The God of All Comfort

I'm gonna ask our scripture reader to come on up

here and read for us this passage of scripture. We

don't always do this, but I'm going to ask you

to stand, if you're able, stand for the reading of

God's word. This is a long passage, and I think

it'll help with our concentration. Isaiah forty through forty one

to twenty.

Here the Lord of the Lord, Comfort, Comfort my people,

says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to

her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the Lord's hand double for

all her sins. A voice cries in the wilderness. Prepare

the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert

a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low. The uneven

ground shall become level, and the rough place is a plane.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and

all flesh shall see it together. Whether for the mouth

of the Lord has spoken, A voice says, cry, And

I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers the flower fades when the breath of

the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of

our God will stand forever. Go up to a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good news, Lift up your voice

with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good News, lift it up.

Fear not, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God.

Behold the Lord. God comes with might, and his arm

rules for him.

Behold.

His reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will

gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them

in his bosom, and gently lead those that are young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

and marked off the heavens with a span, and close

the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed

the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance.

Who has measured the spirit of the Lord, Or what

man shows him his counsel, whom did he consult, and

who made him understand, Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of

understanding Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold,

he takes up the coast lands like fine dust. Lebanon

would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough

for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing

before him. They are accounted by him as less than

nothingness and emptiness. To whom, then, will you liken God?

Or what likeness? Compare with him? An idol a craftsman cast,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts it

for its silver chains. He who is too impoverished for

an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks

out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that

will not move? Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have

you not understood from the foundations of the earth. It

is he who sits above the circle of the earth

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the

heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent

to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing, and makes

the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted,

scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth.

When he blows on them, and they wither, and the

tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom, then, will

you compare me that I should be like him? Says

the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and

see who created these, He who brings out their host

by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness

of his might. And because he is strong in power,

not one is missing. Why do you say, oh Jacob,

and speak O Israel. My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my right is disregarded by my God.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,

the creator of the ends of the earth. He does

not faint nor grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He

gives power to the faint, and to him who has

no might. He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and

be weary, and the young men shall fall exhausted. But

they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall

run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

Listen to me in silence, O coastlands, Let the peoples

renew their strength, Let them approach, then let them speak.

Let us draw together near for judgment. Who stirred up

one from the east, whom victory meets at every step

He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples

kings underfoot. He makes them like dust with his sword,

like driven stubble with his bow. He pursues them and

passes on safely by paths his feet have not trod.

Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from

the beginning, I the lord, the first, and with the last,

I am he. The coastlands have seen and are afraid.

The ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near

and come. Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother,

be strong. The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who

smooths with the hammer, Him who strikes the anvil says

of the soldering it is good, and they strengthen it

with nails so that it cannot be moved. But you Israel,

my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham,

my friend, you, whom I took from the ends of

the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you,

you are my servant. I have chosen you and not

cast you off. Fear not, for I am with you.

Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will

strengthen you, I will help you. I will uphold you

with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed

against you shall be put to shame and confounded. Those

who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.

You shall seek those who contend with you, but you

shall not find them. Those who war against you shall

be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God,

hold your right hand. It is I who say to you,

fear not. I am the one who helps you. Fear

not you warm, Jacob, you men of Israel, I am

the one who helps you, declares the Lord, your redeemer,

is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I make you

a threshing sledge, new sharp and having teeth. You shall

thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make

the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, and the

wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them.

And you shall rejoice in the Lord. In the Holy

One of Israel. You shall glory. When the poor and

needy seak water and there is none, and their tongue

is parched with thirst. I the Lord will answer them.

I the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I

will open rivers on the bare heights and fountains in

the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness

a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

I will put in the wilderness of cedar, the acacia,

the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the

desert the cypress, and the plain and the pine together,

that they may see and know, may consider and understand

together that the hand of the Lord has done this.

The Holy One of Israel has created it. This is

the word of the Lord.

Amen, may be seated. Thank you, sister for reading. That

was the only perfect part of our worship service today.

Thank the Lord for his word. If you're like many

this week, maybe especially, you may be in need of

encouragement and this passage here in Isaiah which as a church,

we planned to preach this passage on this particular side

a year ago. It is got to be in the

top forty, charting encouraging passages in the Bible. Right. It

just it's way up there, because this passage speaks a

certain word to God's people in the midst of very hard,

very dark times. If you've been with us in Isaiah,

you know that Isaiah has been speaking to his contemporaries

throughout chapters one through thirty nine, warning them, warning them

of their disobedience and their hypocrisy and that it would

lead to exile. And you know that at the end

of chapter thirty nine, Isaiah has said, it's it's coming.

It's for sure happening. God's discipline is falling. And here

at chapter forty, it's like he puts a prophetic telescope

up to his eye and he looks far into the future,

and by the spirit of God, he puts himself and

his mind and his heart into the situation and the

emotions and the circumstances of a people that have been

exiled and the people who have are in a dark

and hard time under the discipline of God. And he

thinks about what it would be like for them, and

he has a message for them from God, and the

word is comfort. He says, comfort, Comfort, my people, says,

your God, speak tenderly. In other words, speak in such

a way as to convince my people of my love

for them in hard times, whether it is because of

your own folly, because of sin in your own life

under the disciplining hand of God, or because God and

his sovereignty has a trial for you at that time.

If in hard times, your family, or your church, or

your nation wonder what word of comfort does God have?

Based on the truths of Isaiah, we would need to

say this. The word of comfort God has for us

is made up of three basic messages, three basic components.

Here's the first. God has for his people a message

of comfort regarding his presence, his presence. I mean, how

should we think about God's intentions of being with us

or near us if He has withdrawn his presence as

a matter of discipline. This is a pressing question for

them for sure, because not only are they exiled, have

they been removed from the land themselves, but God himself

has removed his presence from them. If you would look

all the way back to second Chronicles, at the height

of this nation's devotion, King Solomon stands in the newly

constructed temple, all eyes on the King, all eyes on

their God, and Solomon praise God. Would we walk with

you forever? Would we be wholly devoted to you, that

you would be amongst us and God answers and the

glory of the Lord fills the temple. But in that

passage is also a warning. If you do not walk

in my ways, it won't be like this forever. And

in fact, as these times come, Jeremiah warns them, saying

God will remove his presence. Once upon a time you

worshiped at Shiloh, and God's presence was there, and he

removed it. And now his presence of Jerusalem can also

be removed. God's not stuck. You don't have him kidnapped.

And in fact an Ezekiel Ezekiel gives this vision God

on his throne, but his throne has wheels, and he's

out of here. For us, we have to ask ourselves,

is it a concern? Is God's presence the withdrawal of

God's presence a concern for Christians? Well, consider what the

Puritans would say. Let me read this to you. It's

a long quote and it's from the Puritans, so you'll

have to listen, you know, meticulously. The most wise righteous

and gracious God does oftentimes leave for a season his

own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their

own hearts, to chastise them for former sins, or to

discover unto them the hidden strength of the deceitfulness of

their hearts, that they may be humbled, and to raise

them to a more close and constant dependence for the

support upon himself, to make them more watchful against all

future occasions of sin, and other just and holy ends.

Very peartin, but they're only speaking from passages that we

find the New Testament concerning the quenching of the Holy Spirit,

or the grieving of the Holy Spirit, or the kind

of discipline that the author of Hebrews talks about those

whom the Father loves he also disciplines, or the kind

of withdrawal that James is clearly implying when he says,

draw near to him, and he will draw near to you.

So if there is a nearness, there can also be

a distance. But now for them in that distance, they

hear this speak tenderly to her, that her warfare has ended,

her iniquity, pardoned, that she's received from the Lord's hand

double for all her sins, which is a curious phrase

the Hebrew there just means folded over. So I think

that the what's being conveyed there is there's a match

between God's grace and their sins. They have received a

match of pardon. And now God says this in verses

three through five. I'm coming back. Amen, prepare the way

of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway.

Four our God, let every valley be lifted up, Lay

every mountain be laid low. Roll out the red carpet.

Get straight, because the king is coming back to his town.

I'm coming back, and I have withdrawn my presence for you,

but I will come, and there will be a time

for you to prepare the way. If I promised my presence,

then my word stands forever. All flesh will fade. All

flesh is like grass, it's gonna blow away. But my

word stands forever, and my promise about my presence won't

be forgotten. Only this. Look to me, behold, put your

eyes on me, says three times. Behold, behold your God,

look to me, Put your eyes on me. I'm coming,

and I'm coming to rule and to shepherd and to

care greatly for my flock. I'm coming, and my arm

will rule, and my arm will gather, and my arm

will shepherd, and all of Israel is like, all right,

this is what we waited for, which is why all

four Gospels, all four Gospels, when it comes to John

the Baptist, include this very passage because John says, you

know who I am. I'm the voice in the wilderness

calling out, make way the straight paths of the Lord.

The King is coming. You've been waiting for his presence.

Here it comes, which was why it is bizarre that

when he finally comes, he does the exact opposite of

what this passage seems to set us up to expect.

John the Baptist says, roll out the red carpet is coming,

and the King comes. And that arm that Isaiah said

would rule and gather and shepherd, those arms instead are

extended out and nailed to a cross where Jesus lays

down his life and bleeds out and dies, because that

was his plan, in order to extend his arm to

rule and to shepherd, and to care for you, to

gather from every corner of the world all who would

place their faith in his grace. The King is coming,

and he is ruling, and he is shepherding, and he

is caring. And they did not expect it such that

his presence. God's presence would not dwell just in Jerusalem,

but in the heart of every believer. That's his plan.

That's his plan regarding his presence. And the question is

is that a presence that God would withdraw from you? Well,

in a sense, I think the New Testament tells us yes,

been in another sense tells us no. As Christ said,

I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. So if,

or rather, when in your life you are in the

midst of quenching the Holy Spirit, grieving the Holy Spirit,

under the sort of discipline that the author of Hebrews

speaks about, under the kind of distance that James is implying,

know that this word of comfort about God's presence stands forever.

Only look to him. Behold your God. Put your eyes

on him. If he bled and died in order to

extend his arm around you to rule and to shepherd,

and to care, to dwell with you, then you can

confidently draw near to him, because you know he will

draw near to you. He didn't die to stay apart.

The message about God's presence is not only did he come,

he died to have his arm around you. And there

will be times when you do not sense it there,

and you may not be mistaken in a sense. But

look to him, count on him, wait on him, draw

near to him confidently, and he will draw near to you.

There's a second message of comfort in this word, not

just about his presence, but about his greatness, about God's greatness.

He said, well, what about God's greatness? God is great.

That's very comforting. Well is it, though, because there's a

sentiment in verse twenty seven that God is speaking towards

The sentiment reads like this, why do you say, oh Jacob,

and speak of Israel. My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my right is disregarded by my God. I like

the way. Another translation puts it a little bit more casually,

saying this, God has lost track of me. God doesn't

care what happens to me. I was talking with my

wife Kara about this even yesterday, and I got to

that sentiment in verse twenty one. God has lost track

of me. God doesn't care about me. And she said,

um umhm. Theologically right on the nose. And I think

many of us sitting in these chairs would say the

same thing theoretically, with confident intellectual assent, that God has

not lost track of you. God does care what happens

to you, but it doesn't take much hardship or darkness

or loss for our theoretical confidence to sort of scurry away.

And what we're left with emotionally is basically the sentiment

of verse twenty seven. I think God's lost track of me.

I think God doesn't care what happens to me. I

think God, in his greatness, is too big and too

busy for me. That's what God is speaking to when

he addresses the people from twelve to twenty six. He says, this,

who holds the oceans like a scoop of water in

his hands? Who do you think that is? Who do

you think weighs mountain ranges on his little scales? If

you were to actually have a fitting burnt sacrifice for me,

you could burn up a national forest. If if you

were to get a picture of me, I would be

sitting above the circle of the earth watching everything take

place like an ant farm. Look up at the sky

in the evening as the stars come out, and everyone

that appears. You have to understand in my power. I

have called them out by name. I know every single

one of them. I haven't lost a single star, I

haven't lost a single galaxy. I know where they all are. Yeah,

I'm big, Yeah I'm busy. I'm doing it all. But

that doesn't mean that I've lost track of you. That

doesn't mean I don't care what happens to you. It

means that I'll never lose track of you, and that

I'll always care what happens to you. If I haven't

dropped the ocean, I won't drop you. If I haven't

been overwhelmed by the weight of the mountain ranges, I'm

not going to be overwhelmed by the weight of your problems.

If I've never lost track of a star, I will

never lose track of you. How can you say God

has lost track of me? He doesn't care what happens

to me, and he says this, don't you know I

never get tired? Verse twenty eight. Haven't you known? I

do not grow weary, I do not grow faint. And

if you will wait on me, my ability to never

tire will be at the right time and in the

right way when you need it most. It will be

conveyed to you. Because you're my people. I can hold

you up. Look to me, wait on me, wait on

the Lord, and I will renew your strength. Wait on

the Lord, which just means expect me to be me.

But wait on the Lord means it's not passive, it's

very active. It's an expectant confidence that God will be God,

and God will do what he says he's going to do.

That's what it means to wait on the Lord. And

if you will wait on the Lord, you will mount

up with wings like eagles. That's his promise. That's the

promise his word of comfort regarding his greatness. He is big,

he is busy, and that doesn't mean he's losing track

of you. That means he will never lose track of you.

If he hasn't dropped the ocean, he's not going to

drop you. How can you say it, Well, there's a

third message in this word. The third message about his

comfort is regarding his control, his control. God says in

chapter forty one, if my word of comfort is going

to register with you, you're gonna need to understand something

about my control. And he says this I sent the conqueror.

That doesn't sound very comforting. He says, who do you

think stirred up the one from the east, who tramples

everything in his path, who conquered you, who conquered all peoples,

who gave him victory at every step. Who do you

think was in charge of that thing which you suffered under?

I was I the Lord, the first and the last.

I am he. I'm in control. And he says, there's

a couple of ways to respond to that. The coastlands,

the pagan nations, they're just afraid. They're afraid of my control,

and so they turned to other things. They set up

an idol, which doesn't make any sense. They carved something

out of wood, and they overlay it with gold, and

they nail it down with chains. The idol itself can't

even move as much as the people who created it.

But you, but you, here's the right way to respond

to my control. Do not fear. Yes I brought dark things,

Yes I brought hard things. But you do not fear,

because since I'm in control, I can and will do

this for my people. I will protect you, I will

transform you, I will provide for you. You can see

it in verse eight. But you Israel, my servant Jacob,

whom I've chosen the offspring of Abraham, my friend. Fear not,

for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I

am your God. He says in verses eleven through thirteen.

I'm gonna protect you. You could you could look verse twelve.

You could seek those who contend with you. You won't

find them. I am not only am I in control

enough to bring hard times. I'm in control enough for

to protect you exactly the way I want to. I

can do it exactly the way I want to. And

I think about my pastor friend in Haiti, who for

decades has have story after story of his protection, the

protection of his life. Every time you step out of

your house in Haiti, especially now, you're taking your life

in your own hands, and you would not believe the

stories of how often he has dodged death under the

protection of God. Is it not only will I protect you,

I'll transform you, he says. In verses fourteen through sixteen,

he says, you're like a worm, Jacob, My people are

like a worm. I'm gonna turn you into a threshing sledge.

Weird metaphor, I know, but it's like this. Think of

a worm like a caterpillar. Right, it runs across the ground.

It's got little feet, it's easy pickens. It conquer nothing.

Everything conquers it. He says, I'm gonna turn you into

a threshing sledge, which is a farming implement. It runs

across the ground. It has little feet, but those fet

are more like teeth. Right, there's sharp pieces of metal

and stone that you run across your crops that cuts

them into pieces, and it says, you' all shred it up.

He says, I'm gonna take you from that, and I'm

trying to turn you into this exactly the way I

want to exactly when I want to look to me,

trust my hand. And I've seen that. I've seen that

actually spiritually in young men who were easily conquered by

every temptation, every single temptation, and actually went from easily

conquered to the conquering one. And he says in Verses

seventeen through twenty, not only will I protect and transform,

I will provide for you. When the poor and needy

seek water there is none, and there is none, their

tongue is parched with thirst, I will answer them. I

will open rivers, i will set trees in the desert,

I will provide. And I've seen that too. I could

tell you so many stories of miraculous groceries and checks

in the mail from my family of origin and many

many others. God providing exactly the way he wants to,

exactly when he wants to, for his people. And we

always have questions, don't we about exactly how we read this?

And we say, all right, He's gonna protect, transform, and provide.

I want to know exactly when. I want to know

exactly how? And we don't know, I mean knowing and

trusting or not exactly. You know, we don't know how

God knows how. We trust that God knows how. We

trust His control over dark things, dangerous things, and protection

and transformation and provision. His listen regarding dark things, his

breezes control every bullets, miss and mark. There is nothing

outside of his control. The question isn't exactly how will

he protect or transform or provide? The question is is

this word of comfort for you? Can you have this?

Can you stand in this fearlessness? Does this God stand

with you? Does he uphold you with his righteous right hand?

Because these promises are addressed, They're addressed to my servant

whom I have chosen offspring of my friend Abraham. The

question is is that you Here's what the Bible says

about being and becoming His servant has chosen the offspring

of his friend, says in Romans nine. Not all who

are descended from Israel belong to Israel, not all who

are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. Rather

not of the flesh, but of the spirit, that is,

of faith. Like God's servant, God's chosen one. The offspring

is ultimately Christ, the one in whom all of the

promises of God are yes and amen. So the bad

news is, if you are outside of Christ, these words

of comfort are not yours. But the good news is,

united to Christ, they are. And that union is not

based on your work. That union is not based on

your merits. That union is not based on your pedigree

or upbringing. That union to Christ, in which all of

these promises become yours, is a step of faith in

His grace. Let me tell you about becoming His. Let

me tell you. Maybe you're here and you'd say, I

don't know if I'm His. I'm pretty sure I'm not

a Christian. And maybe that's because you don't know much

about him, and here you are. Maybe you've grown up

in church all your life, but you know that when

it comes to trusting a right standing before God, you

haven't placed your faith in his sacrifice. You haven't put

your life in his hands. I have felt all of

these promises at work in my life, having come to

know Him, having come to being united with Christ. I

can't tell you how many times I have been able

to stand, literally stand on the hand of God and

say I won't fear, I will not be dismayed. I

will be upheld by His righteous right hand. And it's

not because of me. I would be a terrible foundation.

I have, and I can tell you, on numerous occasions

been protected by Him physically, spiritually. I have felt his protection.

I have felt his transformation. Oh talk about going from

easily conquered being able to conquer. I can tell you.

I want to testify to you. If you don't know him,

let me tell you about his promises. I can tell

you about being provided for in every way. I want

you to be able to count on him. You can

count on him and for those of you that are

his Let me just say this, let me just repeat

back to you his word of comfort. This is for you.

If you're in Christ, this is for you. I've called

you from the earth's farthest corners, saying to you you

are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast

you off. Fear not, for I am with you. Be

not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you,

I will help you. I will uphold you with my

righteous right hand. That is a word of comfort for

all who are his. Look to him, wait on him,

hold on to him. He's yours. Would you stand with

me and pray