Let's take our Bibles and turn
back to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. I'd like to now look
at verses 4 through 8. Isaiah 40. Now the Lord had just
told His commandment through the prophet Isaiah of one that
would come to be the messenger, the one that would prepare ye
the way of the Lord. It would say, behold, mark Him
who is our God. And now I want us to consider
that second last part of verse 3 of the commandment of the Holy
Spirit through Isaiah concerning John the Baptist that would come,
and he says, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. Here's what he was saying. Be direct. Make straight. Be upright about what you're
going to say. You exhort men to look to Him. You behold Him, behold the Lamb
of God. And then He said, in that beholding,
this is what I want you to do. I want you to be direct, be plain,
make straight in the desert. We're in a wilderness right now. That's where we are. We're sojourners.
We're just pilgrims traveling through. But here's what God's
preachers are commanded to do. Don't you hold anything back
that Almighty God has been pleased to set forth in these Scriptures
you declare. It may be uncomfortable. It may
offend some. You preach the Word of God. That's
what we're commanded to do. And we do well, as we consider
this latter portion of God's Word, to be very, very cautious
concerning what we hear and what we say. Because this Word, the
Word of the Lord, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, is
the power of God unto salvation. So John and every preacher, as
I said, is commanded, you preach Christ. So what did the Spirit
of God move upon John the Baptist to say? He said, I can tell you
this, obviously the Spirit of God blessed it. The Word declares
that the Lord Jesus Christ approved of it. The Lord said concerning
John the Baptist, the Word of the Lord for John the Baptist,
what it said, John chapter 5 verse 33. The Lord said, you sent unto
John And he bare witness of the truth. Now I'll tell you one
thing. If there's anything that I would
want for the Lord to say concerning me, Marvin bore witness of the
truth. That's the only thing that matters.
Outside of that, Nothing is worth hearing. So I'd like for us to
deal for a few minutes. I'm going to be in Matthew and
in John, mostly in Matthew chapter 3. But I want us to look for
a few minutes. What did John preach? What did John the Baptist proclaim? Because whatever he proclaimed,
the Spirit of God moved upon him to proclaim that and the
Lord approved of it. said that John the Baptist bore
witness of the truth. So I want you to turn over in
your Bible to the gospel according to John. John chapter 1. John
chapter 1. And here's my first question
concerning John being direct, making straight in the desert
the way for our God. What did he preach? Well, I'll
tell you what he was honest about first. He was honest about himself. And he was honest about other
men. This is the way it is. Look at John chapter 1, verse
19. This is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and
Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not. but confessed, I am not the Christ. Some of them had asked him, are
you he? Are you the one? Are you Elijah? Verse 21, they asked him, what
then? Art thou Elias? He saith, I'm
not. Art thou that prophet? He answered,
no. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us?
What sayest thou of thyself? Now John, he didn't try to elevate
himself. He wasn't the Christ. He wasn't
Elijah. He didn't even say that he was
the son of Zacharias the priest. The scripture reveals that he
was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He didn't
even say that. He didn't say, I'm the chosen
vessel to bear witness of the Messiah. What did He say? When we make straight the message,
make straight in the desert the way for our God, what are we
saying? Well, we're saying, first of
all, we're nobody. He's everybody. What did John
say of himself? Look at verse 23. He said, I
am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight
the way of the Lord as said the prophet Isaiah. Men that are
called of God, sent of God, they truly desire no glory and honor
or religious accolades. As I've told people before, please,
please don't call me or any other God called preacher, reverend. Whenever I go somewhere, I've
been places and I might be preaching a funeral. This is where you
normally see it. And what do you see? There's the one that's
going to be officiating. Who is it? R.E.V. period. And I'm thinking, If
I could get a hold of every piece of paper in there and just X
that out, holy and reverend is his name. Father. Father. We have one father and
he's in heaven. And he is not these that stand
and lie and tell people that they can make intercessions They
can forgive sin. I'll never forget this. When
I was in that false religion, I had taken a catechism and there
was a question in the catechism. Who can forgive sin? Here's the
answer in that book. The priest. No, no, the Pope.
The priest and Jesus Christ. Who are you? The Lord said, you
make straight. You make direct. You make straight
in the desert the way for our God. And that's what John did.
He told them first. He said, I am the voice. Why did he say that? That's what
the Spirit of God said. What we do is we say what the
Lord has said. And that's all we say. What was
the Scripture concerning God's preachers? Or any other of God's
people? Here's what to do. We are unprofitable
servants. We have done that which was our
duty to do. Go into all the world and you
preach the gospel to every creature. The scripture declares that God's
preachers are to make straight a high way of the Lord. And when
they're honest about themselves, they're being honest. They're
being straight. And they give the honor and glory
and praise unto Him. Behold, you look to the Lamb
of God. Secondly, John was honest about
sin. Now turn over to Matthew 3. He
was honest about sin. Matthew chapter 3. The Scripture
says in verse 7, John preaching, It says in Matthew 3, 7, when
he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,
what did he do? He said unto them, O generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? John was honest about what we
are by nature. We are sinners. We are sinners
before God, conceived in sin, born in sin, came forth from
our mother's womb, speaking lies. Man by nature. This is just being
honest with people. I told you I had an uncle in
Louisiana. He came and sat a few times under
the gospel. Then afterwards told me one time,
he said, I'll never come back. He never did. He never did. I
said, why are you not coming back? He said, that preacher
told me I was a sinner. And I'm not a sinner. A sinner is one who does nothing
but sin. That's all they do. That's all
they do. And every vessel of God's mercy
has been taught. They agree with you. There is
in me, Paul said, in my flesh what dwells. No good thing. No good thing. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save such. He came into this world to save
sinners. What does the scripture say?
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What did
the Spirit of God move upon Isaiah to say concerning all of us? Listen, I'll just read this.
Isaiah chapter 1 verse 6. From the sole of the foot, even
into the head, there's no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, they have not been closed, bound up, neither
mollified with ointment. What are we? We're just sinners. That's what we are, sinners.
And whenever God's preachers set forth the truth and they
make straight, that they'll tell men, they'll tell men what they
are, and they'll tell men who we are, all of us, sinners saved.
And for those that don't believe that, how can you know, how can
you tell if somebody is truly a God called preacher? Isaiah
8.20 says, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak
not according to this word, it's because there's no life in them.
I'm telling you, God's preachers make straight in the desert the
way for our God. John was honest about man's need
of repentance. I want you to look at Matthew
3, back in Matthew 3, verse 1 and 2. Matthew 3, in those days came
John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying,
repent ye, repent ye, repent ye. Our Lord taught this very
thing. Hold your place right there.
Look at Luke 13. Luke chapter 13. Luke 13 verse
1 to 5. There were present at that season
some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled
with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said of them,
suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans
because they suffered such things? I tell you nay, but except you
repent. you shall all likewise perish.
Or those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew
them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwell
in Jerusalem? I tell you nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Now, I'm telling you
there's something about making straight the word of the Lord
is when men tell all of us our need of repentance. But being
honest, And you know the answer. But I'm going to say it anyway.
What is it to repent? I know what men say. I'm going
to start going to church. I'm going to turn over a new
leaf. I'm going to start smoking, drinking. I'm going to start
cussing. I'm going to straighten up my life. I'm going to walk
straight and narrow. Well, that may be all good and
fine, but that's not repentance. Repentance, according to the
Scriptures, is to think differently. Think differently. How does man
think that God justifies a sinner? As he's born in Adam. How does
he think he is? Here's what he thinks. He thinks
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world and died for everybody's
sins and God wants to save everybody if they will accept God's offer. They think that Christ died for
everybody and that all you have to do is accept that death and
once you accept it, it's going to make it applicable to you. It's going to be, you know, made
effectual when you accept it. They say that God justifies a
people by them exercising their free will. And that's a lie! That's a lie. That is not true. The Lord said in John 1, it's
not by the will of the flesh. It's not by the will of man.
It's not by man's blood. It's not. It's not by him being
born. It's not. God's people are saved by God.
God's will and God's purpose. To think differently is to think
differently concerning how God justifies a sinner. God saves
people by His good pleasure. He chose them in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He put them in the Lord Jesus
Christ for safe keeping as their surety and haven, city of refuge. He put them there and He keeps
them there. And they fell in Adam, but they
were never outside of Christ. Never. And the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world and He knew. He knew all that were His. And
He came into this world and lived for them. And He died for them.
And He went to the cross, made sin. He was made what they are. And God Almighty dealt with their
guilt in Him as their Redeemer and paid their debt. He paid
the debt of all that God had given. I laid down my life for
the sheep. And Almighty God, in time, sends
a preacher, and preaches this message, and he's honest about
it. Then he tells them, this is what God's done. It's what
we are by nature. We're sinners, incapable, unable,
dead, trespassers of sin. And when it pleases God, the
Spirit of God moves in power and blesses that and takes the
stony heart out and gives them a heart of flesh, pliable, a
new spirit in life and teaches them the gospel and they believe
it. And they said, everything I ever believed before is done. That's what it is. It's refuge. People will say, don't you think
that men are saved by their free will? No, I don't. I don't believe
that at all. Why? Because God says they're
not. I'm going to be honest with you about it. Repentance. Repentance. Is it worked up?
Is that how we get it? Is it something that we work
up? No. Let me tell you what Scripture says. Acts chapter
11 and verse 18. When they heard these things,
they held their peace. They saw the Spirit of God move.
When the Gentiles, when Cornelius and the apostles saw The Spirit
of God was doing and they heard these things, they held their
peace and they glorified God saying, then hath God also to
the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. How does a man or
a woman think differently? God gives them a new thinking. That's how they do it. God gives
them a new heart. They didn't conjure it up from
that old heart. It's dead. It can't think anything
other than what it thinks. Nothing. Disrespectful toward
God. John was straight about it. He
was straight about sin. He was straight about repentance.
And I'll tell you what else he was straight about. He was straight
about God's electing grace and God's kingdom. Back in Matthew
chapter 3 verse 2, we just looked, it says, But listen to what else
He said, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You know what I know
from that scripture? That the Lord has a kingdom. The kingdom of heaven. God's
got a kingdom. I just mentioned it a few minutes
ago. Where did He get it? The Father gave it to Him. The
Father gave him that kingdom that I mentioned that fell in
Adam, but a kingdom beloved. And he came into this world to
seek and to save that kingdom. And when John said, repent ye
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, here's what he was saying.
Here's what he was being plain about. He was declaring the glorious
truth of God's everlasting covenant. That kingdom is Christ's kingdom
according to covenant. Covenant mercy. That's that covenant
that David said, this is all my salvation. This is all my
desire. The Lord has a kingdom and God
has sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world to save them.
live for them, establish their righteousness before God, and
to die for them, to put away their guilt, that they should
surely be saved. Now listen, just hold your place.
I'm going to turn over. You want to turn over to Daniel?
Daniel chapter 7. I'm going to read a couple of
verses of Scripture. Daniel chapter 7. Listen to this beautiful,
beautiful passage of Scripture concerning the kingdom of heaven
coming, the Lord coming. This is what John was telling
him. He said, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to be honest about
it. I want to be honest about sin. I want to be honest about repentance.
He said, I want to be honest about God's kingdom, His electing
grace. Listen to Daniel chapter 7, verse
13-14. I saw in the night visions, and
behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven
and came to the Ancient of Days. And He brought him near before
Him, and there was given Him. Now listen, here's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Servant, humbling Himself. Humbling Himself, made like unto
His brethren. And here He is. He's talking
about Him before His Father in His absolute submission and humiliation
to come. And here's what He says. And
He came. Here was the Son of Man. And He came to the Ancient
of Days. brought Him near before Him.
What submission? God! God in human flesh. How do we understand that? I
don't know. I don't understand it, but I
believe it. And what happened? What happened? Verse 14, there
was given Him dominion. Isn't that what He said in John
17? He said, He's given me power
over all flesh that I should give eternal life to as many
as He's given. Isn't that good, Carl? He's given
me power. What happened? There was given
Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, languages
should serve Him. All men, Jews and Gentiles. And
that language should serve Him and His dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away. And His kingdom at which
shall not be destroyed." John was honest about it. He said,
I want to tell you something. He said, this is not luck. It's not maybe happenstance.
It's not if man decides to, you know, the way most men preach
salvation today, the Lord's made it possible. But you know what
they're saying? It's possible nobody's going
to be saved. What if nobody repents? What if nobody calls on the name
of the Lord? Well, according to the Word of
God, all men are dead. How are they going to call on
the name of the Lord to be saved? They've got to be alive first
to call. John said, I'm going to be honest
about something. He said, listen, you look to
your works, you look to thinking that you're establishing righteousness
before God. He said, I'm telling you, the
Son of Man, came before the ancient of days, and there was dominion
given him, and glory, and a kingdom. And that kingdom is never going
to perish. God's going to save them. He said to John, he was
being upright. He said, I'm telling you, repent.
The kingdom is heaven is at hand. So we make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. And we direct men to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we're honest about it. And then John was honest
about the deity. of the Lord. Who is He? He's
God. This is God. This is God Almighty. He's not someone like God. He
is one with God, but He's not like... He is God. He's God. That's what Matthew 3.11, I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance. He that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear. He's the Lord. I'm just a servant. I'm just
a voice. I mean, the Lord called me to
administer the ordinance of baptism, but the one that's coming baptizes
with fire and the Holy Ghost. I'm not even worthy to tie His
shoes. He baptizes you with life. He comes in irresistible grace
and power. His Spirit moves upon the objects
and vessels of His mercy, and He saves them. of His kingdom
at no end. Then John was honest about the
Lord God who shows mercy and compassion to His people and
is going to deal with sin and those found to be with sin in
the day of judgment. Matthew chapter 3 in verse 12
he says, whose fan is in His hand and he will throughly purge
his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Oh, but how are these
two different sides? He's going to call in those that
are his, but he's going to burn up those that are without. Is there any way that I can know
now where I'm found? I know He's going to save His
people. I know He's going to. He just said He would. I know
He's going to burn up with unquenchable fire those that are without the
Lord, without His Christ, found without Him. Is there anything
you can tell me that will give me some comfort right now to
know that I'm one of His? Yeah. Yeah. Listen to this verse. Mark 16, verse 15-16. He said
to them, Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Not that
baptism added to their belief saved them, they believed and
they confessed it openly, is what he said. He that doesn't
believe, he that believes not this gospel, he that dies in
his sin thinking that he has reconciled himself back to God
by his works, by his will, by his own power, is going to be
damned. When these things are faithfully
proclaimed, what are we taught? And I'll try to wrap this up
back in Isaiah 40. What are we taught that the Lord
Himself is going to do? The gospel is the power of God.
That is that message when we make straight in the desert the
way of the Lord. That's what we're doing. We're
preaching man's depravity. And God's electing grace. God's
particular redeeming and irresistible grace. That's what we're doing.
We're making straight. We're being honest with men.
Because that's the message that's going to bless. That's what God's
going to bless. Well, what has the Lord promised?
And I'm going to look at these last four verses very quickly.
Isaiah 40, verse 4. When that's done, every valley
shall be exalted, every mountain, hill, shall be made low, and
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Now, we want to speak of this
spiritually, in a figure, you know, exactly, you know, every
physical valley, that's not what he's saying, but what's going
to happen when God comes and the message of Christ is preached,
every valley, those that are found in God's regenerating grace,
His people who are made to see themselves, heavy laden, those
that are brought down in their selves, like Peter, Lord help
me, every valley, Everyone burdened with their sin is going to be
exalted, lifted up. The Lord will lift them up like
He lifted up Peter. Out of every mountain, the same
ones found have been lifted up. What is He going to do? That
pride of haughtiness, their own self-righteous, they're going
to be made low. They're going to be made plain.
They're going to be lifted up in the Lord Jesus Christ and
encouraged in Him. Pride is going to be abased.
The Lord knows how to abase pride. He knows how to do that. And
the crooked actually means fraudulent or polluted. That's from a word
that means to supplant. That's what Jacob was. Jacob, the supplanter. It says,
and the crooked shall be made straight. That word straight
is righteous and upright. And the rough places. What does that mean? Well, the
definition is the tied or entangled. By sin, what are they going to
do? What's going to happen? Well,
it's going to be in the rough places, plain, which means to
win. They're going to win. God's going
to save them. God's going to call them out
of darkness. They'll be conquered. That's the word I'm looking for.
Conquered. And then in verse 5, Isaiah 40,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed when that message
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is played. I'll tell you
what, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The
glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And what glory is that? Well,
it's the same glory that Moses asked the Lord to show him. Show
me your glory. And this is what he said, I'll
make all my goodness pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name
of the Lord. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. I'll
show mercy on whom I'll show mercy. This is what's going to
happen. God's going to save His people.
He's going to call them. And all flesh shall see it together. What? All men without exception? No, that's not what He's saying.
What He's saying is Jew and Gentile. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue, God's got a people scattered all over this
world. That's why we go into all the
world and preach the gospel. So everyone that has been redeemed,
chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, the Spirit of
God, is going to call it out. How? Do we know? For the mouth
of the Lord has spoken it. The mouth of the Lord has spoken
it. All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." How do we know
that's so? The mouth of the Lord has spoken
it. And then Isaiah declares again in verse 6, and the voice
said, cry. And he said, this Isaiah said,
what shall I cry? Here's what you cry. All flesh
is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. The voice, not just a voice like
John the Baptist says I am a voice, but this one says in the voice. The voice. Those know that voice
that know Him. The scripture says that the Lord
says that my sheep hear my voice. and I know them and they follow
me. You know how you know that the voice of the Lord is being
heard? When you hear whatever's being preached, you know it's
consistent with these scriptures. You say, you know, that's His
voice. That's Him. That's His word. That's His voice. And this is He who commissioned
His disciples. You know, Mark 16, 15. You go
into all the world. You preach the gospel. Isaiah
says, upon hearing that voice, the voice, say, cry. He wisely
asked. And this is what I asked again.
He says, cry. And I say, Lord, what do You
want me to preach? What do I cry? What do I sit
for? What do I proclaim? What is the message that men
need to hear? What's the message that you're
going to bless? The salvation. The Lord told him, He said, you
cry this, all flesh is grass. That's what John did. He was
honest. He was honest about men. He was
honest about sin. You tell men of their frailty.
I'm going to be honest with you. We don't have the ability to.
And you that know Him, know it. You tell them, you put men in
mind that this life is a vapor. This life's almost over. I'm
telling you, some of you is a lot younger than a lot of us here.
There was a lot of us here a lot younger when we were your age.
Oh, we thought, yeah, I'm going to live forever. Now we're starting
to see. You know what? I don't think I am. I don't think
I am. You know what I believe? I believe
I'm going to die. I believe my time's coming. I
believe it's soon. That's what I believe. You tell them all
flesh is grass. You tell them. You tell them
of their fallen Adam. You tell them that they're dead
in trespasses and sin. You tell them that except their
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
they will in no case enter the kingdom of God. I want you to
hear this today and not when you stand before God. Because
in that day, I can assure you, it's too late. You tell them
that they're weak as grass, they have no ability to do any good. You tell them all the goodliness,
all the value, the strength, the beauty thereof is of the
flower of the field. You tell them that the glory
and worth of the flesh It's as the bloom in a field. And what
is the glory of that bloom that's in the field? Well, look at verse
7. Here it is. Here's the glory of it. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people. His grass. The grass withereth. It's ashamed. It's confused.
It's disappointed. That's what's going to happen.
The flower fadeth, it wilts and is dishonored. Why? Because the
Spirit of God bloweth upon it. John Calvin gave this word, I'm
wrapping this up, I really am, on this verse. He said, however
illustrious men think their glory to be, as soon as the Spirit
of God blows upon it, then they know that they are nothing. Remember when the Lord commanded
Blow, oh, north wind upon my garden. Blow, oh, south. Blow,
expose her for what she is. Blow from the south. Give her
that cold blast of realization. Your grass, your grass that withers. But you blow, oh, north wind.
Same wind, same spirit. You encourage her. You tell her.
You tell her, I love her. She's mine. You tell her I put
away her guilt. You tell her there's no condemnation.
to all that be in Him. You tell her, you tell her. And
this blowing, oh that God might be pleased to blow today. Because
in that day, in that day standing before Him as I said, too late.
Verse 8, last verse. The grass withereth, the flower
faded, but the Word of our God. Oh isn't that a wonderful thought?
Our God. Our God. Oh, that He be my God. But the Word of our God shall
stand forever. Peter quoted this in 1 Peter
1.25. But the Word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you. The Good News. The Good News. Same Gospel that Isaiah preached.
The Gospel's Good News to hell deserving Sinners. Sinners that
God's been pleased to call out of darkness. Make straight. Tell
men what they are. Be honest with them. Be straight. Make straight. Make direct. Tell them what they are. Tell
them what God has been pleased to do, purpose to do. God's got
a people. This is the only message that the Lord's going to bless
to the calling out of his sheep. He's not going to bless another
message. He's not going to bless a message that exalts us, gives
us some glory. He's not going to do it. May
the Lord be pleased to bless it today for His glory and our
eternal good. Amen.