again, the spiritual meaning of the devastation of the Old Testament cities is the spiritual ruin that comes upon the Church Institute, the spiritual ruin that is the apostasy of the Church Institute, and that is the judgment of God upon the Church Institute. Isaiah here is speaking about the Church Institute. He's not speaking about the Church Institute according to her outward earthly form. The outward earthly form of the Church Institute is often one of strength. The outward earthly form of the Church Institute is one of power, so that when, let's say, the Roman Catholic Church elects a new pope, the whole world stands still. The whole world takes note. Who will the pope be? Who will they anoint? The Church Institute, according to her outward external form, often has all the trappings of power. and influence above and beyond what any mere man could hope to have. Even the little churches, the little church institutes, those church institutes that have apostatized, even they in their littleness have a certain form of power according to their outward external form. When those church institutes pick an enemy, Which enemy is invariably the Lord Jesus Christ and His truth? Which enemy is invariably the people of God? When those church institutes pick an enemy and come against that enemy with force, they bring with them weight. They bring with them power, so that the institute there has more power, even in its little form, than any mere man could have all by himself. When the prophet in Isaiah 61 verse 4 speaks of the desolations and the waste cities, he is not speaking of the New Testament church institute according to her outward external form, which is often very strong. Rather, the prophet is speaking of the church according to her spiritual condition. and her spiritual condition is that she is wasted. Her spiritual condition is that she is desolate. She is empty and void of the gospel. She is empty and void of the name of Jehovah God. Though that church uses his name and brings upon her lips His words and his truth, that church, that apostate church, is spiritually ruined. This idea of waste cities and desolation, in verse 4, is a word that means especially empty. That's why she's uninhabitable. She's empty. The houses are empty, all broken down to rubble. The cities are empty, all smashed and burned to pieces. And that's the spiritual condition of the New Testament Church that's being described here. It is the emptiness and the desolation and the spiritual devastation of apostasy from the truth, apostasy from the gospel, apostasy from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ goes into this apostasy when she, as the New Testament says, heaps to herself teachers having itching ears. The idea is this, that the church does not see what Jehovah's will is and what Jehovah's truth is But the church sees what her own will is, what her own agenda is, and her own cause for the church is. And when the church looks to her own cause, to her own agenda, to her own will, then she has to have teachers who will give it to her. And the church certainly keeps to herself those teachers. Their ears itch. There's a scratch deep in the ear that can only be scratched by someone telling her what she wants to hear about how good she is and about how right her cause of herself is in this world. The church heaps to herself, teacher is having itching ears. And God judges the apostate church, which departs from the truth. God judges that church by giving unto her foolish men to lead her, giving her children, giving her wicked men, giving her those who will take her in the direction that she wants to go. What's going on here then is that the church is being ruined every bit as much as the wicked nation of Assyria came in and the wicked nation of Babylon came in and ruined Israel and Judah. So do the wicked teachers come in. and ruin the church institute. Oh, her form might be powerful, it might be never so grand and never so glorious, but her spiritual condition is that she is ruined. What's happening here in this apostasy of the church then is simply the ruin of man. This is what man always does. Whatever he touches, he ruins. Because man thinks that he is the cause. Thinks that he is the God and the Savior. Man brings the church into apostasy when he makes man the deliverer from his own sins. So that at some point, before your sins can be forgiven you, and before you can know that your sins are forgiven you, Man must do something. There, man is the savior. Man is the deliverer. And what does that do to the church institution? It ruins her. Destroys her. She's left waste and void. There's no comfort. There's no peace for the child of God, whose salvation and forgiveness is hidden behind his work. All that can be done to that church is to make a proud church. That's the only thing The people of God will be devastated. The people of God will have no comfort. But the church as an institute can only be proud, and though it might use the word humility and meekness over and over and over again, the only thing That church institute can be as proud. Why? Because the doctrine of that church is that man saves. Man saves. And men get that message. They hear it. It gets into their bones. They take it home with them. They take it in their life with them. Man saves. And the message then gets in her DNA. Man is God. Man is honorable. Man is worthy. That's the apostasy of the Church. That's the wasting of these cities so that there's devastation in the Church Institute, though she appeared never so powerful. And many of God's people, many of the members of the Church, are indifferent to it. Many of the members of a Church Institute that has gone apostate cares not. They look at the church and all they can evaluate is the external form. That's your nature, that's my nature, that's how we want to judge success, that's how we want to judge God's blessing, the external form. What things do we have? Whether that be the things of a building or whether that be a certain appearance of stability. What things do we have? And by that we will judge whether we are blessed or not. By that we will judge whether we are right or not. Or the church waits with an almost pathetic desperation for the false church to approve her. So that finally she can have the approval of men. And men can speak well of her again. The Church of Jesus Christ, when this apostasy happens, most people, many people don't care about the spiritual destruction, but can live perfectly happily in an apostate church. And you and I would too. You and I would undoubtedly live perfectly happily in apostasy, except the Lord delivers us. For the people of God, who are touched by the Spirit and this Anointed One, that ruin of the church is grievous. It is a cause of lament. You look at the history of the church in the world, and it's a history of man ruining everything. It's a history of man taking the church into constant apostasy. That's all man has ever yet done with the church. Made her apostate. And we're men here in this church, which means the only thing that we can do of ourselves with this church institute is to bring it into apostasy. We cannot keep it on the foundation of the truth, but must destroy it. That's the history of the church. That's the waste cities. Those are the old desolations that you can trace all through the years up until today. But God comes through His anointed servant, Jesus Christ, to bring good tidings to us sinners who make up the Church of Jesus Christ. Good tidings concerning the Church Institute. And the good tidings that God brings is this, ye shall build them. Verse four, they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities. The earthly scene that the prophet paints there in the Old Testament is that of the return of the people of God from their place in captivity to the cities of Jerusalem especially, but other cities in Judah and in Israel. The people of God would be brought back after 70 years in the Babylonian captivity, and a few, a handful of the ten tribes, would be brought out of the northern Assyrian kingdom back into Jerusalem and Israel. A few people, the little remnant that God would gather, they would be brought back into the promised land. And brought back there into the promised land They would rebuild the altar. They would rebuild the temple. They would rebuild Jerusalem. They would build the walls around Jerusalem. They would inhabit again the cities. That's the Old Testament scene. And the New Testament reality, pictured by that scene, is God's salvation of his church God's deliverance of her so that though the only thing that man can ever do to her is destroy her and bring her into apostasy, God by his mighty power preserves her, preserves a true church upon this earth until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. The New Testament reality is the salvation of the church from her own men, from her own sin and from her own iniquity. And again, God is not describing the physical form of the New Testament church. The rebuilding of the church is not that the church becomes some grand thing in this world. Not that she has some powerful form. Even in the Old Testament, even in that time of pictures, the church never became a grand thing again. The people that were brought back were the smallest remnant The temple that they rebuilt was smaller than Solomon's had been. The people even then, even in that Old Testament picture, were not grand. The people around mocking them at every turn. But rather, the rebuilding of the Church is the spiritual reality that is God's coming to His Church and saving her and delivering her. Well, what does that look like for the Church of Jesus Christ? For us sinners who dwell in this Church Institute, what does that salvation look like? What is the building of the former wastes for us? Every time God comes to His Church and reforms her, By taking her away from the ruin that she doesn't even know is coming. The ruin of false doctrine. The ruin of false worship. The ruin of man's will. The ruin of man's cause. And setting her again upon Jesus Christ who is the truth. Setting her upon his own cause. That's the building of the former wastes. Every time the gospel of salvation is proclaimed so that God's people hear Jesus Christ and all that he has done over against all that we could not do and never did. Every time that gospel is proclaimed and God's people are delivered by the preaching of that gospel. That's God building the waste cities. It is the proclamation of that victory of Jesus Christ. Every time the Psalms are sung, there God comes, speaking to His church through Jesus Christ and His songs, and by a miracle of His grace, bringing His church right into the very mind of Christ, so that the church sees what He sees and hears what He hears. and sings with him the songs of Zion. Every time those psalms are sung, the Church of Jesus Christ is delivered from her sin and shown the power of her Savior. The spiritual reality of building the old waste places is God coming to his helpless church institute and saving and delivering her When you consider the brutality of the apostasy, when you consider the devastation of those former wastes, that that apostasy makes them uninhabitable, then it's no wonder that sometimes you hear people say, I'm never going back to church. Never going to be part of an institute again. I'm never going to be under elders again. Never under a minister again. I'm never going to do that because of what they did. Look what they did. Yes, look what they did. That's always the way that man operates. But the solution to that despair is not this. I'm never going to be a member of the church. The solution is to see what God does for his church. He preserves not only his people, but he preserves that church institute. He preserves it in a true church of Christ upon this earth. He comes and by his gospel builds the old waste cities, the desolations of many generations. God preserves his church so that his people have a place where they might hear that gospel. As God continues describing the rebuilding of the former wastes and the former desolations, He says this marvelous thing, verse five, that strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. And then at the end of verse six, you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. God is still describing the reformation of the church. He's still describing the preaching of the gospel to the church, the rebuilding the old waste places. But now he says that the reality of how the church lives in this world is different from the appearance of how she lives. What's the appearance? The appearance is that she is persecuted by all. The appearance is that everyone is against her and no one is for her. The appearance of the church in this world is that she is utterly despised. And that's the spiritual reality according to the heart of man. They hate the church. They want nothing to do with the church. The false church will forever persecute the true. And the Antichrist will always push his kingdom of man and try to suppress the kingdom of God. Always, that's going to be the life of the church in this world. But when you look at what God is doing through all of that persecution and all of that oppression, when you see the reality of what's happening there, then you see that God is using all of it for the good of the church. The whole world, in spite of itself, is taking care of the church. That's not what they think. That's not what they want. But the whole world, in spite of itself, is taking care of the church. The strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the aliens shall be your plowmen. The whole world is for the sake of the church, so that all the riches of the Gentiles are for our sakes. That might mean that the Gentiles hate you and kill you and destroy you, but all the riches of the Gentiles are nevertheless for our sakes. The idea here is this, that though the church be never so oppressed in this world and never so broken down in this world, Jehovah God comes and builds his church by his sovereign power and by his gospel and by his reformation of her, causing that all things must serve her. The church is served by everything. When they arrest you and persecute you for the sake of the gospel, they're serving you, though they don't know it, because God causes all of this to serve the salvation and good of the Church. And then as far as the meaning of the rebuilding of the old wastes goes, God says this marvelous thing in verse 6, You look at that wasted, apostate church institute. A church institute that no one can save, no one can deliver. except God who comes and reforms her and establishes his true church. You look at her and you say, it's uninhabitable. The church is uninhabitable. And if the church is uninhabitable, what communion can there be between God and men? You'd almost think God's covenant is uninhabitable. Men are just too wicked. We're too sinful. God brings us into his house into his very covenant, into his bosom, and we say, thanks God, but I brought my own gods with me. He brings us into his worship, and we say, that's nice, but I brought my own worship with me. He gives us his name, and we say, that's good, because I needed something cheap to curse with. That's what man does. That's all man can ever do. He's too sinful, he's too wicked. How can God's covenant be habitable? How can we have fellowship with Jehovah God? God says to us sinners in his church, but you're my priests, you're my ministers. And the work of the priest, the life of the priest was to live in the temple. That's where the priest did all his work. That's where the ministers served. They served in the temple. They took the sacrifices, they sacrificed them, they brought the incense here and there, they washed the vessels. Their whole life was in the house of God, in that house of His dwelling, that house of His abode. So that God is saying here to His people who are unworthy to have any fellowship with Him, and who in themselves are too sinful to be with God, God says to His people, you're my priests, you're my ministers, you live with me. You dwell with me, your whole life is in my house. God doesn't say to his church what one might expect just looking at the sinfulness of the church. I can't live with you, I can't live with you. God says to his church, I'll build your waste places and you're my priests and my ministers and will live with me. How can that be? How can those waste places ever be built? Well, the manner of this is that the church is built and God's people have fellowship with him through Jesus Christ. Christ is the one who builds the waste places. He's the one who builds his church, not you, not me. And when we read in verse four, they, shall build the old waste. They shall raise up the former desolations. The emphasis is not this, that you're going to do the work that establishes the church. That based on what you do, there will be a church. But rather God is coming to his people who have nothing and saying, you have a church. The church is built. The desolations are made into a city. And we know that that's the meaning of it because in Isaiah 58, God has already spoken this word to his people. Isaiah 58, verse 11, we'll start with, And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach. the restorer of paths to dwell in. And that thou cuts right to the kernel of Israel, right to the kernel of God's people who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the repairer of the breaches. He's the repairer of the, the restorer of paths to dwell in. Jesus Christ is the builder of the church. He's its cornerstone. He's its foundation. He's its walls. He's its glory. And he's its builder. Everything about the church is the work and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you ask, how is it possible that God can dwell with man? Man is just too wicked. Well, man is too wicked except one. Except the Lord Jesus Christ, he's not too wicked. He's righteous enough to dwell with God. He's the perfectly righteous man. The man who obeyed all of the law perfectly and suffered the curse against all our sins in his perfect atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ may dwell with God, and he does. He sits at God's right hand. And the Lord Jesus Christ sitting at God's right hand is there, the foundation of his church. so that in him we dwell with Jehovah God. The wastes are built up, the desolations of many generations are repaired and restored through Jesus Christ. And that means that this work of God of building up the old wastes, preserving his church in this world is purely gracious. There is not one thing in the church that we can appeal to as the reason why God should build us. What are we going to appeal to? What of yourself are you going to appeal to? What am I going to appeal to? If God would deal with us according to our sins, then he must destroy us. He must waste us and make us desolations forever and ever. so that there never could be a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth. There's nothing in us to appeal to. God comes to those who are ungodly, those who are sinners, and those who do nothing but ruin his church and says to them, but the wastes are built and the desolations of many generations are restored. and they're done, that's all done through the restorer of the breach. That's purely gracious. That's God giving to us something, everything, for absolutely nothing of ourselves that we can give to Him. God is purely gracious in the salvation and reformation and restoration of his church. You can see that graciousness throughout the text. These old wastes are built, that's grace. We're the priests and ministers of God, we're not cast out, that's grace. And all things must be for us, nothing can be against us, that's grace. That's the grace of the Lord in Jesus Christ. The fruit of this salvation of the church and the building of the old wastes is the joy and the comfort of the church. That's the fruit that runs throughout this entire passage, this entire chapter. The whole passage is meant to be comfort for God's people who are comfortless, for whom comfort is impossible, who could never rejoice again. God comes to his people and speaks a word of good tidings, a word to the sinners, a word that they who have this spirit of heaviness shall be given a garment of praise. And that's here too in this building, the old wastes. And look at the scene that God paints there for the church. All that rubble is rebuilt. All that emptiness is now filled. Those who slew you have no choice but to serve you in spite of themselves. The whole scene is one of joy and rejoicing. That's why God builds the church that the church of Jesus Christ might rejoice. And this serves the glory and the honor of God. For all this joy and all this rebuilding is not from us, but is from him alone. And so church of Jesus Christ that mourns the wasting of the church, hear this word of good tidings. They shall build the old wastes. They shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. Amen. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word to us in this morning. Bless it to our hearts, comfort us by it. We who are comfortless, fill us with comfort. We who are ungodly, wilt thou give us the joy of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for Him who is the repairer of the breach and the restorer of paths to dwell in, that Thou hast given us Jesus Christ for our salvation. Hear our prayer. Answer us in mercy, forgiving our sins for Jesus' sake. Amen. We return to Psalm 91. Psalm 91. We'll sing the last two stanzas, which is verses 10 through 16. We have here a continuation of the safety that God gives his church as her habitation and all of that in Jesus Christ, who is the one who calls on God and God answers him and us for his sake. Verses 10 through 16, the last two stanzas of Psalm 91. ♪ Oh, great shall be their life while we fall ♪ ♪ Glorious shall be before ♪ ♪ For thee to keep them all thy ways ♪ ♪ Till saints of strife ye shall ♪ ♪ They in their ranks shall bear thee up ♪ ♪ Still waiting thee upon ♪ But as now, at any time, should stash Thy foot against the stone, Upon Thee ever thou shalt tread, There, though the lion's strong. I feed on dragons' trampled shell when I'm a lion's young. Because of me, he stands this long, I'll save and set him free. Because my grave may be at home, I will inset on mine. He'll call on me, I'll answer him, I will be with him still. ♪ And trouble to deliver him ♪ ♪ And honor him I will ♪ ♪ With length of days unto this month ♪ ♪ I will have satisfied ♪ ♪ I also my salvation will give ♪ ♪ With praise and thanks unto the Lord ♪ ♪ For bountiful is he ♪ ♪ His tender mercy doth endure unto eternity ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. you