God's Tender Mercies — Erlo Stegen

Shall we pray? We thank you for the mercy that we can meet together today and we ask you to be with us. Help us, Lord, and speak to us through your word. Anoint these words with life, with life-giving power so that each one would be raised up filled with light instead of being surrounded by darkness when they leave the service.

Isaiah's Call to Comfort God's People

Today our text is from the book of Isaiah. I'd wanted to start in the beginning and stop in verse 8. But when I looked at it again, I got so involved with it and so absorbed, I thought, well, I can hardly get beyond verse 3.

And I'll have to leave it for another opportunity to be able to speak about it. Isaiah 40, verse 1. Comfort ye, my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

We'll read verse 2. To continue with the prophecy about the coming, one who would announce the way of the Lord, John the Baptist, who would say, prepare ye the way of the Lord. But by verse 2, I was so captivated, I could not continue.

These two verses contain so much. Because I thought I'd like to look at all these words about John the Baptist. For the story of John is very great. Remember, Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were very old already and were childless.

Zacharias, being a priest in the temple. And how the angel Gabriel came to Zacharias and said, your wife will be with child and he will be great, for he will prepare the way. His name will be John. No, Elizabeth was to be his name.

Zacharias said, no, this cannot be so. It's just beyond me. This is impossible. Elizabeth and I are so old already. But all Zacharias had to do was just to carefully listen to the name of the child, John, for no one in his family, among all his relatives had that name.

John the Baptist and the Mercy of God

Because the name John means God has mercy. God is merciful. He should have listened more diligently because of this being revealed that, yes, I am old, so is Elizabeth, but God is great and he is merciful.

I'd like the theme to be of this service, that it is a sermon about mercy. John said, no, Zacharias said, no, it cannot be. And he went out the temple. By then, quite a crowd had gathered, wondering what on earth had happened to John in there.

He was staying far beyond his time. And when Zacharias finally came out, he came out, not being able to speak, just gesticulating with his hands saying, He couldn't speak. He was struck dumb. God had tied his tongue.

They thronged around him and asked what had happened. He said, we'll bring a piece of paper and something to write with. They brought him a paper and pen to write. And he wrote, Elizabeth is to be with child.

She will give birth to a son. So when the time came that the boy was born, it was then that he asked for paper and he wrote that his name is John. The people said, that's out of the question. No one else in your family is called John.

But he persisted and he said, his name is John. And it was at that point that God untied. He loosed his tongue. Then his tongue was untied. God enabled him to speak again. And he said, this is what God has done.

He's given us the son and he is called John for God is gracious. And indeed it was so. Wasn't it grace that they, this old man and wife should have a son who should be the greatest of all children born of men, except the Lord Jesus.

Wasn't that mercy that his tongue should be loosed? Wasn't it mercy that this John should go before the Lord preparing the way? Is it not mercy that we can be here gathered together to hear the word of the Lord?

Listening to what God has to say to us. So today my sermon is about mercy. So how does the story start? It says comfort. Yes, comfort my people. Speak comfort and courage to Jerusalem. God's people and Jerusalem were seen as one thing.

God's words spoken through his prophet. Speak comfort. Yes, comfort to my people. For thus says the Lord, your God. The prophet said. Speak comfort and courage to my people. Why should God speak in this manner?

Comfort for a People in Ruins

For God saw his people in ruins, despair, hopeless, in darkness, utterly vanquished by the enemy. Jerusalem was destroyed. Many were in Babylon, in captivity. And God said, now comfort, speak comfort to my people.

May we hear this properly? Speak courage to Jerusalem for she had lost all hope. She was in despair, had no boldness left, was just as weak as water. Speak to her that her warfare is ended. And that her iniquity is pardoned.

For she has received from the Lord's hand double. Now, this wasn't just a matter for Isaiah in that specific instance only. It's still applicable today. God says, speak to my people, comfort Jerusalem.

God has pity. He feels such compassion on his people who are utterly lost and in darkness and death. Walk by people and we just don't bother about them. We don't know them or we think bad thoughts or we throw a stone at them.

We have only critical thoughts about them. We don't remember. We forget. We remember their sins. What would you think of a nursing sister who wouldn't feel compassion for her dying patients? And if she brings them some pills and a glass of water, she just puts it there and says, you drink it.

After all, you're the one who's sick. Not speaking about nursing and a patient, but spiritually, what do you feel about people who are in a hopeless state, in despair? Don't you show any pity towards them?

They're in darkness. They have no hope. In Zulu, I said even the outsiders. But here it speaks to the insiders, to Jerusalem and his people. He speaks here to his very own, to Jerusalem, to his people.

These words are the words of your God. What should be done about Jerusalem, which lies in ruins and God's people who are in captivity? And the children of God who are living the life of Romans 7, where they cry out, what I want to do that I cannot.

What I don't want to do is the very thing which I do. Children of God who are living a life of failure, who are always slipping up, always living a dismal, hopeless life. There are some theologians who say, Isaiah 39.

They speculate that from Isaiah 1 to 39, it might have been one section written by Isaiah, and that from chapter 40 onwards might have been written by somebody else. Because before chapter 40, the God described as one of vengeance and of wrath, but from chapter 40, it's of mercy and comfort.

And it can't be the same thing. He's before that God speaks of revenge. But here. And here from chapter 40, God speaks with pity, with comfort, encouraging words to his people. And well, that speculation of authorship doesn't trouble me in the least.

Speaking Tenderly to the Repentant

It is good that we children of God remember this. When we see children of God in ruin, we should not place burden upon burden and say, well, they're getting what they deserved, just as I predicted. Look at them.

No, we need to speak comfortingly to Jerusalem. I also have the Amplified Bible. To the heart of Jerusalem. And cry to her. I think that's the thing. Many a prophet of God, many a preacher, many a child of God has got to learn.

Think of the prodigal son. He was a son. He wasn't an outcast. He was the son. And when he had made that decision to repent and come back to the father, the father met him. And his father spoke tenderly to his son, words of compassion and acceptance, and there was great joy and celebration.

The elder son said, what is this? What's this noise reaching my ears? It was said to him, your brother who was lost has returned. The one who was in the pigsty. In the Greek, it means that he was identified with the owner of the pigs.

Using a similar word as we find in 1 Corinthians 6, where it says, if a person becomes one flesh with a prostitute, he becomes one body with that person. In the same way, they said this prodigal had been made one person with the owner of the pigs.

His fall was very great. You find homosexuals, lesbians, where they crave for the same sex, flirting with each other, a perversion, something that is terrible and against nature itself. La Posa, Booyah, Indotana, Jenga, Jerusalem.

And so too with the older brother, that was his attitude. One of consternation when he saw his younger brother, who was the prodigal, who had fallen like Jerusalem, an utter ruin, made captive in a far country.

And the older brother said, doesn't my father realize what a mess his son has been in? He could not contain his anger till it reached his father's ears. Who then spoke to his older son, said, what is the matter?

Why are you so upset? He said, well, in all, during all these years, while your younger son has been away, finishing off the inheritance, becoming, identifying himself with all sin and filth, you've never given a party for me and celebrated my life.

But your God says, speak comfort, speak comfort to my people in the people's hopeless state, in their despair, in their darkness, where they say, I'm not even worthy to be called a child of God anymore.

Are we like the older brother? Are we like the one who condemns the one who has fallen? You can only criticize the one who has failed, the Christian who's, who's got lost, lost his way. And you can only utter words of condemnation instead of saying what God says.

Comfort, comfort. The older son could only see his younger brother's sin, his filth, his dirt. He couldn't speak tenderly to his heart. That's why God says, comfort, comfort those. They know they have sinned.

Their hearts saw that they have sinned and they don't need you to be angry with them and to cast them aside. Speak tenderly to their heart. Speak to them. They are children of God. They are children of God who are so conscious of their failure, they're so embarrassed, so ashamed by their disgraceful fall from the faith.

They fully aware of their sin and they feel despair, but you go and heap more despair upon them in condemnation and you find yourself in conflict with the father, the father who feels compassion for his lost son.

The Double Portion of Christ's Suffering

It says, and speak courage. Speak courage to my people for she is so aware of her sin, so fully conscious of her lost and fallen and defiled she has become. Therefore speak comfort and courage to Jerusalem for if I forgive, I forget, but no, you come and you hit out with your stick and you beat upon the head of that sinner who comes in his depressed state.

Shout out to her that her warfare is ended. Speak comfort because her warfare is finished. She is released. Has been, Jerusalem has been in great warfare because of her iniquities, has struggled and failed and been in this fight, but now cry out to her that her warfare is ended.

And that her iniquity is pardoned. That she is forgiven. For she has received from the Lord's hand double for her sins. She's received the double portion. Just look at Jesus. Being struck, being beaten.

I think back of the film, The Passion of Christ, how you're struck and beaten in double portion for our sins. But now we receive. Through him we receive blessing. That's twofold. No, a thousandfold. As we sang that English song as I was walking in, through his suffering, we receive blessing a thousandfold.

Have you gone to a person already who has sinned and repented and encouraged him, comforted him, strengthened him, quickened him, even if his life is in ruins, that you speak tenderly to his heart. That's what the Father says we should do.

Have you ever spoken these words of comfort to the person who drowns in the sea of sin? Drowns in perdition, they feel condemned to such a degree that they say, my sins are so great, they are so abominable, I can never be forgiven.

It's just too much. Have you spoken comfort and said, the Lord Jesus has paid the price, be comforted for the Lord Jesus has carried that burden, been punished double so that you receive a thousandfold blessing and justification.

That's the gospel of conviction, repentance, forgiveness, cleansing, removal, being justified and that is all taken away. Is there still condemnation towards that person in your heart, you say, that person has sinned beyond measure, it's just unpardonable, but you don't have the attitude of your Heavenly Father, the one who says, go to that person, speak comfortingly, speak courage to their heart, speak tenderly to their heart.

Jesus' Tenderness Toward the Sinful

When Simon invited Jesus to come into his home and made a feast for him, When Simon walked in and he beheld the spectacle of a loose girl, one who had lived a sexually immoral life, she had been in filth and here she was wiping the Lord's feet with her tears.

Simon thought to himself, no, this cannot be a prophet, for surely he would have realized what type of woman this is. Jesus was not identifying with her sin, of this girl, instead he said, Simon, you invited me to be here and since I've come, you've never brought the traditional dish to wash my feet.

Wash basin, but this girl, this one who has sinned so much, since I've come, she hasn't stopped wiping my feet with her hair, wiping the tears away. Jesus did not speak harshly to this girl, instead he spoke with tenderness and he said, Simon, it's because she is so conscious of her sin, that is why she weeps so profusely.

Paul, Philemon, and Receiving a Repentant Brother

There is a marvellous matter which we find in the letter to Philemon, Philemon receives a letter from Paul, he writes to him about Onesimus, Onesimus had been the slave of Philemon. While Onesimus was working for Philemon, he was busy pilfering, stealing didn't begin in Africa, it was known a long time ago, after that he ran away, he fled and found his way through to Rome.

When he was there now as a refugee, for he had fled from his master, Philemon said, what a criminal of a man who has run away with stolen property which was mine, but then in Rome he met with Paul. I don't know how but Onesimus came to repentance and he began to visit Paul in jail, he began to help him and assist him, because when a person gets saved they are a help to others.

And it doesn't matter who you are or what you are, whether you've been a slave or the save master, whether you're a Jew or a Greek, Africana, white, Zulu, it doesn't matter French, whatever you are, but if you've come to Christ we are one thing together.

So Paul wrote a letter to Philemon. Philemon was also in charge of the church there. Go and read for yourself this letter to Philemon, it's not long, it's wonderful. He said, now look Philemon, I'm sending Onesimus back to you, yes he's done wrong, yes he's stolen, yes he was a refugee, but I'm sending him back to you now.

And I request you to receive him as your brother. He is not your slave anymore for he is your brother in the Lord. And you can send me his account, whatever he's stolen, whatever is owing to you, you charge it to my account.

How marvelous, Paul is like Jesus. Who God sent and says, charge this to my account, he is the one who's come and the debt is on me. And he says, I know that he was a nuisance to you in the past and that was just a negative influence there, but now since he's converted and I've led him to the Lord, he's a son of mine in the Lord, you treat him likewise and he'll be a help to you.

Grace, Mercy, and Church Discipline

Oh the gospel, the gospel it says, comfort, comfort ye my people, encourage them and speak comforting words to them. Our Lord, and watch out lest you don't forgive the one who's a penitent, the one who is so deeply sorry, yes they have sinned, yes indeed they have fallen greatly, but you hold it in your heart and you hold this grudge and you come into church and you go out week by week, month by month, year by year, you still hold this.

Don't you realize you're unlike your heavenly father who says, speak comfortingly to that person. Yes, there are different circumstances as in the church at Corinth, there was the man who was living an immoral life with the stepmother.

Strong measures had to be taken to such an extent that it was said, don't even eat food with that person. But if a person humbles himself confessing their sin, go and speak nicely and say, be courageous oh Jerusalem, for your warring, your warfare has ended.

Your iniquity is pardoned. But you keep on hanging on to what you say are the facts of the matter, you say that person sinned, but they've repented in the meantime, well one day the feast will happen, God's heavenly feast and you'll find yourself being excluded.

This is a sermon of grace and mercy to the one who's penitent, to the one who is truly sorry, whatever depth of sin they've plummeted into, no matter what it is, as you bring those sins to him and he forgives you, then he speaks comforting words, the father speaks comfort to you.

That is the good news, this is the gospel that is to be preached and so as a person is conscious of their sin, what does it help to continue in their sin, rather that they repent and by faith receive this forgiveness and then walk in it.

Living Out God's Mercy

Comfort my people. And I'd wanted to continue but I could not to the part where it says prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God etc, but this of comforting God's people, his mercy, I could not go beyond it.

Have you been obedient in that or are you still holding on to that grudge saying I cannot forget, I cannot forgive that person and that person feels it, they are conscious of the fact that whenever they come to you they feel a terror and afraid of you because you hold this thing against them.

Are you a person who listens, who obeys and who is obedient and you pay your dues to God? If not, you are a Pharisee, a hypocrite. If you see that if you see that person, that particular person that you're holding that grudge against because of their sin which indeed they have sinned with but they've repented in the meantime and you hold it against them and you find that you are the excluded one.

I don't know, am I understood? Can I leave it at this point? Now, are you too a person of mercy? Are you able to speak God's tenderness? John was the mercy of God. If you had to read in Matthew 3 what John was like in his preaching you'd say I don't see any connection to mercy whatsoever, he's just a man of anger and condemnation but you see when sin is exposed and is confessed and is forgiven God's compassion and tenderness is shown.

The Bible says he who hides his sin shall not prosper but the one who confesses and departs from his sin shall obtain mercy. You remember what this service of today has been about? About mercy. Let your life be the same, be that.

Don't try and pretend to be better than somebody else. Show grace. Encourage the person whose life seems to have crumbled all around them. Those who have failed say to them don't die on your sin, be strengthened for God can make all things new that they'll strengthen and enabled to continue their journey with the Lord in uprightness.

We have a gospel young people, this gospel of mercy. Let us pray. We thank you oh Lord for reminding us today about your mercy. And Lord if we hadn't met up with this mercy how far and how distant we would be from you.

Lord help us to pass this mercy on to others. And that if we meet the prodigal son that we would embrace him spiritually. And that the one who sinned and failed that we would encourage them, tell them to be released for all is forgiven, all is made new.

Amen.