Turn with me if you would back
to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40, let's read these eight
verses again. Isaiah 40 verse one 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. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
And every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry,
and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. Now I want
us to be comforted by this message. I do. I very much do. I want the truth to be preached. I want the gospel to be preached.
And I want us to be comforted this morning. But more so than
our being comforted, I honestly do want us to be comforted. This
is every time you go to Isaiah 40 and we know, and I've read
it many times, Isaiah 40 comfort you, my people sayeth your God. I do want us to be comforted. I sincerely do, but more than
us being comforted. I want us to see Christ. with more concern and more emphasis
than us being comforted, I want us to place it on seeing Christ. I want us to see Him. I want
us to glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that we will. I want us to see what He did
for sinners like us. The title of this message is
Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. When you look up the word prepared
or prepare in the Bible dictionary, when you look that word up, this
is what it means. Turn toward. It means look at. It means face. It means behold. It means mark
the way of the Lord. That's what I'd like for us to
do this morning. I'd like for us to look at, I want us to turn
toward. and face and behold and Mark
the way of our Lord. I want us to see what he did
for us. What was his way for us. And
in doing that, I pray we will be comforted, pray we'll be comforted
in seeing it. Now in these verses, our Lord
is speaking concerning two groups of people, his people. And all people, that's who he
is speaking to here, his people and all people, his people are
included in all people, but all people are not necessarily
included in his people. Okay. So what he has to say right
here concerning all people. He's saying this concerning every
person in this room, all people. And what he has to say concerning
his people, he's saying it to every person in the Lord Jesus
Christ. All people is every person in
this room. His people is every person that He has placed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's begin with what He
has to say concerning all people. Look with me at the middle of
verse six. He said, all flesh is grass. That's what He said. That's what
the Lord said, the Lord God. Chose to say that all flesh is
grass. What a way to describe all of
mankind in his natural flesh. The Lord himself said, mankind,
all men and women are grass. Of everything that he could have
chosen to describe men and women. That's what he chose to say.
All flesh is grass. Grass is something that you step
on. Grass is something that you cut
down. Grass is something that you cast
out. What you do with those clippings
when you, I don't bag my clippings anymore because I just, they're
not worth casting out to me. But that's what you do with them,
you cast them out. In another place, he said, you cast them
into the furnace, you cast them into the fire. But God said, that's all that
the flesh of man is good for before me. That's all that the
sinful flesh of man is worth, stepping on, cutting down, casting
out. Now, That's offensive. That's offensive, isn't it? That
is offensive to the flesh. So offensive. But do you know
that's the truth? I believe the Lord has revealed
that to us. I believe you do know that's
the truth in the eyes of God. According to the Word of God,
He said, the sinful flesh of man is worth nothing more than
a blade of grass. He said, all flesh is grass. You're a blade, and you're a
blade, and you're a blade, and you're a blade. Collectively,
we all make a lawn. All flesh is grass. Now, when this is over, and everybody
goes outside, if you want to, pluck a blade of grass. Go out
there when we're done and pluck a blade of grass and put it right
there in the palm of your hand. Now, if you do that, how much
value will you be holding? How much worth will you be holding? Considering everything, considering
God and the universe and the planet, how much significance
right there will you be holding? The root of man's sin and his
rebellion against God is in the fact that man thinks he is significant. That's the root of the whole
problem. Man thinks he is valuable. No, I won't go to work for your
company for that price. Don't you know who I am? Man thinks he is worth something. When God says, that in His natural
sinful flesh, He's not. Now that's offensive. I am speaking
a great offense right now. This is so offensive. The flesh
of man does not like this. The flesh of man is offended
by this and it rebels against hearing that. That's what the
flesh wants to do. But this is what the apostle
Paul said. He said, if a man thinks himself to be something,
when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. The apostle James said, what
is your life? It's a vapor. Job said, my life is wind. David said, man at his best state
is altogether vanity. That means emptiness. Right here in Isaiah 40, our
Lord said in verse 15, Behold, the nations are as a drop of
a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance." After
you, whatever you were actually weighing, after you take it off,
just the, just the nothing particles that are left over, the small
dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the islands
as a very little thing. Lebanon is not sufficient to
burn. Man is so proud of his cedar trees. We know we got the
cedars of Lebanon over there. He said, they're not even sufficient
to burn. nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering,
all nations before him are as nothing and they are counted
to him less than nothing and absolute emptiness. Man hears that, the flesh of
man hears that and this is what the flesh says, I hate that. I hate that. Don't you tell me
that. I don't want to hear it. I don't
want to hear it. Look at verse six, Isaiah 40
verse six, the voice said, cry. And the preacher said, what shall
I cry? You cry, all flesh is grass and
all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. The Spirit of God is going to
blow upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. Man hears
that and he says to God, I don't want your Word to stand forever.
I want my Word to stand forever. Because of that, because of that
rebellion, this Word says that God is going to deal with all
flesh. God is going to deal with all
flesh. All flesh has to deal with Him. Verse 4. It says every valley
shall be exalted. Every rebellion, every sin is
going to be exposed. Nothing's going to be left hidden
down in the shadows. It goes on to say in every mountain
and hill shall be made low. All pride and all self-righteousness
is going to be cut down just like grass. It goes on to say, and the crooked
shall be made straight. Every wrong, every error, every
center is going to be straightened out. Every one of them. Did you
ever get in trouble growing up and hear these words? I'm going
to straighten you out. Do you ever hear that? Verse four, he said, in the rough
places, everything that goes against his grain, they're all
gonna be planed off, like he's just gonna run a planer over
them. Plane them off. He's gonna get rid of it. Now,
who is he gonna do that to? Who is he gonna do that to? All
flesh. all flesh, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. That's what every blade of grass
will receive. That's what every blade of grass
deserves. That's what you deserve. That's
what you deserve. That's what I deserve. That's what we see when we prepare
the way of all flesh. If the title of this message
was prepare the way of all flesh, we could be done. We just did
it. That's what you see when you
prepare the way, when you look at and you face and you behold
the way of all flesh. But that's not the title of our
message. According to the commandment, he said to prepare the way of
the Lord. Verse three, the voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Turn to, let's all turn to now. Let's behold, let's mark the
way of the Lord, the salvation of the Lord. He said, I am the
way. I'm the way God, the father chose
some people out of all flesh. And he gave those people to the
Lord Jesus Christ as a gift. He said, if you ask of me, I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance. And the Lord Jesus
Christ said, father, I'm asking. So he gave those people to the
Lord Jesus Christ and he calls them his people, my people. And for his people, do you know
what the Lord Jesus Christ did? for His people. Now I say this
fearfully, I say this reverently, I say this carefully, but for
His people, honestly, do you know what the Lord Jesus Christ
did? Do you know what He did for them? Do you know what He
made Himself to be for them? Grass. He made Himself to be grass as
a substitute for His people. Our Lord Jesus Christ made Himself
to be grass for them in everything that grass is. And everything
that grass deserves. Everything that grass is worthy
of receiving. Let me show you that in Isaiah
53. Turn with me over there to Isaiah
53. Isaiah 53 verse 1 says, who hath
believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed,
for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, a tender blade,
and as a root, A root that springs up a blade out of dry ground. That's what Christ made himself
to be for us. A blade of grass as a tender
plant. He went on to say, he hath no
form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid as it were our faces from him. We did not prepare his way. We didn't turn to, we didn't
face, we did not look on him. Verse three says he was, it goes
on to say he was despised and we esteemed him not. But verse
four says, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. That's what God the father sent
him to do for us. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Verse four says yet. We did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, all of our sins, our deep sins, our
hidden sins, our secret sins. They were all exalted. They were
all raised up and exposed in him. Verse 5 says, He was bruised
for our iniquities, all of our pride and all of our self-righteousness,
all of our rebellion, it was all cut down and made low in
Him. It goes on to say the chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. He endured the fire. He was cast out, forsaken. and
endured the fire for us. Everything that was crooked about
us was straightened out in Him. Everything that was rough about
us, it was planed off in Him. And verse five goes on to say,
with His stripes, because the judgment of God stepped on Him
and cut Him down and cast Him into the fire. Because of that,
we are healed. Now that's the reason why Isaiah
40 verse 1, if you turn back over there to Isaiah 40 verse
1, that's the reason why it says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God, to those that I have redeemed out of all flesh
through the sacrifice of my son, to those that I made him to be
the substitute for and sent him to be cut down and endure that
fire for. To all of my people, God said
in verse two, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. That word comfortably
means to the heart. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem. and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. That fire has already consumed. That's what it means. It has
already consumed. Verse two says, you tell her
that her iniquity is pardoned. In Christ, in the one I sent,
you tell her it's finished. You tell her she's safe. Tell
her she's safe. already been cut down, already endured the fire, cast
out into the fire. He said, tell her that her iniquity
is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Speak peace to her, speak rest
to her, speak comfort to her, because concerning that fire
of God's judgment that will come to all grass, all grass is gonna
endure the fire. But in Christ, who was made to
be grass for her, she has already suffered the judgment, already
suffered the fire. She's safe. Tell her that. Remind
her of that. Comfort her with that. Now, most
of you have heard this story, but it's a perfect illustration
for what our Lord is telling us right here. Back in the early days of this
country, when men and women started settling out West, started traveling
and settling out West, they used to travel out in groups, wagon
trains, because it was safer. There was a lot of dangers. crossing
the country, all kinds of dangers. But one of the real dangers in
the Midwest was prairie fires. You had all of these plains with
all this tall grass, just grass everywhere, grass. And these
great blowing winds, nothing breaking up the wind. And if
a fire got started and that wind was blowing, it would just sweep
across the plains. That grass would just... So for all the dangers that they
might face, they would go out in a wagon train and the wagon
master would have a scout, a man on a horse, who would go out
in front to keep a watch. He would ride out about a mile
or two to see if there was any danger. Well, on this one occasion,
a wagon train was crossing the country and the scout was out
in front and he came upon a prairie fire. Huge prairie fire, very
fast sweeping, tall, dry grass prairie fire. So he turned around
and he rode as hard as he could back to the wagon train and he
told the wagon master, there is a prairie fire coming. and
it's headed right for us and it's coming fast. We gotta do
something fast. So the wagon master told the
men, let's go behind the wagon train and pull back a lot of
this grass. Let's make a bear spot behind
us and light a fire going out away from us, behind us. So they
did. And after that fire burned on
out a ways, the wagon master said, okay, now let's ease all
the wagons back. And they sat and they waited. And all of a sudden, here comes
that fire over the hill. And a little boy was sitting
in his dad's lap in one of the wagons, watching this great fire,
this wall of fire come. And as that fire got closer and
closer and closer, that little boy reached up and hugged his
daddy's neck. And he said, I'm scared. And
his daddy put his arms around him. And he said, son, you have
nothing to worry about. He said, I want you to look down
right there. Do you see all that black stubble? He said, we're standing on burnt
ground. The fire has already been here.
It has already consumed and it can't consume again. There's
nothing left to consume. That's what God the Father is
telling us right here. All flesh is grass. And for a
particular chosen people given to Christ, He made Himself to
be grass and endured the fire for us. And it's over. There's nothing left to burn.
And as long as we're on Him, as long as we're in Him, we're
safe. You can rest. You can be comforted. You can find peace. We're safe. 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. Mercy and grace, double. Righteousness
and peace, double, double. Now let's not forget that promise.
Let's not forget that promise from God to us in Christ. What He's saying to us in Christ,
let's never forget it. And here's the reason why. The
end of verse eight says, the Word of our God shall stand forever. It'll stand forever. Amen. I pray that's a comfort to us.
Let's all stand.