Okay, our text is found in Isaiah
chapter 55. Isaiah 55, beginning in verse
10. Now, why did our God give us
his word? Why do we have his word? Our God gives us his word to
instruct us, to teach us who he is. It's to reveal to us who
our God is. And in his word, he reveals his
will and purpose to us. He's making known what his will
and purpose is for the people of God. And so we read in his
word where he tells us, Diligently to the voice of your God. Hearken diligently unto the voice
of the Lord thy God. Obey his commands. Now, what
is the command of our God? It's to believe on him whom he
has sent and to love your brethren. Believe on the one whom God has
sent, his son, Jesus Christ because He is the Word of God. Christ is the Word of God and
in Christ we have revealed to us what God's will and purpose
is for us. The will and purpose of God is
that He will be gracious. to you in Jesus Christ, his son. I don't know of anything more
precious than to know the will of God is that he will be gracious
to you in his son, Jesus Christ. All who come to him through the
son find forgiveness, find peace, find mercy and reconciliation
with God. And so our God is accomplishing
his will and purpose in the earth. He's sending forth his word. His word goeth forth in the preaching
of the gospel to accomplish his will and purpose in the earth,
which is to redeem, which is to deliver his people, to bring
them out of darkness, to bring them to know what God has done
freely for them in his son, Jesus Christ. And so I've titled the
message, God's Word Goeth Forth. His Word Goeth Forth. Now I'm
gonna begin in verse 11. Let's pick up in verse 11. Here our Lord says, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. What is this word
of which our God speaks? Well, when you read the word
of God and you hear the word of God, it's to declare, it's
to make known to you the purpose, his will and purpose in Jesus
Christ, his word, is the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He makes known to us his salvation,
his savior in his word. It is his word. Christ is his
word so that we see Christ in all the scriptures. When you
see Christ in all the scriptures, that's a good thing. Thank God
for that. When you see Christ and it's
speaking of Christ, he's the word which was made flesh. The Son of God was manifest in
the flesh. He is the God-man mediator. And that's what we want to know. We want to know what does that
mean, Lord, that your Son, Jesus Christ, is the God-man mediator? What does that mean? Why is he
a mediator? That shows us, that declares
to us, that he's the one who brings together two parties that
were that were enmity against one another. In reality, we were
enmity against God, but God had a people whom he loved and chose
before the foundation of the world, and he gave them to Christ
to accomplish their salvation, to accomplish his will and purpose
for you whom he loves. And so the word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And we see Christ in all the
promises of God. All the promises that he declares
to us in the scriptures, they all speak of Christ. For all
the promises of God in him, in Christ, are yea and in him, amen. So that our God is telling us
that all his promises to be merciful, to be gracious, to give you life,
to give you an end, which is good and profitable in him, it's
all found, it's all received, it's all given in his son, Jesus
Christ. Without Christ, there's no promises
of good. There's only the promise of wrath
for those outside of Christ. And Christ is that good word. He's the good word. He is the
gospel. He's the substance of the gospel
whom we preach. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter
1, verse 23 through 25. He says, we are born again, not
of corruptible seed. What's the corruptible seed?
That's the seed of Adam. That's how we all come forth
naturally. That's just our own minds, our
own thoughts, our own likes, our own dislikes. It's all corrupted. It all comes of corrupted seed
in Adam. That's not how we're born again.
This life isn't reformed. We're regenerated. We're given
a new birth, a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. by the
word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Christ is that
word which liveth and abideth forever. He is the very one whom
we preach, because it's his incorruptible seed that gives us life, whereby
in that new man which is created of him, we hear his word, we
believe his word. We hear him, we receive him,
we believe his word. For all flesh, this flesh of
Adam, is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away, but the word of our Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. He's the one who gives life to
his people. He gives life to whomsoever he
will. And he's gathered you together
here this morning. Beg him that you hear him with
the hearing of faith. Beg him that he give you birth,
a new birth by his seed, where the spirit takes of the things
of Christ and gives them to you, to your heart, giving you an
ear, giving you a heart, giving you a need that can only be satisfied
and met in the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach Christ because he reveals
the Father to us. We don't know who the Father
is. We don't know how to approach God. We don't know how to please
God. We think we do, and all it is is idolatrous works, vain
works, Dead works which cannot please God, which can earn us
no favor, no merit with the true and living God. But Christ reveals
the Father to us, and he brings us to the Father. He said, he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Because you that see
Christ right now, by faith, you behold the will and purpose of
God. that he will be gracious to you
in this one, this Jesus of Nazareth whom we preach, whom God has
declared by raising him up from the dead to say, this one is
salvation. Look to him, run to him, flee
to him. I'm merciful to all who come
to me in my son. He is the refuge whom God has
provided to deliver the people from their sin. That's how we
know the will and purpose of God. that he will be gracious
to us because in Christ, he put away our sin. He canceled our
debt. You know, when I was looking
over my notes this morning, I was thinking about that term, canceled
debt. That's a popular thing that's
going around these days, right? The canceling of debt, especially
in regards to student loan debt. And the young people or anyone
who's responsible for that student loan debt, would love to see
it canceled. But the older people who have
no debt or aren't responsible for that debt in any way are
upset about that because they know that when debt is canceled,
it doesn't just vanish away. Someone's paying for that debt.
It may be canceled for you. but someone else is paying that
debt. And so in the student loan, the older people get upset because
they know, wait a minute, I'm paying for that debt through
my taxes. It's coming out of my pocket
ultimately. Well, so it is with our sin debt.
It's canceled for us, but someone paid that debt. The Lord Jesus
Christ came and willingly paid the debt of sin, which we owed. We owe God perfect righteousness.
And we can't pay it. But Christ came and he said,
I'll bear it. I'll bear that burden. Lay it
on me. I'll pay it in full. And so he
submitted himself to the penalty of death under the law, which
was our due, which we earned and had to pay. Christ paid it
in our room instead for his people. And all who believe in him do
manifest that that blood was shed for them. They do show and
testify, God did that for me. That's why they believe, because
God's revealing this is for you. I've paid your debt. I've canceled
your debt for you. Christ has paid it all. And so Christ, Christ has delivered
us. All right, where did I go? So Christ canceled that debt
by his own blood. and He removes the enmity in
us. So that having put away our sin,
He doesn't leave us in darkness. He doesn't leave us in our flesh
and in darkness and undone-ness. He removes the enmity so that
we know that we look to Christ and we believe Him. He removes
that enmity so that we have fellowship with the true and living God. And he does this by regeneration,
by giving us his spirit who gives us life in Christ and gives us
knowledge and understanding of the things of our God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that our God speaks to us
now through his son, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over
to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter 1 and we see
that our God has done all things for us in His Son. Hebrews 1
verse 1. There it says, God who at sundry
times or at various times and in diverse manners spake in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high so that brethren We declare the word of God, which is the
Lord Jesus Christ. We preach Christ and him crucified
to you, because that's how the will of God is revealed in your
hearts. That's how you know God. That's
how you know his will and purpose for you, because he manifests
it in your hearts, making you to know, Lord, help me. Lord, cleanse me with that blood. Lord, save me. Don't deal with
me as my sins deserve. Lord, have mercy on me as I seen
you have mercy on so many who came to you seeking for forgiveness
and mercy and help. And everyone who came to you,
you didn't turn a single one away, but you showed compassion
and grace to them. So you that are sinners, you
that are unworthy of his mercy and grace, look to Christ. Look to Him, come to the Father
through Jesus Christ, the Son, because that is the will and
purpose of God for His people, to be gracious to you in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We preach Him because He reveals
to us and makes us to know what God has done for us freely in
grace and in mercy. Through Christ, God reveals His
mind to you. He makes you to know. that He's
not going to deal with you according to your sins. You that receive
Him, you that believe Him, He makes us to know what His will
and purpose is. You know, we do that all the
time with our work. When you give your word, you're
making known to someone what your will and purpose is. You
give your word and then you follow through. You follow through on
the word that you've given. Paul did it when he was writing
to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 1, verse 17
and 18, he said, when I therefore was thus minded, when I let you
know my mind, what my will was to do, did I use lightness? Or
the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh?
that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay. But as
God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. In other words, he made known
to them that when I come through to Macedonia, I'm gonna stop
in and see you, brethren, in Corinth. And when I'm on my way
back from Macedonia, going to Jerusalem, I'm gonna stop in
and see you, brethren, in Corinth. And so he did it. And that's
what our God is doing. He's making known to you. his
will and purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're
gathered here. It's not just to hear nice stories or moral
stories or to be encouraged to be good people in the world and
to do better and to repent of the bad things we do. That's
not why we're gathered here. We're gathered here to know the
mind of our God, to know what his will and purpose is for us. And it's all known, made known
to us in his son, Jesus Christ. to be turned from your own ways,
to be turned from your works, to be turned from your dead vein
religion, your dead letter religion, to behold the life and the salvation
of God in Christ, to rejoice, to be glad in Him, to see the
expected end that He's given you in His Son, Jesus Christ. We labor in this word to declare
to you that God is reconciled. to his people through Jesus Christ. He's the living word of God.
He's the one that speaks into our heart to let us know what
the will and purpose of God is for us in Christ. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. Go to 2 Corinthians 5. Paul speaks. of this very thing,
this ministry that we have. This is why we gather together,
to hear God's word, because God's revealing to us his will and
purpose. And that's what he says. Now
he's speaking to you who are his people. Now we don't know
it at first, we don't know that we are his until he manifests
that faith in us, that hope. in us looking to Christ, that
God will be merciful to us, to me in Christ. So that Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17, therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new, right? We're new creatures in Christ.
Verse 18 now, and all things are of God who hath reconciled
us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation, so that we who are called to preach, and
you that minister here, we're laboring, this is our labor,
to declare to you the word of God, to declare to you Jesus
Christ and him crucified, because that's where God reconciles his
people unto himself. We labor in this ministry. to keep preaching Christ, to
say from this verse and that verse and declare to you over
and over again what God has done. Because in this flesh, we're
so hard of hearing, we're so dead, we're so cold, we're so
easily willing to do and go the way of this world, but our God
keeps showing us mercy and grace and drawing us back to himself
in the embracing arms of his son, Jesus Christ. And so this
is our ministry to wit, verse 19, or to know that God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation, so that you who are his people, he lodges that
word, the word of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, his seed,
that new man in your heart whereby you believe Christ. It's given
to you, made known to you what God has done for you. Because
Christ is a personal savior. He saves sinners. He saves people
who cannot save themselves and need his mercy and grace. And so this is our ministry and
this word is given to each of you. who believe on him and trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul then says, verse
20, now then we are ambassadors. Ambassadors for Christ, as though
God to beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be
ye reconciled to God. For God hath made Christ to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Would you be righteous? Would
you be holy? Would you stand before God, faultless
before His throne? Believe Him. Believe the One
whom He has sent. Believe the Lord Jesus Christ,
because that's how God is met. That's how God receives His people,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God, he's the
word of reconciliation and he's given us this ministry to labor
in your midst in love and in fellowship and in joy and in
peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we preach this word though
as Paul said in another place, I'm an ambassador in bonds, I'm
an ambassador in chains, I am like you, weak and foolish and
sinful, and have nothing to boast of in myself. My boast, my glory,
my all is the Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray that the Lord make
Him your all, and that He rejoice your hearts, that He bring you
low in yourself to see your need of Him, and that He give you
faith in your heart, and the hope of the saints of God who
look to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe Him And Christ said
to his, he said, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. And that's not a command. Those
of the flesh hear that as a command. They say, oh, I better stop walking
in darkness. I better start straightening my life out. No, that's a promise. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now this word
that goeth forth out of our God's mouth, it's described here using
a picture from nature in verse 10. Look there, verse 10. For
as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth
in bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the
eater. So there's a purpose. There's
a purpose in God sending you his word. There's a purpose and
there's a season for which that word comes. He describes it as
the rain. There's spring rains and there's
fall rains and each one serves its purpose in helping bring
forth that seed to bud and then giving water to the crop so that
it comes all the way to fruition to bring forth fruit. And there's
a purpose for snows. I don't think you guys get a
lot of snow down here, but there's a purpose in snow when it packs
up on the mountains and it packs up on the ground, it slowly melts
in the early spring and that fills the water reservoirs underneath
and all the water tables once again. So it is with the word
of God. that we are refreshed. There's
a time when we hear it for the first time by faith, and we receive
it, and that word, that word which is given to us, which was
cast forth by the sower, preaching the word, is met with the rain
of God's word. And it breaks forth, and it springs
forth, and there's a bud, and it shoots up through the hard
ground, because it hears and it reaches forth for that light,
seeking the Lord, our God. And eventually, when that seed
comes forth to a head, such as grain or wheat, it's used to
make bread, that heavenly bread, upon which that heaven-born soul
begins to feast upon the bread of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear his word, and it brings
forth much fruit in his people, and we rejoice in what he's done.
And so God declares in verse 11, so shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. So our God is telling
us that his word shall not fail for that purpose which he has
sent it to you this day, and it'll prosper in his hand. He
speaks of Christ in his word in Isaiah 53, verse 10, he tells
us the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, meaning
you whom he's purposed to save, though you try to get away in
your flesh, though you try not to hear, though you try not to
believe it, he will cause you, he will bring you to the end
of yourself, and he'll open your ear and cause you to hear what
he has purposed for you in his son. Our Lord himself gave an
illustration of seed to describe how that he brings forth the
fruit in his people, which he has purposed to save and to harvest
for himself. He said, verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
And our Savior, He is that corn of wheat. He's the one who came
and laid down His life and gave His life, died for us, so that
He would bring forth many people, many to believe, many to have
an inheritance in Him. You know, if Christ came and
showed us who He was, and did many miracles and taught us the
things which he taught us, if he didn't die, if he didn't go
to the cross and lay down his life, none of us would be saved. We might know that that was the
son of God, we might know a lot of things, but if our sin wasn't
put away by the death of himself, we would all die in our sins. And we could not be brought forth
fruitful unto our Lord and what he does. But Christ is the blessed
man. Psalm 1-3 says, and he, Christ
the blessed man, shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season. His leaf
also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And so we preach Christ because
in the preaching of Christ, his fruit is manifested in the hearts
of his people by faith. which they hear, by which they
hear the word of God, by which they hear that He is the Savior,
by which they are made to know that they need His salvation,
His blood, His difference. And so we preach confidently,
we preach in faith, we preach trusting that our God has a purpose
in declaring this very word to you, His people. We see it also,
even in an example, Paul, when he went to Acts, turn to Acts
18, Acts 18. Acts 18 verse five. It says at the end of verse five
there that Paul was pressed in the spirit, and he was testifying,
he was preaching to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. There
at the end of verse five, he was preaching that Jesus is Christ. But they opposed that word. They
blasphemed against the word that Paul preached. They spoke out
against it. Today, people just stop coming.
They usually don't oppose you to your faith, they show you
that they're not happy with what they're hearing by just not coming
anymore. But Paul, when they opposed it,
Paul turned to the Corinthians, to the Gentiles. And it says
in verse eight, that when he preached to them, many of the
Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized at the end
of that verse. And so some hated the word, they
rejected the word, they judged themselves unworthy of eternal
life. But others heard that word, and
they rejoiced in what they heard, and they believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. So that later on, when Paul was
writing to the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians chapter two, verse
14 through 17, he said, now thanks be unto God, which always causeth
us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of
his knowledge by us in every place. He's making, we make known
the will of God by them crying out to him for mercy, for salvation,
for forgiveness in Christ. They reveal their hope in him
by the faith which they have in Christ. For we are unto God
a sweet saver of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that
perish. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death, and to the other the saver of life unto
life. and who is sufficient for these
things. For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God,
but as of sincerity, but as of God and the sight of God speak
we in Christ. And so we preach this word in
hope. This word is the Lord Jesus Christ,
whereby he declares to sinners that this is how he's reconciled
to his people, through Christ, who laid down his life for the
sins of the people, And to those whom He wills, He reveals this
hope in them, this faith in them whereby they believe that this
is the Christ. He is salvation. I have no salvation
apart from Him. I need His blood. I need His
salvation. Lord, have mercy upon me. And so we preach Christ, the
God-man mediator, to make known to you how God is reconciled,
you have peace with God and find comfort for your souls in the
Lord Jesus Christ. All who believe on Christ shall
not be ashamed. All who trust Christ shall never
be ashamed because they stand before God perfect, spotless,
holy, in a perfect righteous garment. It's like, but all those
who do not believe Christ, they stand in In their own works,
they stand in a garment full of holes. It's like having one
of those dreams when you're a young kid and you find yourself standing
naked before your class and you get scared. That's how it'll
be for those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll
stand in their works thinking that they're covered and their
garment is full of holes exposing all their shame and nakedness.
But Christ is righteousness, and he is the righteous garment
of his people by whom we stand faultless before the throne of
God. Now, I've preached Christ to
you, and poorly at that, I expect, but what savor is revealed in your
hearts this day? And what you've heard of Christ,
is it just a sour taste of death in your mouth? Or is it a wonderful
taste of joy and gladness and forgiveness? To the one, Christ
is a saver of life unto life. And to the other, he's a saver
of death unto death. And God makes known in the hearts
of his people them that are his, because they believe on him.
They trust him. They have no other hope but Christ. I pray that he makes Christ the
saver of life unto you. this day and that you find peace
and reconciliation and joy with your God in the word of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I'm going to close in prayer
and then Brother Walter will come in and close us in a hymn.