That's one of my favorite hymns.
I love that hymn. While Matt was reading that passage
of scripture from Hebrews chapter two, I just tried to think about
this, where the Lord said, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. To think that he would own me
as his brother. And this is what really hit me.
In the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto thee? Now,
can you imagine sitting and listening to him sing? In the midst of
the church, praise to his father. I don't know that I'd want to
join in. I just want to listen. Would you turn back to Mark chapter
one? This first Wednesday night, I've
got to preach in three weeks. I love Wednesday nights. We didn't
have one before the service. I had my rec last Wednesday night,
so I'm just excited to be here with you. I've entitled this message. The message of evangelism. The message of evangelism, I'll
let you know in just a moment why I entitled it by that, but
we have the announcement in verse one, the beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, the son of God. And his appeal is to what is
written. As it is written in the prophets. Now that's my only view. Is this what the scripture teaches? I really have no other interest.
This is my only view. This is our only view. We really
believe the Bible is the word of God. And we don't go to the
Bible to prove what we believe. We go to the Bible to find out
what to believe. That must be our attitude. And this is how he makes his
appeal as it is written. And he quotes two Old Testament
passages of scripture regarding John the Baptist, the forerunner
of Christ. You know, he's the only man in
the New Testament, other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
prophesied of in the Old Testament. Last of the Old Testament prophets,
John the Baptist was a subject of prophecy. And he quotes a
passage of scripture from Malachi chapter three and Isaiah chapter
40. Now the passage in Isaiah chapter
40 is quoted in first Peter chapter one. Would you turn with me there?
And this is why I entitled this message the way I did. First
Peter chapter one. Verse 23, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. That's an awesome thought,
isn't it? Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, not of that which is subject to corruption, but by incorruptible
seed, by the word of God. It's the word of God that begets
life, which liveth and abideth forever
for, verse 24. And now he quotes, well, this
is all a quotation from Isaiah 40. The word of God living and
abiding forever is what stands For all flesh is as grass and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers and
the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word. This is
what takes place when the message of evangelism is preached. This is the word. which by the gospel is preached
unto you. This is the content of evangelism. The message of evangelism. Now, the first quotation in Mark
chapter one is from Malachi chapter three, verse one. As it's written in the prophets,
behold, I'll send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. Now let's turn a few pages back
to Malachi, last book in the Old Testament. chapter 3, verse 1. Behold, this is God speaking,
I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before
me. This is the Lord Jesus talking
about John the Baptist. And the Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant
in whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts." Now, I love the way he says the Lord shall
come suddenly into his temple. You remember in John chapter
2 when he said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll
raise it up. He's talking about the incarnation
of Christ when he comes suddenly into his temple. And I love who
he calls himself. This one who comes suddenly into
his temple. The messenger of the covenant. What a name for the Lord Jesus
Christ. A messenger of the covenant. Now the covenant he's talking
about is what we call the covenant of grace. David spoke like this in his
dying words, although my house be not so with God, yet as he
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation. and all my desire, though he
makes it not to grow." Which I think is kind of an interesting
way to end that verse, though he makes it not to grow. Now,
God the Father made a covenant with Christ and everybody in
He made this covenant with me when he made it with Christ.
And David speaks of his covenant. And in this statement he makes,
we have what is called the doctrine of grace. Although my house be
not so with God. Now, I realize in one reference
or in an instance, he was talking about his family. His family
was a mess. His family was a mess. A bad mess. But I think more
than anything else, he's talking about this house. This house. Although my house be not so with
God. Now there we have total depravity. Yet, hath he made with me an
everlasting Now there we have election. Yet, hath he made with
me an everlasting covenant, one made before the foundation of
the world? And how does he describe this
covenant? It's ordered in all things. And sure, Now here we have Christ's
successful redeeming work. The reason it's ordered in all
things and sure is because of the substitutionary atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ in behalf of his people. Everybody he died
for at salvation is ordered in all things and sure. And then David says. This is
all my salvation. And all my desire. You know what
that is? That's saving grace. That's the
invincible, irresistible grace of God that saves. This is all
my salvation. Every bit of it. And this is
all my desire. This is all I want. Ordered in
all things ensure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. Though he maketh it not to grow. There's perseverance and preservation.
I am a sinner. And this statement by David,
I don't even know how to describe it, but I know exactly what he
means. Though he makes it not to grow, every believer feels
like they're just as bad as they ever were. Every worse, worse. And The reason somebody like
that perseveres is because they're preserved by the grace of God.
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is the messenger of the covenant,
and he was prophesied by Christ to come as the forerunner of
the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist is the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, back in our text in Mark
chapter one, we read this quotation from Isaiah 40. Verse three, the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Now go to Isaiah 40, that's verse
three, but what I want us to do is look at the entire chapter. Now verse three in Isaiah chapter
40 says the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare
ye the way of the Lord, make straight into the desert a highway
for our God. And we're going to spend the
remainder of our time here in Isaiah chapter 40. And I want
to look at the first 11 verses and look at the context in which
verse 3 is stated. All scripture is important. All scripture. given by inspiration
of God. There's no such thing as a scripture
that's not that important. If God revealed it, it's all
important. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. But there are some scriptures
that stand out taller than others, kind of like in a mountain range.
There's some peaks that are a little higher than others. And I really
believe Isaiah 40 is one of those high, high peaks in the mountain
range of divine truth. Verse 1, this is God telling his preacher
what to preach. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. saith your God. Now his people are the elect. I never want to back away from
anything like that. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. His people are
the elect. And I always want to bring that
out because some preachers will kind of hedge there and hide
there and say, well, His people are those who believe. Well,
that's true, but that's not getting the point because the reason
we're getting this point is that His people are going to be saved.
They are saved. They're eternally saved. They
can be anything but saved. That's why we make an emphasis
on that because as soon as I don't make an emphasis on that, I'm
hedging. I'm trying to please men. I'm
trying to please the flesh. And oh, I don't want to do that.
His people are the elect of God. Those who Christ died for, not
everybody is his people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Now only the people of God will
be comforted by this message. And all other people will find
no comfort in this message. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Now I'm trying to think about this thing of comfort. Comfort
is good news in the midst of bad news. If there's no conflict, there
will be no comfort. Comfort is only understood in
the context of needing comfort because I'm in a place where
comfort is necessary for me or I cannot possibly be happy. I can't be rest. I can't have any joy if I don't
have this comfort because the fact of the matter is I'm still
a sinner. I am still a sinner. You are too. And I've got conflict
I've got trial, I've got troubles, just like everybody else does.
All believers do. The reason we need comfort, number
one, is because we're still sinners, and number two, because there's
so many horrible things that just trouble us. Now, all true gospel preaching is
comfort. If it's not comforting, it's
not the gospel. I don't care if there's rebuke
being involved. It's still comforting because
the very nature of the gospel is to comfort you, to cause you
to not look to yourself, but to look away from yourself and
look to Christ. That's what gospel preaching does. It's all comforting. And if it's not comforting, you
didn't hear the gospel. Every true preacher is given
this mission. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Now we see in verse two, I'm
going to get to that more in a moment, but speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Now that is comforting for me
to hear that My warfare, the conflict I have, it's already
taken care of. It's accomplished. There's nothing
to worry about. My iniquity, it's pardoned. It's all forgiven. I've received of the Lord's hand
double for all my sins. Now, that's comforting. That's
the context of comfort. And preaching that leaves you
looking to yourself is not the preaching that God command. It didn't come from the Lord.
Now look what he says in verse two, speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem. Now my marginal reading says,
speak to the heart of Jerusalem. And this is very important. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.
As a matter of fact, this word is found 580 some times in the
old Testament and over 500 times it's translated heart. speaking
to the heart of Jerusalem. And I have no question that this
is talking about the new heart that God gives. That is the only
heart that responds to the gospel. Your old heart's no good. It's
deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked. It doesn't
respond to the gospel. It's the new heart. It's the
new man that responds to the gospel and finds comfort in the
gospel. Now, I remember one time, I've
heard this before, I remember one time a lady who'd been coming
here for several months, and at the door while she's going
out, she said, preach to my heart, not my head. Well, I suppose I can understand
that to some extent, but it can be, I guess, okay in some context,
but for the most part, that's not even a good statement. How
do you preach? You can't preach to the heart
without preaching to the head. But I tell you, this preaching
that's to the head only is not gospel preaching. Now, let me
try to make good on this preaching that's to the head only is not
gospel preaching. Now, what is the heart? Well,
it's the new man, the heart that God has created, and the heart
is made. Of. The understanding, the mind,
Involved in the heart is the affections, what you love, what
moves you, what you delight in, and the heart is, the will is
involved in the heart, what you want. Now, if you think of what
goes on under the name of Christian preaching, it's not Christian
preaching, I realize that, but this is what goes on under the
name of Christianity. You basically have Arminianism,
That just, if you don't know what that means, that means you
believe that you're saved because of your free will. That Catholic,
Baptist, Methodist, there's Arminianism. Then there is reformed. Reformed,
that's what they call it. They think they can teach you
from the scriptures reform doctrine, which I, like I said, I despised
that term in the first place because the truth never needed
to be reformed. It's always been what it is, and you can't reform
the truth. But at any rate, there's also, the charismatic Pentecostal
aspect of Christianity. You know, speaking in tongues
and praying in the spirit and not knowing what you're praying
but you're spiritified and all that kind of foolishness that
they say with that. Now, Arminianism is directed
to the will. Isn't it? It's directed to the
will. doctrine is directed to the intellect. I can prove to you that this
is what the Bible actually teaches. The appeal is to the intellect.
And the charismatic Pentecostalism, it's about feeling. It's about feeling. It's about
the effect. This feels good. It feels good
to prophesied, speak in tongues, and it's about how you feel.
So think about this. Arminianism is directed to the
will. Reformed is directed to the intellect.
Charismatic is directed to feelings. The gospel is directed to the
heart. What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, it's the
new heart. Remember that. But with the heart man believeth
under righteousness. With my understanding, I really
do believe that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness
I have and the only righteousness there is. I get it. But not only do I believe this, I love this. Makes me feel good. I don't want it to be any other
way. And not only do I understand this, not only do I love this,
This is, you give me a choice. You want to be saved by Christ's
righteousness or your own? Christ's. That's what I want. Now, speak to the heart of Jerusalem. 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. If you're a believer, you have
a warfare going on within you. You just do. Somebody that doesn't
have that warfare, they don't have a new nature. They've never
been saved. They've never been given a new
heart. If you have a new nature, you
also have great conflict within you. The flesh lusts against
the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. And these are contrary one to
another so that you cannot do the things you would. Paul said
in Romans 7, 23, I see another law in my members, bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now that conflict you have. You've already won. it's not going to bring you to
hell. You have already won. Your victory has already been
not merely determined, but accomplished. When Christ said it is finished, battle over. You may have it
going on inside, but the battle's over. And here's why. Your sin,
your iniquity, all of it, isn't this comforting? your iniquity,
your sin, your unbelief. It's all been pardoned. Every
bit of it. It's all been forgiven. And you and I are not allowed
to look at our sins in any other way but forgiven sins put away
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've received of the
Lord's hand double for all our I'm not only forgiven, I'm justified. I'm not only delivered from hell,
I'm given heaven. I'm not only delivered from getting what I
deserve, I'm given what I do not deserve. All of God's salvation. Every blessing in Christ Jesus. Now, you comfort my people with
those words. That's comforting, isn't it?
And like I said, comfort is not understood apart from conflict
and things I need comfort from. Now this is the word that was
quoted in Mark. 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. Speaking of the preaching
of the gospel. Now, I love the way John the
Baptist, he didn't go seminary. His only credential was God.
That's nothing. He, to hear from God, you didn't
go to the temple or the religious institutions. You had to go to
the wilderness. A voice crying from the wilderness. Not from man's religion and man's
institutions. But to hear from God, you're
going to have to hear a voice crying from the wilderness. I said this in Sunday school
a couple of months ago, but I still think it's so true. None of us
like career politicians, do we? Don't like career politicians.
You know what a seminary trained preacher is? A career preacher.
A career preacher, same difference. Are you saying everybody that's
gone to seminary doesn't preach the gospel? No, I'm not saying
that, but I'm saying seminary itself is a parachurch organization
and it's just wrong. It's just wrong. Any kind of
parachurch organization is not the church. It's the church that's
the pillar in the ground of the truth. It's the church where
we hear the gospel and any kind of non church organization. It's
just it's no good. And John the Baptist certainly
didn't have that. He was a voice crying in the wilderness, make
straight in the desert a highway, a place where everyone can see
a highway for our God. Now, every valley shall be exalted. Every low place, every low place
is gonna be exalted. And every mountain, every high
place is gonna be made low. And the crooked, the deceitful,
you know what a crooked person is? It's a deceitful person,
a dishonest person, a evil person, you can't believe. The crooked
shall be made straight and the rough places plain. Now, when I thought about every
valley should be exalted and every mountain should be made
low, I couldn't help but think about the publican and the Pharisee
in the temple. That Pharisee congratulated himself. He was made low. The publican
cried, God be merciful to me, the sinner. He was exalted. Because
everyone that exalts himself is going down. And he that humbles
himself according to the scriptures shall be exalted. The crooked,
the crooked, deceitful, sinful. I understand this man. I understand
him very well because I know me. But every believer that the
Lord gives life to, they're going to be given that spirit in which
there is no guile. No guile. No, God, they're honest
before God. They don't pretend to be what
they're not. They're honest before God. The crooked will be made
straight, upright and the rough places. Plain. That means entangled, bound up,
unpassable are going to be made smooth and plain, verse five.
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." That's
why this is going to take place. The voice said, cry. And I said,
what shall I cry? What is the subject matter of
my preaching? What am I supposed to cry? The voice said, cry.
Well, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass. Oh, the goodness thereof, the
beauty thereof is the flower of the field. The grass withers,
the flower fades because the spirit of the Lord blows upon
it. Surely the people is grass, the grass withers, the flower
fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Now this
is what Peter quoted. And he said, this is the word
which by the gospel is preached to you. What shall I cry? All flesh. is grass. My flesh, your flesh. All flesh is grass. Every aspect
of fallen human nature is sinful and fading away. We all do fade
as the leaf, the iniquities like the wind have carried us away
and our righteousness is as filthy rags. The heart is desperately
wicked. deceitful above all things. Who
can know it? And God saw the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Surely men
of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie.
To be laid in the balances, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Now that's the scriptural testimony
of me and you. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that understands. There's none that seeks after
God. They have all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. All flesh is as grass. All the goodliness thereof is
like a flower of the grass. It fades. The Spirit of the Lord
blows on it and it withers. Surely the people is grass. And if the Lord ever blows his wind
upon you, you're going to see that's true with regard to yourself.
All the less is grass. The grass withers, the flower
fades, but the word of our God, shall stand forever. The only thing that stands or
the only one who stands before God is the Word of God. He's the only one who stands
in judgment. Now turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Somebody mentioned this in the
meeting we just had. It was just kind of a passing
comment, but I've been thinking about it ever since. Verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the
things done in his body, this physical body, according to that
he hath done, whether it be good or bad, knowing the terror of
the Lord, we persuade men. Now, most people, when they take
that verse of scripture, they think, well, it says we're going
to receive according to the things done in our body, whether it
be good or bad. And then this is the main scripture
that preachers have used to teach what they call the Beeman Judgment,
the judgment of the believer where you're going to be judged
according to your works, you're going to be assigned a position
in glory according to the things done in your body, whether it
be good or bad. Some people be up here with mansions,
some people, I guess, will have shacks in heaven. They've had
so much bad stuff. But it's about the body, the
things you've done in the body, good or bad. If I am justified, all I have
done in my body is good. That's what this is a reference
to. It's not simply that righteousness is imputed to me, although it
is, but I've never sinned. It's all good. And I'm going
to receive the reward for the things done in my body. And it's been nothing but good. That's what justification means.
That's the very foundation of the gospel, of how God saves
a sinner. He justifies him, so everything I've done in my body
is good. Well, how can you say that when
you've done so many bad things? They've been put away. They've
been blotted out. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ
is my life before God. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
is my personal righteousness. Everything done in my body is
good. And on judgment day, you are
going to be judged fairly and rightly You're going to be judged
according to the things done in your body, whether good or
bad. Now, with Christ, it's all good. Outside of Christ, it's all bad. And you will be given exactly
what you deserve. Now, that's why he said, knowing
the terror of the Lord. We persuade them. Oh, don't look
to yourself. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love that Scripture in Revelation 14, 13. Blessed are the dead
that die in the Lord. They have rest from their labors.
They're not struggling with the sinful nature anymore. And their
works do follow them. They don't come out in the front
as the cause of salvation, nor do they walk along the side as
evidence of salvation. But every believer has works
that prove they believe what they said they did. A great example
is Abraham. Kill your son. Offer him up as
a burnt offering to me. Well, I can't do that. The Messiah
you've promised is coming through that. And if I kill him, that'll
mess everything up and the Messiah won't come. All you say by that
is you don't believe God. Abraham believed God, and he
knew God would raise his son from the dead. With every believer,
there will be works. Faith without works is dead. Now back to our text in Isaiah
40. The only thing that'll stand
in judgment is the Word of God, those in Him. Isn't that the
gospel? That's the gospel message. Anything short of this is not
gospel. Verse 9, 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 citizens of Judah,
Behold your God. What a message we have. You know,
the thief had it right when he said, don't you fear God. He
knew exactly who that was hanging on that tree. Behold your God. I love when Pilate comes out
the first time. He says, behold the man. And
then he comes out and he says, behold your king. And they said,
we have no king but Caesar. Oh, but behold your God. I wish
the Lord would give us grace to look to the cross by faith
and everything God is revealed in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Behold your God. Behold, verse 10, 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. Now, this is a message of comfort
to God's people. And anybody that doesn't find
it comforting just isn't one of his people. It really is that
simple. Comfort to God's people, not
comforting to anybody else. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the gospel that declares that
All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is the
flower of the field that withers and fades. Lord, in hearing this,
we're made to see that we can't look to ourselves in any way,
but we look outside of ourselves to Thy Word as all our salvation. The Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we confess He will stand
in judgment. And Lord, our standing is in
him. We don't want to be seen in any
other way. Lord, we ask that you would give
us grace to preach your gospel in this generation. We pray for
open doors, doors that you've opened in order to preach thy
word. And we would love to see men
and women come to bow the knee to thy son. Now, bless us for
Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.