Well, please turn in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah this morning. Isaiah, chapter 40. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 5. If you're using one of our Pew Bibles, which you're more than welcome to use. In fact, if you don't own a Bible, I'd even say take it with you. We want you to have a Bible. But if you're using one of our Pew Bibles, page 599 is where you'll find that. Isaiah 40, verses 1 through 5. And please follow along as I read God's word. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she is received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries, In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Let's pray. Lord, we ask this morning that you would lead and direct us into all truth, that you would do that for your namesake, for your glory. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. My plan is to spend this week and next week on these two Sundays leading up to Christmas in Isaiah chapter 40. Now, why Isaiah chapter 40? It's certainly not because, at least according to many people, that it feels like it's a Christmas text. You know, perhaps you have an idea of what a Christmas text looks like and it involves shepherds and angels and a baby in a manger. And you might look at this text and you might think, this doesn't seem very much like a Christmas text. In fact, Isaiah 40 would have been written by the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before that birth of Christ in that manger. Isaiah here is telling Israel that he's got bad news for them. In fact, in the previous chapter, we'll look at it. He's got bad news for them. They're going to be carried off into exile. The Babylonians are going to come and they're going to be carried off into exile in Babylon. But here in chapter 40, he's reminding them that, listen, or he's telling them that, listen, God has not forgotten you and he's going to come to your aid. And it's great stuff. It's a fantastic chapter. But you might wonder, how is this a Christmas text? Well, as you look more closely at the words, even the words we've just read, you realize that this can't be just about an eventual release from exile. This can't be simply about that day when you're no longer carried off in Babylonian captivity and you're welcome to come back to Israel. It can't be just about that because there's so much more going on here. Some of it we've even just read now. There's iniquity being pardoned. There's a massive preparation for the coming of the Lord. There's even that in verse 5, the glory of God being revealed, all of flesh seeing it together. So this text, Isaiah chapter 40, has got to be bigger than the events that are associated with Babylonian captivity. And I would submit to you that this is a Christmas text. And the reason it is a Christmas text is because it's actually talking not just about freedom from Babylonian captivity, it's talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have to actually just take my word for it. all four Gospels. So think New Testament. You got the four Gospels. All four Gospels reference this text, Isaiah chapter 40, and apply it to John the Baptist preparing the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. You know, it's remarkable to find any Old Testament text repeated multiple times in multiple Gospels. And so it's especially remarkable that this text shows up in all four of the Gospels. In fact, let's look at one of them. Real quick, turn in your Bibles. You can keep a finger in Isaiah 40, but turn to Matthew chapter 3. This reminds us that we've been working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. We will get back to it after Christmas, but Matthew chapter 3, verse 1. Here's what it says. It says, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. And hold on to that thought. Notice that he's in the wilderness of Judea. And here's what he's saying. He's saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is coming. Christ is coming. It's about to break into this world. saying repent because it's coming and then here's the bit where where we see the connection with Isaiah 40 verse 3 for this is he John the Baptist is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight so Isaiah 40 looks forward to the coming of Jesus Christ and it's something that we think about this time of year when we when we think of the incarnation, the taking on of flesh of Jesus Christ. It stood out to me as I was studying Isaiah 40, and we will be in the next bit of it next week, Lord willing. It stood out to me that in this text, there are two commands that are given to Israel. Israel here actually referred to in verse two as Jerusalem, which I just love. They're in exile. They're in Babylon. And God uses the name of their true identity. He doesn't say, hey, to you who are in Babylon. He says to them, hey, Jerusalem. That's who you are. That means you are my people. You are God's people. And so if this is given to Jerusalem, God's people, it is therefore given to us as well as those who are God's people. And there are two commands for us in Isaiah chapter 40. Now there's plenty of other commands. There's lots of commands that are given to God's messengers. You'll see that all through. So in verse one, You'll see that Isaiah is commissioned to bring a message of comfort to speak tenderly to Jerusalem. You'll notice in verse 3, there's a voice that's delivering a message. That voice appears again in verse 6. You'll also see in verse 9, we have this herald who's climbing a mountain to shout this message. It's just wonderful to see how God is eager to declare His message, to speak to His people. But even through all of that, there are only two commands issued in here to God's people, to Jerusalem, to us. One of them is in verse 3. The other one is in the section we haven't read yet in verse 10. In verse 3, you see that command to prepare. And then parallel to it is make straight. So verse 3 is prepare. And the second one in verse 10 is behold. So you've got, prepare the way for your God, and then what's in verse 10? Behold your God. And really, that's this week and next week. This week I want to talk about preparing the way for the Lord. What does that mean? How do we prepare for the coming of the Lord? And then next week, we're going to look more at the bits around verse 10, beholding your God. And it fits in so well with the Christmas season. Here we are, we're in the middle of Christmas season. Kids, children, you are very much aware of the fact that this is December and December is moving along and we're rapidly approaching Christmas. But think about how preparing and beholding fits in so well with the Christmas season. Because what is everybody doing right now? Everyone right now is preparing, preparing, preparing, preparing for that big day. Christmas morning is going to come and we've got to be ready for it. And so the shops out there, probably even on a Sunday morning, the shops are full of people who are buying presents. And when I say they're full, they're really full. My wife and I were at Kohl's And we had a little something. We're like, oh, maybe we could buy this for something. And I said, well, let me go get in line if my wife wanted to look at shoes. So I said, well, let me just hold a spot in line. And I had to find the end of the line, which meant going around about half of the store. And I stand in line. And my wife's off looking at shoes. And I probably waited five or eight minutes. And I think I took three steps forward. And I said, dear, I don't think this is that important. It was probably a 40-minute wait. So it's busy out there. You've also noticed that decorations are going up all over the place. I think this is the national event. I'm not aware of any other national event that requires this level of preparation. If you own a business, if you own a home, it's expected that those decorations go up. And everybody's doing this work of preparation. Everyone seems being busy getting prepared for December 25th so that on December 25th we can behold For a lot of people, what does that mean? It's just, behold, Christmas Day is here. Yeah, it's a day of festivity and presents, but preparing so that we can behold. This morning, I want us to think about what it means for us to prepare for something far more significant. What does it mean to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ? What we're gonna see here is that when it comes to preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ, there is work to do. Christ is coming and there is work to do. You know how there's those people that, maybe you're one of them, but there's those people that leave their Christmas lights up all year, right? They're just there all through the summer, their Christmas lights are there, and come December, all they have to do is turn on the switch or plug them in. Well, listen. When it comes to the coming of Jesus Christ, that is not true. You can't just expect that you are already prepared. There is, this passage shows us, a work of preparation that must be done for the coming of the Lord. And so, this morning I want us to look at three things. I want us to look at the place of preparation, the means of preparation, and the result of preparation. The place, the means, the result. We're gonna go there, but before I do, we should probably think about this, because maybe this is lurking in the back of your minds, Craig, what coming are we preparing for? What coming of Jesus are we getting ready for? I mean, hasn't Christ already come? Isn't that the whole point of the Christmas celebration? We're remembering that Christ has already come. And so, you know, I understand you're saying that Isaiah 40 did not expire in the events of the Babylonian captivity, but did it not already expire in the coming of Jesus Christ? So what are we preparing for? And my answer to that is threefold. First, There are some of you in this room who have not yet welcomed Jesus into your hearts. You haven't. That is, you are not a Christian. Jesus is not at home in your heart. And you know, we sing at Christmas time that wonderful hymn that we associate with Christmas, which is joy to the world, the Lord is come. But you remember what it says a little bit later on, it says, let every heart do what? Prepare, prepare him room. And some of you still need to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ into your hearts. Second, there are some of you who are Christians. Yes, you're a believer and Jesus is there in your heart, so to speak, but you've grown distant from God. Yes, you are Jerusalem. Yes, praise the Lord, you are God's people, you're in exile from God. In some ways, you're kind of in Babylon, and you've allowed there to be other things that get in the way. And while, I don't want to deny this, you are certainly still in union with Jesus Christ. That's something that's bought by the blood of Christ, and it cannot be taken from you. You are, yes, Christian, still in union with Christ. Your communion, your fellowship with Jesus Christ has been disrupted. And there's some hard work that needs to be done in order to prepare him room. And thirdly, let's not forget that yes, Christ has come once, but Christ is coming again. Christ is coming again. We've been looking more recently at Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, and we've been talking again and again about this imminent return of Christ. And just as there was preparatory work to be done for his first coming, there is preparatory work to be done for his second coming. And all of this is to say then that each of us should be paying attention to Isaiah chapter 40. Each of us should be doing the difficult work of preparing for the coming of the Lord. So let's look at this. Let's look at this preparation. First, the place of preparation. The place of preparation. In Isaiah 40, I want you to notice where God's people are. When you look at the people here in this nice little Christmas story, notice they are not next to the cradle of Christ in a warm stable. They are not in the fields hearing these angelic announcements of the birth of a Savior. Where are they? They are in exile in the wilderness. The context actually helps us to see some of the fact that they are in exile. So look back at verse 6 of the previous chapter. Verse 6 of chapter 39. The context here is King Hezekiah. He has invited envoys from Babylon to come into his kingdom, into his palace, and he has decided to show off everything. I mean, he's left nothing a secret. He's revealed all the inside workings of his kingdom to these envoys from Babylon, which is probably not a wise thing to do. And God sends Isaiah with hard words for King Hezekiah. Look in verse 6. This is Isaiah speaking to King Hezekiah. He says, Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. That is the context for chapter 40. In fact, it's almost startling to compare the beginning of chapter 40 to the end of chapter 39. And so in chapter 40, God begins in the midst of this hard, hard message. Look, you're going to be carried off into captivity. God's chosen people, His Jerusalem, are actually going to find themselves in a foreign land. And in the midst of that, we get verse 1 and God begins to give messages of comfort for the future. Comfort for His people when they are in exile. But notice they're in exile. And notice how that situation is described. Look at verse 3. We're told there in verse 3, the idea is that they're in a wilderness. Notice the second half of verse 3, it's a desert. So when God's people are told to do the work of preparation, where are they? They're in a wilderness, in a desert. What's a desert like? I mean, just bring into your mind, if you haven't ever been in a real desert, at least you've seen the pictures of it, what's it like? It's waterless. It's infertile. No one lives there. It's just empty space. Nothing grows there. It is absolutely lifeless. And do you see how that's an appropriate metaphor for the spiritual condition of so many people? It's a metaphor for the spiritual condition of so many people. Spiritually speaking, there are many people who are lifeless. They are without life. Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel like you're lacking spiritual life? You know, I feel that way sometimes. I want to see more spiritual fruits. I want to grow in godliness. I want to be walking around with my mind and my heart, meditating on my savior and knowing his presence and knowing his nearness, but often I don't. That's not what I seem to be experiencing. My spiritual life can get into a rut. I'm just going through the motions, doing the things that I'm supposed to do. And it seems like there's no life, there's no vitality. And it feels like I'm in a spiritual wilderness. And isn't it fascinating that even there, even in that spiritual wilderness, we are to be preparing for the coming of the Lord. You know, it's not here referring to those mountaintop experiences that we have. You know, those spiritual landmark high point periods in your spiritual life when everything is wonderful and yes, God's going to use those and he's even preparing you through those. But here, it's in the wildernesses. It's when I don't feel like it that I am preparing for the coming of the Lord. That's the command here. Let me just say this. It's not in my notes, but I'll say it. There is a difference between the Christian and the non-Christian when it comes to this wilderness. The Christian, I want you to understand this, if you're a believer and you're in a wilderness, you have a wonderful assurance. You have the assurance that God is with you in your wilderness. He's not going to let you go. And even if you're having trouble seeing it, you can hold on to it as solid truth. Non-Christian. When you are in the wilderness, it is a genuine wilderness. Now, you try to disguise that. You try to put up other things that kind of distract you from it. And you, whatever it is for you, maybe it's recreation and entertainment. Maybe it's all the social media. Maybe it's going through all the different websites and trying to distract yourself. It's trying to find pleasure here. It's trying to find pleasure there. You think you can distract yourself from this reality, but you know, in your most serious, in your most sober moments, You know that you're in a wilderness. You know that your life lacks this punch, this vitality that it ought to have. That's the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian in the wilderness. Well, how do I prepare? We've looked at the place of preparation, but how do I actually prepare? What does it look like to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ? So secondly, the means of preparation. The means of preparation. So in verse 3, we're told to prepare the way for the Lord. But then, as we move through this passage, we're given some specifics as to what it's going to look like to prepare the way of the Lord. So look at the second half of verse 3. First half says, in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Second half, you're going to make straight in the desert a highway for our God. There's some highway construction going on here. And you're going out into the desert, out into the wilderness, and you're making this nice, smooth, straight highway. Unlike most highways around here. But maybe you've seen them out in the Midwest. Just straight. It goes and it goes and it goes. Verse 4, it says that every valley shall be lifted up. Okay, so you're taking these low places and you're lifting them up to be the same level as everything else. You're also taking mountains. Every mountain is being made low. You're taking mountains and you're cutting them down so that the uneven ground becomes level, the rough places become a plain. You see, the image here is of making a smooth, straight highway. smooth, straight, level, so that God can easily come. There's no impediments, there's no obstacles, there's just this easy access. It's like having an easy pass, just on and off, no problem, no stopping. Of course, we understand this to be metaphorical. God does not actually need smooth highways to travel on, does he? We know that God is omnipresent and of course God can go wherever he pleases, no problem. This is not to be taken literally, it's a metaphor. So what is the metaphor pointing toward? Well, the chief image seems to be the removal of impediments. the removal of impediments, eliminating any obstacles that stand in the way between you and God. What are the mountains that have arisen that block your view of God? What are the barriers that you have erected that are antithetical to an all-holy God? It's the sort of thing that he would hate. It's the sort of thing that he would despise. And it's disrupting your sweet fellowship with him. Do you see where this is leading us, too? What do you call it when you have to remove, when you have to turn from the obstacles that come between you and God? We call that repentance. Interestingly, the word that John the Baptist was using. Repent. It's repentance. So in one word, what is the means of preparation? The means of preparation is repentance. It's repenting of. It's turning from. You know that that word has this idea of doing a 180 degree turn. And so I'm repenting of. I'm turning from the sin that is separating me from God. I mean, think about it. Why were the Israelites in the wilderness exile in Babylon? What put them over there in Babylon? It was because, and God makes this clear throughout the Old Testament, it's because they had sinned against God. And why are you in the wilderness stage of your spiritual walk? Why does it feel like you're in a wilderness? Well, it might be, and I want you to hear me saying it might be, it's not the only possible explanation, but it might be because you are habitually sinning against God. There are other reasons. There are other circumstances the Lord might put you in that make you feel like it's a dark time, make you feel like it's a wilderness. But then I wonder, even in those other circumstances, how have you responded to them? You may be sitting against God in a perfectly neutral circumstance, but you may be sitting against God in how you respond to that perfectly neutral circumstance. Do you remember how I said that Isaiah 40 shows up in all four Gospels in connection with John the Baptist? John the Baptist is preparing the way for Christ. And we love this story. He's fulfilling Isaiah chapter 40 as he prepares the way for Christ. And notice, what is he doing? He's calling people to repent. He's saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Christ is coming. And so I'm calling you to make paths that are straight for him. Tear down the mountains of your sin. Allow him easy access into your heart. That's his message. Repent. My friends, My brothers and my sisters, are you willing to do the difficult work of repentance? You know, it's not easy to tear down mountains. At least I imagine it's not easy to tear down mountains. Could you imagine shovelful by shovelful trying to remove a mountain? That's hard work. That's laborious. It's hard work to fill in an entire valley and these preparations for the coming of the Lord, what we're called to do in repentance, that is laborious and difficult. It will feel like, as you do this work of repentance, it will feel like you are removing mountains that are planted in the core of your being. It will feel like you are filling up chasms that reach into the very depths of your soul, but if you want to know the nearness of God, it's what you've got to do. It's what you are called to do. You're called to repent of your sin, but listen, While I stand here telling you that you need to repent, repentance is not enough. Repentance is not enough. Being sorry for your sin is not enough. It's a great starting point. It's a necessary starting point. But you'd be in big trouble if you repented, but then Jesus never came. You see what I'm saying? If you repent and Jesus never comes, you've got a problem. You'd be in trouble if you built the highway, made this straight path in the wilderness, but the dignitary, the king, never arrived on it. Jesus must come because there is very important work that Jesus must do. And so that leads us to thirdly, the result of preparation. Verses three and four detail for us the means of preparation. But here, in verse five, we get the results of preparation. Look at verse five. It says, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Notice, by the way, that it's gonna happen, because it says here, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And if the mouth of the Lord speaks it, it happens. Genesis 1, creation, God speaks, it happens. God has spoken. Verse five is going to happen. Now, what is the result of this preparation? After all this hard work of tearing down mountains and raising up valleys, what do we get? You see it there in verse 5. We get the coming of the Lord. That's the result. The Lord comes. The glory of the Lord. Could we even say it this way? The exact representation of God's being, which is Jesus Christ, is revealed to us. God himself comes to you. That's the result. Now, it's worth noting that this highway in the wilderness, this highway is not constructed so that the Israelites can get away from their Babylonian captivity. That's the direction you might think this text is going. You're like, yeah, I'm with you, Isaiah. I see what you're doing. We're going to prepare a highway. That's awesome, because that highway is going to get us out of Babylon and back to Jerusalem. That's what you might think. But notice, instead, this highway is constructed so that God can come to you Within your wilderness, within your Babylon, God is coming to you. And so this is, this is not the language of God leading us out of a hard situation, which he sometimes does. This is the language of God coming to us within our hard situation. Might even remind you of words that come later in Isaiah, where God says that when you go through the fire, I will be with you. Sometimes we wish it said, when you go through the fire, I'll pull you right out of it. No, he says, I'm going to go through it with you. So God is going to come to you in your wilderness, but you ask, how can that be? How is that possible? How can an all holy God, how can he be near me? I'm the one in the wilderness. I'm the one who has done rotten things that have put me in the wilderness. How can God be near me? Maybe you even think of the traditional Christmas story and you think of just what happens when an angel appears. When I'm talking about God and all his glory coming, we're talking about when an angel, a messenger of God appears, what happens? The shepherds, they shake in fear. They cower, they cover their faces when the angel appears. Or you think of the angel appears to Mary and he has to tell her, do not be afraid. The angel appears to Joseph and he has to say, do not be afraid. So how then could this God, this God himself, come near to me? Or maybe you even think of Malachi chapter 3 verse 2 right there almost at the very end of the Old Testament almost put you right up against the beginning of the New Testament, but what does it say there? It says who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears. Who can stand in the presence of this holy God? You know, it's one thing for God to come in human form. We think about it Christmas time, God coming in human form, the incarnated Son of God, His glory being veiled in flesh. But it's certainly another thing for the full glory of the Lord to be revealed, as it certainly will be at Christ's second coming. How could I ever anticipate that day with anything but apprehension and fear? And here's where we need to work our way back to verses one and two. You may have noticed we haven't really looked at verses one and two. How does this chapter start? Where does this chapter begin, especially in light of what came before? You've got the end of chapter 39. Hey, you're going to be carried off into Babylonian exile because of your sin. And what does it say next? Does it say terror, terror? Does it say something like grief, grief? Woe to you, says the Lord. That's not what it says. What does it say? It says comfort. Comfort my people, says your God. You know the word comfort there, it's repeated twice. It's almost as if to show the fullness, the richness of this comfort. This is not just comfort. This is comfort, comfort. In fact, notice the personal pronouns. God says, you're going to comfort my people. It says, says, says your God. And so somehow God's nearness is able to bring us not terror, not fear, but God's approach is able to bring us comfort. Notice verse two. It says, speak tenderly. to Jerusalem. I like the King James version. Some of you have that. The King James says, speak comfortably to Jerusalem. And that doesn't mean you're going to sit down on a couch and get comfy and then speak these words. It's this idea that you're speaking words of comfort. You're speaking comfortably to Jerusalem. The word literally there actually means speak to the heart. It's like a, it's a young man wooing a young lady and he, he learns to speak to her heart and he says, speak tenderly, speak words of comfort. And we see what follows in verse two are three words of comfort. Let me show them to you real quick. Three words of comfort. First, Declare to her that her warfare is ended. Her warfare is ended. It's referring there to a time of warfare, or probably it's meant to be interpreted a little bit more generically, just a time of hardship. And declare to her that her time of hardship has come to an end. You know, there had been seasons of bondage, there had been misery in exile, and remember that was even due to their sin. But now, the comforting word is, it has come to an end. It actually can be translated not simply, it has come to an end, but it has been filled. It has met its fullness. It reminds us a little bit of Galatians chapter four, verse four, where it says, in the fullness of time, God sent his son. So her warfare has ended. Second word of comfort, her iniquity is pardoned. Her iniquity is pardoned. Her iniquity, her sin has been pardoned. That idea of pardoned there, it's not just that he's kind of said, that's cool, things are okay between us, we're good. The word for pardoned here, that verb has the idea of a satisfaction being paid. It's not just, hey, well, I guess we'll let things go. It's, no, someone has paid the satisfaction necessary for your offense. You are guilty, but that guilt has been paid for. Or we could say someone has offered a sacrifice for this iniquity. And then thirdly, she has, it says, received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. interesting expression, she could receive from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. And that can actually be interpreted two different ways and interpreters aren't even sure which way to go with it. The first way is that it could mean she has received double the punishment for all her sins. So she's heaped up lots of guilt and she's received double, which might not mean a literal doubleness, but she's done more than enough. She's really paid it in full. She's received, she's paid the price in full. But it could also mean she has received not double the punishment, but double the blessing from the Lord. It's actually one I like better. She's received double the blessing from the Lord. Despite all of her sins, she's actually received far more of blessing from the hand of the Lord. That's a word of comfort. That's a wonderful word of comfort. And so here we have, we have three words of comfort, but here's what I want you to see. How is it? that you can stand at the glorious appearing of the Lord. Who can stand when he appears? Well, it has something to do with your repentance, but remember I said repentance is not enough. It has even more to do with what we see here in verse two. Why can you stand in the presence of the Lord? It is because your iniquity has been pardoned. The guilt of your sin has been satisfied. And so the reason that you can stand in the presence of the full revelation of the glory of Jesus Christ is because Jesus Christ himself has purified you and made you righteous. That's work that he did through the cross. He hung on the cross. His blood was shed and he atones for your sin and in exchange he gives you his righteousness and that is the way that you can stand before him. We sing these words written by Count von Zinzendorf. He says, bold shall I stand. You know what I'm talking about? Bold shall I stand in thy great day. There's that day coming. But I'm not going to cower in fear. I'm going to stand boldly. Bold shall I stand in thy great day for... Who ought to my charge shall lay? That's like, who can bring anything against me? What charge can they stick on me? He goes on, he says, fully absolved, fully forgiven, fully pardoned through these, it's a reference to Jesus' blood and righteousness. Fully absolved through these I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame. Do you see what Zinzendorf is saying? I can stand boldly on that great day. My brothers and sisters, Repentance is the means by which we prepare for Christ's coming. You are called to do it. You are called to be people of repentance. But it's only effective when it's accompanied by faith in the ability of Jesus Christ to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And so maybe, if right now you find yourself in a spiritual wilderness, maybe you need to do these two things. You need to repent. You need to remove all of those obstacles, those mountains, those impediments of sin that are in your life. But you also need to believe. You need to believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one who is able to move your mountains. And let me remind you of what lies on the other side. It's what we see here in verse five of Isaiah 40. You do that back-breaking work of preparing a highway through the wilderness. You give yourself to that work. And what is the result? Verse five, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. I want you to think of the most beautiful thing that you could imagine in all of the universe, and then realize that the glory of God is infinitely more beautiful. I want you to think of the most pure, the most holy thing that you can imagine in all of the universe and then realize that Jesus Christ is infinitely more pure, is infinitely more holy. I want you to think of the thing that is most dazzling and exciting and breathtaking to you in all of the universe and then realize that Jesus Christ in his glory is infinitely more dazzling and breathtaking than that thing is. That's how glorious, beautifully glorious our God is. And you want that, don't you? You want that. You long for that day when you will. As Corinthians says, with unveiled faces behold the glory of our resplendent God. What a day that will be. What a wonderful day that will be. And so, why would you not want to prepare for that great day? Well, I'm kind of getting into my next sermon. So, let me close with this. My hope is that the Christmas season, as we go on these next two weeks, amidst all the busyness and the preparations for December 25th, my hope is that in this season, you would see the importance of preparing, not just presents and decorations, but you would see the importance of preparing for the coming of the Lord, and that you would seek to make your heart a place that is habitable for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that we so often sin against you. We sin against you in thought. We sin against you in word. We sin against you in deed. There's so much in our hearts, even our redeemed hearts, that is ugly. And there are these obstacles that stand between us and you. And so, Lord, we ask that you would help us to repent and to turn from those obstacles. Lord, help us to believe. Help us to believe the truths that you revealed to us in Scripture and to remember the salvific work of Christ in even tearing down the mountains of our sin. We thank you for him and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.