In the sermon 'He Will Change Your Wilderness', Scott Brown explores Isaiah 35, emphasizing how God transforms the wilderness into a blossoming garden, symbolizing the renewal of His people. The scripture is seen as a reflection of God's ability to change desolate lives into fruitful ones through His glory and grace. The sermon discusses the Church's role as a spectacle to both the world and spiritual powers, showcasing God's manifold wisdom. Brown outlines expectations for new Christians, highlighting transformation, community support, the power of God in healing, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He addresses fear, encouraging believers to strengthen one another and trust in God's sovereignty. The imagery of 'streams in the desert' is interpreted as the Holy Spirit's work in beautifying the Church, filling believers with the fruits of the Spirit. The sermon concludes with a call to focus on the glory of Jesus Christ as central to the Church's mission.

Good morning. The text for this morning is Isaiah chapter 35. We'll read through the entire chapter. The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear. Behold your God will come with vengeance.

With the recompense of God, He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing, For water shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water, in the habitation of jackals where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there and a road, and it shall be called the highway of holiness.

The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these glorious words that you have given unto your people and to us today. Oh may we have hearts to hear it. May we hold on to the hope of this precious text to remind us of the glory of the highway of holiness that you have made for us. Oh we rejoice in you today Lord.

Speak through your servant Scott as he speaks unto us your word, your instruction. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. Isaiah 35 teaches us how it is that God transforms His people and turns their wasteland into a garden. And of course it's the picture of God's redeeming His people in the ways that He displays the glories of His grace. Isaiah has spoken to us about the beauty of the Lord and how His people are transformed by His beauty.

They behold the beauty of the Lord and as a result they're healed. And This whole discussion continues. Isaiah can't quit talking about it. He'll speak about the judgment of God and how devastating it is to not behold the beauty of the Lord. And then he always has to turn back again into the glory and the beauty of salvation.

And in this section here in chapter 35, which we're only going to go up to verse 7 today, we'll finish it up, verses 8 through 10 next week. But in this passage, there's a picture of God redeeming his people and really showing the usefulness of his church. The church really becomes a spectacle in the world, an aberration, something totally different. It's like with streams in the desert with blossoming in places where you just don't expect it to happen at all. You know when you're in a desert and you see an oasis it catches your eye and that's the idea that's here.

The people of God are like an oasis. They're a spectacle, a demonstration, like the spotlight is on them. And look at what's happening to them in the midst of this desert. The Apostle Paul makes this point really clear in the book of Ephesians, when he said that the salvation of the Gentiles was for that very purpose, to show, just to show to the powers and the principalities how good God is. He says that this all happened, this rescuing of these despicable, profane Gentiles, it happened for a really great reason, and that is to make a scene.

To the intent, this is Ephesians 3, 10, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Jesus Christ our Lord and what what Paul is saying is that God Saves a people because he wants to demonstrate how good he is to the powers and the principalities picture them now They're gnashing their teeth. They see the love of the brethren. Oh yeah, they saw you today. They saw you greeting your brothers and sisters kindly. They saw that.

They're gnashing their teeth. Because the church is on display to the powers and the principalities that are there. And not only that, of course to the whole world as well, but here you have this scene of streams in the desert, of blossoming. Well, it's a picture of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and how He's divided His people and He's come and He's saved the Gentiles. He's marked out His own territory and His territory is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And what is He doing in His Church? He's beautifying them. He's watering them. He's making them glad. And it takes time to make them glad, it's true.

We'll see this in the text. It's really a progressive part of salvation. But here are the beautifying effects of the love of God and what God is doing in His Church. You know, when you joined the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you probably didn't know exactly what you were getting into. You just wanted to follow Jesus, didn't you?

But there was a lot more to it than that. And one of those things is mentioned here. And this whole beautification process, this hapifying work of God among His people. And I've identified four things here that happen to God's people. You know, if you're a new Christian here today, what can you expect?

Here's what you can expect right here. First of all, He'll turn your wilderness into a garden. And the first element here in verses 1 and 2, speak of that. That is, you behold the glory of the Lord. He takes the desert of your life that was always your life, and He changes it.

Secondly, He'll put you to work to help the weak. That's in verses 3 and 4. God's people will strengthen one another. God commands his people to do something with one another, and that is to speak to one another about probably the most prominent problem in their lives, their fears. You know, it's interesting.

I've talked to a lot of people in our church who have had fears just over the last couple of weeks, you know, and I think all of us are grappling with fear at one level or another, but it seems like there's kind of a rash of fear going on. You know, I've had rashes of fear in my own life, you know, waking up in cold sweats in the night. But here, God is telling us that one of the elements of life in the Church, the spectacle before the powers and the principalities, that there are people out there and they're saying to one another, don't fear. That's what they do. This is what the church is supposed to do to each other, to help one another.

You know, it must really rankle the evil powers and principalities, You know, that the people of God are running around encouraging one another not to fear. What a great thing. And then thirdly, there's the power of God at work, that God is healing your life. He's restoring your senses. You know, the lame, the blind, the deaf, he's making you alive like never before.

And I think this is a progressive thing that happens, it's finally fulfilled in heaven. And then finally he pours out his spirit with these streams in the desert in verses 6 and 7. And so this is the, this is the, this chapter is a sharp contrast to the previous chapter where it was just nothing but desert. So this, Isaiah is speaking of these two states. He's speaking of light and darkness.

He's talking about desert and garden. He's talking about sheep and goats, what God does with his people. And he's making this great, great contrast. Now, we're about halfway through Isaiah now, right? We just crossed the halfway point last week.

And I just want to remind us of where we are in Isaiah. There's an outline on the back of your outline here that gives you the flow of Isaiah. I'd just like for us to just quickly sort of get our wits about us about what Isaiah is saying. It's easy to get lost in the moment in a tiny seven verses like we're in right now, but we want to see the whole flow here for just for a few minutes about what Isaiah is doing. Isaiah begins with the church.

It's about God's judgment in the church. The first 12 chapters really say judgment begins in the house of the Lord. And chapter 12 speaks about just the beneficial quality of that judgment. When God judges His people, they repent, they turn to Him, and marvelous things happen. That's chapter 12.

And then in chapters 13 through 23, after Isaiah speaks of God's judgment toward his people, because judgment does begin in the house of the Lord, he speaks of his judgment against the nations and how he, In chapters 13 through 23, he speaks about how God judges the nations the same way that he judges his people. He doesn't use a different law code for the nations than he does for his people. There's only one law code, and there's only one legitimate one. And then thirdly, in chapters 24 to 27, there's judgment against the whole world. Do you get the progression?

The house of God, the nations, and then the whole world. So Isaiah is just continuing to explain in greater detail, adding layer upon layer upon how God is dealing with his own people and how he's dealing with the world and then he further expands upon this in chapters 28 through 33 where he delivers various woes there are six woes five of them toward his people and then another one toward Edom. But he just goes one after another to explain the different ways that the people of the nations have departed from the Lord. And if you read those chapters, you'll see what God is pleased with and what He is against. And you can learn very much about your own sins and how to flee from the various sins that are listed there because you see what God loves and what He actually hates.

It's a very valuable section. And then chapters 34 and 35 are summary statements of God's destruction of the wicked and His salvation of the repentant. Last week we were in chapter 34 which spoke about the desert that God will make out of those who reject His ways. And you reject God's ways, here's what you get. You get a desert.

You get ruins. Instead of a beautiful home, you get a broken down place that has jackals and snakes and pelicans and all kinds of things in it. Because there's really no vestige of blessing left. You depart from God, you depart from blessing. That was chapter 34.

Now we get the flip side. You turn to God. If you're like those in chapter 34 who come near in chapter 34, 1, who hear and who heed in chapter 34 verse 2 if you if you're like that then this is what you get you don't get the desert you get streams in a desert and a whole different experience This is a disclosure really of the love of God. It's such a marvelous section here. So let's begin in verses one and two where we see this picture of the glory of God that transforms the wilderness.

Here we have the secret of all transformation. Isaiah's already talked about it in different ways earlier on. But in verse one we read, the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." Now these first two verses actually set forth the heart of the message and that is gladness. You see it and you see the word glad, you see the word rejoice, you see the word rejoicing in verse two, the word joy. All these words come from a single Hebrew root word which means it really it's something that shows you an image to tell you about what this thing is.

And it's an image of circling around, circling around with enthusiasm. You know, when someone gets you know really good news, people circle around them and they say, yes that was so great, we're so happy for you. That's the picture here. It's a picture of people circling around and and glorying in in what has happened. And you know when does this happen?

It happens here and now. Here and now, this joy, this gladness, it's fulfilled in shadows and types and figures. And it happens in Judah as God does things to save his people, like as he did when he destroyed the Assyrian army, 185, 000 of them in that one night. It's prefigured in the return of the captives in the Babylonian captivity and also in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's fulfilled progressively in the life of a believer.

The members of the true Church who are being healed, who are being made happy, who are being delivered from all of their fears progressively as they turn to God. They find one thing in their lives that needs to be removed and they get happier. They find another one and they get happier again and they keep multiplying that. So I think that Isaiah is talking about something that happens to Judah figuratively in terms of typology. It happens in the church and then it finally happens in its perfect form in heaven.

It will be completely, absolutely, and in an absolute pure form in heaven. And I think that's what the Apostle John was speaking about in 1 John 3, 2, he expresses this whole matter that on earth we see through a glass darkly. Yes, we do receive the blessings of God from heaven, but because of our earthly frame and because of the season that we live in, we don't have them in their complete way. We do know that walking with God is true joy. We do have His presence, but it's not perfected yet to the degree that it will be.

And that's why John said in 1 John 3, 2, he said, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure." This is really a disclosure of the truth that We don't have it all now. We do have enough now, but we will have absolutely all of it in heaven.

And we will see Him as He is. Right now we don't exactly see Him as He is. We want to. We wish we could see Him more clearly, but our sin and our background and all kinds of things get in the way. But here, as God is speaking to His people in the days of Isaiah, I think He's speaking to us as well.

This is His message to us. This is a picture of us as His people. I think it should work in our hearts sort of as something that's germinating and growing, that we would be saying, oh Lord, give me more of this. Make me more like this. And so here's this prophecy of this renewed creation and the creation to become a wilderness because of sin.

Why does life become like a wilderness? Well, the last chapter really tells us about it, but the land dries up because of sin. That's exactly what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 23 10. He says, the land is full of adulterers, for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.

Their course of life is evil. You want to dry up your life, turn away from God. And here you have this picture of beauty and fruit bearing. You know, God didn't create the world just so that the history of the world would end up as the history of a desert, but that it would be the history of fruit bearing, fruit bearing of the Christian life. You know, John spoke of this.

He said, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you." God has designed the life of His people to be a life of fruit bearing. If there's no fruit bearing, there's no life there. And that's the normal experience of the Christian. That's why this was the normal expectation of the Apostle Paul. And it should be the normal expectation of Church shepherds to see fruit.

Romans 1.13 says this. Paul says to the Romans that he had often planned to go to Rome, he says, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. So fruit bearing is really the big focus of these first two verses here. And there's a gladness in it. Now, he gives six analogies of this beauty and this fruitfulness in these first two verses.

There's the blossoming, the singing, Lebanon, Carmel, Sharon, and the glory of the Lord and the excellency of God. Those are sort of the images that he gives. Let's take them one by one. First of all, you have this blossoming in verse 2, and there's this abundance of life that Jesus spoke about. You know, I came that they might have life in it, they might have it more abundantly.

It says, it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. And that's the second image, is singing. Now the blossoming, by the way, is something that continues to blossom. Imagine a flower that just keeps on blossoming. Well, that's the kind of flower he's talking about.

It's not like the flower in your garden. It's a supernaturally fed flower that continues to blossom over time. And then there's singing. Even with joy and singing. This is a picture of a happy people.

You know, happy people are a singing people. And then you have this third image of mighty trees. This is in verse 2, the glory of Lebanon. And he brings about this, brings us to this image of this stately cedar tree that was characteristic of Lebanon. Strength and majesty were really what these trees represented.

They were magnificent cedars. They were symbols of power. I don't know if you've ever been to the Redwoods and seen these gigantic trees in California. Just imagine this kind of majesty. It's really a picture of the glory and the strength of God.

And then there's the excellence of Carmel. Carmel, what's Carmel? Well, Carmel and Sharon, you know, were known for their fruitfulness, but Carmel was known for its beauty. And One commentator says that Carmel was known for its well-ordered cultivation. And then he speaks of the excellence of Sharon, the beauty in her fertile fields.

These three metaphors are metaphors of strength and beauty and fruitfulness altogether. The siddhas of Lebanon, the mountains of Carmel, and the excellence of Sharon. And then there's the glory of the Lord. This is probably the most significant of them all. Isaiah comes down to, after he mentions these shadows and types, then he speaks of something that makes all the difference in the world, the glory of the Lord.

They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Now Isaiah has gotten down to the chief transforming power in the heart of any Christian, And that is the beholding of the glory of the Lord. There isn't anything better you can do for your soul than to behold the glory of the Lord. It's a wonder why we don't do it far, far more. Because the glory of the Lord causes so much fruitfulness.

And in here Isaiah is presenting the glory of the Lord as the chief transforming agent in the life of His people. And people behold the glory of the Lord, and they're beautified by that glory. Isaiah used this word previously in the last chapter, and it's the word kavod. It means heavy. Heavy with riches.

A rich man was heavy with gold and jewels. He was heavy. He was heavy in his possessions. That's the idea. And it's the same word in Isaiah chapter 6.

Holy, holy, holy. Kavod, kavod, kavod. Holy is the Lord of hosts. He's heavy. He's rich.

And it's the riches of God, the riches of His glory, that when the believer gazes upon it, he's changed. And these things happen. He becomes glad. He's being transformed by the glory of God. He speaks of the Excellency of our God.

He is so excellent. He is so marvelous. And this is the picture that he's given here. This idea of the excellency is the same idea that John spoke of when he said, we be held as glory. Glory as of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the glory of God that makes all these things happen. Here's an application for us, for right here. You know, what is the most important occupation of this Church? It's the glory of Jesus Christ. You know what?

There's really no hope for this church unless the glory of Jesus Christ is at the very center of everything. Oh, by the way, there's no hope for your family either unless the glory of Jesus Christ, His beauty, His truth, His love, if that's not the center of your family or your own heart, there's really no hope for what He's speaking of here. In fact, you can't have it. You cannot have the joy that you see here in this desert rejoicing and blossoming without the glory of God. You know, as we gather together, There's really no other important, more important subject than the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every single doctrine runs down a river that's connected to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And There's nothing better than we can do than to fix our eyes on the head of the Church. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead. And that in all things, He may have the preeminence.

That's Colossians chapter 1 verse 18. That he would have the preeminence among us. That really should be our prayer. What's your prayer for our church? Well, here's what our prayer ought to be.

That Jesus Christ and his glory would be the center of everything we do and say and hope for in this church. All other hopes really don't get it. And so here we are the people of God. We are on display rejoicing and blossoming with joy and singing. And then we also see in verses 3 & 4 that the people of God also are not just singing, they're not just happy, they're also talking, they're saying stuff.

That's verses three and five. And the people of God are strengthening one another. He says, strengthen the weak hands, these are commands, these are imperatives, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God he will come and save you so these are commands for the people of God for the for those glad you're not just glad for yourself you want to spread it out You want to spread it through the church.

And this passage is quoted in Hebrews 12. We know it absolutely connects with the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work that exists in the New Testament church. And so these are imperatives without subjects, just like in Isaiah 4.1. Comfort, yes, comfort my people. But This is a picture of God's design for the Church and the kind of relationships that we should have with one another.

And He's directing His Church to do something with one another when you have trials and sorrows. We have sorrows, we have sadness. And God has given us one another to speak to one another in the midst of our sorrows. That means that when we have sorrows we probably should tell our brothers about it. So that our brothers can talk to us, okay?

Because a lot of times we need to talk into when we're fearful-hearted. And I don't know how many times that's happened in your life where you've been fearful-hearted and somebody talked to you about it. Well, it should be common. God assumes here in this passage that in His church, people would become fearful-hearted. They're going to be like the people of Judah.

They're going to see Sennacherib coming over the hill with 185, 000 troops. And they're going to be shaking in their boots, just like everybody was when that happened. And There's always somebody coming over the hill, pretty much. You know, if you don't see them coming over the hill, they're on the backside of the hill and they're coming. And so you're going to face times of fear.

This is an assumption that the people of God are going to be afraid sometimes. Sometimes. And so he says that we should strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Hebrews 12, 12 quotes this, where the author of Hebrews is talking about that you've not resisted unto death and that it's right to persevere. And it's applied to the New Testament believer.

But there are two specific members of the body that Isaiah mentions. They're hands and they are knees. And these are both figurative. But the physical part of the body here is affected by the spiritual part. That's the idea.

That what's going on on the inside regarding fear actually affects your outward life. And everybody knows that. But it's said here very clearly. He says, first of all, strengthen the weak hands. And he's speaking to a people who are feeling their weakness.

Their hands and their knees have been impacted by their fear. The strength has drained out of them. And the condition of having hands that sink down, you know, implies that there's something going on in them that's making their hands go still. You know, when you're full of fear, you're sort of paralyzed. You're either paralyzed or you're just so discouraged you don't want to lift up your hands.

And that's the picture that we have here. And that's going to happen in the Church of Jesus Christ. Because as God is sanctifying His people, He is delivering them from all of their fears over time. And we have so many fears, but you know, we lose strength and we become, we become overwhelmed. And that's why he says, strengthen the weak hands.

And he needs to repair them through support and through encouragement. Because the hands droop down when you're disheartened. You let them drop. Proverbs 18.9 uses this same word, for he who has slack in his work is brother to him who destroys. See how bad fear is it makes you slack in your work.

Or at least that's the the basic idea of it here. Of course in Proverbs it's about it's about a wicked person. Here the person's hands droop because of fear. In Proverbs 24 verse 10, he speaks of getting disheartened in the day of adversity. He says, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

And so, I really loved what Matthew Henry said about this. He said, among true Christians there may be many that have weak hands and feeble knees that are yet but babes in Christ, but it is our duty to strengthen our brethren, not only to bear with the weak, but to do what we can to confirm them. It is our duty to strengthen ourselves, to lift up the hands which hang down, improving the strength God has given us and exerting it." And here I think you see another of the many, many pictures of the kindness of the Lord, of what a tender shepherd he is, how he helps the weak, how Jesus Christ comes to the weak and the fearful in his church, and he instructs his people to pay attention to them and have mercy and to strengthen their hands. And then he says to make them firm, to make firm. And this word is used for courage and courageous and hardening, sort of harden one another, not in a negative way, but make one another harder against the impulses to fear, hard in the sense of not being so easily penetrated by fear.

And then he speaks of the feeble knees and he's talking about tottering and staggering and you know being weak and stumbling and easily overthrown. When you're fearful, you're easily overthrown. We saw that with Peter. He became fearful and what did he do? He sank.

That's what happens. But he uses the imagery of feeble knees here. And in verse 4 are some of the most remarkable words, I think, for the Church of Jesus Christ. He says, say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong, do not fear. Behold, your God shall come with vengeance.

With the recompense of God, He will come and save you. So you should memorize that because it's what you're supposed to say to the fearful hearted. You know, you're always going to bump into fearful hearted people in the church. It's gonna happen. And He's saying you should say to the fearful hearted.

Now I've been thinking about this verse over and over again all week long. And I've had many moments where I realized that I was going to stand up on Sunday morning, and I was going to say this very thing to the church. I was going to say to the fearful-hearted, don't be afraid. That's my job today, right now. So, I'm going to say it to the fearful-hearted.

Anybody fearful-hearted? I'm going to say it right now. Do not be afraid. What a blessing God is to bring His word. And my prayer has been that the Lord, by His Spirit, would light up those words, and that He would penetrate every fearful heart like a laser beam, and He would go in and do surgery and deliver from fears.

That's been my prayer all week long, that God would send this congregation out totally fearless if it would be His will to do that. To exit these doors without any fears, with your heads lifted up, happy that God reigns, that you're beholding your God, just like we're commanded to stay. When somebody's fearful, you know, how do you help them? You say, behold your God. That's the big issue.

Their vision of God has been clouded. That's why we become fearful pretty much. Now, it's a little bit maybe more nuanced than that. We'll get to that in a minute. But we are supposed to say something to our brothers.

Fearful hearted, what's that all about? It's a Hebrew word for hasty. And he's using a word for the condition of our hearts that change quickly. We quickly move to fear. Something, we hear something, we see something and we quickly move to fear rather than be patient.

And we're just too quick to move to fear. We're terrified too easily. It's like in Pilgrim's Progress, remember there were these lions that were threatening along the pathway. And a lot of people were afraid, but they were chained. They were chained up.

We're too quickly moving out of the roadway because we hear or see something. This is the whole idea of hasty. John Gill says it like this, hasty in drawing black conclusions upon their selves and their state. You might be hasty in drawing black conclusions even about your own life, as the devil is your accuser, who hates your soul, who would love nothing more than you to be in the black depths of darkness. That's where he wants to keep you forever.

But that's not where the Lord wants to keep you. He wants you here. He wants you here in this garden of Isaiah 35. But That's why you say, Behold your God, because that is normally the heart of the matter. You've forgotten about God.

You've forgotten about His sovereignty. Remember that story of Katie Luther. She came to breakfast one morning to serve her husband breakfast, and she came in a funeral gown and she had a black veil over herself and he said, who died? And she said, God must have died. The way you're acting, God must have died.

Is God dead? Don't you believe in God anymore? Because he was so depressed and discouraged because of the troubles that he was in. He had such a good, sweet wife to dress in funeral garments in order to teach him that God was not dead. How stupid was that?

You know, every once in a while you need your wife to tell you how stupid you are. And I've been very grateful for a wife like that. Because something happens and you get so hasty to go to the black conclusion. No! No, God is in control.

No, God is going to sum up everything in Christ. No, God is putting to death the works of the devil. No, God has destroyed your greatest enemy, death. You know, people are everywhere. They're so afraid of some virus.

You know, they're afraid of Ebola or something like that, which, I mean, really, Ebola only has like a 70% death rate, you know, give or take, depending on what strain you have. But guess what? Original sin has 100% death rate for all of its victims. There's something far, far worse. Everybody's running around talking about Ebola.

Well, I mean, I will be grateful if it stops. But let me tell you this. There is something far, far, far worse afoot in the world. And that is sin And the heart that does not behold its God. And see the beauty of the Lord that is spoken of here.

There are four things that we say. We say, be strong, okay? You're counseling someone who's in fear. Here's what you do. You tell them, be strong.

In other words, do the things that make you strong. Stop doing the things that make you weak. Stop thinking the things that make you weak, And be strong. Start doing the things that make you strong, because you become weakened. Secondly, do not fear.

In other words, don't nurse your fears. Quit obsessing about those things that have made you fearful. Thirdly, behold, your God will come with a vengeance. In other words, remember who is in control. God will come with a vengeance, with the recompense of God.

God is absolutely going to vanquish everything that is not good, that is related to your life. That's the truth. And He will bring you through trials in order to deliver you from this world. But recognize that your God will come of the vengeance. He will absolutely destroy every bad thing impinging upon your life.

That's the promise. The fourth thing you should say is, He will come and save you. He will come and save you. The one who is in control is the one who is going to come and save you. So you should be happy.

Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear, behold your God, and He will come and save you. So that's how you minister to the fearful hearted. That's one way. You know what the Number one command in the Bible is, the command that's spoken more, it's not about sexual immorality. Uh-uh, no.

The number, the highest number of times that a command is issued is on this matter, do not fear. How about that? It kind of makes sense, doesn't it? For a church like ours, you know, fear weakens, it makes you unproductive. You know, is there a lack of productivity in your life because of fear in your heart.

You know, maybe your employer doesn't know what's really restraining your productivity. Because your hands are hanging down because of your fears. And in one way, you might even be defrauding your employer because you're letting your fears overcome you. Or what about with your, you know, maybe you're a father and you don't have the energy, you lack the joy because of fear and you're not discipling your children, You're not inspiring your wife, you're not helping your wife with her troubles and her fears and her sorrows, because your hands are down there, because maybe you haven't heard these things that you're supposed to hear. Be strong, do the things that make you strong.

Don't fear, don't nurse your fears, and behold your God. Is it always sinful to fear? No, it's not always sinful to fear. Most of our fears come from a sinful meditation on our troubles. But the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father has spoken that we should fear Him.

That we should fear God. It's not a servile fear. But the Lord Jesus Christ did also say, let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.

The Apostle Paul said, that you should cast your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Jesus Christ said, I will never leave you or forsake you. There's so many reasons not to fear, but we find people in our greatest heroes had fears. Joshua and Abraham and David and Elijah, Jeremiah, you know, had fears. It was recommended to me to read Richard Baxter's Directions Against Sinful Fear.

So I did. I recommended to you, directions against sinful fear. And Richard Baxter says, first of all, that fear is a necessary passion in man, which is planted in nature for the restraining of us from sin and driving us on to duty and preventing misery. So he says there is a kind of fear that is helpful. Because sometimes things are about us that we need to do something about.

We need to change direction. And often fear comes up in your heart and you need to do something different. Has that ever happened to you? Of course it has happened to you. You know, the wise man sees danger and he delivers himself.

There's a certain kind of fear that really is legitimate. I don't think we should say it's always sinful to fear. But when it comes from unbelief or distrust, or when it comes from exalting the powers of men or creatures without remembering that they're dependent on God, then it is sinful fear. That's what Richard Baxter says. And then Richard Baxter, of course, would give a long list.

Now my daughter asked me this morning if I was going to give a long list about anything. She said like maybe six or seven. I said no. I said I have 15 things from Richard Baxter. Are you ready?

Okay. Richard Baxter's counsel for those who struggle with fear. I'm gonna go fast. I'll email him to you later if you want. But you can read this.

It's not very long by Richard Baxter first remember the freeness of the gospel remember remember how free the gospel is when you're afraid remember that God is abundantly poured out his grace towards sinners remember that when you're afraid secondly involve yourself in the praise of God. He says, for love expeleth tormenting fear. Love expels tormenting fear. Meditate on the love of God. Number three, know the goodness of God, His mercy.

It'll banish sinful fears, is what he says. Number four, he says it again. Concentrate on the love of God. He says, employ yourselves as much as possible in love and praise. Fifth, remember that the devil is not free.

Remember that the devil is not free. He is chained. Number six, remember your conversion. He saved you from a thousand calamities. Number seven, remember how dishonorable it is to distrust God.

Number eight, renounce your fear of man. I love this. He says, for he is a bubble raised by providence to toss about the world and for God to honor himself by or upon. The fear of man. He says, man he's just a bubble.

He's a bubble raised up by God. He's going to, God's going to pop his bubble. That's the idea. Ninth, remember that the Lord has overcome the world. Jesus said be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world. That's John 16, 33. Number 10. Sufferings. Remember that sufferings are ordinary for all who are on their way to heaven.

Number 11. Remember how small the suffering is compared to the glory. And there he says it's short suffering. It doesn't last very long, but how long and great and glorious is your reward in heaven? He says, it is but a little while and the pain and shame will all be past, but the glory will never be past.

How about that? You know, you might have shame or trouble, but it'll go away because God is going to take care of it for all of eternity. Number 12, remember how little your suffering is compared to the greatness of your sin. Remember how little your suffering is compared to the greatness of your sin. He says, should a man grudge at the opening of a vein for his health who deserved to have lost his life?

We deserve to have lost everything by our sin. But we didn't receive the punishment from that. God was so merciful. So he says, remember how little your suffering is compared to the greatness of your sin. 13, remember how disastrous It is to fear.

You can think of some of the disastrous things that have taken place because of fear. Remember, Peter denied the Lord three times. Fear is often the way of apostasy. Way of apostasy. Number 14, remember the dangers you have been saved from already.

Did I say 15? I only gave you 14. There are way more than 15 in Richard Baxter's work. I just picked out a few. But, so what do we do?

I think here in this passage is a wonderful help for all of us so that we can counsel one another properly when we're in our fears. Because we're going to have fears. Here's what we shouldn't say. If you're fearful, you're not a Christian. We don't want to say that.

If you're totally obsessed with your fears and you never let God relieve you of your fears, you might not be a Christian. How about that? But fears are normal. But here, I think There are three words here in this text that are so helpful. He will come.

He will come, those three words. He will come and save you. I think those are some of the most encouraging words in the English language for fearful hearts. And that means that the sun will come out again. That God does desire to deliver from fear.

Behold your God and He will come and save you." This is the sovereignty of God. You know, I was with with our interns yesterday at a conference, a couple days ago at a conference and one of the speakers there, I think it was Steven Lawson, I think he said, no matter how sovereign you believe God to be, He's more sovereign than that. And he was talking about just the authority of Jesus Christ. He said, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. All authority.

And whatever, however sovereign you think God is, He's way, way more sovereign than that. In fact, you're going to get to heaven and you're going to find out He was far, far more sovereign than you thought he was at the pinnacle of your maturity in your Christian life. And I think we're going to discover we had no idea just how sovereign he is and was in everything. And so we often so underestimate God and His power. And it's just so much easier to wallow than it is to wait on Him.

It's so much easier to languish than to look into His Word for help. It's so much easier to regret and let your hands just hang down rather than to read and do the things that make you strong. But here we have, again, it's another picture of the beauty of the people of God. And one of the reasons why God has gathered us together is the people. So that there would be this display, this spectacle, that the powers and the principalities would be looking down into this church and there would be a fearful hearted person there and there and there.

And someone is speaking to them. Someone is comforting them rather than allowing them just to sink into the depths of despair that the devil is throwing them into. But there are people that are carrying, they're lifting one another up. That's such a beneficial aspect of the people of God. You know, I love the Church of Jesus Christ.

It's so beneficial because you have people like that who will bring things that are true, like this, in this passage. And then you have here, the third section here, you see the power of God at work in verses 5 and 6. Not only do you see the glory of God transforming the people and they're glad and not only do you have people strengthening one another by talking to each other, but you also have the power of God at work in verses 5 and 6. Verse 5, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing." And here is a reality of the Christian life.

Your former weaknesses are disappearing. God is going to do something to you, to your eyes, to your ears, to your tongue, and to your feet. He's going to transform your senses and He's going to heal the functioning of your body so that your body is doing something differently and your senses are activated in a whole new way so that you're hearing and seeing and saying things that you never were able before and your feet are doing something. And you know, your lameness is getting taken care of. So Your eyes, your ears, and your tongue and your feet, everything about you will be changed.

These things will be progressively experienced, and then they'll be perfectly experienced in heaven. They are imperfectly experienced here. And I think that's, you know, Isaiah is speaking of the beginning of the work of God in your life all the way to the very end. From the time that he redeems you and he begins to heal your your eyes and your ears and everything and then finally when he completely gives you a new body. I think he's speaking about all those things.

But the blind will see, you know, God opens their eyes. By the way, you look at the miracles of Jesus. How many blind people did Jesus heal? A lot. John devotes an entire chapter to the healing of a blind man in John chapter 9.

And you know, one of the things that's said in John chapter 9 is, this never happened before. This never happened. Nobody ever saw anything like this happen, or somebody who was blind and then they saw. Well Jesus Christ does that. He does things that nobody else can do.

And that is really a shadow, a picture of Jesus Christ and his ability to open up blind eyes. And then the deaf will hear. You'll be more attentive to truth. You'll be able to hear more truth as you go on in your Christian life. And then the lame will leap like a deer.

I like that, like a deer. Sometimes going home with their deer running around our property and, you know, when they get near the fence, I kind of want to go near them so they'll jump over them. I want to see them jump over the fence. It's so beautiful to see a deer. Isn't it beautiful to see a deer leap over a fence, it's astonishing.

But that's the picture here. The lame will leap like a deer, leaping over obstacles. I mean, I don't think this is connected to like Superman, who you leap tall buildings at a single bound, but it's kind of like that. You're able to do more. You're able to go more places.

You're leaping. And then the dumb sing. The tongue of the dumb shall sing. Your tongue begins to be used for beautiful purposes. And of course, you know, this is quoted in Matthew chapter 11 and in Luke chapter four.

In Matthew chapter 11, John the Baptist is wondering if Jesus Christ is the Messiah. And the Lord says, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." The very similar thing is said in Luke chapter 4, verses 16 through 21. But there it is, the people of God are on display before the powers and the principalities. And what's happening?

They hear more, they say more, they sing more. It's a marvelous thing. And then there'll be streams in the desert, streams flowing in the desert. Verse 6 and 7. There will be streams in the desert, the parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of jackals where each lay.

There shall be grass with reeds and rushes." So there's streams in the desert. Now, the dispensationalists have said that this was fulfilled in 1948 when the Jews made an independent state in Palestine and the cultivation of the land of the Negev and the blossoming of the desert that's the fulfillment of this I don't think that's the fulfillment of this This is the creation of new creatures and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the water, the waters of life being poured out into the heart of the believer that cleanses and refreshes and makes alive, that creates the beauty of the Lord. John spoke of this in John 7, 38, where he says, on the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and he cried out, Right out there in the middle of the crowd, he said, if any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink, and out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And then he says, this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not glorified. Verses 6 and 7 are about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

This is the beautification of the Church by the Holy Spirit, that people filled with the Holy Spirit, they speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They're filled with the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is the work of the Spirit in the Church. Jesus spoke of the same thing in John 4 when he was talking to the woman at the well. He said, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.

But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to everlasting life. And the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water. That's such good water. So here you have this beautiful scene in Isaiah 35. The people of God are on display.

They're rejoicing. They're blossoming. They're singing. They're talking. They're talking to one another.

They're strengthening the weak hands. They know that they have a distinctive responsibility to be strong so they can make strong the weak and to say very specific things to them. And then they have their senses restored and the blind see and the lame walk and they leap like a deer and they're refreshed by the streams in the desert. This is a picture of Jesus Christ as the head of His church, blessing His church. He is such a kind shepherd.

He is such a beneficial Savior. There is nothing, no one like Jesus Christ. And there's nothing like a church where Jesus Christ is exalted and glorified. Nothing like it. There's nothing in the world like it.

Nothing so beautiful than that. You know, there's this song, The Sands of Time are sinking. I'm going to close with just reading two of the verses of this song because I think it really draws together everything we've read in Isaiah 35. O Christ, He is the fountain, the deep, sweet well of love, The streams on earth I've tasted, more deep I'll drink above. There to an ocean fullness, his mercy doth expand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.

The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace. Not at the crown He gifted, but on His pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. You know, as we make our way as a church, as we serve one of our great purposes in the world to be a spectacle, to be demonstrations of the manifold wisdom of God to the powers and the principalities in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As we're about all of that, that we would find ourselves like this here in Isaiah 35. A happy people making one another happy through the glory of God. Let's pray. Lord, we're so amazed at these words of scripture, which are beyond our ability to even explain well. They're far more precious than silver or rubies or gold.

They're heavier and more wonderful than anything. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to know them deep within our hearts that you would make us a church like this. Those streams flowing in the desert making us alive again and again and again and again. Amen.