Isaiah chapter 40, and reading
from verse one. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. 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. the voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. 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. and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' 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 our God shall stand for ever. O Zion,
that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain.
O Jerusalem, that bringest 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. Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor, hath
taught him? With whom took he counsel, and
who instructed him? and taught him in the path of
judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of
understanding. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.
Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, and Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient
for a burnt offering. all nations before him are as
nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and
vanity. To whom then will ye liken God,
or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth
a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold,
and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that
shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Hath it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in. that bringeth the princes to
nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea,
they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea,
their stock shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall
take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on
high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out
their host by number, he calleth them all by names, by the greatness
of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There
is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even
the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
and they shall walk and not faint. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. It is perhaps not inappropriate
to remind ourselves that the prophecy of Isaiah was written
approximately 700 years before the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was delivered before the fall
of Jerusalem, before the Jewish captivity in Babylon, And it
was designed to reassure God's elect among the Jews that despite
all the hardships yet to befall the nation because of sin, the
promises of God concerning the coming Messiah would not fail
and would surely be fulfilled. And this is important. that therefore
they should continue to be believed for the comfort, encouragement,
and perseverance of the elect. It has been said that the book
of Isaiah exemplifies the whole of scripture. Perhaps it's because
it has 66 chapters and the Bible has 66 books. And interestingly
enough, the first part of Isaiah has 39 chapters and the Old Testament
has 39 books. and the second part of Isaiah
from chapter 40. I'm going to explain in a moment
what I mean by the second part but from chapter 40 there is
27 books and therefore that comparison
with the whole of scripture holds good there too. but it's more
than just the arithmetic of these matters. It contains also sections
on judgment and passages espousing the majesty and the glory of
God, passages on the humanity and the humiliation of Christ. I think this comparison, whether
you like it or not, of Isaiah with the whole of scripture,
and it may or may not be a useful idea. But if it has any merit,
let me suggest to you that we might extend it and say that
in some respects this 40th chapter represents and exemplifies the
whole book of Isaiah. If you want to know what the
book of Isaiah is about, read chapter 40. Like the New Testament's focus
on the Lord Jesus Christ, this chapter 40 begins a section in
the prophecy of Isaiah that is explicitly Christological, doctrinal,
evangelical and spiritual. It's as if with that little break
of those few chapters concerning Hezekiah, The Prophet, in speaking
about the judgements in the earlier part of the book, then bringing
a middle section with the history of Hezekiah, is now in chapter
40 beginning to look more clearly than ever. towards the coming
Messiah with this intent that he might be of greater encouragement
to the Lord's people of his own day and in the generations following
that they might keep an eye of faith upon Christ yet to come. This chapter and the chapters
that follow to the end of the book are pure gospel. 700 years before the Lord Jesus
Christ came preaching the gospel of the kingdom, Isaiah was preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this book, this chapter,
introduces and describes the ministry of John the Baptist.
It describes Christ's incarnation. It speaks of pardon for sin. It tells us about total depravity
and man's inability to please God. It refers to election, it
speaks of Christ's work of redemption, it tells us about the worldwide
preaching of the gospel, the necessity of imputed righteousness
and the preservation of God's elect. All of these are gospel
themes and all of them are plainly stated or clearly implied in
this blessed chapter. Robert Hawker, a man that I greatly
appreciate and admire for his commentaries, he said this, at
this chapter, the prophet begins a sermon, and a most blessed
one it is, which continues to the very close of his prophecy. It is all pure gospel from the
beginning to the end. And I'm excited to be embarking
on such a lovely sermon and such a lively and fertile portion
of the Word of God. And I trust that we will be able
to enter into some of the blessings that Hawker was referring to
and perhaps gain some experience of the spiritual comfort that
was so central to the Father's purpose and Christ's success
and the Holy Spirit's prompting and the prophet's calling to
comfort the Lord's people. Spiritual comfort for believers
is at the heart of this passage. And I want us to just stop for
a moment and consider this. Spiritual comfort for believers. The Lord will have his people
comforted in soul, in this life. In this sick and sinful world,
the Lord will have his people comforted. We often speak about
the trials that we face and sometimes a sense of persecution that we
have for the gospel's sake. Yet our Saviour who has redeemed
us and delivered us and saved our precious souls has promised
never to leave us alone and never to leave us comfortless. He has promised that we will
always have comfort in this life. Indeed, the principal role of
the Holy Spirit, as well as initiating the new birth, is to comfort
God's people in this world. And indeed, we may well say that
the new birth is just an aspect of comforting God's people in
this world. When Christ left his disciples
to return to heaven following his resurrection, he repeatedly
told them in John's gospel from chapter 14 through to 16, he
repeatedly tells them that the comforter who would come in his
absence would abide with us. would teach us and would testify
of the Son. This was the essence of his comforting
word, abiding, teaching and testifying of the Son. Just a little aside,
I remember when I was just young, when I was just a young man,
people would say, oh, you haven't experienced the Holy Spirit,
if you haven't experienced charismatic gifts of speaking in tongues
or prophesying or some other, form of manifestation, and this
was supposed to be the test of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
That is so much nonsense. It was nonsense then, and it
is nonsense still. The Holy Spirit's comforting
work is to abide with the Lord's elect, to teach us and to testify
of the Son. And if you have the Holy Spirit
indwelling, remember we spoke about that, that we are the temples
of the Holy Ghost. If you are taught from the Word
of God, if you know things about the Scriptures, if you know things
about the Lord Jesus Christ, if you know things about the
Lord's work in your life's experience, If the Holy Spirit testifies
to you about who the Lord Jesus Christ is, you have the Holy
Spirit, regardless of what anyone might tell you about charismatic
gifts. This role, this work of comforting
is particularly applicable to God the Holy Spirit. And it is,
let me say, a role and a work that is broader than merely consoling
us in our troubles. We might console someone who
is grieving in order to help them to endure their affliction. But biblical comfort, spiritual
comfort, is much stronger than that, it is more dynamic. And
let me suggest to you that there is a reason why the word fort
appears in the middle of comfort. A fort speaks of defence, it
speaks of strength, it speaks of endurance and security and
protection. and all of that is involved in
biblical comfort. These are gifts of divine grace
supplied to us by our loving and caring saviour. Believers
are spiritually fortified by God the Holy Spirit in his comforting
role. So today what I want to do is
to take this chapter as a whole and draw your attention to some
lessons which I trust we can take from the Lord's emphasis
upon a believer's comfort. And I've five short points that
I want to leave with you. The headings are the God of Comfort,
the scriptures of comfort, preachers of comfort, the gospel of comfort,
and experiencing spiritual comfort in our lives. The God of Comfort,
the Scriptures of Comfort, Preachers of Comfort, the Gospel of Comfort
and experiencing spiritual comfort in our lives. So the first thing
I want us to notice is this, that the Lord Jehovah is God
of all comfort. The Apostle Paul tells us in
2 Corinthians 1, verse 3, And in a very real sense, God alone
is the only true source of comfort in this world. Now people may try to obtain
comfort from all manner of places and practices and maybe even
substances, but only God supplies true and lasting comfort for
men and women. And this divine comfort brings
joy and gladness to those whom Isaiah calls mourners in Zion. It's a little reference from
Isaiah chapter 61. You see we're already looking
forward to this unfolding and blossoming gospel sermon that
we have before us. Isaiah calls us mourners in Zion,
but it's a divine comfort that he is to bring of joy and gladness
to those who are in this world of the Lord's people. So the
Lord says himself in Matthew 5, blessed, happy are they that
mourn. That seems contradictory, but
this is what is being spoken of. They have a comfort. Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. In Isaiah
51 verse 3, again a little bit further forward, in Isaiah says,
for the Lord shall comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste
places. Joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. And then a little
later in Isaiah 63, I will comfort you and ye shall be comforted. And so this is a work of the
Lord. He is the God of all comfort. If we are to be comforted in
this world, it has to be by the grace of God. It has to be by
the gift of God and by the sending of the Holy Spirit to convey
the experience of God's comfort in the soul of an individual.
And furthermore, these verses teach us that comfort is a spiritual
experience, being a divine work. Isaiah 40 tells us it is a blessing
God wishes for all his people. Because it is God who instructs
The prophet Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. It's a direction, it's an injunction,
it's a command, it's a word of command to go forward and bring
this comfort to the people of God. Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. So my first point is this, God
is the God of all comfort and he will have his people comforted. He will have his people experience
the grace of his divine comfort and the comforter in their souls. Second point I want to leave
with you is this. God calls preachers, he calls
for preachers to comfort the Lord's people. So it's as the
father says to Isaiah, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, so
we find that God calls for preachers to comfort his elect by preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, it may well be that
the repetition there, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, could
be construed as being that the first comfort ye my people was
directed to Isaiah personally, and the second comfort ye my
people was directed to all the Lord's preachers thereafter. Isaiah was a preacher of comfort
because he ministered hope to the Lord's elect in their captivity. He ministered hope in their anxiety,
in their doubt, in their uncertainty about what this captivity meant,
what this domination by Babylon meant, what this taking away
of the nation meant, what this ruination of the people of God
meant. And what did it mean for the
coming Messiah? And so Isaiah was to reinforce
the fact that God's promises would not fail for the comfort
of his people. And the apostles did the same
thing. They preached comfort to the
brokenhearted when they lifted up the Lord Jesus Christ as God's
sent one, God with us, as the way of life. Preachers, Pastors
today minister comfort to the downcast when, like John the
Baptist, they lift sinners' eyes to see the Lord Jesus and say,
with John the Baptist, behold the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. This is why preaching is so important
for us. This is why we must keep listening,
we must keep hearing, we must keep attending to the faithful
preaching of the Word of God. It is a necessity for the good
of our soul. It is where our comfort is. is to be gleaned and drawn from. The Comforter is God. God will
have his people comforted. He will have them experience
the presence and indwelling of the Comforter. But the means
by which, the channel by which that comfort is given is through
the preaching of the Gospel. Comfort ye, my people, saith
your God. It is the appointed means God
uses to minister comfort to the church and to nourish the souls
and the lives of believers. And yet the preacher must declare
a message of comfort. It's no good just hearing any
preacher. It's no good just hearing speaking. It has to be that message. And this is of the utmost importance. Yesterday, two Jehovah's Witnesses
knocked my door and told me, good works are necessary for
salvation. And when I asked the older one
if he had done enough good works to be saved, he said, I hope
so. Well, I tell you what I hope.
I hope you don't have to go into eternity hoping you've done enough
to please God. There's one message of comfort
for a sinner and it is not that we need to work harder to be
sure of our salvation. Isaiah said in verse 16 of this
chapter 40, Lebanon is not sufficient to burn. Now what was Lebanon
famous for? Well it was famous for its cedars,
it was famous for its forests, it was famous for its trees.
Trees that would be chopped down and laid upon an altar. Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor beasts thereof, nor all the cattle
of Lebanon, sufficient for a burnt offering. What does he mean?
It means that we can never sacrifice enough, we can never offer enough,
we can never do enough to gain eternal life and to please God
and to obtain spiritual comfort in our soul. No amount of law
obedience, no amount of good works, no amount of personal
sacrifice will bring a sinner peace. So what does a preacher
have to say? This is exactly what Isaiah asked. In verse six he said, what shall
I cry? The Lord said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. And Isaiah says, well what have
I to tell them? What will be that comforting
message? And this brings us to my third
point. The scriptures of comfort. We cry, we speak what God has
told us to declare and to speak to the comfort of his people.
Now what was it that the Lord told Isaiah? What is it that
the Lord tells us? He said, tell them all flesh
is grass. and all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever. That's
what we've to tell them. All flesh is grass and all the
good works that flesh can do is just wasting away as nothing. There is no righteousness in
the flesh, there is no goodness, there is no inherent ability
to please God in anything that man can do but the word of the
Lord shall stand forever. Now whether we take that as the
scriptures or whether we think of it as the one of whom the
scriptures speak, the eternal word, the living word, in the
beginning was the word, the person of Jesus Christ, the same message
stands. This is the one of whom we speak. Preach what the scriptures teach. There's no lasting goodness in
flesh. There's no righteousness in a
man's heart. There's no forgiveness and reconciliation
outside of Christ. The message of comfort is the
gospel of God's grace. It must be learned from the scriptures. It must be learned in the heart
of the sinner. It must be learned by the preacher
before it can be preached. And it must be applied to his
hearers from the pulpit. How can you preach what you don't
know? Isaiah said, what shall I cry? And the Lord told him this. The scriptures will give us the
answer to the message that we are to preach. This is the gospel
of comfort, and this is our fourth point. The scriptures contain
the gospel of comfort. Only one message will comfort
a poor sinner, and that is the message of blood redemption sovereignly
applied. might sound like a heap of theology
in a single phrase. Blood redemption sovereignly
applied. But it's the only gospel. It's
the only gospel we have. It's the only gospel worth anything. Blood redemption, sovereignly
applied. It's the Father's electing love. It is Christ's atoning sacrifice. It's the Holy Spirit's irresistible
grace. Too much preaching is staged
to solicit a personal commitment or a so-called decision for Christ. Again, the gospel of comfort
for sinners is the message of the Father's electing love. If you're going to be comforted
by this gospel, If you're going to be comforted by a preacher,
he's got to be able to speak to you about the Father's electing
love and the covenant of grace. If you're going to be comforted
by this gospel, it has to be the gospel of Christ's atoning
sacrifice. It has to be the gospel of the
Holy Spirit's irresistible grace, because otherwise it's not good
news. Let the preacher preach this message and lift up this
saviour and wait to see if the Holy Spirit will apply its power
to a needy sinner's heart. Then the true nature of spiritual
comfort will be witnessed and testified to in the heart of
a sinner. The Gospel of Comfort is the
good news of what God has done in Christ for the salvation of
sinners who in and of themselves have no strength to satisfy the
just demands of the Holy God. The Gospel of Comfort is not
what I must do, but what God has done. Tell that to your Jehovah
Witness visitors. And this is my fifth point, and
then we will be finished. Let me ask then, how do we experience
this God-originating spiritual comfort? How do we experience
this God-originating spiritual comfort? When our spirits are
weary, when our hearts are sad, when our patience is tried and
our defences are breached, and doubts arise because of the providences
or the circumstances of life. Are we going to be like those
Old Testament Jews in the time of the judges? That these nations
were left in the land in order to try the Lord's people and
the very first thing that they did was married into their families,
took their daughters as their wives and pursued the idolatry
of their religious practices? Or are we going to stand where
the Lord has directed us upon this true gospel? This is how
we will experience spiritual comfort. Brothers and sisters,
friends, I merely repeat what Isaiah has told us. Be not afraid,
behold your God. Trusting in the God-man who has
come with strong hand and is the channel, is himself the vehicle
for all spiritual comfort to sinners like you and me. Trust in the one who has the
strength that you don't have. Trust in the one that has the
mercy you need Have faith in the one whose wisdom and knowledge
is so fulsome as to know what is best for your life, for your
spiritual well-being and your eternal good and glory. Why would you look elsewhere?
Why would you trust something else or someone else? And surely you're not going to
tell me that you know better. That is what the central part
of this chapter is all about. It's explaining to us who we
are. Who our God is. He is the God
who created all things. He is the God who holds the nations
in the palm of His hand. He is the God who is sovereign
and omnipotent in all His ways. Don't tell me you're going to
trust your own feelings rather than this God. Have you not heard? Do you not know? Is this not
revealed to us in Scripture? To whom else shall we go? We experience spiritual comfort
in our lives when we follow our shepherd by faith to his feeding
grounds. In the scriptures, under sound
preaching. We experience spiritual comfort
in our lives when we rest in his arms as the sovereign God
who is all-powerful and in whose providences we will be blessed. For all things work together
for our good. We experience spiritual comfort
in our lives when we lean on his bosom. for comfort and consolation
and hold tight when the road gets hard. We experience spiritual
comfort when we learn the meaning of his omnipotence, both under
the sound of the gospel and by waiting upon the Lord's providential
goodness and mercy. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. We experience spiritual
comfort when we learn humility by the things that we endure
and contend with, when we learn humility in our weaknesses, and
we learn what it is to depend in confidence upon His strength. Spiritual comfort is learning
to wait upon the Lord to renew our strength. and thereby to
run and not be weary and to walk and not faint. Spiritual comfort
is not the preserve of a few super-Christians. It is the gift
of God to those who discover the simplicity that is in Christ
and depend upon the grace of God to supply all our need according
to his riches and according to his wisdom. Thou God knowest
me. I could not in one sermon do
justice to this fine chapter, but here nevertheless we must
end. Thank you for your attention once again. Amen.