If you will take your Bibles
and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42, we'll be looking
in verse 1 through 7 this morning. The title of my message this
morning, The Servant of God. The Servant of God. The Scripture says, Behold My
Servant. whom I uphold, mine elect, in
whom my soul delighteth." We have before us here the Lord
God speaking. And He says, Behold. Behold. Stop. Put down what you're doing. Stop. Listen. Look. Behold. God says this, Behold what? My servant. You look at him. You behold him. My friends, we are bombarded
constantly, daily, minute by minute, moment by moment, by
all of the things of this life. All the things of this life clamor
for our attention. You cannot drive down the road
and not see signs and advertisements that clamor for your attention.
You cannot turn on the radio without someone trying to get
your attention. They spend millions of dollars
trying to get your attention. The world tries to attract us
with its glitter and fame and pleasures, comforts and promises
of ease. Our minds even now in the midst
of the service and worship of God are prone to wonder. They're prone to think about
the things that we have to do 35 minutes from now. Most of the time we're so concerned
about tomorrow that we're not worried about the moment. And
God says in the moment, in this place, at this time, behold,
stop what you're doing. Put it down and look and listen. Behold, My servant. You consider him. And now this
morning, if God's willing, if God's willing, maybe, He might
give us a glimpse of His servant. He might allow us to truly behold
His servant. I was reading a book this week
called The Godly Man, and this man was pointing out what it
was to be a servant of God. And I saw in this, he had many
points, but there were three that stuck out to me. that fit Christ in this text
most perfectly. When God says, Behold My servant,
who is He talking about? He is talking about none other
than Jesus Christ the Lord. Behold Him, My servant. This man talked about being a
servant and he said that a servant will only serve one master. A
servant will only serve one master. A servant will only do the will
of his master. And a servant will be content
with the wages of his master. And I want us this morning to
see how those three points easily fit Jesus Christ this morning,
as we behold Him, the servant of God. John says this in John
1, he says, In the beginning was the Word, Jesus Christ. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of
men. He who is the eternal Son of
God, Creator of all things by the word of His omnipotent power. He who is the origin of all life. How is it then that He is said
to be here in this text a servant, a slave? How can this be? How can Jesus,
who is equal with the Father and the Spirit, be called a servant? He can be called a servant because
he did only serve one master, God. He served only one master,
God. Jesus Himself confessed Himself
to be God. He said before Abraham was, I
am. And the Jews tried to stone Him
because they said, Thou makest Thyself equal with God. Was He not equal with God? Of
course He was. Of course He was. He was equal
with God. He said, I am. Those Jews knew exactly what
He meant. I am God. I am God. It's at this point the Jews tried
to stone Him for this, but He didn't deserve to be stoned.
He was just telling the truth. Behold My servant who is God. Friends, there's a damning heresy
going around. Ever since the Lord Jesus Christ,
there's false religion has tried to use this text that we are
talking about this morning. When God says, Behold My servant,
they know it's talking about Christ. And they use this text
to show that Jesus is not God, but rather just a God. They reason
among themselves saying, How is this possible for Jesus to
be the servant of God and be God? And so they say, well, He's
not. He's just a servant. He's just
a man. But we know that's not true.
Jesus Himself is God. And just as damning a heresy
is to go in the opposite direction and to say, well, He was a servant
in name only. He was a servant just in word. That's all. He just pretended
to be a servant. That's just as damning, isn't
it? Because these men say that Jesus was not deity, that He
was only a man. Or that He was not only a man,
He was all deity and no man. Both of these are damning heresies.
John says of this, the spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
has come in the flesh is not of God, it's antichrist. So in this morning, for you to
behold the servant of God, you've got to know who He is. You must
see who He is. To behold Him, you must look
and see His person. He is the God-man, the only God-man
mediator. He who is deity before all things,
creator of all things, has now come in the flesh and become
man so that He might be the servant of God. And friends, when he came, he came and served only one master. He served only one master, which
is God. And our text, we must notice
first that all the office of a servant, that this office of
a servant was not taken by Christ, but rather he was called to it. Behold my servant, mine elect,
my chosen. Jesus was chosen of God, called
to the office of a servant from all eternity. He was the elected of God to
be the servant And He alone did God put His trust to fulfill
all His will. Friends, God did not put all
of His trust in Adam. And praise God, He does not put
all of His trust in you or me. God from all eternity put all
of His trust, all of His will on the servant, His Son, Jesus
Christ. He chose Him to be a servant. And God says, look at My servant. Behold Him. There is none like
Him. He is altogether different from
all other servants. He is My chosen vessel to fulfill
all of My decrees. And as the chosen servant of
God, He left all and humbled Himself before God that sent Him. Now truly, all men are servants
of God. Isn't that right? Isn't it true
that all men should be servants of God? God created them all
and they should serve Him. All men should seek to leave
everything they have and serve God. That is just right. That
just makes sense. God created you. God gave you
life. God gave you breath. You should
serve Him. He's worthy of your service.
The problem is He doesn't get it. The problem is we all Serve self
by nature. All men because of sin serve
their selves. We serve our sins. We cannot
by nature and will not serve God unless God does something
for us. The reason you that are without
Christ, hear me, you are without Christ and you will not serve
God until God does something for you. Until God quickens your soul
and gives you life and faith in Christ, you'll continue in
your path of destruction all the way to hell unless God does
something for you. God says, Behold, Jesus Christ,
who himself is God of very God, and yet he humbled himself to
become a servant. Go to Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. Philippians chapter 2 and verse
5. Paul says, "...let this mind
be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." When he
told those Jews before Abraham was, I am, he thought that not
robbery. He wasn't robbing God of anything.
Why? He says, I'm equal with God.
I am God. And yet what did he do? But made
of himself no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. How low did Christ come to be
a servant? How far did the Son of God have
to stoop down to be a servant? Farther than our minds can comprehend. How readily would you drop all
of the things you have to live on the street? And yet the God of glory came
down and did that very thing. Jesus Christ made Himself a servant
by taking upon Himself the nature of man and humbled Himself and
learned obedience by His suffering. And as a man he did not serve
himself, he served only the Lord God in every thought, every word,
and every action. He served God as a man. In our text it says, he shall
not cry nor lift up his voice to be heard in the streets. And
he didn't. He served only God. Jesus said
in Matthew 20, verse 28, the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. Behold
My servant. Behold My servant. And number two, he not only served
God, he not only served God with all of his heart, with all of
his soul, and with all of his strength as he became a man,
he also did the will of God in absolute perfection. A servant
will do the will of his master. That same passage in Philippians
2 verse 8, it says, "...who being found in fashion as a man, humbled
himself." and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. God tells you, God tells me,
behold my servant, because he was an obedient servant. Jesus Christ alone is the only
one that ever has lived and obeyed God's will perfectly. He's it. There is no other. He's the only one. Friends, he who was worthy of
all obedience became obedient. God sent His Son to become a
man and He obeyed and became a man. His Father sent Him to
humble Himself under the law of God and He humbled Himself
even to death. to obey that law. Lo, I come, in the volume of the
book it is written of Me, to do Thy will, O God. Friends, the Word of God was
a lamp unto His feet and a light unto His path, and He did everything
that pleased the Father. There was not one thing that
Jesus Christ, as a man when He came, that God was not completely
and absolutely satisfied with. There is not one word, not one
rebuke, not one miracle that the Lord would disagree with.
He did everything that God had willed. Everything. Even when it came to taking the
sins of His people, what did He say? He said, the cup which
My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? Shall I not be
obedient even to the death? Even to when I took the sins
of My people upon Me, will I not drink that cup? Friends, Jesus Christ was obedient
in every aspect of God's law and will. He was perfect. Number three, will a servant
not be content with the wages of his master? Was not Jesus
content with everything that the Father gave Him? How should you think the eternal
Son of God should come and do His own? What are your thoughts on that?
How do you think He should have come? We all know how He came,
but if we were living in the days that He came, we probably
would have thought just like the Jews. How should a king come? Even a commoner understands.
He should come for his houses and come for his lands. He should
come on a pure white horse in the prime of day, and the trumpet
should blow and the crowds make way. That's how a king should
come, shouldn't it? But that's not how this king
came. He came as a servant. And when
God sent him into the womb of that poor young virgin, espoused
to that poor carpenter, he lived a life of poverty? He lived a
life of hard labor? Did you hear him complain? Did you hear him murmur of his
lot that God had given him? Behold My servant, he was content
with the wages that I gave him." When Satan tempted him, what
was his answer? He said, Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God. He said, I'm going to trust God for my food. He trusted God for everything.
When he was hungry, he trusted God. When he was thirsty, he
trusted God. When he had needs, he trusted
God. Even when men were opposed to
him and troubles abounded and circumstances seemed bleak, his
eyes did not dim from his father, his master, but was content with
whatever God had given him. Even the words of his lips came
from God Himself. He said, these words I speak,
they're God's words. These are my Father's words. Even in the garden, when He sweat
great drops of blood, being in agony over the sins of His people, He said, Father, let this cup
pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will be
done, but Thy will be done. Behold, friends, the servant
of God, Jesus Christ. He alone is the anointed servant.
He alone is called of God. He left all praise and glory
to become a man, to do the will of God, to serve only God and
to be content with whatever God had given him to do. Is not Jesus truly the servant
of God? Yes. Yes, He is. And God says,
you stop, look, look, behold, My servant. You look at Him. You behold Him. That's what a
servant should be. He should be like My Son. He's
a true servant. That leads me to this question.
Why did Christ become the servant of God? We see that He is the
servant of God. You can't read the New Testament,
you can't read His Word without seeing that He did the will of
the Father in completion, perfection. But why? We know that He fulfilled the
requirements as a servant, but why was He a servant? The purpose of God In this act
of grace to send His Son is found in our text in verse 6. Go back
to your text in Isaiah chapter 42 and look at verse 6, and you'll
find the reason why God sent Him to be the servant. God says this to the servant.
Now, this text here, He is talking to Christ. He says, I the Lord
have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and
will keep thee, and here it is, and give thee for a covenant
of the people. A light for a light of the Gentiles. That's the reason. to be a covenant
and a light. Friends, our God is a covenant
God. You cannot look at how God deals
with man and not see that He is a covenant God. When God came
with Adam, He gave him a covenant, didn't He? Don't eat and live. Eat and die. There's a covenant. There's a covenant. And notice
that covenant was not made with equals, was it? It was not made
with equals. Adam was not his equal. Adam
could not reject or refuse this covenant. It was a covenant that
God made with man and man was subject to it. He was subject
to it. And Adam as our federal head,
the best that mankind could offer. And people, I understand that
many times we read of Adam, we shake our heads and say, how
could you do that? How could you be so foolish? Friends, He's
the best of us. He was the best of us! And yet, He failed. He failed. And when He failed as our representative,
we all died spiritually and became depraved by nature. It was because
of this that we became unwilling and unfaithful servants. is because
of sin in our hearts that we do not care for the things of
God. Man by nature cannot see this
because he is blind. Scripture says in verse 7, He
says to open the blind eyes and set them out of the prison house.
Friends, we by nature are blind prisoners. And if you're without
Christ, you are enslaved to your sin and blind. You can't see
your need of righteousness. You don't see any need of this.
This is not important. My children, they see no need
of this. Why? Because they're blind and
in prison. They're enslaved to their sins. If you're without Christ, it's
because you're enslaved to your sins. And you're blind as to
see the need of what I'm talking about. When I say, behold the
servant of God, you say, who cares? Because you're blind. You're blind. And so what does
religion try to do then? Religion tries to patch it up.
Religion tries to patch up the flesh, it tries to clean up the
actions of men, and make them moral, and causes them to perform
religious deeds, and tries to give them some kind of law that
they need to follow. But we know this, law never produces
righteousness, does it? Law and religion never produces
righteousness. Let me put it this way, what
if you were to obey the law of God from now on? From this point
on, you just from here out, everything is perfect. You become the servant
of God from this day forward. What will you do about all of
the stuff that has already passed? Will any of that obedience in
the future pay for any of that disobedience in the past? No. No. The law was never meant to do
anything but to condemn you to hell. That's all it was. The
law was meant to condemn you of your sins. The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. Pastor, that's depressing. Absolutely. That's bleak, isn't
it? God says, obey Me or die. And you've already disobeyed. You've already done it. Haven't we all sinned? Yes. Is
there any hope? Yes. Behold My servant. There's the hope. God gives us
the hope. Behold My servant, whom I elect
in whom my soul delighteth." He says, I've called Him in righteousness. I've called Him in righteousness. Because God's elect need righteousness,
the Servant of God came in righteousness. We needed righteousness and He
gave us, He performed for us what we could not perform for
ourselves. Behold My servant, he came to
fulfill the law." Jesus said, I've not come to destroy the
law, but to fulfill the law, and the law will not pass until
every jot and tittle of the law has been fulfilled. You know
what? In Christ, the law has been fulfilled. He fulfilled
every jot, every dot, and crossed every T. He did everything the
law required. He established that law. And
by His righteousness, He has provided a righteousness for
all those that God has chosen. And not only was He a covenant
for righteousness, but also for the atonement of sins. He said,
I will hold thy hand. This speaks of God sustaining
Him in all of the troubles and trials of this life, and even
when our sins were placed on Him, it was deity that held Him
there on the cross. He purposed, God purposed this
in the covenant of grace that Jesus would be the sin-bearer
of His people. 2 Corinthians 5.19, "...to wit
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." How did
He do it? Not imputing their trespasses
to them. Where did they go? To whom did He impute them? He can't
sweep them under the rug. God can't be just and sweep sin
under the rug. Where did they go? For He made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him." He imputed our sins to Christ and not to them. That's
why He became a servant, so that He might fulfill the covenant
of grace that God made for His people. You see, it was not enough to
provide righteousness, Sometimes kids, they go and put on fresh
clothes without taking a shower. It's kind of foolish. You're
dirty. You've got to be clean before
you put on clean clothes. You see, Christ not only gave
us the robe of righteousness, He purified our hearts. so that
we might adorn that robe, so that a robe might wrap us and
envelop us, so that we might be righteous from the inside
out. And this was done by the covenant.
A covenant. By God's sovereign covenant. Behold, the servant of God who
is the covenant for His people. Praise God that He didn't make
this covenant with my consent. He made this covenant before
there was ever a world, before there was ever a sin. God made
this covenant with His own Son for me, without me having to
do one thing for it. You see, I did not enter into
this covenant except by receiving." God just gave it. He did this
for His people. And as a faithful servant, God
loved Christ. He says, therefore doth the Father
love me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. God tells us that His servants
shall not fail. And all those who are part of
this covenant of grace, you may rejoice in this, his servant
did not fail." He did not fail and he was not discouraged. But he laid down his life for
the sheep of the covenant of the grace of God and he did not
fail. to give life to all of His sheep.
Religion tells us that Jesus died for all men, that Jesus'
blood was shed for some that will end up in hell, but this
is not the Jesus that God delights in. This is not the Jesus of Scripture.
For Jesus said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For
I came down from heaven, Not to do mine own will, to be a
servant, but the will of Him that sent me, and this is His
will which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me
I should lose nothing, nothing, nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. Nothing. Behold my servant who
will lose nothing. All for whom Christ died, they
shall come to life and faith and ultimately to Himself." Without
question. Without question. Who then are
these that the Father had given Him? Blind prisoners. Blind prisoners. He said, I came
to open the blind eyes and to bring out the prisoners from
the prison house. Sin blinds and enslaves. Men are blind to see they need
a Savior. Men are blind to see the holiness
of God and that they are full of sin. They're enslaved to their passions
and lust, and they love it. Someone wrote this, I thought
it was good, the more freely a man sins, the more enslaved
he is to it. But all those that the servant
of God came for and lived for and died for, He will give them
eyes to see, and free their hearts. If the Son of Man shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed." Have you been freed? Have you
been awakened to see the need of Christ? If you have, do we not still
behold the servant of God? Do we not still long to see more
of Him? You that are freed from sin,
do you not long to be His servant? I do. I long to be like Christ. I long to serve Him. And looking at the servant of
God, we might see how we can serve Him. We who are free, we serve only
one Master. Even God. We serve God and we
seek to serve Him with all of our hearts, all of our souls
and minds. We seek to serve Him with our
estate, with our bodies and with our hearts. We who are servants of God, we
long to do His will. Do you long to do the will of
God? Here it is. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I've done that. Do it again and
again and again until God takes you home. And number three, be
content. A servant is content with whatever
God gives him. All the things we have come from
God and all the things that are taken away are taken from God,
taken by God. Should we not be content with
that? Yes. We should be content with
this. Behold, my servant, in whom my
soul delighteth. And if you're in him, guess what?
God delights in you. If you're not, Oh, God have mercy on you. God have mercy on you to behold
His servant. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.