Isaiah takes the message from God.
He not only echoes it, he lines up his life to it. The speaker is saying that he will not hold his peace. I'm not going to be quiet. I'm going to keep preaching. God is saying I'm going to keep working. I'm going to keep speaking.
I will not rest. That's what he says there in verse 1. This is the role of the Christian.
This is the role of those who have this long haul resolve to serve the Lord Jesus. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Isaiah.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Isaiah chapter 62 with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Theology is the study of God through his word. That's the definition of theology.
And so as Bible students, that makes us theologians, not of course in the formal sense, but it is equally applies. And you may say after a while, what uses theology if it doesn't improve my walk? Well, without theology, you're never going to improve your walk.
You don't have a walk. And you could end up on the wrong team. You could end up being used by Satan. There are people with Bible knowledge that have no intention of adhering to the Scriptures because their theology is not sound. In fact, the word or the phrase sound doctrine means theology. And, you know, why would a pastor have to spend a few moments on such a thing? Because as the years roll by, Bible study will get challenged and the individual may become disillusioned with how much damage sin can inflict, not only on the one who's pledged allegiance to Christ and wants to learn as much of the Bible as they can, but also to loved ones, friends, family. Sin's very real. And you may not be ready for these things.
You may have the wind knocked out of you. Solomon said, vanity of vanity, says the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. It's nothing. It's just nothing. It's all just a waste of time. Well, theology is vain if it does not have a long-term resolve. It is going to be vain.
It's going to be for nothing. You may have met people that were really into the word of God at some point in their life and no longer walk with the Lord. I think God gave us the book of Ecclesiastes and the letter to the Romans to force us to think, because after you get a knowledge of the New Testament, you cannot casually read Ecclesiastes. It forces questions upon you that you have to think about. And Romans, I think it's muddied up by Calvinism, but even the letter to the Romans, Paul has so many parentheses and goes off. They're important rabbit trails, but they're rabbit trails nonetheless.
And he goes down them and it makes it a little difficult to follow him. But when you get it together, either way, you're going to have to think. But it seems that many professed Christians, at least in my decades of service, they seem to detest thinking. They want no part of it. They want to feel their way through Christianity. Now, I'm not questioning whether they're saved or not, but I am saying there are those that want more of a feeling than to have to think something through. Well, Paul warned about these. He said, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, and there it is, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers.
They'll shop for the right church to go to that will cater to these itching ears. And so Paul encouraged another pastor, Titus 1.9, hold fast the faithful word as you have been taught that you may be able by sound doctrine, by theology, by the study of God through God's word. That's what sound doctrine is, both to exhort and to convict those who contradict.
Encourage those that are in the fight, but those who are causing fights, don't put up with that. Well, there are others also that are very much into theology, but they run the risk of overthinking their theology. They think overthink to a fault, and they depart from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, which is very important. We're not given the scripture to make it our hobby, and to just make it so deep that it's almost pointless.
You could have arrived at these deep understandings with simple language. And so again to Titus, but as for you, Paul, speaking to Titus, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, sound theology. Well, what's the purpose of theology? To learn about God, what he wants, what he does not want, what to do with what we learn about what he wants and does not want. Well, he wants to be glorified. He wants for us to shine the light.
Let your light shine before men, that your Father in heaven may be glorified. So sound doctrine, good theology, requires truth, and that requires trust. You can have the truth, but do you trust it enough to act on it? Under pressure, anybody can walk the walk when there's no pressure, when there's nothing to be afraid of, when you're not challenged, when you're just happy with everything. What about when you're miserable? What about when things blow up in your face?
When you didn't see that coming and you did everything you could to protect yourself, and it happens anyway. Well, you have the truth, you have the trust. Those two should pave the way for perseverance, the long haul. And the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, highlight the importance of a long haul. And you're going to see, I hope, I hope my intention is that everything I'm saying is found in the very first verse we come to. Don't read it yet.
We're almost there. This chapter begins with a demonstration of long haul theology, the resolve, the determination, inaction from God and from his prophet, from his people. And anybody who's doing the work of God willfully, on assignment, is in a prophetic role.
That doesn't mean they're telling the future. There's more to prophecy than just predictive prophecy. There are other forms of prophecy. Remember, the priesthood goes upward with its ministry and the prophetic ministry comes downward with its. It comes to earth from the throne of God.
You have these two lanes, one going up to heaven and one coming down. And the prophetic office of Elijah and Isaiah and the others was to bring the message from the throne of God to man. And the priest, on the other hand, were to intercede for the people, to go to God from earth to God. We are a royal priesthood, but we also have the spirit of prophecy. And it's many forms. Preaching, singing, quoting scripture. Philip's daughters who prophesied, they likely were singing or reciting scripture, not likely they're predicting the future because it begins to, you know, you stop thinking, okay, who has all those predictions? We don't walk around and do business like that. When we come across somebody who does that, we're a little annoyed at them.
I find bear spray to be very helpful in those situations. Anyway, God, he puts this investment into Isaiah and it's not wasted. No matter the outcome, no matter how long, and he had a long ministry. We know that from the kings he mentions that he served under, from Uzziah to Manasseh.
He had a long hall and serving every bit of the way. And so this theology, when we use this verse, whether you're aware or not, we're speaking about theology. So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. There's theology in that and there's no mention of fear.
I know, fear is a hard thing to turn off sometimes, but it has to be faced because the alternative of being slain from behind is unacceptable. In Isaiah, he would have to go to his grave to keep up with the pledges of his faith. So now we look at verse one and we see what I hopefully haven't goofed it up. Verse one, 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.
Well, God's objective in this section is establishing Jerusalem ultimately, the ultimate establishment of Jerusalem. The speaker here is the Lord and it is also Isaiah. Isaiah takes the message from God.
He not only echoes it, he lines up his life to it. The speaker is saying that he will not hold his peace. I'm not going to be quiet. I'm going to keep preaching. God is saying I'm going to keep working. I'm going to keep speaking.
I will not rest. That's what he says there in verse one. This is the role of the Christian. This is the role of those who have this long haul resolve to serve the Lord Jesus. Of course, God does not give up. Subsequent prophets and the apostles confirm this.
They attest to it. Otherwise, there would have been no more prophets. There would have been no apostles because he would have given up, but he did not give up. There would be no end-time prophecies.
We wouldn't see them becoming true in our lifetime because God is still on the throne and God is still active. He still has his plan and he shared much of it with us. So this is God speaking and it is Isaiah preaching and living it also. Yahweh is not going to give up, Isaiah says, and neither am I. The resolve of God is shared with his servant and that's why he mentioned the long ministry of Isaiah, how we know these things. He's ministering into the reign of Manasseh who was a vicious king who likely killed him. Legend has it that Manasseh stuffed Isaiah into a log and then had the log sawn in two while he was in the log and alive. Well, it might be what the prophet, what the writer to the Hebrews referenced in Hebrews chapter 11 and we're sawn asunder, might be talking about Isaiah. Whether he was a martyr or not, he was a faithful prophet all the way through his life and Christ quoted him often. And so all of this is confirmed in his ministry and here he is determined to follow through with his ministry.
I will not hold my peace. That's Isaiah. It's God too, of course, but we're trying to bring it down to our level where it applies directly to us. And I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns. Well, he certainly died before he could see that fulfilled, but God has not died. God is still active.
And so promising that he would not keep silent, that he would not slack off. You can make that, you can make that promise, you can have that pledge early in your life as a Christian and you can carry it for several years and then the attacks will come. They might come sooner, but they often wait and you've got this, you know, spirit of I'm going to go preach like nobody's ever preached before. Well, there's been a lot of people that have good preachers and stiff competition there, but it's understood you have the zeal for the Lord. That's why Paul said, don't lay hands on anyone quickly.
Let them first be tested. We have to see if they can stand the heat in the kitchen before we give them authority in the kitchen. And so again, to reread the words that promise not to slack off, I will not hold my peace for Jerusalem's sake. I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth. So the pledge begins with God and it spreads out into the prophet and into the people and people such as we are determined to finish the work.
We get back to the, let's look at it now at first six where it continues. I have set watchmen on your walls, Oh Jerusalem. They shall never hold their peace day nor night. You who made mention of Yahweh do not keep silent. Don't give up.
Do what you're supposed to do. This is a biblical statement on God's resolve and the prophets like-mindedness and God will give Isaiah the sermons and the energy to minister the word and the ministry of the word is far more than just preaching the word. There's a lot more to the ministry of the word than just preaching it.
We get that phrase, the ministry of the word from Ephesians. This is a biblical statement again on God's resolve. God will give him what he needs, the prayer, the heart to intercede in prayer, to intercede, to pray on behalf of another. You got to have a heart for them stirred by God. You might not even be mindful of a person in need until God stirs your heart. A lot of you have been through this many times.
You're going to need conviction. When these prophets wrote their prophecies or thundered them, they were convinced it was going to be just as God said it would be, even though they didn't live even close to many of the prophecies, fulfillments that they uttered. Look how many prophecies Isaiah uttered about the coming of Christ and it was another, what, 800 years before they, almost 800 years before they came true.
He wasn't around to see them from earth. So prayer, intercession, conviction, exhortation. So here's a list of verses that mean something.
They all mean something, but in the context of what I'm saying. Acts chapter 20 verse seven, Paul said to the church at Ephesus, to the leaders at the church of Ephesus, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. I will not be silent.
I will give no rest to myself. Samuel, when the people essentially turned on Samuel and God said, Samuel, it's not against you. It's against me.
They turned and Samuel said, yeah, that's true Lord, but it hurts me. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord and ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way. I'm not going to abandon my post. I'm still going to be in the pulpit.
I'm still going to be teaching. I'm going to do what God called me to do regardless of how it is received. Psalm 93, 96 verse three, declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.
Well, this is going in accord with what we're reading here. Colossians chapter one, I like to get up some of the verses that we might not think of in this context, but very much apply. Paul writes for this reason. We also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That's intercessory prayer.
That is resolved for the long haul, night and day. And Paul said, I want you to be filled with knowledge, but the wisdom to work it, not just having Bible information where you can argue with people about Greek words that you don't even know how to pronounce. Not that you do that, but there are those that do or have. Spiritual understanding, Paul says. It goes back to, you can't just feel your way through Christianity.
All of Deuteronomy 13 says, stop thinking your feelings are going to please God if that's all you got. You have to have the theology with it. And then of course, one that we should all be familiar with, Ephesians chapter four, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. How broad is that? The work of ministry.
Everything from ordering snacks in the cafe to cleaning the bathrooms to sweeping. I mean, how broad is work of ministry? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ to make the church, the local church, stronger because the universal church is really not as strong as the local church. That's where the grunt work takes place. The universal church is philosophical.
It's good, but it would be nothing without the local church. People coming in, rubbing elbows and irritating each other sometime. And if you're not irritating each other, maybe someone's kids are irritating you. Either way, we're all sinners.
And when you pack us in together from time to time, we rub each other the wrong way. But the saints have been doing this for centuries and getting away with it the right way. So Isaiah's Israel, they were determined to not be righteous. And God is telling him, you keep preaching it.
Much like those, many of those in this country who are determined to rot the nation from within. You're going to let them stop, make them, we have this thing, the right to bear arms. I have the right to preach. You have the right to carry, I have the right to preach and carry.
In case you don't like the preaching, I'm ready for you. You know, we don't need a constitution. We have the scripture to know how to be Christians. Now, I enjoy the constitution. That is not an anti-constitution statement. But it is a pro-scripture statement.
I have a dual citizenship. I have one here on earth and I have one in heaven. And the one in heaven trumps, that is a good word, the one on earth. Well, in the end, Israel's glorious future will not be in the hands of the majority of apostates that were running the kingdom into the ground in his day.
No matter how determined evil is, God is more determined. That's verse 1. Verse 1, God is saying, I am determined to, for Zion's sake, I will not hold my peace. For Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns.
Okay, now we can begin. Verse 2, the Gentiles shall see your righteousness and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name which the mouth of Yahweh will name.
Well, Isaiah knew Israel's future because God had shown it to him. And it's a global revelation. It's a revelation of not global climate change, but global worship change. And it's not man-made, it will be God-made. You know 50 billion years ago, evolution was still wrong. Anyway, come back to this.
It's like a commercial. You shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord will name. So name change reflects intention, destiny, and nature. Now sometimes God eliminated the middle man, like with John the Baptist. He told the parents to name him John. So they didn't have to worry about that. And remember, naming a child is the easiest part about having a child. Anyway, and who would object to that?
Even if you don't have children, you were once a child, and you know that I'm right. Anyway, her name will sound forth her new nature and status in the world. And he's going to spend a little time on this, because again, name is nature, ideally. And now, why we put so much emphasis on the names of the Lord, you know, the Lord Shalom, the Lord Tisid Canoe, you know, we have, you know, we zoom in on that, and we develop it, because it has meaning. The nature of God is in these names. Well, distinguishing the righteous nation from the unrighteous ancestors, that's what it's going to do. It's, well, there wasn't Israel a long time ago, and they ran it into the ground. But now, look at her now, and then she'll have this new name, and so will Jerusalem, and so will the land of Israel. And so the name points forward, and it begins to have the past fade.
For example, you might know the answer, but you don't think this way, I don't believe. What was Abraham's name before God changed his name? It was a Brahm. But we don't, when we think of Abraham, we don't, oh yeah, that's a Brahm. We say that's Abraham, and we have to usually be, it's triggered before we remember what his name was.
Well, Israel, same thing, it's going to eclipse, the new name will eclipse the old. This is the case with the church at Progamos, that was also infested with troublemakers, those with poor theology, those who were willfully attracted to false teachings. The Lord said, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, not just this church, to the churches, these are the local churches. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.
That's pretty intimate. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick right here on Cross Reference Radio.
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