Isaiah 40. The title of this message is
the three-fold message of evangelism. And the word evangelism is not
in this text. But the word evangelist is in
this Bible three times. And the word means an announcer
of good news. That's what an evangelist is.
He goes around announcing good news. So an evangelist is simply
a preacher of the gospel. Nothing more, nothing less. But
it's not some big fancy He's a preacher of the gospel.
An announcer of good news. Now, just because a person is
a preacher, it doesn't mean he's a preacher of the gospel. Just because a person is a preacher,
it doesn't mean he's telling you the truth. People assume
that that's the case. Well, he's a preacher, so he
can't be lying to me. Well, usually they are. Just because a person
is a preacher, it does not mean he's telling you the truth. So
let's ask this question. What is the truth? What is the gospel? And where
did this message of evangelism come from? Here's the answer. The answer is God Himself. Jesus
Christ. That's the answer. What is the
truth? It's God Himself. Jesus Christ
said, I am the way and I am the truth. What is the good news
of the Gospel? It's God Himself. God Himself. Him. Jesus Christ. Who He is and what He's done. And where did this message come
from? It came from God Himself. This is the Word of God. Not of Isaiah, not of David,
not of Paul. It's the Word of God. It came
from God Himself. Now verse 3 says, "...the voice
of Him that crieth in the wilderness." That's John. And he's speaking
to every single preacher. Every single preacher. He says
in verse 3, "...prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God." If a man is going to be
a true gospel preacher, then he must prepare the way of the
Lord. That's it. He must make all of his business
the way of the Lord. That's it. He must make every path that
he leads men and women down the way of the Lord. Don't get sidetracked
on how to live right. A preacher does not need to tell
anybody how to live right. The Holy Spirit will tell a person
how to live right. Don't get sidetracked on how
to be happy in life. That's irrelevant. In this world,
we're going to have tribulation. But I can tell you this, if I'm
in Christ, oh, it's a happy place to be. Don't get sidetracked on church
government. Don't get sidetracked on what
the Scripture calls wood, hay, and stubble. Prepare ye the way
of the Lord. Verse 3 says, Make straight in
the desert, in the dry land, In the parched land, in the barren
land, in the place where it's hot and dead. That's a dead, dry, stony heart. Desert. Verse 3 says, Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Because He's coming. He's coming. With trumpet sound. I can't wait
to hear trumpets. I believe he's going to come
while we have service. That's just my opinion. But I
believe one of these days we're going to be in service. And all
of a sudden, whatever the tune may be, it's going to be loud.
We're going to know. If a preacher is telling men
and women the truth, this true gospel... I turned on the radio. I was coming back Thursday. I
had to go to Rocky Mountain to get some things. I was coming
back Thursday and we were trying to search out and pray for a
radio station and see if the Lord would open up a way for
us to get on the radio. And I listened to some radio
programs on the AM stations. It was not the true gospel. I
couldn't even follow it. I had no idea what the guy was
talking about. If a preacher is telling men
and women the truth, the true gospel, three things are going
to happen. Every broken, sad, low, humbled,
crying, begging sinner is going to be picked up, is going to
be lifted up, He's going to get glad if he ever really hears
the gospel, if he ever really understands and believes the
blood of Jesus Christ has put away all of your sins. He's going to get picked up. Every proud, haughty, self-righteous
sinner who really gets a hold of the truth of the Gospel is
going to be cut down. Just cut down. Humbled. Put in his place. He's going to find out what a
bad sinner he really is. And every Scripture, all of these
Scriptures of truth, all these words that Peter wrote of the
Apostle Paul. He said some of the things he
writes are hard to understand, didn't he? These things that
are so hard to follow. We read these Old Testament Scriptures
and the New Testament and think, what is that saying? In the preaching of the Gospel,
they're all going to be made plain. Now let's see that in
verse 4. Look at it. It says, Every valley,
every low center shall be exalted. It will be picked up. And every
mountain and hill, every proud and haughty center is going to
be made low. And the crooked, these things
that are hard to follow, it's going to be made straight. And
the rough places, these hard to understand things, they're
all going to be made plain. Turn with me over to Luke 24. Luke chapter 24. And look at verse 27. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, our Lord expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself. Our Lord took the Scriptures,
all the Scriptures, and He showed them how this is talking about
Me. This is talking about Me. Look at verse 44. And He said
unto them, 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. Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures. The true gospel,
the true preaching of the Word of God makes it all plain. The Spirit reveals the Scripture. It's concerning Christ. Let's
go back to our text. What is this gospel? Look at
verse 5 in Isaiah 40. The glory of the Lord revealed. That's the gospel. And the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed." The glory of His mercy. Until
a person hears the Gospel, they don't even know they need mercy.
They have no idea. They'll find out one day, won't
they? The glory of His grace. How good
He is. This Lord is good. If He was
not good, He would have never saved anybody. Good. The glory of His person. Who
He is. And the glory of His work. What
He did. What He did. It will all be revealed. Verse 5 says, The glory of the
Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Now here's the command
to the true preacher of the gospel. Verse 6 says, the voice said,
cry. Cry out. Cry. Here's the true preacher's response.
Verse 6, what shall I cry? No true preacher wants to come
in his own name. He doesn't want to bring his
own sermon. He doesn't want his own thoughts, his own ideas.
Lord, what should I say? What do I say? What would You
have me to say? What is the truth concerning
men and women? Verse 6 says, All flesh is grass. That's what I'm supposed to tell
you. You're grass. All flesh is grass, it says,
and all the goodliness thereof, all the beauty, all the good
parts of a person. These fine Christian people,
all the good parts, is as the flower of the field. It comes
and it goes. All flesh, young and old, red,
yellow, black, white. Religious flesh. Church going. All flesh is worthless. It's worthless. Go out into the
yard after the services. The front of the church here.
Pick a blade of grass. Pick handfuls of grass. Pick a truckload of grass. Pick
a trainload of grass and then take it to a store in town and
try to buy something with it. It's worthless. It has no worth. It's worthless. Listen to these comments, okay?
We are born spiritually dead and worthless. Now listen to
this. See if we can get a hold of this.
Nothing we can do in life improves that condition. When I read that, I thought,
man, that says it pretty clear, doesn't it? We are born spiritually
dead and worthless, and nothing we can do in this life improves
the condition. Nothing. That's not what I heard
on the AM station Thursday. That's a hopeless state, isn't
it? That's a bad place, isn't it? That's why the Gospel is
such good news, isn't it? That's why when a person gets
a hold of that, if they finally hear, I'm worthless. My mind is worthless. My heart
is worthless. My actions are worthless. I'm
worthless. I'm worth nothing to nobody.
And nothing I can do can redeem myself. And then the gospel comes. And you find out, He redeemed
me. Nothing I could do could redeem
myself, but He redeemed me. That's the gospel. Go to Romans 7. Romans 7, look at verse 18. Paul writes, For I know that
in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
I wish I did." Right here standing today, I wish I did. But how
to perform that which is good, I just cannot find a way to do
it. It's just not possible. Look at Romans 8 verse 8. So
then they that are in the flesh..." What that means is every single
person who is born into this world with flesh on their body,
which is everybody. "...they that are in the flesh
cannot please God." Not one person. All flesh is grass. Grass. This must be preached
in order to break a man's proud heart. It must be preached. Man needs to know the truth.
He's a worthless sinner, and he needs a Savior. He needs an
intercessor. He needs a substitute. Isaiah
said, We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities,
like the wind, have just taken us away. Man at his best state is just
altogether vanity, just empty. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 6.
Isaiah 6, look at verse 5. Isaiah says, Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips." How do you know? How do you know? He says, my eyes have seen the
King. Now I've seen the King. The Lord of hosts. Now I know
who God is. I didn't before, but now I do. And now that I've seen God high
and lifted up, woe is me. Woe is me. Go back to our text,
Isaiah 40. Verse 7 says, The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon
it." Surely the people is grass. All these people in the world
who think they are really big stuff, we buy their technology,
we buy their property, we rent their property, we fly on their
jets, they think they've really done something with themselves.
At the Lord's appointed time, he just goes... And they're gone. Gone. Alright, that's the first
point in a three-fold message of evangelism. Truth. Here's
the second point. Verse 8 says, The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. The Word of our God is going
to stand forever. This recorded Word, the Holy
Word, is never going away. I believe, and many believe,
that the Lord will preach to us from this Word right here
in glory. Our Lord said, not one word of
it shall fail ever. Not one word of it is going to
return void. If He said it, the Word of our
God is going to stand forever. That's why all that we believe
is based on this Word. Psalm 119.89 says, "...Forever,
O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven." It's settled in heaven.
It's ordered and it's sure. This Word, the Word of God, it
was given to us in time. Time came and the Lord caused
a man to write, and then He caused another man to write, and He
caused another man to write. But in the beginning was the Word. Jesus Christ, the Word. And the Word of God, the Son
of God, is going to stand forever. Forever. His office shall stand
forever. He's going to be our King forever. He'll be our Maker, our Defender,
our Redeemer, and our Friend forever. His blood is going to
stand forever. Here's the good news. This redemption
that He redeemed us, our atonement, our payment, It's going to be
paid in full forever. Forever. There's never going
to be anything charged to our account, ever. His grace, His
mercy and His grace is going to stand forever. His goodness to us, His gift
to us of Himself, He's never going to take it back. He's never
going to take it back. His glory, His honor, His exaltation,
It's going to stand forever. It's never going to be diminished. That's good news. That is good
news. This threefold message is all
flesh is grass. The Word of our God shall stand
forever. And here's the third one. Verse
9 says, 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! Behold your God! John the Baptist was preaching,
telling the people about Christ. He was telling the people about
Christ. He was telling the people about Christ. And all of a sudden,
here He comes. And He cried, Behold the Lamb
of God! Behold. What He was saying is,
turn your heads and look to Him. Don't look to me. Look to Him. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. He alone is able to save you.
Look to Him. Look and live. My brother, live. Behold, your God. He's your God. That's good news. He's not just a God. And He's
not just the God, He's your God. I am thy God, I will still give
thee aid, because I'm your God. I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved
is mine. I belong to Him, and He belongs
to me. He's my God. He said, I'm good. He said, I'm gracious. And I
will be your God. I'll be your God. You'll be my
people. Our text, verse 10 says, Behold,
the Lord God will come. The Lord God is Jesus Christ.
With a strong hand, that's Jesus Christ. And His arm, that's Jesus
Christ. shall rule for him. Behold, his
reward is with him." What's his reward? I love this. Go to Psalm 2. Psalm chapter 2. His reward is with him. Look at verse 8. This is God
the Father talking to God the Son. God the Father says, Ask
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance. God the Father says to God the
Son, If you ask me, I'll give you a bunch of sinners for your
reward. All of His reward are right there
with Him. He's coming and His train fills
the temple. All of His reward is with Him.
That heathen is you and me. By God's grace, if He redeemed
us, if He chose us, if He saved us, our text Isaiah 40 verse
10 says, Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and His arms shall rule for Him. Behold, His
reward is with Him, and His work is before Him." Every single
thing that God required to satisfy God. Everything that God required
to satisfy justice and judgment, Jesus Christ accomplished in
His work. the work of His life, the work
of His death, and the Father's pleased. This is my beloved Son,
and I'm well pleased, because all of Christ's work is before
Him. Behold your great God. He did it all. He did it all. He paid it all. Verse 11 says,
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,
gently, mercifully, tenderly, compassionately lead those that
are with Yom. That translates to lead those
that give milk. I pray that we might desire the
sincere milk of the Word. Just milk. All flesh is grass. The Word
of our God shall stand forever. Behold your God. You know, to the unbelieving
world, He's still their God. And on the day of judgment, in
judgment, it's going to be told to the unbelieving world, behold
your God. That's it. Time's up. But to His people, to His children,
to His chosen, it's behold your God. Look at what He's done. Look at how good He is. Look
at how merciful He is. Behold your God. I pray we might behold our God. I pray the Lord would bless this
word. Stand together with me. Let's
sing a hymn.