Where Are the Watchmen?

Isaiah 62, Beginning in verse 6. These are the words of Jehovah. And he says, upon 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. Look at verse six again. Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. What does it mean to be a watch? What does it mean to be a watchman? The Hebrew word sapa s A p a is our transliteration, is a word that means this. And this is so important to be fully aware of a situation in order to gain advantage at the proper moment. Second, to prevent surprise attack, to be alert to danger. In Second Samuel there's a story where the word watchman appears several times, 2nd Samuel 18, where David is waiting to hear about how his troops had fared. And you may just want to flip back there just to get the names right. 2nd Samuel 18. Look at verse 24. Now, David was sitting between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall. And when he lifted up his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone. And the watchman called out and told the king. And the king said, if he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near, and the watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the gate and said, see another man running alone? And the king said, he also brings tidings. And the watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, he is a good man and comes with good tidings. But the truth is, the tidings were of the death of David's son Absalom. But what we see there is an indication of the function of a watchman. A watchman stood as a lookout, to be sure, but as one who saw events and related them to the king. A watchman came as one, as we'll see later, who not only saw the events, but many times interpreted them to the king and to the people. God thought so much of the watchman that he appointed ezekiel in chapter three, verse 17 to be a watchman over the house of Israel. And God told Ezekiel that he would speak a word to him, and that Ezekiel was to speak that word to the people and to preserve them in the day of judgment. God believed. And the function of the watchmen. Beloved, I believe in my own heart today that we need watchmen. We need to see watchmen who are set up to pray and to seek God for this body. Prophetic watchmen, watchmen who have a burden in their heart to know how the events of the world today and how the opportunities of ministry around us, how we're to respond so that we might gain advantage and not be found sleeping and surprised. Interestingly to me, the same word appears in Proverbs 31:27, about a woman who looks unto her household. You see, a watchman knows what's happening right around them so that they can take full advantage of the opportunity that's right there, right in front of them. I thought that was a real encouraging, practical thing. A watchman is one who sees far off. A watchman is one who sees close by. And what did a watchman do? Turn back to Isaiah 62, and let's just take a look at this quickly. All the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. The first thing that a watchman does is to stand constantly alert. I find in my own life that it's when I think that everything is secure that I tend to stumble the most. It's when I feel as though everything's under control, that the enemy is doing his seed sowing, which later causes me to stumble. And I think it's really profound that the watchman is one who is constantly alert, always looking out, always aware of what's going on, to see what the enemy is going to do. And who is the enemy? Is the enemy our secular press and media who's feeding out this garbage constantly over the television set? I don't know how many of you watched television this last week, but there was a particularly offensive show on Monday night that was just laced with the blackness of hell. I believe every demon rejoiced that it was put over the airwaves. Was it open pornography? No, it was just the subtle demonic expression of the perversion spirit and of the masochistic spirit of man. And I was reviled by it. And I believe that if anyone else watched it, who has an eye on God, you could see the satanic influence just flowing right through it. Seductive, deceptive. I won't even grace it. Enough to tell you what show it was, And it keeps coming out, is the enemy. CBS or NBC or ABC is the enemy. The Communist Party, beloved, the enemy dwells in the councils of hell. And these are just expressions. These are just puppets. Don't ever think that CBS and NBC and ABC are the ones that are controlling what's happening. All of it is being masterminded. Now, I'm not saying that they sit and worship at some shrine at the networks. I'm saying whether they know it or not, much of what comes through there is influenced by the darkness that finds its source in hell. It's not our government that's restricting freedoms. It's the enemy that's seeking to restrict our freedoms. It's the enemy that's masterminding the plot that keeps our young people from praying in the high schools now. And some places are not allowed to carry Bibles anymore. It's the enemy that would bring economic collapse and cause poverty to fall on the people of God again. It's the enemy that would want us to be militarily vulnerable so that 1st Timothy 2:8 would not be true for us, that we could live peaceably with all men. And we need to see as Watchmen that the judgment of God is going to fall. It just is going to fall. But that God will supply a way for us not only to see through it, but to reap a harvest. That's the important point today, that we would gain advantage. Up along the northern perimeter of our border in Canada is our North American radar defense system. And anyone that's listened to the propaganda that our country puts out about that or read anything about it knows that the whole purpose of that early warning defense system is not to shoot down the missiles that are coming. It's to give the chief executive of our nation time to make a decision so that he can take advantage of what resources he has to counteract the attack. And they estimate that that system will allow him somewhere between 15 and 40 minutes of decision making time before any aggressive enemy missiles would reach our country. You see, beloved, a watchman does that. A watchman sees the danger coming and gives time to the people of God to respond. They might not be caught unawares. Now, there's another role here in Isaiah 62. Look at it, and I hadn't seen this, and I think it's beautiful. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest and look at verse seven and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. You see, not only do watchmen Alert the people about the danger that's coming and give them opportunity to respond. But a watchman in the scriptures comes to God and gives him no rest until he does what he alone can do. Hallelujah. A watchman comes to God and says, lord, you do amongst us what only you can do. And there's a cry among many people in this community for an establishing in the things of God. There's a cry for the fullness of the Holy Spirit in people. There's a cry for increasing praise and worship. And beloved, we can cry about that. We can talk about that, we can share about that, we can wish about it and hope about it. But it's not until the watchmen come to the Lord and seek his face that God's going to do it. Do you agree with that? Look what the Bible says that God does in response to the watchman. He establishes Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the picture of the church. He makes it appraised in the earth. In verse 8 and 9, we see what the outpouring of blessing. That's what the food and the drink stand for. Where are the watchmen that will call forth this blessing on these people? Beloved, that's what we yearn to see. And the mark of a watchman is diligence. It's perseverance. It's the willingness to stand before God until he gives the answer. How many of you ever read these stories, the parables about the widow who was seeking God in Matthew or Luke 18:1 and she came back and because she was diligent, he finally answered. And it sounds like God is hiding his face and doesn't want anything to do with us, but if we bug him enough, he's going to give out. Did you ever get that feeling? I've wondered about that a lot. Is that the way God is? Is he up there with his fists tightly closed and if we wrench him hard enough, he'll just open up a little bit and finally. Is that the picture you have of God? I hope not. You see the Bible, and maybe we'll talk about this in the future. But the Bible does teach us that the Lord withholds only that he might give profoundly in character, that he might build something in us that just the giving of the blessing right then would never permit us to have. I can't remember if it was last summer or the summer before, but with one of my children, we had a swimming pool that wasn't all that. You know, we're down the shallow end and David kind of jumped in the pool. And you Know, I think he was probably three at the time and hadn't really learned the basics and was teetering and beginning, you know, he wanted to know what to do, but he was afraid. And so right away he began to call out. And everything in me as a father wanted to jump in right then, pull him out and stick him back up on the. On the cement. But then I realized that he was doing okay. In fact, if he just stood up, he could touch his toes on the bottom. And I realized that really the greater need at the moment was for him to get over the fear of the water. And so I jumped in the water, but I didn't grab him right away. And he fussed for a minute, and then he realized, hey, I can. I can stand up. It's, you know, I'm not going to drown. And the panic left him and he got a little more secure. And it was just a picture to me of what probably God sees from his eternal perspective, that we think we're going to go right under. And if we just wait a bit, we realize that we can stand here and soon we can learn to swim. And that's what a watchman is to do, to seek the face of God diligently and perseveringly. How do we become a watchman? In conclusion? First thing, look at verse six. Who sets up the watchman? Beloved, God says, I have set watchmen. If you read Ezekiel 33, he says clearly, I will place you as the watchman. I will put you in the walls of the city, and I will put the word in your mouth. Now, what this means to me is not that God has to reach down a hand from somewhere and tap you in the shoulder. Too many of us are really mystical about that. I haven't had the call to pray. I think God, from my perspective, God wants a whole lot more watchmen than we've got right now. I think the call is out there, if you'll just turn and look at it and receive it. And watching and praying are inseparable. A watchman is a prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 26:41, Watch and pray, therefore, that you might not be led into temptation to the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. And we see the link. Colossians 4:2. Watch and pray in all Thanksgiving. First Peter 4:7 talks about watching unto prayer. It's all through the New Testament Scriptures. Watching and praying, watching and praying. So a watchman is a person who learns to pray with an eye on what's happening, but with his focus on God. Now I'M not here to lay a trip on you. You should pray more. I realize that we all probably feel that. And in the next couple of weeks, in my heart is a need to be teaching about prayer for those of us who need to be grounded in some principles and to know the heart of God in prayer. And we're going to teach about that for a couple of weeks to kind of give some substance to this call. But I want to say, beloved, that all you've got to do to pray is just to start doing it. Just get a place and sit down or kneel down, as our brother said this morning, and pray. It doesn't have to be long or fancy, it just has to be earnest. If you'll take a little notebook and just jot down the things that are on your heart, God will make you a person with a heart for prayer. He yearns to do that. But another thing that a watchman does is to strengthen. And I want you to flip all the way back to Revelation 3. Look at this. Jesus words to the church at Sardis. Revelation 3. Two. The first word there in my Bible says awake. That's the same Greek word, Gregorio, watch, watch and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death. And you know that word strengthen is the word for establish. And I want to say to you, as I prayed about this point in the message today, there are some of us for whom there's been experiential reality. I was filled with the Holy Spirit three years ago. Well, I just learned how to. I just learned the joy of ministry to another person or I have a telephone ministry or whatever. But God is saying to many of us, watch and establish. Get it rooted down into me. Because some of the experiential things are going to pass. And we have a sense, I have a very deep sense that as this wave of darkness that I described early on increases in our country, that it's only those who are established in the things of God that are going to stand it, or at least stand it to the point of being able to respond and be fruitful. And to that end, these men's breakfasts, beloved, are essential for all of the men. I believe that will give you a touch point where you can be establishing yourself in the word of God, but you don't need just to come to the breakfast. God would use anyone with a willing heart to establish the things that he's doing just by getting together with another brother in your home groups. Establish it, beloved. We are not going to ride this crest of emotional joy of being together and worshiping. If it's not established, the Bible says it's going to die, and it will watch and establish and beloved. The place it begins, I think, is in the home. You may not feel a call to be a watchman to the community, but I trust that if you're a parent, you feel that you're a watchman to your home, that you're alert to the dangers that are there to ensnare your children and your wife or your husband, and that you feel a call to stand on the lookout for the things that are coming to alert to spiritual danger and yet constantly coming to the Lord that he would establish and bless and raise up your family. That's where it begins. Francis Schaeffer, who's recently written this book called A Christian Manifesto. I think in this book is an illustration of the kind of people that God's raising up to speak to the whole body of Christ. Whereas we need watchmen in our families and we are calling forth watchmen in our community. I believe Francis Schaeffer is a watchman to the whole church. He says what is now needed is to stand against the other total worldview, which is humanism, the raising up of self. In essence, we must see and make clear that it is not the truth of final reality. And we must understand and show that it is producing its own natural results, which he details in the book, which are opposite to those upon which the United States was founded. It is opposite to the great freedoms produced which everyone now enjoys. What is needed at this time is to take the steps necessary to break down the authoritarian hold which the material energy, chance, concept of final reality has on this government and our law. This is a watchman. And I rejoice, beloved, that I know that some of you will heed the call to be a watchman. Ezekiel 33, if you want to read that later, talks about the seriousness of it. But as a final thought, listen to this word in Isaiah chapter 52. It was interesting to me that one of the commentators I read said that a watchman most feared the night, because that's when evil seemed to come. But when the daylight broke, there was rejoicing. And here's what Isaiah prophesies and says of the watchman. Hark. Your watchmen lift up their voice. Verse 8, Isaiah 52. They together sing for joy. For eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Beloved, as God establishes watchmen, he will raise you up in joy because you are hastening the coming of the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's Pray, Lord, I pray that the feebleness of my abilities to speak this truth today, Lord, would not impair the Holy Spirit's ability to quicken it to the lives of the people. And Lord, I pray right now that deep inside you'd be stirring some, Lord, that would be stirring many to see that this call to be a watchman is not something, Lord, that we can afford to glibly pass over, is just another teaching about prayer. But, Lord, that it's a life and death thing for so many of us. Lord Jesus, I pray that we would heed the word to watch, that we might not be caught unawares, that we might not be caught with our lamps unlit, not of oil, that we might not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the great harvest that will come. I rejoice, Lord, in your abounding grace to perform it. I want to ask today, in conclusion, this morning, if you're with us as a visitor, or perhaps you've been coming for a while, the most important thing in our hearts is that every person that hears our words and experiences our community would know the reality of the life of Jesus Christ. I know for a fact that for many of us there's a lot of religion in our backgrounds, a lot of churchgoing. I know that many of us have sort of clouded ideas of the difference between being a Christian and being a churchgoer. I want to say to you today, beloved, the first step of being a watchman is that you have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus that, as our brother prophesied earlier, assures you that your sins are forgiven. I want to ask you today, do you know him in that way? Do you know Jesus as your living Savior? The Bible says that you do that by simply turning to him, confessing the truth of the fact that you're a sinner, just like I am, and all the rest of us willingly saying to God, I'm a sinner, and realizing that Jesus Christ came, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, shedding his blood, that you be forgiven of that sin. I invite all the fellowship to pray now. And I'm going to ask you to say to God, I want to have this eternal life today. Let's all pray and would you just tell God in your own words, I want to have forgiveness of sins, Lord, I want to know that. I know that. I know that I'm saved, that you love me, that I'm clean from my sin. I'm going to ask you now, as you're all in prayer, if that's the desire of your heart and you want to know Jesus Christ as your personal sin bearing Savior. Would you do what the Bible says and let another person agree with you before God? That that's true in this way, Just lift your head in the next moment and let our eyes meet. And that will be a seal on the agreement of the word of God that when you confess him before man, he will confess you before His Father who is in heaven. If you prayed a prayer and you told God, I want to know Jesus today, I want to be freed from my sins. If that's what you just did. Lift your head right now. Everyone else, keep your eyes bowed. Let our eyes meet. If I should miss you, just raise up your hand so that I can see you. I'm not going to single you out in any fashion except to agree with you. Lift your hand just in case I should miss your eyes. Yes, sir. Praise God. Praise the Lord. Is there someone else that would say I want to be sure today? Is that why you're looking at me, miss? Just squeeze the hand of that gal on your right. Just let her know that. Go ahead. She'll understand. Would you do that? Is there anyone else today? If I should miss you slip up your hand? It's kind of hard to see. Anyone else today that would say Jesus, I need to know that forgiveness. Praise God. Anyone in the back? As I look back behind the lights right now, put up your hand and let our eyes meet real quick. I tell you, don't fight the Lord. Beloved, the time is too short. Just let her eyes meet. Put up your hand. I just can't see real clearly here. Praise God. Lord Jesus, we ask you to do the work that only you can do. We thank you, Lord, for stirring in hearts this morning. We ask you, Lord, to put your Amen and your seal upon each heart that's been yielded to you today. Thank you, Father, for the joy. And we pray that you'd go before us to the baptism that you enable us to share in the glory of the establishment of these hearts, in the grace that is in Jesus. We give youe Praise, Lord. Hallelujah. All God's people said, let's stand and we're going to sing. I think it's. We're not going to sing. We shall be as one. Yeah, we.