Series: God’s Care For His People (Isaiah 40)[#2]
COMFORTER
Isaiah 40:9-26
Introduction:
1. Last week we studied the first 8 verses of Isaiah 40. We looked at how God comforts us through being reconciled to Him, our lives being reconstructed by Him, and the reassurance we are given by Him. What comes after the reconciliation, the reconstruction, and reassurance?
Isaiah 40:9
2. This is a word of witness, a proclamation that always follows, never precedes, the work of reconciliation, reconstruction and reassurance. We try to train people to go out and do witnessing. That is not the correct approach at all. Jesus did not say to His followers, “Behold I send you forth to do witnessing.” He said, “Behold, I send you to be witnesses.”
3. A witness is one who talks about what happened to him. If nothing has happened to you, you do not have anything to say. If you cannot tell somebody of God’s grace in your life, you cannot be a witness. If all you can witness to is your knowledge of a certain set of verses, that is not true witnessing; but if something has happened, if you have been changed, if you sense the work of God in your heart, then “lift up your voice” and say to all the people around, “Here is your God!”
What kind of a God do you have?
Isaiah 40:10-11
Bona Fide
1. There are two pictures of God here. The God we proclaim is the God who is a Judge, with power and might to overcome all who resist Him, all who attempt to deceive Him or ignore Him.
2. He is also a Shepherd. He takes care and provides for all of His sheep.
3. These words remind us of Jesus’ own words in John 10, where He says of Himself, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”
Psalm 23
The rest of our text asks the question, “What other god is there that you can trust, and how does the true God compare to it”?
Isaiah 40:18
Isaiah 40:25
Bogus
1. Here God Himself is asking man, “Can you do what I do? Do you have the power and strength I have?”
Isaiah 40:13-14
2. God is asking again, “Does any of you have the wisdom I have?” Who could be as wise as God or do the things He does? Many try to do that. In fact, I have tried many times in my life to solve my own problems only to find out that God wouldn’t do it my way. I get agitated with God, but as I look back on my life, I can see how God knew what the “big picture” was.
Romans 11:33
Isaiah 40:15-17
3. God now compares Himself with the proud nations of the earth. No matter how powerful the world’s leaders think they are, compared to God they are nothing.
Conclusion:
1. Who or what do you follow? If you are here without Jesus as your Savior you are trying to follow the world and the things in it and you will lose. You cannot say, “The Lord is my Shepherd”, because without Jesus as your Savior, He is not your shepherd. How do you change that? You believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was perfect and paid your price of sin on the cross and was raised from the dead on the third day. If you do this, you will be saved. That means you can now say, “The Lord is my shepherd”.
2. Christians, let me ask this question, “Do you want all of the benefits of being under God’s care, but turn to other people or things when you need help?” Remember, God is the source of comfort. When people listen to you and look at your life what kind of God do they think you have?
3. Be a witness for God that will honor Him and bring glory to His name!
