A City Not Forsaken

Isaiah 62:12

And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

One of the great phrases in the Scriptures is the phrase, Sought out, A city not forsaken. God was reminding Jerusalem that, one day, Jesus would come to pay for their sins, and one day the city would be saved. This is why He said that Jerusalem would be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

Every city needs the hope that it is a city not forsaken. According to one stat, there are over 10,000 cities worldwide. Each one of these cities have people who need the Gospel. Now, you must understand that these are just cities that are counted in this stat; this does not include all of the towns and villages. Sadly, many of these cities are forsaken. Many of these cities don't have a Gospel witness. My question is: how are these cities supposed to hear the Gospel if no one seeks them out to share the Gospel with them? We have a world that is on its way to Hell, and many believers are so cold and indifferent towards God that they are not concerned with the lost souls of mankind. Let me share some thoughts about having a city not forsaken.

First, a city is made up of people. If a place was built with just buildings and no one lived in that place, it would not be called a city. It is the people inside that city that make it a city. May I remind you that every person inside that city has a soul that will either go to Heaven or Hell. Let me define it a bit better. I live in Oklahoma City, and the population of my city alone is 712,919, excluding the suburbs and smaller cities within the OKC borders. This means that in the city where I live, there are 712,919 souls. When you think of the population as each number is a soul, you realize the magnitude of the Great Commission in reaching each soul that has an eternity it must face. A city not forsaken means that the souls of that city have been reached.

Second, a city can only be reached if someone seeks out the souls in that city. Before the city was not forsaken, someone had to seek out that city. Your city cannot be reached without you seeking out the souls that are lost in your city. No soul has ever been saved without someone seeking them out first. In other words, the only thing that will keep your city from being forsaken is for you to seek out the souls in that city.

Third, a city can only be reached if someone is willing to put in the hard work to reach that city. No one ever said that reaching a city will be easy; in fact, it takes hard work. Maybe the reason our cities are not reached is because believers are unwilling to do the hard work to reach their city.

Fourth, a city cannot be reached by one person alone. Though the Oklahoma City population is is 712,919, the OKC Metro has a population of 1.5 million. There is no way that I can reach every soul alone. If any city is going to be reached, it will take every person who is saved in that city to seek out the souls that are lost in that city to bring them to Christ.

So, my question to you is this: do you love your city enough to seek out the souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Every city should be able to say that they are not forsaken, but they will never be able to say this unless the believers in that city try to reach the lost souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.