Good News
Sunday, July 22, 2007 – AM
Pastor Jim May
The first verse of an old gospel song says this:
I have good news to bring, and that is why I sing
All my joys with you I’ll share
I’m going to take a trip in that old gospel ship
And go sailing through the air
Well, I’m here to tell you that there is good news for you today and because I’m here to tell you this good news, the Bible says that I have some beautiful feet. (Don’t you think that these feet are beautiful? They are a size 7 ½, with scrunched up toes, a high instep and almost as wide as they are long, but they are beautiful.)
Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"
There, on the hills of Judea, round about Jerusalem, walked a man among men. Luke 1:15 describes this man as one who was, "… great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb." He was called for a purpose. His job was to carry the message of repentance and the coming of the Messiah to the people of the earth. His name was John the Baptist and his job was to preach of the coming of the Lord to set the captive free. As John walked the mountains, preaching repentance and baptizing people, God says that he had beautiful feet.
John’s feet weren’t pretty to look at. He wore old thick sandals, if he wore any shoes at all. I’m sure his feet were very dusty and dirty for he walked in the dust of the earth and lived in the hill country. He couldn’t help but have dirty feet all the time. They were dusty and dirty, but they were still beautiful.
Of course we know this is a sort of symbolism. The picture here is one that reminds me of the old western movies where a wagon train would be surrounded by hostile Indians. The pioneers would be down to their last few bullets and they knew that all was lost. It wouldn’t be long until the Indians would overpower them and take scalps. But just as the last bullet was loaded and things looked really hopeless, off in the distance you would hear the bugles of the cavalry as they topped the ridge and came charging down into the Indians, with guns blazing and sabers flashing to save the day. That was always a beautiful sight to behold, unless you were an Indian.
We all live in a filthy, dirty and sinful world. Even those who bring the good news of a Savior are walking in that dirt. None of us are perfect. None of us can walk this life without some of the dust settling on us. That’s why we need to go to the Lord every day for a refreshing and cleansing.
Most of us take a shower or a bath every day. If you don’t wash up every day, then please understand that we will reserve a little corner in the back where you will be assigned a very special place to sit, away from every one else. We wouldn’t think of wearing the same dirty clothes for a week, or not taking a bath for a month. All of us have been around people who did that and you don’t want to stay around them long because of “B. O.”
I’m here to tell you that there are a lot of people that might take a bath every day, but they still have “Spiritual B. O.” They haven’t been to the Word to get washed in the water of the Word. They haven’t been on their knees in weeks, asking the Lord to wash away the filth of the world that has clung to their feet. And their spirit stinks. All you have to do is get close and you can sense that there’s something wrong here. Something is dying; and it’s their spirit. They might look pretty from a distance, sound good when they talk, but their spirit stinks to high Heaven. They need a fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost and power. They need a fresh cleansing in the blood of the Lamb.
You can talk the talk, but you also have to walk the walk, and if you are walking in truth and preaching the gospel of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ to everyone you can, then God says that you have some beautiful feet.
If you are a Born Again Christian then you have a calling upon your life to be a preacher of the gospel. You may never stand behind a pulpit, or preach to a crowd, but you preach nonetheless. You are a sheep of God’s pasture and you are called to bear more sheep.
I worked for a little while around a cattle farm. There’s one thing I learned. No rancher is going to keep a cow around that won’t produce a calf. It’s too costly to keep feeding them if they don’t produce. Any cow that doesn’t produce a calf is sent to the slaughter house or sold off, so that another one can be bought that will produce.
Now the good news is that God won’t send you to the slaughter house right away. He gives us every opportunity to bring forth more sheep as we go about spreading the good news of the gospel. But sooner or later, God expects a return on His investment. If we refuse to produce sheep, then we are considered unprofitable. I cannot say that God will cast us aside if we don’t bring forth sheep, but we will have to answer for every soul that is lost because we did not try to bring them to Jesus so that they could be born again.
The good news that you are called to bring is that Jesus reigns; that he is Lord and Savior; and that he has come to save all men from their sin. But before the message can go forth there has to be someone who will speak it forth and that’s where you and I come into the picture.
Romans 10:13-17, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Getting back to Isaiah, let’s read Isaiah 52:8, "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion."
This scripture teaches us that there is only one gospel, one way of salvation and one Lord and Savior. You can hear many voices today, preaching many messages. Some preach prosperity, saying that if you have debts and aren’t rich, you aren’t right with God. Wealth and riches are their “gospel” but it cannot save your soul; it only satisfies the desires of the flesh.
Isaiah 55:1-2, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."
The real message of the gospel is about spiritual wealth and power, not your pocketbook. Now if God chooses to bless you with riches then just be a good steward. But that’s not the indicator that you are Born Again.
The message that is truly good news is that Jesus has come and given his life for you. And because He lives, you can live also, if you will accept him as your Lord and Savior after repenting of your sin. Every true preacher, that preaches the truth, will be preaching that same message. We all see the gospel eye to eye. Sure there may be some differences in doctrines between churches, but the root message is always that Jesus Christ is Lord and the only way to salvation is through him.
Isaiah 52:9, "Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem."
Waste Places – wasted lives, hooked on drugs and alcohol. Wasted time –spent in doing those things that are not profitable to the kingdom of God and its growth in our hearts. Wasted opportunities – allowed to fall by the wayside because we failed to seize the moment when it came. Wasted finances – blown on things that we didn’t need to impress people we didn’t like, or to get a moment of peace and a little relief from life’s troubles.
All of mankind is nothing more than waste places. The Bible says that there is none good, no not one. We all fall short of what God wants us to be.
But Jesus has redeemed us by his blood. He can make the desert bloom again. The emptiness of a wasted life can be filled with good things. He will bless us, opening the windows of Heaven, and help us to turn our lives around to count for something good if we will just let him. We can’t go back and undo what has been done, but Jesus can make what’s left of our lives, finances and opportunities to count for him. In due season, if we keep on living right and doing right, our lives will produce fruit. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Make it count for something great by serving the Lord.
Let your sadness break forth into joy. Sing together of the mercy and grace of God that will bring you out of the pits. God will comfort you and redeem you and make you whole again if you serve him with all your heart.
Isaiah 52:10, "The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."
Your feet can be beautiful as you roam the pathways of life revealing the message of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. His message must be scattered through the whole earth so that all men will hear. The Holy, Righteous, Loving sacrifice of God’s only Son has been set on a hill called Golgotha for all the world to see. The Spirit of God moves through the whole earth to reach out to all who will believe. Maybe it’s your feet that someone will see coming with that precious message. You might be their only hope of salvation because you carry the gospel to them. Don’t fail in your calling.
Isaiah 52:11, "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD."
What are we to depart from? What are we to leave behind? What is that unclean thing that we must never touch? God wants us to leave and be clean so that we can be the vessels that he wants us to be.
That unclean thing is called “Babylon”. In Revelation 14:8, during that great time of God’s judgment and wrath upon this sinful world and evil men, we hear the angel cry, "… Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
What is Babylon? Is it a religion? Is it a city? Is it a system? It is all of these and more. Babylon represents false religion that preaches and teaches anything other than the gospel of Jesus Christ through a life of repentance and self-sacrifice for the cause of Christ. It represents any religion that lifts up men and women and elevates them to a place where they are equal to, or perhaps even greater than the Lord Jesus Christ. You can’t worship an Idol and serve the Lord at the same time.
Babylon is also a city in the sense that it represents the capitol of the Antichrist in the time of the Tribulation. Babylon represented the captivity of God’s people in the time of the Old Testament. It was the place where man first began to try to become equal with God at the Tower of Babel. It represents the very seat of Satan’s government where he rules as the god of this present world of sin.
Babylon is also a system. It is the present world system of governments that men, under the influence of sin and Satan, have devised to control other men. It is filled with injustice, ungodliness and unrighteousness. Government should exist for the benefit of the people at the people’s request and by their permission. Instead it rules over men with an iron fist and forces them to be its servants and slaves. That system includes the markets, and the financial dealings and the monetary systems that have become so greatly corrupted. Men extort other men for their own gain. That system includes those who have sold out to the god of this world sit and scheme and dream of ways to steal from others and make it legal to do so. This world’s system is too corrupt to repair. That’s why it must come crumbling down before Jesus can establish a righteous kingdom. It will begin again with a level playing field where all men are treated equally and justice will reign for a thousand years. All of this comes at the end of the Tribulation, after the Rapture of the Church.
We have to live in this corrupt society, but we are not to become a part of it. We are not to be a part of the false worship and idolatry. We are to become a part of Satan’s kingdom. We are not to fall into the trap of selfishness and focus on wealth and power like the world. We are come out from among them and be separated unto God, living according to His Law and His Word, and be led by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Don’t touch the unclean thing.
Isaiah 52:12, "For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward."
You won’t leave those things behind and run like you are afraid that the enemy will overtake you and drag you back into the pits of sin. You are going to walk away in victory and power through the Holy Ghost.
Jesus has blazed the trail for you to walk in. You have nothing to fear. Satan can’t attack you from behind and cause you to stumble and fall because God’s got your back too.
The devil is powerless to stop you from serving the Lord. You can have beautiful feet all you want to and there’s not one thing that hell can do to stop you if you don’t allow it. God has given you power to overcome. He has given you power to witness. He has given you mercy and grace to wash you clean and make you holy in his sight.
Step out in faith and walk the mountains of life, and while you’re walking, tell others about Jesus. Tell them that there is a gospel ship – a place of safety – a way of life that leads to joy unspeakable and full of glory. Preach the gospel to every creature. Let others see your beautiful feet.
Are you still caught in Babylon this morning? Are you still serving the wrong Lord? Is your life still being wasted in serving Satan? Is your focus only on self? Are you bound in chains of sin and darkness and you have no real peace within? Do you need a Savior?
I’m here to tell you that there is good news! Jesus is Lord and you can let him be the Lord of your life today if you want to.
I’m going to give you the same message that John the Baptist gave. Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is very close. Jesus is coming soon to take his children away. Come and be a part of the Family of God. Ask Jesus into your heart and then turn your life around to serve Him.
Babylon will soon fall, but the Righteous will live forever. Get out of Babylon and come to Jesus today.
