Turn back, if you would, to Isaiah
40. Isaiah 40. Our text is the first two verses. In verse one begins by saying,
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God. Now, let's begin this message
with a few questions. Here's the first one. Who is
speaking right here? Who's speaking? Is it Isaiah? It says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth your God. This is a commandment from the
Lord our God. I'm under commandment. As he walked this earth, he continually
said, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear my
voice. Let him hear my commandment.
Our Lord said, Comfort ye my people. Lord, give us ears to hear. Give us ears to hear what you
have to say in this word. This is the word of the Lord. All right, now here's our second
question. Who is he talking to? He's talking to Isaiah. His prophet. He's actually talking to all
of his prophets. He's talking to all of his preachers. All pastors. All teachers, all
who are servants of the Lord. All right, now here's the third
question. What is his command? He said, Comfort ye, comfort
ye 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 own suffering and doctrine. So that when my
people leave the hearing of the Word, they leave with comfort. He asked Peter, Point blank,
eye to eye, God to man. Do you love me? You're going to be a preacher.
Do you love me? Feed my lambs. Verse 1 says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Now, here's our fourth question.
Who are his people? If that's my command, then 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 is not converted and brought into his fold, we
don't have any words of comfort. We cannot cry peace when there
is no peace. We can't lie to people. We have
to tell the truth. We cannot give a false assurance
to those who are rebels against God. Don't believe in God. They don't want to have anything
to do with God. God does not love everybody.
How do I know that? He said so. Jacob have I loved
and Esau have I hated. It's God's business. It's God's
choice. But those whom God does love, those whom He did choose, those
whom He called, those whom He died for, those who believe in
Him and on Him, those are His people. And he told me, and he tells
us, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Now here's our last question
for verse 1. Why do his people need comfort? It's because all of his people
are sinners. Sinners who know that they're
sinners. They are people who feel their
sin. They feel it. They are people who struggle
with this flesh. They don't have it lit. The Apostle Paul said, Oh, wretched
man that I am. What he's saying is I hate myself. I hate me. God's people are weak. God's people are troubled. They're tired. They're broken. They're persecuted by this world.
And they're hated for the truth's sake. And they could use a little
comfort. They really could. All right. Lord, what should I say to comfort
your people? What would be the greatest news
that I could possibly give? What would be the most comforting
words ever told? Verse 2, the Lord said, Speak
ye comfortably. And that word means to the heart. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. It is finished. The battle is
over. It is finished. There'll be no
more war. It is finished. The end of all
conflict. It is finished and Jesus Christ
is Lord. Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ fought your battle
and he won. All of our enemies were confronted
head-on by our captain. He's our king. The king stands
behind the ranks watching the battle, and he's our captain
in front. They are all now under his feet,
and soon they're going to be under ours. All of our enemies. Now, who or what are our enemies?
The first one is Sin. It's our enemy. All right, well,
watch this. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews 10, look at verse 16. 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? Verse 18, now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Free from the law, oh happy condition. The Lord Jesus bled and there
is remission. My father had cancer a few years
ago. He had cancer. And he had to have something
called chemo. It's an awful thing. But now he's in remission. And as long as he is in remission,
he'll never have to have another chemo treatment as long as he
lives. That battle is over. The next enemy of ours that the
Lord conquered is our self. Now, turn with me to Galatians
2. Now, I say with the Apostle Paul
that I'm tired of me. I'm tired of me. I wasn't when
I was a kid. But I am now, and it's getting
worse and worse. I am my own worst enemy. I really
am. Do you ever wish that you could
just get a break from yourself? Do you ever wish you could just
get away from me? These thoughts? That old preacher
said, I try to pray, but I sin. I preach, but I sin. Just can I just stop? Just stop. I just need a break from me,
I just want to be done with me. Oh, wretched man that I am. I'm
ready to be done with me. Now, this is glorious. Look at
Galatians 2, verse 20. It says, I am crucified. I'm crucified. I'm done with me. I died. I died. I hate me and I died. This old wretched man died with
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. Verse 20 says, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in
the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and he gave himself for me. I don't have to be distraught
over this old flesh anymore. Christ conquered me. He conquered
me. He conquered our sin. He conquered
ourselves. And He conquered our adversary,
our true enemy, Satan. Turn with me to John 14. John 14 verse 30 says, Our Lord
said, Hereafter, I will not talk much with you. For the prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me. What he's saying is he has nothing
on me. He's going to try. Now, turn over to John 16. Verse 8 says, when the Comforter
is come, he will reprove the world of 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. Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. He's judged. Take comfort. I already judged
him. What was his sentence? Chains
and a lake of fire. He's bound. His bounds are set
and he cannot pass. Our warfare really is accomplished. What's our enemy? This world. This world is our enemy. But
he said right here in John 16, be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. You know what is my enemy? Death. Death is my enemy. Now, I thought
a lot about this before I said this, I thought a lot about this. I don't want to die. I don't. I have a wife and my
children and all of you. I don't want to die. I desire to be with the Lord,
but I don't want to die. It's my enemy. Turn to John 11. Verse 25 says, Jesus said unto
her, I am the resurrection and the 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. That's what I want. Verse 26 says, And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that? I don't want to die. I want to live. 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. Now, let's go back to our text
in Isaiah 40. Verse 2 says, speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That's the first thing he commands
us to cry. The second thing he says is tell
her that her iniquity is pardoned. Her warfare is over. And her
iniquity is pardoned. Now, this is every word in this
scripture is the most glorious thing on the face of the earth. But this is my favorite verse
ever since I heard it. Turn with me to Jeremiah 50. Jeremiah 50. 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 is none. And the sins of Judah. And they
shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. There are none. Your warfare is over. Your iniquity
is gone. All of our sins, if we are His
people, every sin in our past, it haunts me, they haunt me. I cannot preach, but I sin. Every
sin in our present, And every sin that we will sadly commit
till the day the Lord returns is gone. They are gone. Gone with Him. Every filthy sinner
who is inside Jesus Christ has been cleansed by the blood of
His death. They're gone. Every single sin has been paid
for. And every single sin will be
remembered no more. If Christ redeemed us with His
blood, we just don't have any. We just don't have any. And with His spotless garments
on, God's people are as holy as God's Son. That's the most amazing thing
I've ever thought of. Did you hear what the Lord Jesus
said to me? They're all taken away, away. Thy sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. In our text, Isaiah 40, he said,
tell my people Her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned, and
make sure you tell her this. Tell her she hath received of
the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Tell her there are no limits
to my cleansing blood. Tell her there are no limits
in my appeasement to God. Tell her there are no limits
to the reach of my arm. Tell her there are no limits
to my righteous works, and I've given them all to you. Where sin did abound, you tell
her grace did much more abound. She's received double. Now go
and comfort one another with these words. Comfort you, my
people. All right. May the Lord bless
his word.