Well, I want to turn your attention
to Isaiah chapter 40 this morning. And I've called this morning's
message, because it's a familiar passage of scripture, I've called
it the preacher's job description, the preacher's job description.
In my work experience, and it was many years, I worked a full
life in various roles, but I suppose the last 30 of those years, each
new role that I took on had a job description. It's that this is
what you're required to do, this is what you're expected to do,
this is what the outcome is that we want. This is the situation
and this is what we want you to accomplish while you do this
job. And do it and we'll pay you. And do it very well and
we might pay you a little bit more for doing a good job. Job
descriptions, you know, they say, well, what am I meant to
do? Well, somebody tell me what I'm meant to do. The job description
tells you. Do you understand what it is? Well, sign up. This
is, I've undertaken to do this job. This is what you're expected
to do when you get your job description. Well, what is required of a pastor
or a preacher? Call it what you like. What is
required? Well, if you ask most people
in religion these days, and even so-called evangelical religion,
they'll say, oh, well, you want somebody who's available for
needy people. You want somebody who's there
to be available for needy people, because people have needs. And
you want somebody that's very good at interacting with people
on a social basis. Somebody that's good socially. amenable, that's friendly, that's
nice and easy for people to talk to. Oh, and you know, a typical
church has got all sorts of different people, from the old to the young,
from the very clever to the not very clever, right the way through.
All sorts of different groups of people. We need somebody that
can meet the social needs of the old. And then have a young
people's meeting. Oh, and the young mums with their
prams. Let's have a pram service and
we'll have pastors that will look after the young mums. organize
care for people, and organize special help for people, and
so on and so forth. Oh, oh, oh, and, ah, nearly forgot,
we want somebody who can lead the church services, don't we?
Yes, and manage the church's program. We want to be an effective
church, we want to grow, we want to get more people in, and, oh,
and then finally, put on the end, I remember a church we were
in years ago, and about the best that people could say about the
preaching was, well, at least it's only 30 minutes long. It's
not too much of a burden. You want somebody that's a good
speaker so that sermons are not too much of a burden for people.
Do you know the description of that? A good social worker, a
good religious social worker could do all of that. Is that
what God says is his job description for the one he calls to proclaim
comfort to his people? Is that the job description?
Absolutely not. God here in Isaiah 40 states
his description of what ministers should aim to do. This is their
job description. As I said, whenever I used to
get a new job description, and I'm sure that applies to you
that are working in that kind of situation, you have to understand
the context of the job. What are the factors that influence
it? What's gone before? What's the nature of the contract
that's been set up before? No point going in there and not
understanding what the situation is. Well, the job description
for the preacher reflects the context in which we live, and
this is where there is so much misunderstanding. You know, we
live in a world, and I've written an article in the bulletin, read
the article, we live in a world which is under judgment. In these
days of 700 plus years before Christ came, in the days of Isaiah,
Judah was the only place where the truth of the gospel of Christ
was maintained, where there was the remnant of those that believed
and hadn't totally gone over to idolatry. Nevertheless, Judah
itself was an idolatrous culture, just like Israel in the north.
Judah was an idolatrous culture, and though it had the temple
and the sacrifices and the priesthood and all of those things, despite
Hezekiah trying as a godly king to re-establish true worship,
The society as a whole was utterly corrupted, and God had said he
would punish them. And he said he was going to take them away,
and he pronounces at the end of chapter 39, you shall be carried
away to Babylon, and nothing shall be left. And all of the
riches, all of the riches of this place will be taken away.
All of it will go to Babylon. All the things that Hezekiah
had bragged about, all of it will be taken away to Babylon.
And their sons will be taken away, and the place will be completely
taken away from you. And that was a shocking thing
to be pronounced. Well, let's bring it up to date
to today. We live in a world which is under the judgment of
God, don't we? This world in which we live is
under the judgment, the certain judgment of God. It really is. It's the kingdom of Antichrist.
It's the kingdom of Satan. It's got its beast, the great
beast which Revelation 13 speaks about in graphic detail, is this
worldwide society where we do not need the justice of God.
We can all be good friends together, we can all make poverty history,
we can all be a good, lovely, friendly society, and we don't
need any of this justice of God to be established. We don't need
this Christ. We don't need his shed blood.
We don't need God's justice to be satisfied. We can all get
on very nicely without it. That's the world we live in.
It's the kingdom of Antichrist. And his false prophet comes and
deludes this world, deceives this world, deludes this world
with all sorts of lying technological wonders that utterly mesmerise
everybody. I know we make use of it ourselves.
I'm recording this sermon right now on one such piece of technology. We make use of the technology,
but nevertheless, nevertheless, it's all signs and wonders to
make us think that we don't need the things of the living God.
And that's the context in which we live. That's the world under
judgment in which we live. And yet God has purposed to save
a people out of that world. You see, all deserve condemnation. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Fall short is the same word as
sin. All have come short of the glory. All have come short of
what God the righteous, the holy one, demands. All have. All deserve
condemnation. The justice of God is offended.
The justice of God cries out for penalty. The justice of God
states a price to be paid for that offence and rebellion against
the living God, but Christ has come for his people. The people
that God chose in him, the multitude that no man can number, from
every tribe and kindred, before the beginning of time, God in
love, out of pure grace, out of no desert at all, out of nothing
that they deserved, he has come and chosen them, and Christ has
come to pay the penalty to the law of God, that they might be
saved. And so, here's what he says,
comfort my people. Comfort my people. The preacher's
job is to comfort the people of God. Comfort them. Comfort
them. You see, there are those who
already believe. Comfort them. Comfort them. That's
what we seek to do as we gather together. Comfort them. There
are those who do not yet believe. There are those, like in the
Acts of the Apostles, where they preached. And who was amongst
them? Well, there were some amongst
them that were amongst that elect number. that people of God chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. When Paul was at
Corinth, you know, when Paul was at Corinth, he was a man
of light passions to us. He'd seen great things, but nevertheless,
he had such challenges to his faith. I mean, how many times
was he beaten and imprisoned and in danger, all for the cause
of Christ? And when he was at Corinth, He's
fearing all sorts of things. And a vision appears to him.
And God comes to him and speaks to him in the night and says
to him, don't be afraid, Paul. Why? For this is God speaking
to Paul. I have much people in this city. Think of that. God has his people
in that city. They were those who, as Acts
13.48 says, you know, the apostles went and they preached the gospel
of Christ. And do you know what it says?
And they were managed to persuade some by their clever techniques.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, they didn't. No. They declared
the gospel and those that were ordained to eternal life believed
it. That's it. That's it. We believe
that in this world, Amongst those who will, maybe now or maybe
for the recording in coming days and weeks, somebody on the internet
will find this and they'll be amongst the elect of God. They don't know it, ordained
to eternal life. And they hear the words of eternal
life and those that are ordained to eternal life, this is what
God's word says, I'm not making this up, they believed. Why? Because the Holy Spirit
gave them eyes to see, and ears to hear, and faith to believe. That's it. It's so important
to understand this context, right? The preacher is not, as the article
will show you, the preacher is not a salesman using the art
of commercial sales to entice people to believe the gospel.
The preacher is called of God to declare the truth of God. in the salvation of sinners and
leave it to the Holy Spirit to call them out of darkness into
his marvelous light. You see, if we get that wrong,
you say, oh, well, that's where they put their emphasis and we
put our emphasis. No, if you get that wrong, absolutely
everything else is wrong. The way you go about evangelism
is totally wrong. The church program you have is
totally wrong. We see it all around us. We see
it just up the road from us. We see the consequences of having
this completely wrong understanding. of what it is to preach the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, and leave it to God the Holy Spirit
to call out of darkness into his marvellous light. So we preach
the gospel to any and to all who will listen, and we trust
God to quicken, to make alive the elect, to give them that
living faith, that new man, you must be born again. That's what
we trust God to do. So then, What are preachers to
preach? Well, there it is in verse one
of chapter 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Is that not completely different
to how so many preach and have done down the years, you know?
If you were to ask, I know in some quarters, and well known
to some of you as well, that there are those quarters. If
you were to say, what is the most important thing that the
pastor of the church should do? What's the most important thing
And these are places that have got a name as well. They've got
a name. And they will tell you, they
will tell you, oh, you must establish and maintain church discipline. That's by far the most important
thing. You must establish and maintain church discipline. Well, God's word says, comfort
my people. Speak comfortably to my people.
Speak to the heart of my people. Comfort my people, says your
God. No. Yes, churches, you know,
we know from the New Testament that churches are told that they
mustn't tolerate blatant, public, open sinning amongst their people
because it brings such disgrace on the name of the gospel and
upon the Christ of the gospel. But no, the emphasis of the preaching
is to comfort the people of God. Speak the gospel to their hearts.
How do you do that? Right, this is the job description,
remember, of a preacher. Speak ye comfortably. Speak to
the heart of Jerusalem, is what it really means. Speak to the
heart of that place which is symbolical of the people at peace
with God. Because it's where the temple
is, which is a picture of the Christ of God, who makes peace.
And it's in the blood of his cross that we have peace. to
the heart of these people and cry to them. What am I to cry?
What am I to preach? Oh, preach to be a good person,
preach to help others, preach to make poverty history, preach... No, it doesn't say that. It says,
preach to 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. What does that mean? It
means this, it means preach redemption accomplished. It means preach
not redemption made a possibility, but redemption accomplished. Her warfare is accomplished.
The warfare, what's the warfare? It's the warfare between sin
and the justice of God, if you like. It's that warfare. It's
the anger that God has with the wicked every day. That is accomplished,
it's paid for, it's dealt with. Her iniquity is pardoned. Why
is her iniquity pardoned? Has God just swept it under the
carpet? That won't give me any comfort. It might come back and
get me. No, preach that her iniquity
is pardoned, because, for she has received of the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. Double? What does that mean?
What does it mean to receive double? Well, I'll tell you what
I think it means. And it can mean other things as well. But
one thing I definitely think it means, you know when you look
in a mirror, and you see your double, don't you? You see the
perfect image of yourself, except back to front. You see your likeness
when you look into a mirror. Well, every sin requires the
perfect punishment, the exact penalty that that sin calls for. And of the Lord's hand she has
received that penalty, for Christ bore it in his own body on the
cross. He paid for it in his shed blood,
when he who knew no sin was made the sin of his people, that we,
his people, might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So not only did he pay for our sins, that we might be justified
from them, but he made us righteous, the righteousness of God in him. That's what he accomplished when
he died at the cross. Speak comfort to my people, speak
to the heart of my people comforting, soothing words, that the sin
that will drag you down and all the rest of humanity to hell,
that hell that they deserve in the justice of God, for his people
Christ has paid for. Christ has paid for it to the
utmost. He is able to save, what does
it say, Hebrews 7.25, he is able to save, so far, no, to the utmost,
those who come to God by him. He saved them from their sins
by bearing their sins. This is so important to understand. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem,
for her iniquity is pardoned. Right, what else? Well, verse
three. 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. Definitely this is
speaking of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness before
the coming of Christ. He is the one that is sent before
him. It tells us that in the Gospels. It tells us that he
is the one that was sent forth. In Matthew's Gospel you read
about it, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. John the Baptist
went out into the wilderness and said, get ready for the Lord
coming, for the Christ of God is coming. Make your hearts right
with God. Come and be baptized for repentance
for your sins. Make the way straight. Now, in
ancient cultures, when a ruler of a place, you know, they didn't
have nice smooth tarmac roads like we have everywhere. The
roads were rough, but preparations would be made. The bumps would
be smoothed out. The corners would be straightened
out. The valleys would be lifted up. The mountains would be taken
out of the way, to make it a smooth way for this ruler to come. And
this is the symbolism that's here. Get ready for the Christ
of God, who is coming. This is what the preacher is
meant to preach as well. You see, clearly it's that prophecy
of John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for Christ's
coming 2,000 years ago. Yes, of course it's that, but
in speaking comfort to the people of God, he also has to proclaim
the gospel to those who have not yet believed it, or maybe
to those who have believed it and are having doubts and troubles
and challenges in their lives. The preacher is to preach Christ
so that a way is prepared for the truth of God to come. So
that every valley, every valley will be got out of the way. Every
valley will be, let me think about it, what could be a valley?
Despair. Can you imagine that there's
the person that's coming under deep conviction of sin, and that's
a valley of despair. And the preacher is to comfort
the people of God by raising that valley up, by showing the
way in which that sin need not separate us from God, for Christ
has dealt with it. And then every mountain, what
mountains might there be? There might be a mountain of
self-righteousness. No doubt there is, for flesh
is so prone to self-righteousness. And the preaching of the gospel
of grace must remove the mountains of self-righteousness from the
way. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem.
remove, raise up those valleys of despair, knock down those
mountains of self-righteousness, straighten out those twists and
bends of religious and philosophical error that this world that we're
in is so prone to. You know, this world is so prone
to believing the lie of Satan. This world is so prone to believing
The things that the kingdom of Satan tells us, that God didn't
create all things, well, there's a job... You know, I wrote an
article about how intelligent design is right and in accordance
with the will and purpose and revelation of God. And it's not
wrong to do that kind of thing because it's removing the sort
of corners that get in some people's ways. Religious and philosophical
error, mental obstacles, the bumps on the road. Remove those. Speak the truth of Christ to
my people. Speak the whole counsel of God. What is it to proclaim the whole
counsel of God? Paul, the apostle, when he was
departing from the Ephesian elders on the beach at Miletus on his
way back to Jerusalem, and then all of those trials came upon
him. And he said to them, you know what sort of man I have
been amongst you. You know what I've done. You
know what I've said. You know how I have not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God. Preached all the scriptures. What have you preached, Paul?
I've preached all the scriptures. How have you preached all the
scriptures, Paul? He tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and
verse 2. I was determined to know nothing
else among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. If you preach
Jesus Christ and him crucified, you have preached the whole counsel
of God. So what are you going to preach from Genesis chapter
9? Jesus Christ and him crucified. Because I tell you, I'll find
him there. If I look for him, I'll find him there. What are
you going to preach if you preach in the Psalms? I'm going to preach
Jesus Christ and him crucified. Because I'll find him there,
not just in one or two places, but in every psalm. I'll find
him there. What are you going to preach
if you preach Revelation? I'm going to preach Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Because you'll find him there,
just as Jesus did himself, the risen Lord Jesus Christ. when
he met up with those disciples on the day of his resurrection
and they were in deep sorrow because they thought that he'd
gone and that the hope of Israel had been destroyed in the crucifixion
of their master and they didn't realize it was him and on that
road to Emmaus it says that he expounded to them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. John chapter 5 and verse
39, I think it is, isn't it, where he's speaking to the Pharisees
and he says, in these scriptures you think that you have eternal
life. Yes, that's right. The key to eternal life is in
this book. He said, these scriptures are they that speak of me. If you preach Christ, if you
lift Christ up, that's the comfort. for the soul of the people of
God. In the gospel is comfort for God's people, because in
the gospel is the glory of God revealed. Look here, verse five.
You preach this, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
The glory of the Lord. What's the glory of the Lord?
Moses said to God, show me your glory. Show me your glory. And
what did he show him? He said this, come and stand
here in this cleft in the rock and I will pass by and I will
show you. I will be gracious. to whom I
will be gracious. All my goodness shall pass before
you. What is your goodness, says Moses? I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious, and I will be compassionate to whom
I will be compassionate. Sovereignty. Sovereign grace
is the glory of God. Where is sovereign grace revealed? Where will all flesh see it together? Where will we see it? God. who caused light to shine out
of darkness. This is 2 Corinthians 4 and verse
6. God who caused light to shine
out of the darkness. When in Genesis 1, God says,
let there be light, and there was light. God caused light,
physical light, to shine out of darkness. It says he has shined
in our hearts, the hearts of his people, to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where? In the face of
Jesus Christ. Is it not so clear? This is what
it is. Comfort my people with the gospel
of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. A message of comfort
to existing believers, to those who have not yet heard, who are
going to hear, and when they hear that call, they will be
given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God to see that
glory and believe the Lord Jesus Christ and to know that their
warfare is accomplished. that their iniquity is pardoned,
that they have received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. When we partake of bread and
wine later, you know it's to remember. The symbols are just
to remember. The second person of the Trinity,
the Word who was in the beginning with God, who was God, the same
was God, the one by whom all things were made and without
him was nothing made that was made. This One who was made flesh,
this Word who was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we, says
John, beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. When He came into the world,
when He walked this earth, when He spoke those words of eternal
life, when He came and accomplished redemption, He accomplished the
warfare, He pardoned the iniquity. How? By that body that was prepared
for Him. God contracted to a span. In
that body, born as a baby, born, looked like any other baby, no
halo around his head, not like the artists proclaim, just an
ordinary baby, yet without sin. And in that body, that body was
broken and that blood was shed. And that's what we remember.
They're just physical symbols to remind us that we might remember
that this really did happen. This really did happen. He really
did. accomplish the pardon of the iniquity of his people. He
really did pay sin for sin, exactly as the law required, and God
thereby is glorified. Okay, that's the basis of it.
The preacher hearing the call might say, yes, I understand
that, and oh, if only there were more in our day that would say
that and that would preach that. We know there are the preachers
that God has raised up for his purpose. Oh, that he would raise
up more. That's a good prayer. Raise up
more preachers for these days in which we live. His word says
that those witnesses looking like they're lying dead in the
streets in Revelation 11, he said they're going to stand on
their feet. And do you know what that means? It means there are going
to be more preachers raised up for these days. So it's a good
prayer. If you want to pray in accordance
with the will of God, Lord, your word says you will raise up preachers. More preachers of the gospel
of grace, of your truth. Raise up those preachers. Where
are we going to get them from? Which theological college are
we going to get them from? I wouldn't touch the average
theological college. I wouldn't even touch the best
of them with a barge pole, thinking that I'm going to find somebody
that will preach the truth of God. We need men who will come
like Elijah. in 1 Kings 17, out of absolutely
nowhere. We don't read a solitary thing
about his preparation, just this, and Elijah the Tishbite came
and spoke. He was just the man that God
burdened for that day, and that's what we pray. But what else should
we speak? Well, let's look at some more
verses, and we don't have much longer, so I'll just skim over
it quickly. But look, from verse 6 down,
the voice said cry. So here's a voice saying to the
preachers, this is what you're to announce. And he said, the
preacher said, what shall I cry? This is what you shall cry. Cry
this, that all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower
fades, the spirit of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people
is grass. The grass withers, the flower
fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. O Zion,
that brings good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O
Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength.
Lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
behold, your God, your God is coming. Behold, the Lord God
will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him, and
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 gently lead those that
are with young. And then he goes on in the next
four verses, which I won't read now, to talk about him creating
all things. What am I to preach? Preach the
peril of flesh, the weakness, the hopelessness of flesh. All
flesh is grass. That doesn't mean that all flesh
is good for animal feed. It means all flesh is worthless
weeds. It means worthless weeds. The
flower of it comes up. It's a, you know, a dandelion.
When I see dandelions in my garden, I'm not very happy. When I see
other flowers, I'm generally quite happy. But when I see dandelions,
I'm not. because I know what they'll do,
they'll go to seed heads in no time, and they'll spread so that
there are more and more dandelions, and if we didn't attack them
and dig them out, we'd soon find that the whole place would be
covered with dandelions. Because it's worthless, and that's
what he's saying. Flesh is worthless. What is it
to preach that flesh is grass? It's to preach total depravity. Total depravity. What do we hope
for spiritually from flesh as it is? I'll tell you what we
hope for. Absolutely nothing on the strength of God's word.
There isn't the strength to believe God. There isn't the strength
to follow God. There is nothing. All flesh is
grass. All flesh is dead spiritually. God said to Adam, in the day
that you eat thereof, you shall surely die and all your progeny
with you. All that follow from you will
die in the flesh. In the flesh, as Paul says, the
apostle, he says, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm not worthy to
be called an apostle. In me, that is in my flesh, he
said, there dwells no good thing. All flesh is grass. But Christ
is coming. You see, the grass withers, and
the flower of it fades, doesn't it? But, look, this is eternal
value. The word of our God shall stand
forever. God's Word stands forever. Unlike
flesh, God's Word stands forever. He is the one who is eternal.
This Word that was in the beginning with God, who was God, who was
made flesh and dwelt among us, that he might accomplish redemption.
The Word of our God shall stand forever. This Word, amongst literature,
is utterly unique. I mean, I know you shouldn't
apply adjectives to the word unique, because it's either unique
or it isn't. You can't have something that's
quite unique or very unique. There's either only one of it,
or there isn't only one of it. There's only one of this. This
is the Word of God. It's unique. The Word of our
God shall stand forever. Every other writing of man shall
come and go and rise and fall in its value, but the word of
the Lord shall stand forever. And what does it declare from
front to back? A Messiah who is coming. Good
tidings, O Jerusalem, good tidings. Lift up your voice, be not afraid.
Say what? What's the message? What are
you to preach? Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Your
God is coming. Look, the Lord God will come
with strong hand. When he came, Was he not meek
and mild? Is this not the opposite? You
see, the people expected him to come with arms and with forces
with him to take over the Roman Empire and restore the kingdom
to Israel, but no. It says he will come with a strong
hand in the respect of what? in the respect of this, that
with that strong hand he shall bind Satan. We won't turn to
it now, but if you were to look at Matthew 12, 29, Jesus said
that he wants to come into the strong man's house and bind him
and plunder his goods. Who is the strong man? Satan.
What is his house? This world. And his goods? The people that are in his thrall.
And yet Christ comes in. And by his death at Calvary,
the very thing that Satan thought was his triumph, by his death
at Calvary he defeated Satan. He utterly disarmed Satan. He bound Satan. He took away
every accusation that Satan can bring. The accuser of the brethren
is disarmed by what Christ the strong man has done when he came
to Conquer his kingdom, to take his kingdom back to himself.
His reward is with him. His people, his reward. Behold,
I and the children whom God has given me. That's his reward.
He came and got his children. He recovered them from the thrall
of Satan. Look, he's a shepherd, as John
10 tells us. He's a shepherd. He shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. He shall feed his flock. He has
a flock that is his flock, and he shall feed. A shepherd looks
after his sheep. I was listening to one on the
radio the other day, and, oh I know, he was on the Desert
Island Discs, he was a Lakeland shepherd, and he was speaking
about his utter devotion to his flock of sheep, and it was really
quite touching and moving, the way you go out in all weathers
for those sheep. If one of them gets lost, he
doesn't give it a choice as to whether it's going to come home.
Do you know what he does? Do you know what the good shepherd
does? He's lost one sheep. You might remember that Jesus
told a parable about having a hundred sheep and one of them's lost.
And he goes out onto the hillside and he says to the sheep, does
he? Does he say to the sheep, oh,
if only you would let me take you home. Have you ever heard
a shepherd say to a sheep, oh, if only you would let me save
you. If only you would let me bring you home. No, he goes and
he gets hold of that sheep that's his and he picks it up and the
shepherd puts it on his shoulders and he holds the front legs and
the back legs and holding it firm, he takes it home to himself.
You see, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather
the lambs with his arm. He shall carry them in his bosom
and gently lead those that are with young. Is that not sovereign
grace on display in the scriptures? Is that not the grace of God?
God has his people, his sheep, and he goes and gets his sheep.
And he doesn't give them a choice. He brings them home to himself.
Look who he is, this good shepherd. He's the one that has made all
things. I'm going to be quick now. Look, all the way down to
verse 14. He's the creator. You read it
for yourself again. We read it before. He's the creator. He's sovereign over all. Oh,
how stupid. This is what to preach. Preach
this, because man is so prone to idolatry. What you say, we
all carve images and set them up. Yes, some used to do, but
I tell you, in our day, in our society. Do you know our society
is such an idolatrous society? And the idols that our society
bows down to are all in their minds. The material world around,
and the things in our minds, and the false philosophies, and
we bow down to those false philosophies. We make gods out of those false
philosophies, or at least the society all around us does. but
how foolish it is. Verses 18 down to 21, look, how
silly. Doesn't it seem stupid? What
a stupid thing to do, to use your resources to make an idol
that you will worship and yet it can do absolutely nothing
for you. Isn't that right? Absolutely
nothing for you. Have you not known, verse 21,
have you not heard You who are behaving so foolishly as to make
idols. Has it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth. That's the true
God. That's the God we worship. The
inhabitants thereof are so tiny, they're just like little grasshoppers.
He is the one that stretches out the heavens as a curtain
and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in. and modern cocky
man in his arrogance professing himself to be wise says, oh,
how foolish. No, we know it all. We know exactly
how it all happened. No, you don't. Professing yourselves
to be wise, you became fools. God stretched out the heavens.
God made everything that we see. He is the one who is sovereign.
Look, verse 23, he's sovereign over everything. He brings the
princes to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth
as vanity because he is sovereign over all. They shall not be planted,
they shall not be sown. To whom, verse 25, to whom then
will ye liken me or shall I be equal, says the Holy One. Lift
up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things,
that bringeth out their host by number, the stars. He calls
them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is
strong in power, not one of them fails. God is sovereign over
all things. This is the Christ to preach.
This is the Christ who has accomplished salvation. This is the Christ
who has given for his people an exact payment for every sin.
And in verses 27 down to 31, he confirms that certain salvation. Why do you say, O Jacob, and
speak, O Israel? Effectively, they're saying that
God can't deal with my situation. Have you not heard, have you
not known, sorry, verse 28, have you not heard that the everlasting
God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't
faint? He never gets tired, neither
is weary. There is no searching, there
is no plumbing the depths. You will never get to the bottom
of his understanding. He gives power to the faint,
and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Who are
they? They're sinners like you and
me. And he gives power to the faint. He gives the power of
salvation to the faint. You see, even the strongest among
men, verse 30, the fit young men, the strong young men, even
the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall. But listen, those that wait upon
the Lord, those that believe God, those that trust in Christ
and all he's accomplished, they shall renew their strength, because
it shall be a constantly renewing strength. This is why Jesus said,
he who believes in me shall have eternal water, everlasting life,
bubbling up inside him constantly, like a spring. You don't need
to pump a spring, it's just there. It bubbles up from the ground
of itself. They shall renew their strength. They shall mount up
with wings as eagles. What are these wings as eagles
that they shall mount up with? They're the wings of faith. They're
the same wings that were given to the woman in the wilderness
in Revelation 12. Wings of faith. How? Those wings of faith, you fly
out of this world in conformity to it into the kingdom of God.
They shall not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. What
is required of a pastor or a preacher? to declare God's salvation of
his elect in the person and work of Christ the God-man. That's
what it is, to be determined to know nothing else among everyone
that we speak to than Jesus Christ and him crucified, and thereby
lifting him up and comforting God's people with the truth of
Christ, we have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of
God. the preacher's job description.
We'll end it at that point.