Let's turn tonight to Isaiah
chapter 40. Isaiah the 40th chapter. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. What a commission. I've referred to those words,
read them, spoken them so many times, I have no doubt that Every
child here who listens can quote them from memory. But often that
which is most familiar is easily overlooked. I'll give you an
example to my own shame. Friday afternoon, I received
a call from a dear friend, a preacher, and he asked me to give him an
explanation of these first two verses of Isaiah. And I gave
him a brief explanation, and I said, I'll tell you what I'll
send you, what I've written on those two verses. And I started
looking for it. And much to my surprise, I hadn't
written anything on it. When we preached through Isaiah,
or when I preached through Isaiah, somehow I managed to miss verse
two altogether. And I was a little embarrassed. But needless to say, I'm going
to make up for the deficit now. And my buddy has his notes. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. speak ye comfortably,
speak to the heart of Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now, if you will back up to chapter
39, the last three verses of that chapter, you'll see the
Lord God gives a word of stern judgment. He told Hezekiah that
he was going to send him, or not him, but his kingdom and
his sons all into Babylon. His sons, the children of Israel,
would become eunuchs to serve the pagan Babylonians. For 70
years, Israel must be held in the bondage of those pagans.
But God being the God of all comfort, rather than his people
being driven to despair and fear, as though because God has determined
to send judgment to Israel, that those who were among the Israelites
who truly believed God might fear he would turn on them in
judgment, he commands his prophet to comfort his people. He says,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. What a wonderful title is here
given by God Almighty to his people. He says, my people, my
people. We are God's people. All the world belongs to him.
He's the God of all men, the creator of all men. He is that
one in whom all men live and move and have their being. He
is that God who sustains all men. But there is a people in
this world who are distinctly described here as my people,
the people of his everlasting covenant love, his people by
distinct relationship, his sons and daughters. We are his people
because he chose us. His people because he sent his
son to redeem us. These are the things that distinguish
his people, his chosen people, his elect people from all the
other people who belong to him. He's the God of all flesh, but
we're his people. His people because he called
us by his almighty grace and united us to his son. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Now there's a tremendous revelation
of grace. The God of glory is your God. I read a statement by Martin
Luther one day last week. He said Christianity in its essence
is expressed in personal pronouns. Now try to get hold of this.
He is your God. That same grace that makes us
his property makes him our property. That same grace that makes us
his possession, now this is a mouthful, that same grace, Ron, makes God
Almighty our possession, our property, God's mind. What consolation, then, to say
the Lord is my shepherd. is my father. All his riches,
all his grace, all his goodness, all his wisdom, all his providence,
all that God is, is mine, because Christ is mine. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Now, here's the commission he
gives to his servants. comfort my people. He doesn't
say strengthen you, strengthen you my people, though the weary
need to be strengthened. He doesn't say protect you, protect
you my people, though we are all vulnerable and must be protected. The text does not say reprove
you, reprove you my people. God's people get plenty of that
from folks standing where I'm standing here. There's a place
for reproof, but reproof must be touched in comforting terms.
The Lord God gives us the example right here. Back in chapter 39,
he speaks of judgment. He said, wait a minute, wait
a minute. Comfort my people. Comfort my people. Speak comfortably
to my people. He doesn't say, feed ye, feed
ye my people. Go and feed. By comforting them,
we feed them. And those who are faithful shepherds
of Christ must feed his flock. The text says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, because God Almighty, our Heavenly Father, has such
tender regard for his people in this world that he cares not
only for our well-being, but for our being well in the sense
of his grace and experience his grace. He would have us to be
his comforted people, his happy people, happy people. I talked
to a fellow recently, seemed to have trouble with that word
happy. I said, I thought we were supposed to
mourn. The folks who mourn, in the sense the scripture speaks
of, are made happy. Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are they that mourn. There's a kingdom of heaven.
That ought to make you happy. That ought to give you some comfort,
happy, comfortable. That's what God wants for his
people. You had your boy with you today, what do you want for
him? Oh, I want him to be happy, comfortable, comfortable. Now,
this commission is a commission given specifically to God's servants. Those who preach the gospel are
commanded of God to comfort his people. I don't consider myself a preacher's
preacher, a pastor's pastor, but I've learned a few things
by my horrible mistakes. I try to turn to this passage
of Scripture and read it very frequently. The business of God's
servant as he stands before God's people in this troubled world
is to preach the gospel of his grace to the comfort of their
hearts for the glory of God. But preacher, I was sent to reprove and correct. Let me tell you something. God never sent a preacher to
rip the hide off his people and pour the salt in. God sent his
people to comfort those that mourn. to bind up the brokenhearted,
to strengthen the feeble knees, to lift up the hands that hang
down, to comfort. We are sent to comfort believing
men and women and sent to comfort them with good, solid basis for
comfort. Where my theology lacks, I don't
see how I can be of any comfort to anyone. When I hear these
Arminian freewill workmongers on radio and television, And
I don't listen to them much, but sometimes they'll come on
before I can get it turned off. I ask myself, when the chips
are down, when the chips are down, where does that man find
any comfort? His message sure doesn't have
any. It may be a feel-good religious exercise, but his message is
not going to give you anything to live on. He can't raise fire
for his own soul, much less for yours. man's free will and God's
limitation and what God does or doesn't control. And then
they get up when trouble comes and say, well, we know all things
are going to work out all right. How do you know? That's nothing. Based on what most folks say
they believe, that's nothing but a superstitious wish. Nothing
else. But the gospel we preach is a
gospel with solid comfort for your soul. Solid comfort. When I call on you to be of good
cheer, I'm not calling on you to grasp at straws when you've
got nothing else to hold on to. I'm calling on you to stand firm
on the rock, Christ Jesus. What's more comforting to your
troubled soul than the knowledge of God's absolute predestination? My Father determined this, and
that's why it is. Well, that leads me out of the
equation. It sure does. That takes everything out of
my hands. Oh my God, when it chips you down, I'm glad to have
everything out of my hands, aren't you? Everything, not anything
I can do. God's purpose is sure. What's
more comforting than the knowledge that our Heavenly Father absolutely
rules the universe in the performance of His will? What's more comforting
than the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has effectually
redeemed our souls, put away our sins, given us righteousness,
brought us into his acceptance with himself and with his Father?
What's more comforting than the knowledge of infallible grace? Nothing brings me more disconsolation,
more trouble, than my own struggle with my sin. And I'm not talking about stuff
you see. I keep that covered up pretty good. You don't see
me in out of sorts much. Some of you have occasionally.
I recall one time having some trouble with one of the lawyers
in town. He was thinking about building a parsonage back here
in I heard Merle as we walked out the door, he said, Brother
Don's mad. He was right. But I try to hold it down most
of the time. You don't see me do too much
too bad. And oh my soul, I know something, what goes on inside
me. And here's my consolation. God's grace to me did not come
to me because of anything good in me, but because of all that's
bad in me. And I was in desperate need.
and God's grace in me will not be sustained because of anything
good in me. Oh, how blessed, how blessed,
how blessed to stand upon this ground, knowing that my eternal
salvation is in no way determined or dependent upon by anything
I have done or am doing or shall hereafter do, but rather upon
God's immutable goodness. He says, I am the Lord. I don't change. Therefore, you
constantly changing worms, Jacob, are not consumed. When the preacher stands to preach,
he must seek to be filled with the spirit of comfort so that
he can minister comfort to God's people. The weary need rest. The hungry need food. The thirsty
need water, the tempted need help, the sick need some medicine,
the fallen need some help, and all are found in Christ and the
gospel of his grace. Well, what's the cause of this? The commission is comfort my
people, but what's the cause? Why does God give us this command? Because God delights in the happiness
of sheep. God delights for His people to
be delighted in Him. He commands us. Listen to this
command. You folks want a law? Here's your good law. Rejoice
in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your
moderation be known to all men, the Lord's at hand. God commands
us to be joyful. He commands us to rejoice in
Him. Now, I'm not talking about giddy, ha-ha, laughing, put on
fake joy. I'm talking about joy. I'm talking
about joy that will stand you in good stead and sustain your
soul when your heart breaks and tears burn your cheeks and your
mind and soul and spirit are wrung out to their wits end.
I still have my God at hand and I will rejoice in him, in his
goodness. It's not the kind of, I'm not
talking about something that we fake. I'm not talking about
acting joyful. The Lord says, give my people
comfort. Give my people comfort, because
he delights in it. Turn over to Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61. I think I'm in pretty
good company here. You see, God calls himself the
God of consolation. The word of God was written for
our consolation. Romans 15 verse 4. The Holy Spirit,
his particular office, his comfort. He is the Comforter, that's what
it's called. When the Comforter is called,
he's come to minister comfort to us. And our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is particularly and distinctly the minister of
comfort. Look at this, Isaiah 61. The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anointed me
to preach good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of the vengeance
of our God, to tell you that vengeance is over, the acceptable
year of God is finished, because I put away sin. Look at this,
to comfort all that mourns. to appoint to them that mourn
in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. God is glorified by
his people's consolation in him. Glorified. We honor our God. as we look to Him, trusting His
providence, trusting His grace, trusting His goodness, when everything
around us seems shaky and black and dark and crumbling and hard
and bitter, we will look to Him and be comforted. Oh, this is
our God. We believe Him. We believe Him. More than that, This is a commission
that extends beyond God's servants. God's saints are to comfort one
another. We are to minister consolation
to one another because God Almighty has filled our hearts with love
for one another. You remember how Paul speaks
to the Philippians, if there be therefore any consolation
of the spirit, any bowels of mercies, any comfort of love. Children of God, make it your
business, make it your business to minister to the comfort of
other believers. When your cup's overflowing,
find somebody whose cup's empty and take a little. Make it your
business to make the lives of God's people in this world better. How do you do that? Not by sitting
down with them and crying in your beer because things are
so bad. Fact is, Ron, things aren't bad at all. They're real
good. They're real good. How can you say that? My God
has brought this to pass. My God has done what he's done
and he's done it for his glory and my good and the good of his
people. We'll honor him. We'll honor
him. When you've been brought through some trials, some heartaches, some troubles. And God's brought you through
them so that you've come through that dark, dark tunnel on the
other side and light has dawned on your soul. God did it for
a reason. Not just to prove your faith,
but to make you a useful minister to other people. I've had some
experiences that others haven't had. I can go to them and comfort
them, help them. I can tell them what to expect.
I can tell them how things are going to turn out. And then there are others who
go through difficulties I can't even sympathize with. I can stand
back and feel sorry for them, but I can't really have any heart
sympathy for them because I have no idea what they're going to. No idea. I have a very dear friend,
a gospel preacher, a faithful man, who at one time was packed away
in an asylum. Doctors told his wife, go home
and forget it. He'll never know you again. Go home and forget
it. Came back to Vietnam, shell-shocked
and just out of his mind. Out of his mind. I've never been in his home,
sat down at a meal, he'd start to pray. He'd then say, God,
I thank you for a sound mind. And you know who I call whenever
I find out somebody's going through some real difficulty with depression? I call my buddy. I say, would
you give him a call? Because he knows what they're
going through. I can't enter into it or don't know what it...
He does. He does. And he's glad to come through.
Now you, my brothers and sisters, God Almighty sends you difficulties,
not only to try and prove your faith, but to make you useful
instruments to his people going through such difficulties and
use it, use it for the glory of God and their souls good.
All right now, look at verse two. Here's the consolation. By what means do we comfort God's
people in this world? Specifically, The Lord God says
here in verse two, speak ye comfortably. That word, speak ye comfortably,
is a command God gives. It's absolutely impossible for
me to obey. He commands us to speak to the
heart of his people. And I can't tell you how I want
to do that. I have no interest in impressing
your minds or tickling your brains or tickling your emotions, but
oh God, help me to speak to your heart. I can't do it, but Bobby,
if you'll speak through me, I want to speak right to your heart. Right to your heart. Speak to
the heart of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, of course, is not
talking about that city over on the other side of the world.
Jerusalem is talking about the Church of God, His elect. And
cry unto her, that is, declare with firm authority that her
warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned, for she
has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Now here is comfort for the comfortless. The comfort of my soul, the ease
of my heart, the peace of my mind does not depend on me. Does not depend on my present
experience. Does not depend upon my emotional
state. Does not depend upon my feelings. But the comfort of my heart,
the peace of my soul, the solid rock that sustains me is that
which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has done for me. I love the statement Mother Scott
Richardson made in this pulpit several years ago. He was preaching
to us and he said, there's been no bad news since I got the good
news. No bad news since I got the good
news. Now this good news is a proclamation of particular redemption. It
is a declaration of effectual salvation. It is a declaration
of full, unlimited grace. If you trust Christ, if you right
now believe on the Son of God, if you rest your soul on Jesus
Christ alone, this is God's word to you. Oh, what consolation,
not in what you do. I wish I could get us to quit looking at what we do, be
it good or bad, for anything before God. Did you hear me? Quit looking at what you do,
be it good or bad, for anything before God. If you're gods, you
dare not. You dare not. The hymn writer
put it this way. It's an excellent hymn. Nothing
either great or small, nothing, sinner, no. Jesus did it, did
it all long, long ago. When he from his lofty throne
stooped to do and die, everything was fully done. Hearken to his
cry. It is finished. Yes, indeed,
finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need.
Tell me, is it not? Weary, working, plodding one,
why toil you so? Cease your doing, all was done
long, long ago. Tell to Jesus, work you clean,
by a simple faith. Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. So cast
your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in him,
in him alone, gloriously complete. But what did he do? Isaiah gives
it to us in three sentences. Look at them with me. Declare
to Jerusalem that her warfare is accomplished. The warfare is over. We came forth from the womb speaking
lies. Rebels whose hearts are enmity
against God. There is a warfare between man
and God. It's a warfare on God's parts altogether right and just.
But it's a warfare on our part that has absolutely no basis
of justice. It is only the warfare of enmity
against God. And the Lord God declares to
sinners, who are themselves by nature at war with God, who despise
His throne, who would, if they could, take Him by the neck,
choke Him to death, shove Him off His throne, and shut down
themselves. Your warfare is over. It's accomplished. It's accomplished. This accomplishment of the warfare,
this finishing of the warfare is a two-fold thing. First, it
was done at Calvary. When the Lord Jesus Christ died,
yonder at Calvary 2,000 years ago, God was in Christ, reconciling
the world, the world of his elect, to himself, not imputing the
trespasses unto them. So that when Christ died at Calvary,
God's justice was satisfied, his anger was dictated, his wrath
was ended. Christ Jesus took it all. But
we still lived enemies in our minds by wicked works. Children
of wrath even as others. Living under a sense of guilt,
condemnation and wrath. And we live constantly with our
fists shoved in God's face. And then God sends his spirit. And he stops the warfare. He
sprinkles the heart with the blood of Christ. And the sinner
to whom God the Holy Spirit comes in grace is reconciled to God. And let me tell you what that
means. That man, that woman who hated
God in all that he is, all their days, loves for him to be God
now. I'm so glad he's God, not me.
I'm so glad he's on the throne, not you. I'm so glad he's who
he is. Now my business is to beseech
you to be reconciled to God. I call on you. Your problem,
you can put it anywhere you want to, You can put it in the prettiest
phrase you can possibly put it in, but your problem is just
this. You still got your little pop gun out trying to kill God.
And the only thing for you to do is lay down your warfare weapons
and bow to him. Stack arms and surrender. Surrender or die. That's it. Be reconciled to God. Don't receive
the word of God in vain, but be reconciled to him. Kiss the
son lest he be angry. Fall down before him and kiss
his feet. Acknowledge him as king and be
reconciled to him. Not only is her warfare accomplished,
but the Lord says, tell my people, tell Jerusalem, her iniquity
is pardoned. Well, preacher, how do you know who his people
are? Don't have any idea who they are. So I just preached
to everybody. Christ has pardoned somebody's
sins. Christ has redeemed somebody.
They're called Jerusalem. They're called God's elect. They're
called every soul that believes. And I'm telling you, if right
now you believe on the Son of God, your iniquity not shall
be, but your iniquity has been, is, and forevermore shall be
pardoned. Iniquity is pardoned. What a
word of grace. Turn back to Isaiah 53. Look
at this. Look at this. Let me be a little bit personal as I
read this. And where I put my name, you can put yours. Oh,
I hope you can. Look at verse four. Surely Christ has borne Don Fortner's
griefs and carried Don's sorrows, all of them. Yet I did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. I looked at him with utter contempt,
said he doesn't deserve any better. But he was wounded for Don's
transgressions. He was bruised for Don's iniquities. The chastisement
of Don's peace was upon him. And bless God with his stripes,
Don Fortner is healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. But the Lord laid on
him the iniquity. of all his people, of us all,
of all Jerusalem, of all who believe on his son. God Almighty
took our sins, laid them on his son. How can I say this? He laid them
on his son. But boy, not like I laid that booklet on that table. He laid them on his son like
you lay a charge in a record book, but more, but more. He laid them on his son so as
to make our sins his sins. He made him to be sin for us. And he punished our sins to the
full satisfaction of justice when he sacrificed his son. And
punishing our sins to the full satisfaction of justice, God lifted up. He lifted up our
sins. and cast them into the depths
of the sea. Annihilated them from the record
book of heaven. Annihilated them from memory
of his justice. Put them away. Put them away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. He was manifested to put away
sin. And he did it. In him is no sin. He who died
has ceased from sin. Christ who died no longer bears
sin, no longer is sin, no longer has sin, because he died and
the law set aside. But that's not all. I died in
him. And so far as God's law and justice
is concerned, I ceased from sin. I no longer have sin. I no longer
bear sin. I no longer am sin. Not before
God's law. I'm not talking now about my
experience. Oh no, I'm talking about God's eyes, God's view,
God's justice, God's holiness. Now then, here's the third thing.
Her warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. For
she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Ah, blessed word of grace. What on earth does this mean? It means these three things.
The Lord Jesus has made an infinite, all-sufficient sacrifice for
sin. God's justice, God's holiness,
God's righteousness, God's truth cannot demand more than Christ
has given. Did you get that? God's justice,
God's righteousness, God's holiness, God's truth cannot demand more
for my faith than Christ has given. Payment God cannot twice
demand. first at my bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine. Now this is what I'm telling
you. The Lord God has declared, he
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Now I can't say much about this
man talking to you, but this I'll tell you. I believe on the
Son of God. The Lord God declares, if we
confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And my God, I hide nothing from
you. Not from you. Not from you. I hide a lot from you. It's best
for you that I do. Best for me too. but not from
him, not from him. On that basis, on the basis of
what God has said, I stand before him as a man forgiven of sin
to whom God Almighty can never impute sin because Christ died
for me. No wonder David wrote, blessed
is the man. to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. He won't do it. He won't do it.
He won't do it. You mean pastor? As I believe on the Son of God
and recognize that He by His death put away my sins, all my
sins, God Almighty will never look to me for satisfaction. You got it. You got it. She received the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. That means our sins are put away. And it means, secondly, that
we have a double portion of grace. Our Lord Jesus declares that
we are fully pardoned. The guilt of sin no longer remains
upon us. But there's more. We are perfectly
righteous. The righteous life and obedience
of Christ is our anger. How can I say this like it ought
to be said? That doesn't mean he just laid it on us. That doesn't mean, buddy, he
just put it to our account. It means all of that. But it
means that God Almighty has made us He made us righteous. He made
us righteous in the record of heaven, but he makes us righteous,
giving us that righteousness in the new birth, putting a new
nature in us, creating Christ in us for the praise of his name. The Lord Jesus said, I restored
that which I took not away. And now by the obedience of one,
the many who are in him are made righteous. When God Almighty
made Christ to be said for us, Rex, he dealt with him on the
basis of strict justice and gave him what he fully deserved. He poured out his wrath without
mitigation completely on his son. because he was made sin. Now here's the third day. Because
he's made us righteous. When he bids us, come, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world, and sets us down in his kingdom. and crowns us with the glory
of his son. He will deal with us on the basis
of exactly what we deserve in his son. So that we are now made to receive
the Lord's hand double for all our sin. He put away our sin. and made us heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. After I sent these notes to my
buddy, this is what he wrote to me. Because, I suppose, of my own
doubts, fears, failings, and questions, I desperately needed
comforting. As I thought on that subject,
I realize I'm no different than any other child of promise. I
need to hear again that marvelous message of Christ's finished
work. I need to be reminded of God's
everlasting love for his elect. I need to be comforted with the
message of Christ's obedience to the law as the surety of his
sheep, and his substitutionary death at Calvary with the imputed
guilt of those sheep. Those whom God has purposed to
save. Thank you. Take the word of comfort home
with you. This is God's word to you, Bobby Estes. Your warfare
is over. Your iniquity is pardoned. You've
received in the Lord's hand double for all your sins. Just dance
away. Just dance away. Amen.