Isaiah chapter 40. Begin reading in verse 18 tonight. I don't think we'll quite get
done tonight, but we'll see how far we get. Beginning in verse
18. To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare
unto him? The workman melteth a graven
image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth
silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that
shall not be moved. Have you not known? Have you
not heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. that bringeth the princes to
nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity, yea,
they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea,
their stalks shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall
take them away as stubble, to whom then will you liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? I believe we'll stop there tonight.
Let's pray. Lord, give us wisdom and understanding.
Turn on the light of your Holy Spirit to show us the truth. Teach us that we might see Christ
again in His glory and that we might trust Him and rest in Him rejoicing him in worship. Thank
you for the privilege that it is to gather in your name to
look into your holy word. Be with us and bless us in Christ's
precious name. Amen. So Isaiah 40 is a very
rich wonderful chapter in the Word
of God. Each time we look at it we have to see the whole chapter
really again. So let's review just very briefly.
Very briefly tonight so it's kind of a sweeping stroke. But
God says comfort my people and then he proceeds to tell us why
we should be comforted. He gives us some ammunition. in that endeavor. First of all, he loves his sheep.
The war is over for them. That's the first thing he says
to tell them. The war is over. Your iniquity is pardoned. That's
a good place to start. And that's in verse two. He reveals
his glory to us, verse five. That's a prophecy of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also It's the same thing when He comes
to me. He reveals the glory, His glory to me in the face of
His Son. Verse 12, He made everything.
Verses 13 and 14, He knows everything. Verses 22 through 24, He runs
everything. Is that brief enough of a review? That's the big picture now. And
there's a lot of comfort in between those main themes as well. Let's
start tonight with verse 18. To whom then will you liken God
or what likeness will you compare unto him? Now verses 15 through
17 are key to that question. So let's look at them again.
Verse 15. Behold the nations are as a drop
of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance,
behold, he taketh up the alms as a very little thing. And all
of your religious activities put together, verse 16, are not
enough. Even the ones that he ordained,
your doing of them, your performance of them, your good works, your
religion, it's not going to cut it. Verse 17, all nations before
him are as nothing and they are counted to him less than nothing
in vanity. We've got to see the contrast
here. God has made a difference between his people and this world. We just got through saying he
loves his sheep. The first thing he wants to do
is comfort them with this wonderful truth. I've pardoned all your
sins. I sent my glory into this world,
and your sin is pardoned. But the rest of the world, it's
like the dust of the balance to Him. And you see how that
has to do with verse 18? Who's like that? What other God is like Him? You see that word, then? In verse
18, to whom then? that he's the God of electing
love. Who is like that? He's saying here, I'm not like
the God of this religious world. What's the first thing you're
going to hear? You go down the street here, up here in College
Grove, all around us, anywhere you're going to go, you know
what the first thing you're going to hear? God is trying to save
everybody. What did we just read? You see why he says, I'm not
like that God. I'm not like him. He's trying to save everybody.
He loves everybody. He died for everybody. God says,
don't you dare compare me to that God. This whole world is
a speck of dust to me. He loves his sheep. He died for
his sheep. He saves his sheep. He came to
save his sheep. He don't love everybody. He didn't
die for everybody. And he's not trying to save everybody.
He loves his people. He died for them. And he's going
to save them. And this book is just full of
that. It's just rich with that clear,
plain gospel truth. And so you see why he's saying
here, when he declares that, who's like me? What God? Where
have you heard that? Anywhere else. There's no comparison. That's
an idol of the imaginations of men. I'm the one that made everything,
knows everything, and runs everything, and I've redeemed my people,
and everybody else is like dust. What do we know about the God
of the religious age in which we live? He wants to save everybody,
but not everybody will let Him save them. He'll save you if
you'll let Him now. A lot of people just won't let
Him. But my God says all the nations
of the world are dust to me. My people are my concern. Comfort
them. Let them know that I've redeemed
them. I'm not trying to redeem them. I've redeemed them. Their
sins are pardoned. They don't have a chance. They
have me. And I'm going to feed them. Religion
says God's trying. God wants to. But the true God,
look at verses 25 and 26. of our text. He says this, To
whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the
Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their
host by number? He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. He hath created and purposed the history and future of this
entire universe, and not one of his purposes faileth. He hath
created and purposed the rise and fall and fortunes of every
creature in his universe, and not one of his purposes faileth.
Nobody can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing?
He hath purposed the salvation of his sheep, and not one of
his purposes faileth. He said, those that the Father
hath given me, I'm not going to lose any of them. Don't dare compare the gods of
this religious world to Him. They say they worship God. We
say we worship God. There's no comparison. No comparison. The woman at the well said, we
worship God in this mountain that you Jews, you know, you
worship in Jerusalem. The Lord said to her, you don't
even know what you're worshiping. She was fixing to, but at that
time she had no idea. You worship you know not what.
That's the truth of it now. That's this religious world.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that God is like us. That's part
of our problem. In Psalm 50, 22, God says to
man, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in one as thyself.
Not so. We fail. He don't. We try. He don't. We promise and then we don't
follow through. He don't. He don't do that. We have our
sense of fairness. He don't have our sense of fairness.
His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. The
God of our generation wants you to let him have his way. Our God does according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What
doest thou? Daniel 4.35. The God of our generation
died in an effort to save all mankind, even though millions
were in hell already the day that he died. Kind of foolish,
isn't it? My God said, I laid down my life
for my sheep. And he said to the Pharisees,
you don't believe me because you're not my sheep. And then
he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me. They follow me. I don't try to get them to follow
me. I just call them by name and they follow me. They hear
my voice, they hear my gospel. They hear of me and they follow
and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. It doesn't say I give unto them
eternal life but they have to receive it. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. There's nothing in between those
two things. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand which says why we don't perish because we're
his. And He protects us, He keeps
us, He saved us. And He's still saving us. And
nobody can nay say that or do anything about it. My God said
in John 6.37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. I know this language is familiar
to you, but listen. Listen to it like you've never
heard it before. All that my Father giveth me shall come to
me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For
I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the
will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Not one
faileth. We read in Isaiah, not one faileth. He said, I've purposed it, I'll
also bring it to pass. Not one fail. Verse 19 back in
our text in Isaiah 40. The workman melteth a graven
image and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth
silver chains. People refuse to glorify the
true God of heaven and earth, and so what do they do? They
make their own. They make their own. You think
about this with me. Back then they made them out
of wood and metal, stone. Now think about that with me
for a second. We've talked about this before,
but if someone makes a statue It says this is God. Here's a
stone statue that looks like a bird. They make gods of the creeping
things of the earth. Or maybe it looks like a man. Maybe it looks like some weird
beast of some kind. Whatever it is. A statue, a totem
pole, a cross, whatever it is. A trinket of some kind made out
of gold, wood, or stone. And they say this is God. This
is God. If you ask them, what does your
God say? What does your God say? You know what they're going to
say? They're not going to say, he don't say nothing, he's a rock. They're
not going to admit that. They're going to say, well, he
says, you know, he says, you know, that he's got some directives,
you know, that he does, you know, he tells us to be good. He tells
us to be good to our mama and to pay tithes and not to cuss
and things like that. He tells us things like that.
But where did those things come from? Because the Bible doesn't
say anything about that. Where did those directives come
from? So who are they really worshiping? their own minds, their own imaginations. They make it up. And some of
it may sound a little bit like what God said. Some of it does.
But it's not what God said. He never said do anything to
please me and I'll take you to heaven. I'll accept you on that
basis. If you ask them, well what does
your God do? They're not going to say, even back then when they
made them out of stone, they're not going to say, well it's a
rock, it don't do anything. They're not going to say that. You know what
they're going to say? Oh, he makes the sun to shine. He gives
us a good crop. If we do what he says, he makes
sure we have a good crop. That's our God, you know. They
attributed things like that to their gods. But where did those
ideas come from? They didn't come from God's book.
They came from the minds and hearts of men themselves. And
so who are they really worshiping? Verse 20. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation. Now God instructed him to bring
oblations. And some of those things cost
money. They were different things. And they would cost money. But
they're saying here, we don't have any money, so we can't afford
it. And yet, they go get a tree that will not rot. Because they
like the idea of God sticking around for a while. That's their
idea of eternality, I guess. They don't want to just make
it out of pine and then in a couple of years it rotted away. Then
their God is a pile of dust. So they're careful about that.
And he seeketh unto him a cunning workman. You think that workman
is going to do that for free? To prepare a graven image that
shall not be moved. And it says they put gold, they
spread gold over. You think he did that for nothing? God is saying here the same people
who would not spare a little bit of money to purchase and
bring a proper offering to himself, to the true God, will rather
go to a lot of trouble and a lot of expense, a lot of work. They've
got to go down and cut down a tree and cut out a section of it.
That wasn't as easy then as it is now. You know they could have
done some work maybe and earned some money and done what God
said. You reckon? But instead they work harder
than they would have if they were just done what God said
and go probably to more expense. I would imagine a gold-plated
statue sounds more expensive than what God required. And they
make an idol out of it. People go to a lot of trouble.
Oh, we've got to be there every Sunday. We've got to tithe. We've
got to bring a visitor. We've got to read our Bible. They go
to a lot of trouble to worship themselves. Don't they? Verse 21. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? What's your excuse? You see the
progression here? Are you going to plead ignorance? The Bible says in Romans chapter
1 that nobody can plead ignorance. No one has a legitimate excuse.
That even those who have only the light of nature, the things
that are made, know enough to glorify God as God that they
will not do it. They refuse to do it. But there's some clear
and vital language here that I want to quote you in Romans
121, in that passage that I just referred to. Listen to this. Romans 121, because that when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. When they knew God, They glorified
him not as God. What was the questionnaire text?
Hast thou not known? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Let me say
it again in case we forgot it. People's problem is not that
they don't understand the sovereignty of God. Their problem is they
don't want a sovereign God. They want one that they can move
around on the chessboard and that does what they tell it to
do. He says what they come up with
for him to say. And he does what they imagine
he ought to do. But he's an idol. They're worshiping
themselves. People's problem is not that
they don't understand the doctrine of election. I've talked to people
about it, and they say, well, that's just too confusing. I
just don't understand. You're a liar. There is nothing
more simple in the world You have not chosen God, He chooses
you, or not, at His pleasure. Is that complicated? God saves
who He wants to save. It's not up to you. Your free
will has nothing to do with it. God's free will makes the difference. Is that complicated? I've said
this to you before too, but you know when that gets complicated
is when you start trying to reconcile that with what you thought was
right. Then it's going to get real complicated. But if you
throw away all of your thoughts and just receive what God said,
it's just as simple as it can be. Isn't that simple? People's problem is not that
they don't understand the doctrine of the successful and particular
atonement of Christ. There's nothing complicated about
that. Just because people have written books that thick on it,
that you can't even number, that would fill up this building and
not even come close to being all of them. That doesn't mean
it's complicated. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down
his life for his sheep. And when he did, he redeemed
them from their sins. He saved them with his precious
blood. Period. That's not complicated. The only issue is, is he sufficient? Is he able to save who he came
to save? That's the question. Religion says no, that he did
his best, but it's up to you. You're going to have to, you're
going to have to fill in the blanks. You're going to have
to take the first step. You're going to, you're going
to, you're going to. It's either that or Christ did it, finished
it, and said I finished it. Is that complicated? People's
problem is that they don't, is not that they don't understand
that. Have you not known? You better believe they know. Has it not been told you? Now think about this with me
for a minute. This is important. Think about verse 21 and verse
20. In verse 20 we see a fool having
an image made so that he can worship himself. He's got, he's
at least Human human smart enough to not just look in the mirror
and say I worship you so he makes a God But we see that he's worshiping
himself because everything that God said and everything that
God does comes from right here in his own heart So he's worshiping
himself, and he's deceiving himself about that But okay, so what
does it look like? What does it say? We see him
making an image a Graven image I'm sure you've noticed that
the word imagination starts with the word image. Imagination. That's what it is. It's a God
of their imagination. They imagined it and they made that image from
what they imagined. All right. What is verse 21?
It's talking about knowledge, not imagination. It's talking
about knowledge. I say that that idol is not God. Know that that idol that people
make an idol That's not God. They're talking about a God that's
trying and wants to and needs your cloth. That's not God Well,
how do you know that look at verse 21? You've been told that's
why You see the stark contrast here one person Imagines their
God But they have no excuse Because they've been told. And the one that worships the
true God, why do we worship him? Because we've been told. What does our God say? Well,
he says that he's the sovereign, that he does as he pleases in
the armies of heaven, as we read while ago, and everywhere in
his universe, he does as he pleases. He says that he chose a people
from the foundation of the world. And that he sent his son to redeem
those people. And that his son didn't intercede,
wouldn't act as high priest for the world, but for those people.
And he said he laid down his life for those people. And he
said those people will never perish. You see where I'm going? How do you know? I was told,
that's how. I didn't come up with that. I
didn't imagine it. I was told that. You see the
difference? And this is key. All of the things
that we've said about how our God is different from the God
of this world a while ago, how do I know that? I don't have
to depend upon my imagination. God told me. God told me. That's faith. Faith believes
God. Believes God. Verse 22. It is He that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.
And we can impose these words, it is he, on this second phrase
too. It is he that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Now you think about
that. Wow. Can you imagine Christ sitting, judge over all the earth, And everybody on this earth is
a grasshopper. They have nothing to do with
what happens, with the purposes that are fulfilled, with the
truth, with their own salvation or damnation, except that they
deserve it if it's damnation. God's the one that's going to
put them there though. that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
he spreadeth him out as a tent to dwell in." Like we would pitch
a tent, God pitched a universe. He pitched a sky. When you read a language like
that, how do you even comment on that? When God describes himself,
what are you going to add to that? Can I pick some better
adjectives than he did, or better descriptions, better metaphors?
All we can do when God speaks like that and reveals who he
is, the greatness of his person, is remember some other things
that he said about himself and compare and delight in them. So that's what we'll do. The
Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples when he was
leaving this earth, in Matthew 28, 18, he said, all power is
given unto All power is given unto me. He sits upon the circle of the
earth. And everybody's a grasshopper.
In other words, they're just insignificant. He sitteth. Now think about this. And by the way, you know the
rest of that Matthew 28. Go ye therefore and teach. What does
he rule the earth for? What does he have authority for?
He said in John 17, 2 or 3, You have given me power over all
flesh that I might give eternal life. As many as ask it, well
how's that going to happen? You go and preach. Because I'm
going to give them life and the way I'm going to do it is by
the foolishness of preaching. All power is given unto me that
I might give life. Now you go preach and I'm going
to give life to whom I will. It says he sitteth, he sitteth.
He sits because his work is done. We saw that this morning, didn't
we? He sits because he's not worried about anything. When
I'm worried, you know, I try to sleep and I gotta get up and
just, I gotta worry, I just have to, I'm worried, I'm troubled.
He's not troubled about anything. He sits because this is easy
for him now. Now, let me say this about that,
though. And I don't even know what I'm talking about, and you'll
understand what I mean by that. But I need to say it anyway.
When our Lord Jesus Christ came and did what He did for us, when
He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, and
He condemned sin in the flesh, when He became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross, that wasn't easy for Him.
I'm not saying that. And I don't even know what that
means. I know that for the joy that was set before him, he endured
the cross, despising the shame, which means to count it as a
small thing. But that doesn't mean that it
was a small thing, what he accomplished. He accounted it a small thing
for the joy that was set before him. But what our Lord accomplished
on Calvary, when he gave his own soul an offering for my sin,
It's incalculable, it's unfathomable, it's unsearchable. But having
finished it, he sat down. And he's not worried. He's not exerting any effort.
Nothing's hard for him. He's done. He's finished his
work. He sat down. What's the significance
of him sitting down? Listen to me and turn there.
If it helps you to turn there, don't ever think that I don't
want you to turn. Hebrews 10.11. If you can take
it in better just by listening to me, then just listen to me
quote it. Hebrews 10.11. every day I don't know if you can hear
that, but there's a lot of noise. I have a problem with that. I
have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I
have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I
have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I
have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that.
I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with
that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with
that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I
have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with
that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a
problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I
have a problem with that. I have a problem with that. I have a problem with
that. I'm going to go back and close. And also just to give you a bit
of a sense of what we're doing here. I just thought this was a blessing,
considering the Lord's sitting with the cause. Salvation is
of the Lord, and the one who salvation is of says it's done.
So I say it's done. Acts 7.54, though, when they
heard these things, when they heard Stephen preach the gospel,
they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on
the right hand of God. Now if you look up that word
and the glory of God and Jesus that's the word for and one other
thing and it can mean even. So let's read it that way. He
saw the glory of God even Jesus standing on the right hand of
God. I can't guarantee you that's
the right way to say that, but I'm pretty sure about it. I know
this. I know who God's glory is. I
know who the brightness of God's glory is. It's even Jesus. Standing on the right hand of
God. Standing. Then they cried out with a loud
voice, stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord
and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. This is
what Saul never got over, did he? He said, I'm not worthy to
be called an apostle. And they stoned Stephen. They
didn't just stone Stephen. They stoned Stephen calling upon
God. And I believe this is why our
Lord Jesus was standing. I don't ever want to be guilty
of speculating with regard to the Word of God, but I know what's
said here. Stephen, one of the Lord's sheep, One
of the ones that our Lord Jesus said, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. One of the ones whom he so loved,
that he gave himself, is crying out to him. He didn't even see
the ones who were crushing his body with rocks. He didn't even
see them. He didn't say he saw them. He
saw the glory of God, even Jesus. And listen to what he said, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit. You reckon that's why the Lord
was standing up? To indeed receive this child
that he loved that much. And he kneeled down and cried
with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep. I tell you this, when you come
to the end of your life, if you see him, and you're calling upon
him then, you're not going to die. You're just going to fall
asleep, aren't you? Verse 23 in our text, he
brings the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity. Now notice this now. What are
we to conclude about that? What does that have to do with
the context here? He brings the princes to nothing, the judges
of this earth. He don't just run the universe,
he runs you too. Is that alright? He runs you too. princes and judges of the earth
those with authority who make the decisions you know they have their say
they say they have their opinions and their facts and things that
they know but the Lord has made foolish the wisdom of this world
they say this and they say that and they have authority in this
earth but the Lord says they're nothing they're vanity which
is And pretty soon everybody is
going to see that. He makes them vanity. In other words, they
already are. He just makes it now. And it's not just that they are
nothing, but he brings them there. In other words, he makes everybody
to know it. And he does it. He brings them
down and puts up another in their place if he's pleased to. Psalm
75 5 he says lift not up your horn on high don't don't get
all high mighty and speak with a stiff neck for promotion cometh
neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but
God is the judge he put it down one and set up another he runs
this universe and he runs you He's talking about the judges
of the earth here, the ones that have authority, the ones that
if anybody can do what they want to do, it's, you know, the ones
that call the shots in this world. They're not calling any shots.
So where does that leave us? How many shots are we calling? Our text calls them the judges
of the earth, those that men exalt for their own reasons,
for political reasons, for their own gain, usually, in one way
or another. But the psalmist says that God
is the judge, where we just read. You notice that? The judges of
the earth are vanity. God is the judge. The government
is on his shoulders, Isaiah said. In chapter 9 of Isaiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, the Father hath committed all judgment unto
me. If you look at John chapter 5,
verses 21 through 27, the context in which he said, The Father hath committed all
judgment unto me. You'll find out that the purpose
and the result of all judgment being committed to the Son is
that some are going to have life and some are not. That's a determination made by
Him at His will, freely. Quickeneth whom He will. Verse
24, we're through. Yea, they shall not be planted.
They shall not be sown. Yea, their stalks shall not take
root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away
as stubble. Now think about this for a minute.
I want to... What's being said
about this? This is the purpose of the day. In this chapter, we see some
sinners pardoned, fed, and comforted. And then we see some others here
being rooted up, withered, and blown away. Which one are you? What's the difference? What determines
the difference? Why is one fed and pardoned and
comforted and another is cut off and withered and blown away? Why is that? John 15 5, I am
the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Is that
sound familiar? If you abide in me, and my words
abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done
unto you. As we saw, and commented on in
our chapter in Isaiah there in that last verse that we looked
at. We see some pardoned, fed, and
comforted. And we see some dead, rooted
up, and destroyed. And the difference, as we saw
in John 15, is Christ. Christ is life. There is no life
apart from Him. He didn't come down here to make
our lives better. He came to give us life. He gives
it to whom He will. He gives it by the preaching
of the gospel. Thank God for the simple, clear
truth of the word of God. May we rejoice in Him. We are
fed, pardoned, comforted, blessed in Christ Jesus. Outside of him,
there is no blessing from God. No love, no blessing, no chance,
no anything. God's love and all of his favor
is in his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I wouldn't dare
give you comfort any other place. Never would I say God loves you
and wants to save you. No. If you hate his son, We got
no reason to believe whatsoever that God has any desire to save
you. He might. We may find that out. But He saves you. He's going
to save you in Christ. Let's pray.