We turn on this New Year's Day again to Isaiah 55 and read the entire chapter of Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith 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. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. And then in verse 12, begin the words of our text 12 and 13, For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir 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." Thus far, God's Word. Dear congregation, we have entered into another year, and we wonder what will happen in this year. Well, good things may happen. Bad things may happen, too. Encouraging things may happen, and discouraging things may happen, too. But we've entered into this new year. We can't go back. We must go forward. But how? What if I said, we can go forward, you can go forward with assurance and with comfort, with a leader and a guide who won't leave you, but faithfully will direct you, the Lord Himself who will give you peace and joy. Who would not want that this morning? To be led forth in peace. And that's what the Lord promises and that's what you can write over the sermon. Led forth in peace. And what does the Lord promise to do? Five things. First of all, delivering. Secondly, leading. Thirdly, accompanying. Fourthly, transforming. And fifthly, glorifying. led forth in peace, five points, first of all, delivering, secondly, leading, thirdly, accompanying, fourthly, transforming, and lastly, glorifying. You may want to have your Bible open to the words of our text as we'll work through these verses. Yes, these words of comfort are spoken to a people who would experience very distressing things. After all, the people hearing these words would be taken into exile into Babylon on account of their sin. Their land would be devastated, their homes destroyed, their lives turned upside down, and many would be taken to this faraway country of Babylon as captives, hostages. But in the midst of such bleak circumstances, the gospel still goes forth, the gospel still is heard, and the invitation graciously extended for sinners to find life and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how the chapter begins, with this invitation to the market of free grace. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. And that chapter, this same chapter, ends with the promise that they shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Yes, this promise in the last few verses is first of all a promise of deliverance. Delivering grace that the Lord will deliver from captivity. Ye shall go out. That's how the text begins. Now, that's not just speaking of a nice outing that you might have with a loved one or with some friends. I mean, people go out sometimes during the day, sometimes at night, and they have a nice time together. You step out of your house and you go to a restaurant or something like that. But that's not the picture here. It's a picture of people stepping out of prison. as people being set free from captivity. It's a promise of what the Lord did for the people of Israel in setting them free from Egypt. They had been held captive there. They had been enslaved there. Remember, boys and girls, they had been forced to this back-breaking construction work, and when they didn't work hard enough, they were whipped and they were beaten. They were in a tight spot. in these labor camps like they have in North Korea. But the Lord, He would see to it that Israel would be set free. They could go out of Egypt. And now fast forward to the time of the prophet Isaiah. Here again the Lord promises that Israel will be set free from captivity in Babylon. Yes, they'll be held captive there for some 70 years. but they will go free from Babylon. And that must be special. I mean, to be set free from prison, to be set free from captivity, to be released if you've been a hostage. Of course, when we hear this this morning, we might say, but that doesn't have anything to do with us, Pastor. Doesn't apply to us, does it? I mean, we are not in captivity in Egypt, in Babylon. We have freedoms. We're not in concentration camps like the Jews in Germany or labor camps in North Korea. No, that's true. We do have freedoms in our land. But we are in bondage. We're in a worse bondage than just being locked up in a cell somewhere. It's possible to be locked up in a cell somewhere and to be free. And it's possible to be free, to have all the freedoms in the world, and yet to be a captive. Captive to sin, captive to bondage, and not able to set yourself free. captive to the prison of unbelief, captive to the chains of lust, or the chains of bitterness, or worry. You feel yourself sometimes so chained, don't you? You can't break free from those chains, and you don't love God, even though you're religious, and you don't live for God, because you're a slave to sin, to Satan. Have you ever seen your bondage in this sin or that sin? And even though you've made resolutions to stop with this sin, you keep going back, and you keep doing it again, and you're trapped, and you're stuck, and you can't break free. But then the good news of the gospel is that what you cannot do, the Lord does. He can make you free. He can make you to come out of the prison of sin, the prison of unbelief. Here's a promise, ye shall go out. He'll set you free from your bondage. And who needs that this morning? There are quite a few who need that. But how? How does the Lord do that? Well, He does that through His Son, the Lord Jesus, right? John 8 verse 36, If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed. That's why the demon-possessed man named Legion was set free. That's how Saul of Tarsus was set free from his unbelief and his enmity. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ that I find freedom. in His death and in His resurrection. And if I come to Jesus, I may be freed. And if I find myself in Jesus, I may be free. If I come to Jesus in faith, I may go out with joy. If I come to Jesus with my need, I may go out with joy. If I step towards Him with my burden, with all my guilt, I may step out with joy. That's the promise. And He can set me free. He can give me the feet to come to Him. He can give me the grace to release me. That's the way to know His delivering grace. Why not admit that you're stuck at the beginning of this year and tell Him that you need His delivering grace, His freedom that is in Jesus. But there's more. There's not only His delivering grace, there's also His leading grace. The second promise, for the Lord not only promises to deliver, He also promises to lead. He shall go out and be led forth. You see, He doesn't just promise to deliver them in His power in order to leave them to their own wisdom. He doesn't deliver them with His resources in order to let his people depend on their own resources, to make it on their own, and to hope for the best. No, what would become of us? Boys and girls, what would have become of Israel if, having been delivered from Egypt, set free from the house of bondage by the Lord and by His power, if being brought into the wilderness, the Lord left them to themselves? and said to them, now you make it to the promised land in your own resources and depending on your own strength through the wilderness. They wouldn't have made it. The miles and miles of sand made everything look the same. They would have perished. They would have gone lost. It would have been a great failure if it depended on the people. But it doesn't depend upon the people. It depends on the Lord. He would direct them. He would lead them. He would guide them. Ye shall go out and be led forth. He will deliver His people and He will lead His people through the Lord Jesus who is called, earlier in this chapter, verse 4, He's called the leader and commander of the people. He's the answer to the prayer. Unto me, O Lord Jehovah, show thy ways. Teach thou me, so that by thy Spirit guided clearly I thy paths may see. Jesus is the one who leads. Did he not say that in John 14 that he would guide his disciples, he would lead his disciples into all the truth? Did he not say in Psalm 48 that he would guide his people even unto death? Did he not say before he ascended into heaven, Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world? Did He not promise that He would teach us the way that we should go by His Word and Spirit, guiding us in the way of providence, guiding us in the way of salvation, guiding us, yes, in the way of providence and the difficult providences that some of you are going through? the sum of. You may go through in this year going away that you had not counted on going and countering that trial, experiencing that burden. But He will guide you in the way of providence and He will guide you in the way of salvation. What a promise that is at the beginning of the year that He will guide you, He will lead you. Ye shall go out and be led forth. And if He leads, then you know what that means. Boys and girls, if He leads, what does that mean? Then we have to learn to follow. And isn't that the call to His disciples also this year? Follow Me. That means we have to submit to Him. We have to follow Him. Then I have to go behind Him. not in front of Him. Then I have to die to my own plans in order to heed His plans. Yes, going behind Him, obeying Him, and depending on His grace, trusting Him. Yes, even when I don't understand the way that He's leading me in salvation and in providence, but what reason we have to ask for this? Young people, to ask the Lord for this, that He would teach us to follow Him, that we would be led by Him and guided by Him, depending on His Word and listening to His voice as He says, this is the way, walk ye in it. Shall we not seek that? Those who follow Him, He says that, right? It's in John 12. Those that follow Him will not walk in darkness. but have the light of the day that he has promised. Or don't you need that this morning? Is that how you sit here maybe? Thinking as you look into 2020, I think I can do that. I think I can manage that with my own wisdom and with my own capabilities and with my own resources. It's possible that that's how you sit here. By nature, that's how we all are. Proverbs speaks of this in Proverbs 14, verse 12. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. Shall we not ask him to show us his way, to lead us in those ways, and to bring us where he would have us go? There is then, first of all, his delivering grace. Secondly, His leading grace. Thirdly, His accompanying grace. His accompanying grace. Listen, ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. He promises joy and peace to accompany you. Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace." A company in grace, I call it. Can I put it this way, so that the children also understand it this morning? What the Lord promises, boys and girls, is two friends to go with you. Two companions for your journey. One friend is named Joy, the other friend is called Peace. Friends who, as it were, take you by the hand and who walk with you and who go with you. And that's special, isn't it, to have friends? Some of you complain you don't have any friends. Well, that may be real. We don't always know how to be friends and how to be friendly. But here are two companions, two friends that the Lord can give you for life's journey. The one is joy. the other peace. Two gifts, two fruits of the Spirit that the Lord gives. And it makes sense, doesn't it? That if you've been delivered by the Lord and led by the Lord, that you would know joy and that you would know peace. That's what the Lord gives. Now, the one companion is joy. Let's look at this friend first of all. When I say that the one companion is joy, that doesn't mean that there are no times of sorrow, and that there are no times of difficulties, and that there are no times of grief. There are circumstances and events in your and my life that bring us sorrow, that bring us grief. But yet the friend is there, joy, because there can be joy in the Lord. Grace, after all, has brought a bond with the Lord, a relationship with the Lord, that even if I suffer loss, and even if I suffer hardship, and even if I have to go for treatments, and if I'm burdened, I still have Him. I still have union and communion with Him, if I trust Him. There is joy in God, even in difficulties. There is joy in salvation. Does that not fill your heart sometimes, dear people of God? Does that not fill your heart with joy sometimes? That once you were on the way to hell, and now the Lord has set you on the way to heaven. That once you were lost, but now you're saved. There's joy about that, isn't there? And there's joy in God's Word. Why would I not turn continually to that Word of His that Psalm 119 verse 24 says, and Psalm 19 verse 8 says, it gives delight and rejoices the heart. That's what the Word does. And yes, hardships come, and troubles weigh us down, and there are burdens that we carry, and you have to sometimes pass through deep waters, but the believer can rejoice in tribulation. No, not that these trials are easy and not that they make us feel good, but we can rejoice in the troubles and in the trials because God is still on the throne and God will still guide us and He will still lead you. Joy is one of the companions that the Lord promises His people. Do you know this companion? Do you want this companion? For this year, and really all the rest of your life, it's in the Lord Jesus. The man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, but he rejoiced to save his people, who for the joy that was set before him endured what he endured, endured the cross and despise and the shame, and this joy is in him. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me that I am his own And he says in John 15 verse 11, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. That's what the Lord promises. That's what the Lord gives His people. And then the prophet paints this amazing picture in the second part of verse 12. Did you see it? The second part of verse 12, this amazing picture. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." If you come to Jesus with your burden, you will leave with joy. If you come troubled with your sin to Jesus, you can leave with peace. If you come to the cross, the picture is remarkable, and someone has said it so well, the mountains will serenade you if you come to the cross, and creation will break forth out into applause, figuratively speaking. That's one companion, joy. One friend, boys and girls, that the Lord promises to give you this year. Joy. And the second friend is peace. Ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. Who would not want peace? In this world of war, with all the death and destruction, unrest and turmoil Sometimes we feel it in our own family strife, disagreements. People have a fallout with each other. But in Jesus Christ is peace. Romans 5 verse 1, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the Lord Jesus, you come to be in a right relationship with God. and you have peace with him outside of Jesus. You realize that, my unconverted friend? Outside of Jesus, there is no peace. There is no peace to the wicked. Isaiah 48 verse 22. But if we believe in the Lord Jesus, worked by the Holy Spirit, leading us to an end in ourselves, and driving us out to Him, then we have peace with God. Because He lived the life that we should have lived, and He died the death that we deserve to die. And by faith in Him, we have peace with God. No, that doesn't mean that we have this peace in our hearts every day. It doesn't mean that we never have our anxieties and our fears. Sin robs us of peace. It does. Our sins and our guilt robs us of this peace with God. Satan is there to remind us of our sin and we're troubled. Go back to the cross, and we need to take our sins back to the cross, and we need to confess them, and we need to seek fresh forgiveness in the Lord Jesus, for as Ephesians 2 verse 14 says, He is our peace. And when your heart is fearful, and when you're full of worry, and you have anxieties, and you may face them again, and they may be worse than before, Take it to the Lord in prayer. And the peace of God, Philippians 4 verse 7 says, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And if peace is our companion, then you want to live at peace with each other. Why wouldn't you? And you make every effort to live at peace with one another, Romans 14 says. And we forgive each other. for Christ's sake, as God has forgiven us and we ask for a heart of Christ and the blood of Christ in our dealings with one another, peace, joy. Two friends, the Lord promises the believer. Do you know these friends? Do you know these companions? Joy. Peace. And don't you want such companions for your journey in this year? Don't you want these companions in life and in death? It's in the Lord Jesus. Why would you not seek it in Him for the first time? And again, in Him is joy, in Him is peace. He gives these companions and these companions are like no other companions. Those of you who are seeking your happiness in the world, my friend, there are no companions in the world that can give you joy and peace in your soul. Oh, temporary happiness maybe, whatever that may be, but it turns into shame and pain And the prodigal son realized that there was no joy to be had in the world, but there was in the father house at the father's feast with the father's embrace. Joy and peace to companions that the Lord wants to give us the beginning of this year. He gives delivering grace. Yes. leading grace, yes, accompanying grace, fourthly, transforming grace. Transforming grace. Verse 13, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And when that is described for us, then we realize that that is quite a transformation that's described here, quite a radical change that is described here. Thorns and briars, right boys and girls? We don't want to touch those. They're prickly things. They remind us of the fall into sin and the curse because of sin. And God pronounced the curse because of sin and said to Adam, curse it is the ground. For thy sake and sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles also shall it bring forth. And since then the earth has had these thorns, briars, hurtful things, painful things, worthless things. They have no good purpose. If you go on a trip this year, you don't take thorns with you. You don't pack them up in your bag. You don't use thorns as a pillow. You won't rest your head on them. They're hurtful things. If you walk over thorns and bare feet, if you walk over briars, then you cut your feet, you tear your feet, and it will result in scarring. These thorns and briars, they cumber the ground, and they're only good for being given to the flames. Now, that's what we are by nature. Thorns, briars, pictures of what we are by nature because of our fall into sin. We're fruitless people. We're hurtful people. We say hurtful things to others. We do hurtful things to others. Cain and Esau, what thorns they wore to their families, what grief they caused, what tears they caused Cain and Esau. That's all of us by nature, like thorns, hurtful and hurting one another. Or like Saul of Tarsus, breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the church. And yes, that's you and me by nature, with thorns of anger, and thorns of lust, and thorns of selfishness, and thorns of bitterness, and thorns of unbelief, whereby we hurt others, and we prick others, and we damage others, and we hurt ourselves too, and we dishonor God. But here, God promises to change the thorn into a fir tree and briars into a myrtle tree. The fir tree, or the cypress tree, is this shade-bearing tree that grows quickly and provides excellent timber and can be used to build homes and other structures. And the myrtle bush that grows around Palestine and has these dark green scented leaves, and this fragrance that apparently smells better than a rose, and a perfume is made out of its flowers of the myrtle bush. That's what the Lord promises, to transform sinners into saints. Make old creatures into new creatures. Make them, yes, so that new creatures, the old is passed away, and all things become new. He did that with Saul of Tarsus. What hurtful thorns were there not in his life? He was hurting the Lord Jesus, and he was hurting his church. And the Lord met him on the way to Damascus, and he's humbled, and he begins to ask, Who art thou, Lord? What wilt thou have me to do? And there came a change. A thorn bush was made into a fir tree. A briar into a myrtle tree. Who did that? Who performed that? The Lord did that. He didn't just prune some of the thorns off of this prickly bush of Saul of Tarsus. He didn't just prune some of the thistles in your life, your child of God. People can change their habits. I know that. People can change their habits. They go to church, put on different clothes, they change their language. They break with maybe an addiction to alcohol. They break with other maybe outward sins and they think that somehow now they're respectable. And there are many people like that in our world, respectable people. They may be kind neighbors, but it's only skin deep. But they're still without God in this life, and without Christ in their heart, and they're still the same deep down. What kind of a change do you want, friends? What kind of a change do you want in 2020? It's like that man who asked his wife about the clothes he was wearing to church, and asked what his wife thought about the clothes that he was wearing, and if he should change. And she said, it depends. Are you talking about changing your shirt? Or are you talking about changing your heart and life? See, that's what we need, especially husbands, fathers. Transforming grace. Changed heart and changed life. And the Lord delights to do that. He delights to change sinners. He makes them His trophies in grace. Don't you want that? Don't you need that? Or do you prefer the thorns of sin that hurt you and that hurt others and that grieve the Lord? How can that give you peace with all these thorns in your life and the hurt you do to others and to yourself? But He can transform you. He's done that for so many already. But can I be changed, Pastor? Well, He can change you. I can't. He can. He did it for Manasseh. He did it for Saul of Tarsus. There were these dragon-like creatures, Manasseh and Saul of Tarsus, who were made into these gentle lambs. He did it for Zacchaeus, a covetous and stealing man, who was made into a generous man. He did it for Matthew the Publican. He did it for Mary Magdalene. He did it for Legion. He can do it for you. Some of you have been trying to do this yourself. You've been trying to change your own life somewhat. You've been trying to turn a new leaf. But this great heart change and life change, He does it. You need to resort to Him. I was reminded of the a story of the old violin, the touch of the master's hand. You've heard it before, of that auction that was held, and there was this violin that was to be auctioned off. It was an old violin. It was battered. It was scarred. And the auctioneer thought it was hardly worth his time. But he held it up, and he said, who wants it? Who will take it for $1? Two, do I hear three? And then from the back came this gray bearded man and picked up the bow, wiped the dust from the old violin and tightened the strings and played a melody pure and sweet. And the music stopped and the auctioneer, he began over again. What shall, who wants to bid on this old violin? One thousand, do I hear two? Three thousand. Who makes it three? It's gone. And everybody cheered. Some of them said, but we don't understand it. What changed the worth of that old violin? And then the reply was the touch of the master's hand. And many, A man, this is the application, made many a man with life out of tune, all battered and bruised with hardship, is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like that old violin, a mess of pottage, a glass of wine, a game, and he travels on. He's going once, he's going twice, he's almost gone. But the master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought. by the touch of the Master's hand. And he changes a thorn into a fir tree, briar into a myrtle tree. That's why we need to resort to him. This change comes because of the touch of the Master's hand and the power of the Master's love and the spirit of the Master's grace. Oh, but for that he had to take the pain and he had to take the crown of thorns. and it was pressed upon his head so that he can forgive sins that you've committed and I've committed. And so he can change your life. But he did it so that instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree and he will ensure that the new heaven and the new earth will come and there will be no more thorns As the hymn writer put it, no more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make His blessing flow. Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. A transforming grace. Would you not ask Him for it? Lord, do that for me. Let me come under the Master's touch so that I may know this. delivering grace, this leading grace, this transforming grace, and lastly, this glorifying grace. The last words of verse 13. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Now, when a sinner is changed, when a sinner is converted, it brings questions. I mean, he used to curse. Now he prays. He used to be rough. Now he's gentle. He used to be unreliable. Now he's reliable. He used to think nothing of the Lord Jesus. Now he loves the Lord Jesus. How can this be? He used to hunger and thirst for sin. Now he hungers and thirsts for righteousness. The vile heart has made a pure in heart. He's found peace. He's found joy. What's happened? And then, boys and girls, you know where it comes from. We have to point to the Lord. It's like the magicians in Egypt, remember? When the Lord was at work to set the people of Israel free, then the magicians of Egypt could do certain things with their enchantments. And then there were times when they couldn't, and they were compelled to say, this is the finger of God. This is the Master's touch. And then it's not the changed sinner who deserves the glory, but the God who changed the sinner who deserves all the glory. I mean, if you had a briar in your backyard and you found one day a fir tree growing there, instead you would say, who's done this? Which gardener has done this? And so it is when a sinner is converted. We ask, what happened? Who's done it? We have to trace it back to God. Oh, He uses means. He uses the preaching of the Gospel. He uses the Word. But we have to trace it all back to God. For the grace He shows and the grace He gives. And then the prophet ends by saying, Yes, it shall be to the Lord for a name. His name is to be all glorified for an everlasting sign. that shall not be cut off." An everlasting sign, it means a monument. A monument in which are carved the accomplishments of someone here, are carved the accomplishments of the triune God, the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit, His power, and His grace, His love, and His mercy. And that those accomplishments that are carved as an everlasting sign, they shall not fade, and they shall not be cut off. You see what that says? Also, for the way that you have to go and the fears that you have, dear child of God, and you think, maybe my heart is too bad now. Maybe I've sinned too much against grace. But He will not cut you off. He gives unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. And it says, for the way that you have to go, dear child of God, the work that He has begun, shall by His grace be fully done. Amen. Let us give thanks and pray. O most good-doing and gracious Lord, that promise is so precious. And at the beginning of this year, we ask Thee to fulfill in our lives that precious promise so that we may go out with peace, be led forth with joy, that we might know Thy delivering grace, Thy leading grace, Thy accompanying grace with these two friends, joy and peace, and Thy transforming grace, and that all glory would be to Thee. We have no hope and expectation from ourselves, Some of us have tried to get better and we've only gotten worse. In ourselves, we are only bad. Grant through Thy renewing grace and the person and work of the Lord Jesus that we would find in Him our all in all. Help us then in all that we face, in our tasks at work, in our home life, in our responsibilities that we have. Thy grace would be at work to transform us, and that all glory would be to Thee. Oh, precious Lord, when that happens in our families, when parents are changed, when children are changed, when the proud are humbled, when there's a needy soul crying for mercy, Thy hand is not shortened that it cannot save And if it pleased Thee to make the way difficult and rough and full of trials in our lives, help us to follow, looking unto Him who is full of peace and joy and who has accomplished such a great salvation and applies it to by Thy Holy Spirit. Forgive all that was amiss in preaching. And in listening this morning, go with us in the rest of this week. Bring us together again this coming Lord's Day. And hear us in Jesus' name. Amen.