A Sermon by R M M ‘Cheyne
Isaiah 30:19-21. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more: He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
In these words God describes the mercy yet in store for His ancient people, the outcasts of Israel. They have, for nearly 1800 years, been like a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and like an ensign on a high hill, but God is waiting that He may be gracious unto them. He is now waiting till the set time is come for having mercy upon Zion. When a soldier is in ambush, he lies still, he does not move; he waits till the set time has come, and then he rises up to the battle. So God has delivered the dearly beloved of His soul into the hand of her enemies; He lies still; He does not move for them; He waits till the set time has come. Then He will rise; He will be exalted to have mercy on His ancient people. And what is it that He will do for them?
They shall dwell in Zion. God will bring His ancient people out of all lands where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. “I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul.”
At Jerusalem they shall weep no more. Ransomed Israel shall be a happy people. They shall come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
God will answer their prayer. At present God has covered Himself with a cloud so that their prayer does not pass through, but when He brings them to Zion, Israel will be a praying people, and He will be a prayer-hearing God.
Their teachers shall not be removed into corners any more, but their eyes shall behold their teachers. At present they have no true teachers. God has given them the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction. The words of Amos are now fulfilled: “I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it”. But when God brings back His people, He will raise up teachers, and their eyes shall behold their teachers.
1Another sermon taken, with editing, from Revival Truth.
The Holy Spirit will be their guide. They shall hear a voice behind them. Their teachers are before their eyes, but a voice shall come behind them. The great Spirit who teaches through the teachers shall guide them in the way of peace and holiness, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, or when ye turn to the left”.
Though these words refer first of all to God’s ancient people, yet whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Learn then from these words the comfort of all true believers.
1. They shall dwell in Zion. All the unconverted dwell outside Zion. They are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel: strangers and foreigners. They are children of wrath. They do not have the munition of rocks to defend them. They do not have the favour and presence of God. They do not have any of the privileges of citizens of Zion. But when God brings a soul to Christ, that soul dwells in Zion.
They are safe from wrath. As the mountains stand round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about that soul for ever. They are in the presence of God. They are brought nigh. God reveals Himself to such souls in another way than He does to the world. God is their Judge, their Lawgiver, their King, their Father, their God. He shall dwell there. Souls united to Christ dwell in Zion. They dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Have you been united to Christ? Have you been converted? Then comfort one another with these words, “The people shall dwell in Zion”.
They shall dwell in Zion above. It is a great joy to think that every soul that is united to Christ shall dwell eternally in Zion. I have no doubt some among you are united to the Saviour. Here is matter of joy. Every one of you shall dwell in Zion. “Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” Some of you have got little faith, like a grain of mustard seed; well, it shall grow, and you shall dwell in Zion. Some of you are in the wilderness; some of you are in darkness, seeing no light; some of you have fallen back into a cold formal state; still, I bless God; you shall dwell in Zion.
Some of you are not united to Christ. Unless you repent, you shall never dwell in Zion; you shall never see the King in His beauty nor the land that is very far off.
2. They shall weep no more. This also is true of a Christian. He weeps no more. When God awakens a soul that is lying in sin, that soul weeps bitterly. The work of God begins in tears. When there is a great outpouring of the Spirit upon any people, there is great mourning, as “the mourning of Hadad-rimmon” – every family mourns apart. In all times of revival it has been so;
the land becomes a Bochim – a place of weeping. So when God begins a work of grace in any soul, that soul mourns; his closet becomes a Bochim.
This is little known in our day; and yet, wherever the Spirit of God is at work, He is sending some anxious souls away to weep alone. But when God brings the soul to Christ, that soul weeps no more. When the Comforter reveals Christ to the soul as a full, free, all-sufficient Saviour, he cannot shed another tear, unless they are tears of joy. He is comforted; he is calm, composed, at rest; he weeps no more. “Return unto thy rest, O my soul.” Have you been brought through this experience? See to it, my dear friends, now, while it is called today, for you will weep eternally if you do not. Has this change passed upon you? If not, your case is inexpressibly sad.
Union to Christ also dries up all other tears. The righteous have many afflictions; still there is not one which union to Christ will not heal. This world is a vale of sorrow even to the righteous; a sinful heart, poverty, sickness, bereavement and a thousand troubles without a name often make the Christian weep bitterly. Still, in Christ he shall weep no more; in Zion there is a cure for every wound. If a man has pardon, and the favour of God shining on his head, and the Holy Spirit flowing into his heart, tell me what can harm him; what can be a real evil to him? Christ is a hiding-place from every wind.
In as far as we are unbelieving, we may have many tears. “I had fainted unless I had believed.” But if we abide in Christ and the Comforter abides in us, what can hurt us? What can annoy? In Zion you shall weep no more. Christian, how little you dwell in Zion; how little abiding in Christ there is; how little you dwell under the sheltering wings of the Almighty! No wonder there are so many weeping, dull, heartless Christians. Ah, if you would abide in Him, you would never be sorrowful, but always rejoicing. The tears of a Christian cannot be called tears; the tears of the world have the bitterness of hell in them; they work death. But your tears have the sweetness of heaven in them; you shall weep no more.
3. God will answer prayer. It is nowhere said that God has undertaken to answer the prayers of those that are out of Christ. He has nowhere covenanted to answer the prayers of Christless souls. However, He often does answer their prayers. You will find in Psalm 107 that they cry unto Him in their trouble, and He delivers them out of their distresses, but He has nowhere bound Himself to answer their prayers. Then you may say, If we are unconverted we should never pray. Ah, if you are unconverted you should pray all the more, because your case is all the more sad and dismal in that God has nowhere bound Himself to hear your prayers. You should cry all the louder, “O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul”. But when God brings a soul into Christ, He covenants to hear his prayers.
“He shall be very gracious unto thee.” Observe, He does not say He will do the very thing you ask of Him, but He says He will be very gracious unto you. A child often asks his father for something that would be hurtful to him. His father says, No, my son, that would not be good for you; this is better. He is very gracious to his child in withholding what he asks, and giving him something better. So it is with God, He often gives us more than we ask and more than we think. What can I wish, for more than that He should be very gracious to my soul?
Dear Christian friend, only believe, and it shall be done unto thee. All things are possible to him that believes. If you will not believe, then you will receive nothing. It is easy to ask difficult questions about prayer and answers to prayers but it is the hardest thing in the world to believe, to trust in Christ alone for righteousness, and to trust to God that He will answer, just because He says He will.
4. God will provide teachers. Observe that, when people are without ministers, God says they are eating the bread of adversity and drinking the water of affliction. How differently God judges from man! When a worldly man looks over our country, he sees the people all busy: plenty of work, plenty of wages, plenty of bread for the poorest of the poor. He says, O what a happy people! They are eating the bread of joy and drinking the waters of gladness. But what does God say? He says, There is a famine in the land. I have given them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. And what does Christ say? I have compassion on them, for they are as sheep that have no shepherd. Christians, be like God and Christ in this. Do not say there is plenty in the land, when there is such a famine of the word of life. Do not say, We have teachers ourselves, and we do not care who may be without them. If you are Christ’s people, feel as Christ did.
God will provide teachers for His people. This is true in the case of individual souls. Whenever God begins a work of grace in any soul, He always provides teachers for that soul. Whenever God kindles a spark of grace, He always finds teachers to fan it. He will not quench the smoking flax. I remember a poor Christian confined to a miserable hovel. She could not go from home, and there was no minister to care for her soul. You would have said, God cannot fulfil His Word here. But He did. In the wall opposite her window was an old carved stone, with these words for a motto: “In Christ is strength”. At that window she stood, and fed upon the words day after day. So God fulfilled His word, and her eyes beheld her teachers. Even although He should have to make the stones cry out, God will teach His people.
This is true also of a country. When God has a favour toward a country,
He will provide spiritual teachers for them. It was so with Israel. For them He raised up His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them. It will be so again. When God brings back the captivity of His people, then He says, “I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding”. And so it shall be with us if only we are a people pleasant in the eyes of the Lord. God will raise up labourers for the mighty harvest. Our eyes shall behold our teachers.
Learn from this where to look for more of the true ministers of Christ for our beloved land. We must look to God. “Cursed be the man that . . . maketh flesh his arm.” Steadily, firmly and devotedly we must use all the means that an all-wise God has put within our reach; but we must look above men, and even above kings, to the great King of kings. If we are His people He will provide us with suitable teachers. If our ways please the Lord He will make even our enemies to be at peace with us.
5. God will also give His Holy Spirit. This is the greatest of all the privileges of a Christian. The Christless soul knows nothing of this. He has no voice behind him saying, “This is the way”. The Christless have no guidance promised to them; they drift waywardly through the world. You have seen a log of wood on the tide. It is carried hither and thither; it is moved by every wave; at one time it is cast on the shore, again drawn back into the deep. So is it with an unconverted soul. He drifts along into an undone eternity. Again, you have seen a man travelling through a wood. He follows one path, then follows another. He is perplexed and lost; the farther he goes, the deeper he goes into the wood. He is all alone. He has no one to cry behind him, “This is the way”. So is it with an unconverted soul. All like lost sheep have gone astray. They have none to guide them, none to direct them. Are you Christless? Then this is your sad condition. But when a soul becomes united to Jesus, he receives the Spirit of Jesus, and hears a word behind him saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”.
The Spirit leads in the way of peace. And even when a soul has been brought to Christ, that soul still needs to be guided to Christ. If you are Christians, still you will know that the hardest thing in the world is to be constant to Christ, to walk in Him, to trust to Him alone for righteousness. You may feel it easy enough just now to look to Jesus and have peace, but wait till an hour of temptation comes, when Satan brings your old sins against you; then you will be tempted to flee to other ways for peace. How shall you be guided? In no other way than this: You shall hear a word behind you. The Spirit guides into the way of holiness. If you are a Christian at all, you will know how hard it is to walk in the way of holiness. The evil heart, the tempting world and the devil himself, all try to beguile you from the paths of holiness.
How shall you overcome? The Holy Spirit shall come with a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”.
Some of you know what it is to be united to Christ. Seek to have the word behind you. O seek it more and more! It seems but little known in our day.