and turn with me to the book
of Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah 35. The Lord has given his preachers some instruction. And this is
what he says. Isaiah 40. Comfort ye Comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak to their heart. Well, today I'd like to consider
this wonderful passage of scripture and it's dealing with the mercy
of God to all of His people, Jew and Gentile. And I pray that
the Lord is pleased to bless this to our hearts. Bless it
to the hearts of His people that He's everlastingly loved, those
that the Son laid down His life, shed His blood, and regenerated
by His Holy Spirit. I want us to be reminded of something.
We're traveling through this world. We're on a journey. And this world is not our home. We know that. It's a world that
shall never, but for the grace of God, is never going to love
the God that we love. It's a world that will never,
but for the grace of God, believe on the Christ that we trust. And it's a world that shall never
be comforted by the gospel that we preach. But as we're traveling
through this world, this valley of the shadow of death, believers,
all believers, are like Abraham. We're looking for a city that
hath foundations. A city whose builder and maker
is God. And we need some comfort. God's people want to know God. Paul the Apostle said this, Paul
that had been called out of darkness, he said, Oh, that I might know
Him. and be found in Him. Is that not what we want? Really? We want to be comforted, refreshed
from the Scriptures that we might receive that which the Lord has
been pleased to send. Now for lack of, for sake of
time, I'm gonna be in chapter 35, but if you get a chance,
chapter 34, I've read it and I encourage you to read it, but
what it's doing is it sets forth the judgment that the Lord shall
surely justly pour out upon the unregenerate. Now, God is just. He's a just God and a savior. But knowing what He says in chapter
34, and how the justice of God is going to deal with sin. The Lord is either going to deal
with sin in a substitute for us in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, or He's going to deal with us. He's going to be
just. He's just. He's just God. So
here I want us to know what was said in verse chapter 34. It
was dealing with judgment, dealing with justice. God's fair, he's
fair. But now in 35, it's a chapter
that deals with the indescribable mercy. of Almighty God. I want us to look at something. I'm going to start in verse 1
and then go through verse 10 and just see what the Lord has
been pleased to do. It says in verses 1 and 2 of
Isaiah 35, the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad
for them. Now this is kind of an introductory. It's going to tell us who the
them are. We're going to look at that in just a second. Gonna
tell us who these them, that's not gonna come out right. Who
these thems are, who they are, you know what I mean. The wilderness
and the solitary place shall be glad for them. And the desert
shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall
see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. Now
here's what it is. God's just, and He's gonna deal. He's gonna deal with with men
and women that are found to be left to themselves will not bow
to Him. God's going to deal with them.
He's going to cast them out if they die in that state. But there's
a blessed promise that the Lord is going to do something for
a people of His choosing, His mercy. They're born a wilderness. They're born in a solitary place,
a place where no spiritual life. But God's going to do something.
He's going to send life. When we're born into this world,
we don't know God. We're creatures of self. And we don't want to be in God's
presence. How do I know that? Well, what
did Adam and Eve do? Whenever Adam ate of the fruit,
what did he do? What did they do? They hid themselves. There was no desire whatsoever
for the Lord. But God came to them. They covered
themselves with fig leaves to cover their nakedness. What did
God do? He took the skins of an animal,
clothed them, showed there. What's it going to take to hide
your sin? Cover it, put it away. The shedding
of blood. The Lord is going to do something.
In this place, chapter 34, of judgment where God is just, God's
going to do something. He's going to spiritually liberate
a people. He's going to set them free.
He's going to give them life, but in that Liberty, in that
liberation. They're going to then know what
the Lord has done for them. They know that, but they realize
now, I'm struggling with something. I'm struggling with an old man
in me. I've got an old man, this body
of death, the Apostle Paul referred to it as. And they're struggling in this
world and they find themselves in need of encouragement. Before
they were self-sufficient. I did this, this, this and this.
I've settled things with God. I'm on the straight and narrow.
I'm headed for heaven. I'm as sure as I've already been
there. I'm there. I'm good. I'm good. A believer is a different
creature. He rejoices and he struggles. He rejoices in Christ Jesus and
he sees that old man himself. And so here's the word of the
Lord. Here is a word of encouragement
to God's people. It says to God's preachers concerning
comforting. Look at it, it says in verse
3. Strengthen ye the weak hands
and confirm the feeble knees. A believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ is one that is quite aware of his spiritual frailty. He
knows. He knows. He struggles. He struggles to pray. He struggles
to read. He struggles to hear. He struggles
to preach. He's frail. He's a frail creature. And here's what I want to do. I want to remind us, first of
all, God is just, and he's gonna deal with sin. But in the dealing
with sin for his people, he dealt with it in Christ. And that wilderness,
verses one and two, and that solitary place that was there
by birth, God's gonna do something. He's gonna call some people out
of darkness. I can't help but think right now, I've said this
before, I can't help but think about what the Lord has done
here. I'll just relate it to this place one more time, Lord
willing, until I do it the next time. But I think about, think
of the mercy that God has shown to this little community right
here. Here was a solitary place, just a wilderness. What would
there be, what would there be in Katy, West Virginia, if God
hadn't raised up a church here? What in the world would there
be here that had any lasting significance? Nothing, nothing. But here in this, think of it
like that. In verse one, the wilderness
and the solitary place shall be glad for them. God's done
something. He's raised up some folks and
given them life in Christ. The desert shall rejoice and
blossom as a rose. Is that not so? Is that, think
of how God is so mercifully. You know, it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice even with joy and sing in the joy of the glory
of Lebanon shall be given unto it the excellency of Carmel and
Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency
of our God. Is that not so? In a solitary
place, ain't nothing here. There's nothing here, but God
touched it. But God was pleased to raise
up a place. God was pleased to, 60 something
years ago, send a faithful preacher and call some people out of darkness. And here some of you have been
here from the beginning. Just really, right at it, if
not at it. But think, are you not seeing
yourselves in need and frail? All these years you think, I
think I'd get stronger and stronger. No. They get more and more of
the realization of their weakness. You strengthen the weak hands
and confirm the feeble needs. These ones that are quite aware
of their frailty. They put no confidence in their
flesh, and they need desperately to be strengthened. Their hands
are, what can we do without Him? Our ability to run the race,
what can we do? Lord, we're so feeble, we're
so weak. You strengthen their hands. Those feeble knees, you know,
and how is this done? How do I strengthen? When the
Lord says, you strengthen the weak hands and confront. How
do I do that? Preach the gospel to them again. Tell them again.
Tell them one more time. Tell them the truth. And you
say, verse four, say to them that are of a fearful, that is
a hasty, if you got a margin there, a hasty, fearful heart. Here's what you say to them,
be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Say to them that are of a hasty
heart. What does that mean? Timid. Timid. A heart that's prone to
tremble and to draw back before their enemies. You know, we say,
well, we're strong. No, we're not. No, we're not.
You think you are. You let a doctor, you go into
a doctor's office, let them give you some news that you really
didn't want to hear. Doctor tell you, you've got some disease. Let me see how strong you are.
Oh, I'd never deviate. Oh, be careful. What do you say
to them? You tell them, be strong. Fear not. Your God will come. Listen to this scripture, Ephesians
16. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might. Be strong in the Lord. That sounds
good. How? How can I be strong in the
Lord? Listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians
12.10. Paul says, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. Why? Because
that's when I'll cast my all upon the Lord. I'll cry unto
Him. A man that's strong in himself,
he doesn't need God's help. He thinks himself strong. Be
strong in the Lord. How? Know your weakness. Know something of your weakness.
And God's people do. Ephesians 16, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord. power of his might. He says in
Isaiah 43, 2, when thou passest through the waters, and we will,
the waters of adversity, the waters of trial, we will. When
thou passest through the waters, not if, but when, I will be with
thee. And through the rivers, same
thing. They shall not overflow thee.
When thou walkest through the fire, same thing. Thy shall not
be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. And I'm
telling you, when a believer is in the midst of adversity,
they're thinking, I'm in the waters, I'm in the rivers, I'm
in the fire. Lord, help me. Lord, have mercy. Here is the foundation of our
strength, faith in Him. Behold, he said, your God will
come with vengeance. Vengeance is mine. I'm going
to repay, saith the Lord. But look at this out. But even
God with a recompense. What does that mean? A reward.
A reward. The reward. What is the reward? I love this passage of scripture.
When the Lord told Abram, And we're going through the book
of Genesis on Wednesday nights. We're not to this one yet, but
listen to Genesis 15.1. Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. Isn't that just through your
heart? Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your
shield. If God be for us, who can be
against us? I'm your shield. Look at verse
five and six in our passage, Isaiah 35. Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an heart and the tongue of
the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out and streams in the desert. Now without a doubt,
Whenever our Lord was here on this earth, He's talking about
here, then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears
of the deaf be unstopped. When our Lord was here on this
earth, the scriptures declare that the Father confirmed Him. as being his messenger, his Messiah. He did it with miracles. Listen to this in Acts 2.22.
You men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know. And whenever the apostles were
sent out in Hebrews chapter 2, when they were sent out and they
were preaching the truth, and what did the Lord do? As far
as confirming them that they were truly men of God. They had
these gifts, Hebrews 2, 3, and 4. It says, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and
diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His
will. So whenever the Lord was here
and whenever He sent His people, His preachers here, He confirmed
it with these actual miracles. But now the word of promise from
the Lord unto His people concerning their spiritual sight, spiritual
hearing, the blinded eyes in this place that was a desert,
a wilderness, solitary place. He said, this is the way it's
going to be. Now just think of, again, think
of what the Lord's done here. He's taken a place where there
was nothing, nothing. Leave it to itself as just nothing
but just rebellion and false religion and just nothing. Worthy only of judgment, but
God, but God. He was pleased. And what has
happened? What happened? The eyes of the
blind were opened. This is the way we were born.
We were born blind, spiritually. The ears of the deaf, unstopped. There was a time when we wouldn't
hear the gospel, wouldn't hear that. That's just not fair, that's
just not the way. But God gives new ears and all
of a sudden you think, I believe it. I believe that. And the lame
man shall leap as a heart had no way of walking before God. The tomb of the dumb shall sing.
I wouldn't sing songs until the Lord gave me. I wouldn't sing
songs of His sovereign grace. I want to sing some songs that
gives me some glory. Give me a little credit. You
know, come on now. I may not have done everything,
but I've done a whole lot more than most have. That's man by
nature. Oh, in verse 7, in the parched
ground. shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs
of water in the habitation of dragons, where each lay shall
be grass with reeds and rushes." Now that, when Isaiah, this is
an amazing word, when Isaiah refers to parched ground, parched
ground, when you look up and find the word and the root word,
you know what it means? A mirage. a mirage. Just, you know, you're kind of
looking out there on the horizon. Have you ever been driving and
it's on a hot day, especially if it's out in the desert, and
it looks like it's just kind of quivering out there, out on
the edge, you know? And I've never actually seen
a mirage, like people out in the desert. I've seen it on movies,
you know, where they look out there and they think they see
palm trees and stuff out there on the horizon and they're going
because they're thinking, there's some water, there's some life,
there's some rest, there's some shade there, it's a mirage. It's
a mirage is what it is. It says, and the parched ground,
that which promised life, that which promised refreshment, it
shall become a pool. This is no empty hearing the
truth of the gospel. It's not an empty promise. This
is real. according to the good pleasure
of God, to call out His own. He found them in a place that
was just a mirage. They thought they saw it. They
thought they had the promise coming, but it was a false promise. It wasn't there. It kept going
and eventually they realized, I'm still striving, but when
God called them out of darkness, they realize this is refreshment. This is a pool. It's a pool and
it's got some springs of water. It's a place of true refreshment
by the pleasure of Almighty God. And what was formerly a habitation
of wild beast, and I see in that habitation of dragons, where
each lay used to be a place where it was just monsters. I see that
as us. That's us. That's where we were.
But now what it is, grass with reeds and rushes, vegetation
that grows around the pools of refreshment, of life. These grass with reeds and rushes,
people who haven't been born from again, blown upon by the
spirit of God, been called out of darkness, and now they truly
do drink. That's what these rushes and
these reeds, you see them there, they're like water lilies, and
these cattails and stuff like, all around water, they gotta
be right, that's God's people. I want to be where refreshment
is. I want to be where I can drink.
I want to be where I can hear something that's true, that truly
refreshes me. You know, blessed is he who hungers
and thirsts after righteousness. And verse 8, and a highway shall
be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it. but it shall be for those,
the wayfaring man. Those fools shall not err therein. Now, this place used to be nothing
but barrenness. It was just a solitary place,
wilderness. But in that place where God's
raised up the truth, it's gonna be, the scripture says, it's
gonna be a highway there, a way. And here's what it's gonna be
called. The way of holiness, way of holiness. This way of
holiness, I'm not gonna say what is it, I'm gonna go ahead and
just say who is it. The way of holiness is the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. This is the way of holiness. What am I gonna do? Talk about
my faithfulness and my ability, again, to be strong and stuff
like that. Let's talk about Him who is the way. He said, I am
the way. Think of Him. And a highway shall
be there and a way, and it shall be called the way. Look at that T. The, see it's
capitalized? The way. Not a way. The way of holiness. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He is the chosen,
appointed way. This is my beloved son whom I'm
well pleased. You hear him. The way of holiness,
what is that? It's a walk of faith. To those
that have some weak hands, feeble knees, fearful heart, here's
the way of holiness. Lord, I want to follow you. Lord,
you promised. You're not going to leave me.
You're not going to forsake me. Lord, I believe you. I believe
I'm a dying creature. I believe I'm going to leave
this earth. Lord, I come to you. This is all I've got. It's all
I've got. He that cometh to me, he that
cometh, I will in no wise cast him out. And the scripture says
on this way of holiness, the unclean shall not pass over it,
but it shall be for those, the wayfaring man, the sojourner,
that's what it means, the traveler, the pilgrim, though fools, nah,
Yeah, I just dealt with this in a message just before this
on fools. That word right there, if you
want to look it up just for your information, there's two words
for fools. One of them is Strong's number
191. One I dealt with a while ago
was Strong's number 3684. 3684 means a stupid fella. This
don't mean that. This right here, that one is
the fools. That's those simple. Simple. And though unlearned in much,
they're not going to err. That's what it means. It's those,
Paul says, we're fools for Christ's sake. That's what the world considers
us to be. But they're not going to err.
They're simple. There's much that they don't
know, but they're kept by the power of God through faith. Much
different word than the stupid fellow. These that God calls
out of darkness, they're not stupid fellows. These are believers
that see themselves needy, helpless, and longing after Him. The way
of holiness, the unclean shall not pass, but it shall be for
those, the travelers, the sojourners, the wayfaring men, those fools,
They will not err here. Why? Kept by the power of God
through faith. Kept by God's constraining grace,
desiring to walk after Him on that way of holiness, believing
Him by faith. Though fools, though fools, that's
what it says, though fools, though they see themselves as unlearned,
ignorant, As I said a while ago, Paul said, oh, that I might know
him. That I might know him. Growing in grace, they're not
gonna wander away from this way. They're not gonna wander. They're
not gonna err. In verse nine, no lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, but it shall
not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. There's not
going to be anything that's going to harm them. Nothing going to
harm them. No. If Almighty God allows us
to go whatever we go through, what do we see? Through the rivers,
through the waters, through the fire? I'll be with you. I'm going to save you. There's
not going to be anything that they dread eternally. The way of holiness is the way
of safety. It's safe. It's safe. Life eternal
is given to the objects of God's mercy, and they're not going
to perish. They're not going to err. They're
not going to be cast out. The way of holiness is the haven
of rest. It's the rocks, the foundation
upon who the church is built. And there's no cause for alarm. Death, death is, I heard a dear
believer one time make this just before they died. They said,
this disease that I have, this disease is my friend. My friend, this is the way God's
going to call me into his presence. They're not going to err. They're
not. Verse 10, and the ransom of the
Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Here's a declaration
of the surety of final salvation. The chosen, the elect, the redeemed,
the regenerated shall surely be found safely coming to Zion,
heavenly Jerusalem. Triumphantly, they shall all
be saved. They shall come with rejoicing
in their hearts, singing of the grace of Almighty God unto the
Lord. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighing shall flee
away. Listen to Isaiah 25.8 in closing. He shall swallow up
death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of his people
shall he take away from off the earth. For the Lord has spoken
it. We're born in a state of wilderness. We're born in a state of a solitary
place. But Almighty God has been pleased
to declare that he's God of people, that he's going to open their
eyes, open their ears, give them a new heart. And they're going
to realize what they are by nature. They're going to realize that
I'm just a weak, frail creature of dust. But the Lord has been
pleased to call me and has given me a heart to trust him. And
I, by the grace of God, will be found in that way of holiness,
not because of anything I've done, but what He's done for
me. And I trust Him. And He's promised, I'm not going
to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you. And they hold on
to that. That's their hope, what He said. And He said, they're
going to be found. They're going to be found coming
to Zion. They're not gonna err, they're not gonna deviate. I'm
gonna save them by my grace for these people. I pray God bless
this to our heart. His glory, our good, amen.