Watchman Radio Hour

Host (Male): Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Schultier announcer. The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker Alex Dodson to bring you this week's message from God's Word.

Host (Male): God sends forth the rain and snow to the earth to make it bring forth fruit. It accomplishes what it is sent for.

A. J. Young writes, the subject is the rain and snow instead of returning to heaven without having accomplished their intended purposes. They fulfill the purpose for which God sends them. In the rain and snow falling from heaven, we see the power of God bringing to completion His purposes in nature.

God has promised to endow Zion with splendor. She is in a low condition now but will one day. She will be glorious. Nations will come to Zion. She will proclaim Christ to the nations and people will come to Him. These are God's promises to Zion and His promises will not fail.

J. A. Alexander of Old Princeton writes the general design of these two verses here in Isaiah 55:10 and 11 is to generate and foster confidence in what Jehovah has engaged to do. God will keep His promises. His word will not return void. It will accomplish what it promises and purposes.

Our text then for today is Isaiah 55:10 and 11. Which says, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish. So that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, oh Father, we pray that you would send forth your word with power in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

God's Word is powerful and it is effective. It accomplishes what God sends it for. Have you heard God's Word? Has it touched your heart? I invite you to believe the promises of God and respond to His Word today. Jesus came to save sinners and invites all to come to Him.

In John 12:31 through 33 it says, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. Jesus invites you today to believe the gospel and come to Him.

Let us see in the first place today that God's Word is powerful. Verse 11 says again, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty and will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. God's Word penetrates hearts.

Hebrews 4:12 says, for the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Martin Luther said, the Holy Spirit rides the chariot of the Word of God into our hearts. When the Word comes in power, it penetrates hearts. Romans 10:8 through 13 it says, and what does it say, the Word is nearer you. It is in your mouth and your in your heart. That is the word of faith we are proclaiming. That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe it in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the scripture says, everyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

The Word of God penetrates hearts. It changes hearts. It converts hearts. The Word of God must be proclaimed. It is only through the Word of God that people can be saved. In Romans 10:14 through 17 it says, how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. But not all the Israelites accepted the good news, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ. Now open your heart to the Word of God today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Come to Him. Come to Him from your heart. Turn from your sins and turn to Christ.

And then let us see, it comes in in the power of the Holy Spirit. In John 16:8 through 11 it says, when he, the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin because men do not believe in me. In regard to righteousness because I am going to the Father, whether you can see me no longer.

In regard to judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned. In 1 Thessalonians 1:4 and 5 it says, brothers loved by God, we know that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but with also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your for your sake.

God's word comes in power, in converting power, in convicting power when it is accompanied by the Holy Spirit. May God send His word to this nation in great convicting power. May hearts be changed. May multitudes come to Christ. May God's word come to you today in great convicting power. May you turn from your sins and turn to Christ.

And then let us see in the second place today that God's word is effective. Again our text says, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty and will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. It accomplishes God's purpose. It comes from God. It comes directly to man. Its purpose is to call men to repentance and faith.

A. J. Young wrote, the word is whatever proceeds from the mouth of God and does not refer merely to some specific prophecy or utterance. Actually, the Word of God which comes from His mouth is made known to man by means of the media of revelation. The thought of the same is in is in 2 Timothy 3:16, in which the scriptures are said to be God breathed.

Theos. The reference is to propositional revelation and the origin of this propositional revelation, as in 2 Timothy 3:16, is God Himself. The word originates in the mind of God. It goes out from His mouth and comes to man either in spoken or written form through the divinely appointed media of revelation.

A. J. Young writes again, the word is God's. It belongs to Him and for this reason fulfills its task. And John Calvin, the great reformer wrote, in order to impress more deeply on the minds of men the power and efficacy of preaching, he declares that he does not cast that precious seed at random, but appoints it for a fixed purpose and consequently that we ought to entertain no doubt as to the effect.

For there is nothing to which mortals are more prone than to judge of God for themselves, so as to withhold belief from His voice. And then Calvin goes on to write, for this reason when we hear the promise of God, we ought to consider what is His design in them. So that when He promises the free pardon of our sins, we may be fully assured that we are reconciled through Christ.

And then he writes, but the prophet's meaning was different, namely that God does not speak in vain or scatter His promises into the air, but what we shall actually receive but that we shall actually receive the fruit of them, provided that we do not prevent it by our unbelief.

Matthew Poole writes, it shall not return unto me void without, that is, without success. It is an allusion to an ambassador who returns without dispatching that business for which he was sent. It shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it. It shall have that effect which I intended. It shall certainly be fulfilled in manner before expressed. In the manner before expressed.

And then let us see that it changes hearts. When the word comes in power, hearts are changed. Hebrews 4:12 says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Jeremiah 23:29 it says, is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces. A man's heart has to be changed in order to know God. In Romans 2:28 and 29 it says, a man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, not by the written code.

Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. In Deuteronomy 10:16 it says, circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. In Jeremiah 4:4 it says, circumcise yourselves to the Lord. Take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my fury comes for like comes forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evils of your doing.

In James 4:8 it says, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hearts, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. When the word comes in power, the hearts of people are changed.

What about your heart today? May God's word come to you in power and change your heart to follow God, to know Christ and His salvation. And then let us see in the third place the importance of preaching. The preacher is God's spokesman. He is the bearer of the word of God. He brings God's word to the people. Jeremiah was God's spokesman in his generation.

In Jeremiah 29 it says, but if I say, I will not make mention of of him or speak anymore in his name. His word is in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in, indeed I cannot. He was God's spokesman and he knew it. God gave him a message and he had to declare it to the people. Paul was God's spokesman in his generation.

In 1 Corinthians 9:6 Paul says, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me, yay, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Paul had a message from God and he knew he had to preach it to the people. Matthew Henry wrote, so shall my word be. As powerful in the mouth of prophet as it is in the hand of Providence.

It shall not return unto me void as unable to effect what it was sent for or meeting with an insuperable opposition. No, it shall accomplish that which I please. Colin Dailitch wrote as snow and rain are the mediating causes of growth, and therefore the enjoyment of what is reaped. So is the soil of the human heart softened, refreshed and rendered productive or prolific by the word out of the mouth of Jehovah.

And this word furnished the prophet who resembles the sower with the seed which he scatters and brings with it bread which feeds the souls. For every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God is bread. And Calvin wrote, so shall my word be. The word goeth out of the mouth of God in such a manner that it likewise goeth out of the mouth of men.

For God does not speak openly from heaven, but employs men as his instruments that by their agency he may make known his will. God calls men to proclaim his word, and he honors that word as it goes out of the mouths of his servants. Today we need the powerful preaching of the word of God as never before. God's word is powerful and we need powerful preaching to come upon us.

Just as in the days of George Whitfield, who preached with mighty power throughout the American colonies. And then let us see the preacher brings God's message to men. Ebenezer Porter, in writing about the beginning of the second great awakening in America in the early 1800s, wrote, but among the ministers to whom I have referred, what means were deemed most important to promoting revivals of religion?

To this I answer that the first place in point of importance was assigned to the preaching of the gospel. That this ought to be regarded as the prime instrument which God has chosen for the conversion of sinners is evident from the example of Christ in his own ministry, from the commission to the apostles and their example in executing that commission and from the universal experience of the church.

And then Porter goes on to write, the general characteristics of sermons at this period I am reviewing were the following. They were decidedly evangelical. Christ crucified, being kept prominent in every pulpit where the spirit of revival prevailed. They were methodical, they were biblical. The word of God being made the grand source of argument and illustration.

To a good degree they were fervent and pungent, often making solemn appeals to conscience and by a still higher degree they were instructive. Preaching brings God's word to men so that he might he might repent and believe. The grace and truth study Bible says, but while we cannot reach the Lord, he can reach us.

He sends his life-giving word, the gospel like rain and snow from heaven that water the earth and cause it to flourish. Now we need great preaching in our land as never before. The nation needs great preaching to its people. The church needs great preaching to bring revival and fill the churches with Christians on fire for the Lord.

In 1840, in Glasgow, Scotland, John Bonar uttered these words, which applied to us today as much as it did to them back then. He said, if ever then there was a nation, if ever there was a church, if ever a state of the church which required a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, ours is that time. Ours that church and perhaps never since the words of the Holy Psalmist breathed out for himself and the people of God in his time.

The desire of our heart has there been a time when it was more fit for all who love the Lord to unite together in that earnest prayer. Return. We beseech thee, oh God of host, look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the branch that thou made strong for thyself. Return, oh Lord, how long.

And let it repent thee concerning thy servants. Oh, satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou has afflicted us. And the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto thy children, and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.

And establish thou the work of our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. May God send revival in our day is our prayer. But we must listen. We must listen to the word of God. Romans 10:17 says, consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. We must listen to the word of God. Our duty is to listen.

You must listen now, listen to the gospel message. In John 3:16 it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Paul said to the Philippian jailer, believe Paul said that to the Philippian jailer, believe the gospel message, believe it in your heart. Put your trust in Christ for your salvation. Makes no difference who you are, whether you're young or old, whether you're rich or poor, whether you're educated or not so educated. God is no respecter of persons. Come to Christ today. Don't delay any longer. Now is the time. Come to Christ.

I invite you right now to come and pray this prayer of commitment. Dear Lord Jesus, I confess that I'm a sinner. I confess that I have done wrong in your sight. And I now turn in repentance from my sins and I turn to you and I accept you and what you did on the cross for my sins. I accept your forgiveness and I accept your salvation.

And I receive you as my Lord. Help me, oh Lord, to follow you always. Amen. Dear Lord Jesus, whoever has prayed this prayer this morning or this day, we pray, oh Lord, that you will fill them with your spirit. That you will help them, oh Lord, to follow you in their lives.