I want to speak to you this morning
from the book of Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40 if you'd
like to follow along. The title and the subject of
this message is the two-fold message of the voice. The two-fold message of the voice. Now Isaiah is the prophet who
is speaking here. He is the voice. And he prophesies
of John the Baptist who said of himself, I am just a voice
crying in the wilderness. But it doesn't matter who the
man is. It is the voice of the Lord who
in reality is speaking. And no matter the man, the message
is the same. Throughout the Bible, from cover
to cover, every prophet, every apostle, And every evangelist,
every pastor and teacher truly called of God, sent of God, has
a two-fold message. Verse 3 says, "...the voice of
him that crieth in the wilderness." Verse 6 said, "...cry." Verse
9, the Lord says, "...lift up thy voice with strength." Lift
it up. Be not afraid. Cry aloud. If the message is urgent, you
will cry. You want to be heard. You need
to be heard. If danger is imminent, people need to hear the message.
If those whom you love are in a burning building, you will
cry aloud, fire! Get out! Jump! And this message
I have for you is urgent. It's life or death. He said,
"...the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness." The wilderness
is a wild and barren land. This world is not a safe, civilized
place that most think it is, but a sinful, evil, barren place,
full of, as Martin Luther said, though this world with devils
fill, the wrath of God is upon this place also. Get out! Oh, I see the goodness. The Scripture
speaks of the goodness of God, the tender mercies of God over
all His works. But Simon Peter warned God's
people. that this whole world is reserved
under fire, soon to be dissolved. Now, this is an urgent message.
In verse 3 it says, "...the voice of him that crieth into wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Now, this is to the voice. This is said by God to the voice,
to the preacher. Make straight. in the desert,
a highway for our God. The preacher prepares to preach
the way of the Lord and make it straight. Get straight to
the point, if you will. Preach the way to God. The only
way to God. The way of the Lord. The way
the Lord saves. One way. Make it plain. Make
it clear. He said, make a highway for our
God. Highway. Now, salvation is called
the high calling of God, a heavenly calling. Salvation is for God
to bring lowly man to Himself in heaven, a high calling, a
heavenly calling. And it is for the glory of God,
His exaltation. The truth exalts the high and
holy name of God, of Jesus Christ. And the true preacher always
makes mention that his name is exalted. He preaches for the
glory, the honor, the exaltation of the Lord God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The true preacher, the voice
in the wilderness, always exalts God and abases man. This is the
two-fold message. And verse 4 says, 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. Every valley shall be exalted.
All truly poor, broken-hearted, meek and lowly sinners made so
by God, by the Spirit of God. All truly low and meek and broken-hearted,
mourning sinners, poor in spirit, shall be exalted, shall be lifted
up on high, and dwell with God. But every mountain, every mountain,
every one that is proud shall be abased. All who think themselves
high shall be brought low. Scripture says in Isaiah chapter
2, the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. And the crooked shall be made
straight, the rough places plain, crooked people, sick-minded human
beings shall be made straight, the rough made smooth." And this
speaks also of the obstacles, all the obstacles removed, all
that crooked religion puts in the way of the truth, all that
crooked religion that makes the way rough shall be made smooth. It shall be straightened out
by the preaching of the truth, made clear, made plain that there
is one way, the highway to God. And that way is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 5, And the glory of the
Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it, the glory
of the Lord, together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. All flesh shall
see. All shall see the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes. The glory
of God. Sovereignty of God. Holiness
of God. But for many it shall be too
late. Salvation is to hear the voice
now and to see His glory now and to bow and repent and believe
now before it's everlastingly too late. So the voice says cry.
What shall I cry? Here is the message, the two-fold
message. The voice said, Cry. And he said,
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is 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." Here's
the two-fold message. Number one, all flesh is grass,
and all man is like grass. All that man is, all that man
thinks, all that man knows, all that man does, all that man owns
is like grass. Temporary, weak, vain, perishing,
all of man's beauty, all of man's glory, all of man's works, wisdom,
ways, thoughts shall perish, withers, it fades like grass,
soon gone and perishing, the goodliness thereof, like the
flower of the field, looks good one moment, the next withers
up and fadeth away. The message is, all flesh is
grass, repent, that means to renounce, return from, be sincerely
sorry for your sin. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it." God, the Holy
Spirit, God has and shall blow upon all of man's beauty, wisdom,
words, works, thoughts, religion. It will all be blown away like
chaff. That's what every voice says.
That's what our Lord came preaching. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. That which is flesh is flesh.
The flesh profiteth nothing as the Spirit is life. John came
preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is
still the message of the voice of the preacher today. All flesh
is grass. But, verse 8 says, the Word of
our God shall stand forever. The Word of our God shall stand
forever. The Word, yes, God's truth. All of man's ways, will, works,
everything shall perish. His words, his wisdom shall perish. But the Word of our God standeth
forever. Forever, O Lord, thy Word is
settled in heaven. It doesn't matter what man says,
what man thinks, what he thinks is truth, what he thinks is wisdom.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? The Word
of God, the wisdom of God standeth forever. But now, the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself is the Word who stands forever. He is the Word
made flesh to dwell among us. the Word personified, the Word
made flesh, who stands forever. All that He is, all that He said,
all that He did, that alone stands forever. Everything else shall
perish. He said, Heaven and earth may
pass away, but not one word of mine shall perish. He is the
Word. He said in Revelation 1 verse
18, I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. Do you know Him? Do you fear
Him? Have you fallen before Him as
John did there on the Isle of Patmos? Have you confessed Him?
All flesh is grass, withering, soon to perish. And verse 9 in
our text says, O Zion that bring us 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." Here is the second part
of that two-fold message. Say unto the people, all flesh
as grass, and say, Behold your God. Look, your God has come. to all who see and know this
world and everything and everyone in it to be perishing, to all
who know and see themselves as not beautiful, not strong, not
worth saving, but like grass, wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
naked, sinful, condemned, unclean, all who repent, bow before a
holy God. Good news! I've got good news!
Look! Look! The Lord said, unto me,
and be ye saved. Look, behold your God. God was
manifest in the flesh. God became a man, became flesh,
and dwelt among us. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
His name. He is Jacob's ladder, the way
to God. He is the Word made flesh, the
truth of God. He is God in whom we live. He
is the life of God, the way, the truth, and the life. He is
the voice. He stood and cried, Come unto
Me. The same God in Isaiah who said,
Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for
I am God, there is none else. Christ said, I am the way, I
am the truth, I am the life. Come unto Me. All you that labor
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. I will take you to
God. I am the only way to God. Verse 10 says, Behold, the Lord
your God will come with strong hand and His arms shall rule
for him." If you've heard of a poor Jesus, a poor God who
has no hands but your hands, no feet but your feet, you need
to get rid of Him. You need to see and hear of and
believe and bow before the God in whose hands your breath is
in all your ways. The God who with a strong hand,
who is the right arm of salvation, came to save His people. Yes,
the Lord Jesus Christ reigns and rules. And verse 10 says,
His reward is with Him. His work is before Him. His reward
is Him. His work of salvation is His
work. Yes, 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 lead
those that are with Yah. This is the great and chief Shepherd,
the Lord, the Shepherd of His sheep, who came down from heaven,
left the ninety and nine to find His lost sheep. And He finds
all of them and brings all of them back home on His shoulders. The twofold message of the voice. is all flesh as grass, and behold,
you are God. The twofold message of the Lord
is repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But look,
look and believe. Repent or perish, but look and
live. The way is very plain. Have you
heard it? Have you seen it? Have you walked
in it? Oh, may the Lord give you ears
to hear and eyes to see. Amen.