May I please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word, and let's turn to
the chapter we read in the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 42, and we'll
read verses six and seven. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter
42, and reading verses six and seven. I, the Lord, have called
thee in righteousness and 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. Well, I'm sure we all know what
it is to be blind. I'm sure we can be very thankful
that none of us here were born blind, and none of us here today
are blind. But there are people, of course,
in the world who are born blind. And here we read this wonderful
statement that the Lord Jesus came into this world to open
blind eyes. Now, this really has a spiritual
word, but also it is a natural situation. And if we just think
of this, there was no evidence of people receiving natural sight
really until the New Testament. So perhaps we can think of people
reading this and thinking, well, who is going to open blind eyes? No one ever has. And yet perhaps
they may have had faith to believe that there would come someone
who would. And when we read in the Gospel
of John, in the ninth chapter, we read there an account about
a man that was born blind. And how was he brought to sight? Well, the Lord, he spat on the
ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the eyes of the
blind man with clay and said unto him, go, wash in the port
of Siloam, which is by interpretation sent. He went his way therefore
and washed and came seeing. Well, you read farther on in
this ninth chapter of the Gospel of John, when we come down to
verse 32 and this same man is being asked, well how did this
happen? And he gives this answer, since
the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes
of one that was born blind. So it would appear therefore
that here was someone stating the fact that here was a wonderful
account that now he had received his sight. But looking at this
word here as we read to open the blind eyes. So that's the
one position. The second is to bring out the
prisoners from the prison. I'm sure most of us understand
what a prison is. I don't expect any of us have
been in prison. I haven't been in prison but
I've seen what prisons are like. I've been I've been into the
cells in courts, magistrates' courts, and I've seen what the
cells are like there. They're not very comfortable places.
They're pretty secure places. You can't really get out of them
unless someone comes and lets you out. And of course, prisons
in this day were very different to what they are now. They're
relatively comfortable today. They weren't in those days. They
were very difficult, and the prisoners were usually chained
up. the prison so they couldn't possibly get out and we do have
two occasions in the New Testament when prisoners did actually were
freed and you may remember that it's in the Acts of the Apostles
and that we read about two people first we read about Peter the
Apostle Peter he was imprisoned but he was he was freed and we're
told about him in the 12th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles,
and it said, and when he had apprehended him, that's Peter,
and put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers
to keep him intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people,
Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing
of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would, brought
him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers
bound with two chains and the keepers before the door kept
the prison. So it's pretty secure wasn't it? No way really of getting
out. But then we're told, behold the
angel of the Lord came upon him and the light shined in the prison
and he smoked Peter on the side and raised him up saying arise
up quickly And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel
said unto him, gird thyself, bind on thy sandals. And so he
did. And he said unto him, cast thy
garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out and followed
him, and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel,
but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first
and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth
unto the city which opened of them of his own accord, and they
went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith the
angel departed from him." Well, just remember this little account
as we carry on this morning in our sermon. But it's a wonderful
freedom. There was Peter in the prison,
no way of getting out, but you see God came and freed him. And then you may remember the
case of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul had gone by
command of God to preach at Philippi. He was doing God's will and you
may think well now everything's going to work out well. Well
it did work out well in the end but it wasn't a very easy time
for the Apostle Paul and he was preaching the gospel They weren't
happy with it at all and therefore the people took him and Silas
who was with him brought him to the magistrates and said this
man's causing a lot of trouble and the multitude rose up together
and the magistrates ran off their clothes and commanded to beat
them. Just you think of that, these
two men beaten for preaching the gospel. Well, it still occurs
today. It doesn't occur here in our country, does it? We should
be very thankful at the present time, we can still preach the
gospel and not think that we shall be beaten for it. The days
may come when we may be. Anyway, these two men, they were
beaten. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely. Well, the jailer did that, and
it's good just to read, and I read this, it's a good insight to
the reality of religion that Paul and Silas had, because we're
told at midnight, when we think they would have been asleep,
what did they do? They sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard
them. Now they were in prison, All
those stripes on their back, pretty uncomfortable, but they
sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them. And then
we're told, and suddenly there was a great earthquake. So the
foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the
doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed and they were
freed, you see. Well, God did it. So we have
those two occasions in the New Testament where God came naturally
and delivered Peter and also delivered Paul in silence from
the prison. And so we have these words this
morning before us, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the
prisoners from the prison, and then that sit in darkness out
of the prison house. We may perhaps think, well surely
the Prophet here is repeating himself. He's saying the same
kind of things. He's saying to open the blind eyes and to bring
out the prisoners from the prison, that's the first statement. The
second is, and then sit in darkness out of the prison house. We might
ask, well, what is the difference? Well, I believe the difference
is really quite simply this. There are those that were blind
and they needed their eyes to be opened. There were others
that had been blind but their eyes had been opened and then
they'd gone back on their religion and they turned away from it
and therefore they were now found in darkness. And then, that's
it, in darkness, out of the prison house. They needed to be brought
out of that situation. So we can perhaps summarise it
like this. There were those who were not
therefore converted. The Lord came and opened their
eyes. There were the others who were converted but had backslidden. And when we use that expression,
backslidden, it means simply this. people sliding backwards
away from the truth of God. They're sliding back and if you
think of that sliding back perhaps down a slippery road perhaps,
perhaps a slippery hillside, a muddy hillside perhaps and
there's that sliding backwards and it's not difficult to slide
backwards but it's difficult to climb back up again. because
it's so very slippery, and especially if it's dark. Now, just coming
back then to what I mentioned at the beginning of the reading,
this 42nd chapter speaks much about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it commences with these words,
Behold my servant. We are to behold the Lord Jesus
Christ. John the Baptist tells us in
that first chapter of John, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. And it will be a great thing,
a wonderful blessing for us today if we behold the Lord Jesus Christ. Not physically, he's not here
physically, but if we behold him by faith, as we look to the
Lord Jesus Christ as the only one who can open our blind eyes. Remember what I said, no one
in the Old Testament really received that in a natural way. There were those who had received
it in a spiritual way, The New Testament speaks much about those
receiving in a spiritual way. And all of us today need to receive
in a spiritual way that our eyes are open and our eyes can only
be opened by the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not something
that you and I can do. It's a good illustration, isn't
it? Because naturally a person can't bring natural sight. They're blind, nothing they can
do can give them natural sight. What a blessing, therefore, to
know that it is the Lord that comes today and gives us spiritual
sight, to open our blind eyes. It is the Lord. Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. You
see, God the Father delighted in his son. We have it recorded
a number of times. This is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased when he spoke from heaven while his son was
on the earth. And so we do have the wonderful
evidence today of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father says,
in whom my soul delighteth, I 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
he shall not break, and smoking flack shall he not quench." And
you may think, well, what does that refer to? What's the reference
of that? Well, it really means that if
a reed is bruised, And I'm sure you know what a reed is. You
young people see reeds by ponds and rivers, still grow today
and they grow in our country as well as they grew of course
in Israel and in Egypt. And yet you see, the Lord says
if it's bruised, if it's kind of fallen over, he won't break
it off as though it's of no use, as though it's of no benefit.
He says he won't break it. And perhaps sometimes we might
feel like a bruised rear, we might feel battered, battered. You may say, who by? Why? You may feel battered by the
devil himself, who may be trying very hard to bring you to disbelieve
the truth of God's Word. And don't forget the devil was
pretty tough. He never gives up. He never gives
up. He will keep on battling. But
here we have these words, the Lord Jesus will not break that
which is battered. then the smoking flax. Flax of course was used to light
fires and to burn in fires and if it was just smoking, giving
the evidence of a little bit of fire, a little bit of life,
we're told the Lord won't put it out. So don't be disappointed
in your spiritual life. If you don't seem to have very
much sight, you don't seem to be very alive, there's not very
much flame, it just seems to be a little smoke in your instance,
a little bit of burning somewhere deep down in your heart and you
might wonder what it is. Well the Lord says wonderfully
and encouragingly that he won't put it out, he won't quench it,
And therefore, thank God, if there's just a little smoke,
you know, if there's smoke, what does it mean? It means there's
some fire. What does it mean? It means there's
some life. It means it's not dead, it means there's some action
occurring. And so, these are the wonderful
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Smoke inflactionally, not quench.
and he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. You see, the Lord
will bring us by the Holy Spirit to direct us to the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who tells us, thy word is truth. What a blessing that is, isn't
it? In this world in which we live, where we have a devil who
constantly tries to tell us the Bible is not true, The Bible
is lies. But to think, the Lord himself
said, the Lord Jesus condescended to confirm such a truth to us
in his word, thy word is truth. And that's recorded, of course,
in the 17th of John, when the Lord's praying to his father.
And so then he comes and tells us, he shall not fail nor be
discouraged. till ye have set judgment in
the earth, and the isle shall wait for the Lord. Thus saith
God the Lord. He that created the heavens.
You see, here we have a wonderful statement. People tend today
to acknowledge we have this God, who we fall down before, I hope
we do. 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 thereon." Everything that has
life is given that life by God. Every natural life, every spiritual
life. That is the great God whom we
worship today. Not a little God, a great God,
an all-powerful God. And may we all realize that,
young and old, recognize that we have to deal with this great,
almighty God. We dare not ignore Him. We dare
not think, well, I don't believe it. You know, we sometimes, people
think they're being pretty strong by saying, I don't believe. They
will believe. Because let me tell you this,
There's no atheists in hell. See, everybody will believe in
God. For some, it'll be too late. Well, we pray today that for
none of us, would it be too late? May we find the savior while
we're still in time and not be found in a lost eternity. And so we have this wonderful
statement written by the prophet. These things are so encouraging,
aren't they, for us today to think that the word of God and
the creation doesn't just refer to the first chapter in Genesis. It follows through again and
again. It'd be a good thing if young
people studied the word to find out how many times in the Bible
creation is mentioned, and how it's clearly stated that it emanates
from Almighty God. 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, the spirit to them that walk therein. And then we're told, I the Lord,
have called thee in righteousness. This is God, the Father, the
Lord, Jehovah. I, the Lord, have called thee,
speaking about his only beloved Son, in righteousness. He is
the only righteous one that has ever lived. We should be thankful
today if he gives us his righteousness. We can't obtain it ourselves
by our own works. And we'll hold thine hand God
the Father was with his son on this earth, wasn't he? Walking
with him, hold thy hand and we'll keep thee and give thee for a
covenant of the people for a light to the Gentiles. And we today,
of course, here, we are Gentiles. We're not Jews by nature, we're
Gentiles, but we're thankful to know the light of the glorious
gospel has shone. And what a blessing today if
that light has shone into our hearts. And the Lord Jesus said,
I am the light of the world. He is the light of the world. And it is essential that that
light shines into our hearts. And as that light shines into
our hearts, what does it do? It gives us spiritual sight. And this word then comes into
fruition, to open the blind eyes. Well, the Lord came to do that,
to save his people from their sins. The divine purpose of Almighty
God was to come into this sinful
world, to save his people from their sins and to open their
blind eyes. Well, this morning, here we are
in this building and we're all before God individually. We're
all here collectively. We're all individually. We all
stand before God or sit before God as it is. And the eye of
God looks upon us and he knows whether he has opened our eyes. or whether we are still spiritually
blind. And you will know if your eyes
have been opened. You may not always want to acknowledge
it, because, you see, if the Lord has opened our spiritual
eyes, what it means is, wonderfully and blessedly, The Lord has saved
our souls. Also, it means that we are a
new creature. Also, it means that we can't
follow the ways of the world, although perhaps you and I want
to, naturally. We find that's attractive and
that's rather good and we like to do this and we like to do
that. But you see, when the light of the Lord Jesus shines into
our hearts, it does reveal to us that which is good and right
and that which is bad and wrong. And it may take a while for the
light, when it shines, to actually enable you to follow the right
way. Because there will be this battle
within The devil will say, no, that's okay, you can carry on
that path. Now this light's shone, your eyes are open and you're
recognizing, hold on a minute, I don't think I really can. The
devil will pursue the course, he'll say, yes, that's all right,
there's no harm in it. Don't listen to the devil when
he says that. You can believe it, he's leading you down the
wrong way. He's directing you to the broad
way. And where does the broad way
lead? Destruction. Destruction. And so, pray for strength to do God's will. Give you strength
to turn a deaf ear to the devil and have an open ear to that
which the Lord Jesus speaks to you. so that you will find then it
is a right way and you'll find this also you'll have the answer
of a good conscience because you'll realize you're
doing that which the lord has instructed you by opening your
eyes to open the blind eyes what a blessing it is then today if
you and I can look into our hearts and that's where it is, that's
where the spiritual eyes shine. They're not natural eyes, they're
spiritual eyes and the Lord speaks to our hearts and opens our spiritual
understanding. So whereas we followed the way
of the world and were pleased to do it and wanted to do it,
when the time came. And the hymn writer has a very
suitable line. He says, the appointed time rolls
on a pace, not to propose, but call by grace. See, God doesn't
make a proposition to you. No, he calls you. He calls me. And it's a divine call. And it's
a God given call. And that call opens our spiritual
eyes. And so here we have this statement
this morning to open the blind eyes. And then to bring out the
prisoners from the prison. Well, we've given those couple
of illustrations this morning in the New Testament with Peter
and Paul, but it is God that brings us out of prison. And
you see, the devil will want to keep you and me in prison
so that we're kept, as it were, in a cell and we're not allowed
to get out. We're not allowed to see the
glory of the work of God. I'm talking here, of course,
in a spiritual sense. Now we are shut up, shut up in
prison. And as those two cases, Peter
and Paul and Silas, they weren't able to unlock the prison. They had guards there. They were
chained up. They couldn't free themselves. But God came and God freed them in an amazing
way. And that may be just the same
in your and my spiritual life. It may not be in a physical way,
it won't be in a physical way, but it will be in a spiritual
way. It'll be like this. The devil
will try to keep you shut up and away from the things of God. And he'll try and keep your minds
closed. When I say that, I mean like
this. So when you go to perhaps hear
the gospel preached, the devil will say, well you don't want
to listen to that, that's a lot of rubbish and you can forget
about that and it's not true. And therefore you'll turn off
and you'll think about everything under the sun while you're supposed
to be or pretending to listen to the service but you won't
be at all because the devil's got in and he's keeping you in
this prison and there you are shut up and he keeps you there
he wants to keep you there he doesn't want you to get out into
the freedom of the gospel but the great good news is this the
devil has been beaten He's been conquered. He hasn't got any
ability to keep God's people permanently in prison. The time
will come when you will be set free. Free from that prison house
where perhaps you've been kept for a long time. bring out the prisoners from
the prison. You see, it's a bringing out.
What a wonderful thing it is. We have a little illustration
in the New Testament where the Lord came and brought Lazarus
back to life. And when he came to the place
where Lazarus was, and he was in a sepulcher, and he was bound
up hand and foot, And did the Lord go into the sepulcher and
unwind all the cloth which was around him? Not at all. He spoke,
and what did he say? Loose him and let him go. Nobody went in to that sepulcher,
but Lazarus came out. The Lord had granted that natural
life to that man. And it's the same way with his
people today. He brings that spiritual life
and he says, loose him and let him go, or loose her and let
her go. And you see the devil won't be
able to hold you any longer. However bad it may be, now we
have to let you go because the Lord speaks. With the word of
the Lord, there is power, power to raise the dead in the case
of Lazarus, power to raise our spiritual life to life from that
state of death. to bring our souls, to bring
us out of prison. Now, all of God's people are
in prison until the Lord comes and speaks and brings them out
of prison. And therefore, that's a great
and glorious operation of our God to open the blind eyes, to
bring out the prisoners from the prison. What a mercy that
is to know that we have a great God who rules and reigns, who
can do everything, great things. He can bring to life and He can
bring to spiritual life. Now all of us need to have a
spiritual experience of being brought out of spiritual prison. To be brought out into the glorious
light of the everlasting gospel. Because that's what it is. It
is a wonderful, wonderful light. It is a mercy. It is a blessing. You know, the psalmist, we have
some wonderful psalms to encourage us and in the book of Psalms
and Psalm 142, it's a psalm of David and it's quite a short
psalm. But it ends up in verse seven
with this, bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy
name. The righteous shall compass me
about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Now it may be in David's
case there that he was like really the final part of this seventh
verse where we're told, and then that sit in darkness out of the
prison house. those perhaps who have gone backwards
and of course we know that David did at some times in his life
but this psalm is very real and very precious really and we're
told it was when he was in the cave, the cave of Adullam that
means when he was escaping from Saul who was trying to kill him
and the devil was trying to kill us he's trying to catch us but
what did David tell us? I cried unto the Lord with my
voice With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? To be able to come to our God in every time of need, whatever
it is, to cry unto the Lord. And as I sometimes said to you,
to crying is that which a child does, a baby does. Baby can't
speak. Baby can't say, hey, I want some
more food. Baby can cry. And the parent knows what the
child needs. And we can cry unto our God.
He knows what we need. And then he tells us, when my
spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. We may feel perhaps sometimes
to be overwhelmed with sin. Sin may be all around us, within
us, but we can't seem to get rid of it. Well, David says, when my spirit
was overwhelmed within me, he says this, then thou knewest
my path. God knows the path that you and
I are walking in. In the way wherein I have walked,
have thou privily laid a snare for me. The devil tries to snare
us all around, don't worry. He's on the watch to try and
trip us up. David says then, I looked on
my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know
me. Refuge failed me. No man cared
for my soul. Pretty destitute, wasn't he?
No one caring for poor old David. When I cried unto the O Lord,
I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low. You see, the true work of the
Holy Spirit doesn't enable us to walk on the mountaintop all
the time. We are sometimes blessed with
wonderful favours, but there are times when we are brought
very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Then he comes and says, bring
my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name. The righteous
shall encompass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with
me. It's a good little lesson to learn here, that when he's
prayed like this, he says, bring my son out of prison, that I
may praise thy name. You know, praise is a great,
wonderful favor. And people today don't often
praise the Lord. There may be a lot of airy-fairy
praising naturally, but not from the heart. And what a blessing
it is when you and I praise the name of the Lord for those deliverances
which he's done for us. The righteous shall encompass
me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Here was
a man of God, blessed with God-given faith, to believe that the Lord
would come and reveal to him his bounty. And his bounty really
is centred upon the love of this great and glorious Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who loved David with everlasting love. who loves all his people with
everlasting love. My friends, he loved us so much,
he was willing to give his life that we might receive life. Never underestimate the wonderful
blessing of salvation. Never underestimate the great
and glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ in blessing you
with spiritual eyes, blind eyes opened, brought out of prison,
perhaps sitting in darkness because of backsliding and being brought
out of the prison house. And what is it? It's all of grace. Grace is a charming sound. melodious to our ear. And it
is, of course, the unmerited favour of God to think that Almighty
God has blessed us with His wonderful love, has touched our hearts,
directed us to Himself. Our eyes have been opened We
behold wondrous things out of thy law. That's what David says.
And of course, the law is really the whole counsel of God. It's
not just the Ten Commandments. It's all the ceremonial law.
It's everything. What a blessing it is when the Holy Spirit opens
our eyes, brings us out of prison. We rejoice to meditate upon what
Christ has done in redeeming our souls. Then it is, the Gospel,
as it were, opens up, and we see the wonderful plan of salvation. We see that God so loved the
world, He sent His only begotten Son into the world, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. God gives
grace to believe. He gives faith to believe. He comes and touches our heart,
our spiritual heart, so that our spiritual eyes are opened
and we see the glory of redemption. And we can then turn our back,
as it were, upon all the things of this vain world, realising
that our vanity of vanity as Solomon said given that wonderful
ability to search out happiness in this world and he couldn't
find it he had everything to bring him happiness everything
at his disposal could do anything he wanted to and he concludes
so positively all is vanity of vanities and all is vexation
of spirit No true happiness in the things of this poor world,
but there is true happiness in the things of God because it
brings with it an eternal value, an eternal dimension. It's beyond
the things of time. It is eternal. And so this morning,
well, may we have a wonderful favor to realize that our eyes
have been indeed opened. You know, this wonderful chapter
speaks to us a lot about this. And he tells us, and I will bring
the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in
paths that they have not known. It's a new way to spiritual life. I will make darkness lights before
them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them,
and not forsake them. If God before us, who can be
against us? They shall be turned back. They
shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that
say to the molten images, ye are our gods. Perhaps we've been
following the world. What a good thing when we're
turned back. Turned back by the blessed work of the Holy
Spirit. What a mercy then to realise
we have such a God today, who is a God who hasn't changed from
the time when Isaiah wrote these words all those many years ago. And as true as they were then,
they are still today. And so may we have the blessed
experience of knowing that this Lord has come to open my blind
eyes, to bring me out of prison and out of that state of darkness. and out of the prison house.
And when the Lord does this, what a wonderful thing it is.
And what would it do? It would bring thanksgiving and
praise in our hearts that there is such a God who's loved us
so much in order to redeem our souls from the wrath to come
and to set our feet upon a rock and to establish our goings,
and to put a new song in our heart, even praise unto our God. Well, may it be so, for his great
name's sake. Amen.