Isaiah chapter 42 opens in this
manner. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break. and the smoking flack shall he
not quench, he shall bring forth judgment under truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall
wait for his law. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall
wait for his law. Do you ever feel like you cannot go on? Do you
ever feel like the troubles and trials and struggles of life
have overwhelmed you? like they have come as a flood
upon you and you are as it were in the midst of an ocean struggling
to swim struggling to stay above water you hang on to life but you're
overwhelmed you feel your weakness you feel the confusion You feel the bewilderment. Do events come upon you which you cannot make head nor
sense of? Do troubles come your way and
trials come your way that not only frustrate and bother you,
but which are so great that you feel like you will be crushed
underneath them? Do you feel your weakness and
your inability? Your helplessness? Or do you feel, at other times,
like you purpose to do certain things? Like you plan certain
things? But everything comes to nothing.
Despite your best efforts, Despite your best attempts, you're not
able to accomplish that which you purpose. You want things
to go this way, but you're not in control. You may control this
and control that, but there's so many other things outside
of your grasp. The world is so much bigger than
you are, and you're so weak. And you have no strength to stand
against the things which conspire against you. And all your plans
come to nothing. Do you ever feel like a failure? Hopeless. Do you ever feel like
others look upon you as a failure? You strive to do your best, you
strive to please and nobody's ever happy. Nobody's ever pleased. No matter how hard you work,
you feel like you're not quite making the mark. A failure. Well so many of us from time
to time and in different circumstances will come into these places.
However successful we may be in life, in different areas,
if we're ever successful, even the most successful know what
it is to fail. Even the most successful know
what it is to be discouraged. Even the most successful know
what it is to have trouble and strife and opposition and discouragement. We know what it is to fail. And the child of God knows what
it is not simply to fail, but he knows by bitter experience
and the teaching of the Spirit of God within, that in himself,
in his flesh there dwelleth no good thing. that not only is
he without strength, not only does he fail, but the corruption
of sin within stains and taints everything that he does, says
and thinks. Not only does he not succeed,
but even when he succeeds, he fails. Even when he achieves
something it's full of pride and sin and self-motivation and
self-glorion. He knows that he is wicked through
and through. Not just one who fails but a
total failure before God. He's nothing. Now do you know
that? Because we don't accept that
naturally. And we don't accept that willingly. We are so absolutely proud and
full of ourselves. So full of self-glory. We will
not have any say that we are failures. Any say that we are
sinners. Any say that we are nothing but
perfect. We love to think well of ourselves,
yet God's description of man is that he's lost and that he
is black from head to toe, a failure. That's not something we learn
naturally or easily, and it's not something we like. but it's
something that the Spirit of God will teach us and will show
us and we will own if we know the voice of Jesus Christ crying
out in the wilderness of our hearts. But there is one man, there is
one who is not a failure, there is one
who did all that he purposed, and who does all that he purposes,
and never fails to accomplish that which he sets out to do. There is one man whose every
thought, every deed, every word is perfect, whose every word
accomplishes that for which it was spoken. There is one man
whose every action, past, present and future, accomplishes that
for which he purposes it. There is one man who never failed,
never fails and never shall fail. And that man is described here
by Isaiah in this passage. When the Lord says of him, Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him,
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged,
till he have set judgment in the earth, And the isle shall
wait for his law. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. We do fail, and we are utterly
discouraged. But what a hope there is set
before us to those who are given eyes to see, and those who are
given ears to hear the word of God as he speaks and declares
of this one. What a hope there is set before
us in this man, This servant, this elect, this chosen man,
in whom God's soul delights, what a hope there's set before
us in him, who shall not fail, nor be discouraged. All that
he will do will come to pass. All that he says will be done. All that he says is true. Who
is this servant? He is Jesus. Jesus Christ, the
son of God. God's servant, God's elect, his
chosen. The one whom he would send into
this world. His own son. His only begotten
son. the one in whom his soul delights,
the one whom he would send forth in this world, having put his
spirit upon him, to bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, to
set judgment in the earth, to save and to deliver a people
who were without strength. who were weak, who had failed,
and who were discouraged. A people full of sin, in need
of a saviour. A people who were blind, in need
of sight. A people who could not hear,
in need of hearing. A people who sat under judgment
in need of deliverance. A people who were prisoners in
a prison house who needed one to come in and to set them free. Oh, what hope there is set here
before us in this servant, this chosen, This one who shall not
fail. This one. Hear what God says
of him from verse five. Thus saith God the Lord, he that
created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth
the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath
unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness, mine elect, and will hold thine hand, and will
keep thee, and give thee this servant, this one, this son of
God, this chosen, this anointed, this Christ I will hold thine hand and will
keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of
the Gentiles to open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners
from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I
not give to another, neither my praise to grave and images. Behold the former things are
come to pass, and new things do I declare, before they spring
forth I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song
and his praise from the end of the earth. Ye that go down to
the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the inhabitants
thereof, let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their
voice. The villages that Cedar doth
inhabit, let the inhabitants of the rocks sing. Let them shout
from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the
Lord and declare His praise in the islands. The Lord shall go
forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like
a man of war. He shall cry, Yea, roar! He shall prevail against his
enemies. I have long time hold of my peace. I have been still and reframed
myself. Now will I cry like a travailing
woman. I will destroy and devour at
once. I will make waste mountains and
hills and dry up all their herbs. And I will make the rivers islands
and I will dry up the pools. and I will bring the blind by
a way they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. O what words of prophecy these
are! What words from Almighty God,
He that created the heavens and stretched them out, He that sustains
all life, that gives breath unto all the people upon the earth
and breath and spirit and life to them that walk therein, He
that sent forth His servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, His Saviour, as a covenant of His people,
As a light to the Gentiles, he that should come to open the
blind eyes. Are your eyes blind? Do they
need to be opened? Well here's the one who opens
blind eyes. To bring out the prisoners from
the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. Where are you sat this day? Are you in prison bound
by your sin, under the wrath of God, passing away the time
of your life until the hour comes when God will say, who are you
and what have you done? What have you done with the life
which I have given you? And you, bound by your sin, in
a prison house, will have to confess that all you've done
with the life that he gave you, that breath, that spirit within,
that life, is to rebel and to fight against him, to run afar
off, to seek your own glory, to seek your own pleasure and
riches. And you cared not for him, you
sat in darkness, you sat in blindness. If that's where you are, then judgment will be your lot.
But he sent one into this world, he sent a servant, he sent his
servant, his son, Jesus Christ, into this world to save sinners. To speak unto people like you
and I. to speak unto us, to declare
His Gospel and His salvation. He came unto those in the prison
house, you and I. He came unto those sat in the
darkness, to shine forth His light, to open our blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison. Have you heard his voice in the
darkness of your prison? Have you heard what he says? That this servant, this saviour
is God. I am the Lord, that is my name
and my glory will I not give to another. You seek your own
glory. Well God's glory will not be
shared with you or I. all your graven images, all the
idols you worship, the things you seek in glory, the things
you seek after in life, your entertainment, your riches, your
sport, your family, your job, your praise, your ambitions,
whatever it may be. God will not give his praise
to graven images. and share his glory with another,
this is the God who speaks here. And he says, behold my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delights. I have
put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He will bring it forth. Whether you hear that judgment
now, when you have time and when you can hear his voice in the
gospel declaring salvation from judgment or whether you heard
that judgment on the last day when it's too late and your blindness
and your apathy and your selfishness has set you apart from him and
has caused you to run afar off and to despise his word and to
despise his voice and to treat it as nothing one day you will
know his judgement hear it now maybe you feel your weakness
maybe you feel like you're nothing before him Maybe when he speaks
in the gospel it fills you with fear because you know you're
nothing, you know you're weak, you know you have no strength,
you know you cannot be righteous before a holy God, and you wonder
how you can know his salvation or his favour. Well, he says of the weak and
the foolish and the broken, a bruised reed shall he not break and the
smoking flax shall he not quench. He's not come to crush the weak. He's not come to crush those
who know their sin and know their poverty before him, who know
they need salvation. He's not come to crush the weak,
but to save. he shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. And when he comes to save, he
saves, for he shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have
set judgment in the earth. Judgment, he will save his own. I will bring the blind by a way
that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. Are you blind? Have you heard him? Has He come unto you in the Gospel
to open your eyes? Is He leading you on a way that
you knew not? He shall not fail. This servant, this Saviour, in
whom the Lord delights, in whom God so delights, shall not fail
nor be discouraged. He shall not fail. O the shalls
of Scripture! When God shalls, it happens. When he says I shall do this,
it's as if it's done. When he says you shall be like
this, you will be. God's word is sure and certain,
it's truth. When Jesus says you shall have
life everlasting, drink of my water and ye shall never thirst,
you shall never thirst. You will drink of that water
and will never thirst. His shalls happen. And when he
says of himself, when the Lord says of Christ, he shall not
fail, it's certain. It's not an ambition. It's not
an expression of intent which might be overturned. It's not
a statement like we might make, I shall go here today. An intent,
a determination which could be thwarted. But when He says He
shall not fail, He shall not, because the One who says this
is Almighty God in the person of His Son, He who created the
heavens, He who sustains it all, and He orders and moves all things
according to His purpose, so that when He purposes to do it,
He as divine, He as God, He working through providence, sovereignly
brings all things to pass such that they happen. When God says
He shall not fail, He means it. He shall not fail to keep his
word. He shall not fail to keep his
promises. He shall not fail to keep his
eternal decrees and covenants, every one of them. All that he
has ever said has come to pass and will come to pass exactly
as promised. Exactly. From the beginning of time, God
has promised to send a saviour into this world to redeem his
people, to suffer and to die in their place, to shed his blood,
to wash their sins away, to take them out of their sin and depravity
and make them in him to be the righteousness of God, to save
them with an everlasting salvation. He has promised to gather in
a people who sought him not from the four corners of this earth
and to build them into one company, to build his church out of that
elect company that people chosen from before the foundations of
this world he will build them and gather them in into his church
which will never perish. He's promised to separate a people
unto Himself and to gather them in to be with Him eternally forevermore,
in a new heavens and a new earth to come. And He's promised that
at the end, when that new heavens and new earth are brought in,
that this world will be judged with fire. that the earth will
be burnt up, that the heavens will be rolled down as a scroll,
and that every last individual who was ever born or lived in
this world will be judged according to righteousness. And there will
be those who, full of sin and corruption and rebellion, will
be cast out into outer darkness forevermore, judged for their
opposition to Christ, judged for their rebellion, judged for
their refusal to hear this Gospel. And there will be those who have
heard, who have heard by faith, who have had their eyes opened
and been made to see that elect chosen people in Christ who will
be saved eternally and who shall have everlasting life and shall
have the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. and shall have
the water of life to drink forevermore and they shall dwell with him
forever. These things he has declared
and spoken from the beginning and all has been done wrought
and brought to pass just as he promised. Now Isaiah here, writing
hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, spake of him
here in prophecy. He spake of his servant, his
elect. He spake of his coming to preach
the gospel, to open the blind eyes, to deliver the prisoner
from the prison house. to make the blind to see and
the deaf to hear. He spoke of his death and his
travail. In chapter 53 we read of him
and his travail in death for his people, the salvation of
his people. He spoke of how this servant
would suffer when all men would despise and reject him and when
they would scorn him. He spoke of his sorrow and he
spoke of his salvation. and the end that he would bring
in the kingdom of God, the new heavens and the new earth, and
all that Isaiah spake here came to pass. It came to pass when
Christ came 2,000 years ago, when Christ was born, when Christ
grew, when he lived, and when he laid down his life for his
people. Every promise made by Isaiah
regarding the servant of God and his coming was true. And
the New Testament speaking of these things after the event
quotes so much from this prophecy of Isaiah. God's promise of what
would come to be, it is quoted so often to show unto us plainly
that what was written hundreds of years before his coming came
to pass to the letter. Everything in this Bible, in
this word, in these 66 books is true. Every promise is true. And only the most blind, and
the most hard-hearted and the most foolish will take these
things and will reject them. These books written by so many
different authors whose message is harmonious and true to history
and true to what has come to pass and true to the character
of mankind and true to the reality of the coming of God's Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. All these things are true and
only the most foolish and hard-hearted and rebellious rejects them. Which is why you and I and countless
others have steadfastly rejected them from the day we were born
because we are the most foolish, the most hard-hearted and the
most rebellious. The fool have said in his heart,
there is no God. And yet despite our folly, God
has said, He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. My servant will come, my son
will be born in Bethlehem. He shall go to the cross to save
his people from their sins. He shall be named Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins. He shall, and he
did. And he shall come again a second
time without sin to gather in all those for whom he died. It
will come. And as in the day of Noah, when
it comes, there will be those, as in the day of Noah, who say
in their hearts with scorn and derision, oh where is the promise
of Jesus coming? Where's the second coming of
Christ of which these Christians speak? The world goes on, hundreds
of years, thousands of years, nothing ever changes. We're born,
we're married, we eat, drink and we're merry. Nothing changes. Where's the promise of His coming?
Where's the end of this world? And yet it will come. And there
will be a day as in the day of Noah when all their scorning
and mocking and derision and the smiles on their faces were
taken away because the rains began to fall and the judgment
of God began to rain down upon this world. and it came to pass
what God had promised by Noah should come, and it will come
to pass what God has promised shall come at the end, that this
world will end and judgment will be brought forth. He shall not
fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth. Well he set judgment in the earth
when he died and when he died for a people who would be delivered
and when the rest should be damned in the end. But there comes that
day at the end of this earth when that judgment will be brought
to pass upon all those who remain. Where will you and I stand? Everything
that he has said in his shawls has come about or will come about
when the time comes. For Christ came in the fullness
of time as was promised. He did what was prophesied of
him. He was whom God said he would
be. He did what God said he would
do and he never failed in any of those things. Nothing could
prevent it coming to pass. He did not fail at his birth. He was born where he said he
should be born. Born of a virgin, born without
sin. The only man who never sinned. God, the person of God, taking
upon himself human flesh. God made man, yet born of a virgin,
therefore not having the seed of man passed on to him, but
only that seed implanted in the woman by the Holy Spirit, sinless
flesh, in the likeness of flesh yet without sin. He was born
and nothing could prevent his birth or where he was born in
the city of David. He was born and yet man did everything
he could to stop him being born and Satan through man did everything
he could to stop him being born. When King Herod heard of the
birth of this King of the Jews he sought to slay him and he
slayed countless children. Yet he could not slay the Lord's
servant, his elect, in whom God's soul delights. He could not slay
him because he shall not fail. In his life Christ went forth
preaching his gospel, preaching who he was, preaching what he
should do, preaching about his death. And the scribes and the
Pharisees those religious, who should have known who he was,
who should have received him gladly, those who professed to
love God, raged against him. You who profess to love God,
do you love the Son of God, God's servant? or do you in reality
rage against him, loving your religion and your profession,
but not the God in Christ who truly came? Well, they raged
against him and they sought to put him by death, time after
time they sought to stone him, and yet he passed through the
midst, for he shall not fail. They could not prevent Him doing
what He would do. And though He was slain at the
end, they didn't slay Him. They took Him, they gave Him
up to the Romans, He was crucified upon a cross, but only because
God allowed it to happen. Only because Christ laid down
His life when He would die. their nails through his hand
the spear the crucifixion did not kill him what slew him was that he took
the sin and the sins of his people upon himself and he took the
anger and wrath and judgement of God upon those sins that he
should die as their saviour in their stead. He willingly took
that and that is what slew him, not the physical death. That
came as a consequence. of that judgment which Christ
took upon himself. He did not fail in life, he did
not fail in his birth, and he did not fail in his death. He laid down his life. Neither man nor Satan took it
from him. Neither. Satan raged against
him. Satan thought he had him. But
when Christ died, it was not Satan who slew him. Christ had
power to lay down his life and power to take it up again. And
when he died, taking upon himself the sins of all his people, when
he travailed in death, when he felt the sorrows and the pangs
of death gotten hold upon him when he took all those sins away
for every last one of his own every last one of those sinners
whom his father gave unto him at the end when he cried out
it is finished and gave up the ghost he would look upon his
death and look upon that suffering and look upon the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. He shall not fail nor be discouraged,
for he shall see the travail of his soul, Isaiah says, and
be satisfied. He saw what he accomplished in
the midst of his suffering. It brought to pass what he purposed. Mankind looked on and saw this
man Jesus dead and laid in a grave. And the fools of men thought
that this teacher, this troubler in Israel, had been done away
with. But Christ and his God looked
upon the travail of his death, and were satisfied. They had
accomplished that which they came to do. He shall not fail,
nor be discouraged till he hath set judgment in the earth, and
the hour shall wait for his law. His death accomplished all that
was purposed of it, the full salvation of all Christ's people. Have you looked upon His death,
upon that cross, upon that servant, that elect, nailed upon it, and
have you seen not a failure, but the greatest victor, the
greatest victory that this world has ever seen? The salvation
of a multitude of people in Jesus Christ. The deliverance of the
prisoners from the prison house. The light shining in the darkness. The glory of God manifested in
the face of Jesus Christ. Have you seen upon the cross
the Son of God and His face shining in glory? victorious for in that
death he conquered all his enemies he took sin away the very corruption
which was entered into man when man sinned as Romans 5 tells
us of Adam that when Adam sinned sin entered and death by sin
he took sin itself away he was made sin God judged it he took
it away He took death away, that inevitable consequence of sin
that he should bring in everlasting life for his people. And he took
the enemy of his people away, the accuser, Satan. He took that
law which Satan loved to use to accuse God's people, and he
nailed it to the tree and he took it out of sight. He took
every enemy, every foe, every trouble away from that people.
He justified his elect forever. His death was victorious. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. And in that death in which that
people were justified, made to be the righteousness of God,
not only did God's servant, his elect, his son, not fail, but
all his people chosen in him should not fail. That elect,
that chosen company, chosen in Christ the elect, all they in
him were victors with him. Before He came, before He died,
they were utter failures. You and I who have failed utterly,
full of sin, full of weakness, full of rebellion, utter failures
before God. In Christ, if He died for our
sins, if He died to deliver us, in Him we are victorious. In Him we shall not fail. In Him we shall not be discouraged. And in Him we are the elect,
in whom God the Father's soul delights. He looks upon that
people in Christ, saved by His Son, with delight. And He has put His Spirit upon
Him and them. He saved them. Though they are
weak, in Him He made them strong. Though they were with full of
sin, He made them in Him to be the righteousness of God. Though
they were dead, in Him He made them to be everlasting life in
Jesus Christ. Though they were blind, in Him
He made them to see. Though they were deaf, in Him
He made them to hear. Though they sat in darkness,
in Him He led them into the everlasting light and glory of God. Is that
where you've been led? Are you sat there in light? Mine elect, My servant, in whom
my soul delighteth. Can God say that of you? Because
you're in Christ, saved and delivered by him. He shall not fail, nor
be discouraged. He shall not. He shall not. And he shall not And He shall not fail us who
abide in Him. All those in Christ, all His
people, all those who have heard and seen by faith, all His elect,
His chosen company. He shall not fail us. He shall
not cause us to be discouraged. He shall watch over us forever. His love for His own, that love
that sent that servant, that saviour to the cross, that love
that caused Him to suffer so greatly for those who hated Him
so greatly, that love, that everlasting love never fails. Whatever we
pass through, whatever comes our way, He is always there. He never fails. He loves his
own with an everlasting love. Everlasting, it washes over them. It was before they were born.
It was when they were born. It was when they heard the gospel.
It was there when they came unto him. It is there through their
lives and it will be there forevermore. He loves us with an everlasting
love. And he shall not fail us. no matter what comes our way. He will fight all our battles
and He will win all of our battles. He is our strength. We feel utter
failures. We feel utterly weak. We feel so often when trouble
and trial come our way to be without strength, to be consumed,
to be overwhelmed. How can we go on? Not in ourselves,
but in Him. Not in ourselves, not in our
strength, not in our will, but in Him. Because we walk and live
and have our being in our God, in Jesus Christ, in our Saviour. He is our all in all and He shall
not fail us. Nor shall He leave us to be discouraged. He will lift us up. He will set
our gaze upon Him. He will cause us to hear His
voice, and He will cause us to know His strong arms around us,
lifting us up. Those everlasting arms, those
wings that wrap around us, that lift us up, that strengthen us.
He will hedge us about. He will fight everything for
us. He will defend us. He will comfort
us. Every trouble and trial that
we face, where we feel the sorrow, so often we turn aside and so
often the pain is worse and the trouble is worse because we look
to the problem and we seek to solve it in our own strength
and with our own wisdom. But when we walk in Him, abiding
in Him as branches upon His vine, when we commune with Him, when
we seek Him early in the morning and leave all our troubles with
Him last thing at night, when we walk with Him, He is our salvation. And we know it by faith. There's no assurance anywhere
else. There's no assurance or help anywhere else. But if you
walk in Him, and if you know that you are elect as He is elect,
if you know that God chose you, and chose you to salvation, and
chose you to be saved by Christ's blood, if you know He's your
Saviour, if you know your sins have been washed away, if you
know His voice in the Gospel speaking forgiveness and comfort
to your soul, if you know He's yours, and you walk with your
gaze upon Him, then you will know that He shall not fail. nor be discouraged till you have
set judgment in the earth. He shall not fail you. You have
the worst trial before you. How will you come through it?
In Christ. And in Him, whatever happens,
whatever you might suffer, however you might be bereaved, whatever
pain or sorrow you might pass through, in the end, in Him,
you shall not fail, nor be discouraged. How do you know it? May God in
grace cause us to know it, and to walk in the experience of
it, and to walk in the joy and the hope of it, for his word
and his promise is true. Believe and know it. Know it. He shall not fail. Oh God give us grace to hear
these words and to walk in the light of them each and every
day as we enter a new year knowing not knowing not what may come
to pass may we walk in the light and with a sight of the Saviour,
the elect God's servant before us, knowing what God says of
him and to us, he shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have
set judgment in the earth and the isle shall wait for his law. He shall not fail. Amen.