Okay. Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 is one of
those high points in the study of the Gospel according to Isaiah. Isaiah. Notice verse 1. We'll just look at verse 1 down
through verse 11. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. Now where would a vile, wretched,
guilty sinner find comfort? Our comfort's only in Christ.
Christ is our comfort. You remember from our study in
1st or 2nd Corinthians, our God is called the God of all comfort.
Remember that? The God of all comfort. He's
a God of all grace. Comforts you, comforts you. My
people say it's your God. Verse two, speak ye comfortably
to the heart of Jerusalem. That's my people. That's God's
chosen. That's chosen, his chosen. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. Speak to the heart of God's people
and cry unto her, preach unto her, tell her that the war is
over. The battle is won. Thanks be
to God who's given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The warfare is over, is accomplished. The Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
all of our salvation. He didn't leave it for us to
accomplish. He performed all things for us.
And the accomplishment is this, her iniquity is pardoned. Pardoned. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Remember Psalm 32? Her iniquity
is pardoned. God said, I'll pardon them whom
I have reserved, my people. For she hath received, we didn't
earn this, the wages of sin is death, right? The gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. For she hath
received of the Lord's hand, double, double, plenty. for all her sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all our sin. Double, double for all her sins. Our sins are against God. He
appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. The Lord's hand. He's got big
hands. He's got generous hands. He opens
up his hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Now, verse 3, it seems like there
is an abrupt change. But this is the word of the Lord,
given just as he would have it for us to study. The voice of
him that crieth in the wilderness. And this is talking about the
forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prepare ye the way of
the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway. A highway for
our God. A highway for our God. You remember,
turn back to Isaiah 35. A highway shall be there. That
highway is a way of grace, isn't it? Isaiah 35, look at verse
8. A highway shall be there and
a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. It's a freeway,
it's a highway. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those, the wayfaring men, The fool shall
not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up upon thereon. It shall not be found,
but the redeemed of the Lord shall walk there, and the ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their head. They shall obtain joy and gladness
and sorrow, and Zion shall flee away. A highway of grace. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ had
the forerunner, John the Baptist, who came, and his message was,
remember, behold the Lamb of God. The last Old Testament prophet
said, there He is. There's a Lamb that was promised
and prophesied. The Lamb was typified. There
He is, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's come to put away our sin. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in a desert land, and that's where we live, in
a desert land, make straight the highway for our God, who
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord our God. Every valley, and this is what
the gospel does, every valley shall be exalted, every mountain shall be made
low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain." Now, this voice of the Lord, this message of
the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, if we look at verse
4, if we consider every sinner that's been slain and put in
the valley, He shall exalt. The way up, remember I've told
you over the years, the way up is down. When He strips us, He
lifts us. by his grace, and every mountain,
everybody that's high and lifted up with pride, those among God's
elect, they'll be made low. He's nigh them of a broken heart,
save as such as be of a contrite spirit, and the crooked shall
be made straight, and that's just by nature, crooked, crooked,
wicked, guilty, vile, wretched, keep on naming it. describing
this flesh, shall be made straight, or in a straight place, we made
straight with the eyes of faith, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. No more wondering to and fro,
going about, carried about by every wind of doctrine, but our
eyes are fixed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Made straight,
he's a straight way, and the rough places, he knocks the rough
edges off, He makes us new creatures in Christ, and the rough places
shall be made plain. When the Lord convicts us of
our sin and shows us that we are sinners, and shows us that
we need only the righteousness that He provided in the Lord
Jesus Christ, He makes that plain to us. When He teaches us the
gospel, He doesn't leave us In doubt, in darkness, He commands
the light to shine, and we see the way is a, oh, it's a plain
way. It's the way of grace. And then
when God saves a sinner, when God saves a sinner, this is what
happens. The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. We studied, remember? Sunday,
He's hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. And that's what happens when
God saves a sinner. Over here, don't turn, let me
just read it to you. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. That's salvation. When God is
pleased to reveal His Son in me. that I might preach him among
the heathen. This is Galatians 1, Galatians
chapter 1 verse 15, 16. And immediately Paul said, I
didn't confer with flesh and blood. The way was made plain.
Oh, Saul of Tarsus, he was lifted from the dumb hill of sin. Here
Saul of Tarsus was a man like a high mountain full of pride.
Well, he was put in the dust, wasn't he? Lord, what will you
have me to do?" And the way of his crooked religion, Phariseeism,
that was made straight. He became a sincere believer,
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that rough old self-righteous
Saul of Tarsus He was made to see the plain way of salvation
in Christ. You see, the Lord has done a
work of grace for us, but He also does a work of grace in
us. And the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed. That salvation, we see the glory
of God, it shines in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
forbid, Paul said, we're going to see this Sunday in our Bible
study, God forbid we should glory say in the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. You remember Moses asked the
Lord, Lord, show me your glory. Remember what he said? I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. God's greatest glory showing
mercy is my greatest need. And that comes out of Revelation.
Salvation, what does it take to reveal God? It takes God to
reveal God. It takes God, the glory of the
Lord. And that's what the gospel is all about. It's all about
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the grand design of redemption.
And all flesh shall see it together. That is, all of his elect, when
they're lifted from the dunghill and made to be princes, Kings
and priests under our God, they shall see it together. For the
mouth of the Lord, the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord
hath spoken it. Our object and goal in preaching
is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation of God's
elect, and to feed the church of God which he purchased with
his own blood. Remember he told Peter, Peter,
do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Well,
feed my sheep. Peter, are you sure you love
me? Yes, Lord. Feed my lambs. I asked him a third time, and
Peter said, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you.
Feed my sheep. And that's what we try to do.
We feed the sheep sheep food, sheep food. I remember the first
time I sat down in the congregation there at 13th Street, and a dear
brother Sitting in front of me, he said, turned to me. I was
a total stranger to him. He said, what are you doing here
tonight? I said, I came here to hear the gospel. He said,
oh, you came here to get some sheep food. I said, that's what
I want, some sheep food, sheep food. And that dear man, who
was a stranger to me then, we became very good friends. The
word of the Lord, our God shall stand forever. Now, verse six,
the voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry? Now, here's a threefold message
of the gospel. Point number one, all flesh is
grass. What shall we preach? Ruin. redeemed, and regeneration. All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is the flower of the field. The grass withers,
the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord blows upon
it. Surely the people is grass, grass. The grass withers, the flower
fadeth. But, what's the message we're
to cry? All flesh is grass. Secondly,
the word of our God shall stand forever. And thirdly, behold
your God. You see that in the end of verse
9? Oh, Zion that bringeth good tidings, get thee up into a high
mount. Oh, Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Don't be
afraid. Saying to the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with a strong hand. His arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him. His work is before him and he'll
feed his flock. He is the good shepherd. He'll
gather the lamb with his arms and carry them in his bosom and
shall gently lead those that are with young. Now, what is
our message? What is the message of the gospel?
Sinners are totally depraved, all flesh is grass. The Word
of our God or the Gospel of our God shall stand forever. From
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. And the third message
is, behold your God. Behold the Lamb of God that takes
away our sin. Now let's look at those three
points for just a moment. All flesh, all flesh, You see
it, verse 6. What shall I cry? What shall
we preach? What is the message? All flesh. Yours, mine, young,
old, black, white, bond-free. All flesh is grass. All flesh is sinful. And all
the goodliness thereof is just like a fading flower of the field. Verse 7, the grass. It'll wither. The flower, it'll fade because
the spirit of the Lord blows upon it. Surely, surely this
is true. Surely this is true. God says
it's so. The people is grass. The people
is grass. The grass withers, the flower
faded. All flesh. You know what he's talking about
here? Total depravity. Total guilt, total vile, wretched
guilt. All flesh is sinful flesh. We have a sinful nature, a principle
of sin. We are born that way, fallen,
ruined, and spiritually dead. None righteous, no not one. In Adam all died. In Adam all
have sinned. That's the first lesson that
God teaches us. When he's pleased to exalt us
in Christ and to humble us in Christ and to show us the way
of salvation in Christ, he teaches us lesson number one, we are
sinners. We are guilty, vile, and wretched. We've studied this over and over.
In the flesh dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can
please God. By the deeds of the flesh none
shall be justified. Why? All flesh is grass. Now
this must be preached in order to show us the necessity of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This must be preached. The problem
is our sin and guilt. We must preach this because without
this we have no understanding of what the problem is. Without
understanding of our sin, you'll have no understanding of our
need of salvation by Christ. If God is pleased to show us
who we are, what we are, guilty sinners before God, that we've
sinned against God and come short of the glory of God, when God
is pleased to show us what we are, we cry out, oh God, be merciful
to me, thee sinner. Salvation is for sinners. So
that's our message. All flesh is grass. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And then he mentions something
else there in verse 6. All the goodliness thereof, all
your so-called righteousness thereof, is nothing but a fading,
fading flower. And Isaiah 64, verse 6, it says,
all of our righteousnesses, filthy rags in God's sight. We all do
fade like a leaf. We all do fade. We fade away. We fade away like a leaf. We're
all as an unclean thing. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. We do fade as a leaf. Our iniquities
like the wind have taken us away. Isaiah 64 verse 7 now says, People
are so pious, aren't they? So self-righteous. All your so-called righteousness,
God said, is nothing but filthy rags. Filthy rags, away with
it! Man in his best state, altogether vanity. Vanity of vanity. Now, here's the second point.
Point number one, we're all sinners. We've all sinned to come short
of the glory of God. We've all sinned against God.
Here's the second point found in verse eight. the word of our
God. The word of our God shall stand
forever. Now, when we talk about the word
of the Lord, we have the written word, don't we? We have that
in our hand, the written word of God. Concerning the written
word, he said, heaven and earth will pass away, My word will
never pass away. His word is forever settled in
heaven. Heaven. He sends out his word. We read this last week. Let me
just remind you. 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 whereunto I send it." Thank God for His
Word, His written Word. It's a sure testimony that we
have. His written Word. How the Lord
has preserved this book we call the Bible. Isn't that a miracle? That God's preserved that and
put it right in our lap. What a precious treasure the
Lord has given unto us, His unfallible, unfailing Word. All Scripture
is given of God. All Scripture is God-breathed. His Word is quick and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword. His Word is not only powerful,
it's precious. He gives us exceeding great and
precious promises. His words are not only powerful
like a sword, two-edged sword, more powerful than a two-edged
sword, precious promises, and it is to be prized above the
word of men, for it indeed is the word of God. It's the word
of God. in preparation for our study
when we finish up with the book of Galatians. I've been looking
at over here at 1 Thessalonians, and I've read this through a
couple times in this one verse. Paul reminds them, for this cause
also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the
word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as
a word of men, but as a word of truth, the word of God, which
affectually worketh also in you that believe. So we read it as
such, we believe it as such, the word of truth, the word of
God, the word of God. Our God shall stand forever. And that's true of His written
Word, but it's also true of the living Word. The Lord Jesus Christ
in the book of Revelation, I read it today in Revelation 19. I've
read that book through a couple of times too. I'm thinking about
doing another study through the Revelation. In Revelation 19,
He's called The Word of God, capital W-O-R-D. Remember John
1? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and that Word was God. Speaking of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the word of our God, the Lord Jesus Christ
shall stand forever, who stands and abides forever in his divine
person as our eternal God. He that liveth and was dead,
behold, I'm alive forevermore. And I have the keys, I have the
keys, the ownership of hell and death. He abides forever in his
divine office as his mediator, ever living to make intercession
for us. Do you ever think about that
when you pray unto God? It's not that we just pray. We're praying to a living person
who ever lives to intercede for us, who hears our cry. The word of our God shall be
forever. He abides forever as our intercessor,
as our redeemer, as our mediator, as our advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. Right now, he stands and mediates
for us. He intercedes for us right now.
And we cry unto him, Lord, have mercy on us. Help us. The Lord
Jesus Christ, our God, shall stand forever. His word and his
person, his office, he stands forever in his office as mediator,
advocate, intercessor, prophet, priest, and king, who stand forever
in his righteousness, in his sacrifice, putting away our sin. By the sacrifice of himself,
there's a man in glory with nail print in his hands. Think of
it, the Lord Jesus Christ, a real man, exalted, glorified, but
a man, he's our God and our Savior. Now, here's the third thing.
Look at verse 9. Oh, thine that bringest good
tidings. Good tidings. The gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Zion here is usually the picture
of a church. Oh, Zion. Oh, Zion. That brings us good tidings.
That's our message. Good tidings. Good tidings. Good news. This is a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. He came to seek and save the
lost. He didn't come to call the righteous sinners to repentance.
That's good news to the guilty. That's good news to the merciful.
Miserable, good tidings, get thee up into a high mountain.
Oh, Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings. Oh, Jerusalem,
speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings, good
tidings, good tidings, good news. Lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be ashamed. with boldness,
with strength, saying to the cities of Judah, behold your
God. Behold your God. We are to preach
the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with a
strong voice. Do not whisper in a corner, God
is God. Talk about it in the back room,
God is sovereign. Proclaim it on the housetop.
Remember, our Lord said, that which I tell you in secret, tell
that upon the housetop. Cry aloud that all may hear,
lift up thy voice. Cry aloud, spare not. Lower the
trumpet of the gospel with all the strength that we have, and
cause a joyful sound to be heard far and near. Our Lord said,
go and preach the gospel to every creature. Every creature. We are to preach the gospel without
fear, without reservation, knowing the Lord has commanded us to
do so, knowing that the Lord will bless His Word, preach Christ,
Christ in Him crucified. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing
else. There was a young man years ago
who was sent to a foreign mission field. I believe he was sent
there from this country. and he wasn't in that country
but just a short period of time, and he caught some disease and
died. Well, when his parents retrieved
some of his books, some of his writings, he had written somewhere
in his Bible, no reserve, no retreat, and no regrets. No regrets. Preaching Christ
without reservation, Not retreating. Not preaching with regrets. No
regrets. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
Determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Look at verse 10. Behold the
Lord, God will come with a strong hand. Remember Daniel chapter
4. No one can stay his hand or saying
to him, Lord God, Almighty, what doest thou? How strong is the
hand of the Lord? None can stay his hand. He's
an omnipotent, sovereign God. The Lord God will come with strong
hand, and he did come, strong hands, and his arm, his power
shall rule for him. That word there, arm, usually
is symbolic of God's power. The Lord will come with a strong
hand and a strong arm, strong power, shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him,
and he is the reward. Christ is our exceeding great
reward, and his work His work of redemption, His work of salvation
is before Him. Remember He said, I came to do
the Father's will, I came to accomplish His work. And then
I like verse 11 in closing, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. The Lord is a good shepherd.
Remember Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd I shall
not want. He leads me beside still waters. He leads me in the green pastures.
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He's a good shepherd
who lays down His life for us. He's the chief shepherd who's
coming again. And He's called the great shepherd
of the sheep that came again from the dead through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. And He shall feed his flock,
he shall gather his lambs." All we like sheep have gone astray,
right? Isaiah 53. He came to gather
us, his lambs, his people, his sheep. with his arms. He gathers us up in his arms. He draws us to himself with everlasting,
everlasting power, everlasting salvation. Thy people shall be
willing in the day of his power. He shall gather the land with
his arms. He carries them, he carries them
in his bosom, in his heart. The sheep, these lambs, are very
precious to the shepherd. He laid down his life for them.
He is the shepherd who gave his life to redeem us
from our sin. He gathers us in his arms and
carries us in his bosom. and gently leads those that are
tender. Gently lead those that are with
young. He leads us, he gathers us, he
carries us, he feeds us, everything we need. You remember that verse
over in Philippians chapter 4, my God does apply all your need
according to his riches and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Lord.