Isaiah 51 this evening is our message, and I'm taking the title from what is said in verse three. Isaiah 51, verse three. For the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness, that is Zion, talking about God's church, bought with his blood, I will make her wilderness like Eden, a garden of Eden, and her desert like the gardens of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found there. Thanksgiving and the voice of melody, the voice of happiness, the voice of thanksgiving.

It says in verse 11, Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion. With everlasting joy upon their heads, they shall obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Flee away.

So I'm going to use for title, The Garden of the Lord. Salvation we have in Christ is like the Garden of Eden, the Garden of the Lord. The Lord makes our wilderness journey. to be like unto the garden of Eden.

And we live in this world, in this wilderness, and we're traveling through as Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. You remember from Revelation chapter 12, we studied the woman fled into the wilderness, and that's a picture of the church, where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there. The Lord takes care of his people. He provides for his people.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a garden of his planting, his planting. The ground is his. He has planted the seed. We know the seed there is the word of God. He is rooted out to tares. His garden is cultivated by sovereign love. His garden is watered. By divine grace, his garden is visited by his spirit, and it is a most fruitful and bountiful garden. What a garden of the Lord. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His church is called the church of his planting. Turn with here to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61, verse three. Grant you my planting, the work of my hand, he said in Isaiah 61, three, to appoint unto them that morn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. You see, we are trees of righteousness planted in his garden. His church, his planting, his planting.

Now, hold your place there. Right before the book of Isaiah, you remember the Song of Solomon. Turn over there. Chapter 4, Song of Solomon, chapter 4. Awake, O north wind, and come now south. Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits.

Chapter 5, verse 1, Song of Solomon. I am coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my honey, the honeycomb. I've drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, old friend, drink. Yay, drink abundantly, oh my beloved. What a garden we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now one thing I've noticed in reading, as we read earlier, Isaiah 51, the Lord says three times in verse one, hearken unto me. Again in verse four, he says, hearken unto me. And then look again at verse seven. Harken unto me. Kind of got the idea? Pay attention to what I'm going to say. Thus saith the Lord. Three times the Lord says, Harken, listen to me, listen to me. One of the things I've noticed repeatedly as I read and re-read through the book of Jeremiah, years before They went into captivity when Jeremiah prophesied. The Lord kept repeating over and over and over again, they would not hear My Word. They would not hear My Word. You know what's left for those who will not hear His Word? Judgment. Nothing but judgment.

You remember in James chapter 1, where James says there, let us be swift to hear, Slow to speak, slow to wrath. Be swift to hear what? His word. His word. His word. Remember from our study in the revelation of Jesus Christ, in every letter written to those seven churches, there's a command from the Lord to listen to his instructions. Remember? He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the seven churches. If you have ears to hear, I want to hear what he said, don't you? I want to hear his message, don't you? Blessed, remember our Lord said to those disciples, his apostles, blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. In Proverbs 8, we read, hear instruction and be wise, refuse it not. Blessed is a man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates. waiting at the post of my door. Blessed is that man that would hear the word of the Lord. Hear it, receive it, and believe it in obedience unto him.

The other thing I noticed, and I paid attention to, and I pointed this out, how many times he uses the word here, my righteousness and my salvation. Notice in verse five. My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth. At least seven or eight times, he talks about salvation and righteousness, salvation and righteousness. This is a very heartbeat of the gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The two things we desperately need to stand before God is salvation from our sin, our sin put away, and a justifying righteousness to stand before God, cleared of all guilt, not guilty. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Both are fully accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation, sin put away, righteousness established. Both are fully accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Both are freely given. through the Lord Jesus Christ and in him. Both are fully enjoyed by me, made one with him. Our Lord prayed, Father, I in them, thou in me, that we may be made perfect in one. God who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. We read that recently, didn't we? How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8.32. You remember? He freely gives us righteousness. He freely gives us salvation that we have in Christ Jesus.

Now, for a few minutes, let's consider verse one down to verse six or so. Here we see in verse 1, he says, hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness. Listen to me. Hear the word of the Lord. Ye that follow after, what do we follow after? Righteousness. What do we follow after? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, our righteousness. And ye that seek the Lord, we're seeking Him, we're following Him. Look unto the rock whence you are hewn. Or he's saying here, remember the rock where I found you. Remember the pit, the hole, the pit which I dug you out of. That's where he found us, in a pit, in a pit, dead as a rock. Dead as a rock in a pit. Here's a description of the Lord's people. They follow after righteousness. Remember our Lord said in John chapter 10, he said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they do what? They follow me. The believer resting in the Lord Jesus Christ is not going about to establish a righteousness of his own doing, but rather resting in that righteousness of God revealed in Christ. He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.

The believer does in his heart before the Lord seek him. Seek Him. We're going to see this in a few weeks. Look at Isaiah 55. Our Lord tells us to seek the Lord. I was reading this today in Jeremiah 29, 13. He said, you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. You'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Isaiah 55 verse six. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. See it? Isaiah 55, six. Call upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous men his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord. He will have mercy upon him. To our God, for he will abundantly pardon. So seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord where he may be found.

Turn to Psalm 27. You remember this? Psalm 27. Seek ye the Lord. Our Lord said this in Matthew 6. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Psalm 27. Look at verse four. One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me upon a rock.

When shall we seek the Lord? Look at verse 8, Psalm 27 verse 8. Psalm 27 verse 8. When thou saidest, seek ye my face, My heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. The glory of the Lord shined in the face of Jesus Christ. We seek His person, don't we? We seek Him. We seek Him in His Word. The Lord said His Word testifies to Him, give all the prophets witness. We seek the Lord in the hearing of the gospel, sitting underneath the preaching of the gospel, and we seek the Lord among His people, don't we? Our Lord said, two or three, two or three, two or three, are gathered in my name. He said, there, I'm in your midst. If we're gathered in His name, there are two or three of us, gathered in His name, the Lord is with us. You see, God dwells in His people. God dwells in the hearts of His people.

So the believer does in his heart follow after righteousness, they do seek the Lord, and they remember that pit from which they are digged. Remember where the Lord found us, dead as a rock, dead in trespasses and sin, dead in the pit of corruption and ruin. The Lord had to come to us and chisel us out, and make us his own.

I was reading earlier today, you remember Job 33, delivered him from going down into the pit, I found a ransom. And then I was thinking about this scripture. I was thinking about that word wilderness. And I was thinking about this scripture, it came to my mind. I had to look it up, I couldn't remember what it was. I couldn't remember where it was. Deuteronomy 32, nine and 10. The Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is a lot of his inheritance. Heirs of God, joint heirs of his cry. He found him in a desert land in the wilderness and led him about and instructed him and kept him as the apple of his eye. That's where God found us. He found us in the desert land in the wilderness and he led us about. He instructed us and he kept us. kept by His power in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a blessing? The Lord had to reach down unto us in the pit of corruption and depravity or we never would have believed the gospel. If He had not reached down for us and pulled us out of the pit of corruption, made us new creatures in Christ, we'd never seek the Lord, we'd never believe on Him.

Now look at verse 2. Look unto Abraham, your father, or consider how God saved Abraham. We read Genesis chapter 12 there, and notice the reference is given there. Genesis 12, verse one. He's saying unto the people here, you consider Abraham. You consider how God saved Abraham. He sovereignly called him out of idolatry. out of that pit of idolatry. Consider Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bear you, I called him alone, I called him. Abraham didn't call upon the Lord first, the Lord called upon him. The Lord called him, the Lord blessed him, and the Lord increased him. That's a pattern of salvation.

Exactly the same way God saved Abraham, Abraham believed God, it was counted unto him for righteousness. Remember Romans chapter four. The exact same way that God saved Abraham is the exact same way he saves every covenant child of God. God calls us because he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light alone. He'll have mercy on whom he will have mercy. And God blessed Abraham. And he's blessed believers with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ and increased him. We're heirs of God. Think about it. We've studied this, haven't we? Recently, didn't we? We're heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's being increased, is it not? That's spiritual blessing, all spiritual blessing and heavenly in the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not? I called him alone and blessed him and I increased him. And that's what God does for everyone for whom he saves. You know how he saves them? By purpose and grace given us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Often we consider Abraham, and we don't think much about Sarah. But now they were married. When God called Abraham out of idolatry, God also called Sarah, Sarai, Sarah. For it says, we studied in Hebrews 11, she judged God faithful who promised. She believed God too, just like Abraham did. God blessed them, and they had that special son. You remember, she was a barren woman, 90 years old, and God gave her that special seed, Isaac. In Isaac shall all God's people be blessed in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our God. God increased him and left others to justly perish in their sins. God, that is our great God, and he does not change. I am the Lord, I change not.

Verse three, for the Lord shall comfort Zion. Zion there is a picture of God's people. The Lord shall comfort Zion. Look over at verse 12, Isaiah 51, verse 12. I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of man that shall die? And the son of man which shall be made as grass, the best of men. Fear God. If you fear God, you don't need to fear anyone else.

The Lord shall comfort Zion. What is our comfort? Turn back to Isaiah 40. Remember Isaiah 40? Isaiah 40, verse one, comfort ye. Isaiah 40, verse one. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sin. Full payment twice over, double. He paid his bill twice. Twice. Full payment for all our sin. My people are blessed above all people. That's our comfort. We have comfort. No wonder the Holy Spirit is called, our Lord said, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will comfort you. When the comforter has come, what does God, the Holy Spirit, comfort us with? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord shall comfort Zion. Zion is his church. God said, I've set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, picturing God, Gospel Church. Notice, the Lord shall and the Lord will comfort his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 3, 3, blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He's the God of all comfort. He shall comfort his people. He's a God of all grace, 1 Peter 5, 10. The God of all grace who had called us unto his eternal glory by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort her waste places and he shall make the wilderness like Eden and her desert, her desert barren. A barren desert, a barren land, no life, no water, no righteousness shall make that barren dead sinner like the garden of the Lord. That's grace. That's grace. You see the grace in that?

I will comfort her waste places and he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy, gladness shall be found in her. Thanksgiving in the voice of melody. Look at verse 11. Isaiah 51, verse 11. Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, sorrow and mourning shall flee away. I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Christ is our comfort. Christ is our comfort, our comfort alone.

The waste places, the wilderness, and the desert shall be like the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden became a waste place because of sin, didn't it? Sin brought in death, judgment, guilt, and condemnation. For one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Through Christ's righteous obedience, The Lord Jesus Christ has made us who were by nature in waste places and wilderness and in the desert land have become a fruitful and pleasant garden in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And notice the fruit of this garden, joy, joy. We have joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. We joy in him. We are the true Israel, but we rejoice in spirit, worship God, rejoice in spirit, and have no confidence in the flesh. We joy in our God through Jesus Christ. And then he talks about gladness. Gladness, happiness, blessedness. Blessed is that man whom the Lord will not charge his sin to him. Oh, that's a happy man, isn't it? That's a blessed man, isn't it? Joy and gladness shall be found there, and then thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

You see how this desert land has become a garden of the Lord? Joy, gladness, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. That's the voice of music, isn't it? Isn't music, it's a beautiful thing, isn't it? Music. I'm not talking about this crazy, crazy music. I'm talking about when you think about music, when you think about an orchestra, all the all the different instruments in the orchestra and how they all blend together and how they all bring forth that melody. So, it's just pleasing. It's just pleasing to the ear, isn't it? That's nothing compared to that glorious choir and that glorious orchestra in heaven itself to be with the Lord. That's the voice of thanksgiving unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessings, and power both now and forever. That's the voice of melody.

You see the fruitfulness of this garden? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, faith. Her desert shall be like a garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, in Christ's thanksgiving, in the voice of melody.

Luke verse four, hearken to me, listen to me. My people, give ear unto me, my nation. My people, my nation. God has a people. They're His chosen people. God has a nation. And I'm not talking about that rabble-rouser people over there in Jerusalem this day. They think they're the people of God. They're the cast out. They're the cast away. The people, His people, are those who are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. That righteous nation that honor and worship the Lord, hearken unto me, my people, give ear to me, O my nation. He bought us. He chose us. He bought us. We're his.

For a law shall proceed from me. That's his word. That's what we listen to. He said, listen to my word. My law shall proceed from me, and I'll make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. Christ is our light. He commands the light to shine in our heart, to give us the knowledge of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world. I'll make my judgment to rest for light of the people. Christ is our light.

Look at verse five. my righteousness and my salvation. My righteousness is near. Now, as I told you earlier, whenever you see that word in scripture, righteousness, think of Christ. Blessed is the man whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. He's called the Lord our righteousness. My righteousness is near and my salvation has gone forth. My arms, His strength shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon me. In my arm shall they trust, or in my power shall they trust. God has a people all over this world, and the isles, wherever they are, scattered over this world, out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, under heaven, they shall wait upon me. and in my arm or on my arm shall they trust. We trust him who is the almighty Lord.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look upon the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax old like a garment. They that dwell therein shall die in like manner, but my salvation shall be forever. My righteousness shall not be abolished. Heaven and earth are going to pass away. Don't put your hopes in those things that God says will be destroyed. But he said, my righteousness and my salvation shall not be abolished.

Turn back a couple pages. Remember Isaiah 45, talking about his salvation. Isaiah 45, look at verse 15. He says in the last part of verse 14, surely God is in thee. There is none else, there is no God. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, thy Savior. They shall be ashamed, also confounded all of them, they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be confounded, you shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end. The things which we see are passing away. The things which we do not see abide forever.

So, you look at heaven, you look at earth. The heaven shall vanish away like puff of smoke. The earth shall wax old as a garment. And they that trust in those things shall die in like manner. My salvation, that word B-U-T, it's a big word, isn't it? But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people on whose heart is my law. You remember, he writes his law upon our heart. Hebrews 8 verse 10. Fear you not the reproach of men. Either be afraid of their revelings, or the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like a wolf. But, guess what? My righteousness shall be forever. Christ is our righteousness forever. And my salvation from generation to generation. He saves us with an everlasting salvation.