Jesus Loves Little Babies, a new fully illustrated children's book teaching God's heart for pre-born children by Sarah Fenn. available at www.godloveswomen.com. That is www.godloveswomen.com. Oh Holy Father in heaven, Please come quickly to help us, O God. Holy Lord, please make haste and with all speed come to help your servants who are persecuted and suffering. Save us, O Lord. Deliver us from the evil one. O Lord, Your enemies speak against your children, but let them be put to shame. They seek the hurt of the Gospel, and they seek to blaspheme your Son, Jesus Christ. No, Lord, they search out the hurt of your children. to do them evil and not good, but you will put them to shame. And then your children shall arise, the meek and the humble and the afflicted shall arise and say, let God be magnified. O Lord, When we are lonely and hurt, poor and weak, we pray, make haste, O Lord, come quickly, do not tarry. Oh, how we thank you for your love, your precious covenantal love. Oh, how your love is better than life. Lord, we pray that You would forgive the shallowness of our love for You, and increase its depth, even through suffering, Lord. Dig the trenches deep with suffering, so that they can be filled with love for Christ. Let our hearts, O Lord, Be deep with love for Christ. Oh, how we thank you for the words of your prophet Isaiah. And we pray that you would open our eyes and show us wonderful and miraculous things in this, your law. In Jesus' holy name, Amen. Well, we want to be heavenly minded at the beginning of the new year. So, this morning, the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 35. We'll begin with verses 1 through 2. This is the word of the Lord. 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." Thus far the reading of God's Holy Word, and we tremble joyfully at it. God has made a way to heaven, yet it is a wilderness way to heaven. Most men love the world's way. The world's way is the way to hell, but most men love it because it is a path paved with marble stones and lined with luxury retail stores and quaint restaurants and palm trees. Therefore, God's way is unattractive to them because it is the wilderness way running through a sea of burning sand and uncomely shrubs. God's highway is a lonely path that winds its way through the desert. It exposes our world of human sin and idolatry for the languishing, shriveled landscape and the dry, dead terrain that it is. Isaiah chapter 33 verse 9, The earth mourns and languishes. Lebanon is shamed and shriveled. Sharon is like a wilderness. And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. True children of Christ, however, are those who know the beauty of the wilderness way to heaven. They have walked the wilderness way of Christ long enough to know that it is a road filled with the miraculous promises of God. On the wilderness way to heaven, the desert itself is changed. The wilderness is converted by the mighty works of the Spirit of Christ. On the wilderness way, the desert blossoms, with the lilies and the crocuses springing to life atop every hill and every bluff. and the lush, scenic beauty that formerly clothed the mountain heights of Carmel and the stretching valleys of Sharon now blooms in the wilderness. To the unbeliever, the wilderness way of God is nothing but a dry, desolate path of antiquity. Yet to the true follower of the way, There is the life-giving Spirit of God, who causes living waters to flow in the wilderness. Isaiah 35 verse 7, 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. Indeed, God's wilderness way demands that His pilgrims travel through many dry and desolate places. Yet it is only on that wilderness way that God's pilgrims witness His miracle of sending forth water from the rock, that is, the supernatural river of the Holy Spirit, flowing in the desert. Psalm 107.35, He turns a wilderness into pools of water and dry land into water springs. And also, Isaiah 41, 18 through 19, I will open rivers in desolate heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oiled tree. I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together. Is this not the Gospel? Was not Jesus sent into the world as a despised nursing babe, and did He not grow up like a root out of dry and desolate ground? Did not the wilderness places of Galilee receive Jesus when the wicked urban centers of Judea would not? And did He not promise to send His Spirit into the thirsty hearts of those who would believe in Him, such that out of those hearts would flow fountains of living waters? O dear Christian, do not be afraid of taking the wilderness way. It is indeed a lonely path. You may go many months on the way, or even years, while feeling all alone on this wilderness road. And also it is a dangerous path. There may be no fixed income on this way, and no civilized protection from the wild beasts and violent bandits that haunt the wilderness. Yet this path of poverty and loneliness, and of persecution and despised-ness, is the only path of glory. For only this path is blessed by the miraculous providence of the Spirit of the Most High, and it alone leads to the City of Glory, which is the Great Heavenly Mount of Zion. This is the way of Christ, your Savior. And on this way you will find the prints of His sandals still visible in the undisturbed dust, and the bloodstains of His cross still marking some of the stones that have been erected by ancient pilgrims of the way. And thus you will be comforted by knowing that He, your Redeemer, has trodden this path through the desert before you, and so He will be there to comfort you in all of your distresses all along the way. Again, dear Christian, this is the way of the Lord, the way of holiness, and you will be blessed by God if you walk in it, and turn not aside from it, but rather remain in it. The Prophet Isaiah has written things of beautiful imagery, This is the best of poetry, because it is God-breathed poetry. The desert will be converted into a colorful, blooming landscape. The wilderness will be changed into a garden. Yet, what does this actually mean? What specific Refreshment does the Prophet's poetry bring into the actual lives of God's thirsty pilgrims? For those who have been traveling the wilderness way to heaven for quite some time, and who are now feeling quite weary and attacked and defeated on the way, what specific message of comfort and relief does the Prophet's poetry bring to them? Isaiah 35, 3-6, 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 waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert." Formerly, the sinful people of Israel were judged with the judgments of weak hands. feeble knees, blind eyes, deaf ears, and mute mouths. Since they would not know God their Maker, He struck them with weakness, feebleness, blindness, deafness, and muteness." They were made mute. Ezekiel 7, 15-17. Every hand will be weak, and every knee will be as unstable as water." And also Isaiah 29.9, pause and wonder, blind yourselves and be blind. That's a judgment. And Psalm 38.13, but I, like a deaf man, do not hear. And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth. Israel's sinful rebellion against God has plunged her into weakness, and feebleness, and blindness, and deafness, and muteness. These are judgments from her Maker. Yet these judgments are more spiritual than they are physical. For after the disciples of Jesus saw a man who was blind from birth, they asked Jesus, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? To which Jesus replied, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. And so, many physical infirmities do strike the righteous, as in the case of righteous Job, while the wicked are spiritually made infirm, blind, deaf, and mute. So these then are spiritual judgments but they are judgments nonetheless. The Gospel, however, comes to those who have physical infirmities, in order to announce the glad tidings that Jesus has come to take away through his sacrificial death for us. the diseases of our hearts. So the Gospel starts with the physical healing in order to proclaim the spiritual redemption and the spiritual healing. And therefore, the conversion of the desert into a lush, scenic river valley brings with it the healing of those believers who have suffered under many physical infirmities, so that the healing power of the Gospel can be put on display for all the world to see. The desert is healed along the wilderness way of the Gospel, and so the desert becomes a garden. The lame man is healed on the wilderness way of the Gospel, and so he begins first to walk, and then to leap, and finally to praise God with all of his might. Zephaniah 3, 15-16, The LORD has taken away your judgments. He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst. You shall see disaster no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Do not fear, Zion, let not your hands be weak. And also Isaiah 29, 17-18, Is it not yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of this book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. So who then knows the wilderness way to heaven? Well, certainly we would think that John the Baptist knew the wilderness way. After all, he was a voice crying out, in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord. He lived in the wilderness, and ate wild locusts and honey in the wilderness, and taught and baptized in the wilderness. Rejected by the world and hated by the scribes, one would think that John the Baptist, out of all people, understood the wilderness way to heaven. And yet there was a time when John's faith grew just a tad bit feeble. He had baptized Jesus and had seen the Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove. He knew that the kingdom of heaven had come near. However, Jesus had been persecuted from the outset of his public ministry, and now John himself had been cast into prison under Herod's prideful cruelty. And still, from John's vantage point, the son of David showed no signs of defeating his enemies. The desert was still a desert. No lilies or crocuses were springing up in the desert. And therefore, John himself began cautiously to wonder as to whether or not Jesus' way was really the way to Israel's salvation. In turn, Jesus responded to John when John asked him, Are you the one who is to come, or shall I wait for another? Jesus gently rebuked John by reminding him that the way to heaven is always the wilderness way of the 35th chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. Matthew 11, 2 through 6, And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, Are you the coming one, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. And now he quotes from Isaiah 35. The blind see, and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me." On the wilderness way to heaven, there is much suffering. On the wilderness way, our souls oftentimes are afflicted by our own senses of spiritual weakness and spiritual feebleness and blindness and deafness and muteness. And also we suffer physically on the wilderness way to heaven. Our bodies hurt and they bleed. Our backs ache. And our hands and eyes grow weary under the labor of our ministry to our children and to others. So why then did Jesus come healing the lame and the blind and the deaf and the mute? He did this in order to show us the miraculous power of God that comes upon us spiritually when we walk the hard, arduous road of the wilderness way to heaven. Surely we do weep under the pain and the fatigue that falls upon us in the midst of the wilderness. However, even as we weep, we begin to feel the rejuvenating rain showers of the Almighty Spirit of the Living God descending upon us and strengthening us. Hebrews 12, 12-13, Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet. What are these paths? Are they not paths on the wilderness way of heaven? So that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather healed. On the wilderness way to heaven, why is the desert healed and converted into this lush river valley? Is this not a prophecy of the larger healing from the curse of sin that will come to all of those who call upon the name of the Lord? In heaven will not formerly crippled little girls exchange their wheelchair-confined bodies for ones that will run without ever growing weary, and that will walk without ever growing faint. In the kingdom of heaven will not formerly blind little boys see landscapes that no eye has ever seen, and formerly deaf little boys hear music that no ear has ever heard? Will not those who are weak and hurt now, under the persecutions of the devil, be the ones to leap and sing then, when the Kingdom of God comes in its fullness? O Christian, do you feel in your bones what I oftentimes feel, Do you feel attacked, wounded, persecuted, maligned, lonely, fatigued, wearied, and exhausted, almost to the point of wanting to despair even of life itself? O Christian, beloved by the Lord, renew your spiritual strength by returning in prayerful repentance and clinging faith to Isaiah's prophetic poetry. Remember that you are on the wilderness way to heaven. And as such, you shall see spiritually waters bursting forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The Spirit of the Most High God has promised and thus is not only able to, but also willing to revive you. He, the Holy Spirit, both has the divine power and the divine intention to strengthen your weak hands and to make firm your feeble knees. Trust Him in this. Call upon Him for this, and He shall do it. For He who has promised is always faithful. The wilderness way to heaven is a way of cross-bearing hardship and trial-forbearing weariness, but it is also the way of miraculous revival. On the wilderness way to heaven, the desert is converted into a river valley, and the weak hands of the weary pilgrim are made strong. There is much joy to be had then on this wilderness way. It is the narrow road and it is the lonely way, but it is also the only route on which is to be found true jubilation, true rejoicing. On the wilderness way to heaven, the righteous, with their tired knees and their cracked lips and all, are found, they're found singing. Isaiah 35.2, The wilderness shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. And Isaiah 35.6, 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. And again, Isaiah 35.10, 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. The desert is converted into a river valley, and the righteous are found singing along the way that leads through the valley. This is the wilderness way to heaven, and on it the pilgrims sing." Isaiah 51, verse 3, For the LORD will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. However, as Christians, we must not forget one of the great reasons why the righteous will be found singing in heaven. Namely, they will be found singing because of God's vengeance and recompense on the wicked. When God's vengeance and recompense comes at last upon their enemies, then they will sing. Isaiah 35, verse 4. Isaiah 35, verse 4. What does God's grace look like? It looks like a desert being converted into a lush, scenic river valley. What then does God's vengeance look like? It looks a lot like a formerly lush, scenic river valley being turned into a land of burning pitch and flaming sulfur. Isaiah 34, verses 8 through 9. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. The world's streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone. Its land shall become burning pitch, God shall repay his enemies, and when he does so, the righteous shall sing. When Babylon's gardens are turned into burning pitch, just as Sodom's arboretums were once turned to salt, the righteous will sing for joy because of the justice of God. The Lord will bring recompense to his enemies, even the distant coastlands he will fully repay. And again, this will come upon Babylon, even as it once came upon Sodom. Jeremiah 51 verse six, flee from the midst of Babylon and every one of you save his life. Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance. He shall recompense her. The God who converts the desolate desert of the wilderness way into a lush river valley, is also the God who turns lush cities that belong to the wicked into desolate places full of tar pits. Our God is a God of vengeance. And this, in part, is what causes us to sing Psalm 94 verse 1, O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs, O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth. Now, of course, this means neither that we hate our enemies, nor that we take vengeance into our own hands. We desire the salvation of all people, even our persecutors. As children of the Wilderness Way, we love our enemies and even pray for them and bless them. We take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, yet knowing that so many people will go to their graves with the hatred of God in their hearts and on their lips. and many of them dying with healthy bodies and tons of money in their bank accounts, as if smirking in their pride while persecuting the righteous and murdering the innocent, we rejoice in the coming vengeance of God. They who laughed and mocked while they trampled upon the heads of God's little children, and while they trampled upon the gospel of the blood of the Son of God, will now have to face the God to whom vengeance belongs. In the book of Revelation, the martyrs of Christ cry out. This is from the book of Revelation. How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? The martyrs are in heaven. And in their sinless state in heaven, they still cry for God's vengeance on their behalf. They're washed by the blood of the Lamb, they're made perfectly clean in heaven, and yet they're crying for vengeance. This means, O church, that if we are thirsty for the streams that flow in the wilderness, we must also be a people who are thirsty for the coming vengeance of God. The wicked must be destroyed, or else they will continue to ruin the church's gardens of righteousness through their own wicked deeds. The unrepentant must be cast into hell, lest they take hold of the new heavens and the new earth which God will create, and seek to turn them back into an ugly desert wasteland of iniquity and unrighteousness. Of such things we shall sing, even with joy and gladness, because our God will come with vengeance and so destroy all of those who would persecute and terrify his beloved children. Who is it, then, who shall be allowed to walk on this wilderness way to heaven? Who shall be allowed to see the miraculous conversion of the desert into a river valley, and to witness firsthand the healing of the blind and the lame, and to hear the joyful songs of the righteous as they sing about the coming vengeance of their God? Well, certainly the unclean, the unrepentant fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners, will not be allowed on this special road, this miraculous wilderness way to heaven. For this road through the wilderness has a special name. It is called very specifically by the prophet, the highway of holiness. Isaiah 35, eight through 10, 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 who walk the road, although fools shall not wander about on it. 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. Just as was the case during the exodus out of Egypt, The Lord will provide a highway through the wilderness for his people. Isaiah 11, 16, there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who will be left from Assyria as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. Yet this new highway, this final gospel highway, shall be called the highway of holiness." Anyone who walks this way must walk in the way of holiness. And surely this summons to God-fearing holiness resounds throughout the whole of the Bible, since God's way is always the way of holiness. Psalm 77, 13, Your way, O God, is in the holy place. Who is so great a God as our God? And yet we as Christians know ourselves all too well. We know that formerly we were not holy. Rather, in our youthful rebellion, we were unrighteous, unclean, and unholy. Our hearts were deceitful above all things and desperately sick with sin. Even our righteous acts were like filthy rags. How then can we ever claim the right to enter upon this glorious highway of holiness and to walk it towards the gates of the New Jerusalem? There is only one way for wretched sinful men ever to enter upon the highway of holiness. That is, there is only one way to enter into the wilderness way to heaven. John 14.6 is the one way. Jesus said to him, Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Christ is my only entrance upon the Highway of Holiness. Even I, the former chief of sinners, can walk the Highway of Holiness because Christ walked the Highway of Calvary in my stead. His way was sinless. Without spot or blemish, He walked the way to torture, to crucifixion, and to death in my place. And His way was then the way of Golgotha. And in His death, my sins were put to death. And therefore, the Holy Spirit of Christ is now my holiness. Christ is my righteousness and my sanctification. His life lived through me, put my sinful flesh to death, and raises up the spirit of holiness within me. And this is the only way to walk the wilderness way to heaven. The highway of holiness can only be walked by those who are willing to be made holy. By the power of Christ's sanctifying spirit in us. We can journey on the highway, and there's no other way to do it. And yet all of those who claim to walk the way to heaven, but do not have the ardent pursuit of holiness before God in their inner beings, are hypocrites and are imposters. For the way of true salvation in Christ is never walked without those works of holiness which mark the true elect of God. The earliest name for Christianity was not actually Christianity. Historically speaking, the earliest name for Christianity was the Way. Saul of Tarsus, in the book of Acts, was found traveling to Damascus in order to persecute the men and women of the Way. And this New Testament faith, which was once called the Way, is always the way of holiness. For without holiness, no man shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. 1 Thessalonians 4, 7-8 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has given us His Holy Spirit. And also Hebrews 12, 14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, and holiness, without which No one will see the Lord. O suffering Christian, let the Prophet Isaiah bring to your remembrance this great truth, namely, that the wilderness way to heaven is the highway of holiness. Why is it so difficult and painful. The fiery trials of the highway are designed to perfect you in holiness. And therefore, the more you walk the highway, the more you shall feel the weakness of your own hands, and the feebleness of your own knees. The trial shall increase, and the suffering shall increase, so that you, while on the way, shall be compelled to shed the weaknesses of your mortal flesh, in order to put on the strength of your immortal spirit, having been united with Christ through the Holy Spirit." Outwardly, as you travel on the way, you are wasting away. But inwardly, as you walk the highway of holiness, you are being renewed day by day. Your physical eyes shall grow weak and tired, but with your spiritual eyes you shall be able to see more light than ever before, such that you finally shall see clearly enough through the hot desert sun to witness the miracles happening all around you. That is, water is already streaming in the desert. And springs are already flowing in the wilderness. The lilies and crocuses are already starting to shoot up out of the ground. And the signs of the coming river valley, as beautiful as the Garden of Eden itself, are already starting to appear. For the more you grow in holiness, dear Christian, Learning to abhor sin and to love righteousness because you love God, the more you can see ahead of you. And the more that you can see ahead of you, the more you shall realize that the highway of holiness is headed towards a bright, gleaming city. Since you are on the highway, you know that one day you will enter through the gates of that city. And since in your increased holiness, you are seeing more clearly than ever before, you already can see the glory of God radiating from the city. And thus you know that in that city the blind will see God, and the deaf will hear God, and the mute will speak of God, and the weak will be strong in God. Into that city the lame will enter with leaping and everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. For in the city we shall behold the glory of the Lord, and His glory shall be so luminous that there shall be no more need for a lamp, nor for the light of the sun. But the Lord God shall illumine all that is in the city. And thus we shall worship the Eternal Father, even as we worship the Eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and shall reign with Him in His Kingdom forever and ever, with joy and jubilation, and with holiness unending, world without end. Amen. So as we now close and return to this holy table of the Lord. We come with weak hands and feeble knees. We also come worshipping the Christ who took the way to Calvary for our sins. Before we come, here is the doxology. Praise be to God, our Father, who is the glorious God of vengeance, and who shall come with vengeance against his enemies. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way to the Father, and who walks with us all the way up the highway of holiness. And praise be to the Holy Spirit, whose grace flows like streams in the desert, and so strengthens weak hands and makes strong feeble knees. Amen.