If you'd like to follow along,
I'm gonna be in Isaiah chapter 40. Chapter 40. I wanna begin reading in verse
six. The voice said, cry. And he said,
what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. and all the
goodliness thereof is as 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 the Lord shall stand forever. O Zion that bringeth good tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not
afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, behold, your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his
reward is with him and his work before him. 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 young. I'm gonna stop right there. Many preach hell to frighten
people. Many preach heaven to bribe people. And many preach works for rewards
to motivate people. Now, I wanna be clear, the scriptures
do talk a lot about hell, about heaven, and about works. But
that's not the message. That's not the message. Saved
sinners preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. To some he's a
stumbling block, to some he is foolishness, but unto the called,
Christ Jesus is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And
he is our message. Now, the title of my message today
is called The Two-Fold Message of Evangelism. Sound good? All right. It's found here in
Isaiah chapter 40. The two-fold message. Verse six,
the voice said cry. Now let's be clear, this is the
voice of the Lord. Because here's the thing. The voice said cry. Why is that? Well here's a fact. There is
always a message for the people of God. Always. And here's the other fact. There
always has been a message for the people of God. As a matter
of fact, you can look in verse one and you'll see this in chapter
40, verse one of Isaiah. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith the Lord. Saith your God, excuse me. What
does he say? Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. There is a time to speak to the
Lord's people comforting. Comforting words, comforting.
But there's always a message. And here's the thing, the word
of God is a comfort for the people of God. and God's people are commanded
to speak. The voice said cry, and that's exactly what he meant.
Cry out. Now these words are directed
at the minister, at Isaiah here, to cry. But here's the thing. Every believer is to be ready
to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. It's a fearful thing to speak
for God. It's a fearful thing. I try not to look it, but I sometimes
get terrified up here. Especially if I lose my place.
But it is. I remember Earl looking at me
one time He told, well, he told everybody this. One time he said
he was on his way up and Scott Richardson was on his way down.
Scott Richardson stopped him and said, remember, you're speaking
for God. And Earl said, well, thanks a
lot. Can't forget it. And it is fearful. But here,
what'd the preacher ask? What'd the prophet ask? And he
said, what shall I cry? You know, I got a feeling that
in a lot of pulpits today, all around us and everywhere else,
there's a lot of people that didn't ask this question. What
shall I cry? What is the message? What do
I say? And please understand, this is
a very, very good question. Especially for preachers. It's
a good question to ask yourself. when you're talking to someone
face to face. But it's vital when you stand
behind here. Vital question for the preacher
to ask, because here's the thing. I don't want to be up here trying
to proclaim my message. I want his message. I don't want
mine, and believe me folks, you don't want mine. I want his message. Oh, because it is his message
that must be proclaimed. It's his gospel that must be
preached. Now yes, it is our gospel if
we believe it. It is my gospel if I've received
it. But it's his message, it's his message. So what is the message of the
Lord here in Isaiah chapter 40? What is the word of our God? All flesh is grass. I'm gonna
tell you something. That's the first part of the
twofold message of evangelism. All flesh is grass. Now this is a metaphor. Because
in truth, flesh is flesh and grass is grass. But he's gonna
give us an example and he's gonna tell us what he's talking about
here in just a minute. But this is the statement. This
is the word of the Lord. What does he say? All flesh is
grass. And that's true. That's exactly
true. And this is the message of the
Lord for his people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. Oh my. And what, and all the goodliness,
the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. the goodliness of the flesh. That's the reference. All flesh
is grass, and the goodliness thereof of the flesh is like
a flower in the field. This is what he tells us. Grass is nice, I guess, and flowers
are pretty, but that's not the point. He's gonna tell us here. Because then he gives us the
explanation of what he's talking about with this metaphor. And why God wants this message
brought forth. Here it is. What's he say? All flesh is grass and all the
goodliness of the flesh is a flower in the field. Verse seven. The grass withereth. Wait a minute. Is that a comfort? It's a fact. It's a fact. The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth. Because the spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. And here's another metaphor.
But surely, surely, surely the people is grass. The grass withers, and I'm gonna
tell you this, I was looking at this, and it says the flower
fades. I was looking at this in Young's
literal translation, because it helps sometimes for me. Because
it is more closely a transliteration than a lot of things. It actually,
for a lot of the places, it leaves the words in the order they're
in, in the Greek or in the Hebrew. But here, this actually did change
just a little bit, but without changing. Because Young's Little
Translation says this. Withered is the grass. Faded is the flower. One's in the present tense, and
one's in the past tense. Because the KJV puts them both
in the present tense, and Young's Little Translation puts both
of them in the past tense. What's that mean? It means the
flesh and the best that the flesh can do, the goodliness thereof,
is worthless in God's sight. And it always has been. It always has been. Always. It doesn't matter how young your
flesh is and it doesn't matter how old your flesh is. Doesn't
matter how healthy your flesh is and how crippled your flesh
is. Present tense and past tense.
It's withered and it's faded. Neither the flesh nor its goodliness
has ever had any value in God's sight. In God's sight. Now, we know from the scriptures that
in my flesh dwells no good thing. We also know that all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. It always has been that way.
It's always been that way. Now, your husband or your wife may
think you are marvelous. Your neighbors can be so envious
of your piety or generosity And your enemies may hate you for
your nobility and humility. Oh, but God knows your heart. God knows your flesh. And he
says it here, all flesh is his grass. Your goodliness, your
righteousness is like a flower. Grass withered and the flower
faded away. That's what you are in and of
yourselves before God Almighty. That's what we all are before
God Almighty in and of ourselves. And I've had people tell me that
as an excuse or a way to justify themselves. But God knows my
heart. You ever heard that? God knows
my heart. Well, yes he does. And that ought
to scare the bejesus out of you. That's a bad way to put it. It
ought to scare you to death. Because God does know your heart.
God does know your flesh is grass, and God knows out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaks. Never underestimate the power
of self-deception. Why? All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. But what's
this mean? I'll say it again. The flesh
and the goodliness of the flesh are of what? No eternal value. The grass withered, it's withered.
It's withered. And they're not talking about
a manicured lawn when he's talking about the grass here. He's talking
about grain. You understand? It dies off every
year. And I was talking to Debbie when
I was talking about the flower fades. You understand, when a
flower falls off, you know what you got left? You got a weed. That's what it is. Because that's
what it looks like before the flower shows up. It's only the
flower that's the beauty, the goodliness of it. But it doesn't
last. It never lasts. You can take
it, and I've seen them do it. You take them, put them in a
Bible. They call it pressing flowers. You can put them under
glass. You can dip it in, what is it?
I don't know, acrylic or something like that, you know? And they
make little, real flower, Plastic coated, but you know what? That
pressed flour and that plastic coated flour are both exactly
the same thing. They're dead. They're dead. They're
of no value. Not in God's sight. There's a line of a song we sing. Frail children of dust and feeble
as frail. I like that, that's what we are. The grass is withered, the flower
is gone. We are temporal creatures. And I can tell you this from
personal experience and I've talked to others who have told
me more. The older you get, the worse
your body gets. It doesn't get better. and in the strength of your youth
is no strength at all. I thought it was. I did. I mean,
I thought I'd be young and strong forever
or die really quick. No, I get to fall apart and get
some guy to cut on my neck. I'm glad he did. I feel much
better now. but your body will betray you. Why? Because all flesh physically
is grass. That's not the message, but don't,
here's the thing. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. He doesn't leave us here. All
flesh is grass, and that flower's dead, and it's fell off and you're
left with the weeds. but that's not where he leaves
us. Yes, the people are grass. Yes, and here it is. The grass
withers and the flower fades, why? Because the spirit of the
Lord blows on it. Now this is not just the gentle
breeze that blows the grain back and forth in the amber waves
of grain in the song America the Beautiful. No, this is a
wind that will scour the ground It will scour the ground and
it will, it will blow everything away. And we are nothing but grass. The people is grass. What'd he
say? All flesh is grass? That's people. That's people. People are grass. People are dead and dying. And the prophet repeats it. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Ah, there's the good news. There's the good news. The word
of our God shall stand forever. Grass withered, flower faded,
God still is. And God always has been and God
always will be. And His word shall stand forever. Oh, I like that, the word of
our God. Peter tells us, let me just look
there for just a second. This is 1 Peter 1 and 25, you
don't have to turn there if you don't want to. But, but, the
word of the Lord endureth forever. You know what he said right before
that? Verse 24, for all flesh is as
grass. And all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And, and, and, I like this. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. Isn't that good? That's good, yeah. You understand,
Peter's preaching the same thing Isaiah did. Isn't that amazing? Christ preached the same things
Daniel did. And Moses did. There's only one
gospel, folks. The word of the Lord endureth
forever. Oh, I like that. Oh, my. His word stands. As a matter
of fact, right here, right now, we're preaching the same thing
Isaiah preached, the same thing Peter preached, the same things
Jesus Christ preached. Why? Because there is no other
gospel. None. None than the gospel of
Christ. This is where I got this from.
Rolf Barnard said the twofold message of evangelism is this.
All flesh is grass, and the second message of evangelism is this.
Look at verse nine in Isaiah chapter 40. O Zion that bringeth
good tidings, get thee up unto the high mountain. O Jerusalem
that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift
it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold your God. Ah, that's the second. That's
the second. Oh yeah, that's the second part
of the message. All flesh is grass and behold your God. Oh, I like that, I do. Behold. He didn't stop there either.
Behold your God, right? Behold your God, then, verse
10, behold the Lord God. What's he gonna do? He'll come. He'll come in his good time and
in his place and doing exactly what he wants. Behold, the Lord
will come, what, with strong hands. strong hand, and his arm
shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him. Oh, I like this. And his work
before him. I'm gonna tell you something,
grass don't work. Flowers don't work. God works. The Lord God works. Oh, I like
that. Behold, the Lord God will come. Oh, what's he gonna do? His work
is before him. What's he gonna do? He shall
feed his flock. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd or like a good shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. The twofold message of evangelism
is this, all flesh is grass, and behold your God. You understand? There's a truth to the fact the
long suffering of the Lord is salvation. Oh, when he comes,
he's coming with a strong arm. And when he visits his people,
when he calls out his sheep by name, he's doing it with a strong
arm. And his hands go to carry them.
And it says, the parable he gave, he picks up the sheep, he puts
it on his shoulders, and he carries it back to the fold. And where's
that sheep at? That sheep's in the fold. What
did that sheep have to do with it? Well, nothing, because he
was lost. Absolutely nothing. Now the lamb
could argue with the shepherd. I don't think it'd work. And
we're dumb enough to argue with God. We are. Why? Because all
flesh is grass. And all our goodness, all our
goodliness, all our righteousness is our filthy rags. He comes with a strong hand.
He shall gather, he shall carry, and he shall gently lead. We
preach a sovereign God. who saves his people from their
sins and who brings them in at his good time and his good pleasure. You know why? Because these scriptures
say this. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Not your power. You ain't got
no power. I ain't got no power. We have
no power. We're withered. We're faded. Oh, we need a God, the Lord God
with a strong hand to come. We preach a sovereign God, a
sovereign Christ. We preach the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And he rules and
he reigns. And right now he's seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high and right now he's out
gathering his sheep. He can be at more than one place
at one time. We can. Right now, he's gathered, he's
here with us, gathered together in his name. He says, there I
am, in the midst. Oh, I like that. Here's the thing. All flesh is
grass. All flowers fade. And the Lord
thy God, behold him, look upon him, trust him, Here's the two-fold
message of the gospel. You're nothing, and the Lord
Jesus Christ is everything. That's it. Oh, and even more. Without him, without him, you
can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do
nothing. You know who said that? He did. Jesus Christ said that. Without
me, you can do nothing. We have a really hard time getting
that through our heads. We're forgetful. But it's okay. We're forgetful,
but he is faithful. We're weak, but he's strong. You know, couple of the best
people in the Bible, you know what they were called? Dogs. Caleb has followed me, what,
fully. And that's what Caleb's name
means, dog. And that Gentile woman that came to Christ saying,
help me, help me. And the disciple said, send her
away. She's disrupting the whole place. She's bringing down our
buzz. She's making everybody nervous.
God told her, Jesus Christ told her, It's not fit to take the
children's bread and give it to dogs. And what'd she say? What did she say? She said this,
truth, Lord, truth. That's the truth. Christ spoke
it, it was true. And then she said, but the dogs
eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Here's the
thing, that woman knew all flesh is grass. She knew it. Christ said, great is thy faith.
And be it unto you as your daughters healed. That woman knew all flesh
is grass and behold your God. Oh, that's good stuff. She knew
that. Now the question is, do you know
it? Because here's the thing. There's
one thing. The believer knows right now
all flesh is grass. My flesh ain't got no better.
My flower hadn't gotten any prettier. It's still faded. My goodliness
of the flesh is gone. Now, and so is yours. Even knowing
Christ. Knowing Christ is wonderful,
it's great, and it will change you, but it's not changing your
flesh. I remember Earl, when he first
said that, I thought, wow, that's kind of shocking, but it's true. I was depraved, I am depraved,
and I shall be depraved until I awaken his likeness. This flesh,
in my flesh, dwells currently no good thing. All flesh is grass,
but behold the Lord God. Behold your God. Oh, I like that. Because I can tell you this,
until you come to a bit of the knowledge of knowing all flesh
is grass, you're not gonna behold the Lord God. I mean, that's
just it. He's gonna show you When he says,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live, they're gonna see a bit of themselves.
They're gonna see a bit. He'll back you into a corner.
I remember decades ago, because I didn't know exactly what to
say, the only thing I could come up with, I told Walter and others
that if God ever does for you what he did for me, you'll be
saved. because he put me in a place
where I couldn't stand myself. Everything I did was wrong. And
you know why? Because everything I did was
wrong. I just knew it, and I didn't know it before. Wasn't even looking
before. I mean, I tried to be nice and
good and try to treat people the way I wanted to be treated,
because I wanted to be treated nice. But no. All flesh is grass. And when you come to see just
a bit of that, all flesh is grass, you're ready to behold your Lord. He'll reveal himself to you.
This is back in First Peter before the part I just read. Verse 18,
for as much As you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but, what, was
manifest, made known in these last times for you, for you. Now here, remember what I preached
last week? Who by him, by him, do believe
in God. What's that mean? But of him
are ye in Christ Jesus. who by him do believe in God,
by Christ you believe in God, that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God,
seeing you have purified your souls, what? In obeying the truth. Wait for it, though. Through
the spirit. Through the spirit. You can't
even obey in the flesh. You can't obey in the flesh.
You can't believe in the flesh. It's by him you believe and it's
by the spirit you obey. That sounds pretty depraved to
me. That sounds like God's leaving nothing up to me. And yes, thank
God that's the way it is. I don't want anything left up
to me because I'll break it. I'll mess it up. Seeing you have
purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren. Seeing that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Wait a minute. Being born again. Ah, there it is. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The word of God endures
forever. All flesh is grass, and behold
your God. I like that. That's the twofold
message of evangelism, and I agree. Because you can't have one without
the other. Understand, The believer is righteous only
because God says he's righteous. He says, be holy, for I am holy. Well, the believer is holy. You know why? Because God says
he is. And the word of the Lord shall
endure forever. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be taken from it. God does it. That men should
fear him. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time and this place. Thank you, Lord, for your Son,
our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has given us his life, given us his
death. He died the death that we could
not. His work, his substitution, his
satisfaction, his offering, accepted by you in our stead. And you have given unto us all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And for
that, we thank you. Be with Paul and Walter as they
come to preach your word. And thank you, Lord. One more. for everything. In Christ's name
we pray.