WEBVTT 00:00:01.445 --> 00:00:02.970 Turn to Isaiah, chapter 40. 00:00:02.970 --> 00:00:08.108 If you've got Bibles with you, that's wonderful. 00:00:08.108 --> 00:00:14.189 If you don't have a Bible, you can take the Bible right there in the pew in front of you and turn to page 738. 00:00:14.189 --> 00:00:18.966 Isaiah, chapter 40. 00:00:18.966 --> 00:00:26.751 Our text this morning comes from the first 11 verses of this chapter. 00:00:26.751 --> 00:00:28.286 So we've been taking some bigger chunks. 00:00:28.286 --> 00:00:30.146 We're going to slow down just a little bit. 00:00:30.146 --> 00:00:35.049 In this chapter it's got a lot, and we'll look at chapter 40, verses 1 through 11. 00:00:35.049 --> 00:01:01.985 And I'll start by reading these words for us, this is what God's word says Comfort, comfort, comfort, my people, says your God, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to her that her time of hard service is over, her iniquity has been pardoned and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 00:01:01.985 --> 00:01:29.304 A voice of one crying out, and the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 00:01:29.304 --> 00:01:31.510 A voice was saying cry out. 00:01:31.510 --> 00:01:36.503 Another said what should I cry out? 00:01:36.503 --> 00:01:41.233 All humanity is grass and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. 00:01:41.233 --> 00:01:47.063 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them. 00:01:47.063 --> 00:01:54.563 Indeed, the people are grass, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever. 00:01:54.563 --> 00:01:58.391 Zion, herald of good news. 00:01:58.391 --> 00:02:00.376 Go upon a high mountain. 00:02:00.376 --> 00:02:02.861 Jerusalem, herald of good news. 00:02:02.861 --> 00:02:06.031 Raise your voice loudly, raise it, do not be afraid. 00:02:06.031 --> 00:02:09.967 Say to the cities of Judah here is your God. 00:02:09.967 --> 00:02:12.032 See the Lord. 00:02:12.032 --> 00:02:16.103 God comes with strength and his power establishes his rule. 00:02:16.103 --> 00:02:19.068 His wages are with him and his reward accompanies him. 00:02:19.068 --> 00:02:23.002 He protects his flock like a shepherd. 00:02:23.002 --> 00:02:28.973 He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. 00:02:28.973 --> 00:02:33.390 He gently leads those that are nursing. 00:02:33.390 --> 00:02:37.228 Lord, again, we're just pleading with you. 00:02:37.228 --> 00:02:38.544 We're hungry for the word. 00:02:38.544 --> 00:02:44.893 We're hungry to know this scripture, but not just to know the words, to know you through the words. 00:02:44.893 --> 00:02:46.883 So help us, oh God. 00:02:46.883 --> 00:02:48.689 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:02:48.689 --> 00:02:49.191 Amen. 00:02:49.191 --> 00:02:54.871 God is the only one who can bring lasting comfort. 00:02:54.871 --> 00:03:00.145 God is the only one who will bring lasting comfort. 00:03:00.145 --> 00:03:06.074 Our passage today in Isaiah 40 opens with this repeated word, the word comfort. 00:03:06.074 --> 00:03:11.105 You can see it right there Comfort, comfort. 00:03:11.105 --> 00:03:14.233 My people says your God. 00:03:14.233 --> 00:03:20.192 God is the only one who will bring lasting comfort. 00:03:22.701 --> 00:03:25.155 Now, many of you would say, yeah, I agree with that. 00:03:25.155 --> 00:03:27.062 I know I've got to go to God first and foremost. 00:03:27.062 --> 00:03:28.985 You don't have to convince me of that? 00:03:28.985 --> 00:03:36.403 If that's true, then why do we so quickly and easily run to other things for comfort? 00:03:36.403 --> 00:03:45.021 Why does it take us sometimes time and time to go to God? 00:03:45.905 --> 00:03:51.689 When we're weary, when we're hurt, when we're feeling conviction, when we're seeking consolation, what do we do? 00:03:51.689 --> 00:03:56.164 We binge watch our favorite TV shows. 00:03:56.164 --> 00:04:02.354 We put in the earbuds and tune everyone else out. 00:04:02.354 --> 00:04:10.762 Earbuds and tune everyone else out. 00:04:10.762 --> 00:04:11.141 We garden, we cook. 00:04:11.141 --> 00:04:12.664 Why is it called comfort food? 00:04:12.685 --> 00:04:18.334 Sadly, sometimes people turn to vices like pornography or violence or excessive alcohol. 00:04:18.334 --> 00:04:31.449 But whether it's a clear God-forbidden vice or it's a hobby, that in and of itself may not be wrong, we run to things for comfort and not God. 00:04:31.449 --> 00:04:36.081 So we may be quick to confess that God is the only one who will bring lasting comfort. 00:04:36.081 --> 00:04:47.860 But we have to be persuaded more and more to live out that confession, to seek God and more. 00:04:47.860 --> 00:04:48.540 To live out that confession. 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:57.214 To seek God, to seek his promises, to seek his comfort easily, quickly and often, and in our passage, god is so kind to assure us of good intentions. 00:04:57.214 --> 00:05:11.627 He's not an ogre waiting to thrash us when we come to him in humility and faith, ogre waiting to thrash us when we come to him in humility and faith. 00:05:11.627 --> 00:05:12.269 He says comfort. 00:05:12.269 --> 00:05:13.011 It's not a suggestion, it's a promise. 00:05:13.031 --> 00:05:20.206 Four steps for the message this morning as we think about this God as the only one who will bring lasting comfort. 00:05:20.206 --> 00:05:23.333 Four steps, step number one our need for comfort. 00:05:23.333 --> 00:05:28.122 Four steps Step number one our need for comfort. 00:05:28.122 --> 00:05:29.603 Step number two our foundation for comfort. 00:05:29.603 --> 00:05:31.487 Step number three our encounter with comfort. 00:05:31.487 --> 00:05:35.514 And then step number four, our testimony of comfort. 00:05:35.514 --> 00:05:43.225 So we'll start with that first step, our need for comfort. 00:05:43.245 --> 00:05:44.951 Most of us would acknowledge there have been times in our life in the past. 00:05:44.951 --> 00:05:48.547 There have been times in our life, probably in the present or certainly in the future, where we will need comfort. 00:05:48.547 --> 00:05:50.528 Few people would say no, I never need any comfort. 00:05:50.528 --> 00:06:01.812 And just to be clear, when we're talking about comfort from this passage, we're talking about God's consolation, his response to things in our lives. 00:06:01.812 --> 00:06:10.800 So I'm not talking about the kind of comfort that's like you know, I'd like to live a comfortable life, you know, just a nice couch, a drink in one hand, a remote in the other. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:12.889 That's not what God's promise is here. 00:06:12.889 --> 00:06:16.985 Kevin's not wearing his favorite shirt today, but comfort wants you dead. 00:06:16.985 --> 00:06:22.668 That kind of comfort I thought about texting this morning and saying do you have it, wear it, but I don't want to confuse people, right? 00:06:22.668 --> 00:06:24.815 That's something different this morning and said do you have it? 00:06:24.815 --> 00:06:25.920 Wear it, but I don't want to confuse people, right? 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:29.521 That's something different. 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:41.980 I think we realize here what God's speaking about is consolation, and that's a comfort we need, and we need it specifically in two broad areas areas of suffering and areas of sin. 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:43.483 And you can see both of those areas in verse number two. 00:06:43.483 --> 00:06:51.023 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to her that her time of hard service is over. 00:06:51.023 --> 00:06:53.065 There's suffering. 00:06:53.065 --> 00:06:56.571 And then it continues on. 00:06:56.571 --> 00:06:58.875 Her iniquity has been pardoned. 00:06:58.875 --> 00:07:02.084 She's received from the Lord's hand double for all of her sins. 00:07:02.084 --> 00:07:06.033 So these two categories of suffering and sin. 00:07:06.033 --> 00:07:11.649 And God steps into people and says there's comfort for you. 00:07:11.649 --> 00:07:12.913 Oh, there's comfort for you. 00:07:15.081 --> 00:07:18.908 Thinking about suffering, isaiah's writing to the nation of Israel. 00:07:18.908 --> 00:07:22.802 They'd suffered so much and they would suffer more. 00:07:22.802 --> 00:07:25.690 Verse two speaks of hard service. 00:07:25.690 --> 00:07:29.567 Some of your translations might use the word warfare there in verse number 2. 00:07:29.567 --> 00:07:33.043 They've been enslaved to Egypt, even coming out of Egypt. 00:07:33.043 --> 00:07:35.730 This is many years before Isaiah writes. 00:07:35.730 --> 00:07:39.168 They were attacked by other nations In Isaiah's own day. 00:07:39.168 --> 00:07:44.144 Assyria is ready to pounce on them, as our brother Ted brought out from Isaiah the last few weeks. 00:07:44.144 --> 00:07:46.428 Babylon is on the horizon. 00:07:46.428 --> 00:07:48.132 There's much suffering. 00:07:48.553 --> 00:07:58.153 If you look throughout the whole first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah, you'll see that Israel suffers a lot, but comfort's coming. 00:07:58.153 --> 00:08:01.141 Comfort Comfort, the Lord says. 00:08:01.141 --> 00:08:10.839 Most of us don't wake up with the fear that another nation is going to come in suddenly and enslave us all tomorrow. 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:14.711 We don't face that kind of fear of suffering and warfare. 00:08:14.711 --> 00:08:17.305 But there's suffering in our lives. 00:08:17.305 --> 00:08:34.719 Difficult, long-loved spouses pass away, children wander from the Lord. 00:08:34.719 --> 00:08:46.567 Aches and pains in our body tend not to get better with age but worse with age, Whether it's great or small. 00:08:46.567 --> 00:08:47.940 We suffer and the Lord says I've got comfort for you. 00:08:47.940 --> 00:08:51.173 We need that comfort. 00:08:51.173 --> 00:08:56.071 Coworkers might slander us, those that we care about turn their backs on us. 00:08:56.071 --> 00:09:03.400 And the Lord says you suffer, you suffer, but don't worry. 00:09:03.400 --> 00:09:03.741 Comfort's coming. 00:09:03.761 --> 00:09:21.894 The second area that cries out for comfort is this area of sin, and this is the more important area, because, if you notice, in verse 2, isaiah says once hard service is over, but he then mentions sin two times, not once. 00:09:22.395 --> 00:09:32.243 Her iniquity has been pardoned there, it is the first time and she's received from the Lord's hand double for all of her sins. 00:09:32.263 --> 00:09:34.768 So not only is this category of sin mentioned more prominently than suffering. 00:09:34.768 --> 00:09:37.514 There's a connection between the two here. 00:09:37.514 --> 00:09:45.193 For Isaiah, for the people of Israel, their suffering was the direct result of their sin. 00:09:45.193 --> 00:09:49.142 They were not isolated and disconnected things. 00:09:49.142 --> 00:09:52.394 And again, you can see this all throughout the first 39 chapters. 00:09:52.394 --> 00:09:54.842 They're suffering because they've sinned against God. 00:09:57.048 --> 00:09:57.971 And that's what sin is. 00:09:57.971 --> 00:10:00.336 It's rebellion against God. 00:10:00.336 --> 00:10:09.543 It's not a mistake, it's not an oversight, it's not just weakness, it's us saying no to God's way and choosing our own way. 00:10:09.543 --> 00:10:13.751 And if you really see yourself, you're going to see. 00:10:13.751 --> 00:10:16.261 That's so pervasive in my life. 00:10:16.261 --> 00:10:21.693 Apart from the Lord, the comfort I need, I have to have divine aid. 00:10:21.693 --> 00:10:28.100 I have to have divine aid. 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:35.241 I mean you can find a new job, you might be able to bear up under chronic pain, you can weather grief that comes from a loss, but where do guilty consciences go for comfort? 00:10:38.570 --> 00:10:39.231 Now I want to be clear. 00:10:39.231 --> 00:10:47.042 I'm not saying that every single experience of suffering in our lives is directly connected to some specific sin that we committed. 00:10:47.042 --> 00:10:50.328 Look at Job as an example of that. 00:10:50.328 --> 00:11:08.143 But what Isaiah is telling us here, through the nation of Israel, there's a pattern here for us, ultimately, the reason why suffering is in the world at all is because sin is in the world and we have all contributed to that sin that's in the world. 00:11:08.143 --> 00:11:18.611 We've contributed our jealousy, our covetousness, our greed, our lack of reliance on God, our ignoring him, our not thanking him. 00:11:18.611 --> 00:11:20.782 The list can go on and on and on. 00:11:20.782 --> 00:11:34.447 So don't seek to shut out that guilty conscience by turning on the TV, turning on the oven, spending more time at work. 00:11:34.447 --> 00:11:39.283 Get down on your knees and say God, please give me comfort. 00:11:39.283 --> 00:11:44.974 My guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice besides the one that you can give. 00:11:47.081 --> 00:11:48.748 We have great need of comfort. 00:11:48.748 --> 00:11:52.628 But that brings us to the second step. 00:11:52.628 --> 00:11:59.307 We have a foundation for comfort that God gives us here, and it begins with his voice. 00:11:59.307 --> 00:12:04.744 Look at verse one Comfort comfort. 00:12:04.744 --> 00:12:18.365 My people says your God, isaiah, is not ultimately the one bringing comfort to the nation, he's only a mouthpiece for God. 00:12:18.365 --> 00:12:20.767 God is the one speaking through Isaiah. 00:12:20.767 --> 00:12:24.130 God says through Isaiah, god says I've got comfort for you. 00:12:26.374 --> 00:12:36.423 The end of verse five reiterates the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 00:12:36.423 --> 00:12:38.171 This is the voice of God that shakes the forest and strips the oaks bare. 00:12:38.171 --> 00:12:40.360 This is the voice of God that rides on the wind and the waves and in the storm. 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.567 It's a voice that sometimes, like Elijah, had to learn. 00:12:43.567 --> 00:12:47.283 It can be a still small voice, but it's still God's voice nevertheless. 00:12:51.509 --> 00:13:01.394 In the hour of our need, amidst the whole sojourn of our weary lives, should we not continuously seek God's voice for comfort? 00:13:01.394 --> 00:13:02.982 And how do we do that? 00:13:02.982 --> 00:13:03.986 I don't want this to go assumed or unstated. 00:13:03.986 --> 00:13:05.092 We seek God's voice for comfort, and how do we do that? 00:13:05.092 --> 00:13:06.620 I don't want this to go assumed or unstated. 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:09.929 We seek God's voice through his word. 00:13:09.929 --> 00:13:17.808 The whole book of Isaiah that we've been studying exists because God spoke. 00:13:17.808 --> 00:13:25.769 He inspired the prophet to write down these words that we might have his voice forever until he returns. 00:13:25.769 --> 00:13:31.207 Verse 8 reminds us the word of our God remains forever. 00:13:33.916 --> 00:13:39.000 God's creation can bring a measure of comfort, a nice walk on the beach. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:42.945 I recently took a little backpacking trip up in New Hampshire. 00:13:42.945 --> 00:13:44.899 There's beauty there. 00:13:44.899 --> 00:13:48.565 Just this morning I stepped outside short walk over here. 00:13:48.565 --> 00:13:52.024 These two red birds maybe cardinals, I guess just flying. 00:13:52.024 --> 00:13:54.001 There's something soothing about that. 00:13:54.001 --> 00:13:59.125 But creation doesn't give us words. 00:13:59.125 --> 00:14:04.482 The comfort it brings can only do so much for our souls. 00:14:04.482 --> 00:14:12.458 God's given us a whole book of his words, thousands of words, and we have to come here for comfort. 00:14:14.761 --> 00:14:22.995 Charles Spurgeon said why do we look anywhere else for consolation but to God's word? 00:14:22.995 --> 00:14:36.489 Oh, brothers and sisters, I'm ashamed to have to say it, but we go to our neighbors or relatives and we cry have pity upon me, have pity upon me, oh, my friends, and it ends with our crying. 00:14:36.489 --> 00:14:39.101 Miserable comforters are you all. 00:14:39.101 --> 00:14:47.360 When you do go to people and it's okay to go to people with recognition you might not get what you're looking for. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:52.524 When you go to others, go to those that are gonna give you God's word. 00:14:52.524 --> 00:14:55.042 That's the best way to be comforted. 00:14:55.042 --> 00:14:59.548 Don't just go to someone who's going to pat you on the back and tell you how wonderful you are. 00:14:59.548 --> 00:15:01.035 That'll help for a little while. 00:15:01.035 --> 00:15:07.457 That's meager compared to what they can give you in this divine voice of God speaking through his scripture. 00:15:07.899 --> 00:15:13.418 When you find yourself looking for a church, go to a church that gives a lot of God's word. 00:15:13.418 --> 00:15:22.202 And when we look in God's word we find so much comfort, and particularly we find comfort in the message of good news of the gospel. 00:15:22.202 --> 00:15:27.506 You can see the phrase good news in verse number nine. 00:15:27.506 --> 00:15:28.921 That's what the word gospel means. 00:15:28.921 --> 00:15:30.620 It just means good news. 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:32.385 Are you suffering? 00:15:32.385 --> 00:15:33.479 God has good news for you. 00:15:33.479 --> 00:15:34.943 Are you sinful, that's all of us. 00:15:34.943 --> 00:15:36.235 God has good news for you and you sinful, that's all of us. 00:15:36.235 --> 00:15:43.722 God has good news for you, and the good news is pronounced already back up in verse number two Pardon for iniquity. 00:15:44.955 --> 00:15:48.265 That's the best news we could ever receive. 00:15:48.265 --> 00:15:52.865 That's the best comfort we could ever experience. 00:15:52.865 --> 00:15:57.765 Your sins, though they're as scarlet, can be as white as wool. 00:15:57.765 --> 00:16:02.746 The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:16:02.746 --> 00:16:05.543 No one can forgive like God forgives. 00:16:05.543 --> 00:16:10.908 So this morning, if you feel like you're beyond God's forgiveness, you've sinned too much, you've sinned too often. 00:16:10.908 --> 00:16:12.841 You don't understand the heart of God. 00:16:12.841 --> 00:16:14.880 He pardons iniquity. 00:16:14.880 --> 00:16:16.642 He showers his people with comfort. 00:16:16.642 --> 00:16:21.101 He brings the weary ones to himself like a nursing hen gathers her chicks. 00:16:21.101 --> 00:16:22.125 This is the heart of our God. 00:16:22.125 --> 00:16:24.984 Don't doubt his promise, but receive and believe it. 00:16:29.096 --> 00:16:37.885 In the book Pilgrim's Progress, at one point the main character, pilgrim, finds himself in the castle of the giant despair. 00:16:37.885 --> 00:16:47.065 It's a doubting castle and he's locked up in this dungeon in the bottom and he realizes wait a minute. 00:16:47.065 --> 00:16:53.748 I've been sitting here chained up in my doubts all this time, but I have a key in my pocket. 00:16:53.748 --> 00:17:06.239 But I have a key in my pocket I have a key that unlocks every single door in Doubting Castle, and that key is promise. 00:17:06.239 --> 00:17:09.124 You may doubt yourself, but don't doubt God's word. 00:17:09.124 --> 00:17:23.634 There are promises, rich and full, and the promise here in Isaiah 40 is the promise of comfort through forgiveness. 00:17:23.634 --> 00:17:35.502 It can all be wiped away your jealousy, your envy, your greed, your pride, your sins from the past, the sins you'll commit today or tomorrow. 00:17:35.502 --> 00:17:38.848 It can all be wiped away by the Lord. 00:17:38.848 --> 00:17:42.182 If that's not comforting, I don't know what is. 00:17:45.355 --> 00:17:46.877 This message of good news tells us more. 00:17:46.877 --> 00:17:53.430 It tells us that God has a heart of forgiveness and comfort. 00:17:53.430 --> 00:18:07.710 It tells us how God has brought about reconciliation through Christ, because the God that Isaiah saw, who is holy, holy, holy, is the very same God who brings comfort. 00:18:07.710 --> 00:18:15.808 Comfort because he sent his son to live and die in the place of sinners, to bear our sins. 00:18:15.808 --> 00:18:23.026 Son to live and die in the place of sinners, to bear our sins, not just to acknowledge or empathize with our sin, but to take our sin on himself, to suffer and die. 00:18:23.026 --> 00:18:24.028 And he's risen. 00:18:24.028 --> 00:18:27.643 There's no more payment left for us, because Christ has already risen. 00:18:27.643 --> 00:18:29.247 He's already paid those wages. 00:18:29.247 --> 00:18:35.625 His perfect righteousness is given as a gift to us and the tomb is empty. 00:18:35.625 --> 00:18:39.925 So God sweeps us up and says you're forgiven, you're mine, I love you. 00:18:39.925 --> 00:18:45.742 And that brings us to the third step. 00:18:45.742 --> 00:18:49.124 God is the only one who can bring lasting comfort. 00:18:49.124 --> 00:18:51.123 He's the only one who will bring lasting comfort. 00:18:51.123 --> 00:18:54.444 We've got a need, given suffering, given sin. 00:18:54.444 --> 00:19:00.268 We've got a foundation for comfort in the voice of God, through his word and the message of the gospel. 00:19:01.997 --> 00:19:04.164 What about our own encounter with comfort? 00:19:04.164 --> 00:19:10.983 To actually receive it, the Lord is so gracious. 00:19:10.983 --> 00:19:14.904 He doesn't give us two comfort pills and say call me in the morning. 00:19:14.904 --> 00:19:31.701 He gives himself to us, verses three to five, a voice of one crying out prepare the way of the lord in the wilderness, make a straight highway for our god in the desert. 00:19:31.701 --> 00:19:46.402 Every valley will be lifted up, every mountain and hill will be leveled, the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places a plain, and the glory of the Lord will appear and all humanity together will see it. 00:19:46.402 --> 00:19:48.905 For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 00:19:48.905 --> 00:19:50.849 The Lord's coming. 00:19:50.849 --> 00:19:54.142 He's going to show up with personal comfort. 00:19:54.142 --> 00:19:57.338 And if you look at verses three and five, you'll see the word Lord. 00:19:57.338 --> 00:19:59.144 There is in all capital letters. 00:19:59.144 --> 00:20:05.865 That's Yahweh, the personal name of God, the name God revealed to Moses back in the wilderness. 00:20:05.865 --> 00:20:08.403 So God's not offering from a distance, he's coming. 00:20:08.403 --> 00:20:11.183 And these words from Isaiah are fulfilled in the New Testament. 00:20:11.183 --> 00:20:12.862 Read about those in the scripture reading today. 00:20:12.862 --> 00:20:21.467 John the Baptist will be this voice crying out in the wilderness, and John the Baptist is crying out about the coming of the Lord, jesus Christ. 00:20:21.467 --> 00:20:30.796 So what that means is that Jesus Christ is identified with the Lord, he's identified with Yahweh. 00:20:30.796 --> 00:20:42.480 He's no mere man, he's fully divine, and that's utterly necessary, because no mere man can bring lasting comfort, but the Lord himself can. 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:50.625 So we have the divine son, who's distinct from the father, yet identified as Yahweh, as the divine one. 00:20:53.675 --> 00:21:38.405 There's a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V where, the night before a battle, henry the king disguises himself as a common soldier and goes out among the tents and speaks with the men to encourage them, in part, in a far, far, far greater way, the word became flesh, and Amidst Job's suffering, no one's able to give him comfort, and then the Lord shows up and shows him his character. 00:21:38.405 --> 00:21:46.262 That's what we're going to be seeing all throughout this chapter, isaiah 40, the breathtaking character of God. 00:21:46.262 --> 00:21:56.241 Amidst Isaiah's sinfulness, all he can do is cry out woe is me, for I'm undone, but the Lord visits him with cleansing and atonement. 00:21:56.241 --> 00:22:09.316 True comfort, lasting comfort, is all about encountering God himself in his majesty, in his power, in his condescension and saving grace. 00:22:09.316 --> 00:22:16.606 This passage in Isaiah it doesn't comfort us with don't worry, you're not that bad. 00:22:16.606 --> 00:22:22.363 It comforts us with don't worry, god is greater than you could possibly imagine. 00:22:25.490 --> 00:22:36.726 And our passage is a wonderful example of how these different attributes of God that seem so opposite come together so harmoniously and beautifully. 00:22:36.726 --> 00:22:43.638 So God is the one whose word remains forever verse 7. 00:22:43.638 --> 00:22:47.406 Well, that's because he's the one who remains forever. 00:22:47.406 --> 00:22:51.805 He's eternal, unlike the rest of us who were just grass here today and gone tomorrow. 00:22:51.805 --> 00:23:04.123 So this God, who is not limited by time, is outside of time, yet in Christ, through his humanity, stepped into time and was born and lived and died. 00:23:04.123 --> 00:23:08.135 It's amazing to try to comprehend. 00:23:09.157 --> 00:23:15.009 In verse number 10, we see God as the one who rules with absolute strength and power. 00:23:15.009 --> 00:23:19.040 As the one who rules with absolute strength and power, and yet in verse 2, he speaks tenderly. 00:23:19.040 --> 00:23:22.325 In verse 11, he's gentle as a shepherd. 00:23:22.325 --> 00:23:33.767 Power and gentleness coming together and think about how these attributes of God help us better seek and trust God's promise of comfort. 00:23:33.767 --> 00:23:41.238 If God's not eternal, how could we know this comfort's going to be lasting? 00:23:41.238 --> 00:23:47.237 But if he knows the end from the beginning, any promise of comfort is never going to stop. 00:23:52.403 --> 00:23:58.330 What about the ability to actually change what's going on in our heart, our lives, our situation? 00:23:58.330 --> 00:24:00.119 He has the power to do that. 00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:05.719 If all you can do is empathize, that's a certain form of comfort, but that can only go so far. 00:24:05.719 --> 00:24:14.625 You children that might be here today you fall down and get a boo-boo and then your mother kisses the boo-boo to make the pain go away. 00:24:14.625 --> 00:24:18.221 I don't want to startle anyone this morning. 00:24:18.221 --> 00:24:19.164 It's a trick. 00:24:19.164 --> 00:24:28.375 Just your mother doesn't have any secret power in her lips, she just knows it's probably going to stop hurting after a while. 00:24:28.375 --> 00:24:31.044 So she pretends like she's got the power to heal the boo-boo. 00:24:33.915 --> 00:24:37.185 The Lord can actually step in and make things right. 00:24:37.185 --> 00:24:44.166 Time doesn't heal all wounds, but the Lord can. 00:24:44.166 --> 00:24:50.247 And we might have scars, but those will all be washed away in glory. 00:24:50.247 --> 00:25:02.786 And even in this life he says there's hope for you, there's care and tenderness, and that's why his gentleness is so critical. 00:25:02.786 --> 00:25:09.646 If he's eternal and able to bring lasting comfort, if he has the power to do that, but will he actually do it. 00:25:09.646 --> 00:25:11.089 Of course he will. 00:25:11.089 --> 00:25:15.145 He's more gentle and tender than any mother could be. 00:25:17.416 --> 00:25:18.361 Look again at verse 11. 00:25:18.361 --> 00:25:21.923 He protects his flock like a shepherd. 00:25:21.923 --> 00:25:26.315 He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. 00:25:26.315 --> 00:25:29.065 He gently leads those that are nursing. 00:25:29.065 --> 00:25:33.825 You've had people that have been harsh with you, not the Lord. 00:25:33.825 --> 00:25:37.489 The Lord won't be harsh, but those who repent and come have been harsh with you, not the Lord. 00:25:37.489 --> 00:25:38.575 The Lord won't be harsh, but those who repent and come. 00:25:38.575 --> 00:25:40.416 He'll welcome you. 00:25:40.416 --> 00:25:49.068 We sing a song sometimes Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. 00:25:49.068 --> 00:25:56.217 Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, joined with power. 00:25:56.217 --> 00:26:00.287 He is able, he is able, he is willing. 00:26:00.287 --> 00:26:03.103 Doubt no more. 00:26:03.103 --> 00:26:10.253 Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you. 00:26:10.253 --> 00:26:15.575 And that brings us to the last step for this morning Our testimony of comfort. 00:26:15.974 --> 00:26:22.103 In verse number three we have this prophecy that's fulfilled in John the Baptist, who would be the voice crying out in the wilderness. 00:26:22.103 --> 00:26:37.007 What an amazing privilege that John gets to be the one to introduce Jesus to the stage of human history, to say behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:26:37.007 --> 00:26:40.421 That's a privilege that we don't have. 00:26:40.421 --> 00:26:58.689 But Jesus says everyone who's least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist, because we've actually seen more of Christ's redemptive work than John the Baptist got to see. 00:26:58.689 --> 00:27:03.564 He had his head taken off before he saw the end of all things. 00:27:03.564 --> 00:27:10.053 We've got more of the ministry of Christ, more of scripture, the coming of Pentecost and the pouring out of the spirit. 00:27:10.053 --> 00:27:21.471 We've got even more to testify about, and God does call us to testify of the gospel comfort that we've received. 00:27:21.471 --> 00:27:24.682 And there's a significant clue right here in Isaiah 40. 00:27:24.682 --> 00:27:26.507 Look at verse 9. 00:27:28.994 --> 00:27:36.901 Zion, herald of good news, go up on a hill in South Jerusalem. 00:27:36.901 --> 00:27:57.566 Now it's kind of obvious a mountain's not going to actually talk. 00:27:57.566 --> 00:28:06.144 But Zion is often used in the Bible figuratively to refer to the people of God, the community. 00:28:06.144 --> 00:28:10.598 And you can listen to how that's carried through in the New Testament. 00:28:10.598 --> 00:28:24.626 In the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, god says that new covenant believers have come to Mount Zion, which is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. 00:28:24.626 --> 00:28:38.247 So it's yes, we come as the people of God to this heavenly Jerusalem, especially every Lord's day, to celebrate the resurrection, to worship. 00:28:38.247 --> 00:28:55.806 But then we're called to go out from here and proclaim this message, the message of the Lord's coming, of his life and birth and death, of the forgiveness of sins, of the hope of a future to come with no more suffering, no more crying when the former things. 00:28:55.806 --> 00:28:58.461 A future to come With no more suffering, no more crying when the former things have passed away. 00:28:58.461 --> 00:29:01.320 That now, in Christ, you can be a new creation. 00:29:01.320 --> 00:29:05.342 Simply turn to him and receive all of his finished work. 00:29:06.994 --> 00:29:08.155 We're called to be proclaimers. 00:29:08.155 --> 00:29:12.019 We're called to be proclaimers. 00:29:12.019 --> 00:29:15.366 Who are you proclaiming that to Now? 00:29:15.366 --> 00:29:29.866 Yes, we are eager to send out people like the Driscolls and the Coonies, who are going to farther mountains than Bear Mountain and farther hills and valleys than Valley Stream and other places here locally. 00:29:29.866 --> 00:29:46.144 So we're eager to send out those to the ends of the earth because, just as Jesus Christ has come down from the glories of heaven to live and walk on this earth that all flesh might see and hear, we can go from our local place to distant places. 00:29:46.144 --> 00:30:00.363 But though we won't all go to the very farthest mountains or valleys, we are all called to testify, to share, to speak of our God the song we sing. 00:30:00.363 --> 00:30:01.505 Behold Our God. 00:30:01.505 --> 00:30:12.041 That's an invitation, that's an exhortation to all of us as we're singing about the Savior and his glory, the Lord reigns. 00:30:13.585 --> 00:30:14.886 Isaiah has that message here. 00:30:14.886 --> 00:30:22.662 But there's comfort comfort for you and how, how we live in a world that needs comfort. 00:30:22.662 --> 00:30:26.128 We have good tidings to bring. 00:30:26.128 --> 00:30:27.571 Thought about that. 00:30:27.571 --> 00:30:31.787 Why would you withhold good tidings from your neighbors, from your friends, from your family? 00:30:31.787 --> 00:30:38.971 And the good tidings we bring to you and your kin are tidings of the real meaning of the birth of Christ. 00:30:38.971 --> 00:30:43.183 It's not about figgy pudding I don't even know what that is. 00:30:43.183 --> 00:30:47.429 It's about the gospel message. 00:30:47.429 --> 00:30:53.671 He's called Jesus because he'll save us from our sins. 00:30:53.671 --> 00:31:01.222 He is Emmanuel, god with us, and our testimony of comfort extends not just to the watching world. 00:31:01.222 --> 00:31:05.873 It should be quickly given to others, right here in our own body. 00:31:07.401 --> 00:31:10.026 Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1. 00:31:10.026 --> 00:31:14.374 Listen to how often he uses the word comfort. 00:31:14.374 --> 00:31:16.563 Maybe he even had Isaiah in his mind here. 00:31:16.563 --> 00:31:22.693 Blessed be God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 00:31:22.693 --> 00:31:31.886 He comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction. 00:31:31.886 --> 00:31:39.070 So this is more on the suffering side, still important Through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 00:31:39.070 --> 00:31:47.309 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also, through Christ, our comfort overflows. 00:31:47.309 --> 00:31:52.920 If we are afflicted, it's for your comfort and salvation. 00:31:52.920 --> 00:32:00.244 If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. 00:32:00.244 --> 00:32:07.605 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort. 00:32:10.770 --> 00:32:25.288 God's comfort isn't just for you, it's for someone else through you, it's for someone else to look at you being comforted and to bring balm to their souls. 00:32:25.288 --> 00:32:28.093 So look around you. 00:32:28.093 --> 00:32:32.469 Who looks like they're suffering, who looks like they're burdened with the weight of sin. 00:32:32.469 --> 00:32:36.324 How could you bring comfort into their life this day or this week? 00:32:36.324 --> 00:32:41.866 Well, if they're hurting, it's probably messy, and I don't really want to get involved in the mess. 00:32:42.869 --> 00:32:44.201 Well, that wasn't the attitude of Jesus. 00:32:44.201 --> 00:32:55.422 It's God's grace, it's God's promises, it's God's very presence that brings comfort. 00:32:55.422 --> 00:32:57.128 And we are the body of Christ. 00:32:57.128 --> 00:33:07.151 We are a reflection, albeit imperfectly, of the real presence of Christ with one another, bringing the very divine grace of God's almighty comfort. 00:33:07.151 --> 00:33:13.810 God is the only one who will bring lasting comfort. 00:33:15.122 --> 00:33:15.923 And you look around. 00:33:15.923 --> 00:33:18.192 Our world needs it. 00:33:18.192 --> 00:33:23.205 We have more material comfort than almost any generation. 00:33:23.205 --> 00:33:25.250 And yet what do we see? 00:33:25.250 --> 00:33:29.340 Anxiety is up, medication is up, loneliness is up. 00:33:29.340 --> 00:33:35.670 Guilt is maybe not up because we have so many shiny distractions. 00:33:35.670 --> 00:33:43.392 But isn't God kind to keep us restless that we might seek him, and seek the comfort that can only come from him. 00:33:43.392 --> 00:33:51.413 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 00:33:51.413 --> 00:34:00.253 One person said the waters of comfort cannot run up the hills of pride. 00:34:00.253 --> 00:34:03.670 They fall down into the valleys of humility. 00:34:05.861 --> 00:34:11.632 Isaiah 51, 12, I, I am the one who comforts you, says the Lord. 00:34:11.632 --> 00:34:15.349 Psalm 119, 50, it's his word, it's his gospel. 00:34:15.349 --> 00:34:18.068 This is my comfort and my affliction. 00:34:18.068 --> 00:34:21.889 Your promise has given me life. 00:34:21.889 --> 00:34:29.431 All of God's promises, all of them are yes and amen in Christ. 00:34:29.431 --> 00:34:33.409 Don't seek comfort apart from Christ. 00:34:33.409 --> 00:34:35.882 Seek comfort through him. 00:34:35.882 --> 00:34:41.032 What gift of grace is Jesus, my redeemer? 00:34:41.032 --> 00:34:49.422 There is no more for heaven now to give. 00:34:49.422 --> 00:34:50.103 He is the lasting comfort of God. 00:34:50.103 --> 00:34:53.367 God wants to step into your life with his own character, with his own loving presence. 00:34:54.068 --> 00:35:09.844 Receive that comfort today, friends, let's pray Lord, humble us to believe you. 00:35:09.844 --> 00:35:12.739 Forgive us for our small thoughts of you. 00:35:12.739 --> 00:35:19.094 Forgive us for our unrighteous thoughts of you that don't want to picture you as a God of comfort. 00:35:19.094 --> 00:35:21.322 You've given us every promise, every evidence of grace. 00:35:21.322 --> 00:35:27.121 How many times we've turned and not followed you as we could have or should have. 00:35:27.121 --> 00:35:28.764 And you receive. 00:35:28.764 --> 00:35:31.690 You receive, just like the prodigal son's father. 00:35:31.690 --> 00:35:35.947 You run to your people with arms of open and willing forgiveness. 00:35:35.947 --> 00:35:38.701 You run to the aid of those who are hurting. 00:35:40.246 --> 00:35:58.195 Lord, we pray for those who are suffering today, for those who might be suffering nearness of death, those who might be suffering difficult medical medical choices and future fears. 00:35:58.195 --> 00:36:03.927 Pray for those who just hurt that they would have this comfort from you. 00:36:03.927 --> 00:36:11.648 And, lord, we pray especially for those who feel the burden of a conscience that is not cleansed from sin. 00:36:11.648 --> 00:36:14.949 Oh, let this be the day of everlasting comfort. 00:36:14.949 --> 00:36:30.414 Let this be the day when they fall down and say Lord Jesus, I receive you, receive me, lord, that we would walk this week not as discouraged people, but as people that are comforted. 00:36:32.021 --> 00:36:33.907 Our labor is not in vain in the Lord. 00:36:33.907 --> 00:36:39.884 Our hope remains certain and steadfast, because the Lord lives. 00:36:39.884 --> 00:36:41.701 We too will live Death. 00:36:41.701 --> 00:36:48.931 Your sting is gone forever and the trials of this life are momentary. 00:36:48.931 --> 00:36:53.431 The afflictions are light compared to the far exceeding weight of eternal glory. 00:36:53.431 --> 00:37:22.791 Lord, we pray that you would so kindly even bring us out of ourselves to how we can comfort someone else this day and this week, that we might give them a hug, give them a scripture verse, give them the encouragement to say the Lord reigns, he rules with powers, roars with him, and he's gentle as a shepherd, and our Savior could even say that we come to him and we find rest for our souls, because his burden is easy, his yoke is light. 00:37:22.791 --> 00:37:24.963 Thank you for the gentle Savior. 00:37:24.963 --> 00:37:27.347 We come to you in his name, amen.