Comfort Announced To Those In Darkness

This morning, I invite you to turn in the scriptures to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, and what we're doing today is really picking up on the theme of comfort, and chapter 40 really is explaining to us how this comfort was brought to us, how it was announced to those in the darkness, And tonight we'll come back and look at Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, how he applied and took this term comfort and then gave us the responsibility to speak comfort to one another and explain for us how this comfort is to be enjoyed by those who are in the light. And so that's tonight. So it's really all tied together. But this morning, we'll start with God's announcement of comfort to us. Isaiah chapter 40, and we will read together the first 11 verses. This is the word of the Lord. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries, in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up. And every mountain and hill be brought low. The uneven ground shall become level. And the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord is spoken. A voice says cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go up to a high mountain, O Zion, and herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. lift it up, fear not, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. I was watching an interview the other day about how Christians, about how people and Christmas is celebrated in this country. And the man being interviewed was a professed agnostic. And he was asked by the host, well, what do you do at this time of year? What do you do at this time of year? Do you celebrate Christmas? Oh, yeah, sure. Christmas has so many good benefits. Christmas has benefits for, you know, our society. It has benefits for consumerism. It has benefits for the family. Everyone gets together, drinks eggnog. Well, what do you do? Do you sing the songs? Remember, this is an agnostic. Do you sing the songs? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, what was your favorite? Joy to the world. The Lord has come. I'm sitting there falling out of my chair. you've got to be kidding me the host was confused but but you don't believe it nope i don't believe it but you sing it i sing it i thought to myself what percentage of people are doing that well they say 86 percent of americans celebrate christmas pretty high number that's absolutely perplexing to me and i was thinking about the dilemma i wondered how common it is at this time of year with family and blessing and all of this family everyone at ease everyone exchanging gifts i this question came across my mind i wondered how offended is the lord at all of that you ever thought that how offended might the lord be that all these people are celebrating this without faith, well, that's what I want to consider this morning. If it's possible for masses of people to be celebrating this and not believe, doesn't that then alone downgrade the entire message of His Son coming here as meaningless? It is true. It is true that we could celebrate this and make this something other than it is. if that danger is upon us, then we have to really listen to what is the Lord after at this, if we're going to celebrate this correctly, as we should always celebrate the coming and incarnation of our Lord. And I believe it's important then at times like this, especially at these times of year, to remember what this is all about. And that's so important to say. We have to really think about what this is all about. Because if we miss that, well, we're actually then celebrating our own darkness christmas if you will is god getting up on the mountaintop sending messengers to proclaim to you good news and isaiah 40 helps us to take seriously the intention of our lord in the coming of his son so i want to look at isaiah 40 this morning with that single purpose in mind that we would be reminded again and refreshed and understand what this is all about and not let everything that is pushed on us at this time of year and all the pressures and all the discouragements and all the problems cloud what really the lord is doing and what he has done and what he has said what we have here is a passage that announces to us god's plan of salvation that that's what isaiah 40 is for those who were sitting in the darkness i don't know if i ever caught it before or just haven't spent enough time in this passage but but what we have here in isaiah chapter 4 is a presentation of the gospel announcement and how it was originally heralded in the heavenly courts and brought down to the earth where it all started where it all came from and so if you were to break down the passage you have an initial call here then you have a preparation for it and then you have described its arrival look at verse one comfort comfort my people says your god speak tenderly to jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned that she has received from the lord's hand double for all her sin comfort comfort you'll notice in this first section uh when he says this and if you were to look there carefully you'll notice that this is this is speaking in the plural which means that what we have going on here is the Lord up in his courts, up in heaven. God speaking to messengers, God speaking to angels. And I know we can't picture this, but the beauty of this, the excitement of this, that God in his courts, in his holiness, in his walled off glory with all the angels standing there. From his lips, he is declaring and announcing to the courts to take down a message of comfort. I want you to comfort my people. And here I believe we get to the intention of the Lord. One of the things that we all struggle with is the question of whether God is truly for us. We have seen this in Genesis, this struggle of sinners to believe that, this struggle of what is the question of what is the lord's true disposition toward his people and that his ultimate goal had always been put on display here to forgive his ultimate goal was to announce gospel that this was the whole point of him announcing gospel to abraham and preaching the gospel to abraham even before the giving of the law but who would take it seriously who would understand uh the depths of his love who would really take that to heart who would really be able to grasp that who would really be able to know and appreciate what this god is like and the answer is no one and so when we study israel we see god teaching us this We see God putting them under the law. We see God giving us some comprehension of a contrast of light and darkness so that when we look at Israel, it would stop up our mouths according to our own righteousness. But we would learn so greatly by studying Israel how perverse the human heart is. God wants us to feel that through our study of Israel. He gave us a mirror in that nation to see us. and what we see in the old testament is god allowing the nation of israel to experience the severity of the consequences of their sin i want everyone to look at the end of verse two there's one phrase there that maybe uh you uh you stopped at she received double for her sins whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa you're not used to me ever declaring something like that i mean you're so used to me standing up you're so used to me standing up and saying well god so loved the world or or he has cast your sins as far as the east is from the west in fact the reason that is so common to us the reason that that that message doesn't really penetrate like it should today is because so few feel and know the other reality put yourself in israel's shoes for a moment sheer seed double everyone should say oh my can you imagine today if i had to stand up and say you're all going to get double for your sins i mean that would be the worst thing to say i don't even think anyone could handle it today well one of the great contrasts of isaiah is the contrast of light and darkness that's what the book is doing and you'll notice if you ever to go through what our series of lawsuits here what Isaiah is doing here is prosecuting and bringing severe indictments upon a nation that had defected upon a nation that had hardened its heart upon a nation that was going around and think of this calling evil good and good evil who substitutes he says light and a light for darkness i mean the indictment of isaiah is my people walk in darkness one of the great sins that uh comes out in isaiah and that was right out of chapter one was the sin of idolatry worshiping gods that that cannot save and worshiping gods that could not deliver gods that are not the true god and they're out there bowing down to them and the lord would send his prophets and the lord would send his prophets and say listen you shouldn't be doing that these these these gods are not gods and your god is against you when you do these things oh don't worry about it said the false prophets all these false prophets started rising up and they started saying peace peace it's okay things got so bad in israel Their idolatry had so gripped them that they were utterly shutting down the messages of the true prophets and replacing it with their own messages that were not from the Lord. I've always been moved by Jeremiah's indictment. My people are foolish. They've not known me. They're silly children. And they have no understanding. darkness so what did god do well you had a few bright kings along the way but they were far and few between we read at the end of second kings after this long run of kings remember what happened nevertheless the lord did not turn i'm sorry the lord did not turn yes from the fierceness of his great wrath with which his anger was aroused against judah i used to hear when i was a kid charleston heston say that in the moses movie all the time turn from your fierce wrath oh lord i never understood that here's isaiah speaking 150 years earlier before Judah would be hauled off to Babylon. You have sections, major sections of the Old Testament describing this for us. You remember how awful the event was? Nebuchadnezzar comes in, a foreign king, and he ransacks the temple and all the holy things, I mean all of the holy things, were carried off to Babylon and Jerusalem was laid waste. The whole thing was kicked down to the ground. It was set on fire. The people were hauled off into captivity and the wicked kingdom of the world at that time marched right on in, picked them up, picked up their children and hauled them off. Darkness prevailed throughout much of the Old Testament. Now, what chapter 40 is, is a discussion on the heavenly throne. They've had enough. They've had enough. I have sufficiently punished them. Now why is this so important this morning? That darkness, to understand that darkness, to listen to what it encompassed and what it happened to the nation of Israel helps us to have any kind of appreciation for His love. At the beginning of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself had to face this as he was brought into seeing a glimpse, if you remember, in that vision of the holiness of God. And he sees just the glimpse of that glory, the Lord high and seated up and the train of his robe filling the temple. It was his glory that filled the temple. And finally, Isaiah himself, when he got a glimpse of that glory and the angels flying throughout heaven saying, holy, holy, holy, that he drops and he pronounces a prophetic curse on himself, I'm breaking up. Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm breaking apart in this God's presence. And I dwell among those with unclean lips. i'm unclean when we look at the old testament we see god making it so clear for us in studying the nation of israel this great point under the law the severity of sin the dire predicament people are in and that's our challenge as gospel preachers how do i make a culture today feel that how do you how do you bring into the heart anyone feel that the dire circumstance that we're all in when we have a culture that has cast off all discussion of sin and its consequences. When you have a culture that, even a church culture that would never even want to have a sermon on hell and wrath and justice. How do people see their own darkness? It's the hardest thing for us. And people just don't have concern about that today. Charles Krauthammer was, I was listening to him the other day, and it was really fascinating. A question was posed to him. The question was posed, is America an unjust nation? And he says, well, if divine justice is the standard, most certainly so. If human justice is the standard, well, then we're one of the most righteous. And I thought to myself, I thought, does anyone anymore understand divine justice? Who's considering that? No one worried about that after that discussion. It was all about human justice. What about divine justice? The reason people can celebrate Christmas this year, loads of people without believing it, is because they don't believe there's any consequences to what they believe anymore. We've almost come to a time where any of what I've just outlined, we recoil and it makes us uncomfortable and we can't even listen to it. That's the context of Isaiah 40. That's the context of the darkness that surrounds Isaiah 40. And here's the beauty of it. Here's where now this passage means so much to us. After all this idolatry, after all of these problems, after all of this description of divine justice, it's against this backdrop that the mouth of the Lord comes to us. The mouth of the Lord, He speaks. And here's what He says. I want you to run throughout all the earth and I want you to cry out. You'd say, well, what should he cry out? Well, I know what he should cry out. Don't you know what he should cry out? I want them to understand the marvel. I want my people to understand that the distress that they are experiencing because of their sin, the burden in the hearts of those who see, i want them relieved of this grief this is your god and so in verses three through six you have a description of god's preparation to come the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord you know this passage it's quoted in the new testament in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord a voice cries make straight in the desert a highway for our god every valley shall be lifted up every mountain and hill shall be made low and the uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain and the glory of the lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the lord has spoken do you know what he just described i'm coming down my glory is coming down i'm coming to the earth and the imagery you have is get ready clear out a highway for me carve out a highway in the wilderness for god to come so the imagery that we have here is the lord coming down and will pass through this wilderness of an earth in a victory march in a victory chant cast up a highway for him i love singing that in psalm 68 cast up a highway he's riding through the desert every obstacle though has to get out of the way every obstacle has to be put in its right place and get out of the way for this smooth place for the lord to come and ride every mountain brought low and the question is is well what is that going to be like when he comes what is he going to do when i was a kid one of the worst things my mom would say to me was chris you wait till your dad gets home and i would go booking out the back door and hide in the bushes and my dad would have to come and he'd see the feet under the bushes and grab me out give me a big spanking when your dad comes home watch out the entire old testament announced god's coming but in what way what was he going to be like to us all of a sudden i want you to notice in verse six that this one voice starts speaking a voice says cry and i said what shall i cry this is a conversation surely applies to isaiah but it's a conversation in the courts with an angel i'm thinking the angel is ready to receive a message of sword and judgment i remember thinking as i was working through this this last week remember when david after he had sinned with the census he looks up and god gives him a vision he looks up and he sees the angel of the lord and this is what happens david lifted his eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven and in his hand a sword drawn. You imagine? Swords out and bodies started falling. David says, stop, stop. What do I cry? What do you want me to say? Here's what I want you to say. Verse six, All flesh is its grass, and all of its loveliness and all of its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades. When the breath of the Lord blows on it, surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Tell them their lives are like blades. Go throughout the earth, and you tell them their lives are like blades. Tell them they're like grass, they're like flowers. As soon as I blow, it's over. Their lives are this mist. When I come and I blow and I put an end to it, it's done. You know that? Your lives are held by a string. Tell them this. Tell them their lives are brief. Make them feel the weight of the brevity of life. Make them understand this. Make them understand. As a matter of fact, I want them to go out. Tell them to go out and study what I made in creation and see that I had an intention in that. And the intention was, when you look at flowers and you see them gone the next day, that should trouble you to some degree. Boy, I always got troubled about that in Linden. Those tulips, they lasted a couple days. Oh, they were beautiful, beautiful flowers, just beautiful flowers. I would plant them. And then one of my kids would walk by and accidentally kick it and the thing would fall off. Tell them they're like grass. Tell them that's all a consequence of sin. Tell them it's crazy to gamble with their lives. They need to understand they don't hold their lives. They need to understand I hold their lives, says the Lord. They don't control them. Go study the flowers today. go study the grass how long is it there let them feel that I want you to tell them that you ever feel life you just can't believe how fast it's gone and then you have no guarantee for tomorrow none I'll never forget in Linden when I woke up one morning and I got a phone call and they said to me, Al's gone. And I thought, what? The most active, vibrant man in the church went to bed that night and didn't wake up? That was it. All of a sudden, verse 9, he speaks to Zion. Can you imagine the hosts and angels hearing this? I can't help but think of Peter who says that the angels are intensely interested that God would redeem us, so curious that God would report these things to us and have them preached to us by the Holy Spirit from heaven. Here it is. God says to the courts and his servants, I want you to go out on the mountains. O Jerusalem, O Zion, herald of good news lift up your voice with strength oh jerusalem herald of good news lift it up fear not say to the cities of judah behold your god tell them i'm coming here it is give them glad tidings for me it means good news it means gospel tell them the warfare is over tell them that I have a pardon their iniquity tell them that I'm coming tell them I don't want them to be afraid anymore say to them say something really clear to them you make sure it's clear behold your God I'm going to rule them I have a reward that I'm bringing i'm going to feed them you tell them i will feed them i will care for them i will be their shepherd i'm going to tenderly deal with them and their young and their children i am going to do this for them i will carry them i will lead them you tell them good news you announce to them glad tidings who's speaking here it's your christ the people in darkness have seen a great light when John the Baptist arrived on the scene of history he was preaching one message wasn't he what was he preaching repent turn away from your sin the Lord is at hand is coming Zachariah your child will be called prophet of the most high he will go before your face to prepare his way to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of sins through the tender mercy of the lord when in the old testament it says every mountain is going to be brought low every hill all obstacles are putting out of the way do you know what he's it's describing right repentant hearts repentant hearts people who would be made prepared for the king what do i say you notice in um this here the voice here you remember what happened that day with the fields and the shepherds in the field shepherds are out in the field and all of a sudden the glory shines around them and if you look carefully at Luke 2 and you read that what you'll notice there is a single voice speaks what did he say do not be afraid I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people for there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. He's come. My gospel. Announce it. It happened. He just fulfilled. When you open up Luke, the filling of Isaiah 40 happened and continues to be fulfilled to this day. On the mountaintops, he is having it declared. My glory is come. here's my gospel to you and as the shepherds are looking there all of a sudden heaven opens up and they see multitudes on a mountain multitudes on the mountain and what are they doing there this has always been the theme throughout the old testament the mountains surrounding the mountain there they are they're all singing out they're all proclaiming glory to god in the highest and on earth, peace toward men of his good pleasure. The celebration of what we call Christmas is God got off the throne and he came to you. His eternal son made flesh, assumed a human nature in the incarnation. And today I want you to think about how wonderful your Lord is. You know what my responsibility today is as a pastor? I want you to tell my people, Chris, who I am, what I've done for them. Jesus is the Lord your God. He's come to you. And I want you to tell them their warfare's over. You're not thinking earthly comfort and earthly wars, are you? the comfort of forgiveness ultimately he'll bring that to an end but today the comfort of forgiveness the comfort of the burden of your hearts he wants you to know i've taken it i've pardoned your iniquity you are not to view me says the lord is your enemy and you should not buy into the lie that i have come and that i'm all about rules for you i'm all about making your life hard that's the lie of the devil my yoke is easy and my burden is light come to me don't buy that lie the full measure of your sins double for your sins has been paid by christ himself that's what the cross is it was the full payment and the lord wants you to know today that he's come to shepherd that he's come to care that he's come to gather that he's come to gently lead your life and that you can live in the joy of the comfort that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in him that's the message the messengers are called to give and what a perspective that gives you for the whole of life and on what we celebrate this coming week. Some of you are distressed. Some of you are hurting. Some of you feel cast down. Some of you feel the burdens of living in a very dark world and you grieve. The Lord's desire is to cheer your hearts today. To make you have true happiness and joy. True lasting joy in his gospel, in his glad tidings, which is what gospel means, good news. That's what he has for you. So I come back to where I started. You could celebrate this this week. You could sing joy to the world and not believe it. Well, if you do that, you're celebrating your own darkness. And I say to anyone here today who doesn't believe, you're crazy. I hope you were given enough light today to say, why would I turn away from a God who is offering me that kind of grace and favor from heaven and got off his throne and came down and solved the problem himself by paying for my sins on the cross in AD 30 in the month of Nisan at about the sixth hour of the day when he said it's finished. Why would I say no thanks? You're a fool. Because then you have to go pay double for your sin. I pray you feel the burden today of the guilt and that the Lord today took down every mountain in your heart against him because there are mountains in there. And he cut open a pathway for him to ride and Him to save you. What Christmas is is the announcement that God is not giving you as your sins deserve. Plain and simple. Christ has come to tear down your mountains that you erect. And He's come to engulf your darkness with light. Isaiah 40 happened only when you've heard that warning cry obey and turn to him will you ever know the true and lasting comfort that he gives I want you all to pray for this sad world at this time of year look at the darkness let that darkness be engulfed with light the light of the knowledge of the glory of Jesus Christ in the face of Jesus Christ and I pray that you all have the comfort of the gospel that you all know his peace, that that's God's intention for you and that he's the one who holds your life and that he is for you and that he's not against you. And if that matters anything to you, then tonight I hope you'll come back and you'll listen to how you can take that very same comfort and encourage your brothers and sisters who need it because he's done it for you. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the comfort of your gospel that you don't give us as our sins deserve. And if you were to announce double for all her sins, and you were to announce that you're going to demand a payment from us, well, if you started marking iniquities, who would stand? But since there's forgiveness with you, you are feared. Let your comfort break into our hearts. Thank you that you've spoken to us this way and that you didn't just speak, you came and remedied it. Lord Jesus Christ in the incarnation, Emmanuel, God with us, becoming our peace so that we might enjoy as Romans tells us having been justified by faith we have peace with you war is over we praise you this morning for your love and thank you for the comfort of your gospel in Jesus name