Alright, let's turn to Isaiah
chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50. We're going
to talk about that one who came forth from that woman who travailed
and who's working all that work right now. Isaiah 50 verse 10
and 11 is going to be our text. Verse 10 will be our text, but
we're going to read verse 10 and 11 together. Let's read them
here. Walk in the light of your fire
and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have
of mine hand. You shall lie down in sorrow.
Now there's two different persons spoken of here. There's one person
spoken of in verse 10 and there's one person spoken of in verse
11. Let's look at a few things about each one of them. This
first person is rare, very rare. Verse 10 says, who among you? This is a rare person. That second
person is very common. Verse 11, He said, Behold all
ye. This first person is said to
fear the Lord and obey the voice of His servant. The second person
in verse 11 kindles His own fire. The first person is said in verse
10 to walk in the darkness and have no light. The second person
in verse 11 walks in the light of his own fire and in the sparks
he's kindled. The first person is encouraged
in verse 10 to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his
God. The second is promised by the Lord, verse 11, this shall
you have of mine own hand, you shall lie down in sorrow. I already
see I want to be that first person, don't you? I want to be that
first person. I don't want to be that second person. I want
to be that first person. Well, we're going to use verse
10 for our divisions, and here's our four divisions. We're going
to see, first of all, who is among you that feareth the Lord?
What does that mean, that feareth the Lord? Secondly, who among
you obeyeth the voice of his servant? We're going to see what
that means. Who obeys the voice of his servant? Thirdly, we'll
see who walks in darkness and has no light. What does that
mean? Walk in darkness and have no light? That doesn't sound
very good, does it? What does that mean? Then the fourth thing,
we're going to consider the instruction. He said, let him trust in the
name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Now this is Christ Jesus,
the Lord, speaking. That's who's speaking. He is
the voice of the servant. He's the servant of the Lord
God. He's in heaven at the right hand of the throne of God right
now, and He's the one speaking. He's the one preaching to us
this hour if this message is being preached in our heart.
He's the one doing it. And this is what He says. He
says that He's come and He's borne the cross and He's satisfied
justice for all those given to Him with the Father. And He's
taught us that by suffering that cross, by His obedience, by His
blood, by His death, we who've been called and quickened by
His grace are complete in Him. Complete in Him. And those He
has quickened and called to faith, He's called for us to bear His
cross to obey Him, to bear His cross, to bear witness of His
name in this earth. And so doing that, we're going
to suffer. We're going to suffer. We're going to suffer for His
namesake. So Christ instructs us here in the only way that
we can obey Him and bear His cross. This is the only way now.
Are you with me? It's the only way we can bear
His cross and obey Him. The only way. Here's what I want
you to get. Christ Jesus is here instructing
the believer to look to Him, to believe on Him, to follow
Him as He followed the Lord God when He bore the cross and redeemed
us by laying down His life. That's what He's calling us to
do. This is the same thing we looked at last week in Psalm
13. Same thing. He's calling on us to obey Him,
believe Him, trust Him, and follow Him in the way that He followed
the Lord God when He bore the cross for His people laying down
His life. Alright? First question that's
asked here is, who among you fears the Lord? Who among you
fears the Lord? Now this fear is a holy reverence
that's given to the believer when we've been born of the Spirit
of God and taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. This holy reverence,
this fear of the Lord. We don't speak of Him flippantly
anymore. We take these things seriously
now. Because this is the Word of the living God. We see who
He is now. He says, now who among you feareth
the Lord? Now the Lord God called Christ
His servant. The Lord God, God called Christ
His servant as a man, as the Son of Man. He called Him when
He walked this earth and He taught Him and God gave Him the fear
of the Lord. Well, it's hard for us to understand
because He's God the Son, He's the Son of God, but as the Son
of Man, He became a servant as a mediator and God taught Him.
He called Him and He taught Him Just like He teaches us, just
like Christ calls us and teaches us. God called His Son and He
taught His Son. Verse 4, He tells us that. The
Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned. The Lord God,
now this is Christ speaking. The Lord God has given me the
tongue of the learned. And here's why. That I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth
morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as to learn. How did the Lord God give him
this? Well, first off, He called him and He taught him. He taught
him this. But everything he went through
as he suffered, the Lord God taught him. Scripture says, He
learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And so therein,
God gave him the tongue of the learned so that now when he's
risen to the right hand of the Father, he can call his sheep
and teach us and put the fear of God in our hearts so that
we have a holy reverence for God because He has the tongue
of the learned and He can speak to us a word in season when we're
weary and downcast. He knows how to do it. He knows
exactly how to do it. The Lord did this for Christ. You remember the scripture says
He was heard in that He feared. He had a holy reverence for God
in His heart. He really did. Now look at John
8, 28. I want you to see something here.
Whenever the Lord God gave him this reverence for him, this
is what Christ did. This is so important. So important. Christ went forth in this world
speaking only what God gave Him to speak. That's what He did.
John 8, look at verse 26. He said, I have many things to
say and to judge of you, but He that sent me is true, and
I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him. He
says, He's true. Do you believe Christ is true?
He said of His Father, He's true. He had the fear of God. He said,
He's true. And He said, And I speak those
things which I've heard of Him, because He knew they're true.
That's when we're going to speak the things of God, when we know
they're true. When we know they're true. And He said in verse 27,
They understood not that He spake to them of the Father. Then said
Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, Then
shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me. He's with me as I go forth. The
Father hath not left me alone. For I do always those things
that please him. And one of those things that
he always did that pleased him is he preached the gospel. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. And he preached
that which God gave him to speak because he feared God and he
knew his word was true and he believed him. So he spoke it.
He spoke that word that was true. And verse 30 says, And as he
spake these words, many believed on him. Now, just like Christ
was called and taught of the Lord God, look over at John 17.
Just like He was called and He was taught of the Lord God, Christ
calls and He teaches His people. And He makes us servants. And
He uses us to bear witness of Him in the earth. That's what
He does. That's what Christ does. Now
look at this. Christ taught His disciples.
He taught them. He did it. He started with them.
He taught them what the Father taught Him. That's what He taught
them. And He gave His disciples the fear of the Lord by doing
that. That's what He did. So they went forth teaching only
that which Christ had taught them, just like Christ came forth
teaching only that which the Father taught Him. That's what
a servant does. That's what somebody that believes
God does. And look at John 17, verse 8.
He said, I've given unto them the words which thou gavest Me.
You see that? I gave them the words thou gavest
me. This is Christ speaking to the
Father. I gave my disciples the words that you gave me. Verse
14. I've given them thy word. That's
what I've given to them. And the world hath hated them,
because they're not of the world, even as I'm not of the world.
They went forth speaking the truth. And the world hated them.
Hated them. Verse 18, as thou hast sent me
into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Do you see this, the relationship
here? He's the servant of God who sent
him into the world, now he calls his own, makes them servants,
he sends them into the world. Look at verse 20, neither pray
I for these alone that I'm sending into the world, but I'm praying
for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That's
the purpose for sending them. There's going to be some like
sheep going to believe on me through their word. Look at verse
26. And I have declared unto them
thy name. I've preached thy name to them
and I will declare it. He's still in glory and he's
still declaring. I mean, he's in glory, but he's
still declaring that name through those he says to preach the gospel.
Christ is getting the glory for this. And he says, And I'm going
to declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in
them and I in them. That's what constrains us to
serve Him, isn't it? The love. That's why we need
this gospel preached. That's why He keeps preaching
it to us. That the love of God will be
in us and He'll be in us and there's where the fear of the
Lord comes from. That's why we go for saying the truth because
we believe Him that's true. Now, it's only when He gives
us that fear of the Lord that we're going to speak that way.
Only then, and as we do now, here's why I'm saying this, is
how this point relates to this, when we priest that, we're going
to suffer. When we stand for Him together,
He's going to assemble His church, He's going to send forth His
preacher, and He's going to use us together to sound forth His
gospel. And as we do, we're going to
suffer because the world hates the gospel. He said, I've given
my disciples thy word, and the world hated them because they're
not of the world just like I'm not of the world. They hated
His disciples just like they hated Christ. So as we suffer,
you know what's going to happen to us? We're going to become
weary. we're gonna become weary. But
it's through earthen vessels that Christ gives the heart of
the learned, the tongue of the learned. that He calls and gives
them the fear of the Lord, and brings them into some suffering,
and gives them a tongue of the learned, so that they can speak
the truth of God. That's the Word in season, is
the truth of God. It's always in season. Paul said
to Timothy, preach the Word in season and out of season. It's
always in season, the Word is. And they're going to go forth
and they're going to preach the Gospel, and that's the Word in season.
And as they're doing that, Christ the servant, the mediator from
the right hand of the throne of God, is speaking the Word
with the tongue of the learned. into the hearts of His elect
children, that He may speak a word and season to us that are weary."
Do you understand? Do you get the picture? So God
the Father is having done for Him what it pleased Him to do.
The Gospel is being preached so that His saints will be called
out and those weary from being persecuted will be strengthened.
And Christ is the one that's doing it, and He's doing it through
those He sent. And so this gospel is going forward.
It's a beautiful order here that God has set in order. This is
the order of His kingdom. As he spoke, that remnant believer,
Isaiah, he was sent there and he was the one who was actually
speaking this Word of Christ. There's a picture right here
of what we're saying. Isaiah was actually speaking
this Word. And he was in Babylon. He was
preaching to the elect remnant in Babylon, those true believers
who were in Babylonian captivity, surrounded in Babylonian captivity.
Can't you just picture them just like us, Art? They would go out
talking to everybody around them and talking to their neighbors
and talking to everybody there. And they were saying, trust the
Lord. And they were trying to witness to Him about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And everybody around them were just casting it back
in their teeth, their own countrymen and the Babylonians and everybody,
and said, we don't want to have anything to do with Him. We're
in this shape we're in because of Him. That's what they were
saying in the first part of the chapter. And He said, you're
not in this shape because of Me. It's because of your own
sins that you're where you are. But as they went forth preaching
and trying to declare the truth, this little small remnant in
Babylon, they became weary from all that reproach. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ is the one speaking here because God the
Father sent Him forth and He sent Isaiah and Christ sent Isaiah
forth and Isaiah is speaking this word to them so that they
can be comforted in their weariness. You understand that? I marvel,
brethren, I marvel at the wisdom of God in choosing to save his
people through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. I marvel
at it. This is just one aspect of the
wisdom of God and the reason he chose to save through preaching.
It's just one aspect. He's showing us that what is
foolishness with God is wiser than the wisest wisdom of men.
And what is weakness with God is stronger than the strongest
might of men. This way He's doing it. And by
this, He makes His sheep to become assembled in one fold under one
shepherd, under an under-shepherd who's under the chief shepherd
who's under God Almighty. serving for us. And Christ therein
speaks all the Word and gets all the glory for doing it. And
He makes us see how we need Him, we need His Gospel, we need one
another, and that's how He unites us. And for some reason, some
people think we're exalting men, some think we're exalting the
church, some think we're belittling the written Word of God. But
it pleased God to say, by the foolishness of preaching, for
two chief reasons. The first one is that no flesh
shall glory in His presence. He's not going to use me. He's
not going to use any of us here right now until He has made us
to see we're nothing. We've got no power. We can't
do anything of ourselves. He does not use His servants
that He sends forth to preach His gospel until He's made them
know that. And those are the only ones that have the fear
of the Lord. And they go forth and speak God's Word instead
of their own Word. And the second thing is, He does
it because it pleased God that Christ would have all the preeminence.
You see, this thing is not about glorying in men. It's not about
glorying in the church. This is the glory that's been
given to Christ in His resurrection glory. We want Him to have His
glory for redeeming His people at the cross. I know everybody
wants Him to have His glory for that. Do we not realize it's
His glory to call out His sheep, call out His ambassadors, send
them forth and to speak a word to the weary in season and call
them out and strengthen them and keep them? That's His glory
too. Look over Colossians 1.8. The Scripture says that we saw
this Thursday night, but the Scripture says Christ was given
all power above all principality and power, every name that's
named in this world and the world to come. He's not hindered in
sending His Gospel forth. People will say, well, you know,
I wasn't saved by the Gospel. I was saved another way. The
fact is, Christ is not hindered in sending out His gospel to
His people. He may use the word, but He's
going to send His gospel to you, and He's going to save you through
His gospel, because this is His glory. It pleases God, and that
scripture in Ephesians 1 says that Christ is filling all in
all. He's going to get the glory for
filling everything. God's put all the work into the
hand of His Son, and He's going to get the glory for doing everything. The earthen vessels, nothing.
It's Christ doing the preaching with the earthen vessel. That's
so, brethren, that is just so. You know, so you're limiting
the power of God by doing that. I've said He saves through the
preaching of the gospel. Christ has been given all power in heaven
and earth. All power. If you had all power
in heaven and earth and you were saving people exactly in the
way you were pleased to do it, your power wouldn't be limited,
would it? It's that you have all power to save them exactly
in the way you said you're pleased to do it. And this is how God's
pleased to do it. I don't care what men say. I
know men got all mad one time because folks were wanting to
support missionaries, and they all got in a big argument and
said, well, we're not going to support missionaries at all. And they
went through the scriptures trying to find something to support
their argument and say, so from here on, we're not going to make
God's saves by preaching the gospel at all. People got mad
at the Catholics because they were trying to make a Pope a
God. And they went completely to the
far extreme and said, we ain't going to say that man's saved
by the Gospel anymore. Throw all that junk away, that
dung away, and read the Word of God. This is the reason he's
saved this way, the glorious Christ. That's why. Look at Colossians
1.18. Colossians 1.18. I would hate to know. Here's
the fact of the matter. You know, there's Armenians,
there's free will works religions, they're all trying to say, I
was so sincere when the Lord called me and I was in free will
works religion and this and that. And you try to show them the
truth and you try to show them God saves through the truth.
But if I can't find anywhere in this scripture, if my way
God converted me is not according to these scriptures, I got no
leg to stand on to go to these scriptures and say this is how
God saves and teach them because all they got to do is say, well,
if you were saved in a way that's not in the book, why can't I
be? So we've got to be saved according
to how God saves. And that may hurt folks' feelings,
but that's just true. I'm going to side with God on
it. I always have. Now look, Colossians 118. Here's
why. He is the head of the body, the
church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Do you see
that? Men reject this truth because
here's why. The enmity of the carnal heart
is men do not want the chief shepherd to have the preeminence.
Well, guess what? He's going to have it. He's going
to have it. He told Samuel, they've not rejected
you, Samuel. They've rejected me because they
won't have me reign over them. That's what their rejection is.
Do you want Christ to receive all the glory? Well, he's been
raised from the dead. And he's been given all power
in heaven and earth to perform this work from heaven. And he's
filling all in all. He is the minister of the true
sanctuary, of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not
man. He has all power to send His gospel. That's why He said,
they shall all know Me from the least to the greatest. He's not
going to lose any of them. He's going to bring them all
to hear His gospel. He's sovereign. It's not like, well, what if
this person dies before they hear the gospel? They won't.
He's God and He appoints the day that they're going to die.
They won't die until He sent them the gospel. Do you see that?
What if a man's on that deserted island? Well, if he's on a deserted
island, God put him on that deserted island and he'll send Apostle
Paul and shipwreck him on that island and preach the gospel
to him. He put Paul in prison so Paul could preach to the Philippian
jailer and God called him. You won't find a single soul.
Men will say, you won't find a single soul who was saved And
then went and found him a preacher to get that preacher to baptize
him. God sent his preacher to him, preached the gospel to him,
saved him, and that preacher baptized him. That's the order. It's God's order. Not because
he's, because of all these things going on that could interrupt.
He's sovereign to make it happen that way. That's who he is. That's
just who he is. He shall not fail till he has
set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his
law. That's who Christ is. Brethren, are you weary of reproaches?
Are you weary from men saying, no, I don't believe that, I don't
like it, I don't like it at all. I'm weary of it. I'm very weary
of it. And if it was up to me, I couldn't
go on. Well, look at what he says. He
speaks a word in season to the weary. Verse 10, I hope he does
that today. Verse 10, he says, Who among
you obeyeth the voice of the Lord's servant? Now the Lord's
servant, in context here, is Christ. He's the one speaking.
And he's asking now, Who among you is obeying my voice? That's
what he's asking. To obey the voice of Christ is
to follow Christ like Christ followed the Father. That's what
it is. And how did Christ become the servant of the Lord and how
did He obey the Lord God? Look back up at verse 5. Verse
5. The Lord God hath opened mine
ears. And I was not rebellious, neither turned away back." Now,
if we truly believe on Christ, and we submit to His Word, and
we submit to Him, and we say, Truth, Lord, it's going to be
because Christ the Prophet has opened our ear just like the
Lord God opened His ear. He showed us a picture between
Him and the Father of how Christ now is saving His people and
the earth. Remember the picture of the willing bond servant?
The scripture said, if the servant shall plainly say, I love my
master, my wife, my children, I won't go out free. He was in
debt, he came in, he worked off his debt, and the master says,
now you're free to go. But the master gave him a wife
and some children while he was there. He had some children by
while he was there. They got to stay with the master
now. And he says, no, I love my master. He said, I love my
wife. I love my children. I won't go
out free. And so his master brings him
to the judges. And he brings him to the door,
to the door post. And his master bores his ear
through with an awe. And he shall serve him forever.
That's the picture of the willing bondservant. When the Lord God
opened Christ's ear, The Lord God gave Christ a work to do
to glorify God, to save His bride, to save His children, to save
His elect. He gave Him a work to do. This
is what He told him. You're going to have to go down.
You're going to have to go down. You're going to make yourself
of no reputation. He said, you're going to have
to obey my voice, the Lord God. You're going to have to obey
me. You're going to have to speak the words I, your master, have
given you to speak. That's going to cause men to
reject you. You're going to suffer reproaches because of that, but
you're going to have to do it. He said, you're going to have
to bear the sin of my people. Be made sin for my people. And
you're going to have to suffer the shame of the cross. And you're going to have to do
this in perfect obedience, even unto death. That's what he told
him he was going to have to do. How did Christ serve his Master?
When he opened his ear, how did he serve his Master? Look at
verse 5. He said, I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back. Christ willingly served his master,
because he loved his master, because he loved his bride, because
he loved his children. He's the will and bond servant.
Now Christ says to you that he's brought this gospel to you right
here, right now, today. This is what he says to you.
Who among you obeys the voice of God's servant? He said, now
who among you obeys the voice of Christ? Who among you is obeying
my voice? That's what Christ said. He says,
now, if you're going to do it, here's how you're going to do
it. You're going to have to come down. You're going to have to come down. You're
going to have to make yourself of no reputation. You're not
going to be able to talk about what you did, and how you did
things alone as a maverick, and how you walked the aisle, did
this and that, and all these other things. You're going to
have to make yourself of no reputation. None at all. You're going to
have to obey Christ. That means you're going to have
to believe on Him, and trust Him. You have to trust that He's
the one saving His people. It means you're going to have
to speak the words He's given you to speak. You have to identify
with Him. You have to profess His name
before men, publicly, in believers' baptism. And when anybody asks
you of the hope of your calling, you have to tell them the truth.
And you're going to have to wait on Christ. As you preach this
Word, you're going to have to wait on Christ to make the Word
effectual in the hearts of His people. You're not going to be
able to do anything. You're going to think, well,
maybe I could water it down and say it this way or that, and
maybe they'll believe that way. You're not going to be able to
do that. You're going to have to just preach His Word and wait
on Him to do it. And so that means you're going
to have to bear His cross. You're going to suffer rejection
from your family, starting in your own household first. When
your mom and daddy finds out, if they don't believe the gospel,
when they find out this word, they're going to say, no, I don't
believe that. You've got to bear that rejection. You've got to
bear it. You've got to bear the burdens of your brethren. There'll
be times when they just act ugly to you. You've got to bear their
burdens. Wait on the Lord. You're going to have to do it
from the beginning, even unto death. Even unto death. but by
opening our ear. You know what He does? Christ
makes His child a willing bond-servant. Why? Because we love our Master,
and we love His bride, and we love His children. Listen to
this. 2 Corinthians 5.14, For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge that if one died for all the elect
of God, then all the elect of God were dead, and that he died
for all. that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves any more, but unto him which
died for them and rose again. You see that? See the beautiful
correlation between the two? And then He makes us willing
to unite with His church, to be used of Christ, to set forth
His gospel, and to wait on Christ to call out His bride and His
children. And it's all reasonable service to us. You know why?
Because 1 John 3.16 says, Hereby perceive we the love of God.
Because He laid down His life for us, we ought to lay down
our lives for our brethren. You see? So, He makes us willing. He makes us willing. Now Christ
our Master says to us, now for you who obeyed my voice, remember
how I served. He said, I was not rebellious,
need to turn thy way back. When Christ was walking this
earth, He preached this word and many joined with Him and
followed Him for a while. I know just how He feels. They
joined with him for a while, and they walked with him for
a while, and they was all happy to be with him for a while. And
then he would teach them certain truths. He would teach them here
a little, here a little, there a little, and just teach them
the word of God. And he would teach them some
truth that offended them. that offended them. And then
the thoughts and intents of their hearts that was there all along
came out. It always does. Because it stripped
them of their glory. Whatever that little secret thing
was they were holding on to, it exposed it. The gospel does. It uncovers every hiding place. That's what it does. Now, I could
craft a word and not preach what I'm preaching to you today, and
maybe some could stay hidden in their hiding place. But you
just tell the truth, and it exposes every hiding place. And you know
what happened when that happened? They turned away back and they
didn't walk with him anymore. But then said Jesus unto the
twelve, Will you also go away? Simon Peter answered and said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. and we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. This is the
sure touchstone to know if men are saved, really saved, really
truly saved. When they hear some truth that
they never understood, they never got, and they see that Christ
gets all the glory in it, you know what they're going to do?
They're going to throw away everything else and say, truth Lord. But those that aren't really
saved, when they hear it, and they hear that Christ is getting
all the glory for this, even though Christ is getting all
the glory for it, and it's priests from that motive that we're giving
Christ all the glory, they're going to say, I don't care. I'm
turning my way back. I'm not walking with you anymore.
Oh, it won't be Christ they're deserting. They never desert
Christ. It's going to be the preacher. Something about him
they didn't like. Something he said. And they usually
try their best to find something to get you mad and get you to
unloose your tongue on them so they can say, I'm leaving because
he cussed me out. I always try to find some reason
to justify leaving. But the secret purpose of the
heart is, I won't have that man reign over me, Christ Jesus.
Won't obey his voice. Well, but even though He's made
us willing bond servants, we're weak. In our flesh dwells no
good thing. And because that's the case,
we don't have any sufficiency to believe Him and obey Him and
preach His Word and continue on Him and follow after Him.
We don't have any ability to do that. But remember the powers of Christ,
it's not of us. It's not of us. So we ask this
question, verse 10. Who among you walks in darkness
and has no light? Now, believers have the light
of Christ. We've been given the light of
Christ. It'll never be taken from us. And we walk in the light
of Christ. We have His light. But this darkness
has to do with our suffering in this present world. That's
what it has to do with. This darkness and its absence
of light has to do with this world. Our flesh that our inner
man dwells in right now is darkness, all darkness. It has no light
in it. We have an old man in us that is as dark as the day
we were born. He hates God, hates everything
about him, don't have anything to do with him. In our flesh,
there's nothing but infirmities and sin. That's all it's going
to produce, ever. And it's going to get worse and
worse and worse as we go. It's not getting better. It's
getting worse. With every new wrinkle you got,
you got a new devious sin, too. I guarantee it. This world is
darkness and has no light. This world is the valley of the
shadow of death. We're walking through the valley
of the shadow of death. That's this world. It's all darkness.
There's no light in it. And we face many trials that
are full of darkness. And these things come from us
being called of God. Because if we weren't ever called
of God, these things wouldn't bother us. But now we're called
of God, and they do. We're suffering for His namesake
in this world, and we see the sin in our flesh. So here our
Savior speaks a word in season to us who are weary, and He tells
us this. He says, remember how I suffered
for you. You're in darkness. You've been
through some darkness without any light. Back up at verse 6. I gave my back to the smiters. A cat of nine tails, had bones
and all kinds of stuff in it, like spikes and things, you know,
and was a long whip. And they stripped him naked,
and they, it was the law of the Jews, they beat him 40 times,
40 stripes save one, 39 stripes, and they sit there and beat him
with that thing, and just beat, and whips into his body, whips
into his body. He says, and I gave my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair, willingly. I gave them to them. He said,
I could call 12 legions of angels right now. They'd come down here
and just turn this whole thing upside down. He gave them to
them, gave his cheeks to them. They plucked the hairs of his
beard out by the handfuls. He said, I hid not my face from
shame and spitting. I sat there and spit in his face.
And all of that, brethren, was just what was going on outwardly.
And that's just to give us some indication of the soul sorrow
going on in his heart. Now there's times we go through
some dark seasons. There's times we don't have any
light, no joy, no comfort. And we start thinking in those
times that the Lord's removed all his blessings from us. By
doing so, we're making our feelings the determining factor as to
whether or not the Lord's with us. You know that? When we start
thinking, we don't feel any comfort, we don't feel His presence, and
we start saying, oh, the Lord's not with me anymore. We're making
our feelings the determining factor. We're making us the determining
factor. Satan's always trying to slip back in, isn't he? The
flesh is always trying to slip back in and have a say in this
thing. When our senses only see darkness,
it doesn't mean grace doesn't exist toward us from Christ above.
The example's Christ. The Lord upon the cross. Right
there what He said. Was there ever sorrow like His
sorrow? No one's ever been forsaken like He was forsaken. Darkness
covered the whole earth. Darkness engulfed Him. All light
was gone. He experienced a total eclipse
of all joy within and without. It was total darkness. No light.
But I get this, even though God forsook Christ on the cross because
justice demanded it, because He had made sin for His people,
it did not mean that His Father had given Him up. It didn't mean
that. But rather, what He was suffering,
you know what was happening? It was fulfilling the will of
His Father who sent Him. He shall see of the travail of
His soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I'll divide him a portion with the great, and he'll divide
the spoiled with the strong, because he's poured out his soul
unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bared the
sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. So when
our Savior brings us into suffering, brethren, for His name's sake,
He speaks a word in season, and He says this, He doesn't mean
that I've forsaken you. Just because you don't feel like
I'm near, don't mean I'm not near. Just because you don't
feel any light, see any light, doesn't mean that I have taken
my light from you. But He gives us instruction.
Look down at verse 10. Who's among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh
in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. How'd our Savior suffer that
cross? Look back at verse 7. You see,
we're following Him in the way He followed the Lord God when
He redeemed our souls from all iniquity and purged us of all
sin and made us the righteousness of God in Him. There's nothing
else to do to be saved. It's done. He's just showing
us how to get through this life. Look at verse 7. For the Lord
God will help me. That's why He went and gave His
His back to the smiters and his cheek to them that plucked off
the beard. For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not
be confounded. I won't be ashamed, therefore
have I set my face like a flint. And I know I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifies me. That was his heart. In all his
suffering, though the father had turned his face, he knew
that his covenant Lord God would be true to his word. He believed
His word was true. Though God, as His judge, stood
afar off from Him, as His judge, executing justice upon Him in
the place of His people, yet when that justice was satisfied,
Christ knew, He's near that justifies me. He's near that justifies
me. So while that sea raged all around
Him, and He was tossed, you know what He did? His anchor held
within the veil. His anchor was upon the faithfulness. His anchor was the faithfulness
of that One who had called Him and sent Him. That was His anchor. That One who opened His ear.
That One who He was obeying. That One who had sent Him to
that cross to glorify His name. That One was His anchor. He said,
therefore I have set my face like a flint. I know I shall
not be ashamed. And you know what? The Lord God
didn't make him a shame for trusting him. He never does. He raised
him again for our justification. He raised him declaring he is
the son of God with power and I'm well pleased in him and now
he's going to do everything I've taught him to do. All powers
he is in heaven and earth. And he came up, he came to his
disciples and he said, all power is in heaven and earth is mine.
Therefore, go forth, preach the gospel to every nation, teaching
them all things which I have commanded you. Just like my father
commanded me. You see that? Oh, it's beautiful.
Now get this, the Lord God set Christ at His right hand and
gave Him all power in heaven and earth so that Christ our
head might now work from His throne in glory toward His redeemed,
this same work which the Father taught Him and worked toward
Him while He walked this earth serving Him. That's a lot to get. I need to
go back and read that. That's true though. He's working right now with the
Father. Worked toward Him and taught Him and given Him the
tongue of the learned. He's working it right now in
the midst of His church. Right now. Right now, our resurrected
prophet, priest, and king instructs us to do just what He did. Though
we can't see Him for all the waves raging around us. Though
it might be dark and we can't see Him. He says, trust in the
name of the Lord. Stay upon your God. And get this
great word of comfort now. You say, but preacher, Sometimes
I just can't believe Him. Sometimes I just can't, I feel
like I'm going to lose the ability to even believe Him. I don't
feel like I believe in Him. I feel like I'm in darkness.
I feel like He's forsaken me. I doubt Him. Well get this then,
He knows that. That's why God gave Him the tongue
of the learned. so that he can send his gospel
to you just like he's done right here, right now, today, and speak
a word to you in season, to you that are weary, and say, it's
not you holding me, it's me holding you. You've got nothing to worry
about. And you know what he does with
that? He puts some pep in our step with that. That's what he
does with that. It's not us, it's not our feelings,
it's not our hope that sustains us. Our hope is a capital H. That's what our hope. Our anchor's
a capital A. He's in the veil and he's holding
us. We're not holding him. We're
not holding him. Really and truly, if you're in
a boat and it's raging and the anchor's thrown out, you can't
see that anchor at all. Who's holding who? Are you holding
the anchor or is the anchor holding you? The anchor's holding you.
Well, we can't see Him, He's within the veil, but He's the
anchor holding us, brethren. That's just how it is. So I want
Him to have this mediatorial glory, don't you? I want Him
to have it, because He sends this word to me when I'm weary
through His gospel, and I need it. I need it. I go out here
and mow this yard, and I go out here and chop wood, I do these
things, and you know what I'm doing the whole time I'm doing
it? I got an iPod on, the only way I can hear anything. without
hearing aids in and I got an iPod on and I'm listening to
the gospel. You know why? I need a word in season. I need
Him to speak a word to me when I'm weary. I needed it from the
first hour. I need it right now. So I want
Him to have this mediatorial glory. I want Him to send that
word to me and preach the gospel to me. Don't you? Now look at this. Look at this.
We're going to close here. He says, now you can say as He
said from the cross. He says, now you can say this.
Verse 8. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who's my adversary? Let him come
near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old
as a garment. The moth shall eat them up."
That's what he spoke to Paul and taught Paul and Paul spoke
to us in Romans 8 and said these very words. Who's going to separate
us from the love of God and Christ? Nothing. We're more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. Listen to this now. If you reject
this power and this glory of our glorious resurrected head,
if you're that second kind of person, in verse 11, then now
hear what He says to you. Verse 11. Behold, all ye that
kindle a fire, you that built the fire yourself, that compass
yourselves about with sparks, you walk in the light of your
fire. You walk in the sparks, you candle. You go on and turn
back and say, I'm not going to hear that gospel anymore because
I believe I started my own fire. Go on and walk in it. He said,
go on and walk in it. This shall you have of mine hand.
You shall lie down in sorrow. You want the burdens to roll
away. You want the burdens to be gone from your weary soul.
You want to be able to truly bear witness to your spouse and
your loved ones and those around you, and the burden be gone,
and you truly have a zeal to worship Him. And every time you
stomp your toe, you don't make an excuse for not going and hearing
the Word of God. You want that? Trust in the name of the Lord
God. Stay upon Him. turn to him and say, Lord, I've
been killing my own sparks. I've been trying to walk in the
fire I started. Well, if you believe him today,
you'll say that fire I started back then wasn't a fire. Somewhere
along the way, he's called me and saved me. Because I believe
Him. That's what you'll say. But if
you started that fire, you're going to say, oh, I'm going to
hang on to that fire. And you're going to walk in.
And those sparks, it's like you want to walk in the brilliance
of the noonday Son of Christ, the Son of Righteousness with
healing in His wings, or you want to walk through this world
holding a little sparkler. Which one? If we walk in the
sparks we've kindled, that's what we're walking with, a little
sparkler. He says, and we'll lie down in sorrow. But to you
He's called by our all-powerful Head, who says, Amen. That's
what He said. Trust in the name of the Lord.
Stay upon your God. You know what He's saying to
us? He's saying to us, Run the race that I've set before you. If you're suffering, know I put
you in that path. Christ our Head says, if you're
suffering, if you're coming to trial, I brought you there for a reason.
Here's why. Lay aside every sin and the weight
that's besetting you, and run the race, looking to Jesus to
offer and finish your faith. Who for the joy that was set
before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame, is sitting
now at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him,
consider Him, that endured such contradiction of sinners against
Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. I always
consider Him. There's times when I don't feel
like coming and preaching to y'all. It is. It's just so. I don't feel like doing it. There's
times when for whatever it is, I just feel miserable. I just feel horrible. I don't
feel like I can even say a word, open my mouth and say a word.
I feel like a hypocrite most of the time. I feel like I don't
have any reason to be preaching the Gospel to you. or I'm sick
or I've got some infirmity or something where I just don't
feel good. You know what I always do? When they brought him vinegar
to drink, I'm told that was a pain reliever. When they brought that
to him, he wouldn't even drink it. He refused it. That he might bear it all for
me. He gave His back. He gave His face. That makes any drive that you
have to drive a short drive. That makes any cost that we have
to fork out to keep this gospel going a little cost. That makes
anything I have to do to stand up and preach to Him or preach
to you about Him or anything. It makes the sufferings light.
And it's just for a moment. That glory endures forever. Forever. Amen.