Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Isaiah chapter 40, verses 1 and 2.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended

and her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the

Lord's hand double for all her sins. These verses open up the second half of the book of Isaiah

amidst judgment for sin and condemnation do sin. God speaks these words of comfort

over his people. He tells her good news. Warfare has ended. Iniquity, your iniquity is

pardoned. See the relationship here between

comfort and pardon. When you are pardoned before God for your sin, when your sin is forgiven,

when the price of your sin has been paid. There is comfort in your relationship with God.

There is tenderness in your relationship with God. Think about that. As we celebrate this

Advent season, this is what Jesus came to bring. He came to bring comfort. He came to bring

the comfort of God. Think about it. He's come to pay the price for our sins. He has died on a cross,

shed his blood to cover over our sins, and by faith in his blood, God has pardoned us.

He has forgiven us of all our sins and with this pardon comes comfort from God,

tenderness and a relationship with God.

Oh, I think about a conversation I was having this week with someone who just feels beat up

for the sin that remains in their life.

They want to turn from sin, but they find themselves struggling with sin in this way or that

way. And they just want to be done with it. And they see almost, and if they're not careful,

they see God as constantly condemning them in their sin, which it's good to see the seriousness of sin and they hate it,

...