Isaiah 40, let's read verse 1. It says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Now let's begin this with a few
questions. Alright, here's the first one. Who is speaking right here? We're
in Isaiah. Is it Isaiah? It says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. This is a commandment from the
Lord our God. I have a commandment given. As our Lord walked this earth,
He continually said, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Whoever's been given ears to
hear, let him hear. Let him hear my voice. Let him hear my word. Let him hear my commandment. And I pray that the Lord would
give us ears to hear this today. Give us ears to hear this Word
from God. Alright, now here's our second
question. Who is He talking to? He's talking to Isaiah. The commandment
is to Isaiah. Isaiah is His prophet. He's talking to all of His prophets. He's talking to all of His preachers. He's talking to all of His pastors.
He's talking to all of His teachers. He's talking to every servant
of the Lord. We're all servants of the Lord.
Alright, now here's our third question. What is His command? He says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye, My people, that's My commandment to you. Comfort My people. Preach
the whole counsel of God to them. Preach the Word. Be instant,
in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, but
make sure you do it with all longsuffering and doctrine. So that when my people leave
the hearing of the Word, they walk out of those doors right
there with comfort. Our Lord asked Peter, do you
love me? Peter, do you love me? He said, feed my lambs. If you love me, feed my lambs. Comfort ye my people. Alright, here's our fourth question.
Who are His people? Who are His people? For Him to
say, Comfort ye my people, that means some are not His people. He did not say, Comfort ye, comfort
ye all people. He said, My people. Some people
are not His people. We have no words of comfort for
those whom the Lord has not converted and brought into the fold. We don't have any words of comfort. We cannot cry peace when there
is no peace. I am hoping that the Lord is going
to open up a radio opportunity for us. Maybe a local television
broadcast opportunity for us. I cannot get on the radio or
on television and tell this town, God loves you. I can't cry peace when there
is no peace. We can't lie to people. We cannot give a false assurance
to those who are rebels against God. They don't believe in God. I
used to be a guitar teacher. I had a lot of students. Some
of those high school kids made it clear, I don't believe in
God. We can't give false assurance
to those who don't want to have anything to do with God. They
don't care about God. God does not love everybody. He just doesn't. How do I know
that? How can I stand in this pulpit
and say that? He said so. Jacob have I loved. and Esau have I hated." I didn't
say that. He did. It's God's business. It's God's choice. He said, while
they were in the womb, before being born, that the purpose
of election might stand. That the purpose of my choosing
might stand. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. That's what He said. But those whom He does love, those whom He did choose, those
whom He called into this fold, those whom He died for, and those
who believe in Him and believe on Him, those are His people. And He says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye My people. Now here's our last question
for verse 1. Why do His people need comfort? Why? Here's why. It's because every
single one of His people is a sinner. He only chooses sinners. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Every single one of His people
in His fold is a sinner. There are sinners who know they're
sinners. They don't think they're sinners.
They know they're sinners. There are people who feel their
sins. They don't just think it exists.
It just is in every fiber of their being. They know it's in
there. I'm just decayed with it. There are people who struggle
with this flesh. The Apostle Paul said, I hate
who I am. I hate who I am. Wretched man
that I am. God's people in His fold are
weak. They're troubled. They're tired. They're broken. They're persecuted
by the world, and they are hated for the truth's sake. And those people could use some
comfort. They could use a little comfort.
Okay. Lord, what should I say to comfort
Your people? What would be the greatest news
I could possibly give. What would be the most comforting
words ever told? That's the title of this message. The most comforting words ever
told. Look at verse 2. In verse 2,
the Lord said, Speak ye comfortably. That word comfortably, I have
a margin in the center of my Bible and it says, to the heart. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. It's over. It's over. It is finished. Irene and I love
the song that says, it is finished, the battle is over. It is finished,
there will be no more war. It is finished, the end of all
conflict. It is finished, and Jesus Christ
is the Lord. All this stuff before us, ahead
of us, this is a hard life. It's a long life. It's finished. It's finished. It's already over. Every step has already been ordered.
There's no chance. There's no accidents. It's finished. Thanks be unto God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ fought
your battle and He won. Isn't that good news? All of
our enemies were confronted head-on by our Captain. He walked straight
up to the face of our enemy and dealt with it. It's finished. They are all now under His feet. And soon, He's going to put them
under our feet. All of our enemies. Now, who or what are our enemies? The first one for me, for you,
is sin. It's a big enemy. Sin is what is killing us. The reason why I have more gray
hairs today than I had yesterday, and the reason why I get these
spots on my skin, and the reason why those wrinkles come is sin. That's why. If I did not have
sin, I'd have the dew of youth on my brow. I would be spotless. I would be perfect. But I have
sin. Sin is my enemy. But I want you
to watch this. Go with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse
16. It says, "...This is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Why? Look at verse 18. Where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. We know what remission is, don't
we? The song says, free from the
law, O happy condition. The Lord Jesus Christ bled, and
now there's remission. My dad had cancer. He had cancer
a few years ago. And he had to have something
called chemo. You have cancer, and you gotta
have chemo. I don't want chemo. But if I had cancer, I gotta
have chemo. Now, he's in remission. And as long as there is remission,
he'll never have to have another chemo treatment as long as he
lives. Where there is remission, we
don't need any more sacrifice. There's remission. Jesus Christ
bled and there's remission. The battle really is over. It's
over. Alright, the next enemy of ours
that the Lord conquered is self. Me. Turn with me to Galatians
2. I've told you this before and
I'm going to tell it to you again more often the longer we go.
I'm sick and tired of me, Chris. I don't like me. I'm tired of me. I think things
that I don't want to think. I say things that I don't want
to say. I do things that I don't want to do. And I'm starting
to get to me. I just don't like me. I like
you, but I'm tired of me. I'm my own worst enemy. Do you
ever honestly just wish you could just get away from yourself for
just a minute? Could I just get away from me
for one minute, but I won't go away? O wretched man that I am, I am
ready to be done with me. Now here's some good news. Look
at Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. It says, I am crucified. I'm crucified. I'm tired of me,
and I have great news for me. I died. I died. I'm crucified. This old wretched man died in
Jesus Christ. And here's the good news. I live,
but it's not me. I'm tired of me. And I live,
but it's not me. It's the Lord Jesus Christ living
in me. Look at verse 20. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I. but Christ liveth in me. In the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself to this old
wretched sinner." I don't have to be straw over
self anymore. The Lord conquered me. He conquered
me. He conquered our sin, He conquered
our self, and He conquered our adversary, our true enemy, Satan. Turn to John 14. John 14, now look at verse 30. Our Lord said, Hereafter I will
not talk much with you. He's talking to His disciples.
And He says, Hereafter I will not talk much with you. For the
Prince of this world cometh, that's Satan, and hath nothing
in Me. What He's saying is, He has nothing
on Me. He cannot accuse me with anything. He has nothing that He can judge
me with. But that the world may know that
I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even
so I'm going to do the job." Okay? So he said, I'm not going
to talk much with you because the prince of this world is coming
and he has nothing on me, but he's going to try. He's going
to try. He's going to try to have something
on me. And he tries to have something on us too. Now turn to John 16. This is talking about the Holy
Spirit whom the Lord calls the Comforter. Verse 8 says, when
He, the Comforter, is come, He will reprove, or that word means
convince, the world of three things. Sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go
to My Father and you see Me no more. and of judgment because
the Prince of this world has been judged. He came to judge
me, but I judged Him. The comfort is, I've already
judged Him. What was His sentence? Chains. A lake of fire. He's bound. His bounds are set. He cannot
pass. Our warfare is accomplished.
This war is over. Our enemy is defeated. What's our enemy? It's this world. Our flesh loves this world. We love everything about it.
We want to attain it. We want to scrape it up and make
it ours. I want the land in it. I want
the money in it. I want the people in it. It appeals to the flesh. It's
our enemy. But our Lord said in John 16,
Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. I've
overcome everything. Let me give you one more. You know what my enemy is? It's death. I don't want to die. And I thought a lot about making
that statement. And here's why. I do want to
be with the Lord. But I don't want to die. Turn to John 11. Verse 25 says, Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection. I am not death. I am the life. I am life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. I was dead in
my trespasses and sins. I was dead. Now I want to live. I don't want to die. I don't
want to go back to that. I want to live. Look at verse
26. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in Me is never going to die. And then he said, do you believe
that? They said, Lord Lazarus, we see Him laying there. He said,
He's asleep. He's asleep. He said, I'll prove
it to you. Lazarus, stand up. He's asleep. We all went to sleep
last night. We laid there like this and then
we got up. We weren't dead. I don't want
to die. I want to live. Christ is life. I need Jesus Christ. Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, He conquered
death. He conquered the grave because
He conquered sin. That's why. Alright, now let's
go back to our text. Isaiah 40. He said in verse 2, Speak ye
to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. That's the first thing He said
to cry. Your warfare is accomplished. The second thing He said is,
Tell her that her iniquity is pardoned. And you keep telling
her, and you keep telling her, and every time you see a worried
look on her face, you tell her again, your iniquity is pardoned. Now, you will want to see this.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter 50. It's the next book over. Jeremiah 50. If any sinner needs any comfort,
look at verse 20. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. There's not any. the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found. For I will pardon them
whom I reserve." All of our sins, if we are His
people, not all the sins of the whole world, but all of our sins, Every single sin in our past. Every single sin in our present. And every single sin in our future
is gone. It does not exist. Every filthy sinner who is inside
Jesus Christ has been cleansed by His blood. Every single sin
has been paid for. And every single sin will be
remembered no more. It cannot be remembered because
it does not exist. If Christ redeemed us with His
blood, we have no sins. We don't have any sins. Can you
imagine? One day we are going to see that
when we are in His presence, in glory. We can't see it now. We see through a glass darkly.
But according to God, and I believe what He says, If you're in my
Son, you don't have any sin. Because He doesn't have any sin. If we are in Christ, what that
means is we have His spotless garments on. We have His robe
of righteousness. We are covered in His blood,
and with His spotless garments on, God's people are as holy
as God's Son. That's unbelievable. But I believe
it. The song says, Did you hear what
the Lord Jesus Christ said to me? They're all taken away, away. Thy sins are pardoned and you're
free. They're all taken away. He said, tell my people that
her warfare is accomplished. I did it. It's finished. Rest. He said, tell my people her iniquity
is pardoned. And he said, tell her that she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Tell her there are no limits
to the cleansing power of my blood. My blood did not stop
at what was required. It has no limits. It's limitless. There are no limits in my appeasement
to God. There is no limit to the reach
of my arm. I can reach all the way down.
There is no limit to my righteous work. I did way more than you
need. You've received double for all
your sins. Where sin did abound, Grace did
much more about. Isn't that good news? I think
those are the most comforting words ever told. I pray the Lord
will bless His Word. Let's stand together. Turn with me to hymn number 474.