May it please God to bless our
souls this evening as we meditate in His holy word. Let us turn
to the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 40, and we'll read verses 1 and
2. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 40, reading verses 1 and 2. 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. you perhaps should remember that
Isaiah lived before the children of Israel went down into Babylon
but he lived during the reigns of Hezekiah and Isaiah and at
those times there were the prophets were raised up to give warnings
to the people because of their sinful ways and what would happen
to them unless they repented and turned to the Lord. And we
know of course that that did not happen and that sadly the
Lord's purposes came to pass and Israel or Judah found themselves
taken captive and carried away so many miles away to go and
live in Babylon. Well, this prophecy would have
been written and no doubt they would have been have an opportunity
to have read this account copies at least of this although they
were in captivity and to recognize their condition they brought
upon themselves see that's always a very painful situation when
we find ourselves in situations and we realize we've brought
them upon ourselves because we have not done the will of God
because we have not followed his purposes we followed our
own way the way which we thought was more pleasant and perhaps
easier and we didn't see any reason why we should change our
position or change our view and then we find ourselves in a dark
and sad and far-off state Judah were definitely in a sad and
far-off state physically they were many days journeys away
from Jerusalem and of course to make the matter even worse
the Jerusalem had been broken up and the temple destroyed and
everything that was sacred to them had been taken away it was
a sad sad day and if we can visionize ourselves face that kind of situation
And then to have some words like this read to us as the word of
God, from God. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. This was a command that Isaiah
was instructed to write so that he and the prophets which were
to follow would be able to declare these truths. They might recognize
and bring to the people There was comfort. There was comfort
to come. There was comfort to be found. I know how, no doubt, the people
needed that. In the same way, surely today,
we need God's comfort toward us. We may be very cast down
because of our situation. maybe cast down because of our
complacency perhaps cast down because of our seemingly lack
of spirituality cast down because of our what seems to be lack
of prayer we seem to be far off from God in a spiritual way just
like Israel were in a physical way And therefore, we need God
to come to us. And to think that the Lord therefore
speaks in such a way as this, a way which Judah never deserved,
a way which God's people never deserved. And yet we see in such
words the wonderful mercy and the wonderful compassion of Almighty
God in not dealing with us as our sins deserve. And indeed,
sending comfort. Well, how are we to receive comfort? What comfort do we need? You
know, it's not just in a natural way having a nice comfortable
chair to sit in or a comfortable bed, pleasant as that is. It's a bit irrelevant when we're
really in a desperate condition with regard to our souls. And so the the Prophet tells
us to speak ye comfortably and this word really means to speak
to the heart and of course that's what we need it's that which
is spiritual that which directs the Word of God to our heart
because that will do us good something just affects our mind
we'll just be transient and passing and we're not really have any
real good. But if the Lord comes and speaks
to our heart, and here it's to address to Jerusalem, and of
course Jerusalem represents the church of God. And so the preachers
are commended to come and to comfort the people and to speak
to the heart of the church of God. with these great and glorious
words. And they are not to mumble, they
are not to whisper. They are to be proclaimed. Proclaimed
like this. And cry unto her. See, cry is not something which
is not heard. A cry is something which is heard. And so, what a wonderful blessing
it was in those days What a wonderful blessing it is still for us today
to think that the Lord sends His messengers to preach the
Gospel in this way and to cry out in a loud way so that the
people will hear and the people will understand and the people
will be blessed and the Word of God will come to their heart
and do them real eternal good. Well, what are these words? What are these words that the
Prophet writes, the words that God's servants are to declare?
Well, we are to look out of ourselves, first of all. If we look just
to ourselves, we will find there is only failure. The Spirit of
God gives us grace to look into our lives, we'll find However
good we might think we've been, we'll find there's failure, failure,
failure. That's what we are. We are failures. And in that position, we're not
in a very great place, are we? Well, we're low down. But we're
thankful, therefore, to know that there is a word from the
Lord. What a blessing when God sends
his word into our hearts. Into our hearts and it comes
to us directly where we are in our spiritual life. And it encourages
us and it enables us to press on and to look forward. And that's
what the apostle, the prophet rather, is directed to here when
he's told. prior to her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received
the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Well, is this not good
news? It is good news to a needy sinner. It's good news to our souls,
because it's encouraging to realise that We are in warfare, continual
warfare, as we pass through our life. And we have a continual
battle which never really eases up. We probably think, well,
tomorrow might be a bit easier. Tomorrow comes. We find it's
not any easier. We find we still suffer from
an evil heart of unbelief. We still suffer from sinful propensities. We still suffer from wrong thoughts
and bad ways. I think then that here is a great
and glorious promise. The Church's warfare is accomplished. Well, the question surely is,
how can that be? Well, what it means is this.
that the battle has, of course, been fought by none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's more, he didn't lose
the battle. He conquered. He conquered the
great adversary of our souls, the devil. Yes, he conquered
him. He conquered sin. He conquered
death, he conquered hell, and he conquered the grave. So therefore
his people, the church's warfare is accomplished in him. Doesn't mean to say of course
we won't have to continue in our little lives with a warfare,
but we can look beyond our little lives to that great time when
the warfare will completely be finished. No more battles. No more battle. And it will be
not because of ourselves being clever or able or strong. It'll
be because we rejoice and are dependent upon that finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is accomplished. The work
is complete. the work was finished. As the
Saviour so gloriously said on that cross at Calvary, when He
fulfilled all that He had to do, every requirement was fulfilled,
the law was made honourable, and He was able to come and say,
it is finished. What a wonderful word, what a
glorious relief to know the work was accomplished. And so today,
this is not comfort, to the church of God? Is it comfort to your
soul and to my soul as we struggle on and battle on through life? To look beyond to the time when
by His grace we shall look on His face? And as the hymn of
Rutherford is, that will be glory, be glory for me. to know that
we are more than conquerors through Him not any ability in ourselves
and we shall be so pleased and so glad and so joyous to be able
to praise this great and glorious God for all that He has accomplished
on our behalf. Yes, He gained the victory. He did not fail. And may we indeed,
bless God, and Isaiah picks up the theme in a later chapter,
in the 49th chapter, he tells us this in the 13th verse. Sing,
O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth in a singing,
O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted His people. and will
have mercy upon his afflicted. And then the question's asked, but Zion said, the Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. We may feel like
that sometimes when it doesn't seem our prayers have been heard. Well, we make that assumption
because our prayers haven't been answered. It doesn't mean to
say our prayers haven't been heard, because God does hear
and answer prayer. But we may feel, as part of Zion,
the church of God, the Lord's forsaken me and forgotten me.
And then the analogy is brought before us. Can a woman forget
her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Well, she may forget, but the
Lord says, yet would I not forget thee. And so although perhaps
our prayers haven't seemed to be answered, and you may think
the Lord hasn't heard and he's forsaken and forgotten us, we
can rest assured that that is not so. Because we have a God
who is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God. And he says, yea,
they may forget, yet would I not forget thee. And he can't forget
us. You may say, why can't he forget
us? Because the word of God tells us so. And what does it say?
It says this, behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of
my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me. Just ponder that, think. That
such unworthy, hell-deserving sinners' names are engraved upon
the blessed Saviour's hands. Yes, what a mercy that is, isn't
it? Now meditate on that. Does that
not bring comfort to our souls? as we press on through this world
to think the wonderful mercy and favour and love of God toward
us perhaps we thought surely the Lord has never loved me well
I don't forget what Jeremiah tells us yea I have loved thee
with an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee the truth is that God draws us to himself. When we're brought down low in
our own estimation of ourselves, when we're high and proud, then
there's no favor, no blessing. When we're low in our own estimation
and come to the Lord, seeking of his mercy, praying to him
that he will come and he will not leave us, nor forsake us,
Then we can believe the Lord will come and the Lord will bless
us because our names are engraved upon his hands. And that means,
of course, that the Savior died for us. He gave his life that
we might have life. And what a wondrous life it was
that he gave, a perfect life. just think the perfect life of
the only begotten Son of God in order to redeem our souls
what a mercy it is that we have such a God and a God that we
can read of when the Apostle Paul wrote to
the Ephesians he tells us some great truths according as He
has chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. His great and glorious love to
us. How undeserving, how wonderful,
how amazing it is that God should have set His love upon us in
eternity past, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. It was the pleasure of His will
to call us by His grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, Reniath made us accepted in the Beloved And then he says,
to whom we have redemption. That means we've been redeemed.
That means the price has been paid to satisfy the law of God,
to take away all our sins. We have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
grace. Well, Grace is a charming sound. It's the free, unmerited favour
of God. That He, in His wonderful love
to the Church of God, has done this for them, wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and patience. Now, says Isaiah,
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Are these things
not comforting words as we journey on, as we travel on, to realize
that our warfare is accomplished and that her iniquity is pardoned? However bad our sins may be,
they're washed away, they're taken away. Again, in the first
chapter in Isaiah, We're thankful that the Lord has recorded such
great and glorious words to encourage us, and he tells us, the prophet
says, come now. Not tomorrow, not in a year's
time, but the glorious gospel statement is, come now, and let
us reason together, saith the Lord. Think upon that. The Lord says,
Almighty God says, to unworthy sinners, comforting words like
this, come now. Yes, come now. How we need to
hear that word applied to our heart so much more often with
so much power. that we may come now in our great
time of need, perhaps in our little time of need, to come
now. And then the Lord said, let us
reason together, saith the Lord. It's beyond our comprehension,
surely, to think that God is so gloriously gracious to reason
with us, as it were, to come alongside us to speak to us,
to reason with us. What does he say? Well, the reasoning
is very wonderful, really. He says, though your sins be
as scarlet. Scarlet. And I believe that in
order for that to be right, to be a scarlet, the things have
to be dyed twice. Double dyes to Make sure the
dye lays hold of it and is solid, though your sins be as scarlet. Well, what's going to be the
result? They shall be as white as snow. We know what snow is
like, don't we? Snow is amazingly white, isn't
it? You put something alongside or
place something you might think is white on the snow and you'll
look quite grey by comparison. It's a wonderful illustration.
White as snow. And that means, surely, all our
sins are forever washed away in the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says, and though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Well, these are great gospel
truths, aren't they? And then the prophet goes on
to say, if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good
of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye
shall be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. Well, perhaps we have been amongst
those who have rebelled. We've refused this great and
glorious invitation to come now unto the Lord, and we turn our
back upon God. But wonderful if it is the Lord
has made us willing. The Word of God tells us to be
made willing in the day of His power. And without any doubt,
when you and I are willing to come to the blessed Lord and
to hear His reasoning toward us is because of His great and
glorious power toward us. Power belongeth unto God. You and I can't produce His power. What a mercy it is that we have
a God who does bring about His power to cause us to come now
and hear what the Lord has to say. Now, when we hear what the
Lord has to say, I'm sure this is very comforting. Very comforting. How many encouraging words you
know there are in the Word of God. You can turn over almost
any page and you'll find there are wonderful words of encouragement
that speaks right into our hearts and directs us to the mercy and
the favor of Almighty God. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he
wrote some wondrous instruction. And this is the gracious words
that he spoke. He was speaking about himself,
and he said, I was a blasphemer. Well, perhaps we've been blasphemers. You won't be proud of it. You
may have to confess, perhaps you may have been, and a persecutor,
and injurious. But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and that may not always be so
with us. We may not have done it ignorantly. But this following
word is still true. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. Abundant grace. If you and I
have been partaker of the abundant grace, or if we desire to be
the partaker, to realize that because our warfare is accomplished,
we will be a partaker of it. And so the apostle goes on. This
is a faithful saying. It's the true word of God. This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. There's no
reason at all to reject it. Worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. of whom I am chief. Well, that's a word for all of
us, isn't it? Because none of us can get beyond
or lower than a statement like this. When the Spirit of God
comes and convinces us of our true state before a holy God
and we're unjust, We're wretched, we're hell deserving to hear
a word like this, this faithful saying. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. No one can be too bad to be saved. Comfort is it not is it not glorious
comfort to our souls to think we have such a great and glorious
Savior who tells us Her iniquity the church's iniquity every member
of the Church of God without fail Their iniquity is pardoned
Pardoned When God pardoned, you know, it's done What doesn't
do things by hearts He didn't say, well, I'll pardon that very
bad sin, because that really is out of the way. But, well,
I don't know about the rest. See, when God pardons, everything
is taken away. It's washed away. And it's only taken away because
of what the Lord Jesus Christ, in paying the price, the penalty
for our sin, The judgment of our sins was upon the Savior,
and He bore the punishment instead. Comforting words, are they not?
To think this great and blessed Lord God, none less than the
only begotten Son of God, co-equal with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, the Almighty God, this is the one that so wonderfully
came and gave his life as a sacrifice for our sin you know his sacrifice
his death was so completely acceptable to his father and our father
sacrifice has been carried out right really from the beginning
of the time in the Garden of Eden But you see, the sacrifices
could never be totally perfect. But the Lord Jesus Christ gave
himself as that perfect sacrifice to atone for our sin. That her iniquity is pardoned,
pardoned, that means what it says. And so, therefore, if we
felt so terribly guilty and unworthy of any favour from God, to realise,
well, it's not how good we are, it's how merciful God is, how
gracious God is, how favourable God is in not dealing with us
as our sins deserve. Well what a Saviour we have,
what a God we have who's planned this glorious plan of salvation
in order that our souls might be redeemed from the wrath to
come because of our sins we stand guilty before God and we deserve
the wrath of God and we deserve to be cast out from His sight
forever and when the Spirit of God works in our hearts you won't
argue with that You'll recognise that you deserve the punishment
of God. But oh, how blessed it is to
realise that the Lord hasn't dealt with us as our sins deserve. He hasn't cut us off as we deserve
to be as a cumbra of the ground. But His mercy has been lengthened
out. His grace has been wonderful. He's given us this faith. Perhaps
you may think, well, I haven't got very much faith. My friends,
have we the faith as a grain of mustard seed? It's a very
small seed, you know. A mustard seed is very, very
small. But bless God if He's given you, and it will be His
gift, grace to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. as your altogether
sufficient Saviour. Nowhere else to go. Nowhere else
to come to. But oh, bless God. We have so many invitations,
do we not, to come unto the Lord. Whosoever will. What a blessing it is, you know.
When the Lord was on the earth, he spoke to Nicodemus. I'm sure most of you, if not
all, hopefully will know the accounts of Nicodemus and how
he came to God by night. And he was probably too embarrassed
or too ashamed to come. during the daytime, but he came
to God and he asked him, he came and he said, Rabbi, we know that
thou art a teacher coming from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. And you see,
God, the Lord Jesus answered him in a very specific way. He
didn't really answer his question. He came directly to the point,
except a man. be born of God, he cannot enter
into the, he cannot enter, except a man be born of gain, he cannot
see the kingdom of God, and nor can we, but what a favor if we
are blessed with that new birth, because the Lord goes on to say,
that which is born of the flesh is flesh, we all know that, don't
we? And that which is born in the spirit is the spirit. If
God has done that for your souls, you'll rejoice in it and be thankful
that the Lord has come and the Lord has spoken to you and called
you out of the darkness of nature into the glorious light of the
everlasting gospel. And the Lord Jesus went on and
said, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of God be lifted up. Remember the account
in Numbers when The people of Israel had sinned and turned
their back upon God, and Moses was commanded to make a serpent,
a brazen serpent, and put it on a pole so that all those who
had been bitten by those poisonous serpents, when they looked at
the serpent on the pole, they would live. And so we have this
illustration. The Lord speaks of it here. And
for who, he says, as Moses lifted up the seven in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of God be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have eternal life. Well, if we're perhaps in a low
place and wondering where we are, take comfort. Comfort ye
my people for the glorious invitations of the gospel. And of course,
the Savior goes on to give us that great and glorious truth,
for God so loved the world. that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. There's our point of rest. Our point of rest is not in ourselves,
It's in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the prophet tells us
these comforting words. Our warfare is accomplished because
Christ has died, Jairala has risen again. And that her iniquity is pardoned
for she hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sin so
the Lord hasn't dealt with us has he? and our sins as I said
earlier in that first chapter of Isaiah scarlet red as crimson
double dyed deep deep sins you may feel sometimes your sins
are just too bad too deeply said there they are right in your
heart you can't seem to get them out Here is the word of encouragement
for the church. Hath received the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. Well, are these comforting words
to our souls tonight? Well, they will be if you're
a needy sinner. They will have some effect upon
us. if we come to God recognizing our desperate need and our lost
condition and praying that He will come and have mercy upon
us and give us faith to believe this great and glorious truth.
Again, look at Judah in Babylon. There seemed to be perhaps no
hope. They were told to go there for
70 years and they probably forgot about that. And there they were. We read how they were over the
rivers of Babylon and they honed their harps from the willows,
they couldn't sing the song of Zion, they were so miserable
and sad, and then for someone to come and to read these words
to them, oh what joyous words they would have been. And so
perhaps if we feel to be in Babylon, and we know we brought it upon
ourselves, and to realise the Lord's mercies are new every
morning. Great is his faithfulness. His
promises will be fulfilled. He does not deal with us as our
sins deserve, but he deals with us in accordance with his gracious
and glorious word, which is full of encouragement and blessing. And so may we be given that faith
tonight to lay hold upon these promises and to be comforted
in our souls and go on our rejoicing thankful to know there is a God
in heaven who hears and answers prayer and a God who has paid
the price for our redemption and that one day by his grace
we shall be found with him in glory forever and ever. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Amen.