in chapter 61, verse 10, through the end of chapter 62. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. For Zion's sake, will I not hold my peace? And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. and the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate. but thou shalt be called Hephzibah in thy land, Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. 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 and give him no rest till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength, surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for the which thou hast labored. But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord. And they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. Go through, go through the gates, Prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. 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 thou shalt be called sought out, a city not forsaken." As we join in prayer together this evening, The call to be quiet can be found throughout Scripture. It's often a call for peace, a quiet trust, a stillness, and faith. Maybe Psalm 46, verse 10 has already come to mind. Be still. and know that I am God. Psalm 46 is in a time of tumult, and the meaning there of be still is really sink down, drop to your knees, and be quiet. He's God. But the call for stillness can also be found in Exodus 14, In a time of fear, Moses there told the people who were afraid of Pharaoh, the Lord shall fight for you and you, you shall hold your peace. And the meaning there is stop working, hold your peace, stand still. The same call can be found in Job 13. Time of tension between Job and his friends. And Job says to his friends, hold your peace. Let me alone that I may speak and let come on me what will. And the sentence there again is stop working. Stop digging at me. Hold your peace. You can also find the call in Nehemiah 8. It's a time of conviction. Where Nehemiah had to tell the people, with the Levites, do not be sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Hold your peace. Neither be grieved. Right, it's a call to be quiet. And such quietness is commended. Be still and know. Or you might think of Psalter 100, rest in the Lord with quiet trust. Wait patiently for him. Well, this sense of calling for peace and quietness may seem to complicate our text, because we want to think about together Isaiah 62, verse six and seven. I've 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, and give him no rest till he establish, until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Why would God's word say, hold your peace? And God's word say, never hold your peace. How are we to understand this? Psalm 46, It's postural. It's about the posture before the Lord. Exodus is an instruction to the people about the people. Stop working. Job is to stop the comments of other friends, other people. Stop. Nehemiah is about the people working themselves up. They are to stop working themselves up. Right, the only one of the examples I gave you that is in relation to the Lord was Psalm 46. And in Psalm 46, it's a response to God. It's not a seeking after God. So we are to hold our peace when it's in relationship to other people. We are to hold our peace when God's coming to us. But the point this evening is, when we go to God, we are not to hold our peace. we are to pray. We have an encouragement here in these two verses to call on God, and not just to pray once in a while, but to ceaselessly pray for the church until the day of full redemption. And under the title or theme of Never Hold Your Peace, we will learn six things about prayer from this passage. The first is, prayer is to be ceaseless. Unstopping. You can think of this already in how Jesus taught the disciples to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Right? It's a regular unending prayer. It's every day. And that's why You are encouraged to pray every day for such things. It's also why we meet for this particular purpose annually to pray together, right? Year after year or season after season, we confess our dependence on God for crops, for work. We admit we need God. to send rain, to send the sunshine, because we don't just believe He created all things and then left all things alone. No, He is the creator who sustains all things, and that includes life and seasons and weather, and we believe this year after year, and so we go to Him season after season saying, Lord, this is still true. But in our text, this isn't, necessarily the focus, but there's a connection. Did you notice in verse 11 of chapter 61, as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, there's, right, there's an awareness of a new season, and yet the thing that is paid most attention to is this, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth. before all nations. Right? We depend on God for the earth and for the garden, but we're looking for something else as well. This is what our text is getting at more specifically. There's watchers on the walls of Jerusalem, and they're there day and night. This is how ceaseless This activity has to be. They're there day and night. We would say 24-7. Unending. Now the watchers who care for the walls of Jerusalem, you have to realize this isn't so much about the city. This is a symbol of God's church. You think of other symbols of God's church, right? Maybe the most well-used one is the bride. But just look up to the previous verse, right? This is the context of the church. The watchers who care for Jerusalem are those who care for the church, the church that God's going to rejoice over. And therefore, those who are there watching, caring for what happens in the church are called to pray ceaselessly, day and night. for the well-being of the bride of Christ. Second, prayer is to be vocal. It's ceaseless and it's vocal. It's not just the private prayers of a heart, but it's expressed prayer. We see this in verse six again in the instruction. They shall never hold their peace." Do not keep silent. Right? These watchmen are watchmen who would call out, make noise, give off alerts if certain things were happening. But as there to be those who approach the Lord in prayer, They lift their voices in the same way. They're not watchmen who are silent. No, they're watchmen who are full of activity. We would say always asking for something. You might even think of the toddler. The toddler's not a watchman, but the toddler follows their parent. saying, please, please, please. It's a ceaseless vocal activity. Except here, it's not childish activity. It's adult activity of leaders, we would say. They shall not hold their peace. They shall not keep silent. And if you want to think of biblical examples of leaders who prayed publicly, You can think of the prayer of Solomon in 1 Kings 8, in front of all the nation gathered there. He prays, let these my words wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he may maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel at all times. Right, this is Solomon as the leader praying that the issues of the day, the needs of the week would come before the Lord and that he would see, yes, Solomon as king, but all of his people at all times. That's how he was praying. Or think of Nehemiah chapter one. Let this ear be attentive, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel. Right, he's praying again, not for himself, but for the people. And it's a vocal, expressed prayer to God. You are to pray with words. for the regular needs of your families, your children and grandchildren, your church family. And yes, while God hears the groans and hearts that express unsaid things, he delights when the church gathers to vocally not hold their peace. But notice third, these prayers are directed to God. Verse six again. It's ye that make mention of the Lord do not keep silence. Right? It's not a request to someone else here to ask for something. But those who look to the Lord do not keep silent. If you're one who looks to the Lord. You need to know He delights in hearing you. And it's not just that you should pray. He delights in hearing you. Right, how much? Well, just look at the picture that's put before us in chapter 62, verse 3. Thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem. That's a turban, really. Right, in the hand of God. Royal symbols. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah. You know what Hephzibah means? My delight is in her. Right, this is how God receives those who are praying. They're crowns of glory in the land. His delight goes out to them. Right? And so, pray ceaselessly, vocally, directed to God. His delight's in hearing those voices. Think of Jacob, right? Wrestling at Peniel. Directed to God vocally, ceaselessly. What was his prayer, really? I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Right, and sometimes we think of Jacob wrestling, and we think, well, he's on his own, and that's true praying. Well, no, don't put that in a better category. Right, prayers directed to God can be prayers together as well, corporate prayers. Right? Think of Moses praying for Joshua all day long. Right? Joshua's down there leading the army. Moses is up praying as an old man. Whose work? Who was working for the Lord? Well, they both were, weren't they? But Moses is praying and he's getting tired. He's trying to keep his hands up because he sees that as long as those hands are up and the prayers are going out, Joshua is successful. But he's old. How much more can he do? Well, what happens? You know, right? Aaron comes on one side, Herod comes on the other side. They help him lift his hands up to the Lord. Right? Because they are depending on God together. They're asking God together. And yes, we read Moses is the one praying, but what do you think Aaron and her were doing? They weren't just standing there, right? They were seeing what's going on. They're encouraging the prayers to continue. Do you direct your prayers to God in that way? Right, with faith. Not just, oh, do you begin your prayer saying, our Father or dear Lord or whatever. But do you direct your prayers to God? Do you aim at God when you pray? Right, sometimes we're pretty good at making our prayers really about the news. And it reads like a newspaper, oh, this and this happened here, and this and that happened there, as if God doesn't know. And He needs you to tell Him. Right? But no, if we are praying, our prayers are directed to God, and we're coming to God, really, and saying, Lord, do, as Thou hast said, fulfill this word that has been spoken. Right? We take God's Word back to Him, knowing that He has promised what He will do. He may even do more. He might do abundantly above what we ask or think. But the best praying is taking God's Word back to Him and pleading these promises. Right? Saying, Lord, this is what has been said in Thy Word by Thee. And we're looking for fulfillment. But fourth, prayers to be disciplined. What does it mean in verse seven when it says, give him no rest? Right, those who make mention of the Lord are to give him No rest. There's a sense in which they themselves are to be so disciplined that they're always praying. This is what Paul's getting at to the Thessalonians. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. And that's to a whole church, or Paul to Timothy. I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and without doubting. Right, there's a discipline of time that happens. If we were to pray without ceasing, it doesn't mean that's all you do every day, but there's a discipline of time and you do it continually, ceaselessly. There's also a discipline of variety. A variety of things to pray for. Because we're not praying to the Lord just for the sick. Or just for whatever shows up in the bulletin that week. No, we're to be disciplined in our praying for a whole bunch of scenarios, right? There's praying for weak believers or a weak church. Why? Because we look to God to answer this. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flack shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment on the earth. Right? This is God's promise, and we pray that promise for those we know who need that promise. And then there's the discipline of prayer for the purity of the church. Right? We might say, oh, the church is doing okay. We don't need to pray for it. No, let's pray for the purity of the church. Again, I say to you, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they ask, It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." And then there's the discipline of prayer for more prayer. Right? There's the discipline of praying bigger prayers than you've ever prayed before. Right? Because yes, God is a God who gives us our daily bread, and that's a necessary prayer. But in a sense, it's a small prayer because it's easy for God to give you daily bread. It's easy for God to do everything, but it's easier for us to imagine God giving us our daily bread, because we just open our cupboards. But what about praying big prayers, right, and asking for greater discipline in that? And why would you do that? Why would you do that for your family? Why would you do that for others in the church, even going pew by pew and just praying big prayers for those people, big prayers for those people? Spurgeon puts it this way, because one week I'm going to be praying for those people, and I'm going to be praying big things for them. And the next week when they pray for me, I want them to pray big things for me. I need them to pray big things for me, right? So that when I'm down, they lift me up through prayer. When I'm needy, they lift me up through prayer. When I'm falling asleep or backsliding, they pray such big prayers that I'm woken up again and shaken to diligence. There's also the discipline of praying for people who are already Christians. This is what Paul was so good at, praying for other believers. And not just saying it's okay now that they're believers, but know as 2 Thessalonians 1, we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you. Well, those would be disciplines that we're not used to. But then notice in this verse also prayers to be urgent. Right, give him, that's God, no rest. Right, what's the instruction? Pray, pray, pray. Ask, ask, ask. Seek, seek, seek. Knock, knock, knock. There's so much possibility. There's so much power. There's so much potential. Why do we ask for so little? Let's ask more urgently because we need God that much more than we've ever realized before. or flip back to chapter 61 verse 1. Pray more urgently because the Spirit of the Lord God is upon him and the Lord has anointed him to preach good tidings to the poor. This is an urgent good news that has to go out. Let's pray more urgently. As you see the spiritually dead and dying Let's pray more urgently. Why? Because we need Him who's been sent to heal the brokenhearted. We need Him who's been sent to proclaim liberty to the captives. We need Him to open the prison of those who are bound in their own spiritual slavery. Let's pray more urgently. And you can get the sense then that these prayers are for the church as a whole, for those who don't know the Lord yet, but the urgency comes out. Lord, there's so many here who need the transforming grace that only comes from Him who's been sent to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Because who comes with words that comfort? Jesus Christ. Who gives beauty for ashes? Jesus Christ. Who gives the oil of joy instead of mourning? Jesus Christ. Who can plant you as a tree beside the rivers of water so that you might grow and be fruitful and flourish? Jesus Christ. And is that urgent? Or do you have 50 years to wait? Right? If we don't ask for these graces, if we don't plead God's word back to him, we'd wither and die. But no, let us give him no rest. No rest. You think of stories or illustrations Jesus told in the New Testament. Right, people go to their father and ask for one thing, and the father would give them, or he asks it as a question actually, would a father give him something else? No. But then, why don't we pray urgently with great expectation that the father would send fish to those who are looking for scorpions, or looking and only finding scorpions, because no one else has the answer. We know God gives as a father would give to his child. Let's plead for good gifts then. And when you realize none of us knows how much time or how little time we have left, how much need for urgency, like the persistent widow. She came and came until the judge avenged her. But what did Jesus say the lesson was there? Shall not God avenge his own which cry day and night, though he bear long with them? I tell you, he will avenge them speedily. But the question Jesus ends with is, when he returns, will he find faith on the earth? Will there still be people praying, looking for answers? So prayers to be ceaseless, vocal, directed to God, disciplined, urgent. And finally, prayers to be purposeful, Right, because why are these prayers going up to God? Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise. That's the purpose of prayer. That the church would be praiseworthy. How much room do we have for prayer then? Right, not even everyone in the church praises the church. Right, some might say, church does all these things wrong. Someone else might say, church is so dull in these ways. Another one says, the church is so full of hypocrites. Let's keep praying until the church is a praise in the earth. Right? Because it's ultimately not for us. But if we truly desire to honor God and praise God, let's realize that this ought to motivate us, right? There's things in life we all want. And if we focus on something we want, we work hard towards it. We want it. But here we have really a promise of God that this is, God will hear prayers until the church is appraised. And do we want the same thing? And yes, if we do want the same thing, let's keep on praying. This is what the Lord's promised, and we can pray with energy and confidence and optimism. This is the work of the Lord, and we're asking him to do it here in this place soon. And yes, we can pray for our own church then, can't we? We can pray for each other. Paul says this to the Thessalonians too. We were comforted over you in our distress by your faith, praying night and day exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. We pray for this church that it would be a praise. Now, if we're going to pray to God for this church, We have to realize we can't control and manipulate the church into our own image if we're going to pray to God to do His work here. Right? Let's not think that the praise of the church is up to us or our ideas, but let us pray to God to do it. He said He will. And if God wants it, he will make it happen. And since God wills it, we will it. And if God's promised that we can take his word back to him, because we're not praying for our kingdom, we're not praying in our name, right? We pray thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Make this church a praise. And if we think that Jesus is praying and interceding, and perfects even the weaknesses and wrinkles of this place and the people in it. You can still pray, make this church a praise. That being said, does God know what our church needs? Yes. God knows what every family here needs. But don't fall into the trap of thinking you don't need to pray that. Because even Jesus Christ prayed for the church, in a sense that it would be praiseworthy. You read John 17, his high priestly prayer, with this idea in mind. What does Jesus say? I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. They are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. It's interesting, isn't it? It's fulfillment of Isaiah. But he continues that prayer for the church, that they may all be one as thou, Father, in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. And what did Jesus say? That the world may see it and believe. Right, let us give the Lord no rest until he make Jerusalem, his church, a praise in the earth. And in this way, let us not keep silent, but pray. Let's pray together. And I will be praying for special seasonal things and a few regular things, but let's bow before God together.