Tonight, Bob Coffey is going
to be preaching for us. I'm going to go to the ordination
message of Gabe tonight in Kingsport, Tennessee. In Luke chapter 8, the verse
I just read, and it came to pass afterward that he went throughout
every city and village preaching. Our Lord was a preacher. and
showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. Now this is what
the gospel is. It is glad tidings. It is good news. Now good news is relative, isn't
it? When Bin Laden was apprehended and
shot and killed. It was good news to some. It was good news to a whole lot
of people. But you know, it was bad news to other people. It
was bad news to Al-Qaeda, wasn't it? Bad news. Good news is relative. When our president was elected,
to some it was good news. They were happy. Their man won. To others, it was not good news. They were not happy about it.
Really, how you would view the election of our president in
many ways depended on whether or not you thought you would
gain by it or whether you thought you'd lose by it. That's how
good news works. If we think we benefit from it,
it's good. If we don't think we benefit
from it, it's not good news. Now the gospel is good news. Our Lord called it the glad tidings
of the kingdom of God. Good news. But you know what? It's not good news to everybody.
It's good news to some, but it is not good news to everybody. The message of sovereign grace. Now what do I mean by that? The
message of sovereign grace. Sovereign grace is the message
that says salvation is of the Lord. He does it all. Men are dead in sins. What that
means is, if God doesn't do something for you, you'll go to hell. That's
what that means. If God doesn't intervene, if
He leaves you to yourself, if He leaves me to myself, I'll
go to hell. I'm dead in sins, I can't save
myself. God in His mercy elected a people
to salvation before time began. Christ died for those the Father
gave Him. God's grace is irresistible and
invincible and all God's people will persevere by His grace.
Now, if you're hoping in your works, that's not good news. It really is that simple. If
you hope somehow to save yourself in some way, if you think that
there's anything that you do that contributes to your salvation,
that is not good news. As a matter of fact, it's bad
news because it takes away what you're hoping in. But if you
can't save yourself, this comes as good news. The glad tidings of the Kingdom
of God. Now the Lord was a preacher of
the good news. Turn to Luke chapter 4, verse 16. And he came to Nazareth, where
he'd been brought up, his hometown. And as his custom
was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood
up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of
the prophet Isaiah. And when he'd opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, Isaiah 61, Verse 10,
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me
to preach the gospel, the good news to the poor. Now who's that
good news to? The poor. If you're rich, it's
all good news. But if you're poor, it's good
news. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Who's that good news to? Broken
hearted. If you're not broken hearted,
it's not good news. It's just words, religious words
coming from the preacher. To preach deliverance to the
captives, people who were in prison, captured. Who's that
good news to? The captives. If you're not a
captive, it's not good news to you. But if you're a captive,
it is. and the recovering of sight to
the blind." Who's that good news to? The blind. Those who can't see why God would
look in favor toward them. They can't see it. Now to hear,
this is good news. To set at liberty them that are
bruised, crushed. Who's that good news to? Those
that are bruised. to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord. And this is talking about the
year of Jubilee. I love to think about the year of Jubilee. What
a time that must have been, when if you were in prison, all of
a sudden you were set free. Whatever debt you had, it was
wiped out. You were given a year's rest. Can you imagine when that trumpet
sounded, how that slave and that debtor felt? It was good news,
but I'll tell you somebody it wasn't good news too. Now that
guy owed him $100,000. It wasn't good news to find out
that that debt had been wiped out. He didn't like it. As a matter of fact, there's
no proof that the year of jubilee was ever observed. It was commanded,
but it was never observed. If somebody owed me money, I'd
want it. So you see news is relative,
isn't it? Good news is relative. Now, turn
with me to Isaiah 61. I want to look at a few scriptures.
What I just read was quoted from what has been known as the Gospel
of Isaiah. Look in Isaiah 61, verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. This is what our Lord quoted.
Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
broken heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening
of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto 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. Look at Isaiah 52. Verse 7, How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that
publishes peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publishes
salvation, that say in design, Thy God reigneth, He is in control. Now that's called good news. Look at Isaiah 40. I think The word gospel came
out of Isaiah. Verse 9, O Zion, that bringest
good tidings. Isaiah 40 verse 9, O Zion, that
bringest good tidings. Get thee up to the high mountain
of Jerusalem that bringest good tidings. Lift up thy voice with
strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say
unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Now, hold your finger
there in Isaiah 40, and I want to show you the significance
of this passage of Scripture. Turn to 1 Peter. Verse 22. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Peter quotes Isaiah 40 here.
He said, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit, Unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that
you love one another with a pure heart, fervently, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. 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."
Now there's the content of the gospel. And look what he says,
and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now that tells me that if the
gospel is preached, this is what is preached. This is the content,
as it were, of the gospel. Now turn back to Isaiah 40. A little biographical information
here. One of the questions I continually
ask myself is this, is my preaching, preaching that the Lord Jesus
Christ would say, that's my gospel. I ask myself that question all
the time. is my preaching the gospel of
God, that which Jesus Christ himself would own. That's my
gospel. Now, the Lord said, examine yourselves. I examined myself. I examined
my preaching. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. And every time I hear something
different, when I hear something that doesn't square up, it doesn't
feel right, it doesn't sound right, or any time that I'm criticized
or challenged with regard to my preaching, I take it to heart.
And I go back to the Lord and I ask Him, Lord, show me your
gospel. Teach me your gospel. enable
me to preach your gospel, the gospel that's the power of God
unto salvation. Now with that in mind, I want
us to look at Isaiah chapter 40, because we know this is the
gospel. Because he says, O Zion, they
bring us good tidings, good news. Now remember, good news is relative. So let's look at this passage
of Scripture together. In verse 1 of Isaiah chapter
40, God says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Now the gospel is a message of
comfort. That's good news, isn't it? The
gospel is a message of comfort to God's people. Now, not everybody
is God's people. He doesn't say comfort everybody,
does he? He says, comfort my people. Matthew 1.21 says, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. His people are His elect, those
who believe on Him. That's His people. He says, comfort
my people. Who are His people? Well, they're
described in verse 2. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak to her heart. She has a
heart to receive the gospel. Speak to her heart. You know,
the gospel is addressed to the heart, not just to the head. not just
to the affections, not just to the will, it's addressed to the
whole man, the heart. The reformed doctrine addresses
the intellect. Arminianism and free will, it
addresses the will. Charismatic, Heartbed of emotion. It addresses the emotions and
the feelings. The Gospel addresses the heart. And the only way you have heart
to receive the Gospel is if He gives you the heart to receive
it. So these people have been given heart. David said, creating
me a clean heart, O God. God said, a new heart I'll give
you. This is the heart that hears
and believes the Gospel. So, to be His people, you have
to have a heart to be His people. A new heart. He said, comfortably,
speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. Whoever these people are, they
have a warfare. They have a warfare going on
on the inside. They have a conflict. It's called
the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit lusting
against the flesh. These two are contrary one to
the other, so that you can't do the things that you would...
There's a warfare. He says, you tell her, her warfare
is accomplished. And next it says, you tell her
that her iniquity is pardoned. She's got iniquity. She's got
iniquity. She's got iniquity. That's who
God's people are. They have a warfare. They have
iniquity. And it says, for she has received of the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. Somebody who has received something
from the Lord. Now if you haven't received it, He never gave it. You receive it. That's the evidence
that He is giving you something. You receive it. If you don't
receive it, He never gave it. Now, what is the message of comfort? Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. I want to be comforted by the
Lord, don't you? I want Him to comfort me. I want it to be His
comfort, not mine. I don't want to try to create
something. I don't want to work something up. I want to be comforted
by the Lord. Well, look what He says, 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." You know what comforts
God's people? Telling them what's already been done. Something that's already been
done. Not something that will be done if you do this or if
you do that. It's telling them that which
is already been done. Not you will win your warfare
if, or you'll be pardoned if, you'll receive if. There's no
comfort there. Tell her her warfare is accomplished. Now that warfare that I have
in my heart on a daily basis, and if you're a believer you
do too. I don't have to convince you of that. It's already been
taken care of. My iniquity has already been
pardoned. Sins I haven't even committed
yet. If the Lord lets me live to tomorrow, I'll commit sins
tomorrow. There's no doubt about that.
I'm not saying that's okay in any way. I just know myself.
But it's all been already pardoned. There's pardon for sins of past.
It matters not how black they're past. And oh my soul, with wonder
of you, for sins to come, here's pardon too. You tell her that her iniquity
has been pardoned. You see, here's the thing that's
so utterly unique about the gospel. False religion always ends with
the forgiveness of sins. If you fill in the blank, if
you do this, if you do that, you'll have the forgiveness of
sins. But the gospel begins with the full, free, complete forgiveness
of sins without you doing anything for it. Is that good news? That's good news. That's good
news to this sinner. Salvation by grace. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Now on the cross, think about
this. On the cross, not only were my sins punished, but complete
satisfaction was made. Not only was I not given what
I deserve, but I was given all that he deserves. Not only was I forgiven, I was justified. That means I don't
have any sin to be forgiven of. It's all gone. Not only were
all my debts paid in full, so I don't owe anything, I was given
infinite riches, joint heir with Christ. Not only was I delivered
from having nothing, I was given everything. Not only am I saved
from hell, I'm given heaven. Not only am I saved from being
what I am, I'm made who He is. She's received at the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Verse 3, The voice, this is talking about
John the Baptist. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness. Now, I love this. If you were
going to hear from God, you weren't going to go to a synagogue. You
might have heard the scriptures read, but you wouldn't have heard
from God. You didn't hear from God in organized, accepted man's
religion. You didn't hear from him there.
You had to go to the wilderness. That's where John was. He was
in the wilderness. No temple, no synagogue, no preaching. The glad tidings of the Kingdom
of God. The voice of Him that trieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye. Now that word prepare is also
translated behold. Behold, look upon, regard, consider. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Now, look at this. Christ said, I am the way. Behold
this. Consider this. I am the way. No man cometh to the Father,
but by me. You know what that means? If I'm in Him, when He comes
to the Father, I come to the Father. That's how I come. Not just pleading Him, although
I do plead Him. I pray, Lord, hear me for Christ's
sake. Save me for Christ's sake. Keep me for Christ's sake. Keep
me looking to Him. Keep me coming only by Him. I
pray that. But that's not how I get to the
Father. I don't enter into it. It's me being in Him so that
when He comes to the Father, I do too. I am the way. Now you behold the way to the
Father. And make straight, he says in
verse 3, not a winding road that takes people here and there,
but you make straight in the deserts a highway for our God. That's gospel preaching. Verse
4, every valley, every low place, every sinner, every sinner, no
exceptions. Every low place shall be exalted. If I'm preaching to any sinners,
you're going to be exalted. That's God's promise. He's going
to save you. He's already saved you. If you're
a sinner, the only reason you know you are is because He taught
you. Every valley, every low place shall be exalted. What
does he say next? Every mountain and hill, if it's
way up there or if it's just a little bit up there, every
mountain and hill is going to be leveled, made low. All human righteousness is going
to be leveled. God won't have anything to do
with it. And the crooked, oh I'm thankful for this, the crooked
shall be made straight. The fraudulent and deceitful
shall be made straight. That's called justification.
Aren't you thankful for that? Made straight. Every valley shall
be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low. The crooked shall be made straight. And the rough
places, plain. The narrow places, a wide open
field. Liberty, the liberty that's in
Christ. And, verse 5, the glory of the
Lord shall be revealed. Now, the glory of the Lord is
His capacity to save people like you and me. That's His goodness. That's His glory. Let me ask
you this. Is the Lord glorified in your
salvation? Now I know this. I can say this with such confidence. If I'm saved, He gets all the
glory. Don't you know that? I don't have to convince any
believer of that. Oh, and we have to hear His glory. Who gets
the glory is always the issue. I'll tell you this, the glory
of the Lord won't be bowed to and received until it's revealed.
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken." Now look in verse 6,
this is so interesting. The voice said, cry. What shall I cry? If God says
preach, here's my question, what am I supposed to preach? What
am I supposed to cry? What is my message? What is the
message that you would have me preach? The voice said, cry,
and he said, what shall I cry? Here it is. All flesh. Now, by flesh, that doesn't mean
this stuff that covers our body. Flesh is human nature. Human
nature. The carnal mind, the fleshly
mind, is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh,
cannot, they lack the ability to please God. And that's the
flesh, the way we're born. The voice said, cry. I said,
what shall I cry? All flesh, my flesh, your flesh,
the president's flesh, the pauper's flesh, religious people's flesh,
irreligious people's flesh, anybody in between, all flesh is grass. And all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the grass." The best thing you can say about
the flesh, the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers, it dies. The flower fades because the
Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. You know when you're going
to see this? When the Spirit of the Lord blows upon you. When
the Spirit of the Lord blows upon you, this is one thing you're
going to be sure of. All flesh is grass. And all the goodliness thereof
is as the flower of the grass. Hold your finger there and turn
to Isaiah 64. Verse 6, Isaiah is including
himself when he says, And remember, he's speaking as one the Spirit
of the Lord has blown upon. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we do all fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there's none that calleth
upon Thy name, that stirreth himself up to take hold of Thee.
For Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and has consumed us because
of our iniquities. But now, O Lord," here's what
folks that see this about themselves say, "'But now, O Lord, Thou
art our Father, we're the clay, and You're the potter, and we're
the work of Thy hand.'" Now, if this is not preached, what
I'm talking about right now, all flesh is grass. What do we
do with grass? Put it in the Herbie Kirby? Get
rid of it. Get rid of it. Worthless. That's
what all flesh is in and of itself. Grass. All the goodliness, the
good stuff. It's all bad. And back to our text in Isaiah
40, When the Spirit of the Lord blows,
verse 7, here's when we see, surely the people is grass. We see this for sure. The grass
withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand
forever. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. The Word of God shall stand. You see, it's only what He did. that God will accept. It is only what He did that God
will accept and will abide His Word. Christ Jesus is the Word
of God. I love this, the Word of God.
This is the Word which by the Gospels preached unto you. The
Word of God is the Word, the message, from the Word the written
Word, the Scriptures, the Word of God, that reveal the Word,
the Word of God. And this is all that will stand. Look at Isaiah 55. We've used this verse of Scripture
many times to comfort us with the fact that gospel preaching
is never in vain. God will accomplish what He purposes
in the preaching of the gospel. I'll tell you what's going to
happen this morning. Whatever the Lord willed. There are going
to be people who rejoice in this. There are going to be people
who become hardened after they hear it. God's purpose will be
done. Always. Isaiah 55, verse 11,
So shall my word be, that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Word of God. And He's going to prosper. He's
going to accomplish. He's going to do whatever God
determined for Him to do. When He said it is finished,
His work was prospered. Now that's what's going to stand
before God. Understand this, the only thing that stands before
God, the only thing that abides is Jesus Christ, who He is, and
what He did. And the only way that God can
look in favor toward me or you is as we are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I am the way, the truth, the
life. No man comes to the Father but
by Me. And our heart says to that, Amen. Amen. He is the way to the Father. Now back to our text in Isaiah
40. It's the Word of God that shall
stand forever. Oh, this is good news. Verse
9. Who's I that bringest good tidings? Good tidings. Now gospel preaching is good
tidings, it's good news. Now what is news? Well news is
something that's already taken place and we're just hearing
about it. It's already taken place and we're just hearing
about it. Whether it's good news or bad news, it's something that's
already taken place. And news is always news. It's always fresh. It's always
powerful, if it's news. Whenever you hear news, you haven't
heard it before. And when you hear the gospel,
It's like you've never heard it before. And it comes as news,
good news. Now, if the gospel to you is
old and stale, And it doesn't come as news. Well, it could
be that the preacher didn't preach it as news. And if he didn't
preach it as news, actually he was preaching error, wasn't he?
I mean, if you present the gospel in a cold, stale way, you're
not preaching the gospel. I mean, you can't preach the
gospel like that. Or if you hear the gospel and it doesn't come
as news to you, it's because something's wrong with your heart.
it ought to come as good, fresh, powerful, good news. O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
get thee up to the high mountain, O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not
afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God." Now, when he's talking, Behold
the same thing the thief beheld." What did he behold when he saw
that one hanging on a tree? Don't you fear God? He says,
God, He's going to accomplish what He set out to do. He's going
to come back in a kingdom. He's the Lord. Behold your God. Verse 10. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand. My marginal reading says, against
the strong. And you know, if you're strong,
the Lord's opposed to you. His grace is for the weak. Where
do you fit in? Verse 10, "...and His arm, His
power shall rule for Him." You can't preach Him too sovereign,
can you? Too much in control. "...His arm shall rule for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him." What's His reward? His people.
"...Behold, I am the children Thou hast given Me, and His work
before Him." What was His work? Christ Jesus came into the world.
Why? to save, not to make savable,
not to offer salvation, but to save sinners, of whom I am the
chief. And He did it. Whatever it was
He came to do, that's what He did. I love the simplicity of
that. Whatever He intended to do, that
is what He did. Because He's the Lord God. He
must be successful in whatever He does. Verse 11, He shall feed His flock, like a
shepherd. The Lord's my shepherd, and because
my shepherd's the Lord, I shall not want." He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. He leads, He guides, He protects,
He feeds His sheep. What a shepherd He is. I love
that scripture. The Lord, Jehovah, is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want anything. He shall gather the lambs, the
little lambs, the helpless lambs with his arm and carry them in
his bosom next to his heart. He goes after the straying sheep.
I love what David said at the end of Psalm 119. He said, Lord,
I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant. I can't even seek you. I need
you to seek me. Seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy word.
Can you pray that prayer? and he shall gently lead those
that are with him." Now, you know how we can know if the Lord
is our shepherd and if he's leading us? If we follow him. That's what sheep do. They follow
the shepherd. They hear his voice. Is this good news? Is it good news? Is it good news
to you that all flesh is grass? How can that be good news? It
is. And here's how. I've said this
before. The Lord is going to show me
enough of myself to cause me to look away from myself and
not find any hope in anything that I do and look wholly to
who He is and what He did. So in that sense, yeah, all flesh
and grass is good news. The goodliness thereof, like
the flower of grace, that's good news. I'm not to look to myself.
I'm to look to Him who is my shepherd. Now that is gospel
preaching. That's the glad tidings of the
kingdom of God. Now if I'm not preaching the
gospel as good news, I'm not preaching the gospel. And if
I'm not hearing the gospel as good news, I'm not really hearing
it as gospel. May God give us grace. to believe the gospel. Let's
pray together.