Before I get to my text tonight,
I want you to read a passage over in Isaiah 40. I have two titles for this message. One title is Comfort for the
Lord's Church. Comfort for the Lord's Church.
I'll tell you the other title later. But here in Isaiah 40,
verses 1 and 2, the Lord, speaking to his prophets, his preachers,
gives them some orders. He says in verse 1, Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Comfort my people. Speak ye comfortably, that is,
to the heart. to Jerusalem, speak to their
hearts and comfort them, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, the battle is over, the victory is won, Christ
has paid the price. Her iniquity is pardoned, fully,
completely put away, for his blood cleanseth us from all sin. And she hath received of the
Lord's hand double. not barely enough, but double
for all her sins. Say that. That's what I want
to do tonight, and to do so I turn to Isaiah 54. If you have a Cambridge Bible
printed by the company called Cambridge, you'll find up there
that the translators And the printers have entitled chapter
54, The Church Comforted. That's what even these that have
published this Bible feel like that these verses are intended
to do, to comfort the Church. Comfort the Church. And that's
what my goal is tonight, to speak comfortably to God's people.
encourage them, give them assurance. Let's start with verse 5, and
our Lord says in verse 5, For thy maker is thine husband. Who is this talking about? Who
is the maker? Well, our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 1, the Apostle John said,
In the beginning was the Word, that's Christ, and the Word was
with God And the word was God, and all things were made by him. He's our maker. All things were
made by him. Without him was not anything
made that was made. Christ is our maker. Well, he
says our maker is our husband, speaking to the church now, speaking
to believers. The church is the body of Christ. He's the head of the church,
which is his body. Paul commanded, Husbands, love
your wives as you love your own body. No man ever yet hated his
body. Do you see what I'm saying? So
Christ's body is the Church. And we are to love our wives
as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for us. He says
no man ever hated his body. And when God brings two people
together in marriage, they're one, he said. They shall be one
flesh. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and they shall be
one. Our Maker, our Lord Jesus Christ, is our husband. He who
made me a creature made me a new creature in Christ Jesus. He who made me a creature made
me a new creature. I'm a new creation in Christ. That's right. Regenerated us. redeemed us and made us new creatures
in Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things passed away, behold,
all things become new. So that's what that line is saying.
Your Maker, your God, your Creator is by grace and by regeneration
and recreation your husband. And he gives us that relationship
in 2 or 3 words here. First of all, the relationship
is husband and wife. Let's turn to Ephesians 5. That's
the believer's relationship with Christ now. He is our husband. We are his bride. The Church
is his bride. Let me show you that in Ephesians
5. Ephesians 5, verse 25. He says, Husbands, love your
wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of
water by the word, that he might present it to himself. A glorious
church. He's the bridegroom, the church
is the bride. A glorious church not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. But that it should be holy and
without blemish, without blame. So Christ is one in him. Then he says in the next line,
he says, thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name.
What does the Lord of hosts mean? It means an innumerable company. John said, I saw a multitude
which no man could number. of every tribe, kindred, nation,
and tongue unto heaven. And the cry was, Open the gates,
for the King of glory shall come in. And the voice said, Who is
this King of glory? What was the reply? The Lord
of hosts, the Lord of many, many. Heaven will be populated with
a number which no man could number. That's right. I know these little
Short-sighted people talk about 144,000 of this. That's not the
starting of it. It's thousands upon thousands
upon ten thousands, a number which no man could number, the
Lord of Hosts. Then the next thing he says in
identifying himself, our husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name,
and he's your Redeemer. He's your Redeemer, the Holy
One of Israel who redeemed you. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation received
by tradition from our fathers, but we're redeemed with the precious
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price, and that price is the price of his blood. He's
our Redeemer, purchased us, redeemed us. Then he says, listen to the
next line in this verse 5, The God of the whole earth shall
he be called the God of the whole earth." What does that mean?
It means just this. The earth is the Lord's and the
fulness thereof. The world and they that dwell
therein, it belongs to him. So our maker is our husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, he is our redeemer, and he is
the God of the whole earth. Now look at verse 6. In verse
6, For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken. When the Lord called us, now
he said whom he foreknew, then he called. And whom he called
he justified, and whom he justified he glorified. But when he called
us, He found us not as a spotless bride, but he found us as a woman
forsaken. Now the church is she. That's
right, the bride. So he compares the church to
a woman. He said, when I called you, when
I found you, when I passed by you, it was a time of love. And I said, Leah, but the condition
you were in, was a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit, a woman, a
wife of youth, but who has now been refused and cast aside. And that's when I found you,
that's what you were. When you heard the gospel the
first time, the gospel, the real gospel, when God the Holy Spirit
came to you with the word, in the power of the Spirit, the
gospel of Jesus Christ crossed your path. and made known to
you his love for you, you were in sin and guilt and shame and
in a lost estate like the prodigal son on the railing of the pigpen,
like a woman cast off, forsaken, alone, grieved and sad." He said,
that's where I found you. That's what you were. having
been married to the world, having been married to the flesh and
married to sin, corruption, that's where I found you. But you say,
I was religious. Well, so was a Samaritan woman. Our Lord found her, and he said,
Go call your husband. She said, I don't have a husband.
He said, No, you've had five, and the man you're living with
now is not your husband. In that you speak the truth.
And some of us had been married before many times, had many husbands,
like this American woman. We went by many names, Baptist,
Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Camelot, Pentecostal. We had
a lot of names. A lot of names. We joined many causes, many movements. We signed ourselves up. We made many vows and many promises. We responded to a lot of propositions. from the traveling evangelists,
all sounded good, didn't they? But they didn't last. They didn't
last, and finally they cast us on the dunghill and deserted
us. Couldn't meet our needs, couldn't
make us happy. We were like a woman forsaken,
grieved in spirit, broken hearted, no peace, no joy, a wife of a
youth, now old and refused. That's where I found you. That's where I found you. And
verse 7, now let's see what this is saying. And for a small moment
have I forsaken thee. And we were forsaken of God,
weren't we? I tell you there's a scripture
that describes us over here in Ephesians chapter 2. Turn over
there to Ephesians chapter 2. Describes us before we met our
Lord, before we met our husband, before we met our Redeemer. Before
we met our maker in faith, this is what we were in verse 12,
verse 11 of Ephesians 2. Remember, therefore remember,
in times past, being in times past, Gentiles in your flesh,
called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. At that time you were without
Christ. You were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. You
were strangers from the covenant of promise. You had no hope and
you were without God in this world. That's where I found you. Without Christ and without hope
and without God in this world. Without Christ. But the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been loved. Always been
loved of him. He said in Jeremiah, turn to
Jeremiah 31, how do you account for this picture? How do you
account for God forsaking us? He said, for a small moment I
forsaken you, but with great mercies will I gather you. He
said there in verse 8, in a little wrath I hid my face from you
for a moment, deserted you. But Jeremiah chapter 31, verse
3, says this. The Lord hath a period of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been his church. The sheep of Christ have always
been his sheep. He said, I love my sheep, I lay
down my life for my sheep. My Father gave them me. My Father
gave me my sheep. He was made our surety before
the foundation of the world. We were his sheep. He knew us. Even when our Lord gave that
parable about the lost sheep, it wasn't somebody else's sheep
that was lost, it was his sheep. He said, I left the 99 and went
to find my sheep, that prodigal son that was lost. He was the
father's son when he left home, when he lived with the hogs,
when he wasted his substance, when he was in a far country,
when he hated his father's house, he was still his son, wasn't
he? He said, this my son was lost,
now he's home, come rejoice with me. The shepherd found the sheep,
he said, this my sheep was lost, rejoice with me. The bride of
Christ has always been his bride. Can you see that? Always been
his bride. Known unto God all his works
from the beginning, you were always his. Apple of his eye. Apple of his eye. My beloved
is mine, I'm his. Always has been. But we were
in a fall with Adam's race. We sinned against God. We left
home like the prodigal son. We wandered away, all we like
sheep have gone astray. We wandered everyone his own
way. And the bride of Christ was like
Hosea's woman. Left home. Left home. Wound up on the slave market.
Wound up being auctioned off as a slave. Chained. Standing
on the platform, being auctioned off, and there's her husband
out there in the crowd. And he bids on her. And somebody
says, you don't want her. Yes, I do. She's my wife. I've
always loved her. She didn't love me, but I loved
her. She didn't know me, but I knew her. She didn't want to
do what I wanted to her. And he kept bidding. And finally
they said, she's yours. You've redeemed her. And he took
her home. And he said, you'll never be
for anybody else but for me. She said, I'm awful glad. But
that's where he found us. He found us on the auction block.
He found us out in the wilderness. He found us on the railing of
the hog pen. And it was deliberate. Turn back
to my text and read it again now. You make us your husband. This is the Lord, this is God
Almighty and owns everything, decrees everything and decides
everything. And he said, The Lord called
you when he found you, you were a woman forsaken, grieved in
your spirit the wife of a youth, but you were refused, cast off,
sent to your God. But it was for a small moment
that I forsake you, that I forsake you. A small moment? Seems like
to me it's an awful long time. But wait a minute. Turn, if you
will, to the book of 2 Peter. Let's see about this God of ours,
about time in relation to God. What's time to God? There is
no time with God. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. God is eternal. Time started
back when he created the earth. He said, let the light be separate
from the night. light be called day and the night
night, darkness night, and the evening and the morning were
the first day. That's the first day. What about before then? There
were no days. So he says here in 2 Peter 3, verse 8, But, beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing. One day is where the Lord is
a thousand years. One day is a thousand years,
and one hour is forty-one and a half years. The time we are
going to be in this service is, with God, forty-one and a half
years. Our God is so timeless. Let's read the whole verse. But beloved, be not eager in
this one day. One day is with the Lord a thousand
years, but a thousand years is one day. Our God is so timeless
and so eternal that with him A thousand years is but a moment,
a day. But a day. Our God is so sovereign
and particular in ordering and ordaining and bringing to pass
every purpose in providence. Even the falling of a spiral
can't fall without his attention. Even the hairs of your head are
numbered. Even the falling of a leaf from a tree is marked
out by God. because he is so sovereign and
so particular in his every detail concerning his creation, his
creatures, his universe, that a day lasts a thousand years. So that's the reason he says,
the time you were in religion without God, the time you were
in the world without God, the time you were in the wilderness
wandering in your way, the time you were departed from him, live
in this line, that line, the other line, this profession,
that profession, until he crossed your path and called you. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son, and whom he predestinated,
he called. And for a moment, I've forsaken
you, just a small moment. It is with God. With you is a
long time. It is a miserable time. It is
a rotten time. You wish you hadn't lived any
of it. You go back and think about what a wretch you were. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound to save the wretch like me. How long were you a wretch? Years and years and years. But
just a small moment with him. And I tell you there's a reason
for it. See, the prodigal son didn't care a thing about his
father's house until he lost it. He didn't care a thing about
his father's love until he was without it. Until he had lost
everything he had, until he had no friends, no job, no income,
nothing. Sitting on the hog pen, feeding
the hogs, and he was so hungry he would eat with them. And he
sat there and he came to himself. Boy, what a day when God makes
a fella come to himself and realize where he is, how far off he is,
how lost he is, how wicked he is. He said, in my father's house
the servants are better off than I am. I'm going to go home and
I'm going to say, Father, I've sinned unto heaven and in your
sight and I'm not fit to be called your son. Just make me a slave.
And the father said, put a ring on his finger. a robe on his
back, killed a fatted cat, and kissed him on the cheek. My boy
is home. He could appreciate his father's
mercies now, great mercies. So listen, verse 7. For a small moment had I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies. You realize it now, don't you,
how great his mercy is. But you don't realize it until
you've been lost. You don't realize the beauty
of the road until you've been naked. You don't realize the
good taste of food until you've been hungry. You don't realize
what it means to be home until you've been lost. And it's great
mercy. Listen, in a little wrath, is
that a little wrath? It shows you don't want to know
anything about his great wrath. You don't want to know anything
about that. He never dealt with us in great wrath. It's all just
a little wrath. Just a little. I hid my face
from you just for a little while. What did I say when I read that
while ago? Without God, without hope, without Christ, I hid my
face from you. I let you go your way. We wandered
like she turned to our way. God let us have it. But with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, saith the Lord
your Redeemer." I tell you, people have never been lost and do not
know what it means to be found. Folks that have never been without
God don't know how precious it is to have him. People who have
never known the true gospel of his saving grace don't know what
it is until they have been brought to that place. You know, when
that harlot, she heard our Lord preach over there in Luke chapter
7. She heard our Lord preach. And
then this Pharisee invited the Lord to his home to have a meal. And our Lord went with him. And
they didn't sit in chairs around a table. They lay stretched out
on carpets and resting on pillows while they ate over in that oriental
country. And this Pharisee and all of
his friends were up here, and our Lord was out there, and the
people were around him, and there was always an audience at those
famous folks' big dinners, big audience. And the door opened,
and that woman, that Harlot, that had been out there on the
street and heard him preach, had gone to her house and gotten
a precious bottle of perfume and had brought it with her,
and she came walking in. And I'm telling you, it got quiet
in that place, because everybody knew her. Everybody knew her.
A woman about town. She came walking in. She had
her eye in one place on her Lord. She heard him talk about mercy
and grace and forgiveness of sin. And she came down, didn't
say a word. just knelt at his feet. And then
she broke open that alabaster box and poured it on his feet. And then she kissed his feet.
And then she unwound her plaited hair, long hair. And then she
began to dry his feet with the hair of her head. And that old
Pharisee up there watched all that. And he said to his friends,
he said, Now, I told you this fellow's not a prophet. I told
you he's not a prophet. If this fellow were a prophet,
he'd know what kind of woman that is that's kissing his feet,
and he wouldn't let her touch him. Don't you thank God that
he loves sinners? Don't you thank God he's a friend
of sinners? Don't you thank God that he does
love sinners? And this is the kind of woman
that he's describing his church as being. And our Lord looked
up at that Pharisee and he said, Simon, that was his fellow's
name, he said, Simon, I have a question for you. And Simon
said, Say on, Lord. Say on. And our Lord said, Simon,
there was a certain creditor that had two debtors. One of
them owed him 500 pence and the other owed him just 50. Now when
they didn't have anything to pay, he frankly forgave both
of them. Which one of them would love
him the most? And old Simon had to answer, but he still didn't
want to answer straight out. He said, I suppose. I suppose,
he said. Now, you know good and well the
answer. I suppose he to whom he forgave the most. He said,
you've rightly said. You've rightly said. And he turned
to the woman. He said, Simon, you see this
woman? You see this woman? I entered your house and you
gave me no water to wash my feet. That's a common courtesy back
then when somebody came to your house, you washed their feet.
But you didn't give me any water. This woman was washing my feet
with tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss. He didn't think enough of him.
That's the way they greet Obeyanda, you know, kiss on that side,
kiss on that side. He gave me no water for his feet,
no kiss of greeting. kiss my feet. My head withal
you didn't anoint. When a friend came out of that
burning oriental sun, he anointed his head withal. But this woman
has anointed my feet with precious ointment. And I say to you, Simon,
her sins, which are many, are all forgiven." That's much grace,
great grace, great mercy. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same love little." That's your picture
here. He said, for a small moment I
forsaken you, but with great mercies I have gathered you,
my bride, my church. In a little while, I'll let you
go, I'll let you know what it is, I'll let you know what the
pigpen smells like. I let you know what the briars
in the wilderness felt like. I let you know how cold those
lonesome, dark days could be. But with good, everlasting kindness
and mercy, I've drawn you here. Now then, watch this. You talk
about comfort. Verse 9. And for this is as the
waters of Noah unto me, I read that character, this is as the
waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would never be wroth with you ever again, or rebuke
you never more." Have you read God's promise to
Noah later? God said, this is like back yonder
when I talked to Noah about the rainbow. Let's turn and see. Let's see what God says over
here. He's the one calling our attention to it. He said, This
is your comfort. This is your comfort, just like
my promise to Noah. Genesis 9, look at it. This will be so interesting to
you. Genesis 9, verse 8. Listen to it. God spake to Noah
and his sons with him. And I, behold, I establish my
covenant with you." Now, brethren, that's what we're talking about.
I heard Bob in his prayer talk about a covenant. God's people
know something about a covenant. And they mention it quite often.
David died with a word on his lips. God made with me a covenant,
everlasting covenant in Christ. Now, I establish my covenant
with you and with your seed after you and with every living creature
that's with you. This is a covenant God made with
the whole world. Knowing his Son is an ever-living
creature, of the fowl, of the cattle, of every beast of the
earth with you, for all that go out of the ark to every beast
of the earth, I will establish my covenant with you, every one
of you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters
of a flood, neither shall there be any more be a flood to destroy
the earth." He didn't say he wouldn't destroy it with fire
now, but he said, I'll never destroy it with water, never again with
water. Noah, that's a promise. Now,
watch it. God said to Noah, this is the
token of the covenant which I'll make between me and you, and
every living creature that's with you for perpetual generations. I do set my rainbow in the cloud,
and that rainbow shall be for a token of a covenant between
me and the earth. And it shall come to pass when
I bring a cloud over the earth, Boy, it looks dark. I bet old
Noah the next time he saw a cloud, he said, it's going to do it
again. Here we go again. God said, oh no, no, that's not
what it's going to be. I'll bring that dark cloud. I'll
cause the thunder to roll and the lightning to flash and I'll
bring that cloud over the red. But in a few moments, the bow,
the rainbow, shall be seen in the cloud. How many rainbows
have you seen? Most beautiful sight is the arch.
And you know, every time I've ever seen one, prior to last
night when I studied this, one thing, I thought of several things.
When I see a rainbow, I think, boy, those colors are pretty.
When I think of the rainbow, I think of the end of the rain.
When I see a rainbow, I think, wonder if there's a pot of gold
at the end of it. It's just a lot of things. But you know what
I think now? I think about the everlasting covenant. that God made with me in Christ.
Because he said, as I promised, let's read the rest of it. Verse
14, It come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that
the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my
covenant, which is between me and you. You may forget it, but
I'm not going to forget it, he said. And every living creature
in the water shall no more become a flab to destroy all flesh,
and the bow shall be in the clouds, and I'll look upon it, that I
may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God
said to Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have
established between me and all flesh upon the earth, the rainbow."
That's my other title for this message, the rainbow. Now turn
back to my text, Isaiah 54. And God told the Church, I'll
have everlasting kindness, that I have mercy on you. Verse 9,
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn
that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so
have I sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke
you. Now listen to this, verse 10.
The mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed. that my kindness shall not depart
from the church, from you. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that I have mercy on thee."
Let's read about that in Revelation 6. It's going to be an awful
day in Revelation 6, verse 14. And the heaven departed as a
scroll when it's rolled together. And every mountain and island
were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and
the great men, the rich men, the chief captains of mighty
men, and every bondman, every free man, hid themselves in the
dens and the rocks and the mountains. And they said to the mountains
and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
sits on the throne, from the wrath of the Lamb." Now, that's
a wrath we don't want to know anything about. That's not a
little wrath, that's the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day
of his wrath is come, who will be able to stand? The only reason
we stood the little wrath is his hand was upon us, he kept
us. And little wrath I have forsaken
you, but I with everlasting kindness draw you. And the mountains,
verse 10, let's read it again, the mountains shall depart and
the hills be removed. shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that
hath mercy on thee." It wasn't your doings, it was his. I thought
about that rainbow. That promise was unconditional.
Noah didn't request it, Noah didn't seek it, God gave it. That promise was unchangeable.
He said, I am the Lord, I'll set my bow in the heavens, and
when I see that bow, I'll remember my covenant with you. That promise
was immovable. The mountains and the islands,
he said, shall move, but my mercy will never depart from you. And
that promise is unearned and undeserved. It's based on mercy
alone, grace alone. But I want us to look at these
other verses just for a moment or two, and I'll close. But let's read the rest of the
chapter. This is interesting. This is still talking to the
Church. O thou afflicted, tossed with the tempest, not comforted,
O my! Behold, I lay my stones, thy
stones with fair colors, and lay the foundation with sapphires.
Christ is the precious cornerstone of the Church. And I'll make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all
thy borders of pleasant stones." The Church is made up of pleasant,
living stones. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. Every one of the Church people
is going to be taught of God. And great shall be the peace
of thy children. We're not talking about our earthly
children here. We're talking about his children, the Church. Peace among all of them. Verse
14, I in righteousness, and in righteousness shalt thou be established. Christ is our righteousness.
And thou shalt be far from oppression, thou shalt not fear, thou shalt
not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.
He gives his angels charge over them. Behold, thou shalt surely
gather, they shall gather together. He's talking about you have enemies.
The Church has enemies, the Church has always had enemies. Down
through the centuries, down through the millenniums, the Church has
had great enemies. They've gathered together against
you. They've persecuted the Church for years, but not by me. He's
saying here that they're not by my command, not at all. They'll
come against you of their own will, not by me. But whosoever
shall gather together against you, shall fall for thy sake. They won't succeed. Now this
is good right here, this is great, listen. Behold, I've created
the smith, that's the blacksmith, that makes the fire that bloweth
the coals with his bellows. I made him, he says, I made the
blacksmith. I gave him the strength in his
arms to pump that bellows and blow that charcoal and make that
fire hot. And he brings forth an instrument
for his work. He makes a sword. He makes a
gun. He makes a spear. He makes an
arrow. Instruments of death. God said,
I give him the strength. I created that fellow. Gave him
the strength to do all these things. And then I created the
waster to destroy the fellow that buys the gun to fire it
and buys the bow to shoot it. buys a sword to wield it. I gave
him what he has to do that. But you remember this, when you
see all these things come to pass, you see all these things
now going on coming to pass. Everything going on, God permits. The wrath of man will work the
righteousness of God, the purpose of God, but the rest of it remain
in human strength. But now he said all these weapons
Verse 17, no weapon that's formed against you shall prosper. Every
tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, either judgment
here or judgment yonder, I shall condemn. I'll keep you. I'll protect you. everlasting arms around you like
a mother hen under his wings, thou shalt safely abide." All
of this that we've been talking about tonight is the heritage,
the inheritance of the servants of the Lord. This is their heritage,
this is their inheritance, this is their covenant, their claim. And their righteousness is of
me, says the Lord. So now when you see a rainbow,
next time you see a rainbow, you and your husband out driving,
you see that beautiful rainbow formed after the rain in the
misty clouds. You turn to him and say, God made a promise to all of
us in Christ Jesus. and he'll never forget it. We're
secure in his grace and no harm can come to us, no judgment against
us. That's his promise.