Making Room For the King

Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to Isaiah chapter 40, and while you are finding your place, let me ask you to reflect with me on something.

What motivates you to do what is right?

There are only two forms of motivation: Conformation and Transformation

Conformation comes from exterior pressure.

If I put a steel band around a stack of lumber, the boards in that stack will remain a stack of lumber. But cut that steel band, and those boards will go whichever direction relieves stress the easiest.

That is conformation. There is no inner desire to obey or to behave in a certain manner. Rather, the pressure from an outside source restrains what you really want to do.

Transformation comes from interior pressure.

Have you ever seen a limp piece of celery? It is lying there, all nasty. You don’t really want to use it for anything. It looks dead and unredeemable. But stick that limp stalk in a glass of water and put it back in the fridge, and what you will find in a day or two is a firm, crisp stalk of celery.

You see, that celery was dying. It needed to be filled with life-giving water. And when it was filled from the inside out, all of the sudden that celery had enough strength to stand.

This is very much how we are as people. We were created with a deep need to be filled by God

Sometimes we fill that place inside of us with other things instead of God, but we still think that we stand

We have enough “steel bands” from the world around us to make it look like we are still on the rails.

Steel bands like parents and family that tell us the right way

Steel bands like friends or the church community that have expectations of us to do the right things

Steel bands like a job, or our routine, or our reputation

But what happens when those steel bands are removed?

I think that the people of God got a really good glimpse of our own hearts both as a group and as individuals during the pandemic 5 years ago. In the interest of health and safety, many churches chose not to gather physically for a time. Pastors and leaders were put in a tough place to try and make those decisions, and whether you agree with one decision or another, what I want you to see it that the steel bands were removed.

Online Bible studies and services were started to help people connect, but…

Many people started treating church like a youtube video or TikTok Reel, going to “worship” while doing other things

People started logging in to worship services while they were out on a boat, or on a camping vacation

As the world started opening back up a bit, many chose not to come back to church

People who had previously taught Bible studies or volunteered to serve others stopped being a part of the Body of Christ at all

There was a massive fight over wearing masks or not. About getting vaxed or not. AND THIS FIGHT WAS HAPPENING IN THE CHURCH!

People on both sides were calling the other side evil when they were brothers and sisters in Christ

We saw a massive lack of grace, humility, love, patience, forbearance, kindness, gentleness, self-control

At one point, I had a man who was a member of our church tell me he didn’t feel safe to go to church yet, and the same day I ran into him at a crowded restaurant.

Why did these things happen? Because God’s people had only been conforming to the pressures of the church community instead of being transformed into the image of Jesus.

This problem is not new. Israel’s biggest issue is the same as ours

Their rebellion against God had been constant and exaggerated.

When God brought judgment, a few good kings brought conformity for a time, but they always fell back into sin as soon as the pressure to do good was gone.

By the time Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, became king, God had already promised that judgment was coming to His people.

And even though Hezekiah followed the Lord and the people conformed, God told him through Isaiah that this cycle wasn’t going to work anymore.

In Isaiah 39, Isaiah tells Hezekiah that when he dies, God will judge Israel by taking their land, their treasure, and even their children, and that they will be carried off to Babylon

And Hezekiah does what so many of us do. He looked at the problem and said “It’s all good! I won’t be here for the bad part.”

And this is where our text for this morning picks up, so let’s read together from Isaiah 40 beginning in verse one, and as we do, I invite you to stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word:

Isaiah 40:1–11 NASB95

“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.” 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.” 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. 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.

Let’s Pray together: (Pray) Thank you, you may be seated

Israel was living in a cycle of conformation

Good kings led them to conform to God’s ways

Bad kings led them to conform to the world around them

God sent Israel into exile to break them out of this cycle, but He wasn’t done with them

Isaiah told God’s people to prepare their hearts because Jesus, their King, was coming

They didn’t need to conform; they needed to be transformed so that their circumstances and the pressures around them were no longer what determined how they behaved.

Jesus was coming to bring them transformation, but to receive it their hearts needed to be made ready.

This morning, we need to prepare our hearts for Jesus to rule in us

Romans 12:1–2 NASB95

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Transformation requires complete and utter change!

The grace offered to you through Jesus is free, but it will cost you everything

You can’t follow Jesus and be the same.

You also can’t change yourself! You have to let Him change you

So, how do you prepare your heart for the Jesus and the transformation He wants to bring?

Let’s look at four keys to a heart primed for transformation from our passage. The FIRST one is this,

Lean into God’s love and grace

Look at verses 1-2 with me:

Isaiah 40:1–2 NASB95

“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.”

At first glance, these two verses can be somewhat confusing.

On the one side, we hear God’s tender love and affection and the end of their struggle

But verse two seems to suggest wrath, as Israel is promised “double for all her sins.” But, I would ask you to look at this a little deeper.

Yes, sin meets the wrath of God, and we clearly see that in the exile God sent them too

Yes, if you live a life of conformation, wrath is what you can expect.

But conformity is not what God is calling you to. He wants to change you from the inside out, and the transforming work of Christ starts in His love and grace.

I want you to see that verse 1 and 2 actually both point us to this.

Verse 1 gives us this picture of our tender and loving Father, who has hands of both discipline and gentle love.

He is calling us, beckoning us to be with Him

And what Verse 2 is promising double of is His grace

Our sin is great and it deserves His judgment

But God’s grace is more than sufficient to cover all of our sins

His grace only comes to us because of His great love for us.

And because we can’t transform ourselves, our transformation starts and ends in His love and grace

1 John 4:19 NASB95

We love, because He first loved us.

If you want to be transformed by Jesus, you first must receive His love and grace.

When you understand how much God loves you and how badly you are in need of His grace, He will become the source and the center of your love, and you will desire His transformation.

The first key to transformation is leaning into God’s love and grace. The Second thing is to

Get rid of anything that takes your eyes off of Jesus

Look at verse 3-5

Isaiah 40:3–5 NASB95

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.”

This prophecy is cool because it tells Israel of the coming of Jesus, but it also tells about the coming of John the Baptist and why he came.

John the Baptist was sent by God as the second coming of Elijah. Both his coming and Jesus are mentioned in two places in Malachi as well

Malachi 3:1 NASB95

“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 4:5–6 NASB95

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

Isaiah wrote before the Babylonian exile. Malachi wrote after it, and yet both of them tells us something very similar

God is going to send Elijah back to His people

This prophet was going to call the people to repent, to rip out the things in their lives that were in the way of them fixing their eyes on God

He was also going to point them to Jesus, Our God in whom we delight!

And when those things that were blocking their eyes were gone, they would see Jesus.

I love mountains, but being in the valley below them means it gets dark earlier in the day because the mountains block the sun.

Crossing a desert is hard, but it is even harder when you have to cross sand dunes, it is even harder.

I wonder, what mountains are in your life that keep you from focusing on Jesus?

What sand dunes are you climbing that you are allowing to consume you instead of being consumed by Jesus?

Maybe you are chasing after material wealth and possessions

Maybe a secret sin is eating up your time, your energy, and your attention

Maybe your appearance or your leisure activities have taken up the space in your heart where God belongs.

I don’t know what your mountains look like, but

If you are going to be transformed by Jesus, you have to let Him clean out your house

Our God is the only one that can move mountains.

He is ready and able to remove anything from you that is in the way of your transformation.

You must be willing to let go of your sin and your idols

As part of their Christmas present, Bethany and I are helping two of our kids update their rooms

Do you know what they are finding?

To transform their spaces, they have to get rid of things that are in the way.

If you want Jesus to transform your life, your going to have to get rid of what doesn’t belong there.

To prepare our hearts for the transforming work of Christ, our first key is to lean into His love and grace. The second is to get rid of anything taking your eyes off of Jesus, and the third key is to

Depend on Jesus, not on anything else

Look at verses 6-8 with me:

Isaiah 40:6–8 NASB95

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.

The Gospel of John chapter 1 teaches us that Jesus is literally every word that God the Father has spoken or ever will speak, wrapped in human flesh.

He has been eternally God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

He has no beginning and no end

EVERYTHING ELSE is created. Everything else dies or fades away

Even if people were able to not fail you, their dependability would still fall short because we die!

God is the only one who never fails, never changes, and stands forever

I will fail you

your spouse will fail you

your kids, boss, family, friends, home, money will all fail you

God never will.

Why would you want to put your trust in anything or anyone else?

But that is exactly what we do.

Financial systems fail

walls of stone decay and crumble

People fall short and eventually die

Power is lost much easier than it is gained

Why are we trusting in these things?

The keys to prepare our hearts for Christ’s transforming work are

to Lean into His love and grace

to Get rid of anything in the way

to Depend on God and not anything else, and, finally,

Make Jesus the King that you worship

Look at the last few verses with me:

Isaiah 40:9–11 NASB95

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.

It is good to come together and to worship God in studying His word together.

It is joyful to sing songs of worship to Jesus as a body.

It is encouraging and powerful to join together with other followers of Jesus to pray.

But what we do here on Sunday morning should be an overflow and an outpouring of our worship during the rest of the week.

Have you ever had someone tell you they were a follower of Jesus and it surprised you? Why is that?

Maybe it is because you don’t believe and you haven’t known many Christians in your life

OR, more likely, it’s because whether or not you are a believer, you have a certain expectation as to how followers of Jesus act.

there is something inside you that has an expectation of right from wrong

and that person’s lifestyle doesn’t reflect what they claim to believe.

They might worship Him on Sundays as their Savior, but their life is not lived in worship of their King.

A harder questions is this: Is there anyone in your life that would be surprised to learn that you are a Christian?

IF you are worshipping Jesus with your life…

Your love of Jesus won’t be a secret

You will talk about Him all the time

Your lifestyle will reflect Him

You will find it easier to clean out the things in your life that don’t belong there

Moreover, the sweetness of Jesus will begin to fill your life with a contentment you didn’t think possible

He will carry your burdens

He will guide your every decision

He will make the path you are walking straight

Isaiah wanted God’s people to prepare their hearts for the coming of Jesus

This Christmas, as we celebrate that Jesus has come, that God dwells among us, won’t you prepare room in your heart for the King of Kings?

>Maybe this morning that you are at the very beginning.

You haven’t ever known the love and grace of God

but you are here, and you hear the voice crying out in the wilderness

And this morning, you are ready to open your heart to Him

>Maybe you are here and you know His love and grace, but

You still need to get rid of a bunch of things that keep taking your eyes off of Him

or maybe you’ve put your faith in other things, and you need to begin experiencing what it looks like to truly rely on God in every area of your life

>Maybe you love Jesus as your Savior, but you haven’t really let Him be your King

And this morning, Jesus is calling you to let the worship of your life reflect His Kingship in it.

If any of these is you this morning, let me just say that you don’t need to walk alone. Jesus is ready to meet you where you are, and He has given us each other to help along the way.

Our worship team is going to come. I’m going to pray, and then they are going to lead us in a song . But don’t your preparation end here.

If God is doing something inside of you today, I would ask you to do one of two things:

Come see me at the welcome station so that we can talk and I can pray with you

OR

scan the QR code on the back of the seat in front of you. This will take you to our connections center, where you can send me a note and we can connect to have coffee and go deeper in what God is doing.

either way, Let Jesus prepare your heart for His presence.

Let’s Pray together: (Pray)