The title of the message is Comfort
for God's People. I have a joyous task this evening. Comfort for God's people. Let's
look at verse one. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. Now this is not a suggestion.
This is a commandment from God. You men who preach understand
it's, One of the great difficulties is finding the text. What's the
message? It seems like things fall into
place once you've got the message, once you've got the text. Well,
our Lord lays it out for us in plain commandment. Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. Now without question, there is
a time for reproof and rebuke. There's a time for stripping.
We must be stripped. There's a time for correction.
We all need to be corrected. but there's always a time to
comfort the people of God. And comfort for God's people
is only found in one place. It's only found in our Lord Jesus
Christ. If we don't have Christ, there's
no comfort. We cannot be found guilty of
crying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. I like what Henry
said. He said, we cannot comfort where
God has not converted. There's no comfort outside of
Christ. But brethren, if we're in Christ, we have all comfort. Isaiah, as we've gone through
his book, this prophecy of Isaiah, he's had a message for many different
nations so far, hasn't he? And he's called those messages
from God to those rebel heathen nations, Isaiah's called them
burdens. He had a burden of Moab, a burden
of Damascus in Egypt, a burden of Tyre. Isaiah had a burden
for those that lived in the desert, those that lived in the valley,
and for everybody in between. He had a message that was a burden. And our message to all rebels,
to everyone outside of Christ, it's a burden, a burden of warning,
a burden of damnation that's coming outside of Christ. Isaiah
called his message to Ethiopia, woe, woe to Ethiopia. He had a message of woe to those
who are drunk on religion. He had a message of woe to rebellious
children. He had a message of woe to everyone
who's trusting in anything other than Christ. But now we come
to chapter 40 and God gives Isaiah and all of his preachers a message
specifically and only for the people of God. Our message to
God's people is a message of comfort. And here's the first
hint of comfort that we have. God does have a people. Thank
God he has a people. God calls somebody my people. He's made somebody his people.
Now that's comfort. God's elected grace is comfort. True comfort is knowing God chose
me. I don't have to choose God in
order to be saved. I could never have any comfort
Listen to a false prophet telling me everything I've got to do.
I've got to make a decision for Jesus. I've got to do this. I've
got to do that. I'd be tense all the time. Because
this is what I know about myself. I'd do it wrong. There couldn't
be any comfort in that message for somebody like me. But now
there's comfort in God's electing grace. God chose me when I wouldn't
choose Him. God chose me when I couldn't
choose Him. God did for me what I could not do for myself. He
chose me. He put me in His Son. He put
my sins away through the sacrifice of His Son, and He gave me a
new heart that does choose Him. God has a people. God has a message
for the people He says are my people. Now here's the first
question that came to my mind. Am I one of those people? You
wonder that? Are you the people of God? Well,
God's word describes God's people. Let's see if we fit the description
so we know if this message is for us or not. And if this describes
you, then you take comfort. You're the people of God. You
have comfort in Christ. And if this does not describe
you, then my advice to you is seek Christ and don't rest till
you find him. Seek him. First of all, God has
a people. Look in Hebrews chapter eight.
God has a people and God calls them his covenant people. They're
people who are chosen. Chosen in Christ, in God's covenant. Hebrews 8 verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts
and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.
They should not teach every man, his neighbor and every man, his
brother saying, no, the Lord, for they should all know me from
the least to the greatest for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more and
that he say at the new covenant, he has made the first old. Now
that was decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. God's people are a covenant people.
They're not under the covenant of law. They're under the covenant
of grace. Look back at Romans 9. God's
people are covenant people. They're chosen people, set free
under the covenant of grace, but now they weren't born into
the world this way. God had to choose them. God had to make
them be born again so they would be his people. Romans 9, verse
25. Even us, whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, As he saith
in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people.
And I'll call her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall
come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them,
you're not my people. There they shall be called the
children of the living God. They're called the children of
the living God because they've been born again into the family
of God. They're chosen people. They're a covenant people. Look
over 1 Corinthians chapter one. God's people are called people. They're called by the preaching
of Christ. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23. Verse 22, for the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. Under the Jews, a stumbling block,
and under the Greeks, foolishness, but under them, which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God Christ is
the wisdom of God. God's people are called people. Third, God's people are a redeemed
people. They've been redeemed by Christ.
What did the angel tell Joseph in Matthew 1 verse 21? Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save who? His people from their
sins. God's people are redeemed people.
Look at first Peter chapter one, or first Peter chapter two. Fourthly,
God's people are a peculiar people. They're a purchased people. Christ
has purchased to himself a peculiar people. 1 Peter 2 verse 9. But you are a chosen generation.
That's the first one we looked at. You're a chosen covenant
people. You're a chosen generation. A royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people. that you should show forth the
praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy. And that makes you a peculiar
people. Now that word peculiar means
purchased. You've been purchased by the
blood of Christ. And the world thinks you're peculiar. And you know what? They're right.
You are peculiar because God's made you different. God's caused
a new man to be born in you that's different. He's different in
every way than that old man that you're still carrying around.
You're a peculiar people because Christ purchased you, washed
you in his blood. Fifth, Christ's people are a
willing people. They've been made willing in
the day of God's power. They're willing to bow. They're
willing to follow Christ. They're willing to serve him.
Sixth, God's people, are believing people. Every one of them has
been given faith in Christ. They all believe Christ. We have
like precious faith, Peter said. And then last, God's people are
loved people. We just read that, they're beloved.
Those people are loved by God Almighty. And God will engage
everything he is to preserve and protect those people that
he loves. Now that's the people of God. Well, then why do those people
need to be comforted? These are God's people. God loves
them. God chose them. God's given them faith. God's
given them life. Why do these people need to be
comforted? Well, our text gives us four reasons why God's people
need to be comforted. And I want you to know in each
of these reasons that the only way to comfort God's people in
each of these reasons why they need to be comforted is to preach
Christ to them. Christ is the answer to every
reason that why we need to be comforted. Christ comforts the
believer in every situation. Now you're not going to find
any comfort in the law. The law cannot comfort anyone. All the law can do is just reveal
more of our sin and more of our depravity. There's no comfort
in the law. We can't find any comfort in our works. Our works
will never give us any comfort because we can't ever do enough.
We can't ever do enough to appease God. We can't do anything in
holiness or purity because all of our works are mixed with sin.
There's no comfort in our works. There's no comfort in our feelings.
Feelings come and feelings go. I can feel so strong and sure
and confident in Christ one moment and full of doubts and fears
the next. There's not any comfort in our feelings. Well, why do
God's people need to be comforted and what will comfort them? Well,
first, God's people need to be comforted because they still
carry around Adam's old nature with them everywhere they go.
They're carrying around flesh with them. And that flesh is
now and always will be full of doubts and fears. That old nature
you carry around with you is constantly whispering in your
ear, you're not good enough. Look at you. God can't love someone
that thinks that. Look at you. God can't love someone
that says that or does that. You'd better get busy. Now you
better get busy keeping some law. You better get busy doing
some religious stuff. You know, acting religious, it'll
make you feel better, make you look better. See, that's what
the flesh is doing. The flesh is constantly trying
to bring us back into captivity to the law. There's no comfort
to be found there. All we're going to find under
the law is more beatings from that schoolmaster. That's all
we're going to find. This is why God's repeated the
commandment to Isaiah and all of his servants. Comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people. The commandment has to be repeated.
You know why? Because this flesh refuses to
be comforted. This flesh hears the gospel.
So that's too good to be true. And God's servant says, let me
tell you again, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Well, what comforts
God's people? It's the message of grace in
Christ. That will comfort God's people,
pure grace. The message of righteousness
in Christ, not in our doings, but in his finished work, that
comforts God's people. The message of the new birth
that has absolutely nothing to do with the flesh, That will
comfort God's people. And that message must be repeated,
has to be repeated. We constantly need to be reminded
because we forget, don't we? And if you're honest, you'll
agree, the flesh refuses to be comforted. And I like what he
says in the next verse, cry unto her. Don't just whisper the good
news, cry it aloud. So everybody that has ears will
hear. Cry aloud so it'll penetrate
to the new heart and comfort God's people. That's why God
says at the beginning of verse two, speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem. That word comfortably is to the
heart. Speak to the new heart that God
has given his people. Speak to that new heart that's
been born in the new birth and the believer, because it's only
that heart that'll believe the gospel. And it's only that new
heart that can be comforted by hearing of Christ. So God's people
need to be comforted because they still care around that old
nature. And what comforts them is the message of grace and salvation
in Christ that doesn't have anything to do with that flesh. Second,
God's people need to be comforted because they're a tried people.
They need to be comforted because they're in a war. Verse two,
speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. Now you remember at the end of
chapter 39, God promised that after Hezekiah dies, the Babylonians
are coming back. Remember they sent those ambassadors,
Hezekiah in pride showed them everything in his kingdom. God
said, after you die, the Babylonians are coming back. And if there's
anything of value, they're carrying it away. If there's any people
that are worth anything, they're going to carry them away to be
slaves. Well, before they even go into captivity, what's God's
message to them? It's a message of comfort. The
enemy's already been defeated. Now, when you're in the heat
of battle, you carry this promise with you. The enemy's already
been defeated. This trial, God's already defeated
it now. This trial, now it does have
an appointed time to begin. You know, this trial of being
carried away captive to Babylon, that has a God's appointed time
to begin. And it has an appointed time
to end too. This word warfare means an appointed time. God
has an appointed time for it to begin. He has an appointed
time for it to end because it's already been defeated. And the
believer has many, many times of trial and trouble in our life.
But now you listen to me. God has mercy in store for every
last one of them. The trial's gonna end. Now, the
believer's life is a life of warfare. It's a hard life. It's a life of trial and trouble
and tribulation. And I say that because if we're
gonna comfort anyone, you gotta be honest with them. You can't
comfort somebody by lying to them. the life of a believer
is gonna be a warfare. Now, gird your loins, it's gonna
be a warfare. The only person that needs the armor of faith
is a soldier, isn't it? Well, soldiers, what do they
do? They go to war. And if I try to tell you now, you just make
a decision for Jesus, and life is just gonna be a bed of roses
after that, well, I'd be lying to you. And you know what? I'd
be taking your comfort, stealing your comfort, because when you
find yourself in a battle against sin, When you find yourself in
a battle against self, when you find yourself in a battle of
this world, you get discouraged. You think, well, the preacher
told me life's gonna be good, and here I'm in this war, and
you get discouraged. You'd think, well, something's
wrong with me. I'm not having this life of a
believer. I'm not having this victorious life the preachers
tell me about, and you'd lose your comfort. You'd lose your
hope, wouldn't you? That's why God's servants tell
the truth. The life of a believer is full of trials. It's full
of heartaches and disappointments. Well, what will comfort the believer
during those times? It's hearing the message of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, is sovereign. He's sovereign
over all things. This trial that come to you,
it didn't come to you by accident. It come to you on God's purpose.
He sent it for a purpose, to wean you from this world and
to strengthen your faith in Him. And you know what? He already
has an appointed time for that trial to end. It didn't come
to you by accident, it came to you, He has an appointed time
for it to begin and He has an appointed time for it to end.
And all during that time in between, Christ will never leave nor forsake
His people. There's not a valley He'll call
you into, He don't go with you. The good shepherd, what does
he do when he puts his sheep out? He goeth before them. Every step you take, he's taken
first. He's always with his people.
This trial, that enemy, it's an appointed time. It's already
defeated. And then the world we live in
is our enemy. Now be warned, the people of
the world hate the people of God because the people of the
world, they're not the people of God, are they? They're the
children of the devil. And now what our Lord says, you're
of your father, the devil, and they'll attack you and they'll
persecute you at every turn because the world is the enemy of a believer. Well, what will comfort God's
people when they're under attack from Satan and they're under
attack from this world? Here's our comfort. The captain
of our salvation has already defeated every enemy. This war
is over. Now you just wait. The battle
is going to end because the war is over. He's already defeated
every enemy. Every enemy has been put under
the feet of Christ. The outcome is not in doubt. I love and Most of Janice Segreen,
I love to watch it over and over and over again. These shows they
have on the History Channel, on D-Day, on American Heroes
Channel, just utterly fascinating. If they're on, I gotta watch
them. I just got to. And here are these boats coming
to the beaches. The outcome looked in doubt,
didn't it? I mean, it looked doubtful. Not
your warfare. Child of God, not your warfare. The battle's not in doubt. The
outcome's not in doubt. You have no reason to fear now.
Just rest and find comfort in Christ. Satan's our enemy. Now, I'm not gonna take him on.
Don't mistake me. I'm not gonna take him on. I
don't want anything to do with him. He's our enemy. But Christ
our captain's already defeated him. He crushed his head at Calvary. Sin's our enemy. I can't do anything
about it. I cannot stop myself from sinning
one bit. But the captain of our salvation
has already put our sin away. He's put it away so well, what
did God say? We read it earlier. Their sin
and iniquity will I remember no more. It's under the blood.
God doesn't remember it. The world's our enemy. It's a
big world, it's a big enemy. But now take comfort. Christ
has defeated the world. Be of good cheer, he said. I've
overcome the world. Greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. Take comfort. That enemy's defeated. How about the enemy itself? Boy,
I'm my own worst enemy. Do you feel that way most of
the time? I'm my own worst enemy. Well,
Christ has defeated that enemy. We don't stand in self. We don't
stand in self-righteousness and our self-obedience. Self has
been defeated by Christ. Self has got to die. And we don't
stand in self, we stand in Christ our righteousness. And death. Death, we view death as the enemy. We ought not, but we do. We're
all afraid, nobody wants to die. But that enemy, death, has been
defeated. What did the Apostle Paul say?
To die is gain because Christ has already removed the sting
of death. Take comfort. When you're in
the heat of battle, now take comfort in our Lord Jesus Christ. When he cried, it is finished. He wasn't just whistling Dixie.
It's finished. Every enemy is defeated. And
I know you're in a war. but take comfort. The war's over. Now it's over. Every enemy's
been defeated. That's our comfort in times of
trial. Third, God's people need to be comforted because they're
sinners. They're sinners saved by grace.
Verse two, crying to my people that her iniquity is pardoned. Now iniquity, that word means
perversity. It means a moral evil. And that's
all this flesh and this nature can produce, moral evil, perversity. And the stain of our iniquity
has gone clear through us. I mean, front to back, top to
bottom, all the way through. And I'll tell you why we need
comfort. It's because of our iniquity. It's our own iniquity
that causes us sorrow. That's what causes us the need
to be comforted. What does sin produce? Nothing
good. Sin produces sickness. Sin produces
sorrow and death. Sin produces separation. Separation
from God, separation from each other. Sin produces misunderstandings
and bad feelings and hate. That's what sin produces. And
the only way a sinner who's full of iniquity, who drinks iniquity
like water can be comforted is by preaching Christ to them.
Christ has fully removed the sin and the iniquity that causes
our sorrow. Now this is comfort for God's
people. Yes, you're a sinner. You're a sinner saved by grace,
but now in your flesh, you're still full of iniquity, aren't
you? But here's our comfort. God has pardoned all your iniquity. I think in our day, we have perverted
the word pardon, so we don't take the comfort from this that
we ought. Frequently, when a president leaves office, he pardons someone. Could be a buddy or somebody,
you know, maybe he thinks there's extenuating circumstances, and
they're in prison, and before he leaves office, he pardons
them. Now, that prisoner's still guilty.
Whatever it was that he was found guilty of, that hasn't changed.
He's still guilty. The law has a claim against that
guilty prisoner, but the president just overrode that and he can
choose to ignore their guilt and set them free. Well, they
got to unlock the bars and the gates and let them go. You could
go free. That former prisoner is free.
Now, his nature hadn't changed. He's still guilty, but there's
nothing the law can do about it because the president overrode
them. and the law hates it. Now the law hates that because
he's free, but justice hasn't been served. That's what man
calls a pardon. That's not how God pardons sin.
When God pardons sin, God removes that sin by taking that sin from
his people and putting all that sin under the blood of his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. so that when God pardons a sinner,
justice is served. God imputed the sin of His people
to Christ. He made Christ our substitute
guilty of all the sin of all of his people. And when the father
killed his son, you know why he killed him? Because he's guilty. The law demanded, justice demanded
he die because God made him guilty. So when Christ died, justice
was served. The law is satisfied with the
death of Christ. Then God imputed the righteousness
of Christ to his people. He made his people not guilty. And now God's people go free,
not in spite of the law, not by doing an end around the law,
but through the law, because the law is satisfied. When God
pardons a sinner, this is a legal justification, a legal salvation,
a legal freedom. And the law and justice is in
agreement with God and said, yep, he goes free. He's an innocent
man. Because in Christ, you're not
guilty. Your sin has been pardoned because
Christ suffered everything you deserve as your substitute. He
suffered everything the sin of his people deserve. With his
spotless garments on, we are as holy as God's Son. Now that's
a just salvation. And that gives comfort to a man
and woman to know, I'm gonna face God Innocent. I'm going to face the judge of
all the earth as an innocent man, an innocent woman. Because
when God forgives, God forgets. He forgets because the sin of
his people been washed away under the blood of Christ. Even God
doesn't remember what's not there because the blood of Christ put
the sin of his people away. Look at Matthew chapter nine. Here's some friends of a man
who was sick, came to the Lord. Wanted their friend to be healed
of this disease that there's no cure for. Boy, they got more
than they bargained for. Look here in Matthew 9. Here's
comfort. And he entered into a ship and
passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought
to him a man sick of palsy, lying on a bed, And Jesus, seeing their
faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now that is all the comfort God's
people ever want to hear. Son, daughter, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. He didn't
tell him be of good cheer because your sickness is healed. Now
he's going to heal the sickness, but he didn't tell him be of
good cheer because your sickness is going to be healed. Something
else is going to kill you. but be of good cheer. Your sins are
forgiven. God has pardoned the sins of
his people. Now cry that to God's people.
Don't ever let them forget this. Your sins are pardoned. And look
at this last one. This is good. God's people need
to be comforted because they're so poor and needy. For she hath
received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now this is
how fully God has pardoned the sins of his people. He gives
them double for all their sin. Now that doesn't mean that Christ
paid more than the sin debt, you know, that his people, of
his people that was required, he didn't pay more, he didn't
pay less. But we saw this Sunday with the Passover, none of the
sacrifice is going to be wasted. So what does this mean that he
gives double? She hath received the Lord's
hand double for all of her sins. Well, it means this. The sin
of God's people is fully paid for. What this is, the double
that we've received for all of our sins shows us how sufficient
that Christ is. The father didn't miss one sin
when he charged that sin to Christ. He didn't miss one sin of his
people. And Christ, he didn't miss paying
for one. He paid for every sin laid on
him. The blood of Christ was sufficient.
It was enough. When we say sufficient, it means
it's enough. It was enough to pay for all
the sin of God's people. It was enough to satisfy God's
justice. It was enough to satisfy God's
holiness. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. It
super abounded. So that if you're a child of
God, You're never going to receive a statement in the mail telling
you there's one sin left unpaid. There'll be no comfort there
because I can't even pay for one. But the comfort is you'll
never receive that statement. Christ paid it all. Now here's the comfort in receiving
double from the Lord's hand for all of our sins. I had a debt
I couldn't pay. I had a sin debt I could not
pay. I couldn't put even a penny down
on it because I was spiritually bankrupt. I was dead. I didn't
have the means. I didn't have the capacity. I
didn't have the ability to do anything about my sin debt. Christ
came. He paid all the debt I owe. But
if he stopped there, if he simply paid all the debt I owe, I'd
still be nothing. I still wouldn't have anything.
I'd be homeless and poor and bankrupt. Christ paid the debt
of His people and then He freely gave them more than they could
ever use. Look at Romans chapter 8. Christ
paid the sin debt of His people and then He gave them some things
for the journey. Is that what Scripture says? Not some things. Christ paid
the debt of His people and then He freely gave us all things. Romans 8 verse 31. What should we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Christ paid the debt of his people
and then he made us rich. I'm looking at the richest people
on earth. You're the richest people on
earth because you've received the Lord's hand double. for all
of your sins. Christ paid the sin debt of His
people. And you know what He did? He
made His people joint heirs with Him. He adopted us into His family
and you're a full son, a full daughter. Christ said, welcome
to the family. Your name's in the will. You
have an equal share. You're joint heirs with the Son
of God. He inherits everything the Father
has. Well, what's that? Everything. You're joint heirs with Christ
of everything. Everything that God has. Everything
He is. Look in Romans 8 verse 16. For
the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
him, then we may be also glorified together. And because we're joint
heirs with Christ, that's why Paul can say verse 18, for I
reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. That's comfort for God's people.
You've received of the Lord's hand double. I want to leave
you two words of comfort. I want you to look first at John
chapter 14. First, I want to give a word
of comfort to the lonely. And you'll notice in both of
these, Christ is the word of comfort. Christ himself is the
word of comfort. John 14 verse 16. And I will
pray the father And he shall give you another comforter, that
he may abide with you forever. So you're never going to be alone.
He's going to abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him, but you know him. For he dwelleth with you and
shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. That's a
word of comfort for the lonely. Now look over a page verse John
16, verse 20. Here's a word of comfort for
the sorrowing. John 16, verse 20. Verily, verily,
I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world
shall rejoice. And ye shall be sorrowful, but
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Now look at verse 22. And
ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again. and
your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."
When we see Christ, when he sees us and we see him, no man can
take that joy from you. That's a word of comfort for
the sorrowing. I've asked Mike if he would sing
one of my very favorite songs, It's Finished, and that's the
comfort for God's people. The warfare's over. The battle's
done. Christ has finished it all. All
right, I hope the Lord bless that to you.