Back in chapter 39, in verse 6 and 7, Isaiah tells Hezekiah
that Israel is going to be carried away to Babylon. He says, Behold,
the days come, in verse 6, that all that is in thine house and
that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall
be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, saith
the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which
thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be
eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." So Isaiah foretells
of Israel's going into captivity to Babylon. But God sends a word
of comfort after telling him this and telling him to tell
Hezekiah this. He gives them a word of comfort. God never leaves His people. He never leaves His people without
a word of comfort. He always sends them. When He's
going to put them through trials, He's going to put them in captivity.
They're going to go into captivity with a word of comfort. He's
going to send him there with a word of comfort. And that comfort
is this, that the Messiah will come, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. We know who that Messiah is.
And he will give a great deliverance. Even though he's speaking here
to Hezekiah and Israel going into Babylon, and they will be
delivered, yet there's a greater deliverance that's really in
this chapter. And that's deliverance of the
true Israel of God. That's his church. That's who's
really spoken of here. God will not leave his people
comfortless. Now, God's command to the prophet
here reaches to every preacher of every generation until the
end of time. This command, to comfort ye my
people, is to everyone who stands and preaches the gospel. Before
I heard the gospel, I heard a lot of preaching that wasn't very
comforting at all. You couldn't get comfort out
of it. The more you can get blood out of a turnip, you couldn't
get comfort out of what they were saying, not at all. But he says here, Comfort ye
my people, saith your God. There are two statements that
jumped out at me yesterday as I was studying this that ought
to give us much comfort. My people, plus your God, ought
to equal comfort." God called them His people, not a people. He said, They're My people. God
Himself sends this message of comfort to His people. Now, we know that all things
belong to God. We know that. Psalm 24 says,
The earth is the Lord's. and the fullness thereof, and
they who dwell therein, all of it, all of it belongs to him. Every particle of dust belongs
to our Lord. He's the owner of it. The ownership
of this world and everything in it, it belongs to him. But
in the midst, in the midst of all that is his, he has a special
people. I'm looking at some people here
that believe the gospel. I'm telling you, you are a special
people to God. Of all His creation, you're special. He has a purchased people, purchased
by the blood of Christ. We're the only thing that costs
God anything. It took the life of His Son to
have us. a purchased people, a loved people,
a righteous people, a holy, the Scripture says, a holy nation, a people whom He has made for
Himself. God has made you for Himself,
He says over and over in Isaiah here, to show forth His praise. That's what He made you for,
to show forth His praise, and He'll demonstrate you as a trophy
of His grace in time. You're made for Him. We are His
sheep. We are the sheep of His pasture.
What does it mean to be His people, God's people? Well, it means
this. They were chosen by Him in Christ
before the world began. That's special. That's special. He didn't choose everybody. He
chose some here and there. He chose some. That's special.
Then it means they are loved with an everlasting love, a love
that can't change. Not like the fickle love of humans,
but I'm talking about love, everlasting love, divine love that never
changes. He has set his love upon his
people. It is set upon them. You are
the apple, if you can get a hold of this, you are the apple of
his eye. God's people are the apple of
his eye. Therefore, he'll do them good.
I promise you, he'll do his people good. And he chose them, he loved
them, but listen, he also made a special covenant with his son
concerning you. There is a special covenant,
the covenant of grace that concerns his people, every one of them,
every one of them. And in that covenant, he gave
his son to be, now listen, He gave Him to be your surety. Can you have a better surety
than that? You know, my eternal security... I was talking to
someone the other day about eternal security. And for the most part,
people get it wrong. They always say, once I accepted
Jesus as my personal Savior, you know, I'm eternally secure.
I'll tell you what my eternal security is, Christ Himself.
Christ himself is my eternal security. God chose me in Christ. That's my eternal security. Christ
died for me. Christ shed his blood for me.
Christ himself is my eternal security. He's my surety. There's my eternal security.
The Son of God's my surety. He's my mediator. He's the one
who stands between me and God. He's the one who mediates for
me. He's my prophet. He's one who
teaches me. He's my priest. He's my king.
He's my redeemer. Everything His people need, God
has provided for them in Christ. Everything. And then, secondly,
you're God. You're God. Think of what that
means. If you find out who God is, I'll tell you that'll really
mean something. When you find out who God is, you're God. Now,
I know that he's saying to Isaiah, I am your God and this is the
message that I want you to give to my people, but He is your
God. He is your God. Think of who
your God is. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. In the beginning, God said, let
there be light. That's my God. That's your God.
That's who He is. Those seraphims, They fly day
and night and they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. That's your God. Holy. Sovereign. Creator. He's over all principalities
and powers. That's your God. How can we fail? How could we fail? My God would
have to fail. My God would have to fail. This
ought to give us much comfort. Comfort, he said, comfort ye
my people. I know that there are times that
call for rebuke and correction. I know that. But never let us
forget to comfort. We don't forget to comfort our
children, do we? Even when we discipline them. I tell you,
when you discipline your children, you look forward to comforting
them afterwards. I look forward to comforting them. Never let us forget to comfort.
God's people know, listen, They know what conviction of sin is. They know what that's all about.
They know the one whom they've sinned against. When Peter denied
the Lord and the Lord looked at him, he didn't say a word,
did he? He just looked at Peter. And Peter went out and he said,
it went bitterly. You can identify with that. You can identify with that. They
know what sin is. They know that's what they are.
And they war daily in a spiritual battle, and they need comfort.
They need comfort when they come in from the battle. There's nothing
negative about the gospel. It's glad tidings. And I thought
about this as I sat in the study yesterday. I pity the people
who have to listen to a preacher who knows nothing of its comfort.
I pity the people who have to listen to that, who have to listen
to someone that knows nothing of the comfort or the glad tidings
of the gospel. Now, here's the glad tidings.
Here's the glad tidings, he says, to comfort them with. 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. How are we who
preach the gospel to comfort God's people? It says here, by
speaking comfortably. You know, it says here, by speaking
comfortably to Jerusalem. If you look over in the margin,
it says, to the heart. To the heart. Speaking comfortably
to the heart. Speak ye constantly to the heart
of his church. That's what he's saying. Those
afflicted ones, those who know what the guilt of sin is, speak
constantly to the heart. And then we do it by speaking
the truth from the heart to the heart. I'm not going to try to
cover it over, but we speak from the heart to the heart. That's
where it comes from. Never forgetting. Never forgetting
who we are. Preachers sometimes, I think,
can get isolated in their studies and forget where the people live
and work. They can forget where the people
live and work. And they lose their patience
and compassion for the flock. I know what it is to be tired
on Wednesday night. I know what it is to be tired.
Don't ever forget that. Don't ever get so isolated. I
speak this to myself. So isolated in a study that you
forget where the people live. But here's the message. Cry unto
her. Make it plain. Don't cloud it
up. But cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished or is filled up. And here's why he's saying,
to simplify it, her captain has gotten the victory. cry unto
her that her captain has gotten the victory. He has won the battle.
The battle is not ours, it's the Lord's, and he's won it.
He said, it's finished. He did not leave one jot or one
tittle for me to take care of, not one. It's finished. He has overcome all enemies,
all of them. He's put away the curse of the
law. that was against us. All that was against her has
been defeated now. Paul said, we are what? More
than conquerors. We're not a bunch of defeated
people. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and
gave Himself for us. I know that the church is in
a constant conflict. I know that. But not for her
life. We're in a constant battle, but
not for my life. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. I'm not in a battle for my life,
and I'm not in this conflict in order to be saved. We are
saved through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
conflict that we are in is for his glory and our eternal good. That's what it's for. That's
what the battle's for right now. I mean, the battle for life and
the battle for salvation, that's already been won. Our Lord has
won the victory for that. But what we're going through
now, He's preparing us for that place that He has already prepared
for us. That's what's going on. And then there's more good news. Tell her. Cry unto her, make
her understand this. I tell you, I wouldn't want you
to stay in bondage. I wouldn't want you to stay woe
is me all the time. No, he says make her understand
this, that her iniquity is pardoned, that it's gone, it's put away. The very thing that put her into
captivity is pardoned. The very thing that put her there,
the very thing that led her into captivity, he said, I have pardoned
her. I have done her right. Tell her
that. Make her understand that. Through
the blood and righteousness of Christ, she has been pardoned. My people are pardoned. How? Through the blood and righteousness
of His Son. Set free. If the Son, if the
Son shall set you free, You shall be free indeed." There's not
one charge, not one charge against her. I love that verse over here
in Romans chapter 8. He says, in verse 33, who shall
lay anything, anything, just bring it up, who's going to lay
it against her? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? of God's people. It is God that
justifies. Who's above God? Who's above
Him? If you justified me, I'd still
be in trouble. But if God justifies me, I'm
not in trouble no more because there is none above Him. He's
it. He's the head. He's the end. It doesn't go above Him. There's not one charge against
her, not one blot, not one mark against her. And she has not
only been pardoned, but she's been justified. She's been cleared
of all charges. Only God's people know what it
means to be pardoned and justified. They know how guilty they are
by nature. They know that. God's made them
know that. He's made them to know that.
And they are the ones who can really appreciate. Pardon. Pardon. Justify. They appreciate. That's not just doctrine to them.
That's truth. That's truth. That's an experience. That's reality. That's reality. In verse 2 also, he says here,
For she hath received double for all her sins. She has received double for all
her sins. The good news just keeps getting
better. That's one thing about good news.
Good news just keeps getting better. You can't tell enough
good news. The sacrifice of Christ, and
this is what it's saying, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the sacrifice of the Messiah, is more than sufficient to put
away all her sins." His sacrifice, His blood, His person is more
than sufficient to put away all my sins. He's a nun. Scripture says, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Much more abound. Listen. Listen to this, child of God,
His blood is sufficient to wash away all thy sins. And that's a lot of sins. There's
a lot there to be washed away. His righteousness is sufficient
to make you accepted. It's sufficient. It's enough. In short, Jesus Christ Himself,
is sufficient. He's sufficient. Don't ever look
to or for anyone else. Only look to Him. And always,
always look to Him. As that song we sing, Jesus Christ
is made to me all I need. All I need. God has placed all
that we need in His Son. Now, in verse 3, he speaks here
of John the Baptist. He was the harbinger of Christ,
the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, when God sends
the gospel to His people, He's going to send a man, as we heard
this morning. He gave gifts to men, pastors
and teachers and prophets. He's going to send a man to proclaim
the gospel. That's how you know that God
is among you, is the gospel. That's how you know. It's the
gospel. God uses men to preach the glad
tidings, and those men are just a voice. That's all I am. John
the Baptist said, I'm just a voice. That's all I am, just a voice,
an instrument, an instrument used of God to proclaim the gospel. But He does use men. If you're
going to hear the gospel, you're going to hear it from a man standing
behind a pulpit preaching the gospel. And he prepares the heart. Here
in verse 3, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. He prepares the heart. The Holy
Spirit takes the word of truth and he convicts of sin. He grants
repentance because the scripture says his thoughts are not our
thoughts. Isn't that surprising? His thoughts are not our thoughts.
And His ways are not our ways. That's why John the Baptist came
preaching repentance. In other words, change your mind
and your thoughts of how God saves sinners because it's not
like you thought. And the Jews proved that. It's not like you thought it
was. Change your thoughts about Him. Receive Him when He comes.
Bow to Him. Receive His gospel. And when he comes, it says here
in verse 4, when he comes, 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. When he comes, he will lift up all those that
are bowed down with the guilt of sin. He'll lift up the lowly.
He says in Scripture, a bruised reed shall he not break, and
a smoking fletch shall he not quench. Scripture says, He saveth
such as be of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Those
are the ones he saves. Those that are bowed down under
the guilt and burden of sin, he's going to lift them up. In
fact, he's going to lift them up on high. They're going to
be seated with him. And everyone who has a high opinion
of himself, every mountain, every high look, everyone who is lifted
up in their own righteousness, he's going to bring them down.
He's going to bring some down. He brought Saul of Tarsus down,
didn't he? He brought that beggar, that blind beggar up. He brought
him up. He brings one down and he brings
one up. All that was hidden, types and
shadows and dark sayings, ego made plain. You understand the
gospel. You understand. When you look
at the tabernacle in the wilderness now, do you know who that represents? When you look at the Passover
lamb, do you know who that represents? Do you know who it represents?
That's why he's saying here, and the crooked shall be made
straight, and the rough places You'll understand these things.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has
spoken it. God has spoken it. This is going to happen. You
know, he says here, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
You know what the glory of the Lord is? I shouldn't say you
know who it is. The glory of the Lord here that
shall be revealed is Jesus Christ himself. That's who the glory
of the Lord is. He is the glory of God. He is the express image, it says,
of the Father. He is God in the flesh. That's who Jesus Christ is. And
all flesh shall see it, not just the Jews. Not just the Jews,
but the whole Gentile world. There are people in every nation
that have seen the glory of the Lord. They have seen the glory
of God in the face, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
revealed it. God's revealed it. And he says,
yes, for the Lord has spoken it. It'll happen. It will happen. If it was left up to me, if it
was left up to my strength and my abilities, nobody would see
it. No one would see it. But He's
going to reveal it. He's going to send His preacher,
He's going to preach the gospel, and He's going to reveal His
glory in the face of Jesus Christ to His people. Some are going
to see it, and they're going to rejoice in it. They're going
to rejoice in it. And then He gives us here in
verse 6. He gives us here the voice of evangelism. The voice
of evangelism here. The voice said, Cry. Now, this
is not the same voice. spoken of back there in verse
3, which is speaking of John the Baptist. This is the voice
of the Lord here. The voice said, cry, and he said,
what shall I cry? What shall I cry? What's the
message? We send the gospel out. What's
the message? What is it that men need to hear?
Here's what they need to hear. They need to hear the truth about
themselves, and that's this, all flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. And all the goodliness, all the
goodliness thereof, all the goodliness of men, all that you can take
about men that you would think would be good, is as the flower
of the field. All flesh, he says here, is weak,
corrupt, and good for nothing. It never gets any better. Time
never improves. I mean, you can just look at
me. It never improves the flesh.
Time never improves it. We have to look in the mirror
and tell that as the years go by. It doesn't improve it. It
does not improve the flesh. It's corrupt. It's good for nothing
before God. It's good for nothing. And it
doesn't matter if a man is rich or powerful or whatever station
in life he holds. He says he's nothing but like
the flower of the grass. This spring you saw a lot of
flowers. Where are they? Where are they? They've fallen off. They've fallen,
they're gone. They're gone. Tell the truth
to men about who they are. Tell the truth to them about
who they are. Don't hold back. He says don't hold back. All
of man's glory withers, whether it's his strength, his beauty,
his intelligence, his righteousness. It's like the flower of the field.
It fades and falls away. When, he says, when the Spirit
of the Lord blows upon it. When the Spirit of the Lord reveals
the truth about ourselves, then it is. That's when we see that
we're nothing, an altogether vanity. I'll tell you this, until
that happens, we'll think we're somebody all the way to the grave.
But when the Spirit of the Lord blows upon us, when He does that
work of grace in the heart, you realize and you know that before
God Almighty, you're nothing and that He's everything. I'll
tell you this, He won't be everything to you until you are nothing.
until you are nothing. He says, The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth there in verse 8, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. His written word will stand forever. Scripture says, Forever thy word
is settled in heaven. It will stand forever. And Christ,
who is the living word, shall stand forever. He will never
be diminished. He'll never be dethroned. He'll
stand forever in all his fullness, always, always. Therefore, 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. Take your eyes off yourself.
Take your eyes off your situation and behold your God. Behold the
promised Messiah has come. He has come in the fullness of
his person. God with us. Emmanuel. That's who he is. That's who
Jesus Christ is. Emmanuel. God with us. He has come as He promised He'd
come. Now He says, Behold Him. Behold
Him who is God's Lamb. This is God's Lamb. This is the
Lamb of God's Providing. It's God's Lamb. And He's come
to take away the sin of the world. Behold Him who sits on the throne
waiting till His enemies He made His footstool. And behold Him
who is coming again. He's coming again. When He ascended
up to heaven, the disciples were there with Him. And when He ascended
up, those two angels said, Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?
This ain't Jesus whom you've seen go away. He's coming again
in a like manner. He's on His way back. Behold,
the Scripture says, He's coming. He's on His way. Behold, your
God. Okay, Mike.