I asked Ron to read this scripture
to us. It begins this way, Isaiah chapter
40 verse 1, comfort ye, and then he says it again, comfort ye
my people. My people, saith your God. God has a people. and He would
have His servants to speak words of comfort to them. I want to speak this morning
on the subject of encouragement for believers who are tried and
troubled. Our God is interested in your
comfort, and He sets forth His prophet, He instructs His prophet,
I should say, to speak words that would be of comfort to all
of His people. Now, we're His people. We're
His people by sovereign grace. He chose us unto salvation. We're His people. Sometimes preachers
will say, kind of in passing, or maybe in their messages, they'll
say, you know, I'll tell you my people, or maybe I'm some
preacher's away preaching somewhere, and they'll say, well, you know,
I often say to my people, no, you're not my people. I'm speaking to people who are
owned by God. You're the Lord's people. In
fact, He refers to you as His children, as His offspring. And our Lord Jesus refers to
all of us, all of those who are of the family of God, He says,
your brethren. Isn't it amazing that He is not
ashamed to speak of us as being members of His family? Though
we are by nature Lawbreakers and sinful. And even though we've
been regenerated, even though we've been born again of the
Spirit and we've been forgiven of our sins, I appreciate your
prayer. Sins past, sins present, sins
in your prayer, sins in this message and sins future. Even
though we are sinners, Yet He's not ashamed to own us,
to say, you're my people. You're my people. We're His by
sovereign election. We're His people by redemption. He bought us. We fell in Adam,
but we've been redeemed. We've been restored to God. We
fell through our doing, through the doing of our father Adam. And we went away from God. We
were lost out in the world. Lost out in sinfulness. But He
has redeemed us. He has bought us back. And He
has bought us back with the blood of His only begotten Son. We're
His people by sovereign election. We're His people by effectual
redemption. And we're His people by irresistible
regeneration, the calling of grace. He has used the Word of
God, which he refers to as the incorruptible seed. We've been
born again, 1 Peter 1, toward the end of the chapter says this,
we've been born again, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible. That is the Word of God that
liveth and abideth forever. We've been born again of the
gospel. We're His people. He has given to us His Spirit. And now He speaks to Isaiah. And He speaks, I'm persuaded,
to all of His preachers, to all of His servants, of all of the
ages, and He says, Comfort ye, comfort ye. My people, they're
My people. We've always belonged to Him.
His heart has always borne us. I remarked to the Bible class
this morning that we've always been upon the heart of the Lord
our God, just like the high priest bore the 12 tribes of Israel
upon his breastplate. We're near to the heart of God.
There is a precious place, and it's the most precious place
of all, near to the heart of God. And you've always been near
to the heart of God. We will sometimes say to our
spouses, to our children, I would say to my wife, to my daughter,
to my granddaughter this morning, I love you with all my heart. And they understand somewhat
what I mean by that. I don't mean this heart that
beats within my chest. I mean with my very soul, down
to the very core of my being. And the Lord our God loves us. Dare I say this? And oh God,
help me to understand and to marvel in this and to rejoice
in this. Our God loves His people with
all of His heart. Can you grasp that? We're His people. We have always
been His people. There was never a time when we
were not His people. Beloved of God. And our Lord
Jesus gives instructions to His preachers, now comfort ye, my
people. And if we didn't get it the first
time, he has the inspired prophet say it a second time. I said,
comfort ye my people. Now, as we look briefly into
the context, there have been some very troubling things that
the Lord has to say to Jerusalem and to Judea. And he says these
things to King Hezekiah. He says this, go back to chapter
39 and verse 5, and it's always necessary that we take passages
in their context. So back in chapter 39 in verse
five of Isaiah, then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, who's the king,
and he's a good king. You know that Judah, they had
several good kings, godly kings, men who believed God, men who
feared God, men who worshiped God, whereas Israel, the northern
kingdom, never had a godly king. You remember that. The kingdom
was divided after the death of King Solomon. The Northern kingdom,
the Southern kingdom, and the Northern kingdom, Israel, referred
to as Israel, they never had a king who believed God. They
never had a king who led Israel in worship. Whereas the Southern
kingdom, the kingdom of Judah, they had several, and among those
was Hezekiah. And so the Lord sends Isaiah
to Hezekiah, and he says, hear the word of the Lord of hosts.
Behold, the days come. In other words, they're surely
coming. That all that is in thine house
and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day,
they shall all be carried away to Babylon. It's gonna be taken
into captivity and nothing shall be left. Nothing shall be left. The Babylonians are gonna ransack
the city. And verse seven, and of thy sons
that shall issue from thee which thou shalt beget, they shall
take them away. Even King Hezekiah, all your
children, your grandchildren, all your family, they're gonna
be taken away into captivity in Babylon. And there shall be
eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon. These are troubling
things. Now, Hezekiah rejoiced that it
was, at least he wouldn't live to see those days. But that's
the announcement that Isaiah has. And he says this to Judah. He says this to Jerusalem. And
therefore, with all of this impending doom that he has announced, there
are the people of God within Jerusalem and within Judea whose
hearts are greatly distressed. Oh my, we're going to be taken
into captivity? What are we going to do? Our
sons are gonna be taken. They're gonna make eunuchs out
of them. Our daughters are gonna be slaves. They'll be servants to the Babylonians. Oh, this is so troubling to our
hearts. God said difficult times are
coming. And then he follows that. by having Isaiah say, now in
light of that, and remembering what I've just told you to say
to King Hezekiah, I want you to comfort my people. The Lord is very interested in
the consolation of his people. In fact, in the book of Romans
chapter one, 2 Corinthians, I should say, chapter one and verse three,
he's called the God of all comfort. And our Lord Jesus, did he not
refer there in John chapters 14, 15, and 16, as he gave his
final address, his final message to his disciples, to his people?
Did he not speak often? Did he not speak frequently of
the comforter? He said, I'm going away, but
I'm going to send you another comforter. I'm not going to leave
you comfortless. The Lord would have his people
to be comforted. His people who are very tried
and very tested. His people who have to endure
afflictions. His people who have to endure
suffering. His people who have to endure
disease, He would have His people to be comforted. Our Lord is
greatly concerned for our consolation. You who are believers this morning,
you who are the people of God, do you have a troubled heart? Are you in tribulation yourself? Affliction? Are you in the midst of difficulties? The Lord would have you to be
comforted. But then he offers this as a
reason, as a basis, as a very foundation for our comfort. He
says to them, he says to Isaiah and he says to all of his preachers
and here in Isaiah chapter 40 in verse two, speak ye comfortably,
speak with understanding. Speak with understanding, speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her. Lift up your voice
and tell her this, your warfare is accomplished. and tell her
her iniquity is forgiven or pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all of her sins." Now, these are spiritual blessings. These are spiritual words given
to comfort the hearts of God's people. He doesn't say, I just won't send you into Babylonian
captivity. Comfort my people by saying,
I really didn't mean it. Oh, he meant it. Rough days awaited
them. They were in for very difficult
times. Well, what can comfort me in
the midst of affliction, in the midst of this persecution? And
what can comfort us? People who have disease, people
who are sick, people who are troubled about family matters,
financial issues, all of these things that trouble us in this
world. What can God say to us that would
give consolation to our hearts? He doesn't just say, well, just
be happy and smile. He doesn't just say everything
will be okay. He gives some very specific reasons
why we should be comforted. Our warfare is accomplished.
There was one who went to war for us. who went to war against
all of the enemies of our soul. That's Christ Jesus the Lord.
And on the cross of Calvary, he won the victory. In fulfillment
of Genesis chapter three and verse 15, he bruised the head
of the serpent, though in the process of doing that, his own
heel was bruised. The seed of the woman is our
Lord Jesus. The bruising of His heel is His
substitutionary death, the cross of Calvary. But what did He do
to the evil one? He bruised His head. A death
blow. A death blow, not only to satan,
but to our sins. When our Lord Jesus died, all
the punishment for all of the sins of all who would ever believe
on Him was forevermore ended. He put an end to it. Our warfare
is accomplished. It's finished. Is that not what
the Savior said upon the cross? It is finished? And tell her, her iniquity is
forgiven or pardoned. Forgiveness, oh, how sweet. Nobody can speak forgiveness
and nobody can forgive but God alone. And he does it in a just
way through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, for
she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all of her sin. And you've got it right in your
prayer. The blood of our Lord Jesus has put away our sins and
we stand in the beauties and the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's all been settled. You who are God's people, and
I know that there are people in this congregation, there are
people who are watching because I hear from a good number of
people who are experiencing illness, great infirmities of the flesh. Sometimes so bad that it prohibits
even some of our own congregation from meeting together with us
to worship. Oh, hear the word of God. Hear
these words of consolation spoken by this inspired prophet of God
to you. To you who are his people. The warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned. And
not only are you forgiven, but you stand in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus. Now let me take you to a New
Testament portion, 1 Peter 1. Look at 1 Peter 1, and here's
a very similar situation in the book of 1 Peter 1. is writing to the people of God
who were encountering manifold troubles. And to these saints
of God, Simon Peter is led to do exactly what Isaiah did in
Isaiah chapter 40, is comforting the people of God by reminding
them of several things. He doesn't just say, listen,
things will work out fine, though they will. But He gives reasons. There's a reason for our consolation. There's a reason for us to be
joyful. There's a reason for us, even
though we may be in the midst of the storm, there's a reason
why we can be at ease and be peaceful in the midst of the
storm, as we know the captain of our salvation is governing
all things to work out his purpose and for our good. He's doing
everything for our spiritual good. Notice what he says here in 1
Peter 1. He says, Peter, an apostle of
Jesus Christ to the strangers. The word is pilgrims who are
scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia, or Turkey. If you want to just put that
in your margin, that's the area of the world. That's what it's
called today. It's Turkey. It's what he's talking
about. Then he has several things that
he mentions that should encourage the people of God. Now these
are people who've been scattered, they're persecuted. You can read
in Acts the eighth chapter after the stoning of Stephen, there
arose this persecution among the people of God led by Saul
of Tarsus. And therefore the saints of God
were scattered. You know, the Lord had said,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. And they kind
of hung around there in Jerusalem, so they need a little bit of
prodding to get them moved out. And so what does the Lord do?
He sends persecution. And the saints of God were scattered. And Simon Peter now, a few years
later from that passage in Acts chapter 8, he writes this inspired
letter to some of the scattered saints of God. And this is what
he has to say to them. Number one, he reminds them of
how blessed it is to be the elect of God. He says in verse two,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. And that is
through the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and
the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. He speaks to them and reminds
them they're the people of God. They're the very elect of God.
That ought to encourage them. I know you're going through difficult
situations, and I'm sure I'm looking into some faces of some
people who are going through some affliction now, bodily,
physically, emotionally, maybe mentally, psychologically, in
your family, in your job. There are a multitude of troubles
out there, but he reminds all of the people of God, you're
the elect of God. You're His family. Well, that's
right. That's right. And then he says,
here's the second thing. He tells them that no earthly
difficulty or trial would ever keep them from receiving the
inheritance God appointed for them. Notice what he says in
verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance. What do we know about this inheritance?
It is incorruptible. It can never perish. And undefiled,
it is without defect. and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. You may indeed have difficulties
in this world, and as the people of God, you will. Our savior
said to his disciples there in John chapter 16, just before
he offered his high priestly prayer, he said, in this world,
you shall have tribulation. Don't be shocked when troubles
come. He said, you'll have them. He
said, you'll have them. But he says this, listen, there's
an inheritance reserved for you and you're reserved for the inheritance. And then he reminds them of this,
that he will preserve, he will keep them. Look at verse five,
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last day. Kept, the word means garrisoned. Garrisoned. You're kept by the
power, a garrison is that which encircles you. You who are the
people of God, oh, hear me. No, hear the Word of God. He
says to you in the midst of your affliction, in the midst of your
trouble, you are absolutely surrounded by the very power, the omnipotence
of the God who made heaven and earth, who rules all things by
the Word of His power. Doesn't that help you? You're
garrisoned. You're kept. You're guarded. The idea is guarded. Someone
stands guard over you. Someone is your protector. It's
the omnipotent God. The psalmist says, the angel
of the Lord encampeth round about those that fear Him. Who is the
angel of the Lord? Moses heard Him speaking out
of that bush that burned and wasn't consumed. The angel of
the Lord, the messenger of the covenant. And He surrounds you. We sometimes
sing the song, under His wings, we're under His wings. There's
no danger there. No spiritual enemy can destroy
us. So he reminds these people that they would be kept by the
very power of God. The same kind of power that spoke
everything into existence. That omnipotence. that we really
can't even begin to commence to begin to understand the omnipotence
of God. But that garrisons us. That surrounds
us. That keeps us. Now, he gives
us faith. He gives us faith to believe
him. But it is not our faith that keeps us. Faith is the evidence
that we're kept. He keeps us believing. And then he says this about faith.
He says, wherein you greatly rejoice, verse six. Though now
for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold
temptations, manifold trouble, if need be. Well, who is it that
decides if need be? Who is it that determines, if
need be, that you'd be in affliction and trouble? You know who. The
same one who protects you, he sends the manifold temptations
or trials or troubles. And they're for this purpose.
Now watch it. Now remember, he's encouraging
these people of God who are severely persecuted. They've been scattered. They stood for the gospel of
Christ Jesus and the heat was turned up so hot that they had
to move out, move out from Jerusalem. And now they've been scattered
and scattered to preach the gospel, scattered in the purpose of God. And it was to do this. This is
one of the purposes of the difficulties in the trials, verse seven. of
your faith is to try your faith. Being much more precious than
a gold that perishes. If you've got gold and you use
it to buy something, I know a few people who say, don't save any
money, don't have any confidence in our currency. I've got gold. Well, when you spend it, it's
gone. When you use the gold, it's gone. But faith is much
more precious because as you use it, it multiplies. That's the thing about faith.
As you exercise it, it gets stronger. So it says that the trial of
your faith being much more precious, much more valuable than a goal
that perishes Though it be," watch it, "...tried with fire,
might be found," now this faith, this faith that believes Christ,
this faith that believes the Word of God, this faith that
rests on the promises of Jehovah, this faith that embraces the
Son of God, this faith that looks to Him for all of salvation,
for forgiveness and righteousness, this faith, even though it be
tried with fire, watch it, might be found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. But not to your
praise and honor and glory, but to His praise. Because you see,
He's the one who gives it. He's the one who gives faith.
There is never to be congratulations extended to the sinner who believes
on the Lord Jesus. We don't go to someone who makes
a profession of faith and say, oh, thank you for believing.
It's about time. I thought you never would believe,
but you finally caved in and you let Jesus save you. No, faith
is a gift. Ephesians chapter two, for by
grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. This is God's work. He works
faith within us. He gives us faith. The apostle
says, not all men have faith. Well, why do some believe and
others don't believe? Because God gives faith to these
and He hasn't given faith to these others. That's just the
way it is. And so when these fiery trials
come your way, If in your heart of hearts, your attitude is,
well, if this is the God of the Bible, who's putting me through
all of this, I'm done with him. I'm finished with him. You know
what that indicates? You didn't have true faith to
begin with. Oh, you didn't have any true faith. But if even in
the midst of the fires, Even if you can say, like one
in the Scriptures, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. If you've got the faith like
Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, So you can go ahead and put me
in the furnace of fire if you want to, but I believe God, I'm
gonna worship God. I believe salvations of the Lord.
Put me in there if you have to, if you have that kind of faith.
That's God-given faith. That's God-given faith. And you're
not to be congratulated. It's not to your praise and honor
and glory. It's to the praise and the honor
and the glory of the God who gave you that faith and who maintains
that faith. He keeps you believing. My friends, no facet of salvation
is ever due to us. It's all due to the goodness
and the grace of God. And then he says to these troubled
and tried and tested believers, he says, one of these days, it'll
all be over and you'll receive the goal, the goal of your faith. Verse eight, whom having not
seen, he's just spoken of the appearing of Jesus Christ. He'll come back someday. And
whom having not seen, you never see. Peter is writing to people
who did not see the Lord Jesus when He walked on this earth.
Now Peter saw Him, but these saints of God scattered throughout
what is now Turkey. They never saw Him. Except by
faith. and they saw him in the scriptures.
Would to God he would give each one of us eyesight, spiritual
eyesight, to see him on every page of holy scripture. Because he's there. He told his disciples after his
resurrection, He opened their understanding that they might
see Him in all of the scriptures, in the law, in the prophets,
and in the Psalms, that they all spoke of Him and they all
wrote of Him. The Jews said, we believe Moses. Our Lord Jesus said, if you'd
believe Moses, you'd believe me, because Moses wrote of me. And he said to those Jews in
John chapter eight, before Abraham was, I am. I was around before
Abraham ever came on this earth. Oh, they picked up stones to
stone him. He's the great I am. And this is the one who loved
us and gave himself for us, who's gone back to heaven. We see him,
we see him in the scripture. Our Lord Jesus said there to
them, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. That's what he said.
He rejoiced to see my day. He saw my day by faith and he
was glad. He was glad I was coming. He
was glad I'd be the substitute. He was glad that I was gonna
settle the issue for him. He was glad that I'd reconcile
him to God. Abraham was glad. If you'd believed
Abraham and worshiped Abraham If you'd believed Abraham and
worshiped God like Abraham did, you'd do the works of Abraham. But he says to these saints,
he says, whom having not seen you love, in whom though now
you see him not, yet believing. Do you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe he's the son of
God? Do you believe He's the Lord
of glory? Do you believe He is who He said He is? Do you believe
He came and gave His life a ransom for many? Do you believe He's
the only Savior? Do you believe His blood alone
gives us remission of sins? Do you believe the necessity
of His sacrifice to justify God, to honor all of the attributes
of God? Do you believe Him? Do you believe
His righteousness is absolutely necessary to be freely imputed
to you? They say, how holy have I got
to be before God will accept me? You've got to be as holy
as God. You've got to stand before God
in the beauties, in the glories, in the righteousness, in the
holiness of Christ Jesus. I believe that. I do believe
that. Do you believe he's the only
advocate making intercession for us in heaven? Yes, I do. Do you believe the only way a
sinner can come to the presence of a holy God is through the
Lord Jesus Christ? I do. That's what he said. He
said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. The church is not the way. The
Pope is not the way. Mary is not the way. A dead saint
is not the way. The preacher is not the way.
The church is not the way. Walking the aisle is not the
way. Christ is the way. Christ is the way. Words just
can't be any clearer than that. And then he says in verse nine, receiving the end, the goal of
your salvation, the goal of your faith. What is the goal of our
faith? It's the salvation of our souls. This is what Peter says to these
folks. I know you're having fiery trials.
Not easy. Never said it'd be easy. He never
promised a rose-strewn pathway. Those who say that God won't
have His people to suffer in this world don't know the God
of the Bible. Reveals their ignorance of the
Scriptures. The things that Job suffered,
you say, oh, he suffered at the hands of Satan. Satan was a tool
in the hands of God. Because when Job lost his family,
his sons and his daughters and all of his possessions, he worshipped
the Lord. Did he have a broken heart? Yeah.
Oh yeah. He's still a man, a real man. But he worshipped God and said,
the Lord gave. He didn't say the devil took
it away. He didn't say those Sabians came
in and took it all away. He said the Lord gave, and the
same Lord who gave, He took it all away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord, because I'm gonna worship Him. You see, that faith
that God had given to Job, the Lord maintained that faith. And Job was garrisoned. He was
guarded by God. And even when his wife said,
why don't you just curse God and die? A God who would put
you through this? A God who would take our children?
Just curse that God and die. He said, oh, foolish woman. Shall we receive good things
at the hands of God and not those unpleasant things too? He just
worshiped God. You see, here's the promise of
God to His people. You're gonna have the troubles. You're gonna have the troubles.
And some to a greater degree than others. but through all of it." He said,
I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. He says, all
of these blessings are yours through Christ Jesus. So this
is that we might have a strong consolation, a strong consolation. And so I repeat the words that
the Lord gave to Isaiah. The Lord said to Isaiah, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God. And this morning I've
tried to exalt our God and magnify His Son. And I've tried to comfort
the Lord's people by simply reminding you of the things that God has
already done for you. Things that He is doing for you.
And one of these days, you'll reach the goal of your faith,
which is a full salvation, body and soul, when you see Him who
loved us and gave Himself for us.