Keep Not Silence

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,” (Isa 62:6 AV)

This passage is a prophetical one looking at the time when Israel will be restored to their kingdom under the rule of their Messiah and our Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ.  The people of Israel are set as watchmen upon the walls of New Jerusalem and given the task of preaching there day and night.  All who come to Christ must pass by the preachers.  Note here the watchmen are not watching for danger that might threaten the city.  They are making mention of the LORD.  They are not watchmen preparing armies for a coming battle.  They are watchmen declaring the glory of God.  They are not watchmen whose declarations are directed inward towards the occupants of the city.  Rather, they are watchmen whose testimony is directed outward towards all men everywhere that Christ is LORD and Savior of all.  That which the LORD has for us this morning is a simple three word phrase - KEEP NOT SILENCE.  What makes this even more potent is the LORD does not need these watchmen while he reigns on this earth.  His glory will be evident and visible.  They keep not silence because God deserves their testimonies.  Nor for results, but for the pure glory of God.

The LORD has really been working on my heart regarding the unction to be more proactive and vocal when sharing the LORD with others.  I am not an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination.  I am an introvert by nature.  This is a hindrance in certain types of evangelism.  In others, it is a strength.  Cold calling or first contact situations are difficult.  However, being and introvert also makes one a patient and good listener.  I may not be gifted in spontaneous soul-winning, but those who need long term commitment are my bread and butter.  Having laid the basis for our meditation this morning, we are instructed to keep not silence.  No matter how our personality helps or hinders, we are told not to keep silence.  This is not for the purpose of results.  Again, the passage above is not for results.  It is for the glory of God.  A few weeks ago, we had some protesters who protested our church.  They were right to life protesters protesting the lack of involvement of local churches in protesting abortion clinics.  The belittled all other ministries that happen to fight the right-to-life position in other ways and condemned all believers who refused to protest abortion clinics.  Anyway, a car of rowdy adults drove by with their window down.  They cursed the right-to-life people with verbal and visible profanity.  The world will definitely not keep silence.  Nor should the people of God.

We have the answer that few are looking for.  We have the truth that will set men free.  However, even if the vast majority reject; which they will; we still must not remain silent.  God's glory is still the highest motivation for speaking up.  Sure, sharing the gospel will help a few.  But more than that, sharing the love of Christ to all around us will bring glory to a God who desires to be known as a God who loves all and has given His Son for all.  We cannot keep silence.  We must speak up.  We must share for the purest of reasons that it pleases the One who gave His life that we might have eternal life.  We must speak up because God deserves it!

Peace to Those Who Have No Peace

“I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” (Isa 57:19-21 AV)

I life changing experience happened to me this morning.  A fella I know who is an outstanding soul-winner encouraged me in the arena of reaching those who are in desperate need of the truth stated above.  God desires to bring peace to those who are in turmoil over their sin.  Which is most people.  Far more than we consider it to be.  We assume that most who flaunt their sin are at peace with it.  Few truly are.  In particular, as believers we can fall victim to the turtle syndrome.  The syndrome that causes us to avoid those who would abuse us and our beliefs, thinking they are beyond redemption.  There is misinformation that has allowed us to believe certain facts that are not true.  Let me give you an example.

According to a study done by UCLA, approximately 3.8% of the US population identifies with the LGBTQ community or has identified themselves as gay.  As we know, June is gay pride month.  My initial response is to strap on the turtle shell and retreat into the safety of my church building because I assumed that as the media portrayed the LGBTQ population as exhibited in these gay pride events must be how all gay people are.  If so, can they really be reached with the love and acceptance they seek that can only come from forgiveness in unconditional love in Christ?  Let me give you some numbers and then something that was shared with me by way of encouragement.  According to a recent news article, roughly 45,000 attended the gay pride event held in my home city.  That may seem like a large number, but when one crunches the numbers, the reality of it is actually revealing.  In my little area of the woods, the population of my county and all contiguous counties is roughly 2.25 million.  If 3.8% of the nation’s population is gay, that means there is a gay population of 95,000 in our small percentage of the US population.  If the 45,000 who attended were all gay, and that number represented a one-time attendance to the event, that means only half of the gay population attended.  More likely, the 45,000 attendance was not all gay and many attended on multiple days.  In other words, attendance to this event was rather small compared to the overall population of professed gay citizens of our community.  Which begs a question.  If those who profess this lifestyle were completely comfortable in it, then why not attend.  Which brings me to a life changing statement which a soul-winner shared.

It is his experience when working events and speaking with those in the gay community, there are those who want to come out but never thought it possible.  This is not any different from any other lifestyle choice.  There are those who are caught up in the drug or alcohol community who are told they are born with a personality or predisposition towards chemical abuse.  This is the flaw of the AA movement.  They are told “once and alcoholic, always and alcoholic.”  The point is this, we cannot take for granted the idea there are those who are unreachable.  It doesn’t matter if it is the LGBTQ community, the drug abuse community, or the religious community.  There are those who are looking for an answer and are not as content as the world wants us to believe.  God says “Peace” to those who are looking for it.  We have the answer and we are obligated to share it with those who desire it.

God's Unchangeable Promises

“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.” (Isa 54:10 AV)

It is easier for creation to pass away than it is for the LORD to renege on His covenants.  Some have asserted there are over 3,000 promises in the entire Bible.  Another source claims there are 750 promises in the New Testament but that accounts for 250 separate promises as some are repeated.  The word ‘promise(s)’ occurs 111 times and the word ‘covenant(s)’ 280 times.  God is a God of His word.  When He says he will do something, He will do it. As the LORD has stated the truth earlier in this same book of Isaiah, “…yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (Isa 46:11 AV)

There are times when these promises come into doubt.  Not that the LORD would ever cancel them. But our fears, doubts, or even habitual sin brings us to the place where we begin to doubt God would require Himself to honor His word.  One of the scariest times of my childhood was a time when my parents has a serious row.  I remember where I was when the news from my mom came.  She asked us all to pray for my father because he has left the house in a fit of frustration and rage.  We didn’t blame him.  Raising eleven children, working three jobs, and still struggling to put food on the table would drive any man to his limits.  I saw the fear on my mother’s face that divorce might be a possibility.  We all took it personally.  We looked at our own behavior as the cause for my father’s frustration.  If I had only been more obedient.  If I had only been more grateful.  I remember looking out the window of the playroom where our temporary room was set up as we remodeled my bedroom and thought my dad was never coming back.  He did.  It didn’t last but a few days.  My dear father needed some ‘me’ time.  Mom and Dad were married only once and with the passing of my mother a year ago, they had been married for sixty-one years.

This is a bit like God’s promises to us.  There may be a hiccup here and there.  But the vow remains strong.  There may be a time when we are separated because if our sin, but the vow He has made has never been cancelled.  There may be times our fears and doubts get the better of us, but the word of the LORD stands forever.  There may be times when the adversary taunts us as he did in the Song of Solomon, speaking lies of abandonment.  But our God is always there.  He will not suffer us to be lost.  He will not abandon our care.  He has promised and He will do it!

Go Away, Accuser!

“He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.” (Isa 50:8-9 AV)

There is no better feeling when condemned for that which we have done, to have someone standing by our side that can find mercy from the one judging.  Israel is guilty here.  They have gone into captivity for falling backward into the sins of their neighbors.  They failed to fulfill their part of the covenant with God.  This, the LORD was forced to chasten them with seventy years captivity.  Once this captivity was over, there were still those who wished to condemn Israel.  There still are today.  But God stands with them.  He will defend them!  Like Israel we have an advocate.  Jesus Christ the LORD is our advocate.  We stand condemned, guilty of all the sins of our lives.  Yet, He has paid the penalty for our iniquity and the wrath of God has been satisfied.

Recently, I had the privilege of serving on a jury.  There were several things that struck me.  The ability of a jury to cut through all the drama and discern guilt or innocence is uncanny.  The long hours of waiting were a great time to learn about others.  One thing that struck me was the ineptness of the public defender.  In particular, the strategy of defense actually opened the door for confession.  His defense was the plaintiff manipulated the system which enticed the defendant into the criminal activity articulated in the complaint.  I sat there during the opening arguments think, “Trial over.”  The prosecution was going to have a field day with this.  The defendant needed a good lawyer that day and he did not.  He was guilty of that which was alleged.  What he needed was someone who knew the law that would advocate on his behalf rather than throw him under the bus.

Like Israel, our defense is not that we have been falsely accused.  We cannot claim innocence.  Like Joshua the high priest of the book of Zechariah, we have filthy garments.  We are horribly wicked.  There are no excuses.  We willingly and knowingly choose to violate the perfect law of God.  We were enemies of the most High.  Yet, His Son satisfied what the law required and that which we could not pay.  Our plea is not “not guilty.”  Our plea is “guilt yet absolved.”  If we have been absolved, then there is no more condemnation as Romans chapter eight so eloquently puts it.  There are no charges that can be brought.  We stand sinless.  Not because we have made ourselves that way.  Quite the opposite.  We stand perfect in the eyes of God’s law because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to our account.  We stand justified because of what Jesus did.  So, go away devil!  Go away world!  We are guilty.  But we are justified.

Turn Up The Heat

“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (Isa 48:10 AV)

Affliction is the standard for growth, correction, and perfection.  These things do not come by idleness.  They do not increase by comfort.  Holiness, character, faith, integrity, etc. all have to be tested and proved.  These desirable traits do not come by sitting in our favorite recliner and all of a sudden, we are overwhelmed by a great light from glory, rising to be the child of God which He intended all along.  If we are to be what the LORD intended for us to be, on this side glory anyway, it will take days, months, and years of affliction.  If we are smart, we will learn to appreciate them.  Recently, I was reminded of this very thing.

My father knowingly put his children in situations that were difficult to say the least.  Growing up in one of the snowiest areas of the country, western New York, winter time was hard.  Particularly those of us who had paper-routes.  It was no easy task to load up those Sunday papers on a sled and traipse off at five in the morning to deliver those papers on time.  There were times it became a community effort.  If one completed their route, they would pitch in and help a younger sibling complete their route.  There were also times that we got behind on our collecting.  That was when we would go to our client’s home and collect the money that was owed for the previous week’s delivery.  Usually on a Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  Then we would pay the publisher their cut.  If we got behind a few weeks, we didn’t want to collect because the client might be upset that we allowed it to go so long.  My father would check our books to see if we are all caught up with our client’s accounts.  Rather than face an angry client, we often used our tips to cover their bill.  It was not a fun experience.  But that paper route had multitudes of life’s lessons for us all.  Lessons we would not have learned any other way.  It was not a joy to work that hard so early in life.  But the experience helped us mature quicker and above our peers.  In the long run, it saved is from a lot of other experiences that kids with idle time fell into.

We may not enjoy life’s afflictions.  But these afflictions are the only way God can change who and what we are.  We may not like a poor diagnosis.  We may wish we could work a different job.  We may not enjoy another car repair bill.  We would rather not have to climb up on the roof to patch yet another leak.  We wish there was an easier route to work so the commute wasn’t so stressful.  We wish the kids would have one good day wherein they do all they are told without any lip whatsoever.  Life is far from perfect.  It is those times that shape us into the person we are and the person God is working towards.  It can come no other way.

Just Forget It

“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isa 43:18-19 AV)

Encouraging words to a nation that will be coming out of captivity into restoration of their home land.  Of course, this event has not happened as at the time of this writing.  These words were penned before Judah went into Babylon.  These words are prophetic.  But encouraging nonetheless.  There is one phrase which we want to consider this morning.  The first sentence is key to living in future victory.  Failure is inevitable.  We will fail God time and time again.  The ability to get beyond it requires we put those failures in the past.  No matter how egregious, we need to forget they ever happened.  To dredge them up time and again only serves to paralyze us into future usefulness for God.

Years ago, I did a very silly thing.  I was trying to impress a female classmate in Junior High and broke my wrist as a result.  My father took us with him to the high school where he taught during the summer recess.  We would help him with projects around the school.  Some were construction or repair projects.  Others were scheduling for the coming school year.  When we needed a break, we would run around that high school and sliding down the banisters was a great activity.  Very dangerous and forbidden.  But we did it anyway.  It was this skill that I wished to show off to a girl that I was sweet on.  I found out the hard way why it was a dangerous thing to do.  Over the side I went and my wrist sustained a small fracture.  The doctor put a half cast on but it didn’t heal quite right.  So, he had to re-break the wrist and put a full cast on it.  Six weeks later, off came the cast.  I was as good as brand new.   If an x-ray was done on my wrist, the doctors could see that it had been broken sometime in the past.  My memories of the event are still vivid.  I remember the itching.  I remember the inconvenience of having a cast.  I remember using the cast in self-defense.  I remember the inconvenience of taking a shower with the cast stuck out the other side of the shower curtain.  I remember the pain in the neck which was the sling.

A couple of years later, I signed up for little league baseball.  My brother and I would ride our bikes to practice and games.  I played outfield and third string pitcher.  It never occurred to me that playing such a game could re-injure my wrist.  I would never make the same mistake again.  Never would I slide down a banister.  In this, it was good that I remembered the past.  But, had I allowed a past mistake dictate all other choices, I would have never learned how to pitch resulting in coaching my youngest into collage baseball.  Had I always been aware of the past injury suffered by taking a risk, then all future choices would have only been the safe ones.  The point is this.  We all fail the LORD.  We all make mistakes.  We all sin.  Some of that sin us horrible.  But we cannot live in the past.  The LORD has forgiven us for these choices and wishes to reconcile.  Not only for the purpose of fellowship.  Equally important, for the purpose of usefulness.  We need to live in the present and for the future.  The past is gone and it needs to remain there.  If the LORD has put it in the past, that is exactly where we need to leave it.

A Blessing in Disguise

“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.“ (Isa 40:4,5 AV)

I am preaching through Revelation in our Sunday morning services.  We will cover the last vial judgment in Revelation chapter sixteen.  This last of all judgments entails three elements.  The first being rather large hail.  About half the size of a single floor house.  The second is the destruction of all cities.  In particular, Babylon.  The third is a world-wide earthquake that levels all mountains and raises all valleys.  One cannot help but see the parallel in our passage above.  A thought entered my mind.  By the Spirit, my mind considered that if these two are one in the same event, then Revelation gives the motive as judgment for rebellion whereas Isaiah gives the reason as a way to make access to the LORD while reigning in New Jerusalem much easier.  No mountain passes to go around.  No deep valleys that require a bridge.  This would also solve rain runoff.  The Earth would bloom according to verse six of the same chapter as described there.  The point is, a judgment may also contain with it a hidden blessing which we never would have considered otherwise.

The simplest and easiest application would be that God’s judgments eventually make it easier for the faithful to worship the LORD.  In our passage, there would be no need for a highway system.  With completely level ground, all people from all directions would have equally easy access to the temple of the LORD.  This catastrophic event has an upside.  What may have seemed a problem turned out to be a cure.  What may have been traumatic has turned out to be a blessing that has made life a whole lot easier.  What may have seemed like a life altering event indeed has been.  But for the better.

God gave Paul a throne in the flesh.  Paul asked that it be removed three separate times.  Each time, the LORD said no.

  

God told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.  He did anyway.  Paul spent time in prison and several occasions because of this disobedience.  Paul lost his wife and the majority of his missionary work was without the aid of a wife.  The LORD asked Paul to go through things that most of us will never face.  It was because of those things that God was able to use Paul in a way He could use no other.  It is because of those things we have the majority of the New Testament.  His trouble really was a blessing in disguise.