You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Amen. Thanks, y'all. Thanks, James.
It's a beautiful arrangement of those beautiful words straight from Isaiah chapter 40,
which we're going to be reading here in just a minute.
Remember, we're trying this Christmas season to slow down a little bit,
to consider our hearts, how the reality of the Christmas story,
the incarnation of the Son of God speaks to and should shape the deepest parts of who we are.
And so last week we started by talking about our deep longings,
our desire for fulfillment, for the things in this world to be as they should be.
We saw in Isaiah 11 that the promise of Christmas is an eternal hope
for those longings one day, someday to be truly met
as Jesus comes to make us and the world everything we were created to be.
Christmas gives us an eternal hope,
not a hope placed in a temporary change of circumstances or improvement in life situation,
but rather hope in an eternal Savior
and His complete and lasting fulfillment of our deepest longings.
And you may say, and you may have said to yourself last week,
well, that's nice. That's all well and good.
That's true. I believe that.
But my life is hard.
Things are tough.
I'm looking forward to eternity, but today is really difficult for me.
What I'm facing now is still overwhelming to me.
Does God care anything about that?
Does Christmas have anything to speak to me in this life at all?
Well, it does.
And it's never less than that eternal hope,
but it's also a message of comfort for us right where we are today as well.
That's what we'll hear this morning in Isaiah chapter 40.
This passage is written to God's people in exile,
taken away from the promised land under an oppressive foreign ruler,
without a home,
seemingly without a God to care for them.
Listen to God's message for those people in Isaiah 40 at verse 1.
The message is comfort.
Comfort.
Comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
A voice cries,
in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low.
The uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
A voice says cry.
And I said,
What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers.
The flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers.
The flower fades.
But the word of our God will stand forever.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news.
Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news.
Lift it up.
Fear not.
Say to the cities of Judah,
Behold your God.
Behold the Lord God comes with might.
And his arm rules for him.
Behold his reward is with him and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd.
He will gather the lambs in his arms.
He will carry them in his bosom.
And gently lead those that are with young.
Thus far God's holy, inerrant, infallible word.
As we just read, the grass withers.
The flower fades.
But the word of our God will indeed stand forever.
Let's ask for his help now as we look to his word together this morning.
Pray with me.
Father, we are so grateful for the gift of your word.
For the privilege of holding it.
Of reading it.
Of hearing it.
And then of your spirit working it into our hearts.
Changing us by it.
That it would be what shapes our hearts.
More than anything else we read this week.
More than anything else we watch or experience this week.
Would you, Father, open our hearts.
Soften them to your word.
And speak to us clearly.
I need to hear from you.
We need to hear from you.
And so would you speak through your word.
As you love to do.
We thank you for that.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Kids, some of you will know my friend Alexander.
Alexander had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Some of you have read about his day before.
Alexander looks like that all the time.
That's the kind of face you have when you have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
I'm not going to read you his whole story this morning.
But I want to give you just a taste of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
It goes like this.
I went to sleep with gum in my mouth.
And now there's gum in my hair.
And when I got out of bed this morning, I tripped on the skateboard.
And by mistake, I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running.
And I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
At breakfast, Anthony found a Corvette Stingray car kit in his breakfast cereal box.
And Nick found a junior undercover agent code ring in his breakfast cereal box.
But in my breakfast cereal box, all I found was breakfast cereal.
I think I'll move to Australia.
At school, Mrs. Dickens liked Paul's picture of the sailboat better than my picture of the invisible castle.
At singing time, she said I sang too loud.
At counting time, she said I left out 16.
Who needs 16?
I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
I could tell because Paul said I wasn't his best friend anymore.
He said that Philip Parker was his best friend.
And that Albert Moya was his next best friend.
And that I was only his third best friend.
There were two cupcakes in Philip Parker's lunch bag.
And Albert got a Hershey bar with almonds.
And Paul's mother gave him a piece of jelly roll that had little coconut sprinkles on the top.
Guess whose mother forgot to put in dessert?
It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
That's what it was because after school, my mom took us all to the dentist.
And Dr. Fields found a cavity just in me.
Come back next week and I'll fix it, Dr. Fields said.
Next week, I said, I'm going to Australia.
On the way downstairs, the elevator door closed on my foot.
And while we were waiting for my mom to go get the car, Anthony made me fall where it was muddy.
And then when I started crying because of the mud, Nick said I was a crybaby.
And while I was punching Nick for saying crybaby, my mom came back with the car and scolded me for being muddy and fighting.
It's a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, I told everybody.
No one even answered.
There were lima beans for dinner and I hate limas.
There was kissing on TV and I hate kissing.
My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain and I had to wear my railroad train pajamas.
I hate my railroad train pajamas.
When I went to bed, Nick took back the pillow he said I could keep and the Mickey Mouse nightlight burned out and I bit my tongue.
The cat wants to sleep with Anthony, not with me.
It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
My mom says some days are like that.
Even in Australia.
Those hard days happen, don't they?
Even in Australia.
Kids, have you ever had a really, really hard day?
Anybody had a hard day?
Yes, some of you have had.
And all of your parents are thinking, no, you've never had a really, really hard day before.
You have, we've all had hard days.
The things that are hard for us may be different from the ones that are hard for Alexander.
But we've all had really hard days, haven't we?
Sometimes we feel like day after day after day for a season of days.
God's people, as I said earlier, are facing some of those really hard days when God speaks to them in Isaiah 40.
It's written to people in specific, difficult situations in their lives.
Their whole world has been shattered.
They're far away from home in exile.
Nothing around that is comforting to them.
They're feeling alone and abandoned by the God who has promised them good.
Many of them are depressed about themselves because they know that their idolatry has led to this.
The darkness has gotten so great around them, they describe that in Isaiah,
that they've begun to wonder if God even cares about them and their plight.
In verse 27 of this chapter, they say,
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,
My way is hidden from the Lord, and my cause is disregarded by my God?
Why is God not fixing this?
Where is He in the disappointment that I'm living?
Does He even care and know about how hard this is?
Those are only some of the questions that we ask in our grief, aren't they?
Why is God not solving the problems I'm facing in this world?
Where are you, God?
Are you even there?
Do you even care about my pain, about the deep disappointment I feel with where I am,
with how things are?
Some of us are asking those questions this morning.
Some of us have asked them in other particular situations in our lives,
when the grief has mounted in our hearts.
Most of us will ask them again,
when the pain and the grief comes back,
and we weren't planning on it or expecting it,
and these questions will come quickly to our hearts.
Something happens and your world is shattered.
You feel alone and overwhelmed with grief.
Your husband abandons you,
and you grieve the loss of a dream of family life.
You suffer a life-changing illness or injury,
and you grieve the loss of normalcy and functionality.
You fall into that sin again,
and you feel beaten down,
and you grieve the loss of self-worth,
and your hope for ever being different,
or ever overcoming this.
You feel the darkness of depression closing in around you,
and you grieve the loss of joy in life,
and the hope of having a good day ever again.
Getting out of bed may be hard.
Laughing may be hard.
Praying may be really hard.
And we say things in those moments like,
no one has been where I am.
I just feel so alone.
No one understands or cares about how I feel.
And when we say those things,
we quite naturally start to feel the same things about God,
don't we?
Just like the Israelites,
feeling,
He's abandoned me too.
He doesn't care about me.
Perhaps I don't even deserve for Him to care
about me after what I've done.
How could He possibly still care about me?
And He can't be trusted anyway.
I become a Christian.
I start going to church.
I really start trying to live for Jesus.
And then all this happens?
I mean,
here I am.
I find myself,
God, is this how you treat people
who try to live for you?
Is that the way you work, God?
So deep,
deep grief is something that we're all familiar with
in one way or another.
It may be different for each of us,
but we know the feeling.
Now Isaiah in his prophecy
has already promised eternal hope
in a coming Messiah.
But here in chapter 40,
the focus of his ministry shifts
from talking to people
about a potential coming exile
and warning them about that
to actually speaking to those
who find themselves in exile.
And for most of the rest
of this lengthy prophetic book,
that's what he's doing.
He's addressing those people,
offering comfort
to those who are in exile,
grieving their difficult plight.
And that's how Isaiah starts
this section at the beginning
of chapter 40, right?
Comfort!
Comfort my people,
says the Lord.
And the comfort is not complex.
I'm not going to pretend
like it is this morning,
but it's exactly the comfort
that we need.
The essence of comfort
in Isaiah 40,
the comfort of Christmas,
is God is with us.
You are not alone.
You have not been abandoned.
Your pain is not purposeless.
God is with you.
That's actually the essence
of comfort, isn't it?
Think about it.
What's most comforting to you
in your low, dark places?
What does comfort feel like?
Who's been comforting to you?
Comfort is the person
who just shows up with you,
isn't it?
Who enters into your pain
and your grief
and who stays with you
while it hurts.
And even if it keeps hurting,
they stay with you.
They stay there with you.
They're for you.
And God Himself
shows up with us.
I'm not going to make it
more complex than that.
But as you walk through
these verses
and see more of who God is,
it makes it perhaps
even more beautiful
and even more comforting
to us.
Tell me more about this God
who's there with me,
who shows up.
How can I know He's with me
and for me?
Because, well,
it does not feel like that.
That's not what I feel
in those moments.
I don't feel like He's with me
or for me.
Who is He?
Well, the God promised
to be with us first
is the God whose commitment
to His people
is unwavering.
Look at just the first verse
of this chapter.
There's enough comfort
in these two pronouns alone
for the whole sanctuary
of us this morning.
Look at that.
Comfort, comfort,
my people,
says your God.
Comfort, my people,
says your God.
They've done nothing
to earn the status
as His people
and everything
to lose it.
God has even had to send them
into exile,
into agony,
apart from the things
that He has promised
for them.
But as I do that,
He says,
you are still
my people
and I am still
your God.
He says,
speaking tenderly
to us,
verse 2.
It's the comfort
of a crying child
who has failed
and fears the rejection
of everyone
being scooped up
by a parent
and told,
oh my sweet girl,
your daddy is here.
I've got you.
My beloved friend,
I'm your friend.
I'm here for you.
I'm not going anywhere.
God says,
our relationship
hasn't changed
because you ran
the other way
or because life
made you feel
like I had.
It didn't change
our relationship.
I'm your God
and you're my
people,
my children.
Then the God
promised to be with us
is the God
whose arrival
coming to us
is promised
and prepared for.
Remember from our study
of Luke recently
the very words
of these next few verses
being used of John the Baptist?
Verses 3-5,
he came to prepare hearts
to welcome
and receive
the coming Savior.
That's what's meant
by these verses.
A voice cries,
in the wilderness
prepare the way
of the Lord.
Make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley
shall be lifted up.
Every mountain
and hill
be made low.
The uneven ground
shall become level.
The rough places
a plain.
What can happen?
What's all the
geographical description
for?
The glory of the Lord
shall be revealed
and all flesh
shall see it together.
The way for God
to come to us
is being prepared
and made smooth.
God's coming to us
is so certain
and so important
that it's been
carefully prepared for
so he can come quickly
and surely
to us.
a smooth
straight path
has been made
so God's glory
can be revealed
in our midst.
God is showing
up
with us.
But how do I know
for sure?
Can I trust
that promise?
The one that it says
the mouth
of the Lord
has spoken
that this is going
to happen.
Will it?
Really?
Because I mean
lots of people
promise things
to me
only to let me down.
I've experienced
that.
Will that's
even some of the
people I've trusted
the most
and that's a large
part of where
my grief
is coming from
this morning.
even the ones
I thought
would always
be here
with me
are not
anymore.
The God
promising
to come
be with you
is the God
whose word
can be trusted
when nothing
and no one
else
can.
It's what Isaiah
tells us in verse 6.
A voice says
cry.
I said what shall I cry?
All flesh is grass
and all its beauty
like the flower
of the field.
The grass
withers
the flower
fades
when the breath
of the Lord
blows on it.
Surely the people
are grass.
The grass
withers
the flower
fades
but different
from all of those
from all those
people
from everything
in creation
the word
of our God
will stand
forever.
People are weak
right?
They may lie.
They may die.
A spouse
may abandon
you.
A best friend
may move
away.
A pastor
may fall
into moral
failure.
Ultimate
trust
can't be placed
in any
person.
So ultimate
comfort
can't come
from any
person.
But
the word
of our God
will stand
forever.
you can
count
on what
he says
he's going
to do
happening
in your
life.
Even when
you feel
everyone else
has left
you
your God
promises
he's moving
towards you.
He's with
you
and for
you.
We got to
keep moving
because it's
just getting
better and I'm
going to keep
talking more.
Here's the
great announcement
of comfort
that God
wants everyone
to hear.
What's it
going to
what's the
whole thing
building towards
God's being
revealed.
He's here.
You can
trust him.
Go up on a
high mountain
Zion.
Herald of
good news.
Lift up your
voice with
strength.
Jerusalem
herald of
good news.
Lift it
up.
Fear not.
Say
what's the
announcement?
Behold
your God.
That's the
big news.
It's short.
It's simple.
God's here.
Ta-da!
That's the
announcement.
commitment.
That's what
Isaiah has to
declare.
The tidings of
comfort and
joy.
Behold your
God.
Behold your
God comes
with might.
And his arm
rules for him.
He's coming.
He's strong and
mighty.
The rest of the
chapter here in
Isaiah is going
to go to great
lengths to talk
about God's
awesome power.
Nothing can
keep him from
us.
He's the
sovereign
creator and
ruler whose
might is
incomparable.
Nothing in
all of creation
could keep him
from us.
But what I want
you to see even
more so,
before I get
distracted by that
more,
before God goes
into all of
that about his
great might,
is that it is
matched only
by his tender
care.
Verse 11.
He will tend
his flock like
a shepherd.
He will gather
the lambs in
his arms.
He will carry
them in his
bosom and
gently lead
those that are
with young.
He will tend
his flock like
a shepherd.
He will gather
the lambs in
his arms.
And we say it
that way because
that's the way we
talk.
He gathers the
lambs in his
arms.
Actually,
in the Hebrew,
the word arms
is the exact same
word from verse
10.
His arm that
rules for him
is again singular
down here.
He will gather
the lambs in
his arm.
In the same
mighty arm.
God's strong
arm is his
tender arm.
It's the same
mighty arm that
demolishes kings
that also scoops
us up when
we're broken and
holds us close
to his heart and
cares for us.
The arm that
provides ruling
power for the
whole world
provides resting
peace for his
lambs, for his
little children.
It controls the
stars and the
seasons and
carries us at
the same time.
Wow.
You know why?
You know why God
does that?
You know why his
mighty arm can be
his tender arm?
Why do we get
that kind of
attention from the
ruler of the
universe?
You know.
Because he loves
us.
No, no, it's not
possible.
If he loved me,
he wouldn't let...
No, listen.
He loves you
so much
that he would
lead you
into those dark
places partially
so you'll
experience and
know for sure
that he will
never leave
you.
Even there.
He hasn't led
you there so
that you'll prove
to yourself he
doesn't care about
you.
He's walked with
you there so
that you can know
if he's there,
he'll never leave
you anywhere,
that you can
always trust him
to be with you.
He didn't stop
short of death
itself for you.
He's with you
when you don't
feel it.
His heart
treasures his
people personally.
Look back at
verse 10.
The Lord God
comes with might
and his arm
rules for him.
Behold, his
reward is with
him and his
recompense, the
thing he's getting
back, is before
him.
He will tend
his flock like a
shepherd, gather
the lambs in his
arms, carry them
in his bosom, gently
lead those that are
with young.
Who's his reward?
What's his
recompense?
It's his flock,
right?
That he will gather
and carry and not
just as one big
group that he has
gathered to himself
but with intimate
personal care
and gently
lead those
that are
with young.
He is most
tender
with those
who are
most
hurting.
What a good
God.
Most tender
with those
who are
most
hurting
and he knows
them.
If you're thinking
that your grief
might be too
deep,
that your sin
might be too
big,
that your pain
might be too
devastating,
it's not.
You can actually
expect him
in your life
to be
especially
present
there.
Especially
forgiving.
Especially
comforting.
He is most
tender with
those
most
hurting.
You will
experience
over time
what Joseph
learned when
he was
being sold
into Egypt
away from
the promised
land.
What
Corrie ten Boom
articulated
after enduring
a Nazi
prison camp.
There is
no pit
so deep
that he
is not
deeper
still.
Dear ones,
listen.
This is the
good shepherd.
You may have
known some
bad ones.
This is the
good shepherd.
He calls
his sheep
by name
and they
hear his
voice.
Your name
is written
on the
palm of
his hand.
He will
never forget
you.
No matter
how bad
your day
has been,
no matter
how terrible
your life
circumstances
are and
what they're
telling you,
he has not
abandoned you
and he
never will
forget you.
He will
always,
always be
with you
wherever
you are.
Dare I
say even
in Australia.
This last
image here
of God
as the
tender shepherd,
I couldn't
help but
think of
Psalm 23.
Right?
The Lord
is my
shepherd.
And so
even when
I walk
through the
valley of
the shadow
of death,
I will fear
no evil
for you
are what?
With me.
Your rod
and your
staff,
they do
what?
Comfort
me.
Because you're
with me.
Even there,
even in the
darkest places
David has
been,
you're
with me.
And so
I'm
comforted.
That's the
comfort
of Christmas
for our
grieving,
hurting
hearts.
God
is
with us.
Emmanuel.
That's what it
means.
Ron read the
verse,
the angel
telling
Joseph,
his name
will be
Emmanuel.
God
with us.
In the
person of
Jesus,
the baby
in the
manger,
God has
broken
into our
pain
and endured
the worst
of it
with us
and for
us.
The message
of Christmas
is that God
loves us
so much
that nothing
can keep
him from
us.
He will
come and
find us
wherever we
are.
From the
lowly
manger
to the
sorrowful
shedding of
tears at
the grave
of a loved
one,
to the
horrific
pain
of the
cross,
he knows
our
grief,
doesn't he?
He knows
our grief.
That's why
it's tidings
of comfort
and joy
that in
Bethlehem
was born
the Son
of God
by name.
The God
of heaven
was right
there with
them,
the angels
telling the
shepherds.
He's over
there in
Bethlehem,
right over
there near
you.
God
himself
in
Bethlehem.
Tidings
of comfort
and joy.
You can
behold
your God
with you.
As we
prepare to
come to
the Lord's
table
together,
let me see
if I can
connect
last week
and this
week in
one really
important
way.
Last week
we talked
about our
hope for
eternity,
right?
that we
still long
and await
the coming
of Jesus
again to
make us
and all
creation
as we
should be.
And this
morning we've
been talking
about comfort
for today
that God
is with us
now.
But you see
those two
things can't
be separated
entirely.
When we
experience the
comfort of
God with
us, we
are experiencing
eternity
today.
That's what
is happening
this morning.
Part of the
comfort we
receive is
that the
God who
is with
us today
has made
our eternity
sure.
Verse two
says he's
not just
going to
hang around,
just be
here with
us.
He's bringing
peace to
our warfare.
He's a
mighty God.
He's doing
something for
us.
He's forgiving
our sins
so that
he can be
with us
forever.
And we
get a
foretaste,
a glimpse,
a taste
of that
eternal
reality
today
in his
being
with
us.
The
communion
table that
God sets
before us
today is
a picture
of the
wedding feast
of the
Lamb that
will go on
and we
will enjoy
for
eternity
with our
God.
This is a
picture of
that.
This is a
rehearsal
dinner,
if you
will,
where there
is a
wedding feast
to come
with God.
Those who
will be
seated at
that table
at the
wedding feast
of the
Lamb are
those seated
at this
table today
tasting just
a little bit
of eternity
because that's
true.
It's true
that Jesus
has gone
to the
cross so
that our
sins can
be forgiven.
That's an
eternal reality
that we taste
a little bit
of this
morning at
this table
even while
we still
struggle
with our
sins.
There's an
eternal reality
that God is
with us
forever
and you
get to
taste
just a
little bit
of God
being with
you
today
even while
you still
wait to
be with
Him
forever.
We already
sit today
at this
table and
experience
the comfort
of God
with us
that He
would come
and eat
with us.
May that
eternal hope
and that
comfort today
both give us
great joy
as we come
to celebrate
together.
These are
the words of
institution of
this supper
in 1 Corinthians
11.
Paul writes,
I received
from the
Lord what I
also delivered
to you
that the
Lord Jesus
on the night
He was
betrayed
took bread
and when
He had
given thanks
He broke
it and
said,
this is
my body
which is
for you.
Do this
in remembrance
of me.
In the same
way also
He took
the cup
after supper
saying,
this cup
is the new
covenant
in my blood.
Do this
as often
as you
drink it
in remembrance
of me
for as often
as you
eat this
bread
and drink
the cup
you proclaim
the Lord's
death
until He
comes.
This table
is the Lord's
table.
He has
said it.
He comes
to eat
with us.
It's not
the table
of Southwood
or the
Presbyterian
church.
So if you
know by
trusting in
Christ
the hope
of eternity
with God
come and
celebrate a
foretaste
of that
this morning
at this
table.
And if you
don't know
Jesus,
if you don't
know the
eternal hope
of having
your sins
forgiven,
if you're
not willing
this morning
to turn
from your
sins and
trust Him
again,
believer,
don't come
to this
table.
I'd encourage
you not to
come to
the thing
that's
temporary
and try
to have
a foretaste
of something
that's not
eternally
true for
you.
Rather,
come to
Jesus and
have eternity
dealt with.
Then come
and celebrate
with us
something that
for you
will then be
truly a
foretaste
of an
eternal
reality.
If you
trust Jesus,
if He
secures your
eternity,
your God
meets with
you now.
Come.
Come and
meet with
Him.
Let's pray.
Father,
that you
would have
ever moved
towards us
is astonishing
to us.
We ran
from you.
We run
from you.
And you've
set the table
again this
morning.
Day after
day,
you invite
us home.
Moment by
moment,
you remind
us that
we're your
children.
And we're
so grateful.
Might these
common elements
have a very
sacred purpose
this morning.
Father,
in our
hearts,
would they
remind us
deeply,
would they
comfort us
with the
knowledge of
your presence
and your
love,
that you're
with us
and that
you're for
us always
because of
Jesus.
And we ask
it in His
name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
southwood.org.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
southwood.org.
World milk,
in 17
hours and
we awareness
of
you
and
F
after
higher
riage,
you