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Here Is Your God – Part 4
Isaiah 40:1-31 (12-17)
February 4, 2024

A.W. Tozer wrote:
“Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
(Tozer, A.W. [The Knowledge of the Holy; Harper & Row; New York, NY; 1961] pg. 11)

We are seemingly aware of the dangers and sinfulness of idolatry.

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

• We are warned about placing anything as a god before Him.

Exodus 20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

• We see the warnings against idolatry and the fashioning of graven images in the supposed likeness of God.

We understand that it was because of idolatry that God sent Babylon into Judah to destroy her and carry her off into exile for 70 years.

We seem to have a right understanding that idolatry is wrong
Because God hates it, and we would not argue in the least.

BUT PERHAPS there are more problems with idolatry than just the wrath which it incites.

Have you ever considered the ramifications that idolatry will have on your life?

We could read about it in Romans 1
Romans 1:21-25 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

• Go and “google” the ostrich footed people of Zimbabwe.
• Go and look at the effects of idolatry.
• Go and look at the effects of listening to a Satan-filled witch doctor.
• We see the pitfalls of nations like India which are steeped in idolatry; starving to death while cows walk free and unharmed.

But we pass them off as primitive cultures.
But in the quote above A.W. Tozer pointed out that
Idolatry is more than bowing to an idol,
It is ultimately having thoughts about God that aren’t worthy of Him.

We may not have the “primitive” idolatry of incest or cow worship,
But we do understand the idolatry of weak theology.

And this is the idolatry Isaiah is exposing here in Isaiah 40.
Their idolatry is NOT just about a graven image.

Their idolatry is about a weak understanding of God.
• They have reduced God in their thinking to something less than He is.
• They are recreating God in their own image.
• They are recreating God in the image of the nations.
• They are recreating God in the image of their idols.
• They are recreating God in the image of their rulers.
• They are recreating God in the image of their mystical astrology.

They have managed to reduce God to being like them or like the nations or like the idols or like the rulers of this world or like the stars.

THAT IS BLASPHEMOUS.
THAT IS IDOLATROUS.
THAT IS A SURE FIRE WAY TO PUT YOU IN DESPAIR.

AND TONIGHT I want you to contemplate the negative effects that the idolatry of weak theology can have on your life.

Your theology will directly effect your life.
• If your God is merciful, you will rest in mercy.
• If your God is holy, you will walk in holiness.
• If your God is small, you will strive to do it on your own.

You understand the issue at hand.

We are getting at the root of the problem that is plaguing these refugees
Who have become convinced that God has forgotten them.

We remember their lament:
(27) “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?”

We have been addressing both the root of this despair
And the solution to it.

The reality is that the reason Jacob is in such despair
Is because they have forgotten God.

Isaiah is writing to say, (9) “Here is your God”
We have broken their failed memory into 3 categories.

We spend the last 3 sermons talking about the first thing they forgot:
#1 GOD’S PROMISES
Isaiah 40:1-11

And we won’t go all through it again.
• But Jacob forgot the promises of God and it led them into despair.
• Remembering His promises was the pathway to hope.

Tonight we start looking at the second thing Jacob forgot.
#2 GOD’S POWER
Isaiah 40:12-26

Even as I typed this out, I nearly changed it to “GOD’S PREEMINENCE”
So feel free to go with the one you like best.

But what we are talking about here is that God is unlike any other.

But when you start to view God through your lens…
Or when you start to make God like you or like something…
YOU WON’T LIKE WHAT YOU’RE LEFT WITH

AND THIS WAS ISRAEL’S PROBLEM.
It is apparent that Israel was too quick to compare
• God’s wisdom to that of man’s
• God’s power to that of the nations
• God’s deliverance to that of idols
• God’s preeminence to that of kings
• God’s guidance to that of the stars

And if you do that you’ll end up with a God who has
• No wisdom
• No power
• No deliverance
• No preeminence
• No guidance

And then you’ll end up with NO HOPE.

This is the problem with Israel.
They have forgotten who God is.
• They have dumbed Him down to some level of their own comprehension.
• They have demoted Him to something more palatable to their taste.
• And now they are stuck with this bland and boring impotent god.

Isaiah writes to remind them who God is.
More than that, He allows God to remind them who He is.

Make no mistake, this portion of Isaiah’s message IS A REBUKE.
• It drips in some places with sarcasm
• It is very “in your face”
• It comes at you with the force of, “How dare you?”

And this is fitting because anyone who would replace proper theology
With weak man-made theology deserves such a rebuke.

And yet, though it is a rebuke, the purpose is still the same…COMFORT.

God confronts their idolatry that He might correct it.
He corrects it that they might have comfort.

MAYBE YOU NEED THIS REMINDER TOO.

Like we did with the first segment,
Let’s break this one down a little further as well.

This segment comes to us as God challenges our view of Himself
By comparing Himself to 5 worldly powers.

5 areas that man are prone to lean upon or fear or listen to or trust in.
And God takes each of them on one by one.

At the end of the segment you’ll see that God is not “like” any of them.
He is infinitely higher, wiser, stronger, greater, more dependable,
And transcendent above them all.

So let’s look at these 5 comparisons.

1) TO MAN (12-14)

“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding?”

If those 3 verses are familiar to you, they should be.
They were the chosen verses of Paul as the only way he could describe the way God “blew his mind” in regard to the gospel.

• Paul took us through a 11-chapter explanation of the gospel.
• He culminated in the last 3 chapters with an essay explaining God’s sovereignty over salvation and even the mystery of breaking off the Jews that Gentiles might be grafted in, and the promise of bringing Israel back in again.

And one almost gets the feeling that as Paul wrote the letter,
The Holy Spirit seized hold and wrote it for him.

Because at the end of the segment,
• Paul just leaned back,
• His mind fully blown,
• And wrote the only words that seemed fitting to him upon learning such mind-blowing truth.

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Paul finished walking us through the gospel and was left speechless.
All he could do was quote these verses about the infinite wisdom of God.

Paul reminded us God’s wisdom is beyond human ability to find it.
Paul said God’s judgments are “unfathomable”

Job wrote a great chapter on wisdom in Job 28
Expounding how mankind knows how to find all sorts of valuable things.

• He describes mining for gold and diamonds all sorts of precious jewels,
• But admits when it comes to wisdom, man doesn’t even know where to begin.

Job 28:12-22 “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? “Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living. “The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ “Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, Nor can silver be weighed as its price. “It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx, or sapphire. “Gold or glass cannot equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold. “Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned; And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls. “The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, Nor can it be valued in pure gold. “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? “Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the sky. “Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’”

You can’t dig for it, you can’t swim for it, you can’t buy it, you can’t barter for it, and even if you could, there’s no currency that equals it in value.

MAN CAN’T OBTAIN IT.

Unless God reveals Himself to you, you can’t see it.
• Wisdom is unique to God, not man.
• To assume that God’s wisdom resembles ours is blasphemous idolatry.

We learn that the word of God is spiritually appraised.
• No man can know the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:9-13 “but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

So to even have the thought that God somehow “thinks like me”
Or that “I think like God” or that we are anywhere close
To being on the same page naturally is such an insult to God.
Paul reminded us that God’s wisdom is beyond human ability to comprehend it.
Even if we could find it, we wouldn’t know what to do with it.
Paul quoted Isaiah saying, “who has known the mind of the LORD?”

Here we find that even when God does reveal His wisdom to us,
It is so far above us that we can’t even comprehend it.

When David tried, he wrote:
Psalms 139:6 “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.”

I’ve been reading John Owen’s “The Death of Death”
• And it’s taking me forever because John Owen is way smarter than me.
• I have trouble with comprehending what he is saying.

And yet we think we can casually comprehend God’s wisdom?
HE IS SO FAR ABOVE US.

If He doesn’t choose to give us the ability to comprehend, we can’t.

Paul reminded us that God’s wisdom is beyond human ability to claim it.
Asking with Isaiah, “who became His counselor?”

Who here would take credit for teaching God all that He knows?
Who here would take credit for showing God how to create?

• We don’t even know where such wisdom is found.
• When we see it we can’t comprehend it.
• But we’re going to actually take credit for teaching God something?
• NOT HARDLY!

THE WHOLE POINT IS THAT GOD IS NOT LIKE YOU.

PAUL USED THIS PASSAGE as one of the great doxologies in Scripture to remind us of the transcendent wisdom of God.

But I hope that is NOT THE ONLY reason this passage is familiar.

Israel is here confronted with 4 question:

1. “Who has marked the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weight the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales?

2. “Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as His counselor has informed Him?”

3. “With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?”

4. “And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding?”

They are direct.
They are bold.
They “in your face” obvious realities.

Do such a tactic seem familiar to you?

How about the day
• When another suffering man began to question the injustice of his suffering?
• When Job, filled with despair, also had wrong thoughts about God?

How did God correct Job?
How did God lift Job out of his despair?
THE EXACT SAME WAY!

Now Job got 4 chapters of it instead of 4 questions,
But the point is the same.

Listen to God confront Job:
Job 38:8-11 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’?”

• Job viewed God as unjust because God did what seemed wrong to Job.

God reminded of His wisdom to create
As a wisdom that so far beyond Job’s
That Job had no right to question God’s wisdom about anything.

Isaiah followed suit and asked Israel: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand”

Let that statement sink in!
• God measured the oceans out of His hand!?!
• How big is God?
• How far above you is He?

God asked Job:
Job 38:19-20 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, That you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home?”

And again:
Job 38:31-33 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?”

Again God confronts Job limitation and ignorance.
• Job never even considered what it would take to command the stars.
• God does it with ease.

Isaiah followed suit by reminding: “And marked off the heavens by the span”

Another mind-blowing statement.
• God measured out the heavens by the span of His hand?

One commentator:
“Our solar system is inside the galaxy called the Milky Way. And this galaxy we live in is shaped like a spiral, a gigantic pinwheel spinning in the open expanse of space, with our solar system rotating around the center once every million years or so. We lie about two-thirds of the way out from the center of the galaxy, in what might be considered the boondocks. The Milky Way is 104,000 light-years across, containing over 100 billion stars. To count them one by one would take us over 3,000 years. And according to the latest probings of the Hubble Space Telescope, there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in God’s universe!”
(Ortlund, Raymond [Preaching The Word Commentary Series: Isaiah; Crossway, Wheaton, IL, 2005] pg. 247)

“by the span”

Have you ever even considered how you’d go about creating something like that?

God asked Job:
Job 38:4-7 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? “On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

God simply wants to know where Job was in all his power and wisdom when God was working on the universe?

You see the point: WE ARE NOT EQUALS!

Isaiah again follows suit: “And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales”

Isaiah may have very well had Job’s rebuke ringing in his ears as he began this section addressing a people who had greatly minimized God in their minds.

I don’t think you realize who you are dealing with here.
At the very least you have forgotten.

He is the creator of all things!
Him and no one else!

Isaiah 44:24 “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,”

That is to say, “I don’t recall any man being there to help when I created it all.”

• In fact, man wasn’t created until day 6.
• Like a blister, Adam didn’t show up until all the work was over.

Raymond Ortlund wrote:
“When God created everything, he needed nothing. All the ideas, all the genius, were his alone. God imagined every tropical fish. He established every function of gravity. He shaped galaxies as irregular, spiral, and elliptical. He came up with it all, by himself alone, out of his own superintelligence. In Babylonian religion the creator god Marduk had to consult with “Ea, the all-wise.” The pagan gods worked by committee. God the Creator needs no one else, including you and me.”
(ibid. pg. 244)

And we aren’t just talking about the actual heavy lifting.
God didn’t need any help in imagination, design, know how, architecture, engineering, science, or any other field of human expertise.

• No one “directed the Spirit of the LORD”
• No one “informed Him”
• No one “gave Him understanding”
• No one “taught Him in the path of justice”
• No one “taught Him knowledge”
• No one “informed Him of the way of understanding”

Job 38:1-7 “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? “On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

It comes with a ringing, “Who is this..?”

And this is how Isaiah begins comparing God to the rival of man.

• How quick we are to lean on our own understanding.
• How quick we are to trust in our own logic.
• How quick we are to reinterpret that which is disagreeable.
• How quick we are to assume we know better.

And then how quick we are to assume that God must think like us.

But God confronts that idolatrous mindset.

1. Where were you when I used My word to create the heavens and the earth?
2. Have you ever created anything by your word?
3. Does your word have such power?

(It’s actually a heresy that has arisen today called the Word-Faith movement where men actually do think they can create with their words – nonsense!)

GOD CHALLENGES MEN THERE.
Speak something into existence!
• Go tell dry land to appear in the middle of the ocean.
• Go tell the wind and the waves to be still.
• Go tell a withered arm to be made new.

Why would you think your words had anything in common with Mine?

AND SINCE YOU’RE SO GOOD AT ADVICE:
• When was the last time you told God what to do?
• When was the last time He needed your input?
• When was the last time He asked you for clarity?

Do you get the nonsense here?

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

But man does not know such things.
Jeremiah 33:3 “‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’”

It is a foolish comparison to think
That God in any way thinks like you or me.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

It is nothing short of idolatry to bring God down to your level.
You couldn’t insult God’s intelligence any more
Than to act like He thinks like you.

To place your wisdom at such a high level
That you assume that God thinks like you think.

THAT IS BLASPHEMOUS AND IDOLATROUS

BUT AS WE SAID, it is more harmful than just that.
Do you know the ramifications of having a God who doesn’t know any more than you know?

UTTER DESPAIR.

Imagine
• Being a refugee; a political prisoner held captive in a foreign land
• And you go to God to ask what to do
• And He answers, “I’m not really sure, do you have any ideas?”

That’s when it’s time to start panicking!

But God is not like you!
God is not like man!

STOP BRINGING HIM DOWN TO YOUR LEVEL!
• Man’s word does not have the wisdom or the power of God’s word.
• Man does not know what God knows.
• God doesn’t think like man thinks.

It’s no wonder you are in despair, you thought God was like you
And if you didn’t know how to get out of this mess,
It must mean He doesn’t either.

That’s the first comparison, TO MAN
And there is no comparison, God wins.

2) TO NATIONS (15-17)

“Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”

Now we come across the great obstacle.
Jacob was held captive by a great nation.

The golden head of Babylon
Had invaded their land, burned their temple, torn down their wall,
And Israel wasn’t the only one.

No one had had an answer for “Babylon the great”
Such nations were too powerful.

Oh don’t we understand that line of thinking!

Especially those of us who live in this
“Super Power” nation of the United States of America.

• We have a military so mighty that terrorists were able to steal our own planes
and fly them into our buildings.

• We have an intelligence agency so might that they did it right under our noses.

• We have an economy so strong that we are 34.17 trillion in debt.

• We have a workforce so strong that we import about 1 trillion dollars more of
goods than we export every year.

• Our remarkable education system ranks 13th in the world.

• But we do manage to win the Olympics every 4 years.

But we think so highly of our power.
Even our power to provide, deliver, and save.

And then we think of other nations that strike fear in our hearts.
• What if Russia attacked?
• What if China invaded?

In our minds nations like this
So often become the focus of enormous power.
We see them as such a great machine of power
Who can do whatever they want.

And in Israel’s day it was no different.
Who could withstand the mighty arm of the Babylonian machine?

It must have all felt very hopeless to those refugees held captive there.
The reality was because they had reduced God to being
One who was no stronger than the nation of Babylon.

SO GOD BRINGS UP ANOTHER COMPARISON.

(15) “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket…”

Have you ever carried a 5-gallon bucket full of water?
• Did you spill any of it?
• Did it matter?

That is the nations before God – ABSOLUTELY INSIGNIFICANT!
• Do you think God is worried about China?
• Do you think Russian keeps Him up at night?
• Do you think God fears the USA will dethrone Him?

It is laughable.
“nations…are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;”

When is the last time you went to the doctor’s office and they weighed you?
• After they weighed you did you ever bend down, flick a piece of dust off the scales and say, “There, try it now”?

Nope, because it doesn’t mean anything.

“Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.”

• Think about Hawaii
• Think about Ireland
• Think about Australia

It is nothing to Him.
They are like fine dust.
Carrie wipes away thousands of them with one swipe of her hand.

“Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.”

Lebanon was known for it’s great and thick forests.
• And God says if you were to take every tree from every forest in Lebanon
• To build a fire where you could offer every animal there as a burnt offering…

THAT WOULDN’T BE ENOUGH
TO EVEN SERVE AS AN APPETIZER FOR GOD!

And just to make sure you understand the point.
(17) “All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.”

So do you really think God is no more powerful than Babylon?
Daniel was pretty interested in this subject.
TURN TO: DANIEL 2:31-45

• Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and called upon Daniel for its interpretation.

Do you see that God not only had Nebuchadnezzar in His sites?
• But He knew what nation was coming after that and after that and after that…all the way to the final nation that will rule the world forever.

Why do you get so up in arms over the power of nations?

• To those who feel dejected because they live under a government they view
to be oppressive.
• To those who feel hopeless because their vote doesn’t seem to matter.
• To those who wonder if the nation has so lost its moral center that they can
even win a vote any more.
• To those who see all that they hold dear being tossed aside.

To those who, like the refugees in Babylon, don’t see any way to defeat the great political machine that has taken over their lives.

That would be true if God were no bigger than the nations.

But have you lost sight of who He is?
Have you made your God so small that you actually think He can do nothing against the evils of our nation?

As Ortlund also put it:
“When God created man, he didn’t dig his own grave. He didn’t create an unforeseen difficulty. All human opposition is, to God, a minus factor in the equation of reality.”
(ibid. pg. 245)

When God created man and then man sinned.
• God had no problem removing him from the garden and sending him throughout all the earth.

When man populated and grew increasingly evil, even when they began to cohabitate with demons,
• It only took God 40 days of rain to wash the earth free of them.

When man’s descendants decided to build a tower
• It was no problem for God to confuse their language and scatter them.

When cities grew wicked,
• He rained fire and brimstone.

Egypt was broken with plagues.
Assyria was broken by a rumor.
Babylon was broken by hand writing on the wall.

THEY DO NOT POSE A THREAT TO GOD.

When God sent the Israelites into Canaan, which nation proved too much for Him?
Psalms 44:2-3 “You with Your own hand drove out the nations; Then You planted them; You afflicted the peoples, Then You spread them abroad. For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.”

Stop reducing God to One who is no more powerful than a nation.

And realize that if God determined to turn this nation, burn this nation, or cause this nation to hover in the air like a hot air balloon He could do it.

The nations of the world are not an obstacle to Him, not even a little.

Psalms 47:3 “He subdues peoples under us And nations under our feet.”

Psalms 47:8 “God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.”

Psalms 59:7-8 “Behold, they belch forth with their mouth; Swords are in their lips, For, they say, “Who hears?” But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.”

Psalms 22:27-28 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. For the kingdom is the LORD’S And He rules over the nations.”

Psalms 33:10 “The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.”

I THINK YOU GET THE POINT.
• If the nations have caused you half a second of fear and trepidation…
• If you are in despair because of the current political climate…
• If your entire hope rests on some election…

Then you have dumbed God down way too far.

Remember who He is, and find comfort.

So now we have God compared to the nations
And once again there is no comparison.

Psalms 43 “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

There are 3 more, but we’ll wait until next week to start looking at them.

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Here Is Your God – Part 3
Isaiah 40:1-31 (11)
February 4, 2024

This morning we dive back into our study of Isaiah 40.
Allow me just a quick recap
Over the ground we have covered before we move forward.

Isaiah 40 is addressing a group of people over 100 years after Isaiah.
• He is writing, prophetically, to those Jews who are in exile in Babylon.
• They are downtrodden because they believe God has abandoned them.
• Isaiah is revealing why that is not the case, and how they can overcome their despair.

Very simply put, these exiles need to remember 3 things.
1) God’s Promises
2) God’s Power
3) God’s Perseverance

Remembering those truths are the key to comfort
For any believer in any circumstance.

We have started working on that first point.
#1 GOD’S PROMISES
Isaiah 40:1-11

And we noted that the chief point here and for the entire chapter is clear, “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.”

• That is the goal
• That is the objective

Remembering God’s promises will set you on the course of comfort.

Now, we have broken this first point down a little further and given some specific details about the promises of God.

1) THE COMFORT OF GOD’S PROMISES (1-2)

Might I just add here at the start
That God’s promises are always for the comfort of God’s people.

What else would they be for?
• They are the God of the universe
• Choosing to put His integrity on the line
• In order to give you information about the future
• That you would not otherwise have.

God’s promises are meant to be received by faith in His power and character and when they are received the result is comfort.

And that is what God is doing here.
With the first reminder that
GOD HAS PROMISED FORGIVENESS FOR HIS CHILDREN.

I would remind you of Romans 8
Romans 8:31-34 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

John Owen says that
The love of God which prompted Him to give His Son for us “infers an impossibility in not giving all good things in Him”
(Owen, John [The Death of Death In The Death of Christ; The Banner of Truth Trust; Carlisle, PA 2020] pg.70-71 )

To perhaps put it more plainly.
Do you suppose that God would love you enough to send His Son to pay the debt against your sin and then at the last moment refuse to allow that death to actually be used on your behalf?

Do you suppose God would waste the atoning sacrifice of Christ?

Do you suppose Christ would come and pay the debt for your sin and then be satisfied in not seeing that forgiveness occur?

Do you suppose either the Father or the Son would go to such a great extreme to purchase forgiveness and then not see forgiveness occur?

It’s unthinkable!
By Owen’s account, it is impossible.
God forgives His children.

Christ died to pay the debt for their sin.
• He has appeared before the Father on our behalf in His blood-stained raiment to deliver the payment for our sin.

• He said it was paid in full.
• He said every requirement was finished.
• He said every sin of His bride has been covered.

Do you suppose that you have now out-sinned His sacrifice?
Do you suppose that yours was the one sin where He drew the line?

He promised forgiveness for His people and forgiveness is given.

The announcement of Isaiah is that
God’s discipline in your life has run its course and you are forgiven.

Every believer should find comfort in that promise.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Take comfort in that promise.
2) THE CONTENT OF GOD’S PROMISES (3-5)

Here we were reminded of that message of John the Baptist
Which is categorized as a message of repentance.

It is the call to remove those things from your life
Which might prohibit a relationship with the coming King.

I would reiterate that this is NOT a negative promise.

The point here is not about the cost of hosting the King,
So much as it is about the privilege and anticipation of hosting the King.

We likened it to that family caught in the P.O.W. camp in Manilla in WWII.
• If you told them that the troops were going to come through that gate any
minute
• They needed to put on American clothes, put on their shoes to prepare to
leave, and get rid of anything that would slow them down…
• You would not see that as a negative cost.

You’d see that as a glorious privilege
For salvation was about to come through the door!

Just as those in Egypt
• Were told to eat the Passover with their loins girded, their staff in hand, and to eat it in haste.
• That was about anticipation, not cost.

The reason such behavior is called for is because
The glorious King is about to arrive,
And you are preparing to enjoy His deliverance.

God promised salvation and it is coming through Jesus Christ.
• He is the content of the promises.
• He is the sum total of them all.
• He is what the Old Testament is all about.
• In Him the promises of God are “yes”.

So we have seen a coming Savior/King who comes to forgive His people.

That alone should be encouraging to anyone stuck in despair.
God has forgiven you and God is coming to save you.

BELIEVE THAT PROMISE!

BUT THERE WE ARE ALSO CONFRONTED WITH
What believing the promises of God looks like.

In regard to the first promise of forgiveness,
• Believing that promise was really an intellectual exercise.
• It simply required you believing what God says.

But believing that Christ is coming looks a little different.
What does it look like?

It looks like repentance.
(3-5) “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

• Belief there looks like preparation.
• Belief there looks like repentance.

If you really believe the promise then get this place ready for Him.
• He won’t dwell in your house if you insist on leaving idols there.
• He won’t dwell in your house if you insist He share it with other gods.

If you believe the promise that the glorious King
Will come to forgive and deliver you,
Then prepare your heart for His coming.

Clean up the place, like you believe He’s coming.

3) THE CERTAINTY OF GOD’S PROMISES (6-9)

You might be that family in the P.O.W. camp who receives word that the troops are coming, but you are cynical because you’ve heard it all before.

“I’ll believe it when I see it!” you say.

And to encourage us beyond such doubt and fear Isaiah reminds us of a very important point.

The God who is making this promise to you is NOT like man.
• He is not weak
• He is not fickle
• He does not lie
• He is not temporary

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

When God promises forgiveness through a coming glorious King
Then you can count on it happening.

If He said it, He will do it.
Take comfort in that.
So get ready, clean this place up and believe the promise.

4) THE CIRCULATION OF GOD’S PROMISES (9-11)

IN ORDER TO SPREAD THE COMFORT,
God now declares that the recipients of this promise
Get up on a high mountain and declare it to all of God’s people.

Go forth and declare the glories of this promised King!

(Want your mission’s month emphasis? Here it is!)

WHAT DO WE TELL THE PEOPLE ABOUT THIS KING?

HE WILL RULE – “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him.”

HE WILL REWARD – “Behold, His reward is with Him”

HE WILL RECOMPENSE – “And His recompense before Him.”

We saw all of those Sunday night.
• He did come to rule in the hearts of men,
• He will come again to rule the world.
• He did reward with spiritual blessing those who trusted Him,
• He will come again and reward His followers even more.
• He did recompense the enemies of the gospel in His first coming,
• He will come again to trample them under His feet.

These promises were true, they are true, and they will remain true.
GO FORWARD AND PROCLAIM THAT!

But there was one aspect of this promise to be circulated
That we did not have time to examine Sunday night.

That this promised King of Glory
WILL ROUND UP (11)

“Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

That is to say, He will round up His people and gather them to Himself.

This is another aspect of the promise
That those who are downtrodden can most certainly anticipate.

We might be prone to wonder:
• When this King comes through the gate…
• When He arrives to bring rescue and forgiveness…
• WHAT WILL HE BE LIKE?

• Is He going to be ruthless and mean?
• Is He going to be rigid and battle hardened?
• What will He be like?

(11) “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

This promise is pure comfort
To His people who live in a broken and fallen world.

He is well-aware of your weakness.
He is well-aware of what you have been through.
He knows who He is saving.

LET’S START FIRST WITH THE EXILES IN BABYLON
Whom Isaiah is immediately addressing.

The thought of God gathering His lambs
Must be quite a welcomed promise to the exiles
Since they definitely understood themselves as having been scattered.

Jeremiah 10:21 “For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.”

• If you have a bad shepherd you get scattered sheep.

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

• If you have bad priests you get destroyed people.

Israel certainly understands the problem they have found themselves in.
• They are like that family in the P.O.W. camp.
• They are scattered to Babylon, away from the land of promise.
• They are captives in a foreign land.

And while every man stands before God because of his own sin,
We also see in Scripture a special burden placed upon
The heads of the bad shepherds who allowed it to happen.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 34

We FIRST recognize what Jeremiah said, that it was the bad shepherds who led to the fall of the flock.
(READ 1-6)

• You have there weak sheep who weren’t strengthened.
• You have there sinful sheep who weren’t corrected.
• You have there broken sheep who were not restored.
• You have there discouraged sheep who were not comforted.
• You have there lost sheep who were not sought.

And the result is that they were devoured by the lion
And now they have been sent to Babylon in exile.
It is harsh, but it is real.

And, we find that God is opposed to those terrible shepherds who led their flock to this terrible position.

(READ 7-10)

• God is not pleased with the shepherds who so mistreated their flocks,
• But it doesn’t change the fact that the flock is scattered.

SO HERE’S THE PROMISE…
(READ 11-16)

God says that He will step in and deliver His flock.
• He says He will care for them.
• He says He will seek them.
• He says He will bring them out.
• And 4 times He says He will feed them.

Now if you are an exile in Babylon
This would be a good promise for you to remember.

God is going to seek you, feed you, and deliver you.
HE PROMISED.

God also promises to purify the flock:
(READ 17-22)

• It’s not just bad rulers, in some cases it is also brutal sheep.
• It is also the unredeemed in their midst, and God is going to clean them out.
• That’s another good promise to grab.

And then GOD PROMISES A NEW SHEPHERD
(READ 23-24)

• He promises to deliver His flock and then put a new shepherd over them.
• A Shepherd from the line of David to care for this flock.

Hang on to that promise
Because that’s exactly the point Isaiah is making in Isaiah 40.

Then under this new Shepherd God promises to restore blessing to them.
(READ 25-31)

THAT IS TOTAL DELIVERANCE.

So listen to Isaiah and follow the promise.
• You have God’s people who have been exiled because of their sin.
• The blame falls on their shepherds, but they are exiled none the less.
• So God promises to go and deliver them from their place of exile.
• He will then give them a new Shepherd from David’s line.
• And this new Shepherd will lead them to continual blessing.

THAT IS THE PROMISE.

So what happened?
538 BC

Ezra 1:1-4 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

What is that?
That is God doing exactly what He promised through Isaiah.

Yes, the promise here refers to the words of Jeremiah,
That is in reference to the 70-year period. Isaiah’s promise is also being fulfilled.

• God said He would go get them.
• God said He would deliver them back home.
• God said He would feed them.

What did God promise next?
He said He was going to give them a Shepherd from David’s line.

John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

There is that Davidic Shepherd
Who came to give life and blessing to the sheep.

John 10:9-10 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

We see both Ezekiel and Isaiah’s promise fulfilled.
There is that “shepherd” Isaiah promised.

AND WHAT A SHEPHERD HE IS!
• He’s not cruel or mean.
• He’s not rigid or harsh.

Another passage about Him says:
Matthew 12:17-21 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. “HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. “A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. “AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”

He is a gentle shepherd.
He is a good shepherd.

• He lays down His life for those sheep.
• He loves those sheep.
• He will not flee in the face of danger.
• He will not abandon when it is difficult.

He is exactly the shepherd that God was looking for to tend His flock.
He will rescue those sheep and He will lead them to pasture.

God promised a good shepherd and that is exactly who Jesus was.
That was a fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise.

BUT ISRAEL REJECTED HIM
• We remember that Israel crucified her King
• We remember that Israel killed her Shepherd
• She didn’t want Him to rule over her.

SO WHAT NEXT?
• Did the promise of God fail?
• Is it over?
• Has the promise been used up?

Didn’t we just talk about the certainty of God’s promises?
(He promised blessing, did He not?)
Isaiah said God is not like a man.
When He makes a promise it “stands forever” (40:8)

SO, THE PROMISE REMAINS, perhaps delayed, but it remains.

When Israel will repent and yield to her Shepherd,
He will return and shepherd His flock to green pastures.

And so even today WE STILL WAIT for our Shepherd.
1 Peter 2:25 “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”

• We still have a Shepherd.
• We still have One who guards our souls.
• And we are promised that He is still coming.

1 Peter 5:1-4 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Did you catch that from Peter?
• The “Chief Shepherd” is coming.

HE’S COMING BACK.
The promise of Isaiah has not failed, we still wait for it.

We wait for the One who will return to His people,
Rescue them from bondage, and lead them to a land of blessing.

We know it will happen because…GOD PROMISED.

AND INCIDENTALLY, we are actually shown the fulfillment of it in Scripture.

TURN TO: REVELATION 7

What an interesting chapter this is.
• It takes place during that 7-year period known as the tribulation.
• It begins with this sealing of the 144,000
• It is obvious that they are all Jewish and we see them as 144,000 Jewish evangelists.

• They are there to preach the gospel to Israel during the great tribulation.
• They are strategically important to the promise that Isael will one day look on Him whom they have pierced.

These evangelists will lead Israel back to Christ.
There is evidence that they will lead many Gentiles to Christ as well at that time.

And then we see the fruits of their labor.
(READ 9-12)

• It is a heavenly scene of many, from every tribe, worshiping God for His great salvation.

But then a question arises as to WHO THEY ARE?
(READ 13-17)

• These are those who are saved out of the Great Tribulation.

But did you notice what was said about their salvation in that final verse?

“for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

We DON’T see a frustrated shepherd.
We see a compassionate shepherd.
Consoling and leading His flock to salvation.

There is the final fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise.

God started this chapter with a promise of comfort.
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.”

BASED ON WHAT?
Why should we be comforted while living here in a pagan land?
Why should we be comforted as stranger and exiles in Babylon?

1. Because God has promised forgiveness for His children.
2. Because God has promised to send a glorious Shepherd King to deliver you.
3. Because God’s promises never fail.
4. And you can see throughout Scripture, they never have.

AND CHURCH we realize that this promise obviously extends well beyond just those exiles in Babylon.

• We rejoice in this promise!
• We rejoice in the promise of a returning Shepherd!
• This One who will rule.
• This One who will reward.
• This One who will recompense.
• This One who will round up His sheep.

And take a look at His CHARACTER and COMPASSION!

Back to Isaiah 40:11
“Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

Just notice the language there.
• “tend His flock”
• “gather the lambs”
• “carry them in His bosom”
• “gently lead”

Does it shock you to understand that Christ knows exactly what it is like to live in this sin infested world?

Does it shock you to see that Christ realizes that you are existing in many ways as a P.O.W. who is beaten and battered in this world?

When those troops finally broke through the gates at that Manilla prison camp, not a soldier there expected that they were about to march those refugees on a hard march out of Manilla.
• They knew that these people were weak and feeble.
• They knew that these people were broken and frail.
• They knew that these people needed to be carried and coddled and led gently.

And if a war-hardened soldier can make that observation
The Chief Shepherd has no problem showing such sympathy.

He cares for the littlest of His flock.
• Notice Him gathering “the lambs”.
• Notice Him being gentle with the “nursing ewes”

Quoting on this passage Charles Spurgeon said:
“The lambs have not the value of mature sheep, yet they are the most thought of under the great Shepherd. They might fetch the least price in the market, but they have the greatest portion of His heart. You needy, troubled ones, I want you to look here and note down in you memories that though there are promises for all saints, there are special promises for you. Jesus Christ will take care that lambs and those who are with young, shall be specially housed. Notice this in Jacob…when he met with Esau, Esau wanted him to accept a guard to go with him, but he said, “My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me; and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.” Jesus, the good Shepherd, will not travel at such a rate as to overdrive the lambs. He has tender consideration for the poor and needy. Kings usually look to the interests of the great and the rich, but in the kingdom of our Great Shepherd, He cares most for the poor…The weaklings and the sickly of the flock are the special objects of the Saviour’s care.”
(Spurgeon, Charles [The Treasury Of The Old Testament Vol. III Psalms 113 to Isaiah; Marshall, Morgan & Scott Publishing; Edinburgh London] pg. 575)

What a great promise to those who are weary and heavy-laden!
What a great promise to those who feel as who are afflicted and persecuted!

Does it feel as though God has abandoned you?

Do you identify with the lament of these exiles, (27) “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of My God?”

THEN REMEMBER THE PROMISES OF GOD.
Who is He?
What has He promised?
• He has promised forgiveness.
• He has promised a glorious Shepherd King.
• He has promised to accept even the weak and the broken.
• And His promises never fail.

SO LISTEN TO ME NOW THIS MORNING.

Salvation is available to all who are weak and broken.
• EVEN IF your weakness and your brokenness is a result of your bad decisions.

Salvation is available to all who are in captivity and abandoned.
• EVEN IF your captivity is a result of your sin.

God promises forgiveness to His children.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO?
YOU BELIEVE THE PROMISES!

(3-5) “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

You do exactly what Isaiah said.

“Clear the way for the LORD”
You remove the idols and obstacles in your heart.

“Let every valley be lifted up”
You fill in those irreverent potholes that have eaten away at your heart.

“And every mountain and hill be made low”
You knock down those prideful mountains and hills you have erected.

Let your rough edges be smoothed
And your rugged rebellion be subdued
And prepare yourself for the coming of the King.

And if you will.
“then the glory of the LORD will be revealed”

This Shepherd King will come for you.

• Clear out those weeds that keep chocking out the word and making it unfruitful.
• Burn those idols that have polluted your front yard.
• Wash the filth of your pride off of the front porch.
• Put away the sinfulness locked away in your closet.

Prepare your heart for the coming of the King!

IT IS THAT SIMPLE:
Believe the promise.

Did the pagan Abraham do any different?
Genesis 15:5-6 “And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Abraham believed the promise of God and God justified Him.

And this is what you must do too!
Believe God’s promise.

Romans 10:9-13 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

This is the first step to solving your despair.
This is the first step to overcoming your grief.

You have not believed God’s promise
And you have wallowed in brokenness because of it.

Today believe it and you will have comfort.

And once you have believed it, get yourself up on the highest mountain
And proclaim that same promise to someone else who needs to hear it.

Isaiah 35:4 “Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”

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Here Is Your God – part 2
Isaiah 40:1-31 (3-10)
January 28, 2024

This morning we began this marvelous 40th chapter of Isaiah
In which the chief aim of God is to give comfort to His people.

• His people who are in exile and feel abandoned by God.
• God is reaching out to comfort them.
• He addresses their despair by reminding them of what they have forgotten.

#1 GOD’S PROMISES
Isaiah 40:1-11

And in getting more specific we talked about:
1) THE COMFORT OF HIS PROMISES (1-2)

• Most specifically found in the fact that God forgives His children.
• He doesn’t hold anger forever, He is merciful to His own.

His children need not think that they have sinned beyond reconciliation.
GOD FORGIVES.

That is comforting.

And as we were wrapping it up this morning we started looking at the second aspect of the promises of God.

2) THE CONTENT OF HIS PROMISES (3-5)

We pointed out that
The content of God’s promises is none other than Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”

• We know that He is the sole subject of the gospel or good news of God.
• It is all about the person and the work of Jesus.

Namely that not only has God promised forgiveness of our sin,
But He has promised to do it through the Savior He will send.

Isaiah says in verse 5, “then the glory of the LORD will be revealed.”

So let’s talk a little more about this:
WHAT IS THIS GLORY?

At Sinai, it was terrifying:
Exodus 24:17 “And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.”

So was the war chariot Ezekiel saw.
• The angels who saw the glory of the Lord on the night Jesus was born were terribly afraid.
• Certainly that was true for Isaiah who cried out “Woe is me! For I am ruined!”

But what did this glory ultimately prove to be for Isaiah?
• Terrifying? Yes
• Convicting? Yes
• But destructive? No

The glory of God to Isaiah was certainly holy and brought trembling…

But the glory which Isaiah encountered was ultimately a glory
That forgave him and cleansed him and commissioned him into service.

Isaiah 6:5-8 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God was most glorious before Isaiah in His forgiveness of Isaiah’s sin.

Then we think about the One whom God has promised to send.

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

• His glory is described first as glory “of the only begotten from the Father”
• And secondly as “full of grace and truth”

Jesus came to reveal the Father’s glory
And it is nothing less than the glory of salvation.

In fact, we find that even as Jesus departed from the upper room to make His way to hang on a cross, He was demonstrating the glory of God.

John 13:31 “Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;”

And as believers in Jesus
• We are being constantly awakened to the glory of Christ in the gospel
• As we also await the full revelation of His glory at His second coming.

THE POINT IS: The glory of Christ is for the believer a wonderful thing!

Raymond Ortlund wrote:
“The glory of the Lord, therefore, is God himself becoming visible, God bringing his presence down to us, God displaying his beauty before us, the true answer to our deepest longings. And he promises to do this for us. It is the central promise of the gospel. God kept his promise in the hidden glory of Christ’s first coming. He continues to keep his promise as the Holy Spirit awakens us to the glory of Christ in the gospel (2 Corinthians 3:18-4:6). He will consummate his promise at the second coming of Christ. All this is contained in seed form in Isaiah 40:5.”
(Ortlund, Raymond [Preaching The Word Commentary Series: “Isaiah, God saves sinners” Crossway, Wheaton, IL; 2005] pg. 237)

In short, we find victory over despair when we remember
That God has promised for us a glorious savior.

• One who will reveal the Father to us.
• One who will save us from our sins.
• One who will transform us into the likeness of His glory.
• One who will return to reign in glory over the earth.

DON’T LOSE SIGHT OF THAT PROMISE.
That everything God has promised you is ultimately bound up
In His promise to give you the glorious Christ.

Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”

The hope we have is that Christ came and Christ is coming.
Don’t forget that Christian!

God has sent you the Lord of glory
And He is coming again that “all flesh will see it together;”

• The whole world will see it next time.
• All of those promises that Isaiah has already given about Him coming to reign
in justice and perfection, that is coming!
• And we can all agree that that is a wonderful thing!

NOW, BACK UP TO VERSE 3.

(3-4) “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;”

Do you recognize that?

Luke 3:3-6 “And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT. ‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH; AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.’”

And certainly we learned from John that this is a text of repentance.
John spoke of a glorious Holy One who was coming and this place was not fit for a King!
• The trash needed to be cleaned up.
• The potholes filled in.
• The speed bumps removed.

Of course John was not referencing literal roads here, nor was Isaiah.

John spoke of hearts being prepared for the coming Savior.

• Potholes of doubt
• Speedbumps of pride
• Idols that lined the way
• Anything that would cause you to not welcome this coming King.

When John’s crowd questioned him further
• As to what they should do to prepare themselves for this coming glorious one,
• John immediately went after the idols of their hearts.

Luke 3:10-14 “And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

• John spoke of money and worldliness.
• He spoke of greed and hoarding.
• He spoke of the idols of this world and our love for them.

Those are the types of things that we learn in the parable of the soils
That choke out the word and make it unfruitful.

If you want the Lord of glory to enter, then you need to
Burn the idols, and remove the pride, and get rid of the doubt.

You need to break your self-righteousness and clean up your lusts.
For this King is not going to share occupation in your heart.

And this is EXACTLY what Isaiah has preached.

BUT I think sometimes, because we know it’s about repentance,
WE ARE PRONE TO READ THIS AS A NEGATIVE TYPE PASSAGE.

We read it and all we see is the cost involved in welcoming the King.

But nothing Isaiah says here is meant to be negative.
In fact, the tone of the message is “comfort” remember?

He is NOT saying, “Clean this place up or else the tyrant king that is coming is going to burn this house to the ground.”

He speaks rather of the anticipation and excitement
Of one who is about to have the honor of hosting the Lord of glory.

• If I told Carrie that Tommy was coming over after church,
• She would instinctively go home as quick as she could to make sure and pick up anything in the house.
• And that’s just for Tommy!

Imagine if I told her that Jesus was coming over?

But if you caught Carrie in their scrubbing the house to prepare it for the coming of Jesus, do you think she’d be doing it out of fear?

No, it would be out of anticipation and honor.

THE KING IS COMING!
This passage isn’t about the cost of hosting the Lord of glory,
It’s about the honor of hosting Him.

I’ve told you before that I like WWII documentaries
One of the commentaries I watched spoke quite a bit about a family that was caught in the Philippines when Japan invaded and their family was put in sort of a makeshift camp right in the middle of Manilla.

They were starving, many starved to death.
They ate anything that was remotely edible.

But the woman that told the story (who was a little girl at the time of the war) shared how her mother preserved a half-eaten tube of lipstick under her mattress.

She was saving it for the day when the US troops came busting through the gate.

And sure enough on the day they entered, the first thing her mother did was run back and get that lipstick and put it on.

WHY?
• It was about honor!
• It was about gratitude!
• Cleaning herself up in such limited fashion was the best she could do to show
her gratitude to the boys that had rescued them.

Now picture the exiles to whom Isaiah is initially writing.
• They are stuck in Babylon, in a foreign land.
• They are a laughingstock and a byword.
• They are at many times considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
• And Isaiah says, “Fear not, your king is coming to rescue you!”

Do you suppose they would have then sneered if Isaiah had said,
“Now, prepare yourself for His coming! Put away those dirty rags and put on the best clothes you can muster. Get rid of those Babylonian idols and prepare yourself for His coming.”

Do you remember when God initiated the Passover in Egypt?
• The people were to eat that meal with their loins girded, staff in hand, and were to eat it in haste.
• No one said, “Man I hate eating with my loins girded!” “Man I hate eating fast!”

That would not have been a cost, that would have been a privilege!

Certainly our cleaning up before the Lord is no more impressive than that, but it is certainly not a sacrifice, it is an honor.

When John is preaching repentance the focus is not on the cost of having Jesus entering your town, it’s about the privilege.

We think of that parable of the treasure in the field and the pear of great value.
Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

• It is true in both of those parables that the treasure and the pearl did in fact cost
them everything.
• But if you think the point of the parable is the cost of the kingdom, you are
greatly mistaken.

The point is the value of the kingdom!
Both of those guys sold all that they had
And neither one of them regretted it for a second.

Why?
Because what they were obtaining was infinitely more valuable!

Do you see God’s promise here now?
There is a King who is coming.
• Will you unlock the door?
• Will you clean a place for Him?
• Will you get rid of that which offends Him?
• Will you make your heart look welcoming to Him?

Listen to John the apostle:
1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

It’s not a purification out of fear,
It’s a purification out of anticipation and excitement.

And this is what Isaiah is saying.
Child of God you must hold to the promise.
• Not only has God forgiven you,
• But God is sending to you His glorious King!
• The Savior is coming!

Isaiah’s announcement to “Clear the way” is NOT a threat,
IT IS A CONFIRMATION.

Go ahead and clean the house, He’s really coming!

And this remains the message of the gospel EVEN TODAY.

For the Lord of glory DID COME.
John says, we saw it!

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

But Israel didn’t.
John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

• The world did not see Him as worth the clean up.
• The world did not want to clean out the weeds of their heart.
• They wanted their sin and the rejected the Savior.

Isaiah will even later lament the fact that Israel
Had no excitement over the glory that Christ brought.

Isaiah 53:1-3 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

This saving glory that He came to reveal
Was of no interest to the Jews He came to save.

• They did not see Him as one who was worthy of the cleanup.
• They did not see Him as one who was worthy of idol removal.
• And they rejected Him.

BUT THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE PROMISE!
Remember God is a God who has promised to forgive the sin of His people.

The promise of Isaiah still remains, that if God’s people will prepare their hearts through repentance then the Lord of glory will still come to them!

Listen to Peter preach
• To the Jews in Jerusalem
• After Christ had ascended.
• It is basically the same message that Isaiah is preaching here.

Acts 3:17-26 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

Peter says that if they would just repent like John and Isaiah had said…
Then God would forgive them and send Jesus just like Isaiah promised.

He would come restore all things.
• Peter says that He is the One Moses and Samuel and the prophets spoke of.
• He is the seed of Abraham through whom you will be blessed.
• He is God’s servant and He has been sent to save you from your sins.

THAT IS A GOSPEL PROMISE.
God will forgive you and God will send you the Savior.

AND FOR US WHO HAVE RECEIVED HIM.
THE PROMISE IS: God has forgiven you and the Savior is coming.

Let that be your encouragement!
Let that be your comfort!
• For all the wickedness and evil we face in this world.
• For all the trials and hardships.
• For all the longing we have to exit this sin infested world.

Know that God will not leave us here forever.
He is coming.

Those in exile were in despair because they had forgotten that promise.
• Don’t make the same mistake.
• Focusing on the coming Lord of glory is comfort to the afflicted soul.

The Comfort of His promise, The Content of His promise
3) THE CERTAINTY OF HIS PROMISES (6-8)

“A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Here we face the possibility that perhaps the promises of God were not forgotten, perhaps the exiles just believed they had failed.

• Oh we know that God promises to forgive, but clearly He has changed His mind.
• Oh we know that God promised to send a savior, but clearly it’s not going to happen.

Have you ever ran across such a skeptic?
Perhaps you have at times been in such despair that you felt that very same skepticism.

Well here Isaiah has a staunch reminder for you.

GOD IS NOT LIKE A MAN
Men are fickle, transient, temporary, and unreliable.

BUT WHEN GOD SPEAKS IT CANNOT FAIL.

The voice of God came with a command, “Call out.”

And the one hearing it says, “What do you want me to tell them?”
• You tell them that “All flesh is like grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the filed.”
• You remind them that “The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;”
• You tell them that “the people are grass.”

We know why you are cynical.
You’ve heard broken promise after broken promise after broken promise.

Tell me, which politician are you waiting on to come and save the world?

• Oh, they’ve all got plans.
• Some of them even have pretty big followings.

And which one of them is going to follow through and do what they say.
None of them!

Because men, for all their good intentions, are weak, frail and transient.
• They don’t last long enough to accomplish anything good.
• They aren’t strong enough to make any real change.

And the danger we face is when
We start putting God in the same camp with weak rulers.

GOD IS NOT LIKE THEM.
• God doesn’t make promises He doesn’t keep.
• God doesn’t say things He doesn’t mean.
• God doesn’t speak unauthoritatively.

“The grass withers, the flower fades (man), But the word of our God stands forever.”

HIS PROMISES ARE CERTAIN.

So can we now read those promises of God Isaiah just reiterated in a different light?

He promised that we are FORGIVEN.
• Can we trust that?

Let’s look at one of God’s promises of forgiveness.
It’s a pretty big one, we call it “The New Covenant”

Jeremiah 31:33-34 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Well that’s a pretty big promise.
• Do we believe that God will honor His word?

Well, look what He says next.
Jeremiah 31:35-37 “Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: “If this fixed order departs From before Me,” declares the LORD, “Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done,” declares the LORD.”

It’s as though someone asked, “At what point can we give up on this promise?”

And God says, “When the fixed order of creation stops, then you can doubt that promise.”

His word isn’t like the word of man, it never fails.

What about this promise that His KING IS COMING?
• Well we already saw the first coming…
• But what about the promise we maintain of His coming in glory a second time?

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

DON’T DOUBT IT!

2 Peter 3:3-10 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

Don’t let doubters and mockers and scoffers discourage you.
The Lord of glory is coming.

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

If God has promised it, it is certain.

So why in your distress would you feel as though God has abandoned you?

IS IT BECAUSE?
• You have forgotten His promises of forgiveness and a coming King.
• Or you have forgotten that God cannot lie and thus have begun to doubt those promises.

DON’T DO EITHER.
God will do for you exactly what He says.

“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled”

God’s word does not fail, trust it and believe His promises.

The Comfort of His promise, The Content of His promise, The Certainty of His promise
4) THE CIRCULATION OF HIS PROMISES (9-11)

“Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

Now the messenger is told to
Take this message
• Of God’s forgiveness,
• Of His coming glorious king,
• Of His unchanging character
And stand on the highest mountain he can climb and cry out to everyone.

“Here is your God!”

See ultimately the people are in despair
Because they have forgotten who their God is.

• They have forgotten that He is a merciful God who forgives sinners.
• They have forgotten that He is a glorious God who saves sinners.
• They have forgotten that He is a trustworthy God who never fails.

The message of God is very simply, “Hold Me up before the people and remind them who I am!”

Stand on the highest mountain and proclaim it from shore to shore!
Tell them you have good news!

Your God is not vindictive.
Your God is not weak.
Your God is not fickle.
He is the merciful, glorious, faithful God!

AND TELL THEM TO TELL EVERYONE!

(10-11) “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him And His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

And my goodness what a reminder!
• Those are two verses that could be commented on for a long long time.

And I should remind you that while we are tempted to see an evangelistic message here, this message is really for His people.

Certainly we proclaim to the lost who our God is,
But Isaiah is here preaching this message to the people of God.

God’s people need to remember this about their God.

HE IS COMING!

TO RULE: (10a) “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, With His arm ruling for Him.”

Don’t fall for the trap here.
• Some would say, well this is only speaking of His second coming.
• The first time He came to save, the second time He comes to rule.

Look, He came to rule the first time!
He came to rule in your hearts!

Did we not hear Him?
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Are we not commanded to confess Him as Lord?

This glorious forgiving King who is coming
• He is coming to rule in your hearts.
• He is coming to transfer you from Satan’s kingdom to His kingdom.
• He is coming to rescue you as you submit your life and future to Him.

TO REWARD: (10b) “Behold, His reward is with Him”

When Christ came, did He not reward the faithful?
Of course He did.
• They received His glorious salvation.
• They received His glorious presence.
• They received the kingdom.

Jesus actually told those who believed Him:
Matthew 13:16-17 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

• Have we not now already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Him?
• Is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control along with hope not already ours?

Certainly.

But we also await the day of He return
When He will further reward those who have trusted in Him and waited on Him.

Matthew 19:28-19 “And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

Our glorious King is one who forgives and saves
And one who rewards those who trust in Him.

• You may be in peril now.
• You may be the dregs of all things now.
• You may be hated and maligned and ill-treated now.

But your King is coming and He will reward your faithfulness to Him!

TO RECOMPENSE (10c) “And His recompense before Him.”

You say, “Christ did not bring recompense to anyone in this world when He came the first time.”

I say, “The Pharisees and Chief Priests might dare to disagree.”

• He pronounced judgment and condemnation on them at every turn.
• The only place He ever declared war was the temple which they ran.

He certainly brought a picture of His recompense
Toward the wolves who had afflicted His flock.

And when He returns,
It will be more of the same, only to a much greater level!

Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

• He is coming for you O refugee!
• He is coming for you O exile!
• He is coming for you O stranger and alien on earth!

He has forgiven you
He is coming to save you.
He will reward you for your faithfulness
He will give recompense to those who have afflicted you.

Is that not a great promise to remember!

If you forget that, it’s no wonder you are prone to despair.
If you forget that promise, or refuse to believe it,
It’s no wonder that you feel abandoned.

Your God has not forgotten you.
He has forgiven you and He is coming to save you.

Now, prepare your hearts for His coming!
Live today as though He will return to tonight!
Purify yourself just as He is pure!

Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

I had hoped to get finished, but there’s too much in verse 11.
We’ll pick back up with this next Sunday morning.

download here

Here Is Your God – part 1
Isaiah 40:1-31 (1-5)
January 28, 2024

This morning we begin a NEW SEGMENT here in our study of Isaiah.
And, as I told you Sunday night, this final segment
Is the reason for being compelled to preach through Isaiah.

It is 27 chapters of the glorious goodness and preeminence of God.
I can’t think of another segment in Scripture
That more thoroughly focuses on our great Savior than this one.

Now, as we begin this segment as a whole,
There is perhaps some WORK WE NEED TO DO.

First and foremost we must address the issue of
The authorship of the final 27 chapters of Isaiah.

Now, because you and I are simple people who just tend to read the Bible and take it at face value it is likely that you have never questioned this.

But, you should know that there is an academic world out there that casts tremendous doubt as to whether Isaiah was the actual author of this final half, and thus casts doubt on whether or not the last half of the book should even be included in the canon of Scripture.

In fact some attributed the final half of Isaiah to multiple authors.

WHY?
Because clearly, as you will see in Isaiah 40, the issue at hand is the Babylonian captivity.
• The people being addressed here are spoken to as those who are currently in
captivity in Babylon.
• And since the Babylonian captivity occurred 100 years after the time of Isaiah
many have suggested that there is no way that Isaiah could have written it.

These same scholars also balk at the accuracy of events that Isaiah declared, for example:
Isaiah 45:1-3 “Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. “I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.”

• That specific prophecy causes much skepticism by scholars because you have
here Isaiah calling Cyrus by name 175 years before he was even born.
• Several have said that there is no way Isaiah could have written it.

So they concede to the first half of the book
Since Isaiah obviously lived with Hezekiah during the Assyrian invasion,
But they attribute the final half to someone else.

Well, obviously for us that poses a question.
Why do we believe Isaiah wrote all of the book?
Is it just because someone before us stuck those pages in the binder and labeled them Isaiah?

Well, it’s not hard to tell you why we believe it.

Now, as a secondary proof I can tell you that every scroll they have ever found of Isaiah always had it together, so there is no archaeological proof to assert anything other than it is all Isaiah’s work.

But that’s not even why we believe it.

HERE IS WHY:
Matthew 3:3 “For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’”

John 1:23 “He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Now both of those men quoted from the last half of Isaiah.
• There they both quoted Isaiah 40:3 and both John the Baptist and Matthew said that it was the words of Isaiah.

Matthew will do it again:
Matthew 8:17 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND CARRIED AWAY OUR DISEASES.”

• That time Matthew quoted from Isaiah 53:4 and said it was Isaiah’s writing.

And again:
Matthew 12:17-21 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. “HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. “A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. “AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”

• That time quoting from Isaiah 42:1-3

The apostle John affirmed it:
John 12:38 “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?”

• Quoting from Isaiah 53:1

Luke wrote the book of Acts and he affirmed it along with Philip:
Acts 8:29-33 “Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. “IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.”

• Luke and Philip quoted Isaiah 53:7-8 and said it was Isaiah.

The apostle Paul quoted him as well.
Romans 10:20-21 “And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.” But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

• There Paul quoted Isaiah 65:1-2 and said it was the words of Isaiah.

So we say that scholars can doubt and skeptics can question,
But if we have to believe Matthew, John the Baptist, the apostle John, Luke, Philip, and Paul or them, I’ll guess we’ll stick with the apostles.

That means that Isaiah did write the last half of this book
And that he accurately declared things that were going to occur
Hundreds of years beyond him.

And that should not surprise us.
After all, this same Isaiah, in the first uncontested half of his book also predicted:
• The Assyrian invasion
• The fall of Israel
• The fall of many contemporary nations
• The virgin birth
• The coming Messiah

He even spoke of events in the first half of the book that still have yet to be fulfilled, like the Millennial kingdom and the wolf dwelling with the lamb, etc.

So we are not surprised that God would use this same Isaiah
To speak accurately and truthfully about the coming Babylonian exile.

It is in fact confirmation that Isaiah spoke the very words of God.

Now, one other thing I think I would note.
There is no doubt that Isaiah speaks of the Babylonian captives and the struggles of Babylon and God’s promise deliverance from that place.

That is clearly seen.

But Isaiah also speaks of a time far beyond that.
• Isaiah speaks also of a coming Christ and His sacrifice for sinners.
• Isaiah speaks also of the day when Israel will come to Him and be saved.
• It is a glorious prophecy of God of many things that even we as the 21st century church long for and look forward to.

This is a tremendous section of Scripture
That God has given to us through this prophet named Isaiah.

AND THIS MORNING WE BEGIN WITH CHAPTER 40.
So let’s introduce it a little as well.

THE POINT of the chapter could not be clearer.
We see it in verse 1, “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.”

God repeats it twice so that there is no confusion
What the benefit of this sermon is meant to be.

God’s people are meant to study this chapter
And come away comforted.

That word “comfort” is (Na-Kham)
• In its base root form it speaks of “sighing or even groaning”.
• It’s like when you see someone hurting and you sort of gasp and groan for
them.
• It brings with it then a sympathy and a desire to give consolation and
comfort to those who grieve.

AND THAT IS WHAT GOD IS DOING HERE.
He groans and sighs with sympathy to extend mercy to His people.

And it is so important that you understand this about our God.
• He is NOT cruel.
• He is NOT bitter.
• He is NOT aloof.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

• Paul actually calls Him “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”
• And incidentally Paul wrote this referring to a time in his life when he despaired even of life.

Things like mercy and compassion and assurance and comfort
Are things that come to us only from God, and He delights to give them.

NOW IT IS TRUE that from God’s perspective, because of our sinfulness, that times of discipline are sometimes necessary.

Certainly these who are in Babylon are there because of the disciplinary hand of God.
• It is God who sent Babylon.
• It is God who exiled His people.
• Discipline was necessary.

But we also know that His discipline doesn’t last forever.

Hebrews 12:10-11 “For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

• Discipline is there referred to as “a short time”.
• And always to benefit us, not destroy us.

1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

• There again discipline is said to be “for a little while”
• Then “the God of all grace” rushes in to “perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”

He is the God of comfort.
He is the Father of mercies.

And the people here who have been disciplined by His own hand
Are now approached by Him that He may now comfort them.

SO UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF THE CHAPTER.
• It is not to confront.
• It is not to condemn.
• It is not to guilt or rub salt in the wound.

The purpose of the chapter is to comfort His people.

We also see in this chapter why this comfort is needed.
God’s people had fallen into despair.

(40:27) “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?”

There you see the condition of these people.
• They had actually spoken this lament with their mouth.
• “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”

These people who were exiled to Babylon
• Had lamented that God no longer cared for them.
• They lamented that God no longer saw them in their affliction.
• They lamented that God would not do anything to vindicate them or bring justice to their situation.

Now, let’s discuss for a moment where this all came from.

TURN TO: 2 KINGS 25:1-12
There you read the historical account of Nebuchadnezzar’s sacking of Jerusalem.

• So for about 18 months Nebuchadnezzar surrounded the city to cut off supply
• By the end of that year and half the famine was so bad that city was penetrated.

• Zedekiah fled, but he was captured and they put out his eyes.
• Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and he burned the temple.
• He burned the king’s house and all the great houses of the city.
• They broke down the wall around Jerusalem.
• And those that survived were carried away to Babylon.

These exiles witnessed Nebuchadnezzar doing what they thought could not be done.
• He entered God’s city and burned down God’s temple and carried away God’s people.

The only explanation that the survivors could give was that
God has abandoned us.

In a sense they were correct, for Ezekiel actually saw
The glory of the LORD depart from the city.

We also gain great help in understanding their condition from the book of Lamentations.

TURN TO: LAMENTATIONS 2:1-10

• There all the horrors that occurred in Jerusalem are listed,
• But the credit for all of it is very directly given to God’s hand.
• God did this.

And now you have exiles in Babylon wondering if God
Has totally abandoned them and rejected them and forgotten them.

All Israel ever had on her side
• Was the presence of the God of the universe.
• They never had any other reason for their existence or continuation.

And now that it appears God has abandoned them,
They are in the pit of despair.

“My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God.”

But Isaiah 40 addresses the fallacy of that belief.
Isaiah 40 is written to extend comfort to the one who has fallen for that lie.
• Even in your suffering, your way is not hidden from God.
• Even in your injustice, God has not failed to notice.
• God does not abandon His people, ever.

• Discipline? Yes
• Suffering? Possibly
• Abandonment? Never

And so God writes here to offer consolation and comfort to His people.

And He does so by addressing THE REASON FOR THEIR DESPAIR.

And the simple point to explain why they are in despair is because
THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO THEIR GOD IS.

If you want to fall into despair JUST FORGET who God is.
• Just forget who He is.
• Just forget what He does.
• Just forget what He says.

This was actually how the writer of Hebrews addressed those who suffered in his day.

Hebrews 12:4-6 “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”

They had “forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons”
• You have forgotten what God said about your trials.

Comfort comes when you remember that
God’s discipline does not reveal abandonment;
God’s discipline reveals sonship.

If God brings discipline into your life
• It is NOT BECAUSE He hates you and has kicked you to the curb,
• It IS BECAUSE He loves you and is being a Father to you.

And really, even just that one reality
Can bring such comfort to one who is suffering.

NOW, ISAIAH 40 DOES THE SAME.
It is written to comfort those who are in despair.

And the manner through with this comfort will come
Is in correcting their understanding of God.

In fact, verse 9 has the great statement, “Here is your God!”

When you remember correctly who He is,
It will change your attitude in the midst of your trials.

And Isaiah 40 seeks to remind these broken exiles of 3 things.
• His Promises (1-11)
• His Power (12-26)
• His Perseverance (27-31)

And incidentally, every one of these things
Is intricately linked to the gospel we enjoy in the New Testament.

Is. 40 is NOT just a reminder of God’s promises, power, & perseverance,
It IS a reminder of God’s promises, power, & perseverance in the gospel.

Isaiah 40 is a call to those in despair to remember the God of the gospel.
• Remember His gospel promises.
• Remember His gospel power.
• Remember His perseverance to bring about the realities of the gospel in our
lives.

And when you remember that, comfort comes with it.

So let’s start working on them, and may the result of these truths about God
Bring comfort to your heart as well.

#1 GOD’S PROMISES
Isaiah 40:1-11

Now, I want to break these 11 verses down a little further so as to more clearly see the specifics of this promise that they and we are called to remember.

1) THE COMFORT OF HIS PROMISES (1-2)

“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.”

Obviously the message begins, as we said,
With God’s aim to bring “Comfort” to His people.

There we are confronted first with both THE AIM & THE AUDIENCE.
• This is NOT a universal passage to everyone in the world.
• This is NOT God’s intent that all men everywhere should grasp this comfort.
• This comfort is for those whom He calls, “My people”

That is not to say
• That sinners can’t become the people of God through repentance and faith, for certainly they can.
• His offer is open that “whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
• That is available.

But it is only those who call upon His name and believe in Him
Who are His people and only they are the recipients of His comfort.

This is a promise made to His covenant people.
We see it is a promise made to those who are “in Jesus Christ”

And this is NO EMPTY WISH for the comfort of His people.
His comfort IS BASED ON A REALITY.

That reality is found in GOD’S PROMISE TO FORGIVE SIN.

(2) “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.”

Now let’s first understand this verse from the perspective of those refugees who dwell in Babylon,
• Having felt the fury of God’s discipline by sending them to Babylon.

Why are they there?

As we saw in Lamentations, God sent them there.
They are being disciplined for their sin.

As part of the Mosaic covenant we learned that if they failed to obey all of God’s commands then one of the consequences was to be exiled to a foreign land.

Deuteronomy 28:30-37 “You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; you shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit. “Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you. “Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do. “A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. “You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see. “The LORD will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. “The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. “You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the LORD drives you.”

• The reason these exiles now live in Babylon…
• The reason the temple was burned…
• The reason the city was destroyed…

Is because God’s people sinned against God
And He has disciplined them to turn them from their sin.

And we saw how distraught they were at the reality of it.
They actually felt as though God has abandoned them.

But here Isaiah chimes in to say,
• “No! God has not abandoned you.”
• In fact, “God has forgiven you!”

• Your “warfare has ended”
• Your “iniquity has been removed”
• You have “received of the LORD’S hand double for all [your] sins.”

• The time of God’s discipline on you has ended.
• The time of your sanctification is complete.
• You have endured all that God would put you through.

Now the gospel DOES NOT PERMIT us to see this as justification,
As though they, through their own suffering, have now paid for their sins.

This, rather, is reference to them having been sufficiently disciplined
And now cleansed of the iniquity that sent them there.

You may remember that Jeremiah announced how long it would take:
Jeremiah 29:10 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”

Daniel, in the 67th year of the exile read that verse from Jeremiah and it prompted him to write the greatest prayer of repentance recorded anywhere in Scripture.

Daniel 9:1-3 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.”

He prays a great prayer which we don’t have time to go through this morning, but it culminates here:
Daniel 9:17-19 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Daniel actually does there
What Isaiah hopes the exiles will do upon reading Isaiah 40.

Daniel, from a position of discipline,
Takes the promise of God’s restoration
And finds comfort in the fact that God forgives sinners.

AND THAT IS THE INITIAL PURPOSE OF THIS TEXT.
• To take those, who are under God’s discipline,
• And to remind them of this gospel truth that God forgives His children
• So that they do not lose heart.

That is what we call – GOOD NEWS!

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ABOUT GOD?

That even if your trial is a direct result of your sins,
(And sometimes they are.)
That even then God forgives His own.

So maybe you did something sinful and you know that you are getting what you deserve from God.

Where do you find hope in that?

In this truth: GOD FORGIVES SINNERS

Exodus 34:6-7 “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Leviticus 26:44-45 “Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. ‘But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.’”

Psalms 86:5 “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.”

Psalms 130:3-4 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.”

GOD FORGIVES SINNERS (HOW MUCH MORE HIS CHILDREN).
• He is patient and longsuffering and kind.
• He does punish sinners.
• He does bring discipline.
• He does sanctify.
• But He also forgives.

And certainly when God took on human flesh and dwelled among us
We saw the most complete revelation of God the world has ever known.

Jesus “explained Him”

And in Jesus we saw forgiveness.

We think of the paralytic:
Matthew 9:2 “And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

We think of the woman with a horrible reputation:
Luke 7:48 “Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

We think of His promise at the Last Supper:
Matthew 26:28 “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

We think of His statement on the cross:
Luke 23:34 “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.”

His apostles certainly understood the purpose for which He came and the heart with which He operated.

And when they went out into the world they preached:
Acts 10:43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

Acts 13:38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,”

When people believed their message, those same apostles then wrote to the churches to give them comfort by reminding them of these great promises:

Colossians 1:14 “in [Jesus] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Colossians 2:13 “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,”

And based on those realities you even have the apostles looking directly at you in the church and giving you these undeniable promises:

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 2:12 “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.”

And I think certainly you get the point.
“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

OUR GOD HAS PROMISED TO FORGIVE US.

So do you find yourself in despair?
• Do you find yourself perhaps even under God’s discipline?
• Do you look at life’s circumstances and wonder if God has abandoned you completely?

If you have fallen into that pit
It is because you have forgotten this first gospel promise.

God forgives sinners, how much more His children.
He is never far away.
His discipline is temporary.
His forgiveness is promised.

Jesus Christ hung upon the cross
With the sin of His people imputed to His account
And He paid the price in full for that sin.

And based upon what He did, there is forgiveness.

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.”

It comes to us like a gentle mother.
The dad has just severely disciplined us for our sin.

And every kid at that moment has the thought:
• “I guess they don’t love me anymore.”
• “My parents hate me.”
• “I think I’ll run away.”

It is then that our mother comes in and comforts us that we are loved.

We are loved and we are forgiven.
THAT IS GOD.

And Isaiah reminds God’s people of that promise here.
• While God is angry at the wicked every day.
• While God does have wrath for those in rebellion.
• For His people He has forgiveness.

Take a deep breath there church.
God has and does and will forgive you.

The comfort of His promises
2) THE CONTENT OF HIS PROMISES (3-5)

“A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

• We have started the book of Romans with the youth on Wednesday nights.
• We actually have the write up about it in the bulletin this morning.

If you want to sum up the gospel in one concise sentence, it is this:
“The gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ.”

JESUS IS THE CONTENT

Isaiah next comforts us with the promise of a coming Savior.

verse 5, “Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

God’s glorious reigning King and certified Savior is coming!
He is coming to reveal “the glory of the LORD”

Jesus is the content of the promises of God.
2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”

He is the subject of what God has been promising.
• One to crush the serpent’s head.
• One who will come and give us rest.
• One who will be our ark to carry us through the judgment.
• The seed of Abraham through whom all will be blessed.
• Our Melchizedek who is both priest and King.
• A prophet greater than Moses.
• The giant slayer who delivers His people.
• The One who will shut the lion’s mouth.
• The One who will deliver us from the burning flames.

God has promised to send Him,
• Born of a virgin,
• Of the line of David,
• In Bethlehem,
• Seated on a donkey’s colt,
• Pierced in His hands and feet,
• But not able to undergo decay.
• Returning to reign over a kingdom of perfect justice
• He will trample His enemies under foot
• He will save His people

Isaiah 35:3-10 “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

And isn’t that what a refugee wants to hear?
Take comfort, God has forgiven you and the King is one His way to save you!

News like that is the source of comfort for all who are in despair.

WE ARE OUT OF TIME THIS MORNING,

But I hope you are seeing how to overcome the despair of this life.

Don’t forget the promises of God.
As His child, in Christ Jesus,
• You are forgiven,
• And He is coming to save you!

We’ll pick back up with this tonight.

download here

The Pride of Hezekiah – part 2
Isaiah 38:1-39:8 (38:17-39:8)
January 21, 2024

Here tonight we want to jump back in where we left off this morning.

We are still in that first point, which we have called:
#1 A TRIAL TO HUMBLE
Isaiah 38:1-22

We have been looking at the revealed pride of Hezekiah
And how God sent a disease and a threat of death to humble him.

We saw:
• THE REVELATION – that God told him he would die as a result of his illness.
• THE RESUME – Hezekiah’s reasoning for why God should spare him.
• THE RESPONSE – God responds to Hezekiah’s prayer and heals him.
• THE REASSURANCE – Hezekiah wanted proof and God gave a sign.

And we are currently discussing that fifth point which is:
THE RE-TELLING

Verses 9-20 are a writing of Hezekiah where he explains
His attitude and focus during the event and after God healed him.

Now this morning we only worked right up to verse 16,
Or really the first line of verse 17.

And we saw Hezekiah’s confusion and bitterness and anger.
• He reasoned himself to have been unjustly cut off in the prime of his life and
was bitter about it.
• He asked God to restore him to health, and God did.

WE ENDED THIS MORNING talking about HIS PRIDE.
It is obvious that he had a very high view of himself.

• He was proud of his accomplishments, failing to acknowledge God’s hand in it.
• He was grieved at his perceived mistreatment, assuming he deserved better.
• He expected God to deliver as though he had earned that right.

Even a great king like Hezekiah had fallen prey to subtle pride
And we understood that God sent this trial to humble him.

We understand how pride can rise up in any of us.

And we pondered in closing this morning
This important passage from Paul.

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

Temptation can swoop in from anywhere
And Satan is not beyond tempting when you feel the strongest.

IS IT A COINCIDENCE that Satan threw temptation at Jesus immediately after He had been verbally endorsed by God from heaven as His beloved Son?

IS IT A COINCIDENCE that right after Peter was affirmed as being a rock by confessing Jesus as the Messiah that Satan would bait him to rebuke Jesus?

We are all familiar with Paul’s famous testimony.
He saw a heavenly vision and then what did God immediately do?

2 Corinthians 12:7 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”

Even in those moments when you feel like your doing the best,
Be careful temptation is real.

Well, Hezekiah had fallen prey to it and his pride was easy to see.

WHERE LEFT OFF THIS MORNING
Is right at the point in his own story where God determined to heal him.

(17) “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

Hezekiah recounted the great bitterness of his soul.
But then he acknowledges that God intervened and delivered.

He says, “It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

Obviously in play here is Hezekiah’s understanding that
This near-death experience was at least in part due to some sin in his life.

That also helps to explain
Why he was so quick to deliver his resume of good works.
Hezekiah was arguing for his own righteousness.

But Hezekiah did seem to understand
That the punishment was due to sin
So when God relents Hezekiah also sees that as mercy.

And we see one of the great statements about God’s mercy.

We all love Psalms 103
Psalms 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

• We realize that east and west never touch.
• You can only go north for so long before you have to go south, but you can go east or west and never stop.
• It is a picture of total removal of our sins by God.

We all love Micah 7:
Micah 7:19 “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.”

• That is a remarkable statement from Micah because even today there is some question as to how deep the ocean actually is in some places.
• But in Micah’s day they certainly had no idea.

But really just think of it like this.
You’re on a ship in the middle of the ocean
And you drop your pocketknife over the edge…it’s never coming back.

Those are great passages that illustrate the forgiveness of God.

Well Hezekiah, even in this moment, gives another great analogy.

“You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

It speaks of a conscious decision by God
To no longer consider or look at or focus on my iniquity.

David said:
Psalms 32:1-2 “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”

• It is a blessing to think that God would cover our sin or conceal or sin or even
cast it behind His back.

The depth and greatness of God’s forgiveness is remarkable.

And just to make sure we have A RIGHT GOSPEL PERSPECTIVE on this.

Romans 3:21-26 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

• Paul there introduces the justification which is found in Christ.
• Namely that God’s righteousness is available by imputation through the redemption of Christ.

And then Paul says that God offered up Christ as a propitiatory sacrifice because “He passed over the sins previously committed”

That is to say that there had been UNPUNISHED SINS committed.
There had been sin that God had not dealt with.
• He passed over it. (Literally at the Passover)

But that’s the sort of thing Hezekiah is talking about.
That God had chosen to just place Hezekiah’s sins behind His back.

What Paul reminds us of is that those sins never went away
Until Christ paid for them and vindicated the righteousness of God.

Hezekiah’s sin could be forgiven because Christ would one day pay for it.

But you see here that Hezekiah does recognize that
The reason God let him live is because God has pardoned his sins.

AND YOU SEE that Hezekiah even understands THE PURPOSE of being granted life by God.

(18-20) “For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. “It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness. “The LORD will surely save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the LORD.”

Don’t read too much into the statements that make it seem as though
Hezekiah doesn’t believe in heaven or hell or an afterlife at all.

What he is referring to is the absence of worship on earth
Once a person is deceased.
• Those who have died can no longer come to church and join the corporate worship which we enjoy.

But what it also shows us is that Hezekiah understands
The obligations and responsibilities of having life.

Why are you living?
Why has God spared you?
Why do you continue to live on this earth?

Hezekiah knows.
1. FAITH
2. GRATITUDE
3. EVANGELISM / DISCIPLESHIP
4. WORSHIP

“For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You;”

• If I was dead I could not stand here today and give thanks to God.
• If He has allowed me stand here today then I am obligated to do so.

“Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.”

• That is true, one the day you go to be with Christ you will have no more need for faith. In that day faith becomes sight.
• Who hopes for what he already has.

Faith and hope are for those of us on earth to embrace,
Indeed it is our duty and calling to do so.

“It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today; A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.”

• We’ve often said that evangelism won’t have any use in heaven.
• In heaven we will know Christ fully so there will be no need for you to tell anyone about Him.

Evangelism and discipleship is an obligation
That falls upon the backs of those alive on this earth.

“The LORD will surely save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the LORD.”

This life is meant to be a life dedicated to the worship of God.
• We are called to assemble.
• We are called to gather.
• We are called to worship in one accord.

And Hezekiah is committed to it.

That is what he wrote after the LORD healed him and he recovered.

So we stop there for a second and we just take inventory.

WE CLEARLY SAW HEZEKIAH’S PRIDE.
• He was pretty proud of all that he had accomplished and even thought it warranted him healing.
• He was bitter that God would cheat him out of this life early and he even directed that frustration at God.

BUT THEN GOD HEALED HIM AND HEZEKIAH DID RESPOND WELL.
• God healed him and Hezekiah determined to devote his second chance at life to faith and gratitude and evangelism and worship.

So here is our question:
DID HEZEKIAH LEARN HIS LESSON?

IS THE PRIDE NOW GONE?
• He got what he wanted from God.
• He said all the right things.

He talks about worship and evangelism and gratitude.
The only problem is, he was doing those things before he got sick.

• God’s problem with Hezekiah was NEVER his lack of spiritual devotion.
• God’s problem with Hezekiah was NOT idolatry or lack of faith or ingratitude or timidity or refusal to worship.

The problem with Hezekiah is that he had pride in all those things,
Not that he didn’t do them.

SO IS HIS PRIDE GONE?
Has he found humility?

THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE
We are seeking to measure our lives to see if pride exists.

God sent him a trial to humble him…DID IT?

Well, let’s find out.
#2 A TEST TO EXPOSE
Isaiah 39:1-8

Let’s break this point down a little further as well.
1) A CRAFTY TOURIST (1)

(1) “At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.”

If you wonder why we call this a test, it is because of:
2 Chronicles 32:31 “Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.”

THIS WAS A TEST.
• God had thrown Hezekiah into sickness.
• Hezekiah had asked for healing.
• God had granted it.
• Hezekiah professed a great commitment to God upon being healed.

LET’S SEE HOW GENUINE IT WAS.

And what a test he will face.
This time Hezekiah is not tested with a trial,
This time he is tested with flattery.

Merodach-baladan sends letters and a present to Hezekiah.
• He had heard about his sickness.
• He had heard about his miraculous healing.
• He had heard about the sign God performed to prove it.

Hezekiah has just experienced a great working of God on his behalf.
And now the reporters have come knocking.
THEY COME TO REALLY PUFF UP HEZEKIAH.

“Oh what a great king you must be for look at all that God has done for you.”
“God really just answers your every request.”
“The country looks great.”
“Your health is great.”
“You must be quite the guy!”

Can I remind you again that you must be on guard against flattery?

We know what gossip is.
Gossip is when people say something behind your back that they wouldn’t say to your face.

Someone gossiping about you is painful, but it is not all that dangerous.

Flattery is when someone says something to your face that they wouldn’t say behind your back.

Flattery feels good, but it is so dangerous.

Can I remind you what Solomon said about it?
Ecclesiastes 7:5-6 “It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to listen to the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.”

Solomon said you’re far better off to get a rebuke than a tribute song.
For I can promise you that tribute song won’t last long.

But here Satan has shown up yet again.
It is true than in a short time Satan will come as a beast with Sennacherib.
But first he has come as a harlot with Merodach-baladan.

Danger, Danger, Danger, Danger

2) A CONCEITED TOUR (2)

(2) “Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”

What revealing words:
“Hezekiah was pleased”

It sure felt good to finally get some notoriety.

Remember how Hezekiah had built all those store houses to hold all the surplus of the offerings that the people were bringing?

What a great king he was!
• He had organized the most successful Passover in the history of Israel and was the architect of one of the most successful giving campaigns ever performed.

His city was humming with faithfulness and effectiveness.
Surely God could see this for God had just healed him.

And so he was more than happy to go and show off
All his plans and works and all that he had accomplished.

“There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”

NOW BEFORE WE GO TOO FAR IN THIS.
IN FAIRNESS: Isn’t this sort of the same thing that happened with Solomon?

1 Kings 10:1-9 “Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. “Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. “How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. “Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

The same thing seemed to happen with Solomon.
• Surely Hezekiah is just in good company.
• Surely God is just treating him the same way.

But then we get to the third point.
3) A CAPTURED TREASURE (3-7)

So Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and asks
“Who was that and what did you show them?”

Hezekiah says, “I showed them everything!”
“They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them.”

And to this Isaiah pronounces judgment.

(6-7) “‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left,’ says the LORD. ‘And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”

Now first of all, lets deal with the elephant in the room.

WHY WAS HEZEKIAH IN TROUBLE FOR THIS?
We just said that Solomon did the same thing.

The Chronicler answers this for us:
2 Chronicles 32:24-25 “In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.”

And there it is…
“But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.”

That also answers our question: WAS HIS PRIDE GONE?
And the answer? NO

• Hezekiah’s heart remained proud.
• He saw the mercy of God as something he deserved.

Even though God had healed him…
Even though he could spout good theology…
Even though he knew the duty of the spiritual man…
HIS HEART WAS STILL PROUD.

That same pride that caused the illness in the first place
Was clearly still alive and well.

He viewed himself to be an exceptional king who deserved the mercy of God.

And if you think you deserve mercy
Then you obviously don’t understand mercy.

So here is what we have seen in Hezekiah’s life.

• WHEN HE FACED TRIALS he thought them to be unjust as something he
didn’t deserve.
• WHEN HE FACED HONOR AND FLATTERY he thought it to be something
just that he did deserve.

THAT IS PRIDE.

• IN HIS TRIALS he grew bitter and took his anger to God.
• IN HIS GLORY he grew silent and reserved all the glory for himself.

THAT IS PRIDE.

What is it that causes us to assume that we do not deserve trials?
• Have we forgotten what we are?
• Have we forgotten our sinful state?

What is it that causes us to think that we do deserve glory?
• Have we forgotten our rebellion?
• Are we blind to our continued sinfulness?

PRIDE

As I told you this morning, it can hit even the most reverent heart.
TURN TO: JOB 23

We know that Job was a righteous man, fearing God and turning away from evil,
Just as we know that Hezekiah was a king filled with faith.

While Satan knows he cannot tempt them
With liquor or women or other immoral vices,
Often times such men are prime candidates for pride.

LISTEN TO JOB HERE.
• Did you catch any of that bitterness there?
• Did you catch any of that pride there?
• (3) “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!”

• Later he says that God’s presence would surely terrify him, but (17) “I am not
silenced by the darkness”

I know it would be scary, but bring it on.

Of course one should turn to Job 38 and see God answer his pride.
It led Job to deep humility and repentance.

But do you see how even our religious piety can be used as a point of temptation?

“Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall”

Suffering is a quick way to reveal if pride is in your life.
BUT SO IS GLORY AND HONOR AND FLATTERY.

How you respond to victory
Is just as important as how you respond to defeat.

Do we remember these illustrations?

Daniel 4:30-33 “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’ “While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.’ “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.”

Acts 12:21-23 “On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

Numbers 20:8-13 “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the LORD, and He proved Himself holy among them.”

IT WAS THE SAME PROBLEM OF HEZEKIAH.

Pride was revealed in his bitterness in adversity
Pride was revealed in his failure to glorify God in his exaltation.

And that pride is further solidified in what we see next.

4) A CURIOUS THOUGHT (8)

“Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “For there will be peace and truth in my days.”

Some people read that and say, he’s just saying, “May God’s will be done”.

I DON’T THINK THAT’S IT.
And I don’t think it’s that hard to understand.

He was just told that all his treasure and even his grandsons would be carried off into exile but it did not bother him.

WHY?
“For he thought, “For there will be peace and truth in my days.”

“They may suffer, but at least I’ll get the peace and truth I deserve.”

What else can we call that but arrogance or pride?
What else can we call that but self-love?

AND AGAIN WE SEE THE DANGERS OF PRIDE.
• Even among those who seek and strive to live godly lives.
• Even among the “best of the best” pride is still a temptation.

Now FIRST, we know that Hezekiah’s assessment is false.
• In a very short time he is about to fight the battle of his life when Rabshekah shows up outside the gate.

And we know that there God will humble Hezekiah.
• We know that there Hezekiah will repent and trust God correctly.
• We know that there Hezekiah will end well.

But here he demonstrates terrible pride
And it brings about a promise from God
That his pride will lead to the downfall of Judah.

AND LET’S EXAMINE THIS FOR A MOMENT.

SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT
• In spite of all the good that Hezekiah did,
• This one act of pride caused God to be so angry
• That He determined to send all of Judah into Babylon because of it?

THAT SEEMS HARSH.

Can I tell you how it happened?

Do you know who the next king of Judah will be?
• He will be the most wicked King to ever sit on the throne.
• His name is Manasseh.

TURN TO: 2 KINGS 21:1-16
• He will be an idol worshiper.
• He will pass his sons through the fire.
• He will rebuild the high places.

And you really wonder, how could that happen?
How in the world could a son of Hezekiah turn out so bad?

2 Chronicles 33:10-13 “The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.”

What was the root sin of Manasseh?
PRIDE

I TOLD YOU THIS MORNING that pride is dangerous because God is opposed to it.

I ALSO TOLD YOU that pride is dangerous because it can go so easily undetected as we cover it with religious zeal.

But let me tell you a third danger of pride:
IT IS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS

And the tragedy is that
The only thing that Manasseh seemed to inherit from his father
Was the pride he exhibited in his sin.

MANASSEH’S PRIDE
Would lead the nation of Judah past a point of no return.

IN FACT,
• Manasseh would die and eventually his grandson Josiah would take the throne.
• Josiah was another great king.
• He would lead the Josianic revival in Jerusalem and do all that he could to turn the nation back to God.

But let me show you what God said in response to Josiah’s revival:

2 Kings 23:25-26 “Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.”

Manasseh committed sins
From which God would not forgive Judah.
And the strange reality is that
The pride of Manasseh was first seen in his father.

It is a dangerous thing to walk in pride.
• And even though Hezekiah would repent, and save the city from Assyria,
• And earn a great commendation in the book of the Kings for his great faith,
• Hezekiah’s pride would eventually be the downfall of the nation.

I don’t know any way to express
The dangers of pride more than this story.
IT WILL WRECK YOU.

And this is the story that Isaiah uses
To catapult us into the second half of his book.

The rest of this book, while it will address the Babylonian invasion,
Is, more than anything, and appeal
For Israel to humble themselves and trust in God.

Pride is a dangerous thing.

May we all ask God to forgive us for our pride.
May we all ask God to cleanse us of our pride.
May we all ask God to graciously stop our pride from affecting those around us.