Sermon #104     Series: Isaiah

 

Title:   "Good Tidings"

 

Text:   Isaiah 40:9-11

 

Subject:  Christ our God, our Savior, our Shepherd

 

Date:  Sunday Evening - February 9, 1992

 

Introduction:

 

My text tonight is Isaiah 40:9-11.  The title of my message is “Good Tidings.”  This entire chapter is addressed to God’s prophets and preachers.  Here God himself tells preachers what to preach.  Gospel preachers are men sent of God to bring good tidings to lost sinners and to saved sinners who are yet in this world of woe.  And the message to the lost and to the saved is essentially the same.  It is the good news of redemption and grace in Christ Jesus.

 

 “O Zion, that bringest good tidings.”  A better translation of those words would be, “O thou, that bringest good tidings to Zion.”  The next part of the verse should be translated the same way.  “O thou, that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem.”

 

The exhortation is to the preacher who is sent of God.  He is a man who brings good tidings to God’s chosen people in this world.  He proclaims the good will, grace, and favor of God to men in Christ.  His message is “Jesus Christ and him crucified!”  God never gave a preacher any other message!”  We preach Christ!”  The good tidings of the gospel is the proclamation of the Person and work of Christ!

 

Illus:  Where is the Lamb?”

            “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him!”

 

·         We preach the grace of God in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

·         We proclaim the suretyship engagements and performances of Christ.

 

o        His Covenant Engagements- (Heb. 7:22).

o        His Incarnation- (John 1:14; Phil. 2:5-7).

o        His Obedience as our Representative (Rom. 5:19).

o        His Death as our Substitute (II Cor. 5:21).

o        His Accomplished Redemption (Heb. 9:12)

o        His Exaltation and Dominion (John 2:1-2).

o        His Second Coming and The Resurrection (Rev. 1:7).

 

·         We proclaim to men the good things that come through and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

o        Pardon and Forgiveness.

o        Righteousness and Justification.

o        Peace and Reconciliation.

o        Salvation and Eternal Life.

 

I contend that no message ought to be preached that is not a declaration of the gospel.  And I contend that the gospel is not preached until the glorious Person and work of Christ, as the sinner’s effectual, sovereign, all-sufficient Redeemer and Savior is clearly set forth.  The gospel is a Person.  And that Person’s Jesus Christ, The Lord!

 

Not only does the Lord God tell his preachers what to preach, he tells us how to preach- (v. 9).

 

1.       “Get thee up into the high mountain.”

 

We are to preach the gospel in the most open and public manner, that all might hear it, receive it, and rejoice in it.  The gospel of the grace of God not to be secretly discussed in a closet, or hidden in code words.  It is to be openly proclaimed.

 

2.       “Lift up thy voice with strength!”

 

We are to speak out the message plainly, distinctly, clear and constantly.  God never called a man to mutton the gospel, or whisper it in a corner, but to lift up his voice like a trumpet and give all the strength of his being to proclaim the joyful sound.  Proclaim it from the housetops!  Proclaim far and wide!  Cause every ear to hear the good news.

 

3.       “Lift it up, be not afraid!”

 

The preacher must be as bold as a lion.  He must never allow his voice to be silenced by fear.  The man who counts the favor of men, or fears the frown of man cannot and will not faithfully preach the gospel.

 

 

What a rousing call God gives to his servants!  After telling us what we must do, the Lord God now tells us exactly what we must tell his people about his dear Son.

 

Proposition:

 

It is the duty and responsibility of every preacher to tell sinners what God has revealed in his word about the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Divisions:

 

Here are three blessed facts concerning the Person and work of Christ.  Every other statement in the Bible regarding the Lord Jesus Christ is but an enlargement upon these three facts.

 

  1. Jesus is God (v. 9).
  2. Christ our God is a Mighty, Effectual Savior (v. 10).
  3. Christ, our God and Savior, is our Shepherd- (v.11).

 

I.  First, in verse 9, The Lord God himself tells us that Jesus Christ is God- “Behold, your God!”

 

The Savior we preach to you is “The Mighty God,” Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh.  God’s servants are not sent merely to prepare the way of a man.  We are sent, like John the Baptist, to prepare the way of the Lord!  It would be of absolutely no value to say with Pilate, “Behold the man,” if we could not point to that man and say with Isaiah, “Behold your God!”

 

The Godhead of Christ is that which stamps value upon his sufferings and renders the whole of his obedience, in life and in death, infinitely meritorious and effectual.

 

A.  Because he is God, Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him (Heb. 7:25).

 

 

Away with such nonsense!  Jesus Christ is not an imposter.  He is very God of very God, God over all and blessed forever!

 

B.  “Behold your God!”

 

You will never behold God, except as you behold him in the face of Jesus Christ (John 1:18).  I set him before you now, by the preaching of the gospel, and say, “Behold your God!”

 

1.       Look to him with the eye of faith and be saved (Isa. 45:20-22).

Behold, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and took them away.

 

2.       Behold Christ now as your God and your King.  He is your God!  Behold him as your God.

There he sits, upon the throne of the universe.  Heaven is his throne.  The earth is his footstool.  Behold him!  Look upon him as Thomas did, and own him, “My Lord and my God!”

 

That is my first point- Jesus Christ is God!  If a man ever really grasps this one fact, I mean really understands that Jesus Christ is God, it will be impossible for him to go astray in any vital point of theology.

 

II.  Secondly, Christ our God, is a Mighty Effectual Savior (v. 10).

 

Let every thought of weakness, failure, frustration, defeat, or limitation of any kind be banished from your mind forever when you think of Christ our Savior.  It is written, “He shall not fail!”  (Isa. 42:4).  Our Savior is God.  And our God is no failure!”  “He shall not fail!”  No mater where you see him, no matter what character he assumes, remember Jesus Christ is God!

 

 

This 10th verse is a prophecy of the incarnation of Christ and of the work he came to do.  Hear what God says about the work of his Son.

 

A.  “Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand.”

 

Our Savior is the God of great, omnipotent power!

 

1.       To fulfil the law.

2.       To satisfy divine justice.

3.       To obtain eternal redemption.

4.       To crush the serpent’s head.

5.       To save his people from their sins.

 

B.  “And his arm shall rule for him.”

 

Our mighty Savior has sufficient power, in and of himself, to do the work he came here to do.  His own arm wrought salvation for himself and his people- (Isa. 59:16-17; 63:5).

 

1.       His Power Sustained in the Wilderness.

2.       His Power Upheld Him in Gethsemane.

3.       His Power Sustained Him in His Agony.

4.       His Power Bound the Serpent.

5.       His Power Gave Life to His Dead Body.

 

C.  “Behold, his reward is with him!”

 

1.       Christ has in his hands the reward of life eternal, which he has earned, won, and purchased for his people, to give to all who trust him- Life, Grace, and Salvation are in His Hands!

2.       While our Savior walked through this world, even then his reward, the reward promised to him by his Father, was with him (Isa. 52: 13:15; 53:10-12; Heb. 12:2).

 

·         His Exaltation, Glory, and Dominion as our Mediator (John 17:4).

·         The Salvation of His Seed.

 

D.  “And his work is before him!”

 

“Lo, I come, in the Volume of the Book it is written of me, to do thy will, O my God!”  Christ came here on a mission, He knew what he had to do.  And he would not be deterred from it (Isa. 50:5-7).

 

1.       His work is to redeem and save his people- (Heb. 10).

2.       His work is to fulfil all the purposes of the Triune God- (Rev. 5).

3.       His work is to glorify God (I Cor. 15).

 

Do you see the greatness of our Savior.  Christ, who is our God, is Mighty, Effectual Savior.  Those who speak of his work being a failure, those who speak of him having done anything in vain, lift their voices in blasphemy.  “He shall save his people from their sins!”  “He shall not fail!”  Now, look at verse 11.

 

III.  Christ our God and Savior is our Shepherd.

 

I must leave this part of my message for another time.  But let me point out the three statements of this verse briefly.  They are as tremendous as they are blessed.

 

A.  “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.”

 

What delightful words these are.  “The Lord is my Shepherd.  “Therefore “I shall not want.”

 

1.       Christ has a flock.

It is a flock of men and women, a distinct and peculiar people.  His flock is one.  Compared to the rest of the world at any given time, it is a little flock.  But it is his flock.

 

a.       By His Father’s Gift.

b.       By the Purchase of His Blood.

 

2.       Christ is The Shepherd of His Flock.

 

a.       He is The Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep.

b.       He is The Great Shepherd, who rules the world for his sheep.

c.       He is The Chief Shepherd, under whom all paster/shepherds serve.

 

3.       Christ is a very compassionate, faithful, and careful Shepherd.

 

a.       He provides for his flock.

b.       He protects his flock.

c.       He makes certain that none of his flock is lost (Ezek. 34:16).

 

·         He seeks the lost.

·         He brings back that which was driven away.

·         He binds up the broken.

·         He heals the sick.

 

B.  “He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.”

 

1.       Christ gathers his lambs to himself.

2.       He carries them in his bosom, near his heart.

3.       They rest safely in his arms.

 

C.  “And shall gently lead those that are with young.”

 

Those in whom there is the young, tender seed of grace, he gently leads out of and off of themselves to himself, to his blood and righteousness.

 

1.       He leads them into green pastures of rest- Salvation.

2.       He leads them beside the still waters- Communion.

3.       He leads them into the truths of the gospel.

4.       He leads them through the valley of the shadow of death.

5.       He leads them up to glory.

 

Application:  I send you home and into the world with “Good Tidings.”

 

1.       Jesus Christ is God- “Behold your God!”

2.       Christ is a Mighty, Effectual Savior- Trust this Savior!

3.       Christ, our God and Savior, is our Shepherd- Come to the Shepherd.