All women, including pre-born baby girls, are created in the image of God. Discover the true war on women www.godloveswomen.com. That is www.godloveswomen.com. O Sovereign Lord, Oh Lord, the floodwaters come. They reach up to the neck. The torrents, the threatening torrents of floodwaters seek to overwhelm us and devour us. Oh God, please don't let us sink. Oh sovereign Lord, We can hear your son, Jesus, saying in prayer, the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me. We can hear your son, Father, saying the reproaches have broken my heart. And father, you will take vengeance. For those who have hated your son and cursed him, their names will be blotted out of your book of life. Oh God, we praise you that you will bring salvation to Jerusalem. You will restore singing to the streets of Zion again. O Holy God, our Father, forgive our sins, O Lord, and forgive those who sin against us. Lord, save us and deliver us from the floodwaters of our sufferings. O God, be with your persecuted children all around the world. Save them. Bring them out, O Lord. Save them. In Jesus' name. This is the second week studying the condescension of Christ at Christmas. So this week we go to Isaiah 55. This is the book of the prophet Isaiah. Chapter 55 will begin with verses one through two. This is the word of the Lord. Oh, everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. And you who have no money, come by and eat. Yes, come by wine and milk. without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread? And your wages for what does not satisfy. Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. God summons the thirsty, those who are thirsty for the living God, and also the hungry, those who are hungry for the truth, to a delightful feast. This is the feast that is reserved only for the spiritually poor. who have no spiritual money of their own with which to come to the waters and thus to buy and eat. For those who are poor in spirit have empty spiritual pockets and empty spiritual bank accounts. They have no righteousness of their own in which to boast, but rather are beggars for the bread of life. And they seek the wine and the milk of the gospel without even having any spiritual means of their own with which to purchase them. As repentant sinners desperate for the free gift of the forgiving grace of God, they thirst only for the freely flowing waters of everlasting life that come straight from the temple of God in heaven. Christ Jesus, in his divinely authoritative teaching of the gospel, opposes the proud. He says to the rich in Luke 6, 24, but woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. The Pharisees, then, are condemned by Christ because they pursue righteousness in a manner of self-exaltation, as if they could obtain righteousness through their own works of the law. But Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And so to bless only those who are humble enough to confess before God and men that they have no spiritual money. That is no righteousness of their own. They hunger and thirst for the bread and wine and milk of the gospel. But their sins against God have been so wretched and costly that they have left them utterly impoverished of soul and so completely broke and penniless of spirit. It is to these broken, meek, penniless sinners that the flowing wine and creamy milk of the gospel come. Romans 4, 4 through 5, now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, he has no spiritual money, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. The prophet Isaiah then warns us gravely about the spiritual purchases that we make regarding eternity. For the Pharisee is he who exalts himself in prayer, boasting of his own righteousness before God. He spends his money on what is not bread and his wages on what does not satisfy, thinking himself to be good and imagining his sin to be less than condemning. And so imagining God to be less than three times holy, he worships a God of his own imagination. He rationalizes his sin with vain excuses and worships the idols of the surrounding nations as if hewing for himself cisterns. But these prove to be broken cisterns that can hold no water. Claiming to be filled full with the sweet meats of worldly success and monetary gain, he feeds the Pharisee, feeds on thin air, and he drinks the addictive draughts of pride They can never quench the thirst of the soul. Isaiah 29, verse 8, it shall be even as when a hungry man dreams and look, he eats, but he awakes and his soul is still empty. Or is when a thirsty man dreams and look, he drinks, but he awakes and indeed he is faint and his soul still craves. So the multitude of all the nations shall be who fight against Mount Zion. Yet we are not of the Pharisees. But of the poor in spirit, because are we not? Are we not spiritual paupers? Thirsty for God alone and hungry for his kingdom alone and without any spiritual money of our own with which to purchase the satisfying bread and the pure water of the gospel. In prayer, do we not feel compelled by our sins to stand afar off feeling very much unworthy to raise our eyes to heaven? And do we not beat our breasts saying, with the words of Luke 18, 13, God, be merciful to us, for we are sinners. Do we not hope in the gospel such that Jesus will save us someday by his grace, what he says of all of his elect children in Matthew 5, 6, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. for they shall be filled. Are we not thirsty for the true and living God revealed in Jesus Christ? Have we not been moved by our thirst for God to humble ourselves and to come to Christ so that we might drink of the water of life freely, without money and without price? Dear and precious Christians, for what? or for whom are you thirsty? For what or for whom do you hunger? Since you are in Christ, you know that those who are thirsty for vainglory and hungry for sinful pleasures, those whose appetite is of the world, are bound, they are bound to experience an everlasting emptiness. Suffering everlasting hunger pains and having a burning everlasting thirst that is never quenched in the horrors of hell So therefore Oh Christian put to death in your members the sinful appetite for the things of this world Instead beloved Christian you must allow the Holy Spirit to teach you daily how to have a brand-new appetite With a new thirst and a new hunger in your soul. This is the only way to be satisfied To be thirsty for God's grace and to be hungry for the very Word of God When you learn to search for God for the Living God with all of your heart and all of your soul then and only then you will learn the secret of true contentment and For the living waters of life that satisfy the soul are found only in the person of Jesus Christ. He has purchased these living waters for you with the purchase price of his own blood, so that you may come and drink freely of those waters, even to the full. As Lilius Trotter, that long-suffering missionary to Muslims in Algeria, says of Christ as the lone satisfaction of our souls, she says, quote, and in this we affirm that our spirit's hunger is satisfied in Him, and that in Him the thirst of our hearts is quenched, end quote. Isaiah the prophet says that the difference in height, the height difference between the thoughts of God and the thoughts of man, that height difference is infinitely grand. We desire, we hunger and we thirst this Christmas to understand the condescension of Christ. That is, we ask the question, how far Spiritually speaking, did Christ have to condescend in order to become flesh and take up his bodily tabernacle among us? What was that height that he had to span? And in order to know this, we must, says the prophet, says the prophet, understand the infinite difference in height between the ways of the Holy One of Israel and the ways of depraved and sinful man. Isaiah 55, 8-9, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. This is not the prosperity gospel of the prosperity preachers. We are not praying, Lord, bless me with a little wealth. And then hearing the Lord say to us for us, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts, as if to mean. You prayed for a little bit of wealth, But you should have prayed for a ton of wealth, for I desire to bless you in this present life with wealth that reaches all the way up to the heavens. That may be the gospel preached by the prosperity preachers when they come to this passage, but it is not the biblical gospel. Instead, it is the cunning teaching of a ravenous pack of wolves in the church who are dressed in sheep's clothing. In the book of Isaiah, in the Bible, the contrast is not between our short blessings and God's tall blessings. Rather, the true contrast is between God's holy thoughts and holy ways high up in heaven and man's wicked thoughts and wicked ways down here on earth. That's the contrast. His thoughts are infinitely high and holy, whereas whereas the thoughts of unregenerate man are very low and wicked. Isaiah 65, verse two, I have stretched out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good according to. Their own thoughts. See their wicked thoughts. In heaven, all thoughts are holy thoughts. Yet way down here on earth, the thoughts of unregenerate man are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So the prophet Isaiah says concerning the wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts of sinful man, he says in Isaiah 55, 6 through 7, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. and the unrighteous man his thoughts." So that's the contrast, ways and thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. So the contrast is between man's wicked ways and God's holy ways. So therefore, in order to understand how high, how infinitely high are the holy thoughts of the Lord, We must also understand how horribly low and vile are the wicked thoughts of sinful man. Genesis 6, verse 5, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In Proverbs 15, 26, the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. But the words of the pure are pleasant. And again, Isaiah 59, verse 7, their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction, destruction are in their paths. And once more, Jeremiah 18, verse 12. And they said that is hopeless. So we will walk according to our own thoughts. Those are the thoughts of man. And we will obey everyone. We will everyone obey the dictates of his evil heart. Sinful man likes to imagine that his thoughts are lofty and grand. He even deceives himself into thinking that his thoughts are righteous and good. But the holiness of God exposes the thoughts of sinful man as being very base and low and even swimming in the putrid sewage of sinful vanity. Psalm 94, 11, the Lord knows the thoughts of man that they are vanity. How much higher then are the Lord's ways above the ways of sinful man and the Lord's thoughts above the thoughts of sinful man? Well, once we consider the holiness of God's ways and the pristine righteousness of his thoughts, we are in awe of the infinite height. With which they tower above us. So sorry, Isaiah, again, Isaiah fifty five, eight through nine, from my thoughts are not your thoughts. Nor are your ways my way, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. The height difference between the holy thoughts and righteous ways of God and the sinful thoughts and unrighteous ways of man is an infinite span. It's an infinite height difference. So the condescension of the Son of God all the way down to earth to take up human nature and to die in the place of sinful man is thus incomprehensibly great. Yet the church today. Is facing the greatest crisis in all of her history regarding her stewardship of the gospel. Precisely because she has sought to minimize this height difference between the fearsome holiness of God and the utter sinfulness of man. That is, the contemporary church has attempted to shrink the heavens so that they're not so high above the earth. And she has done this by attempting to shrink the doctrine of man's depravity. And this, in turn, appears to shrink the whole dilemma of the gospel, which is the question. Here's the dilemma of the gospel. How can anyone be saved? if the height difference between God's holy thoughts and the sinful thoughts of mankind is infinitely great. And all of this apparent shrinking of the whole dilemma of the gospel then leads to the apparent shrinking of the incomprehensible compassion and grace of God revealed through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this in the end leads to the apparent shrinking of God himself. The church today faces the greatest crisis of doctrine in all of her history because she has belittled the holiness of God and so belittled God himself. Therefore, the current state of things in the church is one of apostasy. But what do we have in the modern church? We have big churches, even gigantic churches, who are yet filled with worshippers who worship a very little God. The essential difference between God and man, which is an infinite difference, has been blurred. The infinite difference in height between God's holy ways and the sinful ways of man has been portrayed deceitfully as being shortened. We found out the formula. We now know how to read the Bible so we can shorten the gap between God and man. Sinful man has attempted to recreate God in sinful man's own image. And the pastors of these gigantic churches have led the treasonous attempt. So what then can be said of the ways of these churches? What should we say of their ways? What can be said of the thoughts of the pastors as they express them from their platforms or their pulpits? Are they not so base and low as to be infinitely unworthy of the name of Jesus Christ? Do they not take the Lord's holy name in vain by their belittling of God the Father, through their belittling of God the Son? Refusing to fear the Lord with all holy trembling are not the thoughts of their preachers, their pastors, so earthly and idolatrous as to merit now, even to merit today, the charge of unbelief? Romans 1.21, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Yet for us who believe, there is hope for change. for repentance and holiness in the lives of true believers in the church, since the Holy Spirit abides in those who are His own. So how then do we, who have grown up in the midst of such a church that is drifting into apostasy, undo this shrinking of the gospel in our own thoughts and in our own ways? How do we regain in our hearts and thoughts the infinite height difference between God's holiness and man's sinfulness. Well, the prophet Isaiah tells us that we must understand the meaning of the falling rain and also come to the knowledge of the falling snow. For he says the rain and the snow teach us the height difference between heaven and earth. and sow between God's thoughts and our own thoughts. Isaiah 55, 10 through 11, we should learn from the rain and the snow. Isaiah 55, 10 through 11, for as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be. that goes forth from my mouth, it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." What is the height difference between God's holy ways and man's sinful ways? Well, is this not pictured in Isaiah as the height difference between the heavens and the earth? And does not the falling of the rain and the snow from heaven mark the great magnitude of this difference in height? Isaiah 55 now verses 9 through 10 For as the heavens are higher than the earth There's the height difference So are my ways higher Than your ways and my thoughts and your than your thoughts for as the rain comes down And there's our verb of condescension There's the condescension. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth. So God's word condescends, it comes down to us from heaven. It falls to earth like seed, which produces bread, which feeds the hungry spiritual pauper. It comes down to water the earth, and in doing so, it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater. It brings forth fruit and grows and spreads. This is the incorruptible seed of the very Word of God. 1 Peter 1.23, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. But then how vast and immeasurable is the condescension of God in sending his word from heaven all the way down to earth, all the way down to earth, to reach sinful man with the call to repentance and faith in him? How great is that condescension? Well, surely God has sent his holy word to the earth in the form of the holy scriptures, to be sure. And this is a great act of mercy because without the sunlight of the Holy Scriptures, we would be left in the sin induced ignorance and judgment of total darkness. But in the gospel, the Lord, the God of Israel, has condescended incomprehensibly more. For he who spoke formerly to the fathers by the prophets in these last days has spoken to us by His Son. The Word, the Son of God, condescended all the way down to earth in order to take up flesh and to dwell among us. John 1.14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. In the book of Isaiah, what comes down from heaven? Just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, what is it? Well, in the book of Isaiah, God's word comes down from heaven. And who sends it? Well, God himself sends it. God sends the word. Yet in the gospel of John, the man Christ Jesus is he who speaks the very words of God, and he, the son of God, is the one who came down from heaven. And who sent him? Who was it who sent him from heaven? Well, the Father sent him. John 3, 34, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the spirit by measure. So again, once the word is sent from heaven, what does it produce? Does it not produce bread for the eater? And therefore, he who is the word sent from heaven, what does his coming down from heaven provide? Is not he himself the bread for the spiritual eater? John 6, 32-33, Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And then John 6, 51, I am the living bread which came down, condescension, from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I shall give him is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." But then how far, how far is this condescension that the Son of God came down from heaven? How far, how vastly incomprehensible is the condescension of the Word who became flesh and took up His tabernacle of flesh among us? Who can measure the distance from the heights of heaven to the lower or lowest parts of the earth? Well, we could try to measure it from top to bottom, from heaven to earth, but we can also measure the distance from the opposite starting point, from earth to heaven. which is what Paul does in Ephesians 4.10. Ephesians 4.10, he who descended, you want to know the height difference, here it is. Here's how you measure it. He who descended is also the one who ascended, so he's going to measure from earth up to heaven, far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And this, then, is the incomprehensible condescension of the Word. He, the Word, condescended from His throne, which is far above all the heavens, in order to speak the Word of God to us, even speaking to us after having assumed a full human nature in real flesh and blood. Therefore, since Christ, the Word, has condescended so incomprehensibly in order to save his people from their sins, the word of the gospel, which is the very word of Christ, is infused by the Holy Spirit with a true heavenly power. Because the condescension is all the way from heaven, then the word of Christ, which comes through the condescension, must be infused with heavenly power. It shall not return to the Lord void, but shall accomplish what he pleases, and shall prosper in the thing for which he sent it." The gospel of God never returns empty. Therefore, precious Christian, put your faith in the power of the gospel to bear fruit unto the glory of God. To be sure, this gospel comes in a mysterious way, full of suffering, And dying, the seed of the gospel must come dying in the soil of the persecutions of this world so that, this is why it dies, so that the fruit of the seed may spring up and produce a bountiful crop. And so in the same manner, we as God's servants must die daily However, as we do so, as we come dying like seeds in this world, we do so as those who are fully persuaded by faith that the seed of the gospel, which is the word of the gospel, shall never return empty. Even if all despise and reject us. Even still, God's purposes shall be accomplished and that with great power. The name of the Lord. shall be glorified. Those who are appointed to eternal life shall be saved. The hungry members of the flock of God shall be fed. Therefore, we say to the to the younger pastors, we say, oh, young pastors, do not preach cultural psychology and do not preach the vain traditions and the hollow philosophies of man. Instead, oh, young pastors. Preach the word. And only the word. And we say to fathers and mothers, Oh, you fathers and mothers in the church. Do not teach your children the thoughts and the ways of this wicked world. Instead. Teach them the word. And only the word. Teaching that teaching it to your children when they sit at home and when they walk along the way and when they lie down and when they rise up. The devil will try to distract you from teaching the word to your children with 10,000 various and crafty methods of distraction and intimidation. But you should turn a blind eye to all those distractions and intimidations and instead set your heart on this singular task, teaching them the word in season and out of season at all times, no matter the sacrificial cost, even all the way until your dying breath. because your labor's done in the Lord. They alone are never done in vain. And the word of the gospel, which comes down like rain and like the snow from heaven, never stays fruitless and never returns to God empty. So what then shall this look like? when Christ Jesus returns to earth to bring his kingdom and its fullness, and when the creation is no longer subjected to futility and groaning, for the sons of God shall have been revealed at last, what will it look like if the word is infused with heavenly power? For Jesus, the word came down from heaven, and he himself has given us the word by his Holy Spirit. Then what shall be its fruitfulness? How beautiful shall be the fruitfulness of the word of the gospel once Christ comes again and all of the fruits of his word shall be revealed at last. Here's this picture of the fruitfulness of the word of the gospel at the end of Isaiah 55, verses 12 through 13. For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Here is the wondrous fruitfulness and unmatched beauty of the Word of God as seen from the vantage point of the time after Christ's second coming. It is the miracle of an Edenic garden, blooming and blossoming where the desolate wilderness once was. That's the miracle. Because, of course, sin Sin turned Eden into a desert, and sin made the world to be a wilderness. But John the Baptist came crying out in the wilderness because he was announcing the coming transformation of the wilderness back into Eden through the preaching of Christ, the incarnate Word. Isaiah 35, 1 through 2, the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for him, 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 gods. Sin, of course, is the problem. Man sins. His sins of lying, stealing, idolatry, sexual immorality, sorcery, and murder have turned Jerusalem into a desolate wasteland. Isaiah 64, 10, your cities are, your holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. But nevertheless, God has given to Israel an everlasting covenant. the sure mercies of David, which promises to turn Zion back into a lush and blooming garden some great day. Isaiah 55, three through four, incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant. with you, the sheer mercies of David. Indeed, I've given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. And I think that's messianic. It speaks of the son of David. And then as this covenant is fulfilled, then this everlasting covenant becomes fulfilled in Christ, the son of David. In verse 13, this is what it will look like when he comes. Isaiah 55, 13, instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, there's the covenant, that shall not be cut off. What is this everlasting sign, this everlasting covenant, which shall be fulfilled? Is this not the transformation of the wilderness back into an Edenic garden? And all because the word of God has come down, has condescended all the way from above the highest heavens. The word comes down like rain, it comes down like snow, and so it transforms the wilderness back into the garden. Isaiah 32, 15, until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, condescension. And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field. And the fruitful field is counted as a forest. And 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 oil tree. I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together. again Isaiah 51 3 for the Lord will comfort Zion he will comfort all her waste places he will make her wilderness like Eden he will make her wilderness like Eden the rain and the snow comes down makes the wilderness like Eden in her desert like the garden of the Lord joy and gladness will be found in it Thanksgiving and the voice of melody and Do you see how the word of the gospel shall never return to God empty? Therefore, beloved sons and daughters of the living God, it is time once again to prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness. For if his first condescension brought life into our hearts, cleansing them with his blood and watering them with the rain and the snow of his astounding grace. Such that the wilderness landscapes of our formerly sinful hearts are now being transformed into fruitful, strikingly bright and vividly colored gardens. What shall the fruitfulness of his future second condescension from heaven to earth bring with it? Will not the concrete wasteland of this current Babylonian world be transformed at last? Will not the cypress tree and the myrtle tree be found where we now see blasphemous skyscrapers and ugly petroleum refineries and ghastly, abominable Muslim mosques Oh, think upon it. Think upon it, dear Christian. Christ's future second condescension. When he comes again, when he condescends again. Shall turn the whole earth into a new Garden of Eden. Wherein only the righteous will dwell. Coming down like rain. And like snow directly from the throne of God in heaven. His blessings shall water the earth with the grace of new creation, making all things new. And there we shall not only see a pure river of water of life, but we shall even reach up into the branches of the tree of life, which grows on the other side of the river, and shall take of its fruit and eat of that good and holy fruit and live forever. And we shall walk with Christ Jesus, the Word, who will have come down out of heaven and will have brought heaven with Him down to earth. We shall walk with Him in the midst of the garden, in the Spirit-blown breeze of the day, and we shall be His people he shall be our God forever and ever world without end so as we come to the Lord's table this morning we come praying for a knowledge of the infinite difference in height between God's holy ways and man's sinful ways and the span of which is only bridged by the gracious condescension of our Lord all the way unto death, even death on a cross. Before we come, here's the doxology. Praise be to God, our Father, whose word comes down from heaven like the rain and the snow and never returns to him empty. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who condescended to come down to earth all the way from his father's throne, which is high above the highest heavens. And praise be to the Holy Spirit, who makes us thirsty for the gospel and who teaches us the infinite height difference between man's sinful thoughts and God's holy thoughts. Amen.