So may it please the Lord to
bless us together this evening as we turn to the prophecy of
Isaiah and chapter 35 and reading verses 8, 9 and 10. The prophecy
of Isaiah chapter 35 and reading verses 8, 9 and 10. And a highway
shall be there and a way and it shall be called the Way
of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring men, though fools,
shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. and the ransom of the Lord shall
return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon
their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. it is a great blessing that we
have the word of God which gives us so much instruction and many
warnings and yet also much encouragement and of course we know that there
was that situation in Isaiah's time when there was the going
down into Babylon and the sad scene it was there and the wonderful
need there was for encouragement to look forward to times of blessing
times which of course Israel did not deserve they disobeyed
God they'd fallen away they'd followed their own inclinations
they hadn't listened to the prophets But yet God was merciful to his
people. And the truth is still so today. God is still merciful to his
people. And he still looks after them.
And although they may have walked contrary to their God, although
they may have turned their back upon the Lord perhaps for many
years, yet to realise the Lord has been mindful of them, He's
watched over them, He's seen their wanderings, He's seen their
rebellion, He's seen their hardness of heart, and He hasn't dealt
with them as their sins deserved. How true! His compassions fail
not. Well, we should be truly thankful
for such wonderful truths. And so here we have God's prophet
Isaiah prophesying of times of favour and times of blessing
and he tells us the wilderness and the solitary place shall
be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and
rejoice even with joy and singing. Well, if you look at the desert,
a desert is a very barren place and there's a little sign of
life and therefore much to perhaps discourage. And surely that is
the same in our own spiritual life. We may perhaps look upon
ourselves and we may recognise and see it looks like a desert. doesn't seem to be hardly any
life there at all and especially as we consider what we deserve
because of our sins and we may be tempted almost to give up
and to think well there's no hope for me well the Word of
God is full of hope and that's why the Lord has ordained that
the gospel should be preached, because the Gospel is good news
to sinful men. And let us have come here tonight
to hear the good news of the Gospel. And the Apostle therefore
speaks to Israel in their lowest state and with these words, strengthen
ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees We may feel
weak, we may feel feeble, but the Lord can strengthen and confirm
both, so that we do receive that help, that necessary help, that
we do need. What it means is we look out
of ourselves. Pour not on yourself too long,
lest it sink thee lower. Look to Jesus, firm and strong,
glory with power well what a mercy it is then to recognise we have
such a God and then he goes on to say say to them that are of
a fearful heart there must be occasions when we're fearful
God's people are fearful fearful sometimes of God's righteous
judgement coming upon them knowing what we deserve because of our
sins and therefore to have such an encouragement statement to
them that are of a fearful heart be strong, fear not and the Prophet
tells us behold your God and that's a very humbling thought
isn't it to think that this great God is our God We never deserve
to be one of God's people. We never deserve to be amongst
that covenant of grace. And yet how amazing it is that
God in His sovereign love and mercy should have sought us out,
should have found us, like Jacob he sought him, he found him out
where did he find him? in a desert place in a waste
hounding wilderness but in that place he led him about and he
instructed him and he kept him as the apple of his eye so therefore
if perhaps we might feel that were in a desert place and the
scene looked very bad. Remember that there have been
many occasions when God has greatly blessed and instructed his people.
You can think of Moses, 40 years in the backside of the desert.
You can think of Paul going for three years or so into the desert
situation. And we know that God's people
have been directed to the desert. Well... in the desert, God works. And there's no other thing that
can help or bless, it is the gracious and glorious work of
Almighty God. So let us be encouraged that
the Lord tells us then in these words, to them that are of a
fearful heart be strong and fear not, behold your God will come. with vengeance, even God will
recompense. He will come and save you. Again, that may be
a great cry from our heart, a cry from your heart, that God will
come and save you. Well, that's the greatest blessing
that any of us can have, of course, to be saved, saved from our sins,
delivered from our sins, and blessed with that great and glorious
knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ has taken away our sins
because of that great act of compassion when he gave himself
that we might possess the gift of eternal life. And then the
prophet tells us the eyes of the blind shall be opened and
the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Well, that's how we
were born. spiritually deaf, spiritually
blind. We needed the Lord to come and
open our blind eyes and to unstop our deaf ears. Well the Lord
does these things for his great namesake. Remember this. These things are for his great
namesake so that he may be lifted up and honoured and glorified. And then the lame man shall leap
as a heart. Well of course a heart you are
referring to a deer and perhaps we know how high sometimes A
deer can leap, and here it expresses a lame man shall leap such a
wonderful way. And the tongue of the dumb speak,
for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the
desert. The Lord can bring streams. The Lord can bring blessings.
The Lord can reveal himself to us in barren conditions. The Lord's not bound to any place
or any situation. Sometimes the Lord brings about
amazing blessings in places we never ever thought they would.
The Lord deals with his people in love. The Lord is a sovereign
God and how amazing sometimes as we may never think of the
Lord visiting our souls in perhaps such a place or on such a journey
and yet The Lord, in love to our souls, remembered us. With
that favour He bears to His people and did come and visit us with
His salvation. So the parched ground shall then
become a pool, no more parched, no more dry, and the thirsty
land springs of water. in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes." So we
have the general picture set before us here of God's wonderful
mercy, of God's wonderful favour. And such a passage is truly attractive
to those who by the grace of God know their need and realise
their true condition before a holy God. and to think that almighty
God has compassion to such an extent to bless them in this
way. Well then, we read these words,
and a highway shall be there. Where? In the desert. A highway
shall be there, where perhaps we didn't think there was any
way of clear direction, and yet here we're told a highway shall
be there. A clear place to walk upon, a
clear road that leads us to the right destination. And we might
say, well, what is this? Surely this must be the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is, to his people, the right
way. I am the way, he tells us, the
truth and the life. What a mercy we have there for
such a Saviour who is the way. We may have thought perhaps we've
mistaken the way. We may have mistaken the way.
We may have gone down the wrong way. We may have found ourselves
in the broad way and perhaps thought, well, this isn't too
bad, this is quite an easy religion, I'm pretty satisfied with this,
I can enjoy the world on one hand and have God on the other. Well, when the Spirit of God
comes and shows us how deluded we've been, and instead of letting
us continue in that way, directs us into the narrow way. Perhaps we weren't very keen
in following the direction of our God. We didn't want to go
in the narrow way. We knew what it would involve. We knew that it would involve
sacrifice. We knew that it would mean that
we couldn't continue to go on pleasing ourself. We knew that
it would mean submitting ourselves unto Almighty God. But what a
blessing, if the Lord's hand came upon us. And that gracious
hand came upon us. And there we found the Lord himself,
in this narrow way. The narrow way can still be a
highway, and it's the highway where Almighty God is, and a
way, the right way. There is a right way, and the
right way leads us to a blessed place. Do you know what that
is? It's the cross of Christ. The broad way goes in the opposite
direction. The narrow way leads us to the
cross of Christ, and therefore it's called the way of holiness. It's a holy way, it's a blessed
way, because if you and I are found at the cross, viewing the
suffering saviour, there's not room then for all the external
frivolities and transient joys that this world tries to offer
us and sometimes is successful. But what a blessing when the
Holy Spirit comes and possesses our hearts and directs us to
this highway which is the way of holiness. Holiness to the true believer
is attractive. Holiness to the unbeliever is
not attractive because to the unbeliever people do not want
to be found walking in a holy way leading a holy life. Now, by that I don't mean to
say we all come to perfection, we don't. But nonetheless a desire
to be more Christ-like in our thoughts and in our conversation
and in our walk. And so, therefore, the way of
holiness. Now what a blessing if you and
I are directed into this way. this way, and it's not the way
which the flesh goes after. The flesh dislikes the way, but
faith approves it well. And that means our innermost
being, that which God has placed in our heart, recognises that
the good hand of God is upon us and is delivering us from
the wrong way from the evil way, from the sinful way, and directing
us into this highway, which is the right way, and it leads then
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And who is going to find it?
Well, the unclean shall not pass over it. if you and I are satisfied
with our sinful life. And that's what we are by nature,
fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, all these
things which just are really anti-God and anti-Christ, but
be delivered from them. and to be directed to the suffering
Saviour. There's no room then in that
path for uncleanness. The unclean shall not pass over
it. Yes, they won't be. First of
all, the unclean won't find such a path attractive at all. They won't want to be found at
the cross of Christ. they want to be found in the
world they want to be enjoying all that this poor sinful world
can offer and of course what the devil wants to do is to keep
our ears stopped up and our eyes blind so that we do not observe
the great and blessed and wonderful position that is the children
of God well the unclean shall not pass over it But who is it
for? Who is this highway for? For
those, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." I'm quite sure that when the
Spirit of God is working in our hearts and continues to work
in our hearts and as we go on in life and we recognize perhaps
more and more what fools we've been because we've listened to
the ill-advice of the devil what fools we've been But what a mercy
if the Lord hasn't dealt with us as our sins deserve. When we wander away from God,
when we turn our back upon God, to think that we have such a
kind and gracious Saviour who hasn't dealt with us as we've
deserved. And therefore we look back and
we realise what fools we've been, what failures we've been, The
true believer won't think he's been wonderfully successful. He'll thank God for that which
he's done for him. He'll thank God for his superabounding
grace, but he won't pat himself on the back and say, what a wonderful
Christian I've been, because the grace of God shows us more
and more what a failure we've been. not what a great success
we've been, what a failure we've been. So that we do say, yes
Lord, I am a fool, but by His grace shall not err therein. That means the Lord will keep
us. As the Apostle Peter tells us,
kept by the power of God. That's the only way you and I
are kept. from wandering into the broad
way and following the way that Satan would have us in. It's
only the power of God and all of us need keeping every moment
of our life, every moment of our life. Dear old Peter knew
how simple it was to so dramatically fall when in his own strength
He said he would never deny the Lord his Lord and Master. My friends, never say, I would
never do that. You can only say by the grace
of God, I would never do that. If you rely on your own strength,
the Lord will teach you a lesson. And it'll be a painful lesson. A lesson you won't forget. You'll
remember that. You won't then say, well, I wouldn't
do that. You'll have to say, I wouldn't
do that by the grace of God. And so here we have this statement,
the wayfaring man, the man, the traveler. That's what we are.
We're travelling, we're pilgrims, we're passing through this world.
Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And what does the Prophet tell
us? He tells us this, No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. We may be
fearful sometimes of the journey. We may fear what we may have
to face, what we may have to endure. Never forget the words
of the Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Philippians, when he said,
I can do all things. through Christ that strengtheneth
me." That's where our success will be, not in ourselves, but
in what Christ has done. So let us come, always committing
our way unto the Lord, praying for that help and that strength,
that He will support us in our journey, in the way. No lion
shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. The Lord will change such. The devil is chained, you know. He can't go further than the
Lord permits him. Sometimes we may think that we're
going to be consumed. We may sometimes think, perhaps,
like the picture we have in the Pilgrim's Progress of Christian
when he was attacked by Apollyon, the devil, on the road and he
slipped and he lost his sword and it fell behind him The devil
said, hear what I spill thy blood. Well, what happened? Was Apollyon
successful? Christian, given that strength
by God, stretched out his arm and grasped again the sword and
thrust at the devil. so that he went away. Of course,
what is that? The sword of the Spirit is the
Word of God. We must always remember that.
What a tremendous asset it is to have the Word of God. And
my friends, the more you and I know the Word of God, the stronger
is our sword, and the more efficient it is to strike the devil when
he comes in to attack us. And he will. We'll never be shot
of him, this side or the grave. He will always be on the lookout.
to make inroads into our soul and we shall need the sword of
the Spirit. Well, may God give us that grace
and that strength then to hold it tight and to therefore thrust
at those who may attempt to dethrone us and to cast us out of the
way. And so we're told, any ravenous
beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. Now, in this path, there will
be those who we will find true companions. And they are companions
with us because they are redeemed in the same way that you and
I have been redeemed, if we have, by the wonderful grace of God. And what a wonderful common bond
there is, a common bond that the Lord gives us. because we
can speak one to another. You know the words in Malachi
are so gloriously true. Then they that fear the Lord
spake often one to another, and a book of remembrance was written.
The Redeemer and the Lord conversed one to another, and they were
able to testify of how the Lord had helped them, how the Lord
had strengthened them, how the Lord had directed them to the
cross. and they rejoiced to view the
great and glorious redemption that the Lord Jesus Christ had
brought about. Oh, it's a wonderful theme. It's
a glorious theme. It won't please the devil. My friends, it will please your
God and it will bring honour and glory to His great and holy
name and it will bring joy and peace to our souls. There's no true joy, no true
lasting joy in the things of this world, that the world calls
good or great. They may attract us for a time.
We may think it would be very nice to do this and very nice
to have that, but you see there's an empty void that the world
can never fill. But there's not an empty void
with the things of God. because a fullness resides in
Jesus our Head, whichever abides to answer our need. It's a glorious
fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here we have this statement,
the redeemed shall walk there. Union together. It's blessed,
isn't it, to be found walking with the Lord's people. Every opportunity. And the scripture
tells us, as we preached not so long ago, being let go, they
went to their own company. What's their own company? The
redeemed and the Lord. Because they speak the same language. They speak the same language.
They speak the language of Zion. They speak the language of the
Church of God. You see the world doesn't understand. It can't
understand. And there'll be no true union.
with the world. You may pass the time of day
with the world and so on, but you know there's no real fellowship,
there's no real union. But there is with the redeemed
of the Lord. So if we're walking with the
redeemed of the Lord, it's a blessed place to be walking in and we
can thank God for the wonderful privilege and mercy of it. And
then the prophet says, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. Again, the truth is that the
things of God are not passing away. the so-called joys of this earth,
they rapidly pass away, don't they? We look forward to things,
perhaps for a long time, they come and they go. They are not
everlasting. They are passing. It is good when the Holy Spirit
directs us to such a truth that these things are just vanishing
away, they are just passing. to the Church of God and come
to Zion. This is the Church of God today.
Come to the Church that shall return. Come to Zion. Come to the Church of God. And
what will they do? They have a song and they have
joy to be able to testify of what God has done for them. and there is true unity of spirit
with the ransom of the Lord as they join together to hear the
wonderful and glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a
mercy it is then to be able to recognize the truth of these
things. If you read that 51st chapter
in Isaiah, And you may have noticed that a lot of it was really a
very similar kind of theme to the words that we read in the
35th chapter. And the halfway through, perhaps
verse 10, Art thou not it which hath dried the sea? The waters
of the great deep hath made the depths of the sea a way for the
ransomed to pass over, addressing the Almighty God. It was the
Almighty God who'd made a way where there appeared no way.
and that's so in our lives today. The Lord God can do great things. The Lord God does do great things,
amazing things. He makes ways where there appears
to be no way and therefore He comes and He says, the redeemed of the Lord shall
return, and come with singing undesired, and everlasting joy
shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and
joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. So when we are
blessed in our souls, taken up with the great and glorious truths
of the Gospel, things of time seem strangely
dim and the things of glory bring with it a wonderful favour and
a wonderful blessing so our hearts rejoice and come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain
joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Well,
we know, of course, that when that great day comes, when the
whole living Church of God will be home at last in glory, what
a day that will be, when the whole work of grace on this earth
is complete and time shall be no more, and the Church of God
adjoined together in that holy, happy place, where there will
be no sorrow and no sighing and all there will be is joy and
gladness. It's a prospect which is good
for you and me to consider and to realise the wonderful blessings
and the wonderful favours that such things bring. They bring
honour and glory to our God and what a mercy it is to be blessed
therefore with such wonderful favours. Well, the word of God,
this blessed book of Isaiah is so encouraging in so many ways
and the Prophet Isaiah, he speaks again, he's spoken here about
giving sight to the blind and hearing to the ears and he says
in the 42nd chapter he says thus saith God the Lord he that created
the heavens and stretched them out he that spread forth the
earth and that which cometh out of it he that giveth breath unto
the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. And
it's good, as many times in the Word of God, where the Lord God
speaks in this way to emphasize that He is the great God. He
is the creator of all things, and we're not dealing with the
unnamed God. We're not dealing with a little God. And so, as
we read in that fifth verse in the 42nd chapter, and then the
prophet says, I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee
for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles,
to open blind eyes. to bring out the prisoners from
the prison and then sit in darkness out of the prison house. And
then the Lord establishes the position. He says, I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory
will I not give to another Neither my praise to graven images."
So the Lord is a jealous God. And my friends, the Lord has
a perfect right to receive all honour and glory. When you think
of the debt that we owe because of our sinful nature, because
of the condition that we come into because of our sin, that
sinful state which we inherited through Adam and his sin in the
Garden of Eden, But what a blessing it is to know that we are those
whom the Lord is dealing with in love to their souls. And if we have therefore the
evidence of God's work in our heart, which has brought us out
from that broad way and brought us in to the narrow way, and
have the evidence of God's dealings with us, leading us in that highway,
that narrow way, leading us to Christ, leading us to the cross,
directing us and blessing us, surely then these words must,
and are true, they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow
and sighing shall flee away. The joy of the Lord is our strength. What a blessing when God comes
and touches our heart with love, His love, that love which was
so great, that love which brought the Saviour into this sinful
world to die upon that cross to atone for our sins. Oh my friends, what a sacrifice! What a Saviour! Do we not have
to thank God for His amazing grace, for His great mercy, for
His wonderful love, if it's come upon us, and if we therefore
have the evidence of the truth of these things, which show to
us that we possess the blessing of that light in our hearts where
the Lord has shone into our darkness and the light has come and we've
been blessed with that faith to believe the great and glorious
truth of the Gospel and realise the words that the psalmist said,
he led them forth How did he lead them forth? He led them
forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. Well, may we each have cause
to praise God for His goodness, for His love, for His mercy,
for His compassion toward us so unworthy of any favour and
bless God that He gives us such encouraging words in His Word
to enable us to hold on our way. Amen.