Every time you hear His name,
brethren, think about that. He shall save
His people from their sins. Jesus, Savior, for He shall save
His people from their sins. No ambiguity in that. No possibility that it won't
come to pass. It's just all certainty. He shall
save His people from their sins. Let's turn now in our Bible to
Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. The title or subject tonight
is The Flesh and the Word. The Flesh and the Word. Every sinner who is born again
of the Spirit of God is made up of these two things. The Flesh
and the Word. We're born of these two things. The Flesh and the Word. The flesh, along with our best
goodliness that our flesh produces, every bit of it is sin. And therefore,
it's withering and it shall totally perish. But the Word of God shall
stand forever. The Word of God endureth forever. And therefore, the new man within
every born-again child of God, that new man is forever. Because we're born of the Word
that endureth forever. Our text declares this two-point
message that the Lord sends his messengers to preach. These are
the two things He said cry. Verse 6, the voice said cry. I read Isaiah 52 to you because
the Lord there says, in that day they shall know that I am
He that does speak. Hold His eye. And He said, how
beautiful is the feet of Him. And truly it's Christ. He's the
one that bringeth these good tidings. And it says, His watchman,
thy watchman, speaking of Christ's preachers, they shall lift up
the voice together with thee voice. Here's thee voice. Thee voice said cry. Whose voice
is that? That's the Lord Jesus. He's the
one who sends His messenger. This is the one who we read about
in the garden that said the voice was walking in the cool of the
day. This is the voice. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. The head of the church. The prophet. The shepherd and bishop of our
souls who sends his preacher. And as his preacher lifts up
the voice, his preacher and Christ lift up the voice together. Together. His preacher lifts
up the voice together with the voice and Christ speaks. He speaks. And what does He say? Cry. The
messenger said, what shall I cry? First thing he said, Christ,
all flesh is sin, and it only produces sin. He said, all flesh
is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people is grass. Now that's what the Lord said
preach. That's what the voice said cry.
That's what Christ told His preachers to preach. All flesh and all
the goodliness of the flesh is sin. It's sin. It's grass. Unprofitable. The second point He has His preacher
declare is the Word of the Lord stands forever. Verse 8, the
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall
stand forever. Every chosen child of God. You know how we were chosen?
By the Word of the Lord. By the Word of the Lord. By the
Lord choosing us, saying, He's mine. She's mine. You know how
everything was ordained before the foundation of the world?
By the Word of the Lord. You know how the world was created?
By the Word of the Lord. And every chosen, redeemed child
of God shall be born again of the Word of the Lord. will be
born again by the Word of the Lord. A new holy heart is born
within us by the Word. By the Word. The Word of God
stands forever and what the Word creates is forever. It endureth
forever. It's by the Word that He grows
us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. By
the Word that He teaches us of Christ. And it's by the Word
that He grows us in the grace and knowledge of Christ. It's
how He keeps us stayed on Christ. It keeps us trusting Christ alone. Look over at 1 Peter 1. In verse 23, here's what Peter said. This is how our souls are purified. Verse 23, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." Now mark that passage in 1 Peter
1. We're going to come back to it
at the end. Let's go back to Isaiah 40. This is where Peter
was quoting from. And let's look at these two points. We'll look at these two points
and then we'll go and look and see what Peter said. First of
all, all flesh is grass. That means all flesh is sin. All flesh is sin. All flesh is
grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the
field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely
the people is grass. Now this is true of every child
of Adam. Everybody that's born into this
world the first time is a sinner by Adam. Being born of that incorruptible
seed, all have sinned, all are sinners, all flesh is grass.
But brethren, this is true of every sinner who's born again
of the Spirit of God, who's born again of the Word. In our sin
nature, is nothing but sin. It's nothing but grass. It's
nothing but grass. We're not talking here about
that special expensive grass that you buy and plant in your
yard. We're talking about old, wild, worthless field grass. That's what we're talking about
right here. All flesh is grass. All flesh is sin. Are there any
exceptions? Are there any exceptions here?
There are no exceptions. It says all flesh is grass. All. All flesh is sin. How come Romans 5.12 says, As
by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sin. All flesh is grass
because of Adam. because of Adam. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what sin
is. That's what being grasped is.
We have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What is
it to have the glory of God? I tried to show us this Sunday
that glory that should be revealed that he talked about there in
Isaiah 40 is the glory It's Christ. It's Christ. It's His righteousness. Remember He said, the glory you've
given me, Father, that glory of being the righteousness of
His people. He said, I've given them that
glory. I've given them my righteousness
that they may be one even as we were one. That's the only
way we're going to be one with God the Father. We're going to
have to have the glory of God. We've sinned and come short of
it. We don't have the righteousness of God. But now the righteousness
of God is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
by the faith of Christ. He's the righteousness of God. He's the righteousness of God.
Now in our flesh, as we come into this world, and in our flesh
that's in us as believers, We can produce some things that
men consider good. We might even consider them good. But God says there is none good,
no, not one. That's what God says. There is
none good, no, not one. But concerning the goodliness
that is produced by the flesh, God says, all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. You look out there in
the field and you see those flowers and they're colorful and they
appeal to the eye. The flesh can do some things
that appeal to the carnal eye. But what happens to the grass
of the field? What happens to the flowers that
it produces? Verse 7, the grass withereth
the flower fadeth. Brethren, our flesh is sin, and
therefore it shall wither to nothing. And though you may produce
something that appears goodly by your flesh, by your sin nature,
but that goodliness is going to wither and perish too. When the flesh dies, all the
works of the flesh are going to die. In other words, the flesh
does not endure forever. This sin nature does not endure.
Sin entered, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. Death ended our eternal being. This sin nature and this sinful
flesh is going back to the grave. And every good work we work in
our sinful, fleshly, grassy bodies is going back to the grave with
us. Everything. Why does our text
say that our sinful flesh and all our very best deeds wither
to nothing? Why does our sinful flesh, that's
grass, and the goodliness that's like the flower of grass, why
does it all wither to nothing? Look at verse 7 at the end. Because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. You know, for the sinner that's
chosen by God the Father, and that's been redeemed by our Lord
Jesus Christ, This is a great mercy right here. This is a great
mercy. God says, no flesh shall glory
in my presence. That's what He said in 1 Corinthians
1. He said that in 1 Corinthians
1 in the context of declaring that He chose to save through
what? The preaching of the Word of the Lord. And in the context
of declaring that he's saved through the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified, he said, no flesh shall glory in my presence.
This is why he saves this way. That no flesh shall glory in
my presence. So the Spirit of the Lord blows
upon our flesh. He blows upon our flesh. When
we start to looking at our flesh as believers, He's going to make
our flesh and our goodliness to wither before our own eyes. In our own new man, in our true
heart, He's going to make our goodliness wither before our
eyes. He makes us see our sin nature is sin. He makes us see
our very best deeds are sin. And it's only by the Spirit of
the Lord. It's only by the Spirit of the Lord blowing like the
wind that He's gonna make us see. Remember the Lord said the
Spirit is like the wind, it bloweth where it will? And it's only
by the Spirit of the Lord blowing that He's going to make us see
our sin, our sin nature, our best deeds are sin. This is what made Paul as a regenerated
believer, as a child of God, holy, born again of God, with
a new man within him, it was the Spirit of the Lord that blew
upon him, that made him say, I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh, in that part of me that's of Adam dwelleth no good
thing. It's just grass. The goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. It's just grass, no good
thing. To will is present with me. That's
in the new man that Christ has created by the word of the Lord. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. In other words, what God says
is good, what God says is so good that it equals the glory
of God, Paul said, I can't ever do that. I can't do that. What will make a sinner like
you and me so proud of ourselves, so proud of our accomplishments
and all that we have accomplished in the world? What will make
us confess that so of ourselves? Only the Spirit of the Lord blowing
upon you and making you see that in you is a sin nature in which
dwells no good thing. You have a new heart that would
do good. You have a new heart. I'm not
talking about the goodliness that the flesh produces. I'm
not talking about the goodliness that men call goodliness. We're
talking about the good that God calls good. Remember, he told
that rich young ruler, there is none good but God. We're talking about what God
calls good. Paul says, the good I would. I would. I'm willing to do the
good. I want to do the good that equals
that glory of God. But I can't do it. There is nothing
that will make a proud sinner confess that but the Spirit of
the Lord blowing upon him. But he will keep you knowing.
He will keep you knowing, having begun in the Spirit. We're not
made perfect by this flesh. If you start looking at your
flesh for anything, if it's for assurance, you start looking
at yourself for assurance, looking at your past, or you start looking
at yourself to try to measure your growth or your lack thereof. or you start exalting yourselves
over another and speaking evil of another and judging another,
the Spirit will blow and He will wither our flesh. Because all
of that, looking at ourselves for assurance, this trying to
measure growth by looking by ourselves and exalting ourselves
over others, all of that comes from our flesh. And the Spirit
of the Lord will blow and He will wither that in us. He will
subdue that in us because He will keep His child having no
confidence in the flesh. Paul said, we are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. and He will blow, and He will
keep you knowing that. So the Lord ends with this sure,
certain, final word. Verse 7, at the end, Surely the
people is grass. Now brethren, this is what the
shepherd, the voice, when he sends his preacher, this is what
he tells us to preach. It says, Not of the preacher.
The preacher said, What shall I cry? And the voice said, cry,
surely the people is grass. They're sin. And when the voice walked this
earth, when he came down and walked this earth, this is what
he said. He said, it is the spirit that
quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak, that's
what Christ said, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. They're spirit. They're not carnal,
they're spirit and they're life. They're life. If we could... Well, being born of Him, He makes
you get this and He'll keep you getting this. But we just have
to, he has to keep, the Spirit of the Lord has to keep blowing
because we just keep forgetting. The flesh profiteth nothing. You know, we can kind of understand
this, that in my flesh, I can't work out the righteousness required
to be accepted of God. We can kind of, as believers
being taught of God, we can kind of get that. Here's where we
mess up. When we've fallen, and we've
fallen, and we've sinned, and we become worried that we have
marred the righteousness by which God accepts us. You know that's
putting as much confidence in our flesh as if we tried to come
to God by the works of our flesh. Because we're saying the flesh
messed it up. The flesh profits nothing. The
flesh doesn't profit to make you righteous before God and
the flesh does not profit to make you unrighteous before God.
Because your righteousness is not in your flesh. Your righteousness
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And nothing can change or alter
what He has done for His people. Nothing. Nothing. You know, we'll
say that brethren need to be merciful
and they need to be forgiving. And we try to be merciful and
we try to be forgiving. And the next thing you know,
we find ourselves thinking we have been merciful and forgiving.
And we are commending ourselves. How so? By condemning somebody
that was not merciful and forgiving. That's the same as saying, I'm
merciful and forgiving. They haven't been merciful and
forgiving. Brethren, I want you to be merciful and forgiving.
But the flesh profits nothing. It's not you being merciful and
forgiving that makes you righteous. The flesh profits nothing. And
for that person that judges and condemns, for you to say, well,
that can't be a believer. What are you doing when you do
that? You're judging and condemning. Isn't that right? If another
person is judging and condemning, and I'm saying, that person can't
be righteous, they're judging and condemning. A believer wouldn't
do that. What am I doing? I'm judging and condemning. Can
a believer do that? It's a little different when
the shoe's on your other foot, isn't it? When it's us that's
doing the judging and condemning, we realize, yes, a believer can
do that. This is what Paul meant in Romans
2 when he said, Brethren, When you judge another and condemn
another, you condemn your own self because you do the same
thing. In our flesh dwells no good thing, and the flesh profiteth
nothing. It doesn't profit in positive.
It doesn't profit in negative. It's not going to make you righteous.
It's not going to make you unrighteous. The flesh profiteth nothing.
That's the word of the Lord. It's the Spirit that quickens
us. And where does the Spirit that quickens, where does it
come from? Christ said, the Word of the Lord, the Word that I
speak. There's Spirit in their life. That's where we are profited. This never ceases to be true
in the sinner that's born again of God. It never ceases to be
true. Our Lord Jesus said, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. Those two are in you and me all
the time till we die. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. That is still in your flesh.
Your flesh is not subject to the Word of God. But Paul said,
you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of the Lord dwell in you. That's true. You're not in the
flesh but in the Spirit if you're born of the Spirit of God, but
the flesh is still in you. You're not in the flesh, you're
in the Spirit, but the flesh is still in you. And He's still
just as much a rebel as ever. Don't ever forget that. The flesh
is grass. Mine ears and all the goodliness
of it is like the flower of the field. The grass wither, the
flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth on it. Surely
the people is grass. Alright, secondly. The Word of
the Lord shall stand, shall endure forever. Now Christ is the Word. He's the Word. He shall stand. He shall endure forever. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. before the voice spoke heaven
and earth into existence, the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And then the Word spoke, and
spoke it all into existence. And this Word was made flesh. He came and took a holy, sinless
body that brother Greg just read about
it. A body formed in the Virgin, so that He's not of Adam. The
only other man, not of Adam. Holy, sinless, perfect. And He
came to be like His brethren, that He might take the place
of His brethren, that He might bear the sin of His brethren,
and lay down His life for His brethren. And He dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, John said, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Full of grace and truth. Full
of grace and full of righteousness. The law came by Moses. But grace
and truth came by the Lord Jesus. Mercy and truth met together
in Christ. He's just and justifier in Christ. And this written word is of God. And it endures forever. Peter
said, the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
This is the Word of God. Think about that. Have you just,
you just think about that. That is the Word of God and it
endures forever. It's involved being translated. It's endured being translated.
There's been emperors that demanded all the Bibles be burned and
they burned all the Bibles and somehow it resurfaced again.
And people are trying to say, well, you know, there's inconsistencies
in it and there's errors in it. Yeah, but if you go from the
beginning to the end and you look at all the different authors
over all the periods of time and different walks of life that
wrote this book, you have to say they wrote by one Holy Spirit
of God because there's one message through the whole book. And you
know what the message is? All flesh is grass, and thy God
reigneth. The word of the Lord endureth
forever. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
the message, brethren. That's the gospel. You and me
profit nothing in salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. I can't
get more simple than that. But that's the message. He said
cry. Elect sinners. Well, let me say
this too before, and what's this word concerning? It's concerning
God's Son. He is the salvation. He is the
Word. Paul said the Gospel of God in
Romans 1-3 is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's what the Gospel is concerning.
Now elect sinners are born again by the Word of God. That's how
we're born again. The Lord was pleased to send
the Word. Do you see how important the
Word is? The Word is Christ. The Word became incarnate and
dwelt among us. The Word gave us the written
Word, and the written Word is all about the living Word, Christ
Jesus, who is our salvation. The Word. And then He sends the
Word, and the voice speaks, and the Word speaks within you and
creates life in you. The Word declares not what we
must do to be made righteous. The Word comes and declares what
God has done for His people. How that God sent His Son and
how His Son made His people righteous. This is the Word. This is what
the Word declares. What the law could not do and
that it was weak through what? The flesh. All flesh is grass. God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh. He came in the flesh and He took
our sin and He bore the condemnation and delivered us from the condemnation
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. What is
it to not walk after the flesh? It's to be able to say with Paul,
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing.
I can't contribute one thing to salvation. I cannot contribute
to it. He gives us faith by the Word
of God to believe the Spirit's witness of Christ Jesus. He gives you the Word and the
Spirit bears witness and lightens up that Word and you hear the
Word declared to you and this is what it speaks to you. The
Word says, go to Colossians 2.10. I want you to see this again.
Colossians 2.10. This is what He says to us right
here. He tells you what Christ did.
He tells you what the Word did. How the Word endureth forever. Because this is what the Word
accomplished. This is what Christ accomplished.
At least in Colossians 2.10. He comes and speaks to you personally. Personally. And He says in Colossians
2.10, you are complete in Him. which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ." He comes and tells you
He's taking care of your grassy, sinful, corrupt flesh. He took
flesh that He might go to that cross and bear our sins and answer
justice and satisfy justice to put off that body of sins for
us legally before the law of God so the law will never condemn
His child again. We were buried with Him in baptism,
in that immersion in judgment, wherein also you risen with Him
through the faith of the operation of God who raised Him from the
dead, and you being dead in your sins, in the earthen circumcision
of your flesh, in that flesh that profits nothing. He came
and He quickened together with Him. having forgiven you all
trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to his cross." Christ is the Word formed within.
He's the life. He's the life. He is the holiness
of the new man. The Word of the Lord in the new
man is the life in the new man. He gives you that new spirit,
making you a new creature. Nothing of our old sinful corrupt
flesh had anything to do with it. Nothing. And He keeps growing
you in this Word by the same Word by which we were born again.
And this Word of the Lord endures forever, and because it endures
forever, that which is born of the Word endures forever. By
the Word of Christ our Shepherd, He keeps growing us inwardly.
And when this old flesh, like a wild weed, starts trying to
spring up, and we start blooming out and doing something that's
goodly, and we start looking at ourselves and trying to be
proud of what we've done, the Spirit blows upon us. And He
makes that old flesh wither. He makes you see that in my flesh
dwells no good thing. And He keeps turning you back
to Christ the Word that endures forever, and whose righteousness
is forever, and in whom you're complete. And He says, there's
your salvation. Be careful to maintain good works,
brethren, but remember, all flesh is grass and the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field. It's the word of the Lord that
endureth forever. It's the word of the Lord that
endureth forever. So lastly, let's go over to 1
Peter and I want you to see how the Spirit of God You know, you
read that little passage that we just looked at, and you might
think, well, what's the point? How do you put that in shoe leather?
What's the point of that? Well, the Spirit of God used
the Apostle Peter to tell us, right here. 1 Peter 2 verse 1,
he said, Wherefore? Now that means you need to know
what came before. Now let me give you a summary
of everything Peter said leading up to this second chapter. Peter
uses two words repeatedly in that first chapter. Corruptible
and incorruptible. Repeatedly, corruptible and incorruptible. We're talking about flesh that's
corrupt. And we're talking about the Word
of the Lord that's incorruptible. Nothing of our corruptible flesh
contributed to our redemption and our new birth. All is by
the incorruptible Word of God that endureth forever. That's
what Peter declared in that first chapter. Wherefore, I mean, seeing
as how God chose us by His unchangeable, incorruptible Word of grace.
Look here, 1 Peter 1, look here in verse 3. Seeing this, seeing
that, look at the second part there, that we've been, according
to His abundant mercy, we have been begotten again to a lively
hope by the resident erection of Jesus Christ from the dead
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power
of God through salvation. ready to be revealed in the last
time. Seeing that, he says then in 1 Peter 1.18, seeing that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot. He says in verse 2, seeing you've purified your souls and
obeying the truth of the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Then he
says, seeing that verse 24, all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and
the flower thereof falleth away, because the Spirit of the Lord
blows on it. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And
this is the word which by the gospels preached unto you. Seeing
this incorruptible word by which we have everything. And seeing
this is the word by which the gospel is preached to you. 1
Peter 2 verse 1, Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking. You know
what he is saying? Laying aside everything that
comes from this flesh. That all comes from our flesh,
our sin nature. He said, lay all that aside.
And he says, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. If so be, you've tasted that
the Lord is gracious. Brethren, everything God gave
us is by the incorruptible Word of the Lord. And it endures forever. Everything of our flesh is sinful
and it's going to go away. It's corrupt and all it does
is corrupt. But hearing the Lord's Word preached,
hearing Christ speaking to our inner man, commanding us to believe
on Him alone, commanding us to love one another, commanding
us to put away this flesh and the Spirit blowing, That's how
you're going to lay aside all guile and hypocrisies and malice
and envies and all evil speech. That's how you're going to be
made to lay it aside. And you're going to desire, by the same
Word, by the same Spirit, you're going to desire the sincere milk
of the Word. Like a newborn baby desires the
milk of its mother. Like the deer pants after the
water brooks. He's going to make you desire
the sincere milk of the Word. And the more mature the believer
is, the more he grows you, the more you know you need the preaching
of this Word more than anything else there is. The most mature
believer is a baby in comparison to what will be in glory. He
said, we know in part, we prophesy in part. We know in part, we
preach in part. When that which is perfect is
come, that which is in part will be done away. The flesh is going
away. When I was a child, I speak as a child. He's saying, I'm
a child now, and I'm speaking as a child right now. I understand
as a child, I think as a child, but when I became a man, I put
away childish things. And he said, that's what we're
going to do one day. Right now we see through a glass
darkly, but then we're going to see face to face. Now we know
in part, but then we're going to know like we're known. So what does he say? How is he
going to grow you? It's going to be through this
sincere milk. And he's going to give you a
thirst for it and a desire for it like a baby desires their
mother's milk. So that you're willing to lay
aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and evil speaking. Put it away. Remember the proposition? Everything that's born of us
is grass and it's going back to the dust. Everything that
looks good is unprofitable, that's of the flesh. But the Word of
the Lord endures forever. And because the Word endures
forever, that new man is going to endure forever. And the life
of that new man is the Word of God. You need the Gospel. And
I need it. And there's nothing, nothing,
nothing worth parting over the Gospel. I never understood prisoners
going on a hunger strike. Who does that hurt? You need
the word of the Lord. I need the word of the Lord. Lay aside everything else. It's just grass. It's just flesh. It's corrupting. It's this Word
of the Lord by which we're saved. God, I pray He'd blow the Spirit
tonight to everyone that hears this and subdue our flesh, make
us put it off, make us own ourselves that nothing of us is profitable. We need the Word. I'm thirsty
for the Word. Lord bless His Word. All right,
Brother Greg.