Look at God!

Expectation

We expect to find comfort in pleasure.

We expect to feel secure in our accomplishments.

We expect to be encouraged by good things we see happening in our lives right here and right now.

Deviation

The comforts that the pleasures of this life bring are, at best, temporary. Many comforts we engage in are sinful and displeasing to God, exercises in selfishness.

Our accomplishments are also only temporary in value if not done for the upbuilding of God’s eternal kingdom. Even then, many times we may go through lulls in our efforts. We may not see any immediate impact of the work we’re doing.

Our lives can be full of discouraging circumstances that offer no visible promise of hope. In the present, we may be grieved by intense trials for the perfecting of our faith. We may with Christ have to call out to God through the thick darkness.

Complication

We can become so confused and hardened by repeated sin that we fall into a deadly apathy. Nothing brings us joy. Knowing God. Working with Him for lost souls. Our families. Our work. We can even find ourselves indulging in sins that have long lost their attractiveness to us. We can participate in activities that we hate.

We can tax ourselves through overwork. We can always work from a motivation of proving our worth to others. Or we may become lazy and unmotivated through repeated disappointment that our endeavors bring us no lasting sense of security.

Trials received in a spirit of unbelief can lead us to become angry with God and to distrust His loving care and purpose in our lives. We can inject our lives with many ungodly entertainments and more unsatisfying pleasures and perpetuate the cycle of apathy and disappointment.

This is because we’re looking to temporary activities, accomplishments, and circumstances to meet an eternal need. This will never work.

Revelation (Text)

Text Big Idea:

When we behold God’s saving character and work, we are comforted, humbled, and encouraged.

Text Outline:

God speaks a comforting message of reconciliation (Isaiah 40:1-2).

Isaiah 40:1–2 (MEV)

1 Comfort, O comfort, My people, says your God.

2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been pardoned, that she has received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.

In Christ, our sins have been paid for! We don’t have to struggle and work to provide for ourselves a remedy for our sins. God has worked out and provided the remedy for sin in Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, I have suffered for my sins. By faith, I am saved from the wrath of God because Jesus bore God’s wrath for me.

God speaks a humbling message of repentance (Isaiah 40:3-8).

Isaiah 40:3–8 (MEV)

3 The voice of him who cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness, make straight 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 rough places a plain;

5 then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”

6 The voice said, “Cry out.” And he said, “What shall I cry out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is as the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever.

God speaks an encouraging message of revelation (Isaiah 40:9-11).

Isaiah 40:9–11 (MEV)

9 O Zion, bearer of good news, get yourself up onto a high mountain; O Jerusalem, bearer of good news, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

10 See, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; see, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.

11 He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

God’s strong arm that rules for Him is also His tender arm in which He carries His lambs.

This message is to be declared prominently, emphatically, enthusiastically, and fearlessly.

Restoration (Gospel)

Christ died for our sins. We can be comforted.

Christ reveals God’s loving character and power to us. We should be humbled.

Christ reveals God’s glorious purpose and destiny for the redeemed. We should be greatly encouraged.