mainly at the first two verses
in chapter 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. The title of the message this
morning is a double comfort. Double comfort. Now what goes
before this comfort is important. A lot of times our chapter divisions
are put there to help us, but they can be a hindrance at times.
And this time I believe we can see a hindrance here by just
starting there. I think it's important that we
see what went before, which was first, trouble. Trouble. How can you be comforted if you
don't have any trouble? And so trouble must come first. And that's what exactly comes
first here. This goes before this passage
in the previous chapter. This king Hezekiah, king of Judah,
he had been received a great blessing. He was dying. He was on his deathbed. God said,
get your affairs in order. It's time for you to die. And
he began to weep and cry. He had no children. This was
the main concern for Hezekiah. He had no offspring to secure
his throne. And so he cried unto the Lord,
and the Lord heard him. And He said, I'll add fifteen
years to your life. What a blessing! And not only
that, it gave him a sign that the sun went backward ten degrees. And so, what happens after this
was that Hezekiah falls into the sin of pride. Pride. Hezekiah, king of Judah, because
of the pride of his riches, reveals to the ambassadors of Babylon
all the treasures in his house. That's what Isaiah said in verse
3. He said, who are these people that come? And he said, well,
they're from Babylon. They come from a far country
to see me. They come all this way to see
me. And he said, well, what did you show them? And he said, I
showed them all that I have in mine house. They've seen everything.
I showed them everything. I showed them all my trophies. I showed them all my prizes,
all my works, all my goodness. I showed all of it to them. And the prophet tells him, because
of his pride, what sorrow and grief should befall him is that
the children of Israel, his nation that he took so much pride in
building, will be destroyed. He says, these men whom you showed
everything to, he said, the day is coming when Babylon shall
take everything from this kingdom and nothing will be left. And he said, not only that, those
children you prayed for, he said, those children will be taken
away and made eunuchs. They won't have any children.
They'll be mutilated, castrated, and sent away to serve the king
of Babylon. And what sorrow and grief must
have fell on this man Hezekiah's heart? What sorrow and grief! Because of his pride, he had
showed the enemies of God the treasures that God had given
him out of pride that his sons and children would be made slaves.
Even so, believers, this grief that fell Hezekiah, believers
in Christ, are we not again confronted with our own self? Are we not confronted with the
fact that like Hezekiah, we still are prone to all sorts of vile
sin? We are confronted again with
this. It's everywhere. It's everywhere in Scripture.
We're confronted with this fact that we are not only surrounded
by sin, we're not only bombarded by sin from without, but we're
also from within. You heard that saying, wherever
you go, there you are. And so wherever you go, sin goes
with you, because sin still remains in us. How soon did this man
Hezekiah go from being abased, serving God, he was humbled,
God had delivered him from his enemies, God had saved his life,
he humbled himself, he praised God for it, and how fast did
he go from humility to pride? From humility to pride in less
than a few days. How often do we receive blessings
from the Lord only to glory in the blessings and not the blesser? Am I just speaking to myself?
That's okay. That's just me. But I know it's
not. I know it's every believer in
Christ. Believer in Christ, we are very familiar with this truth
as it is spoken in the Song of Solomon. The Shulamite is a person
of two armies. Two companies. A company of two
armies. We are people of two natures.
Believers in Christ, we are a people of the old man and the new. We have two natures residing
in one body. If you want to see an illustration
of this, go to Genesis. Genesis chapter 25. I thought this was a wonderful
thing. We know that Esau and Jacob represent
both the elect and those that are loved of God, the elect,
and Esau represents those who are hated of God, the non-elect,
but they also represent the two natures. Look at this in Genesis
25, verse 22. It's talking about after Isaac
entreated the Lord for Rebekah to give him children, It says
in verse 22, ìAnd the children struggled together within her. And she said, ìIf it be so, why
am I thus?î And she went and inquired of the Lord. And the
Lord said unto her, ìTwo nations are in thy womb, and two manner
of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one
shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve
the younger.î What a picture! Rebecca here is a picture of
all of us, believers. She knows that Isaac's seed,
that in the seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
In other words, she believes in Christ. She trusts in Christ.
And yet, she says, why am I thus? Why am I like this? What is the
matter? If this is the promise, why is
there struggle? Why is there trouble in me? If
this is so, if this is where peace comes from, how come there's
no peace in me and the two are struggling together? Is this not our cry? If we are the elect of God, if
we are the redeemed of Christ, if we have given the Holy Spirit
and all the promises and blessings of God, then why is there such
a struggle? Why is there such turmoil within
us? We're free from the guilt of sin. Why am I thus? Newton wrote tis a point I long
to know. Oft it causes anxious thoughts. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? Why
this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain?
Prayer, a task, and burden prove. Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild. filled with unbelief and sin. Can I deem myself a child? If I pray or read or hear, sin
is mixed with all I do. You who love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? There is in each one of us who
are believers, who are believers, a Jacob and an Esau. An old and
a new nature. A new nature created by God the
Holy Spirit who is righteous and holy as God. But we also
have an Esau, the old nature that still remains. A nature born to sin. And there still remains a great
warfare that rages in the hearts of believers. Paul said this
in Galatians 5. He said to believers, he encourages
us to walk in the Spirit. Why? Because we still have a
proneness to walk in the flesh. Walk after the Spirit and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Well, because the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these
are contrary one to another, so that you cannot do what you
want to. What does the new man want to
do? He wants to be holy. He wants to live righteously,
soberly, and godly in this present world. And what does the old
man want to do? He wants to sin. He wants to
live in rebellion. He wants to... to walk after
the flesh, adultery, fornication, lasciviousness, all of these
lusts of the flesh. That's what the old man wants
to do. And you know what? We're not allowed to do anything.
The old man can't be as horrible as he wants to be, and the new
man, his sin is mixed with all we do. Believers, yield your members
unto God. You who are believers, you should
yield your members unto God as servants to God. walk in the
graces of the Spirit, love, joy, meekness, temperance, faith,
and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, adultery,
fornication, lasciviousness. And even as we seek to walk in
these graces, what do we still find? Sin. We still find sin. Sin is mixed with all we do Oh,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? Believer, are you troubled with
your struggles and failures? Then here's the answer. I thank
God through Jesus Christ, my Lord. This is the answer to Hezekiah. This is what he said when he
found trouble because of his sin. He said, good is the Word
of God. Good is the Word of the Lord.
He confessed. He confessed his wretched condition. We should confess our wretched
condition. Confess our sins. And confess
that all that God does is good. I confess that. I confess that
not just once. I confess that every day of my
life. Are you such a man as this? Well,
then go back to your text. Because Hezekiah, the Lord doesn't
stop there. He doesn't stop with his troubles,
but gives him not only a comfort, but a double comfort. The answer
to Hezekiah is the answer to all who confess their sins and
believe on Christ. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Are you such in one that needs
mercy? Are you such in one that needs
grace and forgiveness of sins? And behold, here's where the
gospel of Isaiah begins to turn. It begins to not be so much of
a history, rather it begins to be a future book. It begins to
really expound on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gives us a double comfort. He
says, comfort ye, comfort ye. It's repeated twice. Why? Does
God need to repeat Himself? God says something once, you
better listen. God says something twice, and
that's something to take notice of. Why does He say it twice? Not because of God's reluctance
to give comfort. We think that. We think God is
reluctant to give us comfort. We're just too bad. You can't
possibly want me to be comforted. It's not the reluctance of the
preacher to preach it. I love preaching comfortable
things. I do. But it's rather our reluctance
to believe it. God says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people because of our reluctance to believe it. It is true that this comfort
does not extend to all men. This comfort does not extend
to all men. but is reserved only for God's
people, God's elect, God's redeemed, God's called. God's comfort extends
to those of His chosen by His sovereign election, by His own
sovereign eternal love. This love was the love that He
had for Jacob, and therefore Jacob was comforted. But it was
not for Esau, whom God hated. You remember the rich man and
Lazarus, how the rich man lifted up his eyes being in torments?
And he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus down that he may
comfort me. Drop a water on my tongue. And
he said, Son, remember, in your lifetime you received good things
and Lazarus ill, but now he is what? Comforted. and thou art
tormented." Do you suppose, that rich man, that this message was
for him? This comfort was for him? No.
No. It's only for God's people. This
comfort is to God's people who Jesus Christ redeemed by His
own blood. Jesus said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. The blood of Christ was not shed
in vain, but for all His elect people. and so this message of
comfort is to the elect to the troubled elect of God and all
his people all his people are evidenced by an effectual calling
of the Holy Spirit I tell you what when I was young I didn't
know my election I thought for sure I was because I was such
a good person I didn't know anything Not until God revealed it to
me. Not until God saved me by His grace and gave me a new heart
and a new life. So all those who are called by
the Holy Spirit to faith in Christ alone, this is for you. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Are you the people of God? Are you saved by the grace of
God? Are you saved through faith in
Christ alone? Are you His redeemed? Are you
His called? Don't look back to some experience.
There's no comfort there. Don't look back to some times
that you did some work or some religious deed. Do you believe
in Christ now? Stop trusting in what you did.
Believe on Christ now. Now is the only thing that matters. I've said this before and it's
good to hear. Faith is always present tense. Why? Because faith ten minutes
ago will not help you. And faith ten minutes from now
will not help you. Faith now in Christ alone is
the only thing that saves sinners. Now, if not, believe now. Sinner, cast all your soul upon
Christ and sue for His grace. for His mercy. And all who come without merit,
and without money, without price, what do they find? They find
righteousness, peace. Believer in Christ, you who struggle
daily, constantly in your flesh, you who are hated by this world,
who are tempted and tried and always failing. You who feel
God is hiding His face from you, hear what God says to you who
believe now. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God, saith your God. Second of all, with what do we
comfort you who believe on Christ? What is the comforting thing?
Just saying, comfort ye, is not enough, is it? Just saying, oh,
everything's going to be all right, that's not enough, is
it? That's not enough. God gives us why we are to be
comforted. I'm not just to pat you on the
back and say, well, just do your best and you'll be comforted.
No, that won't comfort you. I'm not here to point you to
yourself, how good you are. That's no comfort. I'm not here
to point you to the law. There's no comfort in the law
and there's no comfort in other men. God says, speak comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her. Speak comfortably. This word
comfortably means from the heart. I'm to comfort you because God
says to comfort you. I'm to comfort you because it
comes not just from my heart, but from God's heart. This is
God's heart to His people. In Psalm 45, God says, My heart
is indicting a good matter. I speak of things which I have
made touching my King. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. He's talking about His Son. This
is where comfort comes from. You won't find comfort in anything
else but Jesus Christ. There is no peace here. There
is no comfort in you. There is no comfort in this world.
There is no comfort in our family, in our friends. There is no comfort
in relationship. There is only comfort in a person,
Jesus Christ the Lord. God is indicting a good matter,
a great matter of the heart. And He says with all of His heart,
my heart is gushing with this matter. Believe on my Son. Trust my Son. His heart is speaking of a good
thing, His Son. Believer. I want to speak as plainly to
you as I can. With all wisdom and love, your warfare is finished. Your warfare is done. It's accomplished. That's what He says. Speak comfortably
unto her and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. Believer, your warfare you feel
within you is one that Christ has already won. The old man of sin is nailed
to his cross. Our old nature and all our sins
were imputed to Christ, and He bore the guilt of God's wrath
for them already. Already. Do you realize that feeling guilty
does not alleviate or forgive one sin. Yeah, but I feel really guilty.
That doesn't put away one sin. You can be so overwhelmed with
guilt that you die of depression. But I tell you, that won't move
one sin. Where then is sin removed? It
is only removed by the imputation of sin. The God taking our sin
and putting it in His Son and crucifying His Son in our stead. There's where sin is put away.
Your warfare is accomplished not because you feel guilty about
it. Your warfare is accomplished because Christ paid for it. He paid for it. Sin. has been removed. Death has been
taken out of the way. The old man, the old nature is
nailed to the cross. Our Savior said, it is finished. It's done. Your warfare is done. The work of righteousness is
done. The work of redemption is done. And God raised Him from
the dead. Behold, I have graven Thee upon
the palms of My hands, and Thy walls are ever before Me. What
is this? We are engraven upon His hands.
The scars He still bears in glory tell us that it reminds Him of
us daily that our sins are gone, paid for in full. The sheep of Christ are graven
upon His hands and Jesus said, no man shall pluck them out of
My hands. Does this not comfort you? How can this be? Because I still,
I still feel a struggle. It's a wonderful thing, salvation
is not based on feelings. Isn't that right? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you'll feel good. No. No. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Your warfare is done. It's finished. It's finished. Not because of
you. You weary fail your guilty soul. Fresh courage take, for God has
pardoned your sin and put it away forever from His presence. You are justified, not by the
works of your flesh, but by the free grace of God in Christ. Not that His pardon was not at
great cost. It cost God His Son. What did it cost you? Nothing. It cost you nothing. It's free. It's free. God pardoned our sins by His
unmerited favor, but not at the expense of His justice. How could
God be just and justify the ungodly? We'll cease to look inside to
find such a great thing. Look to Christ. God satisfied
His justice. How much Did God satisfy His
justice against our sins? He says, "...cry unto her that
her warfare is accomplished, for she hath received..." How
much? How much does the text say? "...double
for all her sins." You've received double, not at
your hands, but at the hand of the Lord. God paid the price. God paid the price. You received
of the Lord's hand double. In the offering of Jesus Christ,
believers, we have received both pardon and righteousness. Isn't that the double comfort? If Jesus just paid for our sins,
wiped our slate clean, and left the rest up to us, would that
be any comfort? Is that any comfort? No. No. But Jesus Christ not only
put away our sins and made us white, but He also imputed that
righteousness to us. And it's ours. It's ours. We have both forgiveness of sins
and righteousness. And that's what God says is double
comfort for His people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Are you His? If you are His, Then He says,
you should be comforted. That struggle you feel, that
trouble you face, it's already won. It's already done. Salvation accomplished. Righteousness
given. So don't look within to find
comfort. Look again to the Son of God. and be comforted. May God bless
this to your hearts. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.