Well, good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you. And we trust the Lord will bless as we look together at the Word of God. We had an emphasis on introducing gospel labors and missions in the Sunday school hour. And my message this morning, although it is related to missions, because we're going to talk about the church and the glory of the church, And my goal is that having seen something of the glory of the church of Jesus Christ, that your heart will be filled with a desire to see more churches planted and the gospel proceed in many other places of the earth. I'm going to be preaching this morning from Isaiah chapter 62. Isaiah chapter 62, if you'd like to turn in your copy of the scriptures to that passage. Isaiah 62, there are 12 verses in this chapter that we'll be considering together. Surveying them, I can't give a complete, thank you brother, can't give a complete exposition of every verse, but we'll see the theme of the chapter and attempt to open it up. Isaiah chapter 62, you copy the scriptures as I read. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. Now the commentators disagree about the I in that verse. Some say it's Isaiah. Some say it's the Lord God speaking. I take the latter view. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a burning torch. The nation shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed desolate. But you shall be called, My delight is in her, and your land married. For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. All the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance take no rest and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm. I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored. But those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the Lord is proclaimed to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. And they shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called sought out, a city not forsaken. So the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you that you've given us your word. We thank you that you've given us picturesque words that show us something of the glory that can rest and will rest certainly upon all your fulfilled purposes in your church. Now we ask that you be pleased to open our eyes to behold the beautiful truths out of your word. Blessed Holy Spirit, we ask that you come and illuminate the passage of scripture and give help in the preaching. Give us all that we need, the help from heaven. Hear our prayers, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Well, this chapter obviously shows the great glory of Zion. We read in verse one, for Zion's sake I will not keep silent. Now what is Zion? Who is Zion that he speaks of here? Well, verse six tells us the answer. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set my watchman. So Zion is Jerusalem, but we must go deeper. In this chapter, what is the Lord referring to? What is the Holy Spirit talking about when he talks about Zion and Jerusalem? I mean in an ultimate sense. Well, if we look a little further in this chapter, we get our answer. Verses 11 and 12. Have you ever read Peter's epistles? Have you ever heard the name that's been given to the people that are in the Church of Jesus Christ? Well, I know you have. It's referring to the holy people are those who are the called, those who have come to be part of that what was the remnant in the Old Testament, and now part of the Church as we have her displayed and declared in the New Testament. So we can't read this chapter without understanding that Zion and Jerusalem, in the ultimate sense, refers to the church of Jesus Christ, to the work of God in the world, of calling people from all over the world to be His holy people, to be, as verse 12 says in Isaiah chapter 6, the redeemed of the Lord. I suspect this morning that many of you here today are part of the redeemed of the Lord, that you know Christ. He's your Savior. He's your all. He's the one in whom you delight. You're the Zion. You're the true Jews, as Paul says in the book of Romans, chapter 2, verse 29. And so when we look at this chapter, we must think in terms of the Church of Jesus Christ and the glory of the Church of Jesus Christ. Now, having said that, well, I want to say much more about that, but I'll forego it, other than to say this. You know that in Ephesians 3, verse 10, it talks about how God is going to display all His glory to all the world through the Church of Jesus Christ. the church which Jesus Christ himself has redeemed, the redeemed people of the Lord. So what chapter 62 does is to speak to us of what we can expect ultimately through God's work in his people in the church. Now this is very important for us. It's important for us for several reasons. I've already had some people comment to me. It's encouraging to see what God is doing around the world because we are in Wyoming, a very small group in Wyoming, but God is working in many other places in the world. But it's also important for us to think about this because sometimes if we look seriously at the church, and I'm going to use the church this morning in the sense of the heavenly beings that are in heaven and the redeemed on the earth, all the people of God, And especially thinking about all the people of God that are here on the earth, because there is a church universal. And you are a church local, but you're part of and members of the church universal. And as we look at the church universal as it exists, and what we know, sometimes we can become very discouraged. We can become very discouraged because it looks as though the church is not winning. mentioned a country over in the Far East this morning in the missions presentation where persecution is ramping up again and it looks bleak and dark is the church going to be able to survive we can look here in the United States and there's so many examples that I can give and no doubt you can give where things look dark and hopeless where we see all kinds of problems and difficulties where Christ isn't being exalted as he should be exalted. So it's important to come to a verse like this and remember, I want us to remember that there's only glory that is in store for the church. Only glory that is in store for the people of God no matter how dark things may look at any particular time in history. Now we know that historically. You all I'm sure know about the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, or you may know about the 18th century revivals with Whitefield and the Westleys and you probably know some of the black dark dark curtains and backdrop that there was before these things happened how it was that it looked like everything was just everything was hopeless Satan seemed to have the upper hand and yet God sent a man And then another man. And so, Germany was transformed. Switzerland was transformed. Europe was transformed. Then England was transformed. And then the revivals with Whitefield. And that was transformed. You see, there's always hope. And so I want us to look at this chapter with the understanding that there's great glory in God. And to ever be hopeless, even though it looks hopeless, from our present perspective. So as we look at this chapter what I want to do is to point out some three grand truths that are in this chapter which show us that God gives the church glory, great glory. We'll look at them one at a time. Of course we have to because we're finite beings. First of all I want you to see with me that the church has a stunning righteousness and we must never forget this. Then I want to show you that the church has abundant provisions, and that's too something we must never forget. And then finally I want us to consider from this chapter that this church has strong protection. So she is indeed secure. But first of all, note with me that the church has a stunning righteousness. We see this in verses 1 through 5 of our text. It really reaches its height as God here compares his view of the church with a young man who's married a young woman. And he says, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. Some of you here this morning are married. Some of you here this morning are husbands. And some of you know what it means to be rejoicing over your bride, don't you? I will never forget how it was that in June on June 25th 1966 I was at North Baptist Church in Corning New York and on that particular day it was hot people were sweating but I didn't care because in the back of the church walked my bride and there she was in her wedding dress and it took my bride away and in fact I in my mind I don't know if this is true but in my mind I thought the whole congregation went because they saw me go when I took a look at her and you know what it is don't you men that are married to rejoice over your bride just to be her beauty and say finally now we can be married ah you see that's the simile that is the picture that's painted for us here the Lord rejoiced he says as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride those ancient days bride grooms rejoiced over their bride just like they do today so shall your God rejoice over you the bride of Christ takes the breath away Can you imagine such a thing? And I know you philosophical theologians what you're saying. God never changes. He doesn't have emotions that go up and down. And I agree with you. But I tell you the only way that can be explained the great love and rejoicing that God has over his bride is to make this comparison. between him and a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride. That's the kind of human language that has to be used in any way. And you know what is even greater than that? Because God is infinite in His love, infinite in His joy, and infinite in His rejoicing over His bride. There's no way that we can fully comprehend. Now if that doesn't give you some encouragement, I don't know what will. It gives me a little bit of encouragement in dark days when I look at the Church of Jesus Christ. And in fact, you see, but it's not just that he, it's not just an emotional high because God doesn't have an emotional high. He's infinite in his perfections. But it is rather an expression of what's behind all this rejoicing. What's behind all this rejoicing is the fact that the Lord says he's never ever going to forsake his bride. I mean his joy never changes even when she isn't as good and pure and holy as she ought to be look at verses four and five again you shall no more be termed forsaken your land shall no more be termed desolate but you shall be called my delight is in her and your land married the Lord saying I am committed to my bride I'm committed to the church and she's never going to be forsaken she's always going to be married Because I'm one who rejoices over her. She has this righteousness. And I'm going to name her. What's her name? Her name is, My Delight is in Her. Her name is No More Forsaken. That's my name. Now if you're reading the old King James Version, you remember the word Beulah? There used to be a song, Beulah Land, Oh Sweet Beulah Land. I don't know if we knew what we were singing back in our youth when we sang that song. But if we study Isaiah 62, we can understand what we're singing. Especially, it looks like you're using the ESV here. That's the translation I brought with me today. And I heard it being read from. But it means, my delight is in her. No more forsaken. You see, the Lord's rejoicing isn't just emotion. Behind it is the commitment that she'll never, ever be forsaken. You see, Old Testament Israel lived under a different covenant than what the church lives under. Old Testament Israel lived under the covenant that said if you do this, you'll receive the blessing. But the days were coming, Jeremiah says in chapter 31, when there will be a new covenant. And in this new covenant, the law of God will be written in the hearts of all his people. Or as Isaiah says, I believe it's in chapter 50, that all my children shall know the Lord. And all of them will obey me because what is true of them is what is true is written in their hearts. And my friend, that's the covenant under which we are now living. It is this new covenant with the law of God written in our heart. And because the grace has been given to make us his children, there can be no more forsaking, only joy for those who are in the church of Jesus Christ. So, this is the picture that is painted for us. But we've got to ask ourselves a question. And it's important to ask this question because where does this stunning righteousness come from that he speaks of in verse 1? I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as brightness. Verse 2, the nations shall see your righteousness and all the kings your glory. I don't know very many kings who are really taken with the glory and the righteousness of the Church of Jesus Christ. Do you? What I know about kings and presidents and premiers is they're interested in displaying their own glory and their own righteousness and promoting themselves. But here we read that this righteousness is so amazing that the nations see it, and the kings see the glory of the church, this church which is called by a new name that the Lord God has given. Now let's be frank. I can talk to you about all the glory that God gives the church, the stunning righteousness of the church, but some of you are thinking things perhaps that I think from time to time. And what I think from time to time is something like this. I don't see the glory of the church. I see problems. I see false prophets amongst her. I see those who are sometimes those who are the leaders and the preachers in even the evangelical church who fall into deep sin and bring shame on the church. I see divisions that occur in local churches. I see biting and devouring one another. And when we look at all that realistically, how is it that we're able to say that the church has a stunning righteousness, that the world will look at it and see her glory? Well, how can we say that without merely, as it were, just talking without any reality behind it? Well, the reason we can say it is because the glory of the Church is not something that is within her. It's something with which she has been clothed. It is not that she has such a wonderful, wonderful standing before God because of what she has done. It's because of what God has done for her. And what God has done for the church is seen back in chapter 61, verses 10 and 11, where we read these words. I will gladly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exalt in my God. And notice this, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress. And a bride adorns herself with jewels, for as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before the nations. Why is it that righteousness sprouts up before the nations? It is because God has clothed His church with the garments of salvation. And each individual member of the church covered his church with this robe of righteousness. So when our God looks at the church with all of its problems that we may be able to name and describe and see as reality, yet we've got to step back and view the church as God views her. When God views the true church, he views her and perfect because he is clothed there. And how has he been able to do this? It is because of Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus Christ who has lived this perfect, sinless, holy life. It is because Jesus Christ has died for all the sins of his people and all the bickerings of his people. and all the failings of his people. And in spite of all the sin in his church, yet Jesus Christ by his death and by his perfect life, so God has clothed his church with that righteousness. And although we don't see it in our day, God sees it. God sees it. And this is how he views the church of Jesus Christ. And my dear friend, since he sees it that way, I didn't say if, I said since Jesus Christ, since our God sees the church clothed in righteousness, we ought to love her. And we ought to do everything we can to promote her. And we ought to do everything to see that churches are established all over the world so that more of the glory of God can be seen. And we must not be discouraged When we see churches, or groups of churches, or individuals, we can say, who are you? And we can say, we're nothing, but Christ is everything. And he is the one who has clothed us with the garments of salvation. So I trust by the grace of God that you delight in the church of Jesus Christ. She has a stunning righteousness in the eyes of Almighty God because He's the one who is clothed there. He is the one who is clothed there. Let's look at a second truth which shows the glory of the church, and that is God has made abundant provisions for His church. Abundant provisions for His church. Let me go back to the idea of a wedding. Often a wedding, is followed by a feast. There are wonderful provisions at the wedding feast. Now not all weddings have this, and I don't even advise it to couples actually, but sometimes they do that. There's a cheese, there's a fruit, there's a drink while you're waiting for the bride and groom while they're having their pictures taken before they come back into the hall. And then sometimes there's a dinner. There's a salad, there's the prime rib, there's the garlic mashed potatoes, there's a delightful vegetable. And you're getting hungry and saying, when is this guy going to quit so that we can eat all this? And there's all these wonderful provisions. And then finally, of course, there's a variety of desserts and then the wedding cake. And then there may be mints and nuts and other little things that you can take and eat. What wonderful provisions are made. Well, I suggest to you, dear friends, that these pale into insignificance compared to the provision that God has made for His church. And He's made two big provisions, which are spiritual provisions, which are better than the finest wedding feast, better than the finest banquet you could ever imagine. And they are explained to us here in verse 6 through 9. And the first provision is highlighted in verses six and seven. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. And what do these watchmen do? Well, all day and all night, they are never silent. Well, what are they doing all day and all night? What are they talking about all day and all night? Ah, we read, you who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest. Now he tells them what they're to be doing. never rest put him into remembrance and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth in other words he's telling these watchmen what they are to do they are to be constantly reminding the Lord of the righteousness and the glory of the church which is set is there that the nations are to see and how does it how does a watchman do that well he prays if you set the Lord in remembrance how do you set the Lord in remembrance you pray you ask him you seek his face And the Lord says, I have set watchmen. I've set them on the walls of the church. And on the walls of the church, they just never keep their mouths shut. During the day and during the night, they're bringing to remembrance to the Lord that the church is to have glory and they're praying for the good and the glory and the progress of the church. Now, The apostles understood this. You remember in Acts chapter 6 that there were some of the widows who were being neglected in the daily distribution of food and they complained. about it. The widows did. And by the way, there's wonderful lessons of leadership in that chapter, which I'm not going to go into, but I find it fascinating and instructive that the apostles did not go to these widows and say, now you should stop complaining. Don't you realize there's something more important than your eating? Here's what's going on in Jerusalem. No, they didn't. They listened to their complaint. And they had the congregation find seven men who were full of faith in the Holy Spirit to put over them who could serve the tables. And why did they do that? Well, they knew that they were being involved in things that was taking away from their primary responsibility, which was what? They said, we must give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Isaiah chapter 62 and from the teaching of our Lord that they were the watchmen who were set on the walls of the church and that their responsibility was to pray for the church and they must not be neglecting the ministry of prayer to do something else that was also important but which other people could do and so they gave it to others so that they spent more time in prayer. And this is what the church of Jesus Christ is to do. And this is the provision which God has made for the church. Abundant prayer. He has given the church the privilege of prayer. Her ministers are to pray, but the church is to pray. This is why the church meets for prayer meetings. Why do we pray? We pray for the worldwide progress of the gospel. Oh yes, we pray for many other needs as well. There are needs within our homes, needs within our congregation. All those are good prayers to offer. But in the midst of offering all that, the abundant provision which God gives is to pray for the progress of the gospel in our own homes, I mean in our own cities, our own towns, our own counties, our own state, our own country, and the world. That's the provision. It's a wonderful provision because our God is able to answer prayer and God uses prayer to bring about his purposes. He says here, you who put the Lord in remembrance take no rest. Now God doesn't have a memory like when I do. Some of us have Velcro memories. That's not me. You never forget it. The memory of an elephant. Some of us have memories, I like to say, like the rocks in the river. Water flows over them. You remember everything that happens. It goes downstream and you forget it. Ah, but the Lord never forgets anything. He remembers everything. But we're to put Him in remembrance. We're to remind Him. Remind Him of the glory that the And then the second provision is found in verses 8 and 9. I wonder what the people in Isaiah's day were thinking when they read that. I think they may have thought about Gideon and the Midianites. How the Midianites came into the land during the times of the judges and while they were and the Midianites took all their harvest away from them and took it home so they had very little to eat. They may have been thinking of brave Gideon who was threshing wheat in a wine press. I mean he was a brave man. To do that. But he couldn't do it on the threshing floor where everyone could see. He had to do it on the wine press where it was a little more secure and not quite so public. But he did it. To just get a little grain for him and his family and his household. But the enemies took all their food away. Ah, the Lord is saying, what I'm going to do for the church is I'm never going to take your food away. You're going to have plenty to eat. What's he talking about? He's talking about the ministry of the Word of God. He's talking about those who will teach and preach. He's always going to supply for his people those who can teach and preach for them. Hasn't that what God has done in Worland for you? Here is a small town in a small county in Wyoming with a population the whole state's what just a little over half million something like that I heard. And yet he's given you the teaching of the word of God. Isn't he faithful to you to do such a thing? because he provides food for his people. And you see, that is why we want to see the gospel progress, why we want to see churches planted, because wherever there's a church, God raises up a man to preach the word and pray for the people and to pray for the extension of his kingdom. The heart of missions is praying and preaching. And that's what the Lord provides for his people. Bless his name. Bless his name for that. Remember, Jesus Christ ascended up on high, and when he ascended up on high, he gave gifts to men. And amongst those are pastors and teachers, prayers and preachers, for the extension of his kingdom. That is the glory of the church which God provides. Third truth in this passage, not only does God provide a stunning righteousness, we've seen that this righteousness is a righteousness which He has provided. Not only does He provide abundant provisions with those who will pray and preach, but thirdly, He is also providing strong protection versus two ways that this protection is illustrated and pictured for us in these verses. The first way that it's pictured for us is in verse 10, in such language that we can only find in Isaiah, I'm convinced. Go through, go through the gates. Okay? Prepare the way for the people. That's good. Build up, build up the highway. Clear it of stones. Lift up a signal over the peoples. So what's he providing? He's providing a path on which the people of God can walk with protection. Stones can cause one to stumble. If the highway isn't built up, it may get flooded. Ah, but God is going to clear away the stones and build up the highway. I've performed a lot of wedding ceremonies. And they appeared to be somewhat of a mismatch. She was obviously the groom's intellectual superior. The groom wasn't dumb. I don't mean that. He wasn't stupid. He was a bright young fellow. But he was a hands-on type guy who was not especially an academic. He did okay in school, but she was on a track to, and in fact to this day, she's working for the government in a very responsible job, and just intellectually superior. So I asked, while I was counseling, I asked this young lady, I said, well, what is it that attracted you to, and I named his name. And she responded very quickly. She says, I feel safe with him. Now, I'd known this young man since his birth. He was six foot, played on a soccer team, 200 pounds. No, not a bit of fat on him. He was strong, but he was also gentle, helpful, and considerate. And I thought, you know what, you're attracted to this young man for just the right reason. And to this day, 17 or 18 years later, whatever it's been, he's doing well, he's still strong, he's still gentle, he's still helpful, and he's still considerate. And they love each other. And God has given them children. Now think of that. What we see in these verses is the omnipotent God, whose power is unlimited, stronger than any man on earth or all the nations combined, as we know. And this omnipotent God says, go through, go through, take away the stones. In other words, the Lord is providing a safe road for his people. There was going to be nothing in this road which would cause them to stumble and cast them into the pit of hell. It just can't happen. He shows the way for them. He gives them protection. He gives them that kind of safety. There are all kinds of obstacles that the church faces. There's the obstacle of persecution for some of our brothers and sisters in some of the closed countries of the world. Today they meet in secret. And some of them are arrested. Some of them are prosecuted, falsely so. Some of them are put to death. And yet, the obstacles have been removed so that even if they are put to death, they immediately enter into the presence of Christ. And the testimony they give to those who are watching them sometimes, you see them. Sometimes the obstacle of apathy. The church just becomes sort of apathetic and doesn't have the vision and the zeal that it used to have. And yet the Lord can take apathy and turn it into zeal. He can be an obstacle. And you can imagine any obstacle. Sometimes this legalism creeps into the church, where people know that they're saved by grace, but somehow they think they've got to do this and this and this to really make God happy. You can't make God more happy than He is. We obey Him out of a heart of love, not because we want to make Him more happy, do we? You can't make God more happy. You serve Him because you love Him. Because He first loved you, as the Bible says. There's the obstacle of misinformed theology. Oh, how we see that in so many places. And yet the Lord is able to provide clarity and salvation, even in spite of that. But there's another way that the Lord protects His people, and we find that especially in verses 11 and 12. It is what I call faithfulness that's promised. God's own faithfulness is promised. Behold, the Lord is proclaimed to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes. There is no doubt that God is going to bring salvation in the ultimate and fullest sense to all of his people individually and to his church collectively. His reward is with him. And what is that reward? That reward is the grace of God that comes at the second coming of Christ with the resurrection of the dead and a glorified body and the restoration of the whole creation. His reward is with Him. And they shall be called the holy people. And then in that day, if not before, and I pray it would be before, but in that day, then the whole, all the kings of the earth will say, we didn't understand. There's a holy people. There's a redeemed people. The Lord has been faithful to his promises. And you know, sometimes we get glimpses of that. Remember in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell? You remember when the former Soviet Union, as it were, collapsed? I know Putin's trying to rebuild it. Success. But remember that happened? I remember. And one of the most significant things I remember is this. When that curtain fell, and the West began to peer in, and the Church of Jesus Christ began to peer in to the former Soviet Union, to our amazement, We shouldn't have been amazed. We found Christians all over the place. Right there in the midst of atheism. It couldn't be stopped. Ah, you see, they shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. Never again will God's people be deserted. They can't be deserted. They can't be deserted today. Do you rejoice that you're a part of the church of Jesus Christ? Do you desire for more churches to be planted? Do you desire for more of the glory of God to be on the earth? Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you. help us by we pray by your grace to rejoice in that which is a reason to rejoice and to believe with all of our hearts even in the darkest hours that there is great glory for the church because you have given her the righteousness of your son Jesus Christ and you have provided for her ministers and people who pray and preach and you protect her from all the obstacles and promised her this great and full salvation hear our prayers and help us we pray in Jesus name amen