Our scripture is Isaiah 40. Let us stand for prayer and remain standing out of reverence for the reading of the word of God. We rejoice, O Lord, that you have spoken so clearly, so powerfully in your word. Help us to understand this word. and particularly this week, to apply it to our lives. For Christ's sake, amen. Isaiah 40. Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sin. A voice is calling. Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low and the rugged terrain a broad valley. and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says, Call out. Then he answered, What shall I call out? All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with his arm ruling for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. Like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. In his arm, he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing ewes, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a pair of scales. who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has informed him, with whom did he consult, and who gave him understanding, and who taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and informed him of the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with him? As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates it with gold, and a silversmith fashions chains of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot. He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but he merely blows on them and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. To whom then will you liken me, that I should be his equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. The one who leads forth their hosts by number, he calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice, do me, escapes the notice of my God? Do you not know, have you not heard, the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, has not become weary or tired? His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, he increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." You may be seated. Election Day sermons have a long history in our country. The earliest Election Day sermon on record was in Massachusetts in 1633, and since then they've been preached in churches and meetinghouses. political buildings year after year after year, and in fact in the early days of our country, many of these election day sermons were printed at the expense of the government and distributed to the various towns in various colonies. The purpose of these election day sermons was to preserve and perfect a genuinely Christian and thoroughly biblical civilization in North America for the glory of God, as a model a city set on a hill for the rest of the world to see and to imitate. Nowhere is the purpose of these election day sermons more clearly and intensely stated that in a book by a man named David Gregg written in 1896. Here's what he says. As patriotic Christians, there's only one cry in our souls. And that is America for Christ, Christ for America. I mean to push this motto, I put it on three grounds. For America's sake, for the world's sake, for Christ's sake. First, we demand America for Christ for America's sake. Divorce your nation from Christ and you ring its death knell. Marry your nation to Christ and you open for it a door into a new future and secure for it a place among the nations of the world. Tell me how the American Republic will treat Christ and I will tell you the future of the American Republic. America needs Christ, the rule of Christ, the truth of Christ, the spirit of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and the men of Christ. We demand America for Christ for the world's sake. America taken for Christ means the nations of the world far and near taken for Christ. America, a Christian nation, means a mighty witness for God among all lands of the earth. In the Christianizing of our nation, the Republic has its life at stake. Society, its order. Labor, its reward. Home, its happiness. And the world, its future. So this is an election day sermon on Isaiah 40. When Isaiah wrote those words, Israel was facing its worst economic crisis. It was facing terroristic armies about to overrun the country. The political establishment was unjust and moving toward tyranny. Idolatry and lawlessness were rampant. Content for God's truth was widespread. Respect for the sanctity of human life was almost absent. And with that, the breakdown of the family was obvious. Wise and godly leadership in church and state and society was disappearing. Fear would soon consume the nation as it faced its last days before conquered by Babylon. Sound familiar? Into this moral, social, and religious chaos stepped Isaiah with a powerful message of hope preached to a people on the verge of apostasy and devastation under the judgment of God. Isaiah 40 is a record of that message the church then needed to hear and the church today needs to hear. as we approach one of the most frightening elections in our history. The message may be surprising to some, offensive to others, encouraging to still others. The message of Isaiah 40 to us is simple and profound. Terrible days are on the horizon. But God's faithful people do not need to panic or to live and face the future in fear. Why, says Isaiah 40? Because Christ sits on the circle of the earth and Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are grasshoppers. That's the message of Isaiah 40. Now Isaiah is divided into two sections. The first section is chapters 1 through 39, judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment upon Israel that had turned her back on the Lord. Chapters 40 through 66, restoration, restoration, restoration, hope for the future. And that second great section begins with the chapter that we've just read. So let's look at it verse at a time. praying that God would cause us to believe it and live consistently with it this week. In verse 1, God addresses the prophet Isaiah. And God calls him to bring comfort to his people, burdened down with apostasy and judgment, and to do that by preaching his word. Comfort Oh comfort my people is not addressed to you and me It's not addressed to the citizens of Israel It's addressed to the prophet Isaiah I Have comfort a message of comfort says your God that I want you Isaiah to bring to my people. I Want you to preach to their hearts? Verse 2, speak kindly to Jerusalem, literally in Hebrew, is I want you to preach to their hearts. I want you to lay it on their hearts. I want it to be something more than intellectual. I want you to sink it deeply within them so that it makes a difference within them by my grace. Notice the phrases. Comfort, O comfort, my people, says your God. My people, your God. speak kindly to Jerusalem where my people live says your God those two pronouns you see set the stage for the rest of this chapter this is God talking to his church that's in bad shape by this time This is God talking to his covenant people that are turning their back on him. And yet he comes to them with a message of grace that they don't deserve to hear, a message of hope, a message of repentance. And he says, Isaiah, I want you to comfort them and encourage them in this time, even though they're on the verge of being conquered by a foreign power. I want you to preach comfort to them. And here's the message I want you to preach. Verse 2, "'Speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all of her sin.'" Call out to her. Make sure she doesn't miss this. Of course, tell the truth about her apostasy and about her turning her back on me. Of course, warn her as he has done in the previous 39 chapters about the judgment that's imminent if Israel does not repent. But I want you to comfort them with these three words. Your warfare is over. Your iniquity has been removed and you've received from the Lord's hand double from all your sin. Now remember what the prophets used to do and we brought out this before. They would prophesy things to take place in the future using past tense verbs. Sounds a little unusual but that was a literary device that had a great theological implication with it. You preach about future happenings that God has prepared and predestined for the future in past tense verbs because every one of those future prophecies are bound to be fulfilled. It's as if they were already fulfilled in the plan of God. God planned them. God's plan cannot fail. And so Isaiah would prophesy things about the future in past tense, certain that God would cause these things to take place. As we go on, we're going to see this passage is focusing on Christ. It's not simply about Babylon overrunning Israel, destroying the temple in 586, taking the people of God captive for 70 years, and then the Persians allowing them to come back and rebuild Jerusalem. All of those things are in the background. They haven't taken place yet. But the real focus that God is pointing his people to. The comfort that's going to come to them after judgment, after judgment, after devastation is going to be in Christ alone. So these various, these three words of hope and comfort for the future presuppose Christ. Your warfare is over. Now it's not over yet, but remember he's foretelling the future with the past tense. It's absolutely certain your warfare is going to be over. That's a Hebrew idiomatic phrase that more literally means your hard surface, service, service, your hard service, your misery because of your apostasy and because of your judgment. It's going to be over when the Lord Jesus Christ appears. The misery will be gone. Your iniquity has been removed. Let me tell you what it means in, says in Hebrew, which is a highly unusual way of speaking. We don't have any idioms like this in English. Your iniquity has been shown favor. Your iniquity has been shown favor. Your iniquity has been shown favor, or another way of saying it, your iniquity has shown satisfaction. You see where he's heading? Satisfaction. There's a sacrifice that has been offered. It has satisfied God's anger. It's been accepted by God. And the iniquity has been removed. They deserve to have been destroyed because of their iniquity, never to have risen again. But God in grace would in Jesus provide a sacrifice that would satisfy the claims of God's justice against them. And in mercy, he would forgive them of their sins. And the last is another Hebraic phrase. You have received from the Lord's hand double for all your sin. Now that's not a literal statement. God's not going to punish anybody twice as much as he deserves. That would be unjust. God punishes his enemies according to what they deserve or less. And that's the point here. The word double simply denotes abundance. And he says, now Jerusalem, Israel has received abundant judgment from the Lord's hand for all of her sins. She has suffered enough for her sin, though she's not suffered as much as she deserved. And so even though this severe judgment would come through the Babylonians and others for hundreds of years before Christ, there would be coming a time in which God says, that's enough. Now people deserve to be punished far more, but there will be a satisfaction in their place. Now how is this going to happen? How is this comfort, this cessation of warfare and misery, this forgiveness of iniquity, this ending of judgment, how is it going to come? Verses 3 through 5 tell us. A voice is calling. Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. Let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." How is all this going to happen? God's going to come to earth That's how it's going to happen prepare a way for God the creator of the universe is going to come to Jerusalem and That's how he's going to comfort her and forgive of her sins and end her warfare and in his anger. God's coming to Jerusalem and Nothing can stop him Everybody inside and outside Jerusalem will throw up hindrances. There'll be all kinds of obstacles, but God will clear the way. He'll make smooth in the desert a highway for himself. Every valley will be lifted up. Every mountain will be made low. The rough ground made it plain. The rugged terrain a broad valley. Nothing is going to keep God from revealing his glory in Jerusalem, and all flesh will see it. Now, you remember reading any of these words in the New Testament? You remember how the gospel according to Mark begins, for instance, and various other of the gospels? It's talking about John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, God in human flesh. He tells John the Baptist, I want you through the preaching of repentance and through the baptism of repentance to prepare the way for God to come to Palestine. And of course he did, and God was the Lord Jesus Christ, was God in human flesh. And notice the words in the last part of verse 5. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. This is certain to happen. It's guaranteed to happen. The God Himself has spoken this through Isaiah. This is not simply Isaiah's opinion. This is not simply Isaiah's words. This is the inerrant word of Almighty God speaking through Isaiah, the message in verse 1. He commanded him to preach about the Lord Jesus Christ. So how does apostasy come to an end? How does the judgment of God come to an end? How did turning their backs on God and God's judgment come to an end in ancient Israel? Through God coming to earth in the Lord Jesus Christ and doing everything that was necessary to save his people from their sins. There is absolutely no doubt that it would happen. There's absolutely no doubt from our perspective that it did happen. Now in verses six through eight, He addresses, it's about this preaching again. And he says, a voice says, he doesn't identify the voice, call out. Then he answered, what shall I call out? All flesh is grass. And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades. When the breath of the Lord blows upon it, surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of our God stands forever. Here's what I want you to preach, Isaiah. Here's what I want you to call out. Man's life is fragile, frail, and short-lived. Men, women, the strongest of men and women will only live a very short life on this earth. It's like grass. It grows. Then a hot wind in the Middle East, Tarraco is what it was called, a hot wind of the Middle East blows upon the grass and the flowers, drying up all the moisture and killing the plants. That's how easy it is for God. to bring man's life to an end. Here's what I want you to preach to this nation. Your life is fragile. Don't think you're going to be around forever. Don't think you'll be invulnerable. Your life will come to an end and it will come to an end far more quickly than you had hoped it would. Far more quickly than you would expect. Human life like grass, unlike flowers, withers when the hot breath of the Lord dries up all their moisture and Causes them to die in contrast to that Isaiah. I Want you to tell this wicked people that though their lives are short the Word of our God stands forever that what you preach what you declare from the Bible can never be annulled and It will never become obsolete. It will never become out of date. The scripture cannot be broken. It is relevant and pertinent and authoritative to every situation, every decision, every circumstance of life, whatever is happening in Israel. Whether it's apostate or whether it's faithful, whatever's happening in Israel, God's word is authoritative and is to be obeyed. However difficult it may seem to obey it, whatever the consequences are in obeying it, the word of the Lord endures forever and it must be obeyed. You may never disobey the word of God. You may never disobey the word of God with reference to the raising of your children. with the raising of spending your money or with reference to voting. You may never disobey God regardless of the pressure or the intimidation or the consequences. You must always obey God's Word because whereas man's life is frail, God's Word endures forever. And that's why resistance and defiance against God are useless. Your shadows. Remember C.S. Lewis describing life as shadow land? Your shadows. What can a shadow do? A transient, short-lived shadow, a piece of grass against an unbending, Inerrant, eternal word. Any attempt to defy that word, any attempt to resist it by any means ever, whatever, means your destruction. And any attempt to disobey that word for whatever reason. When nobody else does this, I'd stand out like a sore thumb. I'd be looked upon as an extremist and a fanatic. The consequences are unbelievable. Defiance and resistance are absolutely useless against an eternal word. And then notice what is said in verses 9 and 11 about this preaching. It says, get yourself up on a high mountain, old Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with his arm ruling for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. Like a shepherd, he'll tend his flock. In his arm, he'll gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He'll gently lead the nursing ewes. Here he's saying, preach on the top of the highest mountain you can find. I don't want anybody to miss this. I want every other mountain to hear it. I want everybody on every mountain to hear it. Don't say this quietly or secretly in some obscure place. Don't just talk about this among yourselves where everybody agrees. Go up on a high mountain and address the people that at this point in time, by and large, hate me or are under my judgment. I don't want anybody to miss this. Because it is their only hope to believe this preaching. and to repent. And notice who is to do the preaching. Zion and Jerusalem. The Word of the Lord, with all of its power, is to go forth from the faithful people of God, who are to be the bearers of good news in Zion and in Jerusalem, there to lift up their voices mightily to make sure everybody hears. We've seen many times that Zion and Jerusalem Represent the church of the Lord Jesus Christ Remember Isaiah 2 the great prophecy that says that sometime between now the second coming the mountain of the house of the Lord is going to be Rise to be the greatest mountain in all of the world and the law of God the truth of God will go forth from Jerusalem and that will draw all the nations and peoples of the world to flood into Jerusalem and to beg the church to teach these nations how to their govern themselves by the Word of God and He's alluding to that again. This is the responsibility of the faithful people of God. You're to bear good news. You're to scream it out. You're to shout it from the mountains mightily. And what is the good news? The good news is, behold your God. Do this without fear. It could cost them their lives. It could cost them their reputations. When you lift up your voice and bear good news to this apostate people, do it without fear. Take your eyes off of man and his promises and threats. Man's going to try to buy you off. Man's going to have all kinds of promises to try to get you to tone down and water down. this message that God has called Jerusalem and Zion to preach. Don't fear man. He's not only going to try to buy you off with promises, he's going to try to scare you off with threats. He's going to give you every reason why only a fool would say the things that you say to this apostate people, to this nation. Take your eyes off man and off of his promises and off of his threats, without fear of man but with fear of God. Shout the good news that God calls us to bring. And I say to you, beloved, this election, take your eyes off Romney and Obama. and their promises and their threats. Whoever gets elected, it will not be the end of the world. And whoever gets elected, shout out, behold your God. When God came in Christ, how did he come? And when God in Christ by His Holy Spirit comes to a nation to end apostasy and to bring judgment and to draw people to repentance and to have men preach the gospel of comfort and salvation, how does He come? He comes as a sovereign master, a God of all power with a ruling arm. That's the implication of His name used here. Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here's the good news. God is, your God is, the one who is the sovereign master and the source of all power, unlimited power. And when he comes and declares his glory and displays his might before the eyes of all men, he comes with might, with his arm ruling for him. He doesn't come in any kind of a weak fashion, but when he displays his glory in a nation to bring judgment or to bring salvation, he does it with irresistible, invincible might. And notice the great phrase in the last part of verse 10, behold, his reward is with him. and his recompense before him." Now, who's going to be rewarded here? Not the apostate, not even the penitent, because we don't deserve any rewards from God. God's talking about himself. This is a way God talks in Isaiah about himself. I'm the one that merits the reward. I'm the one that should be recompensed because I'm the one by the exercise of my mighty arm in bringing salvation to my people the Lord shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied he knows that everything that he's doing will have the inevitable effect of saving his people from their sins Hebrews 12 Keep your eye fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What's the joy? The joy in knowing that by his death he's going to get his full reward. And what's his full reward? The eternal salvation of everyone for whom he shed his precious blood. So God's going to come in strength. God's going to come in power that he's actually going to do what he sets out to do, but he's also going to come like a shepherd. Like a shepherd, he'll tend his flock, the elect. In his arms, he'll gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He'll gently lead the nursing ewes, this strong God. comes as the good shepherd who's always providing for and protecting his otherwise vulnerable little sheep and lamb. Even in 2012 and 2013 and 2014, God will not let any of his reward slip through his fingers. He will come with power and he will take care of his little flock even when things look so dark. Now, who is this God that is the good news? Verses 12 through 14. Who's measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Now, this is a question about four lines long. Who's measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a pair of scales? What's the answer to that question? Nobody but God. No man. This universe is immeasurable. to human beings, but it's not immeasurable to God. God is immeasurable to human beings, but God is not immeasurable to Himself. He is the omnipotent God, that's the point. This God who's going to declare His glory in the Lord Jesus Christ so that nobody will miss it and end apostasy and judgment is a God of unlimited almighty power that cannot be resisted. He can measure the waters, mark off the universe, calculate the dust of the earth, weigh the mountains into balance. This is an almighty God. He's not only almighty, but notice in verses 13 and following, who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has informed him, With whom did he consult? With whom did he consult? And who gave him understanding and taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge and informed him in the way of understanding? I actually have a book in my library on prayer, doesn't even make good kindling. And the book says the purpose of prayer is to give God input in the shaping of his policies. With whom did he consult? And who gave him understanding? And who taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge and informed him in the way of understanding? What's the answer? Nobody. No human being. God is omniscient. He knows all things. He's self-sufficient in and of himself. He stands in need of nothing he has made. That's the God. That's why God's good news. That's the God that is to be preached. And then notice in verses 15 through 17. Here he is compared with human beings and their nations. And notice what he says. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor it's beast enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless." Now, don't misunderstand what he's saying here. He's not saying nations are meaningless. He's not saying that nations are not important. God has a role for all the nations of the world. And as they fulfill that role, they have a place of usefulness and meaning and significance in this world. But the point God is making is, compared to Him, nations are three things. A drop in a bucket. Nations, their people, their leaders, like a drop in a bucket. Now, if you have a big bucket here, you fill it with water. That's a considerable amount of water. But then you get an eyedropper, and you got an empty bucket, and you put one little drop of water in that bucket. Not very impressive. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to write home about. In fact, the nations of the world are like speck of dust on the scales. Remember in Dr. Denmark's office, who was the pediatrician of many of us in this room, our children that is, live to be 114 uh... she when she got way over a hundred they wouldn't let her go to the hospital anymore and see her baby so if you were a Denmark baby you had to come back to Dr. Denmark's office from the hospital and the first thing she'd do in a hundred and eighty year old slave cabin clinic was put your baby on a scale and then she'd have pieces of metal that she'd put on the other side of the scale not some digitized thing but some metal, and finally she would determine how much your baby weighed. Some of those pieces of metal were small, but they would still make a difference on the scale, but not dust. You have dust on your scale, it doesn't even show up. It's so insignificant. And then if those images weren't enough for you, God says, these nations of the world, like Babylon, that's about to come into your boundaries, they're nothing compared to me. They're less than nothing compared to me. They are meaningless compared to me. You're worried about Babylon? So you see, the great hope in just the revelation of God's character, nothing can stop him from accomplishing his purposes. These nations of the world are like drops of water, specks of dust, less than nothing, meaningless. Babylon, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, China, the United States of America, is meaningless compared to Jehovah. And you're worried about what goes on in America? You're worried and scared to death about your future because what one of two men might do to you that are less than specks of dust on a scale? I'd call that unbelief, wouldn't you? Unbelief in the great and mighty God compared to whom nations are less than nothing. None of God's people need fear any evil person or any evil nation. Don't fear them. Don't act out of fear. Don't vote for or against somebody out of fear of them. I like what a press stream preacher friend of mine in Colorado says. He says, I'm starting to believe that the fear of Obama is the beginning of wisdom. At least, at least, the way you hear people talk, that people will vote Tuesday because they are. of somebody who compared to God is less than nothing. Verses 18 through 20, he continues with this comparison. Now with the idols. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him? As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates it with gold, and a silversmith fashions chains of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot. He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter, goes to great expense, great energy to create this idol that can do absolutely nothing for him. No idol can do what man longs for that idol to do because it's made by man. What are some of the idols in our culture that people look to rather than God to save them from the evil of this age? Politics. Man, do politicians make promises? You vote for us and we'll end all injustice. We'll end all poverty. We'll take care of all your sicknesses. When you get old, we'll take care of you. All idols are failures. No idol delivers what you want it to deliver. What's another idol? Education. If you can just get an education, you'll be a far better people. Some of the most educated people I know are some of the most wicked people I know. Business and industry. Let them thrive and prosper. They'll be able to invest money in every aspect of society and be charitable and solve all our problems. Scientific technology, no idol delivers what you want it to deliver. Understand, this year, the politicians, Republican and Democrat, are offering you broken and failed idols. Both sides are offering you programs that have been tried before. None of them have ever worked. Because none of them are based upon the eternal word of God. And only God's word works. Verse 21 through 24. Do you not know? I mean, this is obvious. How can you miss this unless you're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness? That's what he's saying. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Haven't you heard this before? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is our God in Christ who sits above the vault or the circle or the horizon of the earth. That means sovereignty. Somebody who sits upon the circle or the horizon of the church is somebody of the earth, is somebody who is in complete control. Have you forgotten the sovereignty of God? Have you forgotten what you've been taught all your life? God is sovereign and that he is in complete control of everything that happens. He does whatever he pleases. Have you forgotten that? It's he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who is so powerful and sovereign that he can stretch out the heavens like a curtain. That's how easy it is for him. Spread out the heavens like a tent to live in. No effort. It is He who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have these rulers and judges been planted. Scarcely have they been sown. Scarcely has their stock taken root. That is, they've barely been sworn into office. They haven't even gotten themselves established. But He merely blows on these grasshoppers. and they wither. And the storm carries them away like rubble. These are the people we're afraid of. These are the people that we're scared to death might get elected, so we do things out of fear. It should be obvious to all, unless we're suppressing the truth, that in comparison to our God, the nations of the world and all of their rulers are grasshoppers. God sits above or is enthroned on the circle or horizon of the earth as its sovereign master in full control of all the nations, their rulers, and everybody in those nations. He can set up or remove politicians and judges from office without batting an eye. He can easily make powerful men weak and important famous men meaningless. When he wants them off the scene, he merely blows them away. These people influence other people for evil for a short period of time. And then when God blows on them, they're only a name in a history book. So beloved, don't worry about Obama or Romney as if they control your future. God controls them and your future. This is reality. Grasshoppers control nothing, regardless of how many they are. They cannot change the course of God's world. Verse 25. To whom then will you liken me? That I should be his equal, says the Holy One. What's the answer to that question? Nobody. God has no equals and therefore he has no rivals. Nobody's a threat to God. God doesn't sit up there, wring his hand, oh, I wish I knew now who's gonna win on Tuesday evening. And I sure hope it's Romney and not Obama, though I'm not crazy about Obama. I mean about Romney. To whom then will you liken me that I should be as equal, says the Holy One, the transcendent, invincible, irresistible One, infinite compared to this finite creation, uncreated compared to this creation, independent of this creation, though the whole creation is dependent upon Him, this Holy One who is never frustrated, never defeated. Take your eyes off men. Quit trying to worry about men and comparing them to God. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. Take your eyes off men and look on the one that created the stars, who's revealed to us in Jesus. The one who leads forth their host by number, these stars are his army. He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, not one star in the entire universe is out of place. You know how many stars there are? I don't either. God does. Raise your eyes off Romney and Obama. and look to the God who is transcendent over and superior to all human beings. And then when you do, you'll understand that there's absolutely no reason to be despondent. There's no reason to be fearful. Next verse, 27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, O church, O covenant people of God? Why do you say, God doesn't see me? My way is hidden from God. The justice due me escapes the notice of my God. God must not be watching to see this week. I'm sure if the wrong guy gets elected this Tuesday, life's going to be miserable for me. God's going to forget about me. My way's going to be hidden from the Lord. God's not going to notice me. Oh, it's going to be the end of the world. the collapse of the future if Obama gets elected. How dare you even begin to think such an idolatrous thought? It's not going to be pleasant, but the world's not going to come to an end. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Have you forgotten about this, beloved members of the church? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. You may get tired. You may be tired of a whole election process. God never gets tired. He never gets exhausted. He never loses sight of you. He's never in a position where he can't help you. In fact, as a matter of fact, even though you grow weary and tired because you're fragile and short-lived, and you can't always understand God's ways with you, God actually, verse 29, gives strength to those wearied by apostasy and judgment. and vigorous young men. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, he increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord, who hope in the Lord, will gain new strength. They'll mount up effortlessly. with wings like eagles. They'll run and not get tired. They'll walk, they'll live life and not grow weary because they're waiting upon the Lord. What a great promise this is to those who believe in the Lord. Although both Romney and Obama are in rebellion against God, one being an anti-Trinitarian Mormon, the other a Marxist. And although they both are trying to replace God's social moral order with a humanistic, socialistic order, and therefore an idolatrous order, And although, like Babylon of old, both are being used by God to bring God's judgment to America, neither is a threat to God or to you at all. God will use them to curse us until we repent, and then he'll cast them aside. But make no mistake about it. Whoever's elected Tuesday will be God's curse on this land. There's no reason for despondency. There's no reason for panic even in this evil culture. Since we have the God we have, although you may grow weary and exhausted of energy, God never does. Our only source of strength in this battle is God himself. All other people that claim power to bring change and hope into your life, whether he's a conservative or a liberal, all other claims for power are illusional and delusional. All power belongs to God alone, and he shares that power with his people. Those who wait upon the Lord, not those young men, full of self-confidence and high self-esteem will experience the strong promise of our God. And who are these that wait upon the Lord or hope in God? Those who fully believe in God's power to deliver. And they manifest their confidence in Him by patiently waiting for Him to bring His promises to fulfillment. Those who wait upon the Lord, who hope in the Lord, believe God's Word. They understand the frailty of life. They understand the greatness of our God. They believe whatever He's spoken. And however long it takes for them to wait to see God's promises fulfilled, they will wait and not negotiate on those promises and not try to compromise those promises. This year's election, beloved, is not something God couldn't stop. It is a part of his irresistible and invincible plan to test the faith and the faithfulness of his people in America. Are we going to vote Tuesday in fear or in faith? in God and in His Word? And are we going to be faithful in obeying His Word and trusting His promises, however long we have to wait? Or will we believe the lies and succumb to the pressure of grasshoppers? Now, why did I preach this particular sermon today? Because I believe we are on the threshold of the severe judgment of God as a nation. Hurricane Sandy was a mere prelude in which God gave us a taste of what his anger can do. Why do I say this? And why do I think judgment is coming severely, whoever gets elected? Because for well over 150 years, America has been moving deeper and deeper into hardened rebellion against God. And nothing makes that fact clearer than the election of 2012, in which most Americans will vote either for a Trinity-hating Mormon cultist or a Trinity-hating Marxist who believes the God of Islam and the God of Christianity is the same. Who is the lesser of the two evils? It doesn't matter! They're both evil! They're both humanists. They're both socialists. Both to one degree or another are pro-abortion. Neither is a constitutional conservative. Both fear and despise a Christian and biblical approach to politics. Whichever one of these men is elected Tuesday, as Isaiah 3 predicts, it will be because God wants to curse our land. But I have good news for you. I got hope. Both these men are grasshoppers. And Jesus sits enthroned on the circle of the earth. Let us pray. We thank you for the hope that we You give us from this great passage, Oh Lord, we thank you that it's true. Just as true as it was when you told Isaiah to preach it. May we continue to believe it. May we think like people who believe it live like people who believe it face the future, like people who believe it and vote like people who believe it. Oh Lord, bring deliverance to this apostasy and judgment ridden land. We pray for the sake of Jesus. Amen.