In his sermon titled 'Behold Your God', Scott Brown explores Isaiah 40:9-11, emphasizing the grandeur of God’s nature and the beauty of His gospel. The sermon begins by highlighting a message of comfort and the transformation brought by God’s mercy, depicted as a 'highway of holiness'. It underscores the dual nature of God as a mighty warrior and a tender shepherd, emphasizing His sovereignty and tender care for His people. Brown discusses the critical phrase 'Behold your God', which encapsulates the essence of the chapter, reinforcing that God is the central figure of the gospel, surpassing all idols and human wisdom. The sermon calls believers to rise from their comfort zones and proclaim this message from 'high mountains', urging them to be bold and fearless in sharing the gospel. The roles of Zion and Jerusalem are portrayed as both geographical and spiritual, symbolizing the people of God and their mission. Brown encourages an understanding of Christianity as a personal relationship with God, where obedience stems from love and acknowledgment of God’s sovereign power. The sermon concludes with a call for Christians to emulate God’s gentle leadership and spread the good news of His mighty and tender nature.

If you turn with me to Isaiah 40, verse 9 through 11. O Zion, you who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God, behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him.

Behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with you." Again, we stand before this towering, remarkable disclosure of the greatness of God and the beauty of his gospel. Would you pray with me before we enter into it? Oh Lord, we ask your blessing upon the words that are passed before our ears here this morning. That you would come and feed your flock like a shepherd, that you would gather the lambs in your arms and carry them in your bosom, and gently, this morning, O Lord, lead those who are with you.

Amen. Well so far in Isaiah 40, the prophet has pictured the people of God speaking out a message of comfort, saying, comfort, comfort my people, double comfort for people in such need. And it's a message of the valleys being brought up, the mountains and the hills being laid low, the crooked places made straight and the rough places smooth. It's a picture of the highway of holiness, the way that God in His mercy, He rescues sinners and He begins a work of beautification. As they behold his beauty, they become beautified by him.

This is a picture of the gospel. It's an understanding of what it is that God is doing and who he is who is doing it. In the last section we saw that all of this gets summed up in the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. The kavod, the holy, holy, holy, this heavy, amazing, impossible for human beings to completely understand is revealed.

And it's revealed in the things that happen to people. As the rough places are made smooth, as the crooked are made straight. There's this highway that God has his people on, and it goes straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, it is the Kingdom of Heaven. And so now we come to this section where these who have been delivered have a message, and we've just reviewed part of their message they have a voice it's a voice crying in the wilderness and and it's a voice that all flesh is grass but The word of our God stands forever.

So now Isaiah brings us to two more pictures of the kingdom of heaven and of God himself and a phrase. Two pictures and a phrase. The pictures continue to illustrate the gospel. And the phrase summarizes it. Now, the first picture that we see here in the text that we're focusing in on this morning, is a picture of a people standing on a high mountain and they're proclaiming, they have something to say.

And they have a way of saying what they're saying, and this is all disclosed here, and they're spreading a message of wonderful news and it's a picture of people going out through all the cities of Judah they're going from one city to the next and they're saying one thing they're saying They're using this one summary statement that we'll get to in a minute. But they're saying this thing, and they're charged by God to say this one thing. And it really is the heart of absolutely everything. And So they're spreading a message. They're praising the thing that they love.

This is what we do. We praise the things that we love. We think about the things that we love. If we don't have praise and thanksgiving for our God, It's because we don't love Him. We always praise what we love.

We always talk about the things that we love. This is just how we're wired. It's a fact of life that really can't be avoided. So there's this picture of these people up on a high mountain and they're proclaiming, right? And then there's another picture of a mighty, victorious king.

He's a warrior. And he is strong, and at the same time, he's a shepherd. And there are these two images of this victorious warrior, and that is that he is mighty and that he is victorious, and he is a shepherd. And he's a shepherd who is a rewarder. He rewards those who follow him.

And so now after Isaiah has sort of declared the effect of the gospel, the comfort of the gospel, the means of the gospel, the voice that is crying out in the wilderness, and the pardon that has taken place. And now he turns to a responsibility to proclaim the gospel. Because salvation is not just for Judah alone, but it is for the whole earth. And it begins in the cities of Judah, and then it spreads out into the whole earth. And this really is the heart of evangelism, to speak the comfort of God, the good tidings of God, the strength of God.

So there's this phrase, these two pictures, right? But there's this phrase. And it is a declaration of the singular theme of this entire chapter. When we get to the end of verse 9, we find ourselves in the place that I think is sort of the Rosetta stone. It's the touchstone for everything in this passage of scripture.

It's a summary statement. It's a phrase that really declares absolutely everything that is being said by summary and it's the phrase behold your God and Isaiah over and over is declaring that God is everything the idols are nothing the nations are nothing human wisdom is nothing flesh is nothing all flesh is grass But the word of our God stands forever. So everything in Isaiah 40 hinges on these three English words, behold your God. That is the phrase that brings it all together. So whatever you're reading in Isaiah 40, it all relates back to that one very simple phrase.

This is the good news, that God is God. There's no better news than to know that God is sovereign, that He is in control, that He is a Savior, that He is a vanquishing warrior, and that he's a tender shepherd. Behold your God. That really is the whole thing. And now this is a picture of God and God throughout this is he's always delivering And he's always judging, he's redeeming, he's comforting, he's making change, but he is real, God is real.

What he does is real, all flesh is his grass, but God is real. The most real thing you can ever connect with in this world is God. There's so many fake things to connect with. Isaiah is going to constantly, from this from this chapter forward, to say how unreal and stupid and how ridiculous idols are, but how real and good and how loving God is. Isaiah almost always moves into mockery mode when he talks about the idols, because they're so fake.

In fact, The term idol in Hebrew really is literally translated into one word, one English word. Nothing. Nothing. And so here, behold your God. God does not give his people what fades, but what lasts.

And so he says, behold your God. So let's begin in verse nine and walk through this beautiful section here in Isaiah. It begins with the words, Oh Zion, oh Zion, you who bring good tidings. Zion is a hill that was occupied by the people of God. And Zion is also called the city of David.

It's sometimes used for the hill itself. But it's far greater than that. It is synonymous with Jerusalem and Judah. So in verse 9, we read, oh, Zion. And then in just a few words later, oh, Jerusalem, he's talking about the same thing.

Zion and Jerusalem are synonymous. In fact, when we get to the New Testament, we learn that Zion and Jerusalem are symbolic, that they are real places. They are geographical locations but they're more than that they are spiritual states of being that's what they are In the same way that Babylon is more than just Babylon, it's a spiritual state. It's a whole orientation of your thinking in your life. Babylon is a spiritual state.

And so is Zion, and so is Jerusalem. That's why when we get to Hebrews chapter 12 We learn that Zion is used to speak of the people of God This is why the writer of Hebrew says in Hebrews 12 22, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven to God the judge of all through the spirits of just men made perfect here Mount Zion means way far more than a hill in Judea. Zion is the people of God, it's heaven, it's all kinds of things. And in Revelation chapter 14, it's very clear that Zion is used there for heaven, for heaven itself. When John declares, then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion.

So Mount Zion is a spiritual state in which people find themselves. Zion here is identified with the people of God. Zion equals the people of God. So he says, oh, Zion, oh, you people of God, you who bring good tidings. So that's the identification of who is being spoken to here.

And he says, oh Zion, you who bring good tidings. So these are people who are bringing good news. The term has to do with publish, to preach, to report, to take various methods of communication, to gladden the heart, to bring comfort, to bring the message that all flesh is as grass, but The word of our God stands forever. So who is the one who is bringing good tidings? It's the church who brings good tidings.

Now, this phrase, you who bring good tidings, you who bring good tidings, five words is one word in Hebrew. It's one word, and it's the word that is used in the New Testament for evangelists. You and Gileadzomai, and so you who bring good tidings, this is the same idea that the New Testament speaks of when it speaks of evangelism or bringing good news to the people. So it's the very same thing. It's the same idea that Isaiah speaks about in Isaiah 52 and in Romans chapter 10.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. It's the same thing that we read about in Luke chapter 2, the tidings of comfort and joy. These are quotations from Isaiah. When you read tidings of comfort and joy, you've got to go back to the place where they were used and the original meaning and it's a picture of the people of God beholding their God. They're up on a high mountain and they have something to say.

Isaiah chapter 61 speaks of this and it is quoted in Luke chapter 4, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. These glad tidings, these good tidings that are preached by Jesus Christ are the same glad tidings that are preached by the people of God in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 9. This is all connected. The Lord Jesus Christ and the New Testament writers have imported the language of the prophet Isaiah in this text to speak of the people of God, speaking of the power of God and the salvation of God that's in Jesus Christ.

Now, he says, get up into a high mountain. We can't slip over verse 9 without focusing in on this. Get up into the high mountain. So this is obviously a public proclamation, an action of spreading the word abroad. And there's a change in activity that is required to do this.

In these two words, get up, get up, get up into a high mountain. And this means that a person must move from where he is to where he ought to be because the place that you are is a place where your voice cannot be heard And so you've got to get up into a mountain where your voice cannot be heard. So there are these two kinds of people who are speaking. Some speak where their voice cannot be heard. Their voice is not heard.

And then there's the voice that is heard, you get up on a high mountain and your voice is heard there. And one of the problems that we have is that we like the comfortable lowlands. We like to speak to ourselves, but we need to get up into the high lands where our voices can be heard to get into the place where the voice of God can be heard. It's not enough to talk to yourself. But the voice needs to be proclaimed publicly.

And this year especially, the encouragement of the elders of your church here is that you would get up out of your comfortable position and go where your voice can be heard. One of the great things about this church is that people practice hospitality more lavishly than any place I've ever been. Here's some encouragement about your hospitality. Diversify your hospitality. Don't just practice hospitality for each other.

Practice hospitality for those who are lost. In other words, lift up your voice. Get your voice in a place where the gospel can be heard. And it requires sort of a shift in the speaking of your voice. What happens to Christians is that after a while they only know Christians.

They don't have very many people who are outside the faith that they spend hardly any time with at all. Now there's an aspect of that that is a good thing. It's a natural type of thing. But I think what Isaiah is saying is that there is this requirement to get up on a high mountain, that one has to move from one place to another. Going up a mountain takes effort.

It takes strategy. It takes forethought. And it takes one exerting himself to get up into that high mountain. And one ought to do that. This is one reason why the Lord Jesus Christ himself, when he was delivering the Great Commission in Matthew 28 verse 19, he says, go therefore and make disciples.

Go. You have to go. You have to go from where you are so comfortably and move to somewhere else and do something that takes effort, and that is making disciples. This is an intentional effort to go. But Isaiah uses different terminology.

He says, get up, get up into a high mountain and lift up your voice. And the times that we live in require that we get up into a high mountain and we lift up our voice. Our days are not much different than the days of Hosea. By the way, Hosea was prophesying at the exact same time that Isaiah was prophesying under the administration of the same kings, but he was in the northern kingdom. Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah, and I think Hosea declares exactly why it was required to get up in a high mountain.

He says in Hosea chapter four, verse one, there is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land No knowledge. There is no truth Mercy or knowledge of God? Isn't that what we've been reading about in Isaiah 40? Truth and mercy and the knowledge of God. So far, those words pretty much define the theme of the admonitions that Isaiah is bringing.

But Our boldness is necessary because we live in a time where there's no truth, there's no mercy, there's no knowledge of God, or at least there's no true understanding of truth, true understanding of mercy, and true understanding of God. There is a requirement for us and such a necessity that we would proclaim God and his gospel. So Isaiah says, you know, get up into a high mountain, But he doesn't stop there. He didn't say, well, just go get up in High Mount. He says, lift it up.

Lift up your voice. Lift it up. And then he says, be not afraid. That means that boldness is necessary. How easy it is to be afraid of the proclamation of the truth of God, to actually repeat the commands of Jesus Christ that we are commanded to secure in our day through the Great Commission, that we are to teach everything that Jesus Christ has commanded.

And so he says, lift it up, be not afraid. And I think this bears witness to the history of the church, Where on the one hand we do find a fear when we speak of God and his gospel. It also speaks of the realities of history where you have martyrs who've been killed for their faith. They were killed because it required courage. And so he says, lift it up, be not afraid.

Don't be afraid of the gospel. Don't fear any man. Fear God. Fear God alone. And he's going to say, behold your God here in just a few phrases ahead, but the reason that we should not be afraid is because of God.

And then there's this phrase here, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. There it is, there's the phrase. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. This is the heart of Isaiah chapter 40. Now when Isaiah was speaking this, when he said, say to the cities of Judah, his hearers would be thinking of the cities that had just been ruined.

Chapter 39 of Isaiah is really the context of this phrase in verse nine, but it's more than that. But the people who heard these words, they would be thinking about all the cities that Sennacherib and his army had already come in and destroyed. Because Judah's cities were in ruins and only Jerusalem was saved in this great attack of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. And so they would be thinking of the cities in Judah that were in ruins. They would think of the devastation and the death that had already taken place.

And it has a greater meaning than that, but for Isaiah's contemporaries, you can't get away from how they were hearing this. And in the midst of all of the wreckage, all the death, the calamity, the fear, the threats of such a great king like Sennacherib the king of Assyria. In the midst of all of that your only hope is to behold your God, to recognize that God is in control, to understand that he is the ruler of the kings of the earth, to understand that he is sovereign over every army, over every breath of the weather, over everything that has ever happened. And so in the midst of this wake of all this calamity, he says, behold your God. And he's saying to behold the might and the power of God.

And you see here as we move on in these sentences here that he's going to describe God in different ways. I believe he's already been describing God in his gospel, But now right in this tight context here, he's going to speak of two aspects of God. His mighty hand and his arm and strength and also his tenderness as a shepherd. These two parts of the name and the character of God. And he's speaking of the authority of God as the Lord Jesus Christ said, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and in earth." That God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, is making all of his enemies a footstool.

And why is this so important? This phrase is so critical. It's interesting to look at the different commentators and how they treat this statement. Let me give you John Calvin and his description of it. Behold your God.

This expression includes the sum of our happiness, which consists solely in the presence of God. I'm going to read it again. Behold your God. This expression includes the sum of our happiness, which consists solely in the presence of God. Behold your God is the heart of this entire message here.

And this is the heart of the good news. This is the heart of Christianity. Jesus Christ is the heart of Christianity. Christianity is not first of all a moral system. Christianity is not first of all a way of living.

It is first a personal relationship with God. This is the heart of Christianity, and this is really the central matter of the gospel, that God is king, that God is supreme, that God is the only satisfying relationship that you can have, that only in God is hope, only in God is peace, that everything, everything is summed up in him, And that looking to Christ is the greatest matter of Christianity. What is the greatest matter of the gospel? God. God is the gospel, as John Piper has titled a book that he wrote on the gospel.

And so, you know, Isaiah has been many times trying to explain the gospel using various images and words to speak of it. But what is the gospel? It is the good news of God. And The good news of God is that he hates evil and he establishes a wonderful kingdom. This is what God does.

This is Christianity. Christianity is looking to God. If Christianity is for you to do a list of do's and don'ts, then you don't understand Christianity. Christianity is greater and deeper and far more profound than even the laws of God. God has given us laws by which to govern our lives and every one of them is a perfect and beautiful law.

Every one of them should be pursued with all of our hearts. But God is the center of Christianity. And You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ said, I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly, He meant that abundant life is only acquired by being in Him, by being justified by Him, by being placed in Him, so that the Christian lives in this This bubble of His, and it's in that bubble that is His, that all of our sanctification, all of our healing takes place. And it does take place through obedience, but he is the center of it all. Our hearts that honor him, that are our souls that desire to obey, All of them are centered in Him and not in His outward commandments first.

And that's why Isaiah says, behold your God. And in that phrase is a summary of really everything in Christianity. The Lord Jesus Christ made this very clear when he said, if you love me you will keep my commandments. That's the order. God is first.

Love for God is first. That is the foundation of everything. And then as a result of that, you desire to keep His commandments. But God is the center of it all. And then you see, after this phrase, this remarkable phrase, behold your God, that is designed to be the message of the people of God, to proclaim the glory and the beauty of God.

Now in Isaiah chapter 40 we're gonna see God's power over the nations, we're gonna see God's power over all of creation and the stars. We're going to see absolutely amazing things, but the center of everything is God. He has so many facets, and it's for the Christian to declare all of his facets. And that's why we get up on a high mountain, is to declare the glory of God. You know, what is the purpose of man in the world?

It is to know Him and to enjoy Him forever, to know God. And it's out of that that everything else comes. People often get confused and they want to focus all of their efforts and attentions on the particulars of obedience, and they should obey, absolutely. But how easy is it to just think about the do's and the don'ts and all of the good laws of God and lose this great connection with Him. The daily receiving from Him, the moment by moment being filled with the Holy Spirit and communing with him, knowing him, crying out to him, speaking to him, listening to him.

Because after all, Christianity is first of all a relationship with God. And God does give us many things to do, but it is fundamentally a relationship with Him, out of which everything that we do comes. And Isaiah gives definition to this immediately in verse 10. And here in this second part of this section, He tells of a certain God, a certain kind of God. He describes God.

He's not exhaustively describing God in these small number of verses that we have here. But he is describing elements of this God. And if you have an outline in front of you, I've summarized it as that he is the rewarder God who is strong and he's gentle. I think that summarizes verses 10 and 11. And so we read there in verse 10, behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him.

So Isaiah has just said, behold your God. And then right after that he uses the same word, behold. Behold the Lord God. So he's giving a deeper explanation here. He's unpacking some of the depths of God in human language.

And he first of all speaks of God in his power. He comes with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. And this is the fact of God's power in dealing with his enemies. I believe Isaiah is speaking specifically of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus Christ conquered death.

He came with a strong hand, and his arm ruled with him. It says here that he shall come. This is a time in the future, and I believe he's speaking of the time of the coming of Jesus Christ where death, the last enemy to be put to death, was put to death and he comes as a conqueror in his resurrection. He uses two terms, hand and arm, in order to explain. He uses the two parts of the human body that do the work, that make things happen, that push things around, that pull things, that fix things.

He's using the common terms of your body and how you exercise your power in changing things, actually moving things and cutting things and breaking things and making things. He uses the hand and the arm for that. And these terms, hand and arm, are used in different places in scripture, and they're used in figurative terms in the same way that they're used here. Hand and arm are figurative here. And one of the most common uses of the word hand in the Bible is the hand of God during the time of the children of Israel's bondage in Egypt and how God rescued them with his what?

With his hand. The rescue from Egypt many times is spoken of as an act of the hand of God. And you think about your hands. What do your hands do? Think about your hands.

But these are, this here is a disclosure of what the hand of God is all about. In Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 33, we see one of the uses of this that I think is representative. Or let me rather choose Deuteronomy chapter 5. It's just a little bit shorter passage of scripture. In Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 15 we read, and remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.

Therefore the Lord your God command you to keep the Sabbath day." God's arm, God's hand is a figure of strength. But for what? For what? For deliverance. God delivers his people and he also strikes his enemies with his hand and with his arm.

He uses his his hand and his arm for two different purposes. He will strike to destroy and he will reach it out to save. So that's the use that we have. You know in Isaiah 53, I can't wait till we get to Isaiah 53, but in Isaiah 53 verse 1 the prophet says, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? That's the use of saving.

To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? You know, has the arm of the Lord been revealed to you? Do you see his salvation? Have you noticed how his arm has come and worked in your behalf, and how like being saved out of bondage, he has taken you with his arm. That's the picture that's in Isaiah chapter But Isaiah is using the term hand and arm here primarily for salvation.

That his hand, his arm will supply all of your needs. That he will sanctify you, he will change you, he will cause all things to work together for good, because he will bring Activity to his hand and to his arm and he will come and save you this this is the picture here and I Believe he's speaking of the salvation of God primarily Because of the very next thing that he says, behold, his reward is with him. And now what is the reward? It's a difficult phrase, first of all. His reward can be taken one of two ways.

It could be his people, that his people are his reward. This idea does exist in Scripture, that the people of God are God's treasure, that they are his reward. The New Testament makes that clear. But I'm not confident that's what he's speaking of here, but that he's speaking of the fact that he's bringing a reward to people. It is true that his people are a reward, but I don't think that's what he's talking about here, but that God has a reward with him and he is a rewarder of his people.

In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, in this great chapter about faith where we learn what faith is and what it looks like. The author of Hebrews says in verse 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. He is a rewarder. God comes with a reward.

God rewards all of his children. God pours out blessings on his children because he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. This is perhaps the most compelling and wonderful fact about the Kingdom of God is that God is a rewarder of His people. You know, even in the keeping of the commandments of God, not only is God a rewarder, but he gives commands. And when you keep those commands, there is reward.

This is why David in Psalm 19 said, "'In keeping them, there is great reward.'" So not only do you have God who brings reward, He also rewards those who keep His commandments. Who keep his commandments. This is why Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 hears from God. God says I am your reward. I am your reward.

Isaiah in chapter 49 verse 4 says, surely my just reward is with the Lord. This is the whole doctrine of the blessing of the people of God, all those who turn to him will have reward from heaven. I think this is why the Lord Jesus Christ said, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This is the whole matter of reward. And so Isaiah is, he's preaching, he's preaching the gospel to a people who should preach this gospel, that God is a rewarder, that his reward is with him, it is with him.

And you know, as we get up on a high mountain and preach, what do we preach? One thing we cannot neglect to preach is the goodness and the beauty of God, how beneficial he is to declare his his rewarding hand that that he has. And we know of the the pearl of great price, We know of the treasures in heaven. We know that the apostle Paul said that he was poor, yet making many rich. This is the heart of the gospel, that God comes with his comfort, God comes with his reward, and his reward is in his hand.

And then it says, and his work before him. So you have his reward is with him and his work is before him. So he has a work to do. God's work is to separate the sheep from the goats and to put to death the wicked, and then to save his sheep, and to bring his sheep into his sheepfold. And his work, I believe, is his sanctifying work.

It's the highway of holiness. It's the one step at a time walk toward God, of turning away from evil, turning to everything that's good. And this is his work. His work is before him. He knows exactly what to do.

He knows exactly how to sanctify you. He knows exactly what kind of trials you need. He knows exactly when your sin will be exposed so that you'll turn at the right moment. God is gently leading, but He's doing it as a work. This is His work.

And His work is also done by His workers. He does much of his work through his workers. This is why Jesus Christ said, greater works shall you do than I, because he passes on his works to his people. And then you see how he does his work. He does it like a shepherd in Verse 11, and here you see his tenderness.

You've seen how he's a rewarder. You've seen how he's strong. But now you see how he is gentle, like a shepherd. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young." These are such wonderful words.

These are such wonderful words. I want us to dissect this verse and take it phrase by phrase because there are four things that a shepherd does. And when you think about this, think about shepherding on a number of levels. Think about shepherding in terms of God. Behold your God.

But at the same time, God has bequeathed to mankind roles of shepherding. He gives fathers and mothers the role of shepherding. He gives to elders of churches as shepherds. He gives civil magistrates as kinds of shepherds. And so what is said here about God as shepherd also ought to be true of the other under shepherds that God has put in the world.

And so when you think about this, try to be thinking on the various other planes of life that God has given you. What the Bible does is it gives us this eternal plane in God. It shows us who God is, And then it asks us to be holy as He is holy, to become like Him, to be transformed into His likeness, to behold His likeness and then to be changed by it, to become a shepherd like he is. You know, how much does the world need shepherds like this? Do you need to be more of a shepherd like this?

I know I do. But we're here beholding God as shepherd, and he is our leader in all of our shepherding. First of all, these four things that the shepherd does, he feeds. He will feed, He will feed His flock. He takes food.

He gives both spiritual food and physical food. This is what God your shepherd does. He provides both. He is the bread of life. He said, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

God's primary way of feeding his people is by his word. You know, if you feel hungry or dry or dead in your soul, recognize what have you been eating. You can almost always diagnose what's wrong by what you have been eating. People who are depressed most of the time, they've been eating out of the wrong trough. People who are angry, they're eating out of the wrong trough.

People who are covetous, they are eating out of the wrong trough. You can diagnose most of your problems by discerning where you have been eating. Have you gone back to that pig slop again? But he feeds, he will feed his flock and he feeds by his word. He appoints under shepherds to feed his flock as well.

He appoints elders in churches to be under shepherds to feed the flock. And God has designed that he would use his under-shepherds to feed his flock. This is why Jesus Christ said to Peter, if you love me, feed my lambs. And when the feeding of the sheep comes from love for God, then it's a blessing to the sheep. But here we have God, he is one who feeds.

But there's a qualifier here. He doesn't just feed. There's a way he feeds. He feeds like a shepherd. How does a shepherd feed?

A shepherd feeds by taking the flock in a certain place. The shepherd feeds by taking the flock to the green pastures and the still waters. He takes the flock to the place where their souls will be restored. But he does it like a shepherd. He does it in the same way that a shepherd leads his flock.

And then his flock. And then he gathers. He not only feeds, he gathers. He will gather the lambs with his arm. You've noticed here that there's a qualifier in these phrases.

He will gather with his arm. So there's a way that he does it. He feeds like a shepherd and he gathers with his arm. Now you'll recognize that this is the second use of the word arm in Isaiah 40. The first use is an arm raised up in victory, and the second way is an arm extended to a lamb.

Two completely different qualities of them there. There's the ruling arm and then there's the carrying arm. These are the dual roles of a shepherd. This is what God does. This is what fathers should do.

This is what mothers should do. This is what in some ways all heads and shepherds, this is the way they ought to lead. There's the strong arm of the king And there's the gentle arm of a shepherd who's compassionate toward his flock. He gathers you in his arm, right? You know, it's a picture of relaxing in his arms.

Is this what Christianity is to you? Because Isaiah is describing what true Christianity is. And it's a picture of a lamb in his arms. It's like a baby in his mother's arms. This is a picture of true Christianity.

This is why it's right to say Christianity is not primarily a list of do's and don'ts. It does include that, but it is primarily a relationship with the shepherd in which you can see that you are in his arms. And I just want to ask, can you see that? Do you know that? Do you have assurance of that, that you are in his arms and he's carrying you in his bosom.

You know there are few things that are as remarkable as a child who's resting in his mother's arms. You know I've even heard mothers speak of how precious it is even when their children are sick and so quiet, so still in their mother's arms, especially boys. But there's something so precious about being in someone's arms like that. And how does he do it? How does he gather you in his arms?

Well he does it with his voice. His sheep hear his voice. He draws all men to himself by his voice. He gathers by the preaching of the word of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit. This is how He gathers his flock into his arms.

He gathers them by his voice and with his word that will always last. I think the work of the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the Word, the ways of family life and family worship. These are the things that are all part of his arm. And we're gathered here today because of the work of God's arm. And his arm has gathered us.

Has gathered us. You know, Isaiah talks a lot about leadership, about leading, And here we're in one of the great sections of it about what it means to shepherd. But in Isaiah 49 verse 10, he says something that really should stop us for a moment. If we would understand who God is and what he desires. He says, for he who has mercy on them will lead them.

For he who has mercy on them will lead them. There's really no place for merciless shepherds in the Church of Jesus Christ. There's really no place for merciless fathers in the family. For he who has mercy on them will lead them. I think that that is there there's probably a two-fold truth in that, in that God will only allow those who have mercy to be his true shepherds.

To be his true shepherds. And secondly, only those who have mercy will have sheep following them. So he gathers lambs. He gathers with his arm. And then he carries them, Number three, and carry them in his bosom.

Do you see why John Calvin would say, this is the sum of happiness? This is the sum of happiness. To be carried by God. To be carried in his bosom. To carry, it's to lift up, to bear, to support, that's the whole idea, to remove from danger.

Perhaps This is one of the ways that the rough places are made smooth. You're carried along the way on this highway. But again, they are carried. Deuteronomy 1 talks about this. It says that God carried His people as they passed through the wilderness.

God says, I carried you as a father carries his son what a beautiful picture this is you know you're aware of my father, he's 92 years old. He's the most grateful, thankful man I've ever known in the world. And I think I probably know him pretty well. I've been around him a lot. And he's 92, his strength is waning, and You know, we just had this incident, you know, last night where his strength was really failing, but it's back.

His strength is back this morning. He really had a good night. Thank you for praying. I'm so grateful for those prayers. You know, I send out emails to this church every week.

I have never had so many replies and email as I did when I said please pray for my father last night. But Isaiah understands this whole matter of God carrying his people. Here's what he says, he says, listen to me, O house of Jacob, this is chapter 46 verses three and four. Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been upheld by me from birth, upheld by me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb even to your old age I am he and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear.

Even I will carry and will deliver you." And then he says, to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we should be alike? He's saying there is no one like me who carries you from your womb to your tomb. I carry you from the beginning through the middle and all the way to the end when your hair is black or red to a time it's gray until you are gone. I will carry you. Who will you liken me?

He's saying there's nobody there's the devil doesn't do that He doesn't carry you he stabs you all the way There's no one like me. There is no God like me Behold your God. I carry my lambs." And then the fourth thing that he does is he leads. Oh, we can't leave this. I'm so sorry I shouldn't have jumped so quickly.

He qualifies it. He will carry them in his bosom. Tightly. Just carry them in his bosom. So he these qualifications are critical for us to understand God.

He leads his flock like a shepherd, he gathers in his arm, He carries in his bosom and he leads. And how does he do it? He gently leads. That's the qualifier. He leads gently.

He leads those who are with young. Literally suckling children. He leads those who are with young. I'm going to say this is both figurative and it's literal. Perhaps this can be understood on two planes.

One plane is the plane of parenthood, particularly motherhood, that he gently leads those who are with young. We have a lot of people in this room who have young. And God is a shepherd who leads you gently. He leads gently those who are with young. This is something husbands really need to understand, that God desires, God leads those who are with young gently.

Are the husbands gentle like their shepherd, like their chief shepherd, that great shepherd of the sheep? Are they as gentle as he is with those who are with young? Are they as gentle as Christ is to His church? Are they gentle to their wives in the way that He speaks of here, those who are with young? You husbands who have wives, just take this literally.

Are you leading your wife gently? She's with young. Most people understand how difficult it is to have young, especially lots of young. I'm very well aware of this. My children have lots of children born, you know, in very close time increments.

My belief is that those husbands that are in my family really need to have a sense of gentleness that maybe they, that wasn't quite as required to the husbands that didn't have all that many children. Because it's harder. It's harder to have a lot of children. But he gently leads those who are with young. You know, I think there are so many things we can say about this.

But God leads his people gently. We should do that as well. When people come in here to this church, we need to recognize that God is leading his people gently and we should do the same thing. You should be beating on people's heads when they come in here and they're not living or thinking like you do. You need to be gentle with them.

Very slow. I had it in my plan to walk through the passage of scripture that is an exposition of this verse. That's John 10. John chapter 10 is an exposition of Isaiah 40 verse 11. And the Lord Jesus Christ says I am the good shepherd and here he's declaring the very essence of Christianity that is it's a wonderful relationship it's a personal relationship it's it's a relationship where God says that one is my sheep my lamb and and the sheep says the Lord is my shepherd.

It's very, very personal. We don't have the ability to really go through John 10 this morning. But I think you understand what it means when Jesus Christ said, I am the Good Shepherd. I am the good shepherd. And then he says, the thief just comes in to kill and steal and destroy, but I came that you might have life abundantly.

That's Christianity right there. He is such a good shepherd sent by such a kind Father to do such a wonderful work in the hearts of people, to gather them in His arms. Okay, I want to give you some applications here. Application number one, get up, get up, get up into a high mountain, get out of your comfort zone, Get out of the routine that you've been in. Your gospel free preaching life.

Get out of that life. Get up where your voice can be heard. Industriously spread the news of the mighty shepherd. I'm going to read Matthew Henry on this. When God is going on with the salvation of his people, let them industriously spread the news among their friends.

Let them tell them that it is God that has done it. Whoever were the instruments, God was the author. It was their God, a God in covenant with them, and he does it as theirs, that they will reap the benefit and comfort of it." And then he goes on to say, the church should not keep the gospel hidden. Get up, go get up on a high mountain. That's application number one.

Where do you have to get up? Where do you have to go? Go get up where your voice can be heard. Stop acting like the gospel was just for you and your family and your friends and your people at church. Well, it was meant for all those, but it wasn't only meant for those.

It wasn't just meant for Judah. It was meant for Jerusalem and Judea and to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was meant for that. And then the second is, you know, who is God to you? Is God like this?

Do you know what it's like to be in his arms? Is this your God? Or is your God just the one who has a list for you? This does not present a God with a list. It presents a God whom you love.

Do you see him as a rewarder? Is he a fountain of grace? Here's how you know if you're a pagan. If you think God is a killjoy, if you think God is a killjoy, you don't know God. You do not know him.

If you think that God is to deprive you of something good, you do not know him. Do you understand that? He is a rewarder. He is a shepherd. He gathers you in his bosom and he carries you and if you do not want to be carried you have to question who you really are.

A goat in sheep's clothing. Do you know Do we see him in such a way that we want to get up on a high mountain and say, behold your God. Does it thrill you when you read of what a warrior and a victorious, mighty king he is? Does it move you when you think of him as your shepherd gently leading his sheep. Has he been gentle with you?

Has he fed you? Has he gathered you in his bosom? Has he carried you? Has he led you? Here in Isaiah 40 is such a magnificent disclosure of God and what it means to know God that he is a rewarder.

He's mighty. He will win. He has won. And he's gentle, and he feeds his flock like a shepherd, and he gathers the lambs with his arm, And he carries them in his bosom. And he gently leads those who are with young.

Behold your God. Let's get up on a high mountain. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, I thank you for these beautiful words that correct our understanding of who you are, who we are, These words that draw us up into your great being. These words that call us to get up on a high mountain.

I pray, O Lord, that you would Drive these deep within our souls. Change us, O Lord. Amen.