to Isaiah chapter 40. Recently, in a conversation I
had with one of my co-workers, he was talking to me about how
he and his wife had been attending church there in Dixon where they
lived for quite some time. They just haven't been going
lately. I'd asked him, I said, well, you know, he had mentioned
some things, and I kind of picked up on it that he was a Christian
of some sort. And I'd asked him, I said, where
do you guys worship at? And that's when he told me. He
said, well, you know, quite honestly, John, we just, we quit going
to church. I said, oh, why? He says, well,
our preacher was, he was a good preacher. really knew what to
preach. He was a good preacher. But the
politics, I just couldn't take the politics of the church. And
it turns out it was one of those mega churches right there off
the freeway somewhere where free will worship. And it was all
about the politics of the church, of where the money was going,
to which charities, and so on and so on. But what caught my
attention was he said, oh, the preacher, he was a good preacher. And I thought to myself, what
was so good about him? Was he one who could speak real
well? Did he have one of those attractive
voices, maybe? Some of you ladies may agree
that when Cowboy, the skinny guy with the beard and the mustache
goes on forever, his voice is so deep. Very attractive voice
to some. What makes that preacher so good
to you? What was it that was so good?
And I think to myself, is it you're looking at the man?
Or are you looking at the message? Was the message just not good
enough to keep you? When the message becomes boring
to you, is it all about men and what they're doing and the works
of men and a failure type of God? Could that be what it was? What makes you say that this
man is a good preacher? Well, God's true preachers all
have one message. We read about that message in
1 Corinthians 2 where Paul says, for I determine not to know anything
among you saved Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you're
a sinner who has been saved by God, who God has revealed that
you are a sinner to, there's only one message. There's only
one message that you can come up with that will bring peace
to the soul of a sinner. And that is the message of a
Savior. A Savior who has saved His people. Not a Savior who
might, Not a Savior who is trying, not a Savior who is waiting for
you to do something, but a Savior who has truly saved his people. They call him Jesus, for he shall
save his people. Throughout the ages, all of God's
prophets, all of God's ministers, all of God's preachers have done
one thing in common. They pointed their hearers to
the one who saves, Christ Jesus the Lord. You hear this all the
time, well what would Jesus do? Well I can tell you on the authority
of scriptures, Christ preached Christ. You don't need to turn
there, but in Luke 24, 27, Our Lord said, inspired Luke to write,
and in the beginning, and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets,
he, speaking of our Lord Jesus, who was on the road to Emmaus
with two men, who had hid himself from those two men as they walked
along. They didn't even know who it
was, even though they had spent some time with him just before the
crucifixion. And here he is expounding, teaching,
revealing, opening the Scriptures. And beginning at Moses, the beginning
of the books, in the beginning the world was created, and all
the prophets, all the way up to Matthew, He expounded unto
them the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself. Christ preached
Christ. If it was good enough for Christ,
shouldn't that be good enough for anyone else? This is the
desire of all who have been called to preach by God. There is no
other way to God but through His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord.
Moses preached Christ. In John 5.46, For had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. Moses preached Christ. Abraham
preached Christ. John 8.56, it says, Your father
Abraham, this is Jesus speaking to those, rejoice to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. In
Romans 10, 13 we read, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
who they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? God's preachers preach Christ. That's how those who he has chosen
before the world was, those that were given to him by the Father,
that's how all are saved. Hearing the gospel preached.
And so it goes with all the prophets throughout the word of God. Those
who wrote what they were inspired to write by the Holy Spirit,
who by the way also speaks of Christ and not of himself. So
we find here in Isaiah 40 that very theme The prophet Isaiah
preaching. Join me in verse 1 of chapter
40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. What comfort can come to a poor
lost sinner? Can comfort come from, well if
you'll just change your ways, if you'll just do this, if you'll
just do that, Can comfort come from something that fails in
everything other than what God has done in it? Because that's
what a true sinner sees himself as, a worm in the side of a thrice
holy God. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. Isaiah said, I am a man of unclean
lips and a people of unclean lips. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, and that her
iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received the Lord's hand
double all her sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way, and 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." We preach the only
comfort any true sinner can lean to. There is a Savior, there
is one who has put away the sins of his chosen. He who knew no
sin was made to be sin, that we who are given to Him in old
eternity, before the world was created, would be righteous in
Him. That's our comfort. He is our
only righteousness. We dare not look at the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. We know we have no righteousness
of our own. We know the sin that is in us.
This is why we need to be comforted. This is why we need to hear about
Him. More about Jesus would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see.
More of His love who died for me. Look over at verse 11. He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd. Oh, isn't that a wonderful thing
to hear as a sinner? He will feed His flock. In verse 10 we read, Behold,
the Lord will come with a strong hand, and His arms shall rule
for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, His work is before
Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather
the lambs with his arm. Our Lord comes down, even when
we were not willing, and makes us willing in the day of his
power, picks us up in his arms, and brings us to where we would
hear the gospel preached. And carries them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young. Our Great Shepherd is leading
us through this world, through this valley of the shadow of
death. How many times did we read that in that psalm? I didn't
even know that was in our psalm that we were going to read today,
the scripture reading. Three times. Three times the Lord used
that shadow, the valley of the shadow of death. That's what
the world is around us, folk. It's a cursed world. God cannot
allow sin in heaven. There must be Blood shed for the remission of sin. And
our Lord shed His own blood for His people, paying that price
in full. Our Great Shepherd is leading
us through this world, through this valley of the shadow of
death, and He's gathering His sheep along the way. By the preaching
of Christ, His sheep are called out. His sheep are called out
to see His truths, and they come willingly by His power. When
He has used the simple message of the Gospel to cut away the
stubborn heart and give us a new heart, we see the truth in His
Word. We are gathered as helpless lambs
unto the One who has all power. Look at verse 17. All nations
before Him are as nothing And they are counted to him less
than nothing and vanity. To whom then will ye liken unto
God? Or what likeness will ye compare
unto him? When we see Christ the Almighty
Creator, well, who is like unto him? What can compare to the
Lord of glory? He who has all power in heaven
and earth, can anything turn his hand? If anything could,
then could we still call Him God? Look at verse 21. Have ye not
known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundation of the earth? It is He, it is He, our Lord
Jesus Christ, that sitteth upon the circle of the earth. Well,
there goes that flat earth idea. I had to bring that up. It is He, God Almighty, that
sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof
are as what? Grasshoppers. That's right, Darryl.
You were going to read that this morning, weren't you? That stretches out the heavens
as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. that bringeth the princes to
nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea,
they shall not be planted. Yea, they shall not be sown.
Yea, the stalk shall not take root in the earth. And he shall
also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind
shall take them away to a stubble. To whom then will you liken to
me, or shall I be equal to? Sayeth the Holy One. Lift up
your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,
that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them by
names, by the greatness of his might, for he is the strong in
power, though not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" This
is our peace, folks. This is the simplicity of the
Gospel. This is a preacher's simple message
this morning. I have nothing more. Jesus is
Lord of all. And he died for the sins of his
people perfectly. It's finished, he said. Our warfare
is accomplished. Our Lord faints not. And I thank
God he is long-suffering for my sake. I thank God that he's
long-suffering for those that haven't been called yet. Kathy
and I had dinner with her granddaughter last night. Some of you know
her. She was quite bold and plain
about her belief last night. It saddens my heart, but I do
know this. My Lord was long-suffering for me for many years. I was
40 years old when the Lord called me to the truth of His word.
She's only 20. She's only 20. I still have hope. I still have hope. As we do all
of our unsaved loved ones, don't we? What a sad way it must be
to go through life thinking, oh, if my child would just do
this. If they would just stop doing
the things of the world and come to Jesus. Come down here. Pray
the prayer. Whatever it is you might think
of they have to do. But they won't do it. That's got to be a terrible way
to think. It's just got to be a terrible way to have hope. What a great hope we have in
the Lord Jesus. All that the Father giveth Him
shall come to Him. We're talking about David, and
how could David stand up to Goliath? What gave David all that strength
to go up against this big giant? His faith. His God-given faith. The gift of faith that all of
God's people receive. That's the only thing, because
there wasn't anything in him that he could see. Abraham, how
could such a man take his only son? Well, actually he had another,
but by a different woman. Take his son to a mountaintop
to slay him. He had faith. God-given faith. It's the same faith each and
every one of you and I have. Our faith is in the fact that
Christ has said, I shall never leave you nor forsake you. We
believe God's Word when He says, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. We believe His Word when He says,
it is not your will, not of him that runneth, nor of him that
willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. We believe God. And this
is God's Word inspired by the Holy Spirit for men to write. Hast thou not known? Hast thou
not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not? He's not weak in any way. When He said it was finished,
it was finished. His people will be saved. Neither is there worry. There
is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might He increases strength. Speaking
of David, even the youth shall faint to be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles, and they shall run and not be weary, and they shall
walk and not faint. The Lord says His yoke is easy.
Why? Because it's His, not ours. And
we look to Him for our all and all. Is that not correct? He
has taken it for us. When we seek Christ, the Almighty
Creator, oh wait a minute, I've already read that one. Now look
at verse 10 of chapter 41. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God." Here come those promises, folks. Here comes the Word of
the Lord right to our hearts. Here comes the simple message
that I need to hear all the time. Fear not, John. Lord, I'm not
sufficient. spend the time studying that
I should. Fear thou not, John, fear thou
not, children of God, for I am with you. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness." Not with your righteousness,
but with His righteousness. With the righteousness of our
Savior, we are upheld. Even when the sin in our lives
seems to overcome us, we are held up by His righteousness. God forgive us if we ever start
looking to ourselves as being righteous in ourselves. That's
usually when he lets us step in it, isn't it? And sometimes
we have to step in it pretty deep so that we are returned to that
very idea that we have no righteousness of our own. And there's only
one righteousness that we can look to. There's only one righteousness
that we can count on. There's only one righteousness
that makes a sinner clean and white as snow, and that is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. Here is our comfort we need.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Here is the comfort that we need.
The creator of all that is has sent his son to be our propitiation. our substitute, our sacrifice. Because He has loved a people,
a people whose names were written in the book, a book that was
written before the foundation of the world even. God humbled
Himself and became a man. He provided Himself a sacrifice
for this people. These ones that He has loved
with an eternal love, His Word says. He has loved His people,
each and every one of us, from before time, and He's going to
love us till after time. Eternity. As long as anything
can be. Continuous, never-ending. These ones who He calls My people. This is good news indeed. This
is the comfort that He provides. I have laid down my life and
taken it up again so that you may live, He says. He says this
to each and every one of His children. And He, shall we call Jesus,
for He saved His people. And He has always been with us,
even when we didn't know it. How often we look back in our
lives and see what our Lord has done to keep us from damaging
or hurting or doing whatever. Pastor Gene and I were talking
about that on the phone the other day. Oh, how often I can look
back and see the foolish things in my life that have almost killed
me and think, my Lord was not ready for me to go yet. It was in time. He needed me to hear the gospel
preached so that he could call me out of that darkness that
I walked in. So that he could save me, because
he loved me with an everlasting love. Turn to the book of Philippians,
if you would, please. He has always been with us. even
when we didn't know it. To one who has had the truth
of sin revealed to their heart, Christ is our only consolation. We who have seen the truth of
what we are before a thrice holy God, we have no other comfort
but what God the Spirit would reveal in His Son, the living
God. He reveals the gospel. The good
news is Christ Jesus, He is the Gospel. Who He is, God Almighty,
Ruler of everything. What He did, He became a man
and walked perfectly in our stead. 33 years, fulfilling the law
of God perfectly because we could not. going to the cross and shedding
his own blood because ours is unworthy to do so. The gospel is Jesus Christ and
who he did what he did for. My people, my elect, those that
have been predestined before the world was to be heirs heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he is doing right now,
he's sitting on his throne working everything out for each and every
one of his people. Calling his lost ones out of
darkness. Guiding our footsteps, even when
we don't realize it. This is the simple message that
God's preachers preach. We preach Christ and Him crucified. Are you with me in Philippians?
Look at chapter 2, verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if the bowels and mercies Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let
nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem another better than themselves. Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ
Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. Now read this next part very
carefully. The God of all creation, he who
said, let it be, and the worlds were, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant." For us. For us. The mighty creator took
upon himself the form of a servant for us. And was made in the likeness
of men and being found in the fashion of the man, he humbled
himself and became obedient. unto death, even the death of
the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus is Lord. This one who is the glory of
God reaches down and touches the hearts of his people, He
walks by this little child who was left in the dirt to bleed
and die, and He sees us in our poor condition and says, live. That's what He does through the
preaching of His gospel. He says, live. Turn over to Matthew chapter
8 if you would. Matthew 8, verse 1, it says,
When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed
him. And behold, there came a leper,
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand,
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately,
And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Before the Lord calls each and
every one of his people, out of that darkness we must see
the lepers that we were. See the leprosy that is in us. And that's what sin is. Sin is
leprosy. It's all through the body. It's
not just a part of your head or a part of your arm. It's the
entire body. and there's only one who can
cleanse it. There's only one, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the simplest message that I could tell anyone. It's so simple that
every one of us can share it with those around us. Lord, give
us grace to do so. Would you stand with me and turn