Okay, brethren, we're going to
be in Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, and this evening
I'd like to look at verses 9 through 11 with you. Now, before I get
started, I did want to mention for those that maybe aren't aware
that Don Cross, The husband of Johnny Cross and father of Scott
Cross, he passed away this morning at about 3 a.m. in the morning.
And Johnny and Scott both wanted me to let you all know that and
also just to mention that they really appreciate all the love,
the support, the outpouring that people have shown them how they
care. and they're just thankful. There's just so much they can't
respond to everybody, but they wanted me just to mention that,
that they're sorry they haven't gotten back to you, but just
know that they really, they're seeing it, they feel it, and
they really appreciate the love and the support that you're all
showing them. So just know that they're very thankful for your
love and care. Okay brethren, so we're going
to be in Isaiah chapter 40 looking at verses 9 through 11. Now before I get in here to this
text, some of you know that tomorrow my wife and I will be taking
a trip with my niece and we'll be going back to to bring her
home. And so we're going to go on an
airplane and fly on an airplane together. And Michelle and I
have experience with being on an airplane, but my niece hasn't
flown yet. And so we're taking this time
now to prepare her for the journey. If you've flown, you know that
in the summertime, a lot of times that AC is blowing because the
planes can get hot so it's very cold and they have it blowing
as hard and as fiercely as they can and so we've told her you're
going to want to pack a sweater. You're going to want to pack
a jacket to keep yourself warm in case it is very very cold
and we know that there's things that she's going to want to have
with her on the plane and so we've told her make sure that
they're readily available to you so that you can access these
things if you'd like to have them and while you're sitting
on the plane. And we've looked at the itinerary
and we have told her about it and what to, you know, told her
some things of what to expect. And we plan to get to the airport
very early because we're with a young child and you can't push
a young child the way you might push yourself if you were in
a hurry in the airport. And so overarching of all of
this, she also knows that she's not going on this trip alone,
but that her aunt and uncle are going to be with her all the
way till we bring her safely to the arms of her family back
at home. And so I say that because this
is what the Lord is doing here in this passage. The Lord is
preparing us for the warfare of the journey. If you remember
that in last chapter, Isaiah 39, Jerusalem and Judah were
told, it was told to Hezekiah and his people that they, that
Jerusalem and Judah were going to go into Babylonian captivity. It says in Isaiah 39 verses 5
and 6, the Lord has Isaiah say to Hezekiah,
hear the word of the Lord of hosts Behold, the days come that
all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid
up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing
shall be left, saith the Lord. And so having said this to the
people, it really sets Isaiah chapter 40 in that context. And you see what a sweet ministration
of the gospel the Lord is giving to his people. He's assuring
them. that he loves them, he's assuring
his people that he has provided all things for her deliverance. Though she's in captivity, though
she's bound for the sin and the iniquity of the people, he's
provided for her to deliver her from the penalty of her sins. And so, With this, he assures
her of his provision with this word here in Isaiah 40 verse
11. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. And so, understand, brethren,
that the world that we live in, we know that the judgment of
God is set upon the inhabitants of the earth. They're under the
wrath of God. And there are times when they
go through a very real and acute sense of judgment that the Lord
brings upon the people. And in the midst of those people,
the Lord himself has a people that he has set his love and
affection upon, and he assures them that even through the judgment
which is coming upon the inhabitants of the world, know that I'm providing
for you. He says he's taking care of you. He's ensuring that the warfare
that you face on this journey, and in the life which he's given
you, and the warfare in this flesh, the fighting and warring
against sin, the fighting and warring against your enemies,
the hatred of the inhabitants of the earth, against the true
and living God, and against his people, against his Christ, against
his gospel, the Lord says, I'll never forsake you. I'm providing
for you, I will keep you. You'll go through the midst,
you'll see the judgment coming upon the people and you'll experience
it, but I'll provide for you. And we know that even with Daniel.
Daniel was a blessed man. The Lord speaks very highly of
Daniel and blessed him mightily with incredible vision of the
Lord to know and understand the things that are coming upon the
people. And yet he went into captivity. Being a child of God, he was
brought into that captivity too. But through it all, the Lord
blessed him richly and provided for him. And so that can be a
great comfort, should be a great comfort to us, even if the Lord
were to bring that kind of judgment upon us in our land, right? To know that as horrible as that
would be, we know that the Lord's going to provide for his people
with the gospel. And so I've titled this, Readied
for the Journey, Readied for the Journey. And we're gonna
first look at this message, which is given to the church in verse
nine. Now, Before we get there, last
week we heard of the comfort that our God was giving to the
church. He intended, he purposed to provide
comfort for her. Look there at Isaiah 40 verse
two. We see this comfort is provided
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He says, 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 is the declaration
of Christ, the Lamb of God Himself. And what the Lord's declaring
to us is to know, to hear, that He's accomplished, already He's
accomplished our salvation. The fear and the worry that men
and women in religion have has no part, no bearing upon the
children of God because our comfort and assurance is the war has
already been won. The warfare is already assured
of victory. Though in ourselves we feel our
weakness, in ourselves we know our sin and our failings, and
when we look at that, We do tremble and do fear, but the comfort
and the assurance is God's not looking at that. He's not looking
at what we do or don't do. He's ever looking to his Son,
Jesus Christ, and he's well pleased with us in his Son, Jesus Christ. If we're honest and we were counting
on Him looking to us in our goodness, in our righteousness, we would
have much to fear and much to worry about. So the Lord's ever
turning our eyes off of self to look to the Son, to look to
His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb whom He's provided and in whom
the church's iniquity is pardoned. It's because of Christ. He paid
the debt. He paid the price that we owed.
And so the Lord, we see in Isaiah 40, what the Lord does is he
raises up ministers and he sends those ministers to preach his
gospel, to preach this good news to the people. And part of what
we saw last week in the verses just leading up to verse nine,
it was six, seven, and eight, we saw how part of the ministry,
just in preaching Christ, the Lord, in his spirit of grace
and power, strips the sinner of vainglory, strips us of pride,
strips us of having a confidence in our own righteousness. Because
in this flesh, we go back very quickly, very easily, to looking
at what we've done and feeling good about it, or feeling very
bad about what we've done. And so the Lord strips us of
looking to the flesh. so that when we look to the flesh,
we see what we are, and we know, Lord, please don't look to my
righteousness, look to the righteousness of your son, Jesus Christ, alone. And so he sends his ministers
to preach the gospel, it strips the sinner, and he proclaims
to us the glorious salvation that God has freely, richly provided
in his son, Jesus Christ. All right, now under the direction
and power of the Holy Spirit, this is what the Lord commands
his ministers to say. So we say this and pray that
the power of God attends this word and brings it home to the
heart of his people, that we hear it and rejoice in it. Isaiah
40, verse nine. O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not
afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Now, when the Lord speaks of
Zion and Jerusalem in the scriptures, we understand these are titles
which are given to the church in the wilderness. He's giving
these titles that these are his people, his church, his gathered
ones whom he has set his love upon. This is the bride of Christ. And in fact, when Paul was speaking
to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15 and 16, Paul called the church
the house of God. And he said, this is the church
of the living God, the pillar, and ground of the truth." Now
I emphasize what Paul emphasized, that the church is the pillar
and ground of the truth because he's telling Timothy, this is
the charge which is given to the church to preach and declare
the truth of God. And then he tells us what that
truth is at that well-known verse, 1 Timothy 3.16, where he turns
and says, Here's the truth, that without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness, that God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. Now when you hear those descriptions,
who immediately comes to your mind? He's speaking of Christ. That's the pillar and ground
of the truth that the church declares. That's the one whom
we exalt and lift up before the eyes of the people. He's the
truth that we stand for. He's our foundation. He's our
hope. He's our glory. He's our joy. He's our all, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, now in verse nine, understand,
just remember that that's the truth that we preach. Now in
verse nine, the margin, if you have a King James Version and
you have a margin where they sometimes show the other possible
interpretation there, it would read like this. Isaiah 40 verse
nine would sound like, O thou that tellest good tidings to
Zion, get thee up into the high mountain. O thou that tellest
good tidings to Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up
thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid, say unto
the cities of Judah, behold, your God. And so when you see
it in that light, you see that the church's whole ministry,
right? The church's whole ministry is
to preach and to declare and to minister the word of our God
and Savior to the church. The church ministers the gospel
to the church, to those called out ones gathered of the Lord
himself. And so that's what we're to do. We're to declare Him who is our
salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the truth that we preach. And I know in our day, well,
throughout all of history, there's always been a false church. And
there are many churches that are in the business of getting
people saved, right? They want to get people saved
and that's their business. And so, their focus is on directing
man and driving man and making man to see what he needs to be
doing more of and what he needs to be doing less of to get himself
saved. but the church, her ministry,
is what the Lord has given her, which is to preach Christ, because
Christ is the one who saves his people, and Christ reveals himself
to the hearts of his people. He's the one who reveals faith
in us, whereby we hear the word of God, and receive it and believe
it unto salvation. We believe him by his glory and
power. So that's who we preach, the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now in the context,
remember that what the Lord is saying to us here is what this
passage began with, which in verses one and two said, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and
cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. And so it's
a continual message of hope that the Lord has determined to send
to his people to continually minister to her while she's going
through the warfare of this journey, of this pilgrimage from the time
that he's called us out of darkness into the light to know and to
serve the true and living God. We're to hear this comforting
message from the Lord. And so we do that continually
because this is where the Lord is bringing his sheep, his lost
sheep that were lost in the world, lost in sin, lost in darkness,
and in the filth and folly of the flesh. and he delivers them
from that and he brings them to the church to hear his good
news, to cause them to hear the gospel whereby he saves his people
and calls them out of that filth and then strengthens them and
ministers this word to them. And so, when you look there at
the marginal translation, you see how how it aligns with other
passages in Isaiah. Actually, look at Isaiah 41,
verse 27. In other words, I'm saying I
like the marginal translation of say, speak to Jerusalem, speak
to Zion. This is what you're to say to
them. And look at Isaiah 41, 27. It says, the first shall
say to Zion, behold, behold them, and I will give to Jerusalem
one that bringeth good tidings. All right, so the Lord's gonna
send good tidings. All right, then look at Isaiah
52 verse seven. Isaiah 52 verse seven. How beautiful,
how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith, Unto Zion thy God
reigneth. And so that's what the Lord is
doing. He's sending his word. He sent
his son. First and foremost, these verses
have their fulfillment in Christ. He's the one who brings peace
and ministers that salvation to his people. And we, the ministers,
are doing what our Lord has sent us to do, which is to proclaim
the good news concerning what he's accomplished for people. All right now based on that last
verse there it speaks of the mountains and so we see from
this verse and the verse in that of our text where the mountains
are often said and it's it's relevant to to Zion. It reminds
us or the Lord speaks of the mountains in relation to Zion
and so in our text we read get thee up into the high mountains
right this is verse 9 get thee up into into the high mountain.
And what the Lord's saying there is when you're speaking to the
church, when you're speaking to my people, Take them up to
the most grand, most majestic view that they could have. Show
them, declare them, my son, declare my salvation to the people. That's
what you're to show them. Get you up to the mountains.
Get up to the highest place. Take them up there to the most
beautiful sight that they could have. which is to see my son
Jesus Christ, to behold what God has done for his people. And so he then says, thou that
bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift
it up. So that again, he's just affirming
to us over and over again that this is what we are to preach. This is how the people are fed
and are nourished in the way of salvation, they're fed and
nourished in Christ, that they might have strength for the journey,
that they might ever be looking to Him who is our glory, our
husband, our Savior, our God. and not looking at ourselves
and getting weakened and discouraged in looking at ourselves. If we're
honest, right, we'll be more discouraged. And if we're not,
then we'll just be self-deceived, self-righteous Pharisees and
thinking that we're doing something when when we're not. And so,
the message of the gospel is Christ. And so, the Lord says
to us in verse 9, Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. In other words, our salvation
is God himself. Our salvation is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. It's not in what we're doing
and not doing, it's in the person of Jesus Christ. And he makes
us, as you could see in his word, he's making us, he's showing
us and teaching us, and by his power and glory, causing us to
behold him who is our glory and our salvation. And he says, don't
be afraid or ashamed to say it. And this is exactly what he does,
works in his ministers. We see this right in the Apostle
Paul when he was writing to the Roman church in Romans 1 verse
16 and 17, he tells them plainly, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ for it The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and to the Gentile.
In other words, we're all saved the same way, by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Jew and Gentile are saved one
way, the Lord Jesus Christ. all of history by the Lord Jesus
Christ. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it's written, the just
shall live by faith. And so he has us preach Christ. and it's the Spirit of Christ
that reveals faith in you. He's the one that bears that
righteous fruit in us, that righteous fruit of faith whereby we live,
and we live looking to Christ and believing Him, and that's
often why we don't see things the way we think we should see
them, and when we look to ourselves, we get discouraged because the
Lord is saying, you're not living upon how well you're doing, you're
living upon the promise that I've given to you in my son Jesus
Christ. You're living by faith. It's
a walk of faith. believing that our God shall
fulfill all his word of promise to us, and that he has already
in his son, Jesus Christ. Now, why would a preacher be
afraid to boldly declare that God is salvation? Because that
sounds silly, right? Why would you have to tell a
minister of the gospel to be bold and don't be afraid and
don't be ashamed? Why? Well, we know why, because
man is very afraid to tell sinners to stop and to do nothing and
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Their whole business, again,
is about getting people saved. It's about telling them what
they need to do and what they need to stop doing and how they
need to live their lives so that they could get saved. And for
some reason, people, that's what they want to hear. Well, I know
why they want to hear it, but because they don't have the spirit
of the living God emptying them of self and stripping them down
and making them to see that we're nothing ourselves and so he doesn't
want to declare what God has done for the people and sending
his son he wants to declare to them all right well you've got
that out of the way now you've got to make these things effectual
you know God's done all he can do for you he sent his son and
his son did his best for you But now there's nothing that
more he can do unless you take that and you make it effectual
for yourself, right? So you've got to, by your own
flesh, apply the gasoline of faith to get that engine of salvation
going. You're the one who's got to do
it. And so they put the salvation in the hands and in the work
of man himself. And so, you know, some even say,
well, you've got to make the Lord Jesus Christ Lord of your
life. even though the reality is He's
already Lord of your life, whether you ask Him to be Lord of your
life or not, because He is the Lord and Savior. He is God Almighty. He is our God and Savior, so
He's already Lord, whether we ask Him to be Lord or not. The
real question for us is, are you a sinner? Are you a desperate
sinner? who has no means of any righteousness
by your own works, by your own thoughts, by your own heart and
what you've done. Is there anything that you can
do to cleanse your filthy hands and to make yourself righteous
and acceptable with God? If you think so, then Christ
means nothing to you. But if you have nothing and you
know that you're going to stand before God, just as He said in
the Day of Judgment, and hear His Word, and hear the salvation
that He's provided richly and freely for His people in His
Son, Jesus Christ. And to those that He's sent His
Son to save, He gives them faith, and they find themselves hearing
what God has said and believing what God has said concerning
His Son and their salvation. All right? So, the message is
Christ. The message is Christ. And in
Isaiah 40, verse 10, He says this again, behold, the Lord
God will come with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. Now this speaks to the first
advent. when our Savior came. This is
when Christ came in the flesh and His strong arm is speaking
to the fact that He has been given all power and authority. He wrought this salvation. He
worked this salvation and accomplished it for His people with His strong
hand. He did this for the people. Now,
most of mankind has no idea just how bankrupt we are of any righteousness
and anything that we have to save ourselves. But the Lord
tells us that Adam's race, in Adam, we all die. We all sinned
in the garden and we know it's true because we all continually
sin. Man is constantly trying through governments and through
systems to make a perfect society, and yet it always devolves into
chaos. It always devolves into someone
cheating and the corrupt few abusing the rest of the people.
It never can be done. There's not a political solution.
There's not a government solution. Anything that we touch and try
to do to make everyone equal and the same always fails because
of our own heart. As soon as someone has a little
edge and they figure out that edge, they're going to use it
to rule over the rest of the people and take advantage of
them for their own benefit. But the Lord's telling us that
we're all sinners. In Adam, all die, and our sin
Just the sin that we commit is enough to condemn us to hell,
let alone what we are in Adam. But we're all sinners in need
of the Lord's salvation. And so all of us must die the
penalty of death, which is the penalty of sin. We must die. That's what the Lord is telling
us, that all must die and face that eternal death and separation
from Him. But the Lord's telling us that
He has provided that salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ, for
His people. He's declaring that He's provided
it, and He exalts and lifts up His Son in the Gospel. And so, what He's told us, what
He's revealed to us, is that He sent His Son in the likeness
of this flesh, in the flesh, the likeness of sinful flesh,
yet having no sin of his own, being perfect, fulfilling the
law of God perfectly, pleasing his father well in all things,
going about doing good for the people, declaring to them the
truth, healing them of their sicknesses, and delivering them
from their bondage and iniquity. The Lord did that for the people,
and they crucified him. The people turned on Him and
crucified Him and put Him to death according to the will and
the purpose of God, because it was through that death on the
cross where the Savior died in the place of His people, bearing
their sin, dying their death to put away their eternal punishment,
their eternal damnation. He died their death. We're told
that all who believe on Christ shall receive remission sins
and that word is is beautiful. It means that we shall be delivered
from the penalty of sin. It's really beautiful what Christ
has done for his people that that all who believe him all
who hear what God has done and know by the revelation of God
that I can't I can't make myself perfect and I can't deliver myself
from the the just wrath of God which is coming upon me, and
I'm worthy of death. But He's provided His Son to
deliver all those who hope in Him and believe Him, and He reveals
that faith in His people, and they look to Christ. They lay
hold of Him, and we understand it's because He's laid hold of
them first and given them that and blessed them to know Him. He's accomplished this work.
He says, his arms shall rule for him, meaning that he had
the authority of the Father and enough sufficient power to do
this for the people, to give them, whomsoever he will, to
give them eternal life. Only God can give life. And he,
as God, gives eternal life to whomsoever he wills. And he says,
behold, his reward is with them. And the beauty there is that
Christ immediately wrought salvation for his people when he did that
work, so that in the time of his love, when it pleases him,
he brings that salvation, that deliverance to each child at
the appointed time when he's determined to bring them out
of the darkness, out of their bondage, out of their filth and
sin, and bring them into the light, and to wash them of their
sins, and deliver their guilty conscience of the guilt and the
shame of their sin, and to robe them with the righteousness of
Jesus Christ, to give them light and knowledge of what he's done
for them. Paul said to the Corinthians,
in 2 Corinthians 2.12, Now, right, so this is, as we see there,
his reward is with him, and Paul says, now we have received not
the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. That's 2 Corinthians 2.12. And
then he says in 2 Corinthians 4.6, for God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." And so, what we are by nature in that utter
darkness and bondage of sin, He reveals in the light of His
Son, Jesus Christ, and reveals to us that deliverance, that
salvation that He's provided in Him. But man, you know, he's
so dead in trespasses and sins, He can so easily be taken up
with any form of fleshly religion that tickles his self-righteous
ear. But the Lord is saying, I will
have my people to know. I will have them to look to my
son. As he says right there at the
end of verse nine, behold your God. behold your God, look to
him, look to the one who gives life and deliverance, salvation
to all his people. And so he's gonna have us to
know that Christ is our salvation, and he's gonna make us to delight
in him as he delights in him. If the father's satisfied with
the son, we sure can be, and if he delights in him, Ought
we not to delight in the Son as well, just as the Father delights
in Him? As He said, this is my beloved
Son, hear ye Him, in Him I'm well pleased. Hear Him, that's
who we're here to hear, is to hear Christ. And actually this,
in Luke 24, it's one of the most beautiful chapters. In Luke 24,
that's the last chapter that Luke records. And it speaks of
Christ after His resurrection from the dead. And in Luke 24,
verses 44 and 45, look at what he says here. Luke 24, and go to verse 44. And Christ said unto his disciples,
these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me." You see that there? Christ preached Christ. He preached
the things concerning himself. This is what he preached to his
disciples. Christ preached Christ. Then,
verse 45, opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. He opens our understanding to
see and to behold Wait a minute, these things are speaking of
Christ. This is the revelation of Christ
to me that I might know the salvation of God, that I should see what
before was in types and in shadows and pictures is now revealed. The mystery of God is made known
in the face of his son, Jesus Christ. And when Christ opens
our understanding, then we too see what he is said to the disciples
back there, to see that they are speaking of the things concerning
him, that we might know too the salvation that God's provided,
that we should not just be wandering around in dead letter religion
trying to get ourselves saved, but that we should know him who
has accomplished the salvation already in himself. And so So
Christ being the subject of the scriptures, it's amazing that
the thing which religious men most easily tire of is hearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the thing that religion
That's the first thing to go is they get angry because they
hear of Christ constantly and they hear of what He's done and
that He's glorified and not what they should be doing and they're
not hearing about themselves and what wonderful things they've
done. And it's odd because they... religion treats Christ like he's
the doorman. He's the gate. That's how we
enter into salvation. He's the gate. He's the doorman. He opens the door. Oh, thank
you very much. And once in a while, we'll give the doorman a little
tip. We'll pay him a little homage and say, good job. Thanks for
getting me saved. But then we get past Christ,
right? Just the way you go into a nice
building, you get past the doorman, and he's behind you, and that's
how religion sees Christ. Christian religion, religion
that calls themselves Christians, Christ is just a doorman, and
now they're past Christ. They don't want to hear about
Christ anymore. They want to go into religion. Tell me what I got
to do. I want to hear the deep things of religion. I want to
know how to improve myself and make myself a better person.
and how I can be more faithful in being a father, and more faithful
in being a friend, and more faithful in this world. If you want to
be faithful, look to the one who himself is the most faithful
to ever be, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who faithfully wrought
our salvation. And so, this is what the Lord
is showing us, and really what separates just dead-letter religion
from the true and living God. is rejoicing, being settled and
glad in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we never outgrow Christ. We never grow beyond Christ. We can't grow beyond the one
in whom our life consists and is. We always need Him. And so
we preach Christ. Behold your God. And another
thing too, again, Christ isn't sufficient. for man, but think
about what Christ said in John chapter 10, John chapter 10. He said, well first he said to
the Jews who weren't hearing him, he said in verse 26, he
believed not because you're not of my sheep as I said unto you.
And then he says this telling word and think about all your
experience in religion and all the many years we labored in
religion and trying to finally have any assurance, any hope
of God that we're His, that we're hearing Him, that we know Him,
that we really do know Him who created us and all things and
the beauty of holiness, seeing Him. And Christ says, My sheep
hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me. And how contrary is that to religion. I mean, some religion, they'll
make Christ out to be a pattern, but that's it. He's a pattern
of what now we need to do, like him, to be saved. They're not resting in him. And
then others say that it's all of him, but then they go on past
the doorman and get into the deep things of religion, because
they tire of hearing of Christ's voice. They don't want to hear
what Christ has done for them. But the Lord says, they hear
my voice, they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. That's comfort and assurance,
and that's what the Lord's doing to equip us for the warfare of
this journey, all right? None of his sheep will be lost,
because he keeps them, ever looking to him and trusting him, and
when we go astray, faithfully brings us back to hear the gospel
and to rest in him again. All right, let's see this reward
that's with him. He speaks of the reward that's
with him in verse 11. Here it is, even now brethren
he shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the
lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, shall gently
lead those that are with yon." So in other words, Christ is
our Great Shepherd, he's the one who's gathering together
his sheep in his arms, carrying them in his own bosom, It doesn't
sound like what we heard in religion, right? Religion's about wielding
the battle axe and just cutting people to shreds and showing
them how much you know and how little they know and just getting
deep into all kinds of things to show what you know and what
others don't and how disciplined you are and how Religious you
are and how law-abiding you are, you know, that's that's what
religion has really become. It's just modern-day pharisaism
But we see that Christ says I gather them. I speak to them. I minister
to them and I send pastors to lift up Christ to declare their
salvation to behold their God and what he's accomplished in
and and for them and so When we feed, we feed upon Christ,
and when we drink, when we drink his blood, we're being nourished
and our thirst is being quenched of him. His words are spiritual. He's ministering to the new man,
which he's created, of his own spiritual, incorruptible seed. We're born of him, right? And
we have no part in Adam and in his corrupt seed and what they're
going to inherit, but our inheritance is now and our God and Savior,
our husband, our Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're born of His
seed, and He's our part now, and that's something to rejoice
in, brethren. 1 Peter 2.7, I'll read 2.7, 2.8, and 2.9,
and just give some comments before we close. He said, unto you therefore
which believe, Christ is precious. All right, I'll let you get there.
1 Peter 2.7. Probably one of the sweetest
phrases in the letter that Peter wrote. 1 Peter 2.7, unto you therefore,
which believe he is precious. He's precious. and he's made
precious to you. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made,
the head of the corner." All right, and in religion, the person
will say, well, wait a minute, I'm not disobedient. I never
broke the law. I've never murdered anyone or
committed adultery or stolen anything or lied to anyone. I
don't do those things. Perhaps not, but you won't hear
Christ. You're disobedient to the salvation
that God has provided. You're trusting, just like the
Jews continued to do, they trusted in their own righteousness. They
tried to achieve the end of the law, which was by their own works
to make a righteousness for themselves whereby they could stand before
God in the hopes of hearing him say, justify. But our savior
is the one who has accomplished the end of the law for his people.
That is, he's made us the very righteousness of God, whereby
we are accepted and received of him and stand faultless before
his throne in Christ. All right, and Peter says in
verse 2.8, and a stone, he calls Christ a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Now, just as
he's nourished the disciples after his resurrection there
in Luke 24, 44, where he preached to them the things concerning
himself, so our Lord and Savior continues to feed his flock today
with the same hope, the same confidence, the same comfort
to see and behold Christ our salvation. And it's what Peter
says in verse 2, 9, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, and holy nation a peculiar people, that ye should show forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light." It isn't that true for all of our fears and
doubts and weaknesses and folly and the garbage we can get ourselves
into, and just even the trials, the fiery trials and the afflictions
and the sorrows that we experience, We see that in all these things,
our God is showing his grace in each one of his people so
that we show forth the praises of him, that is, others see what
God has done. We see what God has done, that
we don't deserve this, but we've received double, double blessing
for all our sins in Christ, that he's richly blessed us. And so
through this glorious gospel, he gathers you, his lambs in
his arms, carries you in his bosom, leading us safely home
through all these things, right? And isn't that a better hope
and a better comfort looking to Christ than looking to how
well you're doing in religion or not doing in religion, right?
And seeing how well you're advancing and what your denomination is
telling you to do or don't do. Isn't it a greater comfort when
you're cold When you're too hot in the fiery trial, when you're
struggling and sorrowing, when you feel your own weakness, isn't
Christ a greater comfort and a greater assurance to you than
looking to yourself and what you have been doing or not doing?
Thank God that you find no comfort in what you're doing or not doing,
and thank Him. If your comfort is found in Christ
alone, thank Him for that, because that's of His grace. and mercy
for you, toward you. All right, so remember this brethren,
this world brethren is under the judgment of God and we may
see things yet in our day that is scary to the flesh and frightening
to behold, but we have the promise and the assurance that God is
with us. equipped us with His Son. He's given us the promises
and the assurance of His Son, and He promises to give you the
gospel, to point you to Christ through that whole journey, that
whole tumultuous journey, till He brings you safely to Canaan
shores, to the loving arms of your God and Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So He's ever with you. So I pray
that that word be a comfort and a joy to you, and we'll see more
of it next week as we go through chapter 40 in Isaiah. All right,
let's pray. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you. Lord, we confess that in ourselves
we're nothing, and Lord, we can look at our own track record
in religion and look back in shame at the things we've done
and the things that we've gloried in, and what we've had confidence
in before and what we thought was our salvation and our hope
and how we've hurt others and hurt ourselves and what we've
done or didn't do or said or didn't say. And Lord, we're just
so thankful that in spite of us, you're pleased to send your
gospel to exalt your son before our eyes. and turning ourselves
away from self to behold Him who is salvation and the salvation
and hope of His people. Him who gives life and is glorious
and lovely to behold. Lord, we pray that you would
be with your people, keep us ever looking to your Son and
resting in Him. And Lord, whatever you're pleased
to do here in this nation in this world, Lord, whatever the
day is that you have determined it to be, we just ask that you
would go with us and that you would keep feeding us with the
gospel for whatever should come, that we would be comforted in
Christ. Because if we have him, Lord, then we have all that we
need. And we pray this in the name
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay, brethren.