Welcome to The Word for Today.
The Word for Today is a continuous study
of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith
of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old
Testament.
And if you're following along in your Bible,
we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 40,
beginning with verse 12, as we continue with
an in-depth message entitled, The Character of
God.
And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck.
Shall we turn now to the prophecy of
Isaiah, beginning with chapter 40.
They say that repetition is the key to
learning.
And so we will tell you once more
that the book of Isaiah is often called
the miniature Bible.
Sixty-six chapters equating to the sixty-six
books in the Bible.
Isaiah is divided into two definite sections.
Thirty-nine chapters with the Old, twenty-seven
in the New.
Even as the Bible is divided into two
distinct sections.
Thirty-nine chapters in the Old Testament, twenty
-seven in the New.
So you have these parallels between Isaiah and
the whole Bible.
Now, as you enter into this second section,
which would be chapter 40, it is like
entering into the New Testament.
It is a whole new tone.
There's a whole new excitement as we contemplate
now more fully and completely the promised Messiah
and the glorious age and kingdom that he
will set up.
The first part of Isaiah would be as
man relating to God through the law.
Now we begin to relate to God through
his grace towards us in Christ Jesus.
And so the second section of Isaiah begins
with the words, Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith your God.
So the prophet is commanded to comfort the
people.
Now, he has been going through some heavy
prophecies.
There are difficult days that are facing these
people.
They are going to be carried away to
Babylon.
They're going to be experiencing a period of
captivity.
And they're going to be judged for their
iniquity and they're turning their backs on God.
But now the word of the Lord is
comfort.
There's a new day.
Your sins have been taken care of.
So speak comfortably to Jerusalem, cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned.
The pardon of the iniquity through the work
of Jesus Christ, who made provisions whereby God
can forgive you your sins.
What a comforting thought to know that every
sin, every wrong thing that I have done
is totally and completely forgiven, atoned for by
Jesus Christ, pardoned because of his shed blood.
And what words of comfort, my sin, oh
the bliss of this wonderful thought, my sins,
not in part but the whole, were nailed
to the cross and I bear them no
more.
It is well, it is well with my
soul.
Oh, what comfort to know that there is
no condemnation to those that are in Christ
Jesus.
That I can relate now to God in
full confidence through the work of Jesus Christ.
Oh, the glorious comfort in our hearts.
So speak comfortably, the Lord said.
Paul in writing to the Corinthians said, now
the God of all comfort, comfort you with
the comfort where with we were comforted when
we were in our afflictions.
Paul said, I know what it is to
be comforted of God.
And now may God comfort you with that
same comfort that I experienced when I was
going through the trials.
And then Paul brought out something quite interesting.
He said, if I was afflicted, it was
really for your sake that I might experience
the comfort of God in my affliction so
that I would be able to comfort you
then in your affliction.
You know, there are a lot of things
that we go through in life and we
come out the other side.
We say, now, why did I have to
go through that?
And we can't at the moment, see any
good practical purpose of our having to go
through that particular trial or experience.
But while we were going through, we did
experience the grace of God and the comfort
of God in our hearts.
And God brought us through.
And then later on, we come across someone
who's going through a similar experience and we're
able to say, you know what?
I went through that.
And this is the scripture that God gave
to me.
And this is the way God worked in
my life.
And this is what the Lord wrought in
my life through this.
And you're able then to comfort with the
comfort where with you were covered.
And you realize, oh, Lord, I had to
go through that whole mess so I could
deal with this guy.
So be it.
Her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand ample for all of
her sins.
Now, in the Old Testament, if you were
brought to the judge and you had stolen
an ox from your neighbor, you would have
to recompense double for what you had taken.
So here is the idea.
You have paid the recompense.
You've done the double.
You've paid.
So now we get the prophecy of John
the Baptist.
How do we know that this is the
prophecy of John the Baptist?
Because Matthew gives to us a commentary on
this particular verse.
And he tells us that Isaiah was speaking
of the ministry of John the Baptist.
You know, the New Testament makes one of
the Old Testament.
And so the voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God.
For every valley shall be exalted or filled,
and every mountain and hill will be made
low.
The crooked will be made straight, and the
rough places plain.
Now, it was the custom in the Orient
that when a king was to visit the
province, that they would go out and they
would work on the highways, repairing them.
They would remove all of the debris.
They would straighten the paths.
They would fill in the gullies.
They would level out as much as possible
the raised places.
They tried to prepare the path for the
king.
King is going to come, make a straight
path, fill in the valleys, bring down the
hills.
And thus, the King Christ Jesus, John was
heralding his coming.
And he is the voice of that one
crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make straight his way.
For the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it.
The glory of the Lord was revealed in
Christ Jesus.
John said, in the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was
God, the same was in the beginning with
God.
All things were made by him, without him
was not anything made that was made.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld his glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.
And so, this whole prophecy concerning Jesus Christ,
John proclaiming the coming of the Lord, the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
Jesus said to Philip, if you have seen
me, you have seen the Father, the glory
of the Lord.
That which was from the beginning, which we
have seen, which we have touched, for the
Word was manifest and we beheld him, John
said.
And then also in Hebrews, that wonderful verse,
that God who in various times and in
different ways spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his own dear Son, whom he
hath appointed heir of all things, who is
the effulgence or the outshining of his glory,
his express image, Christ, the express image of
the Father, the glory of the Lord revealed
to man in Christ Jesus, and all flesh
shall see it together, for the mouth of
the Lord has spoken it.
Now, several times we have this kind of
phrase in Isaiah and in the other prophets.
It's sort of saying, look, this is going
to be because the mouth of the Lord
has spoken.
I mean, when God speaks, you just, in
fact, a lot of this is in past
tense because God spoke it.
It's as good as already done, even though
it isn't done yet.
It's as good as already done because God
spoke it.
And as Paul was dealing with this particular
grammatical problem, as he was talking about God
speaking of the son of Abraham before he
was ever born, as though he already existed.
A real grammatical problem.
He spoke about Isaac in a past tense
before Isaac was ever born.
And Paul dealing with this grammatical problem said,
for God is able to speak of things
as though they existed even before they exist,
because he knows they're going to exist.
And so God says, I have spoken good.
That means it's done.
The voice said, cry.
And Isaiah responded, what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass and all of the
beauty, goodliness is really handsomeness or beauty.
Thereof is as the flower of the field,
the beauty like the flower of the field,
the grass withers, the flower fades because the
spirit of the Lord blows upon it.
Surely the people are grass and the grass
withers, the flower fades, but the word of
God shall stand forever.
And so you have that which is transient,
that which is passing and that which is
permanent.
What is transient?
Our life here on this earth, all flesh.
It's like grass.
The grass withers, gets wrinkled.
The flower fades.
The beauty goes.
I feel so sorry for those people who
their big thing in life is being beautiful.
I feel sorry for them.
There's an old Swedish proverb, good looks don't
last, good cooking does.
I think they were trying to encourage the
boys to find a good cook rather than
a beautiful woman.
The flower fades.
The life is passing.
We're here just for a short appointed time.
The strongest, the most powerful, the grass withers.
It's sort of shocking to see some of
those fellows that were my heroes when I
was growing up.
When I was a freshman, those guys that
were the seniors, the big guys on the
football team, I've met some of them lately.
It was sort of a shock, you know,
sort of bent over and weak and crippled.
And man, they used to be awesome terrors,
you know.
But the grass withers.
The flower fades.
But there is something that lasts.
And it is so important that we put
our investment in things that last, that we
put our values in the things that last.
How sad it is for those who have
laid up only on this earth and for
this earth and have nothing for the eternal.
The word of God lasts.
Put your confidence and your trust in God's
word, not in the flesh.
If you put your trust in the flesh,
you're going to be disappointed.
All flesh is like grass.
It will fade.
Put your trust in the word of God.
It will last and endure forever.
Oh, Zion, Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings,
get thee up into a high mountain.
Oh, Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings, lift up
your voice with strength.
Lift it up.
Be not afraid.
Say to the cities of Judah, behold your
God.
So let the cry go out of Jerusalem,
crying unto the people, behold your God.
You remember John the Baptist said, behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world.
And then the promise, behold, the Lord God
will come with a strong hand.
His arm will rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him and his
work is before him.
So the hand of the Lord, the strong
hand, the arm of the Lord, he's going
to come.
He's going to establish his kingdom.
He's going to rule.
His reward is with him.
And when Christ does come, when we meet
him, we are to be rewarded for those
things that we have done while in these
bodies.
Lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, Jesus
said.
His reward is with him.
And he does speak of the rewards that
we will have in heaven.
And he warns us of the works that
we do, that we be careful of the
motivation, that we not just be doing them
to be seen of men, for he said,
then you have your reward.
You have the praise and the applause of
man.
But do your works in such a way
that your father is glorified.
And your father, which sees in secret, will
reward you openly.
The Lord is coming.
He's coming with a strong hand.
He's going to rule the world.
In the first coming, he came in weakness.
As the suffering servant to die, he submitted
himself unto death.
When the Lord comes again, it's going to
be with great glory.
Then shall they see the sign of the
son of man coming with clouds and great
glory, with power, with authority, and going to
rule.
His reward is with him.
And he shall feed his flock like a
shepherd.
Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
I give my life for the sheep.
He will now feed his flock like a
shepherd.
He will gather the lambs with his arm.
That is the little young newborn lambs.
He will carry them in his arms.
And he will carry them in his bosom.
And he will gently lead those that are
with young, those ewes that are about ready
to give birth.
He will be gentle and all with them.
All the beauty of the Lord.
And I love these pictures.
I love the picturesque speech as he describes
our relationship to the Lord.
We are the sheep of his pasture and
the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
He shall feed his flock, gather the lambs
in his arm, carry them in his bosom,
gently lead those that are with the beautiful,
beautiful.
And now he describes God.
Behold your God.
He describes him, describes him in awesome terms.
The greatness of God.
Children are always asking the question, how big
is God, Daddy?
Is he as big as the telephone pole?
They're awfully big, the little kids.
And the question so often, how big is
God?
He's so big that your mind can't comprehend
it.
So vast that you can't grasp him with
your thought.
Your brain isn't sufficient to grasp the concept
of God.
For he measures the waters, that is all
of the waters of the oceans and the
seas.
He measures them in the hollow of his
hand.
Think of the Pacific and the Atlantic and
all.
There it is, right in the hollow of
his hand.
How big is God?
When I consider the heavens, the work of
fingers.
Pretty awesome.
Face to face, Lord, let me know.
Face to face, Lord, let me see you.
Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few
closing comments, but first I'd like to remind
you that today's message is available in its
unedited form on cassette or CD.
Simply write or call and ask for ordering
details on tape or CD number C3260.
Again, that's tape or CD number C3260.
As we come to a close in today's
program, we'd like to recommend a resource just
for women.
Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in
the hustle and bustle of Christmas, buying presents,
decorating, cooking, the list grows longer every day.
Without realizing it, we can easily forget the
true meaning of why we celebrate our Lord's
birth.
For this reason, the word for today presents
A Season of Joy, an audio Bible study
that reflects the true meaning of Christmas.
Hosted by Kay Smith, wife of Pastor Chuck.
Kay reminds us to spend time at the
Lord's feet despite our busy schedules.
Guest speakers also include Elizabeth Elliott, Sheila Walsh,
and Marge Caldwell, exhorting us to remember that
it's through Jesus Christ that our season of
joy can be peaceful and complete.
Also ask about Pastor Chuck Smith's tract entitled,
How Can a Man Be Born Again?
Available in both Spanish and English, this would
make the perfect addition to Christmas cards or
gifts.
To order your copy of A Season of
Joy and How Can a Man Be Born
Again, call the word for today at 1
-800-272-WORD or write to us at
P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California 92628.
And remember the word for today would like
to assist you this Christmas in spreading the
gospel of Jesus to your family, friends, and
coworkers.
Please call our customer service department to help
you in finding that perfect gift that will
reflect the true meaning of Christmas.
And if you call right now and mention
this radio ad, the word for today will
give you a 20% discount on any
resource carried by the word for today.
Once again, that number to call is 1
-800-272-9673.
And for those of you that would like
to visit our website, you can do so
at www.twft.com.
Or if you would like to email us,
you can do so at info at twft
.com.
Well, coming up next time on the word
for today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his
fascinating study through the book of Isaiah.
That's coming up next time on the word
for today.
And now with a few closing comments, here's
Pastor Chuck.
Well, we've got some exciting lessons ahead as
this latter portion of Isaiah is just so
rich and so blessed.
We've got so many great, great studies ahead
of us as we finish Isaiah.
Father, we thank you now for the work
of your Holy Spirit and your love within
our lives.
And Father, we're so thankful for your help.
We thank you, Lord, that we can wait
upon you tonight, that our strength will be
renewed, that we might be able to mount
up with wings as eagles, that we can
run and not be weary, that we can
walk and not faint.
That the Lord, the creator of the heavens
and the earth, who stretched out the heavens
like a curtain, who measures the waters in
the hollow of his hand, has said to
us, fear not, for I am with you.
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will help you.
I will strengthen you.
I will hold you by the right hand
of my power.
Thank you, Lord, for your help for us
who are weak.
Thank you for your presence.
Thank you for your love.
Thank you for your goodness, your eternal goodness.
Thank you, Lord.
Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California