Okay, now this evening we're
going to take a look at Isaiah 40, Isaiah chapter 40. And as I usually do, I usually
try to take my title from part of the text. Look at verse 6,
Isaiah 40, verse 6. The voice said, cry. He's talking
about cry aloud, preaching. He said, what shall I cry? What
shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. So I'm taking the title
from that message, and the title will be, What Shall We Preach?
And that was the question, what shall we cry? In other words,
what shall we preach? What shall we preach? Now, let
me give you this introduction, and we'll look at verse three
down through verse 11. Our primary purpose here at Zebulun
Grace Church without reservation without hesitation, is to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, without compromise, without
apology, but always and only declaring unto all men everywhere
the truth of God, and preaching the unsearchable riches of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I mean by that His person,
who He is, God Almighty, manifest in the flesh, and then His priestly
work, that is, His work of redemption, redeeming work, his priestly
work, to declare in preaching the gospel what God has done
for sinners in Christ. He came to save his people from
their sin. He says in verse one and two,
especially verse two, cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. The battle's over. The battle's
over. He's won the victory for us.
Her iniquity is pardoned. We have pardon from all sin in
the Lord Jesus Christ. For she has received of the Lord's
hand double, double, more than enough. His blood cleanses us
from all our sin. That's our message. Everything
that he has done for us. Paul, the apostle, put it this
way about preaching the gospel. He said, woe is unto me if I
preach not the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, he said that we are
determined to preach Christ and him crucified. He charged young
Timothy to preach the gospel, preach the word, preach the word
wherever you go. Now our object and our goal in
preaching the gospel Now, it's not just preaching the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Our primary object and
goal is twofold. Number one, the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Setting forth his person and
his work gives him all the honor and glory in redeeming his people
from their sin. And the second thing is this,
the salvation of God's elect. It pleased God through preaching,
preaching of the gospel to call out His elect and to feed them
and to teach them the gospel through the ministry of thus
saith the Lord. He calls us out of darkness into
His marvelous light with the message and declaration that
salvation is of the Lord. Now, how should we accomplish
this goal? By what means can we accomplish
that twofold goal? Only by the means that God has
ordained, and that is the preaching of the gospel. That's why we
make much, very much, about teaching and preaching the word, verse
by verse, line by line, here little and there little. The
Lord promised to bless his word unto his people. He said, it
will not return to me void. Now, What is our message? Our message is not what you must
do for God. Our message is what God has done
for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's a big difference.
Our message is not what you must do for God. Our message of the
gospel is what God has done for us. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. Now man's religion tells us to
appeal to man's dignity. God tells us to preach man's
total depravity. You see the difference? Vain
and false religion tells us to preach up human morality and
righteousness in order to merit or earn salvation. God tells
us that all of our righteousness is a filthy rise in God's sight
and that Christ alone is all our righteousness before God.
You see there's a stark difference, is there not? Vain and false
and useless religion tells us to join the church that has the
right name, the friendly church, the busy church, the big church,
but God says, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of
the earth, for I am God and there is none other. Man's religion,
false religion, tells us to come to a position, to a place, to
a profession, to sign a church card or church covenant. God
tells us that salvation's in a person. the Lord Jesus Christ. He's salvation. The Lord Jesus
Christ alone, he that hath the Son, hath life. Whatever else
you have, if you don't have Christ, you don't have salvation, you
don't have life. Without faith in him, it is impossible
to please God. In our text today, God gives
unto us the prophecy of the coming of God's prophet, we know him
as John the Baptist, who was sent of God as the forerunner
of the Messiah to identify the Savior, pointing him out to all
men when he said, Behold, there he is, there's the Lamb of God
that taketh away or beareth away our sin. But this is also true
of all God's servants today. We declare unto all that will
hear us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. He is not a way. He is the way,
the life, and the truth. And then the Lord said, No man
cometh unto the Father, but by and through me. Neither is there
salvation in any other. Is there? No other name under
heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved. Now, we see
in verse four and five of Isaiah 40, four and five, verse four
and five, we see the fourfold effect that true preaching of
the gospel has upon the elect of God when it's blessed with
God, the Holy Spirit, blessed by God, the Holy Spirit. Every
valley, shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made
low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it." Now there's four things that are given to us there.
And this is the effect the gospel has upon the elect of God when
it's blessed of God to the heart. Those made low and laid in the
dust We're talking about Holy Spirit conviction, shall be lifted
up when the gospel comes in power and made a new creature. And
that's exactly what happens to the sinner. We're emptied of
self and we're filled with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not them of a broken heart,
save us such as be of a contrite spirit. Secondly, Those who are
lifted up with religious pride, known as Diwali, shall be exalted. Those who are low shall be lifted
up, and those who are high shall be brought down. You see that?
Those who are lifted up with religious pride and self-righteousness
will be stripped bare in his sight, and they will be humbled
by his grace. Thirdly, those who are crooked
and rough are straightened out on how God saves sinners. The way is made plain that salvation
is of the Lord. How God can be just and the justifier
of the ungodly. Isaiah 45 describes Him as the
only God, the only just God and Savior, and He makes that way
of salvation clear and plain when He does that work of grace
in the heart. Fourthly, all flesh shall see,
as it says there in the last part of verse 5, and all flesh
shall see it together with the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. That is, among God's elect there
is a multitude of guilty sinners who shall see the redemptive
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He commands the light to shine
out of darkness and he shines in our heart to cause us to see
the glory, the beauty, the righteousness of God revealed only in Christ. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes even so father
It's good in your sight to do so. Now, in verse 6, down through
verse 11, we are told what to preach, what to preach. The voice
said, cry. And he said, well, what's the
message? Now, if you're going to go preaching
the gospel, you've got to have the gospel message. What shall
I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodness thereof. is as the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades because the spirit of the
Lord blows upon it. Surely, it is true, all flesh
is grass, yours, mine. The grass withers, the flesh,
talking about the flesh here, aren't you withering up? I mean,
just, I look at myself in the mirror, I said, Mom, what's happened
to you? I'm withering up, man. I'm withering up. The grass withers,
the flower fades. But the word of the Lord never
changes. Now, know for sure, we change. This flesh is headed
for the dust, headed for the grave. So what's the first message
we're to preach? All flesh is grass. All men everywhere
are totally guilty, totally depraved sinners. We're born that way. All flesh, young, old, male,
female, religious, ungodly, doesn't matter. All flesh has an inherent
nature and a principle of evil and sin that we're born with. We have that old Adam fallen
nature. Now, you don't have to teach.
David said, I was born in sin, shape, and iniquity. You don't
have to teach a child to lie. You've got to whip him to make
him tell the truth. Why does he have that nature? He has that
nature of lying and deceit and cheating. That's because he's
born with that fallen, ruined nature in Adam. And Adam all
died. And Adam all have sinned. That's what happened in the garden.
All are fallen, ruined, totally and spiritually dead in sin. Without God, without hope, and
without Christ. That's just by nature. Dead in
sin. All flesh is grass. Grass. Grass. Now, to deny this fact
that we are sinners, When I say that we are sinners, I'm not
talking about what we have done that makes us sinners. I'm talking
about what we are. what we are before God. S-I-N. Now to deny this fact that we
have a sinful rotten nature is to deny the truth of God. To deny this he said if you deny
this you call God a liar because he said all flesh is grass. All people are sinners. In the flesh the apostle said
in Romans 7 in the flesh dwelleth no good thing. There is none,
remember Romans chapter 3, our study, there is none righteous,
no not one. You remember David said, and
Paul agreed with him, that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. None. I'm talking about God good. Now, if you compare one worm
to another worm, I mean, you might get a little bit higher
than that other worm, but you're still a worm. But when you compare
your goodness to God, He is absolutely holy. We're the complete and
total opposite. We are sinners through and through. What shall I cry? Well, all flesh
is grass. Now this must be preached. In
the flesh, no man can please God. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. This must be preached in order
to show the necessity of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The necessity of being born again
of God. Without an understanding of the
problem, we'll always seek the wrong solution. Now, if you don't
know what the problem is, if you don't know what the disease
is, how are you going to find the remedy? But when you find
out what the disease is, sin, you know there's but one remedy.
And that one remedy is the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Something else he says, found
there in verse 6, he said, "...all flesh is graft, and the goodliness
thereof." is as the flower of the field that withers and fades
away. All your goodliness, all your
so-called righteousness, some people think they're pretty good
folks. They think that they are moral enough and good enough
to get into God's kingdom. Well, what does God require to
be accepted? Absolute perfection. And I know
this, you can't produce it, I can't, and no man can. That which we
think might recommend us to God is nothing but a worthless, fading
flower. All of our righteousness before
God, he says, is nothing but Filthy rags, the best you have,
the best you bring, that's your best point. God said, away with
it, it's filthy rags. The psalmist said in Psalm 39,
man at his best state, altogether vanity. The only way we'll know
this is by the Spirit of God blowing upon us Because the Spirit
of the Lord bloweth upon it, surely the people is glad. The
only way you'll know something of the extent of your total depravity
and guilt before God is that God, by His Spirit, convicts
your heart of your wickedness. Otherwise, you just go right
on thinking you're a pretty good man. I'm a pretty good fellow.
Well, pretty good ain't good enough. It's got to be absolutely
perfect before God. And the only way that can be
is to have the righteousness of God reckoned, imputed to your
account by His free grace. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Now, all flesh is grass. That's number one. We've got
to start where the problem is. And Adam all sinned and Adam
all died. Here's point number two. Here's
the second thing, verse eight. But the word of our God shall
stand forever. Now the flesh is changing. The
flesh just gets worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.
It's not getting any better. Before salvation or after, the
flesh, that which is born of flesh, Freddy, that's all it
is, isn't it? Flesh. It's flesh. Always getting worse
and worse and worse until we have to, it stinks so bad we
have to put it in a coffin and vomit and stick it in the ground.
That's all flesh is, going back to the dust. But, notice that
word, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Remember
he said, I am the Lord? I do not change." Now, thank
God He doesn't change. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
same today, yesterday, and forever. The Word of the Lord does not
change. Now, His Word speaks of two things
when we talk about the Word. First of all, His written Word.
His written word. His written word. He says this,
heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall never pass
away. Folks are all up in arms about
global warming. I don't believe in global warming.
I believe in global burning. God's going to burn this place
up. God's going to burn this place up. He said, heaven and
earth is going to pass away, but my word will never pass away. What God has said, listen, he
says this, his word is forever settled in heaven. Forever. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass, I've purposed it, Isaiah 46, I will do it. What a treasure, precious treasure
the Lord has given unto us. His unfallible, unfailing Word. All Scripture is given of God. I read it as such. I hold it
as such. I revere this written Word as
the very... This book doesn't contain the
Word of God. This book is the Word of God.
There's a big difference. It is the Word of God. His Word
is unfailing. Failing, infallible, all Scripture
is God-given, all Scripture is God-breathed. When you read these
words, they are the words of God. The written word of the
Lord, He said, it is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword. The precious we have in His Word,
the exceeding precious promises of His Word. Don't turn, let
me just read this to you. I've quoted this to you many
times. Over here in Psalm 119, where it says, How sweet are
thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. His Word is not bitter. And then
He says, Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore
I hate every false way. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path." We make much of the Word, His written
Word. It's powerful, it's quick, it's
precious. And it's to be prized above the
Word of men. For it is the Word of God. He's
magnified, Psalm 138, He's magnified His Word above His name. Now
figure that one out. God's Word is unchanging as God
Himself. The second thing when we look
in here, at this verse and talk about the Word. We're talking
about not only the written Word, but the living Word. Now, who
is the living Word? The Lord Jesus Christ in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And it's capital W-O-R-D. And then it says in verse 14,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. The Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation
19 is called the Word of God. The Word of God abides forever,
stands forever, never changes. The Word of God, the living Word
of God in His divine office as mediator, He never changes. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He
abides forever in his divine person. He said, I'm he that
liveth and was dead. Behold, I'm alive forevermore.
He has the keys of hell and death. He ever lived to intercede for
us, and he abides forever in his divine person and his divine
office. His person and his office. You
remember his threefold office. You can quote it all, can't you?
I've given it to you so many times. Prophet, priest, and king. Prophet to reveal, priest to
redeem us, and king, what does a king do? He reigns. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. He stands forever. in the efficacy
of His blood and righteousness, and His sacrifice for our sin,
in the fullness of His grace, and in the glory of His exaltation. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of God. You remember we
read that scripture a moment ago, don't turn back to it, but
where it says, He will thoroughly purge His floor, Hebrews 1.3
said, when He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down
on the right hand of God. So, all flesh is grasped, number
one. Number two, the Word of the Lord,
the written Word, the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ shall
stand forever. He ever lives even right now
to intercede for us. So what's the third thing? Well,
the third thing is found down in the last part of verse 9 where
it says, Behold your God. All flesh is grass. The Word
of the Lord shall stand forever. And then, Behold your God. Let's read verse 9, 10, and 11.
O Zion, that bringeth good tidings, and that's what we preach. We
preach good news and good tidings. Thy God reigneth. O Zion, that
bringeth good tidings, get thee up into a high mountain. O Jerusalem,
that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift
it up. Be not afraid, because we fear God, we don't fear men.
Say unto the cities of Judah, God's elect God's people, behold
your God. Behold, verse 10, the Lord God
will come with a strong hand. He's mighty to save. And His
arm, arm is His power, shall rule for Him. And behold, His
reward is with Him. He is the reward. And His work
is before Him, His work of reconciliation, His work of atonement. Verse
11, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, You remember Psalm
23? He's called the good shepherd.
He's called the chief shepherd, the good shepherd who lays down
his life for the sheep. He's called the great shepherd
of the everlasting covenant. He shall feed his flock. He feeds
them with the word of truth. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm. and carry them in his bosom,
and shall gently lead those that are with young. Behold your God."
What a strong and powerful God that we have. We are to preach
the gospel with a strong voice, speak it out, We don't whisper
the gospel in a corner. Hey, did you hear? Did you hear
that God is sovereign? Hey, did you hear God chose a
people? Isn't that covenant of grace?
No, we don't whisper those things out. We preach them from the
housetop, on the radio, internet, newspaper, and from the pulpit.
We dare preach, thus saith the Lord, God is God. Beside Him
there is no other. The absolute sovereign God in
creation, providence, and in salvation. We don't whisper the
gospel in a corner. We don't talk about it in the
back room. We proclaim it on the housetop. We cry aloud that
all may hear. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
Blow the trumpet of the gospel with what strength we have. and
caused a joyful sound to be heard far and near. The Lord said,
go and preach the gospel to every creature. We preach the gospel
without fear, without hesitation, without reservation, knowing
the Lord has commanded us to do so, to go and preach the gospel,
and knowing the Lord will bless his word. Isaiah 55, 11 said,
Remember, His Word will not return unto him void. Behold Him, look
what it says there, verse 10, Behold the Lord, God will come
with a strong hand. God is not a weak-kneed, weak-handed
Savior. Isaiah 63 describes Him as one
who is mighty to save. He's the mighty Savior, able
to save to the uttermost. He comes with a strong hand to
finish the work given to Him, and Christ is reward of our salvation. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in the Lord Jesus Christ we stand
complete. Christ the Lord Jesus accomplished
the work of salvation for us. That's exactly what he said on
Calvary 3. One of his last things he said
before, Father, into thy hand commend I my spirit. He said,
it is finished. Salvation's finished. He has
done the work of redemption for us. He appeared once in the end
of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. We
have a mighty God who is God, our Savior, who is mighty to
save. And then, I love this part, he's
the shepherd. He's a mighty, strong God, but
yet he's our shepherd. Remember David said, the Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He's a tender, loving, kind,
compassionate, gentle Savior. He said, come unto me. All you
that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. He shall
feed us because he loves us. He says, I'm the good shepherd.
I lay down my life for the sheep. And then it says there, he shall
gather the lambs. That's his elect. That's his
sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they follow me. And he shall gather them from
the east, from the west. He'll bring his sons. You remember
Isaiah 43? From the east, from the west,
from the north, from the south. He said, I'll bring my sons.
He shall gather the lambs. This is the irresistible, the
irresistible, effectual, powerful call of God, he gathers them
to himself. And then he not only feeds them
and gathers them, he carries them. He carries them. He carries us not only in this
life, but he carries us in this life, and then he will carry
us all the way to glory. Remember that Parable we studied
of that lost sheep, and the good shepherd went out and found that
lost sheep and put it on his shoulder and took it home rejoicing. That's what the Lord does for
us. He feeds us, He gathers us, He carries us in His bosom. We're on His heart. And He shall
gently lead those that are with young. He is a gentle, gentle,
gentle Savior. He's the Good Shepherd, the Chief
Shepherd, the Great Shepherd. He is the bread of life we feed
upon Him. We're gathered into His arms.
He carries us in His heart and we're kept by His power. Now,
you got the message. What are we going to preach?
Tell me preacher, what are we going to preach? Well, number
one, all flesh is grass. We're sinners. Number two, The
Word of the Lord abides forever. The Lord Jesus cried to the same
yesterday, today, forever. And then thirdly, what? Behold
your God. The strong and mighty God to
save. That's our message. That's our
message. It doesn't change. Isaiah 42,
one of my favorite scriptures, remember? He shall not fail. nor be discouraged." We'll probably
have Isaiah 42 in a few weeks. Next week, Lord willing, we'll
do a message from the book of Psalms, and then we'll go back to Isaiah,
back and forth.