No Longer Forsaken
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
AG:
TS: God has a wonderful end in mind for His people. Long ago He purposed the redemption, righteousness, & restoration of the people of Zion. They may anger Him by their sin & hard heartedness, but God stands ready to save & make them holy.
RS:
I. Becoming God’s Delight (1-5)
I. Becoming God’s Delight (1-5)
For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns.
The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the Lord will name.
You shall also be a crown of glory In the hand of the Lord, And a royal diadem In the hand of your God.
You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the Lord delights in you, And your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.
V. 1 God promises Israel to keep pursuing them
He would speak to them and deal with them
He would draw them and pursue them
He stays after them until their righteousness shines like a torch for all to see!
He does this for His glory
v. 2 Nations will see their righteousness in that day
You can’t hide the glory of God when we are living for Him
v.3 God calls them a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord
Pictures being God’s ultimate handiwork!
Image that! In the vastness of the universe with all of its wonders, WE are the crowning achievement of God! Humans!
v. 4 Says they receive new names
no longer called Forsaken and Desolate
Now called “My delight is in her, Married (Beulah),
God reverses
AP: God still works on behalf of His people to make us His Delight
Like Israel, His primary concern is our righteousness, not our prosperity
The Holy Spirit still convicts people of sin and calls them to repentance.
God still works to refine us and change us .
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God the Son works to intercede for us
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
When circumstances seek to rob us of hope, remember what GOD says here to Ancient Israel and that we are grafted into that tree.
He has adopted us into the family!
He offers us true and lasting hope which can never be robbed and He works to prepare us!
II. Being God’s Watchmen (6-9)
II. Being God’s Watchmen (6-9)
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent,
And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
The Lord has sworn by His right hand And by the arm of His strength: “Surely I will no longer give your grain As food for your enemies; And the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, For which you have labored.
But those who have gathered it shall eat it, And praise the Lord; Those who have brought it together shall drink it in My holy courts.”
God reminds them that He will fulfill all of His promises and uphold His covenant
He set watchmen on the wall to remind them of that.
They are to “mention the Lord”
Watchmen on the wall
guards to watch for approaching danger
Stand in vigilence to defend, warn, and ward off danger
Spiritually, God set some as watchmen
Think Prophets!
They warned and called out to Israel and Judah to repent and follow the Lord!
They warned, instructed, and interceded.
AP: We need watchmen today
From the very beginning, the churches have had flaws
Why? We are people! and nobody is perfect
Read the book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul and you will see their dirty laundry on display
God used Paul as a watchman to recall them to holy living
God still uses His word and the teaching and preaching of it to do the same today.
AW Tozer said it this way:
Someday the church can relax her guard, call her watchmen down from the wall and live in safety and peace; but not yet, not yet.…
The church lives in a hostile world. Within and around her are enemies that not only could destroy her, but are meant to and will unless she resists force with yet greater force. The Christian would collapse from sheer external pressure were there not within him a counterpressure sufficiently great to prevent it.
That Incredible Christian, 101, 102.
A. W. Tozer
The world pressures us to compromise
They want to us change to be more like them and less like the Lord
III. Blessings for God’s Workmen (10-12)
Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples!
Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’ ”
And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
Residents of Zion are called to prepare the way.
God had promised to bless their work, and now He invites them to join Him in His work and bringing about those blessings.
Ultimately, v. 11 is looking forward to the entrance of Messiah!
With such great and faithful promises extended, God calls those who truly want to see them fulfilled into action.
He asks us to step out in faith in the assurance that all His promises are true.
They are to act, to make the way to salvation as clear and level (or straight) as possible.
Only as the people of God act together in faith to level the way for each other will people ever come in a multitude to salvation, to the city of our God.
Those that dare to act on the belief that their Messiah is the Savior or the World will expend the effort to make a way for all the peoples of the earth to come to the Lord.
Joining Christ on mission of proclaiming the gospel and removing barriers leads to reward even today:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Paul say this as the primary purpose:
Notice how far He went!
and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;
to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;
to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
God has given us a glimpse of the glorious future that lies at the end of God’s highway of faith. His servants will become a holy people doing justice and righteousness. The same grace of God which saved us will transform us and enable us to live holy lives.