Isaiah chapter 40 in verse 1
says, 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. Now before this in chapter
39 we have the prophet Isaiah coming to king Hezekiah and he tells Hezekiah that the
Babylonians would come and take all that they had. That there
was a time coming that the Babylonians would come in and take captive
the nation of Judah, lay her waste and that his children,
his children that he bear would become eunuchs in the kingdom
of Babylon, and that his line should be cut off. You read this in verse 5, it
says, Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of
hosts. Behold, the days come that all lives in thine house.
and that which thy fathers had laid up in store unto this day
shall be carried away to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith
the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue
from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they
shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. now this tragedy truly happened
just as the prophet said Babylon did come and take away those
of the nation of Judah into captivity for 70 years even as the Lord
determined Yet this is not just a picture of what happened to
Israel, but rather this is a greater picture of what has happened
to the whole human race. This is a picture of what has
happened to Adam's race. And just as the Babylonians came
and took away the treasures of Judah, listen, sin also came
away and took away the treasures of righteousness. The Scriptures say that death
came by sin. Adam, who was the highest of
God's creation, heir of God's blessings and presence, but yet
when he sinned, all of his posterity was cut off. And so death passed
upon all men, for all have sinned. In regards to righteousness,
listen, we have all been made eunuchs. What is a eunuch? A eunuch is a man who has been
cut off. He has been castrated. A man
that is castrated cannot produce seed. He cannot produce life. He cannot give life to another.
And so it is with our souls. Man by nature is dead and he
cannot produce life in himself. No matter how hard he tries,
no matter what he does, he cannot generate life in himself. He
cannot produce righteousness in himself. He is a spiritual
eunuch. That's what we are by nature.
We have all been cut off. This is the message of hopelessness
that the natural religious age rejects and despises. Man says, surely you don't mean
that I can't do good. Not in the eyes of God you can't.
Surely you don't mean I've lost all my free will. Absolutely. You have none. The only will
that we have is to sin. We cannot produce righteousness
in ourselves. Surely, preacher, you don't mean
I can't save myself. That's exactly what I'm telling
you. By nature, you and I cannot save ourselves. Yet men who deny the depravity
of man go about as the Jews to establish their own righteousness. And so as far as the ruin of
man, they say, we will have none of it. The religious age says,
let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords from us.
I will not have this man to rule over me. I will not believe God's Word. But this was not the response
of Hezekiah. What was Hezekiah's response?
Look at his response in verse 8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah,
Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. Good
is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. When God comes by His Spirit
to a man, he must first see his hopelessness. If a man never
sees his hopelessness, if a man never sees his condition, he'll
never come to God for mercy. The ruin of his soul, unless
a man sees the ruin of his soul, he must see the sin is not just
what he does, but rather sin is the very core of his nature. Sin is not only outward actions,
but inward thoughts and motives and deeds. We must come to this truth that
the best of our religion, the best of our religion is filthy
rags. We must see the futility of our
works to obtain the merit and favor of God. It is here that
a man must be brought if comfort is ever to be spoken. If there's
ever going to be any comfort to your souls, you must come
to this truth. You must see this concerning
yourself. God will and must bring us to
the end of ourselves to see our guilt and say, good is the word
of the Lord. You remember that woman that
came to the Lord and was begging for her daughter's life, and
she was a Gentile. And the Lord turned to her and
said, Is it meek that I should give the children's bread to
dogs? What did she say? Truth, Lord. She said, Yes, I am a dog. But
even the dogs received the crumbs from the master's table. You
not see how she came? That's how a sinner, if he's
ever to find comfort from Christ, he must come as he is, a wicked
sinner in need of mercy. And it's only then at this place,
at this realization of our sin, that the message of hope comes.
and that's what the Lord gives us here in this first verse of
the next chapter. After Hezekiah confessed, after
he confessed, good is thy word, God said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably. I'm going
to see this in just a second, but that word comfortably to
Jerusalem means speak to the heart of Jerusalem. Do you realize
what an impossible task I have? You see, I'm not speaking to
your ears. If I am, that ain't going to get nowhere. See, I
must speak to your heart. You see, I'm taking a message
that is from the heart of God and giving it to your heart.
And that's where it should be intended, to the heart, not just
to the head. Speak to the heart, comfortably
to the heart of Jerusalem, crying to 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. Are you here in need of
comfort then? Are you such a ruined eunuch? in righteousness, then the Word
is for you. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And I want to see this by asking
just two questions this morning. To whom is this comfort to be
given? To who is this comfort directed? He doesn't say comfort
ye, comfort ye the whole world. He doesn't say, comfort ye every
man, woman, boy, and girl. No, He directs this comfort to
a specific group of people. Comfort ye, comfort ye, who?
My people. Okay? And second of all, what
is the source of this comfort? The source of the comfort? Her
warfare is accomplished. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. So first of all, Let's see that. Who are to be comforted? Now, if all men are born dead
in sins, and they are, if all men by nature are rebels, and
they are, if all men are unable and unwilling to come to God,
and they are, if all men deserve hell, then
who are these that is to be given comfort? This message of comfort
is to be given to a certain group of people. It is here literally
directed to the nation of Israel, to the nation of Judah. He says,
Speak comfortably to who? Jerusalem. Jerusalem. My people. See, the nation of
Jerusalem, of Judah, was about to be brought into captivity.
They needed comfort. And God did comfort them because
He told them 70 years are determined. He already had told them that
there was going to be a certain captivity for a certain time
and then they would be released. It was already determined that
they would be set free. And that's exactly what happened,
wasn't it? Isn't it exactly as the prophet told? Yes. But this nation is, like I said
just as before, a picture, a type, a type of God's elect, a type
of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the ones to
be comforted, even the elect, the chosen ones of God, the ones
He refers to as My people. My people. These are ones who are chosen
of God in eternity. These are ones chosen of God
to be His people by sovereign free grace. In Isaiah 44 in verse 1 he says,
Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant Israel, whom I have chosen. Who are his people? Who are the
ones to be directed for this comfort? He says they are my
people. My people. No one else but my
people are to receive comfort. You remember it said of those
two that were born in the same womb, Jacob and Esau, those that
have not yet been born, neither having done any good or evil.
He says, for Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That the purpose of God according
to election might stand. Yes, all the sons of Adam fell. All of us died, yet by grace
God purposed to save some. Therefore, he chose a people
that he would save. He chose a people that he would
comfort. And these are his elect people.
2 Thessalonians 2, 13 says, But we are bound always to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, For God hath chosen
you, chosen from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now
that God has chosen a people from eternity, before there was
ever a time, before there was ever a world, before there was
ever sin, God chose a people for himself. And since these
people are the only ones God will comfort, these are the only
ones that God will save, I desire to know who they are.
I desire to know if I'm one of them. I have an interest in this. Do you have an interest in this? If these are the ones God is
going to comfort, I surely want to be in that number. Is that
not your desire? Who are these elect? Who are
these chosen of God? Listen, it's very profound, very
deep. They're the ones who need comfort. They're the ones who need comfort. See this lost generation of religious
folks, these depraved men, they have no need of comfort. They
have no need of forgiveness of sins. They have no need of mercy. Oh, they may need God's help
here and there. They may need God to feed them. They may need
God to clothe them. They may need God to heal their
sickness. They may need God to help them
in their salvation process. But all the elect of God will
see that they have need of complete mercy. I need absolutely free mercy. If I'm ever going to find any
comfort, if I'm ever going to find any rest, it has to be in
this free mercy. Because we have nothing to give.
We have nothing to give God. Jesus said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. What do we come to Christ for?
If you've come to Christ, what have you come to Christ for?
How many people have come to Christ for physical healing and
received it, but have not come for mercy? Remember the ten lepers? They
all came to Christ. You know what? They were all
ten healed. Only one was saved. Nine went on in their healing
and went to hell. One came back. One came to receive
full mercy for the soul. All the elect of God will come
to Christ. Have you seen your wickedness
and inability to please God? Then you need mercy. And then I point you to the only
comfort for the souls of men. The only refuge from the wrath
of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He says this, Come unto me all
you that labor and are heavy laden. Heavy laden with what? Guilt. Heavy laden with the law. The law could only condemn you. The law could only damn you.
The law could not help you. It is a burden too grievous for
us to bear. Come to Christ with that burden
and He says, I will give you rest. He didn't say, come to
me that you may merit rest. Come to me that you may earn
rest. Come to me and I'll give you
rest. This is the promise of the gospel. It's free. It's free. I'm speaking to a heavy laden
soul. Remember, I told you that word
speak comfortably means speak to the heart. A soul under the yoke of the
law and a bondage of sin come and you shall find comfort. God's
elect are those who need comfort. If you don't need mercy, if you
have no burden for sin, then I'm definitely not speaking to
you. But all the elect of the Father
shall come to Christ and they will come with a heavy load of
sin. They will come with sin, And
they all come for mercy and rest. And you know what the result
is? Everyone that comes to Christ
finds rest. This is the result of everyone.
Every one of the elect who come, they come and find what? Rest.
They find rest for their bodies? No. They find rest in their situation? No. They find rest in their souls,
in their hearts. That's where they find rest.
They find joy, they find peace. How? By faith, trusting in Christ
alone. Lay hold of the hope set before
you. I've just set before you the
only hope there is, Jesus Christ. I've set Him out, set Him before
you. Now lay hold of Him. Hold on with all your soul. That's what it is to believe. It is to grab on to Christ and
not let go. Faith is the channel by which
this comfort flows. Faith is not the comfort itself. But I tell you, comfort never
comes apart from faith. If you don't have faith in Christ,
you ain't got no comfort. Don't trust your faith for comfort.
You won't find any comfort in that, will you? How great is
your faith? It's very small, isn't it? Very weak. You don't
trust your faith. You trust the object of your
faith. You trust Christ. Believe on Him. And we who believe
on Him have been sanctified, set apart by the Spirit of God. We have heard His Word. And we
have said in our hearts, Good is the Word of the Lord. You
wretch! Good is the Word of the Lord. Truth, Lord! Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Who are they? They're the ones who need comfort. Second of all, this is the second
question, what then is to be our comfort? If you know you
are a believer in Christ, if you believe on Jesus Christ,
what then is your comfort? What is this comfort that God
gives you? You see, God doesn't just say
comfort ye my people and not give them comfort. He actually
describes our comfort to us in our text. He said, Comfort ye
my people, saith the Lord. Here it is. Speak comfortably
to their hearts, crying to her. This is it. Number one, her warfare
is accomplished. What a message of comfort this
gives to His people. What message is it of this comfort
of great comfort to us who live in such a restless sea as this
world is. Is that not a good description
of this life? Is it not just a restless sea? Do you not feel the waves crashing
against your small vessel day after day after day? One minute
everything seems calm and the next it is in turmoil. It's a
restless sea. When we come to Christ for our salvation,
when we looked and beheld the Lamb of God and He saved us,
did that solve all of this turmoil? When He says, Comfort ye My people,
your warfare is accomplished, is He talking about that all
your troubles will cease? Is that what he's saying? That
everything from now on will be smooth sailing into glory. Is
that what he's talking about? Will the clouds part and the
rain cease and the troubles stop? No. No. Surely our experience
has proved otherwise, hasn't it? It's only gotten worse. I tell you, the more I grow in
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, the more, the higher
the waves seem to come and flood my soul. Our experience is that it has
only gotten worse. The flesh, has it gotten better
or worse? It's only gotten worse. The darts of Satan, have they
become more dull or have they only grown sharper? Have you become stronger or weaker? We all know in this experience
of grace that these things, that the more we grow, the more these
vile sins are exposed. It's not that they weren't there
before, they're just given more light to see. Surely, if God
would have exposed them when we were young in the faith, we
couldn't have born them. But as we grow, God gives us
more knowledge. He opens these things to us in
the trouble. Our Lord said this, in this world
you shall have tribulation. The apostle said, think it not
strange when the things come on you and overwhelm your soul. Don't think it's strange. You see, once we were friends
with the world, lovers of this life, friends with our flesh,
but now we are set at enmity against them. There is a warfare
that has taken place. The world hates us because it
hates our Christ. The religious world hates us
They hate our Lord who died for His elect people. They hate the
Father who chose a people. They hate the Sovereign Spirit
who only saves and calls His chosen. They despise the message
of total depravity, particular redemption. They hate this message. And I tell you, they'll hate
you. They'll hate you. You remember what Paul said in
Galatians 5? He said, you know what? If I preach works, why
am I suffering? Why then do people hate me? He
said, if I were to preach works, then with the offense of the
cross. You know, the cross is offensive.
Not the cross that's being preached today in this modern religion. That's not offensive. A Jesus
that loves everybody and died for everybody is offense to nobody. But I tell you, our Christ is
very offensive. he that died for his people alone
and saves his people alone is very offensive therefore we are
at war we are at war with this world and not with the things
that we see but Paul says against principalities and powers and
rulers of darkness we wrestle not with flesh and blood in other
words our warfare is not with men We're not to hate men, rather
we love men. We desire for them to come in.
We desire for God to save men. And therefore our weapons of this
warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. Let us not misunderstand this
comfort of our warfare is accomplished. This does not mean that we are
not to fight, but rather we are to understand
that our warfare has an appointed end. Our warfare has an appointed
end. Isn't that comforting to know
that this will end? That this warfare is going to
cease. Isn't that comforting? Isn't that comforting to know
that God has already set the time just as He had set the time
for deliverance from Babylon, He had also set the time of the
end of our warfare. Matter of fact, that's what the
original says. And where it says warfare, in
the margin it says appointed time. appointed time. And this time, listen, the armies,
the way they did battle is not how we would do it today. They
would sit on, one army would be on one side and the other
army would be on the other and they would have a set appointed
time for battle. Sometimes they'd stand and look
at each other for days until the higher people would have
an appointed time. And at that appointed time the
battle would begin. But God says this is not a battle
appointed to just begin, but he says I've appointed a battle
to end. I know that each of us who are
believers, listen, you are engaged in a battle even now. Are you
not? I am. As I preach to you, there's
a flesh, there's an old man in here who is striving against
the spiritual man. And as you sit and listen, there's
an old man striving against the new man. There's a warfare that
is engaged. And the ground of this war is
our hearts, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh, and these are contrary one to another,
so that you cannot do what you would. Many times this battle leaves
us discomforted, unsettled, cast down, made low. We feel faint and weary. But
I tell you, child of God, that this warfare, listen, it's accomplished. I don't feel like it's accomplished.
That's not the comfort. The comfort is that it is accomplished. I feel defeated. I don't care. The warfare is accomplished.
The warfare is accomplished. There's an end to our struggle
with this flesh and with the world and with Satan because
it's already over. Till then we take comfort that
God has given us the victory already. That we are fighting
a defeated enemy. You remember David once was out
and he was going to face the Philistines and God said this,
The Lord hath given thee the victory. Now before he actually
engaged in battle, the victory was already his. In the eyes
and mind and purpose of God, that victory was sure. Was there
any chance that David would lose? Was there any hope that the Philistines
would overcome Israel? No hope. God said, you shall
win. And you know what the outcome
was? They won. You know what? God says, you've won. You've already won, because I
won this for you. I did it for you. Even so, with us, believer, take
courage, be strong, wax valiant in fight, and turn to flight
the army of the aliens, because Christ, by His death, has already
won the victory. He has led captivity captive,
He has set us free from the law, from the penalty of sin. Isn't
that something? The penalty of sin. There's no
more penalty for your sin. Your penalty has already been
paid. No more penalty for sin. No more power of sin over you. And one day He'll deliver you
even from the presence of your sin. Isn't that going to be great?
This is all guaranteed. And this was done by His cross.
Therefore, take and receive this comfort, even in the midst of all your
struggles. Engage in the battle. Let not your hands be slack,
but take heart. For in Christ you are more than
conquerors through Him who loved us. Second of all, take comfort in
this, that you are pardoned. Look at that in your text. Her
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. We who believe, we readily confess
our sins. You know, I don't try to hide
my sin from God. What a foolish Aaron that is,
isn't it? You know, if we don't say anything, surely he don't
know. No, that's foolishness. He knows your heart, knows your
thoughts, knows them afar off before you even thought they
even came to your mind. So it's foolish for us not to
confess our sins. We gladly confess our sins, We,
like David, confess, I have sinned against the Lord. How many times have you sinned
against the Lord and thought it too late? Too much. Too much now. Surely no hope
now. I've gone too far. I've fallen
too much. Surely no mercy now. Then the words of Nathan the
prophet come in, the Lord hath already put away thy sin. Man, I love those words. Oh, the comfort of this, that
my sin, my guilt, my iniquity that was against the Lord, that the Lord Himself hath put
it away. The Lord Himself hath pardoned
my sin. How can this be? By the blood
of the Son of God. My friend, God has so far removed
our sins from us that He Himself cannot find them. Can you imagine a distance so
far? A place somewhere that God could not find. A place where
God could not go. And yet that's where our sins
are. So far removed from us. In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve."
Is this not comfort? That God, who knows all things,
sees all things, nothing that is hid from Him, and God says
of us, I find no sin, no iniquity in you, Why? Because I have pardoned
you. In that song, Great is Thy Faithfulness,
it says, pardon for sin and peace that endureth. Thine own dear
presence to cheer and to guide, strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with 10,000
besides. Great is thy faithfulness. And
listen, God is great in his faithfulness to forget all your sins. He says, I will remember their
iniquities no more. So when will he remember them? Not asking when you remember
them. You remember them every day. When will God remember them?
Never. Never. How can this be? My sin is real. My guilt is real. God can't just forgive me, can
He? No! I tell you, He can't just
declare pardon without true payment. This is why the Son of God must
have come. He must have died for sin. And that's what God means when
he says, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sin. The Lord by his own hand, by
his own offering of his Son, by the taking all our sins of
the elect and imputing them to Christ, to his son who stood
in our stead, bore the weight and guilt of all of our sins
upon the cursed tree. God imputed all your wickedness
to his son and punished him in our stead. This is the gospel
message. This is the source of comfort. I tell you that Jesus Christ
satisfied God. on our behalf. Satisfied. You ever been satisfied? Even
in the least degree. I mean, sometimes you just get
something and something's done. You stand back for one minute
and you go, ah, satisfied. God is always satisfied with
Christ. Always. Well pleased. And because we are in Christ,
God is forever well satisfied with us. It pleased the Lord,
delighted the Lord. You know what delighted the Lord?
To bruise Him. I'm so glad it said delighted
the Lord to bruise Him and not me. See, He could bruise me and crush
me for eternity, and that would never pay for one sin. Not one. But He bruised him once and paid
it forever. Believer, if there's any comfort
in this, it's in the death of Jesus Christ. Christ's death,
John Gill says, Christ's death is ample satisfaction. Being
infinite, fully answers the demerit of sin. And this being done in
the room of God's people clears them and yields comfort to them. Therefore, let us not look to
ourselves. Don't look to anything in this
world to try to find comfort. There won't be any comfort. There
won't be any satisfaction anywhere else. Have you not found the world's
comforts fleeting? They just are so fast. You're
comforted for one minute in something and then it's gone. You can find
comfort in this every single day of your life. And it will
never run dry. It'll never grow stale. in Him is strength for the battle,
in Him is pardon for sin, so much so His sacrifice, God says,
is double payment, double for all her sins. I like this because it was not
only did His cross negate our sins and put us just square,
You know, if you had a debt and somebody paid just that amount,
then you would be zero. You'd be starting from scratch.
But Christ's death didn't just put us at zero. No! He put us infinitely in the positive
by imputing His righteousness to us. So it's like if you owed a million
dollars and somebody gave you two. One to pay the debt and
one to keep for yourself. What was the infinite debt of
sin that we owed? And what is the infinite righteousness
of Christ that we've gained? That's double. The Lord had paid
double for all our sins. So then I'll ask you this. Who
then can separate us from the love of God? Who? Can anything in time or eternity
remove you from this comfort? Not if you're His people. Not
if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as all your hope and stay. Not if you've confessed your
sins and come to Christ. Nothing shall separate you from
God. Because there's nothing to separate
you. Sin's been removed. You've received
of the Lord double. And you know what? There's an
appointed time for the end of all this conflict. It's already
given. The victory's yours. We're not fighting this warfare
to be saved. We're fighting it because we
are saved. That's good comfort. I'm glad
to be fighting, aren't you? Doesn't that give you some kind
of comfort just to know there's a warfare? Hey, there's warfare,
there's life. You know if there's life, there's
pardon. There's pardon, it's double.
And you shall receive of the Lord's hand double for all your
sins. Comfort you, my people. speak to their hearts may God
the Holy Spirit do that even now