If you will turn once again with
me to Isaiah chapter 40. This is a chapter that we could
spend several months studying from. There's so much here, so
much that honors and glorifies our God and Father. Before I
come to the message, I have three remarks that I want to make from
the first few verses. My first remark is, God has a
people. You notice in verse one, the
scripture says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. God has a people in this world. The nation of Israel was God's
people when Isaiah brought forth this prophecy. It was a nation
that God raised up from a man named Abraham who was married
to a barren woman until she was 90 years of age. And from that couple came Isaac,
and from Isaac descended or developed the nation of Israel. It was
from this nation that God promised one who would come in whom all
the families of the earth, all the nations of the world, all
the families of the earth would be blessed. If you look back, in Deuteronomy,
keep your places here, but turn back to Deuteronomy chapter seven,
just a moment. Read something about this nation. God has a people. And at the
time this prophecy was given, his people in this world was
the nation of Israel. My people. In verse 6 of chapter
7 of Deuteronomy, Moses is telling the nation of Israel before they
went into the land of promise, for thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because
the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which
he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage
from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. The nation of Israel
was a nation among nations. There were many nations at this
time. There were the Philistines, the
Moabites. We read about all the various
ites in the Old Testament. But this nation was a nation
among nations. In the United Nations today,
all the nations of the world are represented. Israel is a
nation there. It was a nation among nations.
But I want you to see, if you will, in Matthew chapter 21, some say that this prophecy here
referred strictly to this nation of Israel. When God said, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, because they would soon go into captivity. They would be there for 70 years
in Babylon. And some believe that this prophecy
was given ahead of time to comfort this people, the nation of Israel,
while they were in captivity, and to especially warn them against
idolatry. Because you notice that last
verse we read there in Isaiah 40, it asks, to whom can you
compare God? Idolatry is a wicked, grievous
sin. It really is, because God is
a being in a category, if I could use that term, by himself. He is infinite, eternal. And there's none that can be
compared to God Almighty. And when men make an idol or
an image of something and say, this is your God, worship this,
or this represents your God, it is a wicked, evil sin against
God. Because there's nothing that
may be compared with Him. God chose that nation and God,
some people say He was warning them ahead of time not to be
influenced, even though they were taken into captivity because
of idolatry and they would meet many idols in Babylon, not to
be influenced by those idols. But I want you to notice here
in Matthew 21 and verse 43 in this parable that the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke. And we're not going to read the
whole parable, but our Lord speaks about a man who had a vineyard,
and he sent workers to his vineyard to receive the fruits, and they
stoned some and run some off. And finally, he sent his son,
his only son, to these people. And they said, here's the heir. And so what did they do with
the heir? Well, they slew him. Now obviously, that is speaking
about Christ. That over the years, God has
sent prophet after prophet after prophet to the nation of Israel. And what had they done? They
had stoned some, they had slain some. They would not listen to
God through the men that God sent to them. And last of all,
God sent his son, his only son, his only begotten son. And what
did they do? They slew him. And notice what
our Lord said in verse 42, Jesus saith unto them, now he's speaking
to these leaders of the nation of Israel. They were the priest
and the religious leaders of this nation. And he asked them,
did you never read in the scripture, the stone, the stone which the
builders rejected Now, in this parable, the builders represent
the Pharisees and the priests at this time. The stone, of course,
is the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you not read, the stone
which the builders rejected, the same has become the head
of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and
it is marvelous in our eyes. In other words, what was taking
place and what took place was according to God's purpose, according
to God's will, what He purposed from old eternity. And men were
acting and doing what they desired to do to slay the Lord Jesus
Christ, And in doing what they desired to do, what was in their
evil hearts to do, they did exactly what God had purposed and determined
to do from before the foundation of the world. But notice verse
43. This is the Lord speaking to
these leaders. Therefore, I say unto you, the
kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation. a nation. I said Israel was a
nation, right? But now our Lord tells them,
the leaders of that nation, the kingdom of God, the gospel, will
be taken from you and given to a nation that brings forth the
fruits thereof. Now what is this nation? Well,
let's go to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2. This, of course, is
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, the things that
were said about that nation, there were three things. I don't
know if you've noted that when we've read in Deuteronomy, but
they were loved, they were chosen, and they were holy or set apart. And those three things are the
very same things that are true of every child of God. In other words, that nation,
and in that nation, I hope I'm not confusing you, in that nation
there were elect people, but not the whole nation. They were
not all elect, that's for sure. And that nation, God set it aside,
And now the nation is a holy nation. It is a church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. The nation of Israel. serves as a type, as typical
of spiritual Israel, of the church. And in our text here, and if
you turn back to Isaiah chapter 40, you see the church is represented
here by two words, that is Jerusalem and Zion. Zion and Jerusalem. There was a hill, mountain in
Jerusalem called Mount Zion, and that's where the temple was
built. But this Jerusalem here, and
I say this because if you notice, let's go back there to chapter
40 of Isaiah. After these first three verses,
we have a prophecy of John the Baptist. Nobody can doubt that. Notice it says, verse three,
the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare you
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. Now, no one questions the fact
that that is a prophecy concerning John the Baptist. So my point
is these words, this word in verse one, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Our words, yes, they may have
applied to the nation of Israel, but they certainly apply to God's
people today, to you and to me. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
saith your God. God's people, just like the nation
of Israel, are holy. They're separated. They're set
apart. They're loved with an everlasting
love. And they're chosen in Christ
from before the foundation of the world. My second observation
or statement is God's people are sometimes troubled. Who needs
comfort? Who needs comfort? People who
are troubled, people who are sorrowful, people who are afflicted. Well, these are God's people,
and His word is, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. And that
brings me to say that God's people, you, all of God's people, are
sometimes troubled. This world is a world where trouble
is common. It's commonplace. It is. God's people sometimes need trouble
or needs comfort from trouble and comfort is administered or
the cause of their trouble here has to be because of iniquity
and sin. Because the comfort that is administered
is 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 her sins. The comfort that is administered
here has to do with people being troubled over iniquity, people
being troubled over sin. We might say, and we would be
correct if we said this this morning, that all trouble, all
trouble, all affliction, all sorrow is the result of sin. If sin had not come into this
world, if man had not introduced sin into this world, there wouldn't
be any need for comfort. We would be comforted. You know,
sometimes when When people have a experience, maybe a child,
God takes the life of a child and people say, well, how could
a good God do that? Trace it back to the fountain.
Trace that back to the fountain. You go back to the fountain and
you come to Adam. Adam is the one who introduced
sin into this world, and because of sin, it's like a, I like to
think of it like a train. You've got the engine up in the
front, and you've got all these cars following behind, and sin
was a train. When sin came into this world,
then all these troubles, sicknesses and sorrows and afflictions and
everything else came in because of sin. But this is God's people
here. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. And God's people are sometimes
afflicted or troubled because of sin. Trouble that causes someone,
a believer, to question his relationship to God. Trouble that causes a
person to question God's providences and to doubt God's love and God's
mercy. I like the New Testament names of God
that we are given. The Apostle Paul gives us many
of these. He's the God of peace. He's a God of hope. He's a God
of patience. Yeah. And he is the God of all
comfort. That's what he tells us in first
Corinthians or second Corinthians rather. He's the God of all comfort. When you think about God and
comfort, here are three things to remember. First of all, this
is one of the names of God the Holy Spirit. Now God the Holy
Spirit is equally God with the Son and with the Father. And
yet one of his names is Comforter, Comforter. The night the Lord
Jesus Christ before his crucifixion, was alone with his disciples.
And first of all, he had told them, one of you, here they are,
12 of them around the table, one of you is going to betray
me this night. Who is he? Is it me? They all
questioned, except maybe Judas. Is it I? One of you is going
to deny me. They were troubled. Let not your
heart be troubled. They needed comfort, didn't they?
And it was that night that the Lord promised that he would pray
the Father and he would send another comforter that he might
abide with you forever. And who is he speaking of? He's
speaking of God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit, he's the
God of all comfort. Another thing I see here that
God, the God of all comfort, God the Holy Spirit, he comforts
his people through his word. Notice he said the command is
speak. The command here in Isaiah is
speak. Now we speak with words and God uses his word which was
inspired by God the Holy Spirit. He uses his word to comfort his
people. I've had enough experience to
know that many times when families or individuals suffer problems
and one of the first things they think they need to do is stay
away from hearing the word of God preached. If you're going
to get any comfort, it's going to come from God's word. This
is the very place where you need to be, where a person needs to
be, under the sound of the gospel. And it is the gospel that God
uses in comforting his people, his word. And not only that,
not only is one of his names the Comforter, Not only does
he use his word to comfort his people, but he uses man to speak
his word. Notice it says, cry, cry, in
verse six. He uses man when the Lord Jesus
Christ ascended back to the Father. Read about this in Acts, don't
we? That day after the Lord had risen from the grave and appeared
to his disciples over a period of 40 days. And they went out
to the Mount of Olives and the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into
heaven. And they were told the same Jesus
shall come in like manner. Yes. But he gave gifts. We read he gave gifts unto men. And those gifts are named in
Ephesians. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers. In other words, he gave the Holy
Spirit that qualifies men. No man is qualified, apart from
the Holy Spirit, to have been an apostle, to be an evangelist,
or a prophet, or a pastor and teacher. No, he uses men. And those men that God uses are
to seek his help. Just like in this case here,
what shall I cry? You see that? The voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness. The voice that cried and he said,
what shall I cry? He uses men to preach. He uses men,
he's given gifts unto men, unto his church, yes, but the men
that he uses, they cry, what? What shall I cry? What shall
I preach? And if a man doesn't cry unto
the Lord for a message, he probably would be better off not bringing
whatever it is. But I want us to say in the time
I have remaining that there's two parts to this message that
this man was to cry, this prophet was to cry. What shall I cry? Well, the first part is all flesh
is grass. This message had two parts. The
first part is All flesh is grass. The frailty of man. God compares man to grass. You have grass in your yard,
most likely, if you have a yard. It grows up, and it's pretty
and green at certain times of the year, and then it's cut down,
bagged up, and hauled away. The frailty of man. Our Lord compared man's life
in this world to grass also when he was telling his disciples
not to be anxious about your needs. You need food, you need
clothes, you need shelter. Don't be anxious about these
things. God, he said, Wherefore, if God
so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow
is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith? And I looked at that verse this
past week, and I looked at these words. Our life, my life, your
life, is like grass. Today is. Today is, tomorrow it's gone. It's gone. Our Lord, or the word
of God rather, uses several pictures of our life, the frailty and
the brevity of life, mist or vapor. As I was driving here
this morning on The way I come, I looked over to the left, there
was a detention pond, and you couldn't see the bottom of it.
It's not five feet deep. But you know, there was a mist
that just covered that whole pond. And I would imagine if you could
take that road right now, it's all gone. It appeared for a little
while, and then it vanishes away. The Bible also compares the brevity
of life to a shadow. A shadow that is here for a little
while, but then the sun, or I should say the world moves. The sun,
the shadow is gone. Compared to a weaver's shuttle. Have you ever watched, man, I've
seen this out in Arizona sometime years ago, where people were
weaving things on a shuttle. And my, that shuttle, it moved
so fast. They put that thread through
there. That's our life. That's our life
in this world. What shall I cry? All flesh is
grass. That's the first part of the
message. In Psalm 90, Moses wrote that
psalm and he prayed and he said, teach us to number our days.
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Every man in this
world knows he's going to die. Every man knows that. But very
few people lay it to heart. Tomorrow, tomorrow, when I have
a more convenient time, Paul, I'll hear you again. We never
read in the word of God that he ever had a more convenient
time. But you know in this verse, it's
not so much the brevity of life as it is the weakness. Comparing
our life to grass, it's a weakness. The weakness, our inability.
And then the scripture here tells us the Lord bloweth upon it.
And my prayer this morning is, God, blow upon us. Blow upon us that we might recognize
our need, our inability to look away from ourselves. We're just like grass. The wind
blows and it just bends over. Has no resisting power. Man,
people like to talk about man's free will. Man's free will is
what got us into the mess we're in. It's God's sovereign will,
God's gracious will that saves sinners, my friends. That's the first part of the
message. All flesh is grass. We forget
that. We forget that. I read or heard
this past week, I thought this was good. People were commenting
about the death of Charlie Kirk. I'm sure we all heard the news
about that. But one writer or one man I heard
say, you know, we emphasize, we put all our attention on living
a long life. We all want to live to we're
90 or 95, maybe even 100. What we ought to be concerned
about is our life, not the length of our life, but what we do with
our lives. Amen? Not the length. Many people will tell you old
age is not all the blessing that some people think. Our sister
Florence, how many times did she tell me old age is not for
sissies? Amen. That's the first part of his
message. What shall I cry? Here it is, all flesh is grass. But the second part of the message
is behold your Behold, your God, you see that in verse nine, O
Zion. And according to Gil, this would be better if it had
been translated, O Zion, to you is brought good tidings. O Jerusalem,
to you, there's good tidings brought. In other words, to the
church, good tidings are brought. But the message is, behold your
God. The gospel, behold your God. Well, let's behold Him this morning.
If you thank with me for just a few more minutes. Behold His
goodness. You know that, The word God or
name God is just, you take one of the Os out of good and you
have God. And that is the way that term
came into being. He is goodness. Behold the goodness of God. Think of how many millions of
people, billions of people right now are depending upon his goodness. his goodness in sending rain,
his goodness in sending the sun to shine and produce crops and
all his goodness in so many different ways. But I think of his goodness. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. He didn't spare his son. Think
of his goodness in giving his son to die for sinful men and
women like you and myself. Look back in your life, those
of you who are any age, look back in your life when you were
just a baby. You couldn't help yourself and
God put you into the arms of a mother who loved you and cared
for you and fed you, provided for you. Who did that? God did. His goodness. And then you became
a teenager, and like most of us, we look back and we did some
very foolish things. And yet God preserved us. It's
goodness. It's goodness. And then we got
older and had a family. And I know with you young men
and women here raising small children and children, there's
problems and troubles that come along. You have a lot of concerns,
don't you? Sure you do. God's goodness brings
you through those days, through those times. His goodness. Behold your God. Behold how good
He is. You know, in that Psalm 107,
the psalmist said over and over and over again, I think four
or five times, oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness.
for his wonderful works to the children of men. Oh, that we
would praise him for his good. Behold your God, the goodness
of God. Behold his grace, his grace. It is his grace that saves multitudes,
multitudes from hell, saving them at the greatest expense. That is the expense of his son,
the blood of his son. and saving them in the freest
way. I look sometimes at these groups
that, I won't call them churches, but these groups that teach works,
religion, works, and it seems like people just love that. They just flock to that. Give
us something to do. No! Christ did it all. Look to him and be saved. I don't want to hear that. Give
me something to do. Tell me I've got to climb up
some high mountain on my knees. I'll do that. Yeah? And when you do, you get up to
the top, you can brag about it. But I tell you, God saves sinners
in such a way that all the glory goes to Him. His grace. Behold your God. Behold His power. He spoke this world into existence,
and He sustains it today, supports every creature upon it. In Him
we live, we move, we have our being. In the book of Jeremiah, we read,
ah, Lord God, behold, You have made the heaven and the earth
by your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too hard
for you. Ah, behold his wisdom. It's infinite. I was reading an article this
past week and the author said something about God's wisdom
harmonizing his attributes. his wisdom, harmonizing his attributes. I thought about that and I thought
about his justice, his righteousness, yes, that cried for our destruction
because of our sin. But then his mercy, his grace
cried for forgiveness. How are these two going to be
harmonized? How are they going to be reconciled? God's wisdom
in bringing forth his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So that God's
justice is completely satisfied on behalf of his people, and
yet God's grace is manifested in saving sinners. Behold, his
holiness is so bright, his holiness is
so bright that no Man can venture into his presence. The Lord Jesus
Christ had to become a man and come down among us that we might
see God. And lastly, behold his mercy. When you think of the ocean,
let me put it like this, an ocean, Pacific Ocean, how large it is. But you know, there is a bottom. There is a bottom there somewhere.
It may be 50 feet deep, I don't know. And there are shores. In other words, there's a limit.
There's a limit to the depth of the ocean, to the width of
the ocean. But not to the mercy of God.
Not to the mercy of God. Behold your God, who is so great
a God as our God. May we go away this morning thinking
about Him and rejoicing in Him if we know Him as our Lord and
Savior. And if you do not know Him, if
you've never trusted in Him, today's the day. Behold, today
is the day of salvation. You may not have another day. Today, seek the Lord while he
may be found. Call upon him while he's near.
You say, preacher, what do I need to do? Get alone. Get alone and do business with
God. That's what you need to do. You don't need some soul winner.
You need to do business with God. You need to tell God your
situation and ask him for mercy. I doubt that anyone's ever sought
the Lord for mercy, didn't find mercy. Amen? Okay.