September 13, 2026 | The Highway of Holiness

My parents used to live in Germantown, Tennessee, and when we lived in Chicago, we would come down and visit them over the summers and at Christmas time.

And my children would swim in their pool.

And this is a routine we had of ordinary joy.

Something else also happened in uh Germantown, uh Tennessee.

There was a church, there is a church there in 2023 called Harvest Church, and five guys were going to have some fellowship in ordinary joy, get on a plane, and fly down to Texas.

The pilot was an elder of the church.

The executive pastor was on the plane.

Lead pastor is on the plane and two staff guys as well.

Perhaps you've heard the story that the plane went down in Yokom, Texas, in a big open field, and the elder, the executive pastor, and two staff guys died, and miraculously the lead pastor survived, but with significant injuries.

Four men gone in one morning.

You have ordinary joy, whiplash, grief, and devastation.

I met with a couple this week.

They're still married.

93 and 92.

Can you imagine the whiplash you would experience over the decades?

Many of you know what I'm talking about.

Where things are just going well, this is the way life's working, and then switch to devastation.

And when you're in that devastating part of life, when you have the whiplash and you're in the grief, you do wonder, will I ever get back to the joy?

Will things ever go back to normal again?

Is there joy in my future?

I'll just take ordinary joy, but will this devastation, this grief, the struggle go away so I can get back there?

And this morning, Isaiah chapter 35 answers that question.

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

If you want to go ahead and turn there, Isaiah chapter 35.

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

And before you can experience the joy, the life of 35, you have to know the whiplash has happened from chapter 34.

Chapter 34, someone has called it a nightmare.

Chapter 34 is judgment upon the nations, wiping them out.

Their lands are full of thorns and jackals, no life, no mercy, God's wrath dropping.

And then whiplash happens from devastation to joy, and you got to explain this swing.

How does God swing from wrath to welcome?

How does this whiplash happen where God is so angry pouring out his wrath, and then he has a welcome?

How do you explain that?

Look at verse one of chapter thirty-five.

Says the wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like the crocus.

It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.

Chapter thirty-four, scorched earth.

The next chapter thirty-five, wildflowers.

This past Friday we marked the twenty fifth year of September 11th.

9 37 that morning, flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

184 people died.

Four weeks afterward, people who worked in that building kept walking over to the point where the plane hit the Pentagon and they were leaving flowers.

And so when it came time to rebuild the Pentagon in that portion where the plane came through, instead of building back offices, they built a chapel.

Like right where the plane hit.

A year later, they dedicated the chapel.

And in this chapel that's open 24 hours a day, there is this window window there with 184 pieces of red glass.

That's Isaiah 35.

People praying in the exact spot of the fire.

So the issue is okay, so if we have ruin, devastation, grief, how do we get to the joy part?

Because that's the part I want.

That's the part you want.

This exceedingly great joy.

How do we go from ruin to redemption?

And the way we get there, you ready for this?

The way we get there this morning, we're going to see it's called a highway.

It's a highway of holiness to go from grief to joy.

And for those of you who like to be organized and listening to sermons, I'm sorry I'm not very organized most of the time, but for those for this morning, this is your morning.

I'm organized for once in my life.

Here's what we're going to do: these four movements.

We're going to look at where the highway blooms, who the highway is for, what the highway costs, and where the highway ends.

So let's see where the highway starts.

It's not in a garden, it's not in Eden.

Let's look at verse one again.

It says the wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom.

So it starts in the Arabah.

Let me see if I can show you a picture of this desert, desert-ripped valley running south of the Dead Sea.

And if you've ever seen, uh been there before, it's basically like Mars, cracked Earth, salt flats, nothing alive for miles.

And some of you say, you know what?

I recognize that picture.

That's my life.

That's the way you feel dry, cracked.

You feel this ruin and devastation.

And I want to show you something in your Bibles right now that you may want to underline and circle because this will be your life.

Look again at verse two.

It says, It will blossom profusely.

Circle, underline, blossom profusely.

That's what I want.

Absolutely.

I want joy upon joy, rejoice with joicing, shouts of joy.

I don't want the desert just to be improved.

I want it transfigured in my life.

I want wildflowers popping up, crocuses, all of that.

I want my life in Christ to blossom profusely.

That's a good word right there.

And how's that possible?

Well, let me tell you how it's possible.

Look at verse six.

Verse six says, um, no, let's not look at verse six.

Let's look at verse six.

Yes, there in the middle where it says, for waters, right there in the middle, 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, and the haunt of jackals resting place of grass and reeds.

So the idea is in the Arabah, the place where jackals used to howl in empty ruins.

Now there is this scorched earth becoming a swimming hole.

Have a picture of this.

Here's the imagery.

Scorched earth becoming a swimming hole.

I don't know about you, but that's what I experienced yesterday at the Salat event we had here.

That's what I'm saying.

I felt like God was just pouring his spirit out where my dry soul was being flourishing.

And the idea here is that God is going to unwreck the broken creation.

He's going to flow with such water in the wilderness.

Now, we live down the road from the best picture of this, uh this water flowing up from the ground.

We have 47 springs in Bathhouse Row that comes out at 143 degrees.

Basically, 700,000 gallons a day are coming up for centuries in hot springs.

People have thought it was magic water.

They've brought their sick people to thinking it was healing waters.

And many of you go down there and fill your jugs in the fountains.

That verse six says, Water will break forth in the wilderness, the thirsty ground, springs of water.

And I want to say this if God can do that in Garland County out of some mountain, surely he can do it in my soul in yours.

But notice why the desert blooms.

Look at the very end of verse 2.

This is why it blooms.

The desert blooms because glory walked in.

Isaiah, he's not saying, you know what?

What we need to do, we need to take the desert and we need to water the desert harder.

Like our dry lawn.

You just watered harder.

No, Isaiah is saying, you know what?

When God shows up, the desert doesn't get a vote.

It blossoms profusely.

And that's what we want.

We want God to so invade our lives that in our souls we blossom profusely.

And what's so interesting, this desert bloom has a face.

And the book of John tells us 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.

So the face of this blossoming profusely is Jesus.

Okay, well, who is this highway for?

So we we've already seen the highway is going to be blooming, or we're going to go from ruin to redemption.

God shows up.

Well, who's this highway for?

Look at verse three.

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.

Humor me for a moment with a little bit of context.

Who's Isaiah talking to?

Well, initially he's talking to those who have yet to gone into exile.

The nations are bearing down upon Judah, and they are soon going to be sacked and taken away.

And those pre-exilic people are hearing this, that though destruction is coming now, there is hope in the future.

But also those who are in exile in Babylon are hearing this, that they are going to be in exile.

But there's going to be a day where they come back to Zion, and there's going to be a highway of holiness that gets you there.

And then there's all of us here who are in this broken world, and we know there is a highway of holiness to the Lord that's through Jesus Christ.

But while we're here, we join with Israel in their sufferings in the past with hope.

And so let me tell you who this really addresses.

This addresses, if you notice, people who are exhausted, feeble, and anxious.

Anyone in here?

That's what it says.

He said it encourage the exhausted, strengthen the feeble, say to those with anxious heart, take courage, fear not.

Tell them God is on his way.

My deliverer is coming.

He's coming.

And get this the writer of Hebrews picks this up in the midst of the suffering, persecuted Christians.

He takes this passage and he says, Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.

And that's amazing.

In the New Testament, it takes this and say, Your deliverer is coming.

God is on his way.

You know, this fall, I'm doing something that seems quite odd, but I'm making a tour of doctors.

You're like, yeah, welcome to my life, right?

We have had surgeries in our family, and you know, when you hit that deductible, you're thinking, I gotta go find something wrong with me.

Right?

I haven't been to the doctors in a while.

So I go and I and I get blood work.

All right, everything's fine.

And then I go to get my hips checked.

My wife, she got her hip replaced.

I'm thinking, surely I'm gonna get my hips replaced.

I go and see the doctor, the x-ray me and they say, sorry, no hip replacement for you.

So then I'm like, I got this lump on my back.

Surely there's something that's gonna kill me there.

They go and they check the lump, sorry, nothing's wrong with that.

Then I go to the dermatologist and I check all my skin.

Surely there's got issues.

Nope.

So so far, no problems.

I got the cardiologist coming up, so there's still hope that there's gonna be there's gonna be something.

But he but here's the deal.

I still have a massive problem.

I really do.

I I'm exhausted most of the time.

I have a lot of anxiety.

I feel feeble.

And you go, well, what's what's wrong with you?

And and let me just tell you, many of you know this.

What's wrong with me is I have something stuck in my life called fight or flight.

My fight or flight can't figure out what's what.

So a totally safe situation can feel like an attack.

It's really weird.

If people say, well, that's kind of like PTSD, and I'm sure that's like that.

That's what's broken in me.

And it sometimes it gets so broken that I have to sit down on the stage for several months to preach to you.

And when that happens, I think, God, will I ever get out of this ever?

And I have to tell my soul, my deliverer is coming.

My God is on his way.

You may feel like you're going to last in this place of suffering and devastation forever, but there is hope on the horizon, no matter what you're going through.

It may not be resolved in this life.

And I can, I can, I've I've almost got to a point where I'm thinking, you know what?

This issue in my life will not be resolved.

And that's okay.

My deliverer is coming.

Now, I know some of you, and this is very important, I know some of you think God is not gonna come through for you.

And you don't even believe he's gonna come through for you in eternity.

You're just not so sure about that.

And so I've got to tell you this.

This past week, you know, last week I preached on eat, love, pray, and I told you to go eat, love, pray this week with somebody.

I don't want to see a show of hands.

How many of you did that?

I'll be very disappointed.

But my wife and I, thanks to her, we decided eat, love, pray with our neighbors.

Been living there five years uh at this house.

No really know our neighbors, so we went out to eat with our neighbors.

And when we were going out to eat with our neighbors, I had one question and one question only that I wanted to ask.

Only one question.

And you think, well, you're a pastor.

Surely you said, if you were to die tonight, do you know if you would go to heaven or hell?

That was not the question.

Here's the question I wanted to ask, and I asked it.

Where is the well?

They built their house in 1976.

Our house was built in 1977.

There was a well on our property back in the day that the owners of our house were scared that kids were gonna fall into it.

So we filled it with dirt and rocks and covered it up.

And I don't know where it's at.

And I said, Where is the well?

My lawn is dry, my water bills hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Can you imagine if I can find this well and get it working again?

It's going to be awesome.

Where is it at?

And they said, We think it's in this general area, but we're not sure.

And then the woman said this, I kid you not, she said this.

I I don't, I didn't know what she was talking about, but dad looked it up.

She said, My dad could find it because he was a witcher.

I said, What are you talking about?

So I know I don't have to explain it to you, so let me explain it to myself.

So there is a stick, stick, stick, that a I guess a water witch walks around, and when it dips, it's water.

Now, I don't want to take a poll, but I'm gonna do it.

I should not do this.

How many of you believe that's real?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

These two are totally convinced that is real.

I looked it up, and I'm just saying the U.S.

Geological Society has a whole page on it, and they say witchers are basically just doing good guesses.

And I go, ah, no, that's real.

No, no, it's not real.

Because for the most part, there's generally water underground when you dig for most places.

But but here's the deal.

I don't know whether it's real or not.

They are totally convinced, many of you are half of you are totally convinced it is real, other half say, no, it's hocus pocus.

But here's the deal some of you are treating God like that.

He's kind of like the witcher thing we're talking about.

Will he come through for you?

I don't know.

It's kind of iffy.

It's got, I don't know.

I've seen him come through for other people.

He came through for me in the past, but this time I just don't know.

It's I don't know if the water's gonna come up or not.

I don't I don't know.

This word is for you.

Look at verse five.

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.

Now I'm just wondering, do those verses sound familiar to you?

They should, because Jesus quoted them.

Okay, so fast forward, here we go.

700 years, John Baptist, John the Baptist, he's rotting in Herod's prison, he's about to lose his head, and he sends his disciples to Jesus with the question that every one of you have probably asked.

And the question is this are you really the one?

Or did I get this wrong?

This is not a seminary question.

That is a question that you may have asked in the hospital, or the question you may have asked at the graveside, or when you're up in the three in the morning.

Jesus, are you real?

Or did I get this wrong?

You know what Jesus doesn't do?

Jesus doesn't send, oh John, you really need to read this sermon, you need to read this book, you need to read this creed.

Jesus says this back to John in Matthew 11, 4 and 5.

He says, Go and report to John what you hear and see.

The blind receive sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

He's quoting Isaiah 35.

He's saying to John, who is in jail, the sword's about to come down on him, and he's saying, John, look around.

The desert is blooming, the highway is open.

Isaiah 35 is not all future.

Isaiah 35 is standing right in your face.

Healings.

Blind eyes open.

The dead are being raised.

People can't hear, hear, and miracle upon miracle.

Jesus has shown up.

Isaiah 35 is being fulfilled.

And it's not just physical because you know what?

People who got their sight back still died.

Lazarus, raised from the dead, still died.

Second time.

John the Baptist, he's still gonna lose his head.

So we know the one who showed up in the desert.

Jesus didn't just come to do physical miracles.

He came to do the greatest miracle of all.

He came to open hard hearts that had blind eyes.

He came to open these ears so we can hear the truth.

He came to make the lame sinners walk along the path to knowing Christ.

So Jesus showed up on the scene, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, bringing refreshing now and forgiveness now and forever.

That is the good news.

And then you go, okay, we're on this highway from ruin to redemption.

Well, where does the highway end?

Look at verse eight.

A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the highway of holiness.

The unclean will not travel on it, it will be for him who walks that way.

A fool will not wander on it.

No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go upon it.

These will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk there.

And the ransom 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.

The way I see it is there are two highways in life, right?

The highway of holiness, which we would say the highway to heaven, and then there's the highway to hell.

It's not just an ACDC song, it's reality.

The highway to hell.

And those who choose to walk and want to walk on the highway of holiness, the highways of heaven, we would say that path is happily ever after.

And those who are walking on the path of hell, the highway of hell, that path is happily whatever you're after.

Happily, whatever you're after is the theme of this world.

Happily, whatever you're after, is the highway to hell.

And here's the reality: all of us are on the highway to hell, and we want to be on the highway to heaven, the highway to holiness, and yet we have a problem.

We realize that we are the unclean.

And it says right here, the unclean will not travel on it.

So, how can I, as as unclean, as sinful, how can I travel on it?

I mean, Isaiah, who wrote this book, remember, he was the presence of God, holy, holy, holy, I am unclean.

How can I, as a sinner, walk on this path?

And here, God says to all those who are on this path, I've seen the ugly parts of you, and you can still come along.

I've seen the worst of you, and you can still come along.

And you go, well, how's that possible if no unclean can walk on it?

Well, because the unclean need to be ransomed.

Look at verse 10.

It says, and the ransomed of the Lord will return.

It's not just exiles coming out of Babylon back to the land.

It's those who've been ransomed by a price can walk on this highway of holiness because somebody paid for it.

Somebody bought them back.

Somebody brought them home.

And we know that this water we get is free, but it was not free.

Somebody else got the bill, and that ransom that was paid is Christ on the cross.

First Peter says, You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

So this highway of holiness, this highway to heaven, I guess you could say it's paved with blood.

And the only way that sinful people can walk on it is through the blood of Christ.

The highway of holiness.

So there is no way that you can get on this path by yourself.

But once you're on it in the Lord, there's no way you're gonna get knocked off.

Look at verse 9.

It says, No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it.

Like you think about Isaiah's world, you know, you have lions and bandans and bears, oh my, coming after you, predators, you know, but no, not here.

Nothing can knock you off this highway of holiness, this highway to heaven.

Think about this New Testament believer in Jesus.

Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When you are asking at three o'clock in the morning, God, are you real?

Is this real?

Am I lost?

I'm suffering.

I feel like you've abandoned me.

Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing.

Look at the other half of verse 8.

It says, But it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it.

You go, well, I'm I'm a fool.

I think a better translation is the ESV.

It says, even fools shall not go astray.

I am a forgiven fool, and I am on this highway paved with the blood of Christ.

And it says, I will not go astray.

And it says that the redeemed will walk there, and water will break forth.

It's like we go from ruin to redemption.

We're on this path of following Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

And it's the ransom to get to return to Zion with their joy in the Lord, and they will find gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

I love that it says that.

Sorrow and sighing will flee away.

It doesn't say they just kind of walk away.

Isaiah personifies them and says they run for the exits like cowards.

They're fleeing away the closer and closer we get to the Lord.

Our sorrow and sighing is fleeing away the closer and closer we get to be with the Lord.

And Revelation tells us he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death.

There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain.

And then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, because as we are walking along this highway to be with the Lord forever, the closer we get, sorrow and sighing.

Pew.

And I want you to hear me.

No desert lasts forever.

No desert lasts forever.

And on this road, this highway of holiness, it is hard.

There is suffering.

I mentioned a few weeks back that this is the afternoon that I am going to go see my 18-year-old son that we adopted a few years back, who's not been living with us, who's gone through a lot and lot of difficulties.

And as I follow Jesus and He is still my son, I'm going to get on the highway of holiness down Highway 30 and go visit him.

This is not the arrangement or the setup I wanted.

And I know some of you, you have stuff in your life right now, you said, This is not what I wanted.

I do not want to go through this.

I want to stop walking on this path.

And by God's grace, you can get up and you can walk on this highway of holiness that has been paved with the blood of Jesus.

And you know, the closer and closer you get to Zion, you have sighing and sorrow that's going to flee away.

And we are now following the one who says, Anybody thirsty?

Let them come to me and drink.

And out of him will flow rivers of living water.

I don't know what you're going through.

I don't know what kind of dryness is in your life right now.

I don't know what kind of discouragement.

I don't know what kind of anxiety.

I don't know what kind of exhaustion and feebleness.

I don't know what kind of ruin and devastation, but I do know there is a road to walk.

There is a road to walk.

It's paved with the blood of Christ.

He is with you, and you need to take some of these verses and don't create some cheap hobby lobby pillow with them.

I'm telling you, this is real life.

This is real stuff.

You feel exhausted, you feel weak.

You need the Lord.

And so if that is you this morning, if you're exhausted, I'll say to you, Christ is your strength.

You feel unclean, like you've been doing some foolish things, Christ will be your cleansing.

Anxiety, Christ is coming.

You feel unsure about what the future holds, Christ is the road.

Do we believe Jesus who says, I am the way?

The road is Christ.

And it's paved to heaven with his blood.

And I know it's hard now, but the closer we get to be with him, the closer we get to seeing him.

Sorrow and sighing are running away.

And our deliverer is coming.

Let's pray.

Those who feel feeble, those who feel anxious.

I ask that you would invade their lives as their deliverer.

And Lord, I even ask you to deliver them out of that right now.

If a healing needs to happen, heal.

If a relationship needs to be reconciled, Lord, I just ask you to move to reconcile it.

But even if none of those things happen, we know we're going to Zion.

We're going to be with the Lord.

And until we're with the Lord, we want to blossom profusely.

We want to rejoice with shouts of joy, even in tears and in pain.

Because you are with us.

You put us on this road, you're taking us home.

We're almost there.

So we just ask, Lord, in our dryness, that you would create a pool of living water that we draw from that will never end.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.