Sermon #1232[1]
Title: “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”
Text: Isaiah 40:1-31
Reading:
Subject: The Message We Sent to Preach
Date: Friday Evening, May 17, 1996
Sunday Morning -
May 19, 1996
Tape # S-55
Introduction:
The title of my message tonight is “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord.” Historically,
Isaiah 40 is God’s promise of grace and restoration to Judah. In chapter 39:5-7
Isaiah told Hezekiah and Judah that the nation would be carried away into
Babylon as captives. This was God’s punishment for the sins of the nation. Yet,
there was an elect remnant in Judah. Lest their hearts be overcome with grief
and despair, Isaiah was instructed by God to assure his people of the nation’s
restoration and of the certainty of God’s promise. In this 40th chapter we have
a record of what God told Isaiah to say to his people.
Yet, in its scope this passage reaches
far beyond Judah’s restoration from Babylon. It speaks of the salvation of
God’s elect by Christ.
Proposition: In these 31 verses the Spirit of God tells us what every man
sent of God to preach the gospel is required of God to preach.
God sends his prophets to minister to
different people in different ages and circumstances. Those men who are sent of
God to preach the gospel vary from one another in many things. Some are
educated and refined. Some are uneducated and rough. Some are scholars Some are
fishermen. Sometimes God’s messenger is a Moses, an Elijah, or a John the
Baptist. Sometimes he is an Isaiah, a John, or a Paul. But God’s messenger is
always:
·
A man among
men.
·
God’s man
among men.
·
God’s man with
God’s message to men.
And
God’s message to men never changes! Every man who claims to be a prophet, or a
preacher, sent from God must be examined, not by his personality,
persuasiveness, or success, but by his message. Tonight, I want you to see from
this chapter what that message is that God sends his servants to proclaim.
Divisions:
1.
The work of
the gospel preacher (vv. 1-5).
2.
The word of
grace we are sent to preach (vv. 6-31).
I. In verses 1-5 Isaiah shows us THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL PREACHER.
What are preachers supposed to do? What is involved in the
work of the ministry? Most people think preachers are supposed to build up the
church membership, visit the sick, marry the young, bury the dead; attend to
civic affairs, and serve the whims of people. By modern standards any good
social worker, any good coach, any good business man, any good band leader, any
good motivator would make a good preacher. But, as with all other spiritual
matters, the opinions of men are diametrically opposed to the Word of God. Here
is what God says his servants are to do.
A.
The preacher’s job is to comfort God’s elect (vv. 1-2).
“My
people” are those sinners whom the Lord God has chosen in electing love,
redeemed by the blood of his Son, and called from death to life in Christ by
the power of his Spirit. “My people”
are those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who are saved by God’s almighty
grace.
1. In order to comfort God’s people we
must speak to their hearts.
The Words “speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem” might be better translated,
“speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem.” True preaching is delivering a message
from the heart of God to my heart, and from my heart to your heart.
2. The basis of comfort is redemption
accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 2).
Nothing comforts the hearts of needy
sinners like the good news of salvation accomplished. False prophets talk about
“salvation made possible,” “salvation offered,” and “salvation if...” God’s
servants preach salvation accomplished (Isa. 52:7). We declare to every sinner
who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ that...
a. His warfare is over - The Daysman
has won the day!
b. His iniquity is pardoned - The debt
is fully paid!
c. He has received from the hand of
God, double for all his sins - God has not only put away your sins, he also
makes you perfectly righteous in Christ.
B.
It is the work of the gospel preacher to prepare the way of the Lord (vv.
3-4).
We know that these two verses were
given as a direct prophecy of John the Baptist who was sent of God to prepare
the way for the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23).
As John the Baptist came to lay a
highway right across the desert of apostate Judaism, so God’s servants today,
by preaching the gospel of Christ, lay a highway across the desert of apostate
religion upon which the Son of God comes to men and women in saving grace. The
preaching of repentance and faith in Christ is like building a highway. Some
escavation must be done.
1.
Every valley
of hopeless despair must be filled.
2.
Every mountain
and hill of self-righteousness must be pushed down.
3.
Every crooked
bend of works religion must be made straight.
4.
Every rough
place of legality must be made plain.
C.
As we faithfully perform our work, we have this word of assurance from our God
- “The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed!” (v. 5)
·
At the cross
·
In the gospel
·
At judgment
(Rev. 1:7)
That is to say, Christ will come to
his people all over the world by the preaching of the gospel, revealing the
glory of God in redemption and grace. God’s elect shall be saved! “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!”
That is the work of the gospel preacher. It is my
responsibility to...
·
Comfort God’s
elect by proclaiming redemption accomplished.
·
Prepare the
way of the Lord.
·
Confidently
wait for God to save his people.
II. Now, in verses 6-31, Isaiah shows us THE WORD OF GRACE WE ARE SENT TO PROCLAIM.
Our object in preaching the gospel is twofold...
·
The glory of
God.
·
The salvation
of God’s elect.
How
shall we accomplish this twofold object? By what means can we both glorify the
Lord our God and persuade lost, ruined sinners to come to Christ? What message
shall we preach?
The world tells us to appeal to man’s
dignity. God tells us to declare man’s depravity! The world tells us to preach
the power of positive thinking. God tells us to proclaim the immutability of
his everlasting purpose! The world tells us to talk about the love of God. God
tells us to proclaim his greatness!
In verses 6-31 Isaiah shows us the
threefold message of evangelism. This is the word of grace God has sent us to
preach. In nearly twenty-eight years of preaching I have never deviated from
it, not even an hair’s breadth; And, God helping me, I never shall.
A.
This is the first message of all true evangelical preaching - “All flesh is grass!” (vv. 6-8).
It is the business of the gospel
preacher to destroy all hopes of self-righteousness by showing the utter
inability and total depravity of man.
1.
All flesh is
worthless grass! Not hay for feed! Grass! Weeds!
2.
All of man’s
goodness is like the pretty bloom on worthless weeds!
3.
Soon God will
destroy the grass and its flower!
B.
Here is the second message of the gospel - “The
Word of our God shall stand forever!” (v. 8).
1.
The Scriptures
- The written Word of God!
2.
The decrees,
purposes, and promises of God can never be thwarted, altered, or even hindered!
3.
The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the Living Word of God shall stand forever!
No man shall ever mar his Person,
diminish his glory, or defeat his work!
C.
Here is the third thing we are sent of God to declare to men - “Behold your God!” (vv. 9-31).
The preacher who brings good tidings
to Zion is told to proclaim from the high mountain, lifting up his voice with
boldness, saying to all the cities of Judah, all the cities of God’s domain - “Behold your God!” (margin v. 9).
NOTE:
The Lord God we tell men to behold, to look to with the eye of faith, is
the God-man, our Savior, the embodiment of the only true and living God - “Behold your God!”
1. He is the mighty Savior (v. 10).
2. He is the good Shepherd (v. 11).
3. He is the omnipotent, omniscient
Creator (vv. 12-14). (Rom. 11:33-36).
4. Compared to Him all nations and
peoples of the earth are noting, less than nothing, and vanity (vv. 15-17).
- They cause him no concern - Dust!
- He rules them with ease.
- The whole world has nothing to offer him (v. 16).
- All creation before the great Lord God is vanity.
5. So great is our God that nothing
can be compared to him. Idolatry is foolish nonsense! (vv. 18-20).
6. He is the sovereign Monarch of the
universe (vv. 21-26).
7. “Behold
your God!” He is able to save them that wait upon him, them who trust in
him (vv. 27-31).
a. God is greater than your need (vv.
27-28).
b. He gives power to the faint and
strength to the weak (v. 29).
c. He preserves and keeps his own when
others, who appear stronger and greater, faint, grown weary, and fall.
(1.) “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength as eagles.”
“As thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deut. 33:25).
(2.) In the beginning of their
pilgrimage, God’s saints soar and fly like the eagle.
(3.) As they continue and grow in
grace, God’s pilgrims run their race and never grow weary of it, though many
do.
(4.) in their mature years, they walk,
making steady, but tranquil and almost unconscious, advancement and faint not,
though many fall.
Application: “Behold your God!” To behold him is to...
1.
Know your need
of him.
2.
Realize what
he had done (v. 2).
3.
Trust him
alone as your Savior.
4.
Be saved by
him.
[1] Similar message sermon #99, Isaiah series, preached at Danville, Kentucky, Sunday evening , January 12, 1992.