you will to the 40th chapter
of the Gospel of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 40 I have a good many friends going
through heavy, heavy trials great difficulties. Others watching as their loved
ones wither away in death and their hearts break for them.
In the midst of trouble, God's people need comfort. And I'm
here to minister comfort to you. Isaiah lived in a day when there
was much difficulty in Judah. Isaiah's king, Judah's king,
Hezekiah, probably the greatest of Judah's kings after David
and Solomon. Hezekiah, when he was old, God
left him to himself so that he might know all that was in his
heart. And Hezekiah displayed the pride of his heart. And for
that the Lord God sent a word of judgment, stern judgment,
judgment that must fall upon Judah, must fall because of Hezekiah's
sin, must fall upon the people that Hezekiah loved, must fall
because of his iniquity, because God will not allow that sin should
be looked upon as a light thing. Though he punished our sins in
our Savior, our substitute, his Son, and will not punish them
in us, punish them he will. And displeasure over them he
will. And he tells Hezekiah that when
he's gone, he will punish his sins in Israel. Chapter 39, verse
7 of Isaiah. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah,
hear the word of the Lord, host behold the days come that all
that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up
in store until this day all the wealth all the riches all the
greatness that I've given you shall be carried to Babylon and
nothing shall be left saith the Lord Thy sons that shall issue
forth from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away,
and they shall be eunuchs, slaves in the palace of the king of
Babylon. Your sons, Hezekiah, children of Judah, children of
Israel, children of Abraham, men who were called princes with
God, They shall become slaves in the palace of Babylon, in
the palace of Babylon's king. Slaves in the palace of the wicked
ones. Slaves in the palace of your
most inveterate enemies. Verse eight. This is Hezekiah's
response. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah,
good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. God's just when he speaks, God's
clear when he judges, what God does is right. With you and with
me, with yours and with mine, what God does is right. Good
is the word of the Lord which you've spoken. He said, moreover,
for there shall be peace and truth in my days. In spite of
my iniquity, in spite of my pride, in spite of all the evil that's
in me, the Lord God has promised that in my days, while I reign
as king, there shall be peace and truth. And then he gives
this word. The Lord God gives his prophet
a word, a word for every preacher. 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. Now here is a wonderful title
given to poor sinners upon the earth, my people. My people. What a title. My people. What instruction. My people. The whole world belongs
to God. The heavens and the heaven of
heavens are His. All the children of men belong
to him. All the angels of God, all the devils of hell, Satan
himself, all belong to him and are ruled by him. His property
disposed of him by him as he sees fit. We all live and move
and have our being in the one great God. But here God sets
a mark of distinction upon some people. There is a people in
this world A people scattered through all the nations of the
earth. A people scattered through all the generations of time,
whom the Lord God calls my people. A people who are God's own peculiar
possession. Here we are. Of all people in
the world, God says to you and me, my people, my people. You're mine by special covenant
love. You're mine because I chose you
before ever the world was from among all the fallen sons and
daughters of Adam. You're mine by special election
and mine by special purchase. I bought you. I bought you with
the precious blood of my own darling son. You're mine. My
redeemed ones, my people. You're mine by my own almighty
effectual grace. In the fullness of time, I came
to where you were. I sought you out. I called you. I made you mine. You're mine
by this distinct relationship. I'm your father. You're my sons
and daughters. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. You and me, the sons of God. Here is a wonderful revelation
of grace. Your God, Almighty God, He who
really is God, He who is the God of Gods, the Lord of Lords,
the King of Kings. He who is God, the infinite triune
Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He says, I am your God. making himself our God by his
grace. The Lord God says you have property
in me just as I have property in you. I am your property as
you are my property. I am your father as you are my
child. He's God over the universe but
he belongs to you. He belongs to me. He's my God. That means all things are mine. All things are yours. If you're
Christ and Christ is God's, all are yours. Whether you're talking
about Paul, or Peter, or Paulus, or life, or death, all things
are yours. For you're Christ and Christ
is God's. His power is yours. His riches are yours. His wisdom, His holiness, His
creation, His grace, His righteousness, His goodness, His son, all are
yours. And here is a wonderful commission
given by God to His servants. This is God's commission to all
His servants. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. I take it that our God, our Father,
is anxious for the happiness, the comfort, the pleasure, the
well-being, the welfare of his people. He's concerned not only
for our lives, but for our comfort. The text doesn't say strengthen
ye, strengthen ye my people, though the weary need strengthening.
The text doesn't say protect ye, protect ye my people, though
those in danger need protected. It doesn't say feed ye, feed
ye my people, though every child must be fed. God says comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Because God Almighty, our Heavenly
Father, has such tender regard for his people, as we live in
this world, that he wants us to live comfortably and happily. He commands us to rejoice and
teaches us why we should. And he teaches his servants to
comfort his people, to rejoice them, to give them ease of life,
ease of mind, ease of heart. He not only gives us bread, but
honey too. He doesn't just give us wine,
but wine upon leaves well refined. He's concerned not only that
we live, but that we live well. Now let's look at three things
in these two verses. First, who is commanded to comfort
God's people? And second, why? And then third,
how? First then, who is it that God
here commands to comfort his people? We know the Holy Spirit
of God is the great comforter of God's church. Turn over to
John chapter 15, chapter 16. It is the distinct office work
of God the Holy Spirit to be our comforter. He's our comforter,
taking the things of Christ and showing them to us. But as he
is our comforter, he uses instruments. He uses means by which he conveys
comfort to his people. The commission given here then
is from God the Spirit to all the servants of God saying, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Mr. Spurgeon in one of his sermons,
and he had a good many sermons from Isaiah 41 and two, in one
of them he suggested that the persons addressed here at this
commission are the angels of God. Angels of God, I don't know
that I would have found that in the text But I know that the
angels of God are sent of God to be ministering spirits ministering
to those who shall be the heirs of salvation and Our Lord tells
us that there shall no evil befall thee Neither shall any plague
come nigh thy dwelling for he shall send his angels he shall
give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways
and They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone. The angels of God encamp round
about us and keep us. Messengers of God. Creatures
of God. sent to protect, minister to,
and care for his people. Elijah's servant, the young man
with him, was fearful, and Elijah said to him, said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Greater are
those who are with us than those who are with our enemies. And
the servant couldn't see it. And Elijah said, Lord, oh, Lord,
open his eyes so that he might see. And the Lord opened his
eyes, and he saw the mountains covered with chariots, all surrounding
Elisha, God's servant, and those who served God with him, protecting
them all the while, doing battle for them. Oh, how gracious our
God is to send forth those ministering spirits who minister to those
who shall be the heirs of salvation. I've told you the story of it
several times, but it does my heart good to remember it and
tell it. when Audrey Grace was just a little shaver, I guess,
maybe three or four years old. I don't think Will was born yet,
so it could have been more than three, and they stopped it. the dairy bar, Biltmore Dairy
Bar in Asheville, North Carolina, on the way back from South Carolina
on vacation one day, and I told him, I said, you don't want to
miss an opportunity to go by Biltmore Dairies. And they're
standing in line to get some ice cream, and this old lady
was standing behind all the girls, I guess, say old, I guess she's
about our age now, and she was wearing a necklace, and all the
girls looked up at her and said, what's that? And she said, that's
my necklace. And she said, what's that? Put
her finger on the pendant on the necklace. The lady was bent
over talking to her. She said, that's my guardian angel. And
she said, what for? And the lady said, well, she
looks after me. And all the guys looked up at her and said, how?
She's got no eyes. Our God sends forth a whole race
of beings unknown to us called angels created and sent forth
by God before ever we came into this world to minister to our
needs to watch over and protect us all the days of our rebellion
after he called us by his grace all the days we live and serve
him on this earth Oh, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The
angels of God secretly minister comfort to us. But the text specifically
is addressed to those men who are sent of God to preach the
gospel, to minister to his people. As the angels of God, they're
sent to his churches. Gospel preachers are angels. Gospel preachers are angels Angels
of God Sent to minister to his people to local churches That's
how this how they're described in the book of Revelation the
first three chapters of Revelation Are taken up with a describing
the churches of God and their pastors angels of the churches
angels You're looking at a man. Who's God's angel to you and My business is to minister to
you. My business in life is to proclaim
God's word to you, to find God's message for you, to deliver God's
message to you, and to watch over you with his word, by his
message, to comfort you. We're sent to comfort believing
men and women with solid, comforting gospel doctrine, solid, comforting
gospel truth. when I read what preachers preach
and hear them on radio or television or through something somebody
gives and wants me to listen to something and I listen to
the nonsense. I think where on earth do you
go when the chips are down? How do you find any peace when
things are turned upside down? Believing that God is subject
to man, that God is subject to the whims of the devil, that
God doesn't have his way, that God doesn't rule, that God's
just something like a good luck charm. Where do you find peace? How do you minister to others?
Our God is a God of all grace. He calls himself the God of peace. the God of consolation, the God
of all grace. He is glorious in his being,
glorious in his works, and glorious in his doctrine. The gospel we
preach, the message of God's grace we preach, should never
be taken lightly. Children of God, he who is our
God rules the universe, according to absolute predestination. I mean by that, God before the
world began predestined everything that he brings to pass in time.
And he brings to pass in time only that which he predestined
from eternity for our good and his glory, his providence. Oh, how sweet. We know that all
things work together for good, to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose, God's eternal election. He chose us. He chose us before ever the world
was made. He set his heart on us and said,
I will be their God and they shall be my people. In the fullness
of time, He sent His Son and redeemed us, called us with infallible,
irresistible grace, and He's preserved us and kept us. Preserved us and kept us. How many over the years we've
seen come and go, how many over the years we've watched make
a profession of faith Baptized, join the church, go out and do
some kind of work of ministry. Seems so promising, so hopeful. Seems so, surely God's hands
on this one. And then they fall to the wayside
and they're gone. And here we are. How come? How come? Because God kept you. That's all. Because God kept
you. That's all. I refer to Brother
Lindsey often to other people as Loyal Lindsey. I admire loyalty. I admire it. He's a loyal, loyal
man. Every aspect of his life. But
I am no fool. I know he's a man. A sinful man. A fallen man. A depraved man. A man with all the passions of
all other men. All the evil passions of all
other men. All the temptations and all the weaknesses of all
other men. Loyal because God made him loyal. Loyal because God keeps him loyal.
And only because God does so. The same is true of you and of
the one talking to you. When a preacher stands to preach
He must seek to be filled with the spirit of God, the spirit
of comfort, so that he may minister comfort to his hearers. Preachers
seem to think God's saints need flogging and beating and correcting
all the time. God's saints need to be bribed
and pumped and pushed and pulled. God's saints need comfort, the
comfort of the gospel. If they must be reproved, let
the reproved be hedged about and surrounded with comfort.
They're weary and need rest. They're hungry and need feeding.
They're thirsty and need water. They're tempted and need help.
They're sick and in need of medicine. They're fallen and need to be
lifted up. All these things are found in Christ and in the gospel
of his grace. This is a commission given then
to God's servants, preachers. It's a commission broader than
that, though. It's a commission also given to God's people, to
you who are God's. God says, comfort you, comfort
you, my people. Make it your business to comfort
God's people. Don't live to yourself. Don't isolate yourself from others,
but rather make it your business to minister to others. When your
cup runs over, find an empty cup to catch the overflow. When
your soul is full of joy, find a morning of comfort. No one
can better comfort those who need comfort. than those who
have been without comfort. Comfort you, comfort you my people. I had you turn to Job, just hold
your hands there and listen to this in Philippians chapter two.
The apostle says, if there be therefore any consolation in
Christ, the word is comfort, any comfort of love, If any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy,
that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Don't live for yourself, but
for others. Don't look after yourself, look
after others. Don't look after your own well-being, look after
others. Make it your business to live for the benefit of others. Make it your business to serve
the lives of others. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. That's God's command to me. That's
God's command to you. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Why? Why does God give us this
command? God's given it to us and he gives
it to us because from time to time we all need consolation.
But there are other reasons. The Lord God delights in the
happiness the comfort of his people. He sent his son to minister
comfort to those that mourn, to bind up the brokenhearted,
to heal the sick. The principal work, as I told
you earlier, of the Holy Spirit is that of a comforter. Look
here in John chapter 15 verse 26. When the comforter has come,
When the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he
shall testify of me. God, the Holy Spirit, is the
Comforter. He's the Comforter. How does
he comfort? Look at chapter 16, verse 7.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you
that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The word reprove means convince
or convict. He will convince His elect, wherever
they're found throughout the world, of sin, because they believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go
to My Father and ye see Me no more. Of judgment, because the
Prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
to you. But you cannot bear them now.
How be it when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. That's not prophetic things. That's things that are going
to come as a result of my obedience and death. He shall glorify me,
for he shall receive of mine and shall show it to you. All
things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that he
shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. A little while,
and you shall not see me. And again, a little while, and
ye shall see me. Because I go to the Father. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.
He reveals himself, our God does, as the God of consolation. And he gave us this book that
we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have
hope. What a word. So that the book
of God was written to comfort needy souls. The book of God
was written for our consolation, for our patience. Children of
God, when you have difficulty, and trouble, and heartache, run away to God. Run away to
Christ. Run away to His Word, not to
the shrink Not to somebody to give you something to make you
forget your troubles. Not to somebody to dope you up
so you can't think about your troubles. But run away to God! Run away to his word. Run away
to his house. And find comfort in the book
of consolation. The book of God written for this
purpose. God's saints in this world have good reason for comfort
and consolation. We're told in Ecclesiastes, God
now accepteth thy works. We are accepted in the beloved. That means our sins are forgiven,
we're justified from all things, God is for us, and we're heirs
of heavenly glory. When believers are without comfort,
we dishonor Christ and his gospel. I do not suggest by any means
that you pretend not to hurt when you do. I don't suggest
by any means that you pretend not to feel pain when your heart's
breaking. I don't suggest by any means that you act like everything's
all right when your mind is tossed and turned upside down and your
life's turned upside down and inside out. I don't suggest that
at all. But I am saying in the midst of heartache, in the midst
of pain, in the midst of turmoil, you and I who believe God ought
to rejoice in the Lord and have comfort. Comfort in his word,
in his purpose, in his will, in his doing. When believers
are without comfort in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of
trouble, we dishonor our God. Those who perished in the wilderness,
we're told in Hebrews 3, Leaving Egypt for 40 years God led them
through the wilderness So that that generation that left Egypt
all perished in the wilderness for one reason One reason why
they could not enter into the land of promise They could not
enter into the land of rest and that reason was they did not
believe God They did not believe God Here's the third thing. How? How do we comfort God's
people? By what means do we comfort one
another? How do I minister comfort to you as a preacher? How do
you minister comfort to others? I remember years ago, I was visiting
with a preacher, a young preacher. Thank God he quit preaching shortly
after this. He was mean as a snake. Just
mean. Mean to people. He liked to get
in the pulpit, rip the hat off, pour in the salt and rub it hard.
And I suggested to him one day, sitting instead of listening
to him, what he was working on, I said, why don't you write out
Isaiah 40, verses 1 and 2, at the head of every sermon you
preach. Why? I said, you don't know what
it says, do you? He said, it doesn't matter, look.
I said, no, just let me tell you. He says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, said the Lord. That's your business. That's
your business. How do we comfort one another?
How do I comfort you? Remind God's people of God's
covenant. The Lord hath made with me an
everlasting covenant. For in all things, it's sure,
this is all my salvation and all my desire. An everlasting
covenant. Remind God's people of their
present blessedness. Oh, how God has blessed us. Sometimes,
when I'm alone, I get to thinking about God's blessings. Oh, how
he's proved himself. How he's proved himself again
and again and again. Proved himself faithful and good.
and my heart breaks in repentance, weeps with sorrow because I have
so little appreciated his blessedness, have so little appreciated his
goodness, so little appreciated his faithfulness. Remind God's
people of God's deliverances in the past and of God's sovereign
providence. This is the Lord. Let him do
what seemeth him good. The words, Lord, that you spoke,
Isaiah, is good. God does good. God only does
good. God always does good. Oh, how
good God's been to you. How good God's been to you. How
good God's been to me. Our God is good. and remind us,
remind us often of Calvary love. He loved me and gave himself
for me. The Son of God holds in his hands
the reins of universal monarchy and those hands were nailed to
the cursed tree for me. He who rules heaven, earth, and
hell is God my Redeemer, God my Savior. Satan is not his rival. Satan is God's house cat. He
does God's bidding and nothing else. He does no injury to God's
people, but only good when he attempts to do injury. Remind
God's people of things soon to come. Soon there'll be no more
weeping and no more sorrow No more sadness and no more pain
No more sickness and no more crying and no more death because
there'll be no more sin Specifically we read in verse 2 speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her That is to Jerusalem Who's Jerusalem? These are the people God just
threatened to Had taken down in Babylonian captivity, yeah,
but he's talking about somebody else. Jerusalem, who is it? This
is the people of God. This is the church of God. These
are God's elect. Saints of God's elect. Her warfare
is accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned.
For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. The source of our comfort is
the gospel. The gospel of effectual, accomplished
redemption. We preach the gospel as a gospel
full of comfort for all who believe. If right now you believe on the
Son of God, oh, will you believe Him? I call you now to do so. Trust Him. Come now to Christ. Believe on the Son of God, can
you? Oh, may God give you grace to trust Him. If right now you
believe on the Son of God, you have received of God's hand double
for all your sins. Your iniquity is pardoned. Your
warfare is accomplished. What's he telling us? He says,
tell my people That sin has been put away. That redemption is
accomplished. Accomplished by my son, by the
sacrifice of himself. He who knew no sin being made
sin for us. Now we're made the righteousness
of God in him. Modern day free will works religion
has no comfort for anyone. But the gospel of God's grace
does. Our text proclaims redemption accomplished. It proclaims particular
redemption. Redemption for you who believe.
Redemption for those who have it. Redemption for God's Israel. It proclaims effectual redemption.
Fully accomplished by Jesus Christ the Lord. So that there's nothing
for you to do. Nothing demanded of you. Nothing
for you to offer God. God has done it all. He says,
tell them, tell them that her warfare is accomplished. Her warfare is accomplished. When God was in Christ on this
earth, punishing Christ as our substitute, he accomplished our
warfare. And when Christ said, it is finished,
everything that could be raised against us by God was put away. Done. Every obstacle between
our souls and God taken away. Your warfare is accomplished. I don't know a better way to
illustrate it than something I'm familiar with. Many years
ago, I visited several times the surrender grounds at Appomattox
Courthouse in Appomattox, Virginia. I don't like that place, but
I go because of its historic value. It was at that place where
Mr. Lee surrendered the troops of
the Confederate armies to Ulysses S. Grant and the northern invaders. He surrendered, utterly surrendered. Gave up, stacked arms. And the terms of surrender were
determined by the conqueror, not by he who gives up in surrender. He surrendered. But you know,
we didn't have cell phones and mass communication like we do
now. And there were folks all over the United States who didn't
find out that battle was over for months and months and months
after the warfare was ended. They kept on fighting. They kept
on fighting. I forgot which of John Wayne's
movies it was. I just saw a clip of it just the other night, an
advertisement for it. a northern soldier, war is over,
he's got his troops going with some soldiers, taking some horses
down to Mexico. And in the midst of those, they
run across some folks in Texas, some southerners, southern armies,
and the southern boys came out with nothing but rocks and yells,
fighting them, fighting them, tooth and toenail, fighting them.
And John Wayne, whatever his name was in the movie, he said,
he said, don't you know, Don't you know the war's over? He said,
sir. He said, the war's over. It's
been over for a month. Said General Lee surrendered
at Appomattox Courthouse. He said, no sir, I didn't know.
I've come to tell you, sinner, the warfare's over. The warfare's
over. Believe on the Son of God and
the warfare's over. It's over. Christ put an end
to the warfare. He says, you tell them, her iniquity
is pardoned. Her iniquity is pardoned. He
who has made sin for us has made us the righteousness of God.
So that not only is our iniquity pardoned, done away, so that
God beholds no iniquity in Israel, no sin in God, no transgression
in his people. But the Lord God beholds in us
only righteousness. We receive to the Lord's hand
double for all our sins. God punished our sins to the
full satisfaction of justice in his son and as he made his
son sin for us and punished him with all the fury of hell at
one time because he deserved it when he was made sin so he
has made us the righteousness of God in his son and rewards
us with perfect righteousness with all the reward of all his
glory because we fully deserve it in his son He not only has
imputed righteousness to us so that in the record books of heaven,
there's nothing but righteousness written of our deeds, but he
comes into every sinner who believes on his son. By believing on his
son, he sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God by his spirit
and testifies to us that righteousness is ours, giving us a righteous
nature. making us partakers of the divine
nature in the new birth so that now our Lord Jesus Christ has
reconciled us to God. He comes and takes away the enmity
that's in us and gives us peace with God. There was a day a long time ago but it doesn't
seem so long 53 years ago, when I lived in enmity
against God, like you. Hating God, like you. Despising God, like you. refusing to bow to God as God
like you and then God came in mercy revealed Christ in me and
sitting in a church building just like you are right now I
heard the message of God's grace and I found something in me I
had never known before I found myself, Jimmy, believing
on the Son of God. Like I hope you do. Believing
on the Son of God brought at last to peace with God. Oh, the peace, the peace, the
peace. The blessed, blessed sweet peace
of faith in Jesus Christ. Peace with God. peace with God,
at peace with Him who is the God of peace, at peace with Him
who has taken away all enmity, at peace with Him who made Himself
the God of peace to me in His Son. May you find Him so to your
soul for Christ's sake. Amen.