The Only Source of Our Comfort and Strength
Notes
Transcript
1 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
2 “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.”
3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
4 “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;
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 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.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
9 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!”
10 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.
11 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.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him?
14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 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 out like a tent to dwell in.
23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24 Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.
30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
Introduction
Introduction
As we have been looking at Isaiah chapter 40 the past 2 months, there have been many things that have happened.
Around 602,864 babies were born in the states alone, and around 568,002 people have died.
3 people in my immediate circle have past away.
There are several wars going on, with the heightened uncertainty that comes with it.
We all have ourselves, or with someone close, had some life altering circumstances happen.
We take prayer requests on Sunday Morning and Wednesday nights, some of us share things more personal with each other directly.
But just think of all the things going on in your heart and minds that you haven’t shared.
There seems to be this unspoken understanding in our culture that everything will just go smoothly.
But that is never the case.
And our culture has no answer for this, besides maybe the government and some kind of therapy.
The last two messages and this one have drawn a line in the sand.
On one side, there is no real hope, only false peace in temporary things.
On Isaiah’s side, our only true comfort and consolation for all of eternity.
In April, we looked at the first 2 verses and the true comfort of God’s people.
Isaiah was told to point God’s people to rest in His eternal love, by trusting in His word and trusting in what He has done.
And remember, He spoke of what He had done in the future. Like it had already happened.
The prophetic future tense.
Then in May, we saw the three-fold comfort of God.
How Isaiah heard a voice call out this message of comfort that we are hear and trust.
That the Lord will come in Glory, His Word is forever, and to behold your God.
This comfort is to be taken by God’s people in all times.
It wasn’t just for the Hebrew who were told of the coming empires, but for those in the New Testament who were waiting on the Messiah, those in the early church who suffered much persecution, and for us today.
We are surrounded by voices that call out to us to fear and worry and complain, but we don’t have to listen to those voices.
We have the voice of God through His word which calls us to faith and hope.
12 Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And we have the Almighty, Everlasting, Sovereign, Holy God as our source of comfort and strength.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
Isaiah gives many reasons in this passage to find our comfort and strength in God.
I have done my best to condense them into this one sermon, but there is much, much more hear than I will be able to say.
Please take this passage home with you, and read and study it for yourself.
This is top shelf theology that will bring you comfort and strength to live this hard life with.
God’s word is truly a gift, avail yourself of it.
The Holy Spirit, through God’s prophet Isaiah is teaching us that…
Every believer must look to God as their only comfort and strength.
Every believer must look to God as their only comfort and strength.
Because God is the One and Only Sovereign Creator v. 12-26
Because God is the One and Only Sovereign Creator v. 12-26
25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
Because of time, we will not go through each of these 14 verses and dissect them.
But Isaiah gives a beautiful poem that illustrate just how big God is, not just compared to man, but compared to the entire universe!
The Children’s Catechism is a great tool for teaching kids the Bible and truth’s of the faith, and the first 3 questions are a great place for our understanding of the word to start.
1. Q. Who made you?
A. God made me.
2. Q. What else did God make?
A. God made all things.
3. Q. Why did God make you and all things?
A. God made all things, including me, for His own glory.
From Genesis to Revelation the fact that God created everything is understood to be one of the main reasons why He is above all things and why He is sovereign over all things.
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
The next time you read the Book of Revelation, don’t just look for things that are happening in the newspaper, look at how many times God is worshipped for being the Creator, and how many times He is addressed as the Creator.
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
Have you ever wondered why alternative stories to Out of Nothing Creation are so popular with those who hate the fact that there is a God?
It isn’t more rational or easier to believe that everything we can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste came from nothing and has no purpose, than that an almighty God created everything for His purpose and glory.
But Isaiah isn’t describing God’s wonderful power and control over His creation to defeat pseudo-science in debate, he is showing that God’s power down into the lives of His people.
If God created all things, then He is the One that can answer prayers.
If God is over all things, and in control of all things, then He, in His goodness and love, will orchestrate them to His own glory.
This includes the coming judgement on Judah for their sins by another empire, and the suffering of His people in 2025.
Let’s look at our passage.
Isaiah is going to show the greatness of God in creation, by extolling the wisdom and power and complete control He has over His Creation and all powers there in.
In verses 12-14, His wisdom is lifted up.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?
In verse 15-17, His greatness dominates all of creation and all of the nations.
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
In verses 18-20, He alone is God and idols are nothing but gold or wooden trinkets.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that will not totter.
In verses 21-24, he rules all earthly powers and it is by His hand that they rise and fall.
23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
And finally, in verses 25 and 26, He controls all of His creation, down to the last detail.
25 “To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
Read this passage every morning for a week and see if your outlook doesn’t change!
Brothers and sisters, we can’t look for true consolation or power anywhere else, but in the only true source.
God created all things, and not only that, nothing that He has created is outside of His control!
Second…
Because God Sees Everything and Forgets Nothing v. 27-28
Because God Sees Everything and Forgets Nothing v. 27-28
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
One of my favorite Psalms is the 73rd Psalm.
It was written by either Asaph, the head musician of the priests in David’s time, or by one of those that were in the group of musicians that came after.
He looks around at the culture he is in and questions why those that were wicked seemed to prosper, while those that worshipped were struggling.
They always seemed to be the strong ones and in the best of health.
One of the wicked things they do is live like there is no justice with God.
11 They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
The Hebrew in Isaiah are looking through the same lens as Asaph was.
It looks to them like God is sleeping or like He is missing what is happening to them, or worse, He is blessing the wicked.
Look at what the people are saying in verse 27
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
Motyer said this about this verse.
Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary ii. God the Creator, Guarantor of His Promises (40:12–31)
The questions expose the frailty of faith and also the absurdity of faithlessness. First, can my way on earth have become so tangled that the Lord has lost sight of me? And second, there is no use pleading my cause before him only for it to be dismissed out of hand. The particular value of the doctrine of God the Creator is, of course, that it brings all that is true about God to bear on this world. Consider, then, the absurdity of losing faith in One who, in relation to earth, is all-powerful (12), all-wise (13–14), dominant (15–17), with no god to challenge, check or rival him (18–20), King of kings (21–24), sovereignly in charge of his world down to the smallest detail so that everything is in its place, nothing overlooked, nothing lost!
So God answers those who are of frail faith in verse 28.
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
He is the Everlasting God.
He didn’t become winded on His way to your problem, and pause to take a nap.
He does not become weary or tired.
Let’s look at those 2 words, as they will be important soon.
Weary could also be translated exhausted.
At the end of your strength.
The wicked ruler Sisera was so weary from fighting the Hebrews that he went to his tent to sleep, that he trusted Jael to guard the tent door.
21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground; for he was sound asleep and exhausted. So he died.
God doesn’t get exhausted, He will not run out of energy trying to fulfill His promises and come up short.
Tired could also be translated as labored.
Like you may be able to lift the weight, but it will be with all of your available strength.
Nothing that God does brings Him to the end of His strength.
He spoke the universe and all that is in it into existence with nothing but the command of His word, He is able to bring justice to His people.
Maybe if it isn’t bringing God to the end of His physical power, our situation is just too complicated?
Maybe it’s bringing God to the end of His knowledge or wisdom?
May it never be!
His understanding is inscrutable!
The ESV says unsearchable.
How can we, feeble as we are, plumb the depths of His understanding and wisdom?
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.
Over and over again we see the working out of the wisdom of God throughout scripture, and in our own lives!
Just in this small group of people, the testimonies of God’s wisdom in how He has worked in so many situations is astounding and awesome!
This thought makes Wednesday Night Prayer meetings take a different light.
Please consider who you are serving! He is not aloof to where you are.
He doesn’t get tired of orchestrating things that will work together for His glory according to His infinite understanding.
This was the same conclusion that Asaph came to.
He was wrestling with the wisdom and justice of God, until he went to the temple for worship, and pondered the end of the wicked.
How temporary their prosperity was compared to the eternity of God.
Then he concluded with this thought
25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
When you don’t understand what is happening, find your strength and comfort in the God who does.
Finally,
Because God Gives His People Strength v. 29-31
Because God Gives His People Strength v. 29-31
29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.
30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
One of the most misused verses in the Bible is plastered on plaques, coffee mugs, and inspirational calendars everywhere.
13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Paul is not talking about working really hard to get chosen as a starter on the football team or get the next promotion.
He is talking about facing the suffering of the Christian life.
12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Paul knew that the source of his strength wasn’t from an inward motivation to push it just a little bit harder, but from the reality that the Almighty God delights to strengthen His people to live through hard things for His glory.
Remember in the last section how we looked at the fact that God doesn’t grow weary or tired?
This passage repeats those words in every verse, but instead of pointing to God’s inexhaustibility and infinite stamina, they point to our very real proneness to become weary and tired.
But God shares His infinite grace with us for the situation.
God increases the power of those who lack, and we all lack don’t we?
What a beautiful passage!
I’m coming up to the ripe old age of 44 next month, and I can remember my younger days when I was much stronger physically.
Isaiah uses the illustration of the strength of youth here because all of us who are aging can feel the point he is making.
Sometimes we can feel it in our bones.
I used to wonder why old people woke up so early, now I know it’s because if you don’t wake up early, your back hurts all day!
But even at a certain point the young person tires out.
30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
But those who put their faith in God, those who find their comfort in this life in Him and not in their external circumstances, will find their strength in Him.
31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
Again, I am repeating this like Isaiah did, He doesn’t get weary or tired, so that when we run or walk, He can give us the strength so we won’t become weary or tired either.
What a beautiful picture that Isaiah paints here, that we will be transformed from lowly, weak creatures, into the image of strength and power, the Eagle.
Whether you are running in the extra hard situations of life, or walking in the daily grind of life, God is pleased to provide you with the strength you need to keep going.
This doesn’t mean that there will be no suffering or pain, but on this pilgrimage, you will find the strength and comfort needed to get through.
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Conclusion
Conclusion
As I said before, we have raced through this passage in 3 sermons, so please, take these little tidbits and go and study it for yourselves.
Isaiah starts with a call to take comfort in the plan of God, that the exile to Babylon and Assyria wouldn’t be the end of God’s people, but God would show Himself to a true God by the end of the time of exile.
They would come back and rebuild.
And not only that, there is a clear view to the then coming Messiah, who would be the consolation or comfort for everyone who believes.
Now that He has come, and if you have placed your hope in Him alone, He is your only source of strength and comfort through this life.
So many sufferings will come to us on the road to the Heavenly City, but our Everlasting, Creator God sees everything and nothing catches Him by surprise.
Rest in that.
He will never run out of power and delights to empower everyone who trusts in Him.
Brothers and sisters, if you are His, be comforted with this promise.
