Isaiah chapter 40, verses 1 through
5. John Newton was blessed of the
Lord to write that hymn that we just sang, Strange and Mysterious
Is My Life, What Opposites I Feel Within. The religious world tells us
that we ought to do certain things. You ought to do this and you
ought to do that. And they say it with a convincing
fashion. And what the ought to message
does for the man that knows himself to be a sinner is drives him
further into his own depressed and depraved state because knowing
what you ought to do is not worth a flip. to a man that doesn't
have power to do it. If I can tell you you ought to
make a million dollars tomorrow, that might be true. But if you
don't have the wherewithal to make a million dollars tomorrow,
you're in bad shape. And all you can do then is just
sit around and worry about the fact that you can't make a million
dollars. Now, religion is good at telling
you what you ought to do. There's no shortage of preachers
that will tell you what you ought to do. Well, we know what we
ought to do. You know, a sinner who's been
convinced of what he is by nature, he is taught by the Spirit of
God what he ought to do, but he doesn't have the power within
himself to do it. And so it is that our life as
those who are born again by the Spirit of God, it is a strange
and mysterious thing because we are a very inconstant people. See, when a man is born again,
he does not cease to be a sinner. He does not cease to be exactly
what he is born into this world as. But when a man is born again,
there is a new principle that is brought to bear in his mind
and heart, and it is that which causes great
conflict within him. Now, whenever a man is in sin
apart from the new birth, he is just as happy as a hog in
mud, as they say. I mean, he is just going along
his way. He is not having any problems.
He likes what he's doing. He likes everything going along.
But when the Spirit of God comes and begins to convince a man
of sin, righteousness, and judgment, then he becomes to be a most
miserable creature. And there's no solution to his
misery except the free grace of Almighty God. That's the only
thing that will minister comfort to him and help. And that is
exactly what the Lord has set forth here in the 40th chapter
is a word which is to be preached unto the people of God. And he says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." So what is the gospel? By way of contrast, I will tell
you this, the most common message that is preached around about
us and a message that is very appealing to the religious flesh
of men is that the gospel is a message concerning what God
has done and what man needs to do in order to take advantage
of what God has done. Now, that can't be the gospel. Because the gospel is good news.
And any message that comes to a sinner, telling him what he
needs to do, can't be good news if he knows himself to be a sinner.
Now, if he thinks he's just wounded, or he's in a place where he can
help himself to some extent, then that sounds pretty good
to him. Oh, okay, well, I'll do that.
But you see, when a man is convinced of the depravity of his own heart
and the distance that there is between him and God, he is not
in a place where he can be helped by what he needs to be told that
he has to do. But the gospel is not a message
like that. The gospel is a message that
tells us what Christ has done. It's good news. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ came, when we looked at that passage last week, when
the Lord said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and sent
me to preach peace, to help the poor, to speak peace to the captives
and deliverance to those that are bound. You see, that is the
message of the Gospel, and so we see the same thing here. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. One thing that a dead man can
never do or can never say is, I'm dead. Now you can go out in the graveyard
and it's full of dead folks, but you will never hear one of
them say, I'm dead, will you? Now, I'm telling you, it's a
sign of life when a man knows he's dead. But it's a sign of certain absolute
death when a man's dead and he can't say, I'm dead. But you
see, by the grace of God, those that live know they're dead. Those that are dead think they
live. But in reality, the dead know not anything according to
what the Scripture says. Now, I believe that's spiritually
applied. The dead know not anything. You
see, a man who is spiritually dead, he has no desire whatsoever
after the things of God. But the man who's been awakened
by the Spirit of God, he hungers after the things of God. Now,
he doesn't even necessarily know what it is that he's needing.
But he knows that he needs something. And he looks at himself and he
says, well, I couldn't possibly be one of God's children because
of X, Y, Z. It doesn't make a difference
what it is. But you see, it is a revelation of the mercy of
God revealed to a man when a man begins to see what he is by nature. Now, I'm telling you that the
most obvious thing and the most rare thing you'll ever find in
the world is a sinner. You can't hardly find one. Now,
you'll find plenty of folks that will tell you they've sinned.
I don't know anybody that if you ask them, have you ever sinned,
they wouldn't tell you, well, sure, I've sinned. But you see,
they don't believe that's a deadly disease. They don't believe that
that's something that you can't recover from. They believe that
you can go to rehab or something and solve your problem, or you
can read a book and it will help you out, or you can go to church.
You can go to church. I mean, you can just decide to
do whatever you want to do to get yourself out of the situation
you're in. But you see, the man that knows
himself to be dead, A man that knows he's dead, and
he looks on himself and he says, I'm dead, Lord, I'm heaven. He's
like that old publican down in the temple, is he not? He couldn't
even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he smote upon his breast
and he said, God be merciful to me. You see, dead men don't know
they're sinners, but those who have been quickened by the Spirit
of God. They know that they are sinners. You see, they know that
they are true sinners. Now again, everybody knows they
have sinned, but not everybody knows they are true sinners,
because not everybody believes that they have committed sin
against God, which can in no wise be taken away. I mean, they just believe that
Or somehow or other, just generally speaking, that Jesus Christ went
to the cross and He just paid for sin. Now there is no such
thing as sin anymore. And it is just left up to you
then to come along and join up. But you see, a man that's convinced
of his sin, he knows that his sin has separated between him
and God. And it doesn't make any difference
what somebody comes and tells him about all these general things
that may have taken place until the Spirit of God is pleased
to apply that to his soul in a word of comfort by the gospel
to show him that Jesus Christ died for sinners. for those who
are unworthy of the least of the Lord's mercies. I believe,
dear brethren, that they who know themselves to be in such
a state as that are the ones whom the Lord has awakened. They
are the ones in whom the Spirit of God has come in the new birth
to show them. You see, how can a man learn
that his sin is against God? except the Lord show it to him.
He can't know that by nature. He can't have a desire after
the things of God by nature. He can't hunger and thirst after
righteousness by nature. It's by the work of the Spirit
of the living God. And so the gospel comes for such
folks as that. Gospel is not for everybody.
Now, the Lord said preach the gospel to every creature. We preach it to the earth not
because we believe every man is going to believe it, but we
know that scattered among the people of the earth are the people
of God, those whom He has loved with an everlasting love, those
whom He has Chosen in Christ is the Scripture from before
the foundation of the world. Now, that's those to whom the
gospel is sent. Now, when we hear that, we say,
oh, well, I might not be one of them. Well, if that's of great
concern to you, dear brother or dear sister, take comfort
in this, that a man will have no desire after Christ except
that the Spirit of God gives it to him. That's a comforting word to sinners
deep in debt, is it not? I mean, you see, the election
of God is manifested. It's not something that's kept
secret. God has manifested His elect.
How does he do it? He does it by calling to as many
as the Lord our God shall call. Well, what is the Gospel call?
It is that which is heard by the sheep. The Scripture says,
the Lord said, My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they
follow Me. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
calls to His sheep and His sheep say, Lord, hear me. You see, they want the
Lord to hear them. They hear the Lord. They're just
not sure He heard them. But oh, I tell you what a comforting
thing it is, dear brethren, to know that if you've heard the
voice of the Savior, He's the one that gave you ears to hear.
If you see anything of the sweetness of the promises of God, And you
have anything of a desire to be found in His presence, where
did it come from? Except the mercy of God, which
worketh in the sons of God, to call them and draw them. Now
this is not a comfort that's found because they find themselves
doing something. because they know that they can't
do anything that would be beneficial to their self. Everything I've
ever done in my life has not been beneficial to me. Everything
I've done has been to my ruin. Anything that's been to my benefit
has just been the mercy of God that's been visited to me, because
at every turn I sought to destroy my own self, to go contrary to
the way of God. to be miserable. Now, isn't it
a crazy thing? We think that we're, oh no, we're
seeking our happiness. No, I'll tell you what, a man
by nature is seeking his destruction. He's going after it head first.
He's desiring to drink in all the things that this world of
destruction has to offer, and he's saying, boy, I'm having
a good time, and he's just going down the road to destruction.
Everything he is doing. And it is only by the mercy of
God that a man is brought to a place where he sees what that
road is. And by the grace of God, he is
given a desire to escape it. Remember when the Pharisees came
to John to be baptized. And he said, who has warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? Because you see, they weren't
coming because they knew themselves to be sinners. They were coming
because it had become a religiously acceptable thing. And hundreds
of people today follow after religion and say, well, it's
just the thing to do. We ought to be upright citizens
and go to the church of our choice, you know. You've seen the billboards
go to the church of your choice. Well, just go to one. Go ahead.
But you see, that's not those to whom the gospel is sent. The
gospel is sent to sinners. It's sent to the outcasts. It's
sent to the weak. It's sent to the beggars, to
the harlots, to the publicans. And that's why it's a message
that the Lord said, Comfort my people. He didn't say comfort
them in their desire to be wicked. John the Baptist was sent preaching
a message of repentance and he looked at those Pharisees and
said, well, who told you to flee from the wrath to come? You see,
because many flocked to him because they had been moved to flee from
the wrath to come. They trembled before God. They were fearful of judgment.
Have you ever been fearful of judgment? I tell you, you have
never known anything of the work of the Spirit of God if you have
not trembled before God at the thought of judgment. If your
soul has not been moved within you to consider that your just
desert is to be snuffed out in a moment. You see, the Gospel says that
you who have been in such state ought to be comforted because
you see it is the work of the Spirit of God. Now I am not talking
about a carnal stirring up of fear. I mean there are hundreds
of There are preachers out there that preach hell, fire and damnation
from one end to the other, and they will make your shirt tail
run up and down your back like a window shade. You will be scared
to death when you walk out. But about the time you hit the
streets, you will forget about it. And you will just go on down
the road and everything will be all right. See, they will
have revivals that will sweep through town, and boy, everybody
gets all stirred up next week just like nothing happened. Why
is that? Because it's just the work of
the flesh. Of course, what I'm talking about is when the Spirit
of God begins to work in a man's soul, he trembles at the thought
of standing before Almighty God clothed in any robe of righteousness
which he might have of his own self. That's a fearful thing
to him. He says, Oh, don't let me be
found standing before God with some mealy-mouthed excuse like,
Well, Lord, I tried to do the best I could. Well, Lord, I sent
money to the missionaries in the foreign fields and those
at home. I collected for this and the
other, and I did all these things. No, don't let such thoughts enter
my mind. Because, you see, we have known
the terror of the Lord. And therefore we persuade men.
Now what do we persuade them? Do we persuade them that it is
in their power to somehow deliver themselves out of that? No, we
persuade men that the only place of salvation is in Jesus Christ. But we preach a message of comfort
to the sinner and we say there is salvation for those who call
upon the name of the Lord. but whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now I didn't say somebody
that just signs a little card and says a little prayer that
somebody told you to pray, but I'm telling you when a man is
in a position to call out to the Lord, the Lord will hear
him. When Peter was walking out of
that boat on his way to the Lord and he saw the waves around him
and he began to sink, what did he do? He said, Lord save me,
I perish. And what did the Lord do? He
saved him. Did He not? And dear brethren,
there has never been a man that ever stepped out of a boat who began to sink. Now you see,
we often, we think we've got some strength, but when the Spirit
of God works in us, He shows us pretty quick we have no strength. And the greatest mercy that Peter
ever received was when he looked and he saw the winds boisterous
around him. Because think of what Peter would
have been if he had just walked right on across that water and
he would have got over there and shook the Lord's hand. Yeah,
he would have got back in the boat, would he not? And he would
have said, yeah, boys. He would have said, you all need to be
faithful. That is what you need. You have just got to have faith.
Yes, sir. You can have it. Well, I'll just
throw you a seed gift today and send me a hundred dollars. Tomorrow,
if you've got faith, you're going to have more money in your bank
account. I mean, you've got to have it
because, brother, look at me, I'm rich. I've got plenty of
faith. You know, everybody that sends
money to folks like that deserves to have the money taken from
them. That's all I've got to say. The Lord doesn't need your
money. He doesn't need a thing you've
got. He doesn't want something you've got. But I'll tell you,
the mercy of God revealed in the gospel is that He will give
to His people such things as they stand in need of, and He
will indeed save sinners. And the message is, Comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. And what do we tell her? That
her warfare is accomplished. That the work is done. That the
battle has been fought. Oh, brother, we've got to fight
the battle. We've got to win. Well, the warfare is accomplished. It's in Christ. Tell her that
she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. She's received that. Now that
kind of sounds a little strange in a way because it would almost
leave you to believe that what the Lord is saying is that she's
received a double whammy because of her sin. That's not what it
means at all. It means that the Lord has more than amply taken
care of her sins. What she should have gotten is
not what she's gotten, but she's gotten an even greater blessing
because of the fact that He has accomplished these things in
her behalf. She has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. You've never received what you
deserved. What a glorious thing. Would
you want what you deserve? I mean, how many times do we
get thinking what we deserve? Oh, you know you think that way sometimes.
You think, well, I ought to get such and such. I mean, you'll
even say, well, Lord, I've done this and so I've been trying
to do right. But oh, by the grace of God,
you see, In mercy, He won't leave you there. If you belong to the
Lord, He won't leave you in that place. No, He'll teach you pretty
quick exactly what you are by nature. And He'll have you laying
before Him saying, Lord, if I get what I deserve, I'll be cast
away. If I get one-tenth of what I deserve, I'll never be able
to enter into your presence in any way, but according to your
mercy and your kindness and that alone do I expect to receive
anything. And this is really exactly what
we come to receive the Lord's, this bread and this wine which
the Lord has given us, It's the reason why it's given to us. It's given to us as a means of
comfort. Because what did He say? He said,
Remember my death until I come. And He said to His disciples
when He stood with them, He said, I'm going away to prepare a place
for you. And if I go, I will come again, that where
I am, there you may be also." Now what a sweet comfort it is to know that one whom you love
has gone away for a while to prepare a place for the purpose
of bringing you there. Now, if he'd gone away and just
abandoned us and said, well, you're all on your own now, that's
kind of what the preachers that you hear on the radio and TV
pretty much tell you. Well, the Lord's done all this,
but it's pretty much up to you now. It's all up to you what
you're going to do with it. That's no comfort at all, is
it? It wouldn't be to me. I'll tell you what the comfort
is, is that what we see before us right here is evidence. It is a manifestation. It is
an example of what it is that the Lord Jesus Christ has performed
for us. He gave us his body to be broken
and his blood to be poured out. And his body was bruised for
our iniquities. and if blood was poured out for
our pardon. And it is a comfort, dear brethren,
to be reminded that this is but a temporary thing, because this
speaks of something greater than what it is right here. It's not
just a religious thing that we go through. I wouldn't give you a nickel
for some religious activity that you could perform regardless
of how somber and whatever it might be or how it might appeal
to the flesh or whatever you want to say. But knowing what
this is as representative of the body and the blood of Jesus
Christ, we are comforted by it. And that is why He gave it. May
the Lord help us this day. to receive this even as He said
to receive it. He said, Let a man examine himself. And so lady, eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. It doesn't be examinations of
needful things, but examinations that which is performed by the
Spirit of God in a man. Because, you see, the Spirit
of God has come in us to convince us of sin. He has convinced us
of righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, and He has convinced
us of judgment, that it is appointed unto men once to dine after this
judgment. And we come here to take this
bread and this wine with that understanding that
it is what Christ has done in Babylon. It is our hope and our
help.