Chapter 40, Isaiah chapter 40. Just going to look at these first
two verses. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. This world has been full
of sorrow and pain and suffering since sin entered in the garden. And when we think about sorrow
and uneasiness and sadness and confusion, distress, discomfort,
when we think of those things we have a tendency to think about
our personal trials and the individual things we're going through in
our personal trials, in personal tragedies, and so on. And those
things are discomforting. There's no doubt about that.
But those are really secondary effects of what real discomfort
is. Real discomfort is a conscience
of sin and knowing It's not hidden from God. It's open before Him. True discomfort is trying to
work to cover it up and yet know in our heart of hearts we have
not done enough. True discomfort is trying to
hide from God, but knowing we can't hide from Him. True discomfort has to do with
sin. That's what it has to do with,
is sin. Chapter 39 ends there with Babylon. The Lord declaring
the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem by Babylon. It's really a picture
of what took place beginning in the garden when man fell and
came into captivity under sin and Satan. But you know, when
chapter, he talks there about the sons and the daughters being
taken away and about all of the substance being taken away and
about the city being taken away and the land, everything being
taken captive. And then he opens up here in
chapter 40 with, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. But he
doesn't say anything about those temporal things at all. You know what he says? He speaks
about the pardon of sin and iniquity and the free abundance of righteousness
in Christ. That's where comfort is. If all
these other things, when all these other things that trouble
us have their end, this is what's
going to matter. Is your sin gone? And do you
have Christ, your righteousness? That's what's going to matter. He says here, speak to the heart.
You know, that's what this means, speak to the heart of my people.
That's one of the mysteries of the gospel, is it speaks to the
heart. It's a quickening Word. It's
a regenerating Word. It's a cleansing Word. It's a
renewing Word. It works in the inner man, the
new man, the new creation, the hidden man of the heart. That's
where the Word goes forth and speaks to. And that's where our
true comfort is, isn't it? In the heart. Babylon. The vain religion wants
to work on the extremities. It wants to turn the Mississippi
River at the Gulf of Mexico. It wants to come and talk about
the secondary effects of the sun going backwards. True religion
speaks of the God who works the effects, and He works those effects
in the heart, and that's where the comfort is, the true comfort
is. If our conscience is purged of
sin, If we truly are reconciled to God and we know God reconciled
us to Himself, if we truly have been robed in that seamless,
perfect garment of Christ's righteousness, we'll have comfort. It doesn't
matter how troubling all the secondary things are, we'll still
have comfort in the heart, in the heart. Alright, I want to
look first at who's speaking and to whom he's speaking. Secondly,
the comforting news, and then the best for last. Alright, let's
look first here, who's speaking and to whom does he say speak
this comfort? Verse 1, Comfort ye, comfort
ye, my people saith your God. My people saith your God. God has made everything there
is. He made everything there is.
He's solitary, meaning He doesn't need anything from me, He doesn't
need anything from you. Look at who He is, verse 15.
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 isles as a very little thing. You take a five-gallon
bucket, full of water, or a 55-gallon drum full of water, and you're
pouring that water out from one place to another to use, do you
worry about those little bitty drops that are left in that bucket
when you have all that water? He says, the nations, all the
nations are as a drop in a bucket. Across from where my parents
lived when I was growing up, there was an old country store
called Courtney's Grocery. And it was one of those stores
that had a front door and a back door, and the front door was
always open and the back door was always open. And you could
just, it had dirt floors, and I mean, old wooden floors that
were all dusty, and they had real balances in that store.
They had really, did have balances. They would weigh things in that
store, feed and things like that. But you know, when they weighed
it and they poured it out, and you took it, You didn't worry
about the little bitty dust of the feed or the pellets or whatever
that was left in there. You didn't worry about that.
It's just dust. I got what I came for. It's just
dust. Well, He says that's what we
are. Just dust. Look at verse 17. All nations before Him are as
nothing and they're counted to Him less than nothing in vanity. In verse 22, He says the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers. And yet this great I Am, this
God who stretched out the heavens as a curtain, who made and spoke
into existence the heavens and the earth, this One who holds
all things together by the Word of His power, says, My people. He has a My people. I love that
word, my people. You know why I like that word?
It means He has a people that are His possession. They're His. They belong to Him. They belong
to Him. Now, this is what He said in
Deuteronomy. He said the Lord, the Lord's
portion, His inheritance, His treasure, the Lord's portion
is His people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Now before we go any further,
we need to ask ourselves this question. Am I in this number? Am I a part of this people that
he calls my people? Because we're talking about comfort
here. We're talking about true comfort
here. But one of the most damning things in the world is to speak
peace, peace where there is no peace. Are you one of his people?
But you listen to this. Listen to this. Can you delight
in Him choosing whom He will? In Him truly being God or very
God? Can you delight in His choice
and know His ways are right? We delight in that as the children
of God. Do you know why? Because His first choice is His
Son. He's foreordained before the
foundation of the world and manifest in these last times for you who
by Him do believe in God that raised Him up from the dead that
your faith and hope might be in God. He said in 1 Peter 2,
4, He said He's elect and He's precious to God. He said in Isaiah,
behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I like his choosing because I
know the first one he chose is his son. And a believer likes
his choosing because the reason we're his people, the reason
he can say you're my people is he chose us in Christ before
the world began. He chose us in Christ. Ephesians
1 says, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
according as he chose us in him before the foundation of the
world. You know what that meant when He put His people in Christ
before the world began? That meant that they're holy
and without blame before Him in love, accepted in the Beloved. Joe, you had it right. You read
that scripture back there that day and said, marvel at this,
the God who knows everything says I'll remember their sin
no more? How can that be? What Brother Bob said this morning.
He chose them and put them in Christ. You know, if you really
read Romans 8, it says He predestinated us, conformed to the image of
Christ. He put us in Christ before the
world. We fell in the garden, and a change came about in time,
but in Christ. That's why we were preserved
and accepted in Him, in the Beloved. And we rejoice in His choosing
because if He didn't choose us, we wouldn't have chosen Him.
He said there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after
God. You know what Adam did when God came to Adam after he sinned
in the garden? What Adam was doing? He was hiding
from God. You know where Abraham was when
God came to Abraham? The father of the faithful. You
know where he was? He was in a land of idolatry.
You know where David was? He said, I came, David, and took
you from the sheep coat. I came and found you, David.
He told his apostles, you've not chosen me, I've chosen you.
I like his choosing. If you find out He's chosen you,
you'll like His choosing. You'll like His choosing. And
I like His choosing. We as brethren love His choosing
because you know what we're constantly doing? We're constantly wandering
astray, prone to wander. And you know what He will promise
to His brethren that He'll do for His own glory's sake and
for Christ's sake because He's done the choosing? You know what
He promises to do? not forsake us. He said, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. There's only one reason we're
not consumed. Because he doesn't change. This one who chose his
people and put them in Christ doesn't change. And therefore,
us wandering sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now that's who's
doing the talking. The great I am. The Lord God. God of heaven and earth. And he's speaking here to my
people, to my people. All right? Now, let's see the
second thing. What are the comforting words,
what is the comfort of this good news that he speaks to his people? What's the comfort? Verse two,
verse two. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins." John Trapp. I like what he said about this
verse. He said, this is the very hive of heavenly honey. This is what this is. This is
the hive of heavenly honey right here. Warfare and iniquity and
sins. Warfare, iniquity, sins. We had Satan as a foe. We can't
conquer him. We couldn't conquer him. We had
sin as a foe. We couldn't defeat sin. We had
the curse of the law that we couldn't satisfy. We had a complete,
active, righteous obedience to God. It's too much for us that
we couldn't bring to pass. We got death. The wages of sin
is death. And it's too great a foe for
us to defeat. Do you know what Jeremiah said?
The Lord said, through Jeremiah, the Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than
he. You know, if we want to just
enter into what's stronger than us, Everything. Everything. What do we have to
be saved from? Everything. Everything. God says, tell my people, tell
my heavenly Jerusalem that her warfare is accomplished. By whom? Who did it? There in verse 2,
He said, of the Lord's hand. Of the Lord's hand. of the Lord's
hand, by God the Father's purpose and grace, by God the Son's executing
the work and finishing the work, and by the application of it
by the Holy Spirit of God. Salvation really is of the Lord,
every bit of it. How can a man, a sinner, be just
with God? How can our sin be pardoned before
a holy God, our iniquity pardoned before a holy God? How can that
happen? You know, if you do something in your household, you children
do something in your own household that's against your earthly father,
he doesn't just sweep it under the rug. He doesn't just turn
his back on it if he's a faithful father. how much more this holy
God. You see, his character, who he
is, depends on how he shows mercy. It affects who he is if he doesn't
do it in absolute accordance with his holiness. He's gotta
do everything he does according to who he is, and that's how
he does it. That's how he does it. Somebody,
a man, a man, Just like the people that are being saved, flesh and
blood, just like the people that are being saved, there's got
to be a man who's absolutely perfect and spotless. Now that
right there says, it's not going to be by me and it's not going
to be by you. There's got to be a spotless,
perfect man. And that spotless perfect man
has got to willingly, willingly, because he's fit and he's able
to do so because he's perfect, he's spotless. The law says of
him, perfect, perfect. That one has willingly now got
to submit to the Father and have the iniquity of all this My people,
the iniquity of all these whom God says is My people. He's got
to be willing to have the iniquity of that people from the first
one to the last one. He's got to be willing to have
all their iniquity laid on Him. He's got to be willing to be
made a curse before holy God. He's got to be willing to be
made the wretched thing that his people are. He's got to be
willing to do so in order that this holy God we're talking about
is just to punish him. God's not going to punish an
innocent man, and God's not going to clear a guilty man. That man's
got to become absolutely guilty before God for God to be just
to punish him. And then he's got to endure the
awful wrath of holy God in the place of his people. He's got
to endure being cut off out of the land of the living for his
people. He's got to endure the hell of
separation from God for his people. And then, God is just to show
his people mercy, because his law, his holy justice is honored,
his holy name is glorified, and he's just to show that people
mercy. That's how God saves sinners.
The one who did that, the one who did that is the one God chose. The one God chose to have all
the preeminence in heaven and earth. The one God chose to come
forth and do that which only God could do. That one is the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's own Son. His only begotten Son. The one He says, I'm well pleased
with this one. Well pleased with Him. Do you
know Him? Really know Him? This one was wounded. He was
bruised. The chastisement of the peace
of his people was upon him. And you know what he accomplished?
With his stripes. Every single person for whom
he died is healed. They're healed. Now for God to
be just, you know what has got to happen? The same justice of
God that was against these people before now demands they've got
to be quickened and brought to life and this good news has got
to be declared to them and they've got to be saved. Because it'd
be unjust for God to let them perish now because they're perfect. They're perfect. And He's going
to come forth and make them to know it. And you know what's
good about this news too? And it's right here in this text.
What's great about this news, too, is this has been ordered
in all things and sure from the very beginning. From the very
beginning. How do you get that, Clay? Well,
that last chapter of 39, when the Lord's declaring how Hezekiah
and Judah and all the possessions, all the sons are going to be
taken captive into Babylon, chapter 40 immediately says, But speak
to my people and tell her her warfare is accomplished. It's already done. Already done. Look down the page there at Isaiah
40 verse 10. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand and His arms shall rule for Him. Behold, His
reward is with Him, His work before Him. He shall feed His
flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
His arm, carry them in His bosom, shall gently lead those that
are with young. And yet our text says the warfare
is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. It
is done. How can that be? How could Abel
be, his warfare be accomplished, his iniquity be pardoned, and
everything be done before as yet the Lord Jesus Christ ever
came? It's because, as I said to you before, the works were
finished before the foundation of the world in Christ the Lord. You see, it's something to us. It really is something to us
when somebody reacts to a dire situation to save somebody. You know, like right now we have
a situation over in Libya. where they came and they did
these, there was a people in trouble, you know, from Gaddafi
and all, and his coalition of forces came to save them. But
you know, God doesn't come and react. That's what people do. We consider that something when
people do that, that we react to a needy situation. God's not
reacting. Everything He determined before
to be done is coming to pass exactly as He purposed for it
to be done from before the beginning of the world. Everything. You
mean even when Adam sinned in the garden, it fulfilled His
purpose. You mean when Isaiah and Judah
fell out with one another and whenever they were taken into
Babylonian captivity and the Lord broke down the hedges and
opened the door for them to be taken into Babylonian captivity?
Absolutely fulfilled His purpose. Even the Lord Jesus Christ being
taken by wicked hands and slain on the cross absolutely fulfilled
his purpose. The one who was dying was bringing
to pass everything that was coming to pass. The wrath of man shall praise
God and the remainder he will restrain. That's great news for
us, brethren, because it's ordered in all things and sure. Are you
weary? Are you Why would God leave us
in this world? Why would He leave us in this
body of death? Why would He leave us where we are in these bodies
of death and leave some enemies in the land and leave us surrounded
by Babylon and leave us in the midst of enemies like this? Why
would He do that? We may have a long journey ahead
of us. We may, just as there was a long
ways historically, literally between Babylon and Palestine,
between Babylon and back to Jerusalem, there was a vast Desert between
there. And there may be mountains, and
there may be valleys, and there may be crooked places, and treacherous
paths. Why has He left us in the midst
of such a place when He could have just taken us right out
of it? He's left us here, brethren, to teach us not to look to our
own way. He's left us here to shut us
up, to trust Him alone, to shut us up in the sanctuary of Christ
Jesus, in the refuge of Christ Jesus, to teach us that He is
the way of holiness. He is the holy way. And He has,
and is, and shall make the path plain for His people. He'll make
the valley come up as a plain and the mountain come down as
a plain and the crooked place straight. Because this is our
sovereign Lord God that we're talking about who says, say to
my people, comfort, comfort. Brother Bob and I were talking
yesterday about waiting. You know the scripture, he says,
wait on the Lord, wait I say. He said it twice, brother Bob,
we were talking about how that's the hard part, waiting. He said
it twice, wait I say, wait. He says here, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Now let's look at this last part. The last part, the best part. He says here, The last part of
verse 2, For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sin. You know, it's a great thing. It's a great thing to know that
our sin is put away. It's a great thing to know that
iniquity is pardoned. And that's what he says. He says
it is. It's pardoned. It's put away. But you know that's
not going to be enough. Not going to be enough. It's
not going to be enough that our sins put away. It's not going
to be enough that our iniquities pardoned. We must be made perfectly
righteous to enter into God's presence. We have to be absolutely
perfect to be accepted of God. That's the double portion that
He's given us of His hand. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Look there with me. Look there
with me. For He hath made Him sin for
us who knew no sin. That's what we've been talking
about in the first part. Look at this double portion. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. When God calls a sinner, look
over at 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
30. When He calls His people. This is what He makes us to know.
Verse 30, 1 Corinthians 1.30, Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. You know what that means? That
means really and truly Those that have been recreated by the
Spirit of God, recreated after the image of God, born again
of the incorruptible seed, they truly are absolutely new creatures
that created anew in righteousness and true holiness. Right now,
right now, without another thing being done, fit, made meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Right
now. Right now. How? Of the Lord's
hand. Did you think it was of yours?
It's not. It's of His. It is of His. It's of His. You know, Adam was
created upright. He was, but he was earthy. And
that righteousness was corrupted and he perished. But you know
the Lord is a quickening spirit. He offered himself through the
eternal spirit. He obtained eternal redemption.
And those of you who have been called by his grace and born
of his spirit right now have eternal life. You think about
that. Peace with God. We think of it sometimes as something
down the road or something to be grasped at or something that
we... It's done. We have eternal life. That's comforting. That's comfort. Absolutely comforting. What do
we say about all this? Does your whole house right now
seem like it's just shaking and like it's just gonna fall and
collapse around you and this whole world's in chaos and just
you look and you turn on the news and you think, I don't even
want to turn that on anymore. I don't even want to hear that
anymore. Listen to this. You who are living stones, who
have been made one in our living foundation, Christ Jesus the
Lord, are one in Him and He's one in you, so that that can
never be undone. So that the only thing that can
be shaken in this world are the things that can be shaken. But
this can't be shaken. It's going to remain. I've told
you this over and over again. We're not passing away. All this
stuff around us is passing away. We're here to stay. It's going to be a new heavens
and a new earth where He dwelleth in righteousness. And everything's
the creation that He's created in His Son. Now, turn over with
me to Zechariah 9.12 and we'll end with this. Zechariah 9.12. I have to say one thing to you,
who have never confessed Christ, you who are sitting here this
morning, and maybe, I hope, I hope this is the case. Zechariah 9,
Zechariah 9, verse 12. I hope you find this, are finding
for the first time this comfort in your heart. If you are, listen,
this is what He says to you. Zechariah 9, 12. Turn you to
the stronghold. You know the stronghold's not
a thing. The stronghold's a person. Turn
you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare
that I will render double unto thee. I pray God to comfort us
this day and make it so in our hearts. Amen.