All right, if you'll return in
your Bibles to Isaiah 49. Isaiah lived, I think it's about
150 years or so before the southern tribes called Judah as a nation. before they were sent into captivity
because of their rebellion against God. The northern 10 tribes,
which nationally was going by the name Israel, had been dispersed
among the nations some years before. That is, before Judah was sent. But long before either of them
were judged and punished and dispersed by God, Israel prophesied
of it and prophesied of the return and restoration of the nation
of Israel at the appointed time. Now, these verses that we read
earlier, Isaiah 49, verses 1 through 14, They kind of confront us with
a problem. If you look in verse 3, it says,
he said to me, you are my servant Israel, in whom I will display
my splendor. Now that's Jehovah God speaking
to someone whom he refers to as his servant. and then by name,
Israel. But then you look down at verse
five, it says, and now the Lord says, he who formed me in the
womb to be his servant, so it's the same servant being spoken
of, and he said it's to be his servant to bring Jacob back to
him and to gather Israel to himself. How can Israel regather Israel? The servant is identified by
the name Israel, and yet his service that he will render to
God is to regather Israel. How can Israel regather Israel? Who is this servant of the Lord
named Israel? There are four passages in the
book of Isaiah that are referred to as servant songs because they
refer to the servant of the Lord. Isaiah 42 says, see my servant
whom I uphold. We'll not take the time to turn
to each of these because we have a limited amount of time, but
it's a well-known portion of scripture. And then you have
the scripture that we're looking at today in Isaiah 49. Then in the next chapter, Isaiah
50 speaks of one who is the servant, one of whom it is written, he's
opened my ears and I've not been rebellious, I've not drawn back,
et cetera. And then we're familiar with
the passage in Isaiah 53, Actually, they should have put the chapter
division one more verse back and begin it in Isaiah 52, verse
12. But Isaiah 53 is one of the most
well-known Old Testament scriptures. Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up
before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.
But this again, it's the servant of the Lord being spoken of.
Now, in chapter 49, it identifies this servant by name, and the
name that it uses is Israel. Who is this Israel? Well, if you talk to Jews, and
by that I mean religious Jews, They believe that it is a reference
to the nation of Israel. That the nation of Israel is
indeed the servant of the Lord. And it's easy to see why they
would do this. I mean, their name is Israel, so when it says,
my servant Israel, it would be quite natural to think you were
talking about that nation. But there's a problem with each
of these passages referring to the servant in trying to apply
them to the nation of Israel. None of the descriptions of this
servant of Jehovah fit the nation Israel. In chapter 42 where it
says, see my servant, it goes on to say, I will put my spirit
upon him And it says that he will not fail nor be discouraged
until he has brought justice to all the nations. That's never happened. Not even close. And then in the chapter 49, the one we're looking
at, we've already asked the question, How can the nation of Israel
restore the nation of Israel? If the servant of the Lord named
Israel is the nation Israel, you've got the nation of Israel
saving the nation of Israel. That doesn't make any sense.
And then in chapter 50, it says that this servant knows the word
that sustains the weary. But the nation of Israel has
more often given a word that burdens the weary. Do you remember
when our Lord Jesus Christ, and this is in the book of Matthew,
but he says, come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden. Well, why were they burdened
and heavy laden? Because the religious leaders
of the nation of Israel laid heavy burdens on them. The Lord
said of them, you lay burdens on men and you won't even use
your little finger to try to help them. So certainly the nation of Israel
cannot be the one who has the word that sustains the weary
because they have the word that made men weary. And it says in
chapter 50 that the ears of that servant had been opened Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ, excuse me, the nation of Israel, their ears, as a nation, their
ears have never been opened to the truth. What's interesting
to see, even as you read throughout the Old Testament, in the times
when, whether it appeared that the
12 tribes were being faithful or unfaithful, It always says
there's only a remnant that truly believe. What Paul called a remnant according
to the election of grace. There never has been a time in
the whole history of the nation of Israel from their departure
from Egypt until their destruction under the Roman Empire in about
70 AD Never in all that time were their ears opened as an
entire nation. Never was there a time when they
were not rebellious. And then in chapter 53, and that's
the fourth of the servant songs, in verse eight it's written that
this servant of Jehovah was stricken for God's people. Now, of course,
the Jews would have considered themselves God's people. And
in the old covenant sense of the word, they were God's people. They were the only nation to
whom God had revealed himself at that time. But if this servant of Jehovah
named Israel is the nation of Israel, how can it be that Israel is stricken for Israel. It doesn't make any sense. This servant Israel in chapter
49 is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, our Lord
is called by many names in the scriptures. Some of these names
were given to individuals After all, the first one we know of
named Israel was Jacob. The Lord said to him, no longer
shall you be called Jacob, you shall be called Israel. And so
the nation that sprang from him, from his 12 sons as they had
children and Of course, they went down to Egypt, and while
in Egypt they prospered and they grew into a sizable group, sizable
enough it caused the Egyptians to be afraid of them. And then
the Lord took them out, and that whole group became known as the
nation of Israel. Later on, after Solomon died,
the nation split in two. The southern part was named Judah,
and the northern part retained the name Israel. But our Lord has given this name
Israel. In the book of Isaiah, he's called
also Immanuel. Now this is never a name that
he bore when he came into this world. The angel said, you'll
call his name Jesus, which is the same name as Joshua. It means
savior, or Jehovah saves. And says you'll call him that
because he'll save his people from their sins. So that was
the name by which he was known, the name by which he was called,
and yet these other names are applied to him. In Matthew chapter 12, verses
18 through 21, it ascribes that whole portion of Isaiah 42, see
my servant whom I uphold, et cetera, applies it all to our
Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah chapter 56, it speaks
of the servant of Jehovah. In this way, I offered my back
to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Who else can that
be but the Lord Jesus? And you read Isaiah 53. I tell you, if we didn't have any other
chapter in the Bible, except Isaiah 53, and we understood
what it meant. That would be enough. He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no
form nor comeliness that when we would see him, we would see
any majesty in him. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was one from whom men hide
their faces. And it speaks of how he was not esteemed. You know,
when our Lord was here in this world, spent that time traveling
and preaching, There were people that collected around him, but we read in John 6 that after he made the revelation
of himself crystal clear, many of his disciples no longer followed
him. They followed him because They
had been a group of 5,000 men, plus their wives and children,
and he had fed them with five loaves and two fishes. And he
crossed over the lake, and they walked around, or however it
is they got over there the next day, and they were listening
to him, and he says, you followed me because you ate and you had
your fill. Their interest in him was concerning
the things of this life, not concerning the things of the
life to come. And when he told them who he
is and why he came, they weren't interested anymore. He was not esteemed and certainly
the religious leaders had no respect for him. No sooner had they heard him
preach. Then they were constantly going out trying to get him tripped
up somehow because they saw in him a threat to everything they
believed. They saw in him a threat to their
position and power among the people. And they said, we've
got to take this man down. And Isaiah 53 goes on to say,
surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Yet
we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us
peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. This is the servant of Jehovah,
who in chapter 49 is called Israel. Why then does God call the Lord
Jesus Israel? I mean, you can see how that'd
be confusing to the nation of Israel when the prophet Isaiah
spoke to them and he spoke of the servant of Jehovah, Israel.
They quite naturally thought it was a reference to themselves. Why would God refer to his son,
the savior of his people, by the name Israel? For a very simple
reason. He is the only one to whom the
name rightly and fully applies. Now, when we give names to our
children, We generally have no idea what the names mean. And the meaning of the name,
if we did know it, is for the most part insignificant to us.
Because we name our children a name we like. But the names that were given
to people in Old Testament times, generally speaking, had something
to do with who they were. That is, it described them. The name Jacob comes from the
Hebrew word for the heel, the heel of your foot. And he was
called that because when he was known as one who would
grab your heel and trip you up and take what's yours. He was a sly fellow, a deceptive
fellow. And if you got into a business
deal with him, more likely than not, you would be the loser.
That was the kind of man he was. And it was kind of prophetic
that they gave that name to him because it described what he
would become. Later on, the Lord gave him the
name Israel. And he told him why. The name
Israel is a combination of two Hebrew words, the word for power
and the word El, meaning God. Power of God or power with God. And Jacob had wrestled with the
Lord in the form of a man all night long and, you know, The
Lord was more or less toying with him because the Lord could
at any time put him down. But he allowed Jacob to get him
in a pretty good hold, and he said to Jacob, let me go. And the Lord grabbed him. It says, in the hollow of his
thigh, and I don't know exactly where that is, but it must hurt. The Lord said, let me go. And
he says, I'm not going to let you go till you bless me. So
we understand from those statements that Jacob knew who it was he
was wrestling, because who else could bless him but God. And so that's when the Lord said
to them, he said, what's your name? And it must have grieved
Jacob to tell the Lord his name, because as I have defined it
for you before, you can essentially say it means scoundrel, ne'er-do-well,
cheat, whatever. He says, what is your name? And
he says, Jacob. You know, when the Lord deals
with someone, to bless them with his grace and His salvation,
He makes them own up to what they are. What is your name? Sinner, transgressor, vile, unworthy. That's one reason that you find
so few people interested in the grace of God. Jesus said, I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And everyone wants to think themselves
to be righteous, or at least less sinful than their neighbor. What is your name? And I ask you to consider that
question that the Lord asked Jacob. As the sun began to rise,
what is your name? Well, the name that Jacob had
by birth was indeed Jacob. Then the Lord says, OK, from
now on, you'll no longer be called Jacob. Your name will be Israel,
for you have power or have prevailed with God and with men. He prevailed with God in the sense, not that he overpowered
him in a wrestling match, because at any time the Lord could have
put him into that. He prevailed with God. He had
power with God because he knew who God was and knew that what
he truly wanted, the only place he could get it was from God.
He said, I will not let you go till you bless me. In the religion in which I was
raised, they would have us bow our heads and close our eyes
at the end of a service, you know, and they'd sing a hymn
over and over and over, try to get people to come forward and,
quote, get saved. And if someone was worried about
the future or had some kind pangs of conscience you know they would
come forward and they would tell them if they would just call
upon the name of the Lord they'll be saved and that's true that's
true but they condensed that down to pray the sinner's prayer
and if that person didn't know what that was well pray after
me God yes I'm a sinner I'm a sinner and they would bring this thing
down to just reciting a prayer and then supposedly Everything
was taken care of. But the Lord said, straight is the gate and narrow
is the way that leads unto eternal life. And he also said, enter
by the straight gate. Many have tried to enter and
have not been able to. Now that sounds strange. How could it be that someone
would actually try to enter in by that narrow, that straight,
straight is the old-fashioned word for narrow, that narrow
gate, but they couldn't. I won't tell you everything about
it, because I kind of plan on preaching on that next week.
But basically, it's a narrow gate, and you can't go through
with anything of your own. And it says that the way is narrow,
restricted, troublesome, and people don't want that troublesome
way. People, they're willing to recite,
I'm a sinner, but even as they recite it, they don't believe
it in the way that the scriptures say that we are sinners. The
scriptures say we're sinners not merely in the sense that
we have done some bad things, maybe even some notably bad things. When the scriptures say we are
sinners, it means we aren't anything else, that we've never done anything
righteous. It's not saying that You've got
some good things and some bad things, and when your life's
over, we'll weigh the good against the bad and see how the scales
balance out. No, it says that everything we
do is sin in the eyes of the Lord. We are incapable of the
righteousness that he demands, that we are helpless and hopeless
without him. Not many people are interested
in that kind of salvation. They want some help. They can jump so high, but not
quite high enough. Israel himself, Jacob named Israel. He had power with God in that
he called upon God for blessing. But it's not as though he could
ever obligate God. Everything Jacob ever got, he
got by sovereign grace. That's a point that Paul makes
very clearly in the book of Romans chapter 9. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Why? Because Jacob was better
than Esau. If you knew both men, you would
avoid Jacob and you'd be friends with Esau. At least you could
go hunting and fishing with him. A man's man. He'd have been held. I'm sure,
I'm sure that in Isaac's mind, the typical fatherly mind, he
preferred Esau over Jacob. But God says, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. It does seem that everywhere
Jacob went, he prospered. But did he prosper because he
was Jacob? He prospered because by the sovereign
grace of God, God made things work out for him. And the nation of Israel, Oh, in the times of David and
Solomon, they conquered some kingdoms and expanded their boundaries
a little bit. But they've never had a worldwide
empire. They don't have power with men.
Who does? To whom does the name, the power
of God, rightly belong? Paul says that to the Gentiles, with all their Greek
philosophy, Christ is foolishness. And to the Jews, why he's a crucified
man, he's weakness. But to us who believe, he is
the wisdom and power of God. The Lord Jesus Christ had power
with God. He said, well, I thought he was
God. You're right, he was and is. But we're not going to try
to unravel that mystery this morning. We're just looking at
him as a man whom God sent to be the last Adam to represent
his chosen people and bear in his body their sins and thus
save them. He had power with God. He had power with God because
he pleased God. Jacob didn't please God. God did not like the way Jacob
acted. He couldn't approve of Jacob's
actions. But he said on two occasions,
the father speaks audibly from the heavens and says, this is
my son in whom I'm well pleased. He never said that about anybody
else. The father took great pleasure
in the son. He made promise in the book of Psalms, ask of me
and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. The Lord Jesus Christ could get anything he wanted
from God. Do you remember when they came
to arrest him Peter, trying to play the man, took out his sword. And I think he was going for
the high priest's servant. And they hit him right in the
head and split his skull wide open. And he missed and sliced
off his ear instead. And the Lord picked up the ear
and put it back on. And he said, Peter, don't you
realize I could ask my father to send legion of angels now
and save me from this? And he'd do it. And he has power with God in
this, that he entered into covenant with his father to be the substitute
for God's people. And God entrusted his people
into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, thine they were,
and you gave them to me, and I have lost none of them. That's
in John 17. And shortly after, he goes to
the cross. And as he goes to the cross,
these that the father has given to the son, Paul says, we were
in him, we died with him and we rose with him. But here's
the thing, in this covenant that God, the father and God, the
son had entered into, if Jesus Christ did the work, God was
obligated to save those for whom he died. Now, it's not as though God was
reluctant to do so. In fact, He chose His Son to
be the one to do this. Nonetheless, the Father owes
it to the Son to save everyone for whom Christ shed His blood. He has power with God. He has
power in His intercession. You know, we look to the cross,
and well, we should. Paul says, I determine to know
nothing among you other than Christ and Him crucified. And
so that's the focal point of our faith. That's the focal point
of our worship. That's the focal point of what
we know about our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But this we
also know. Paul says He died, was buried,
He rose again. Even more, he ascended to the
right hand of God, and there he makes intercession for us. Even now, he has power with God. Oh, we who had believed, probably
when we first believed, we thought we were going to do better. We
thought we were going to be better people. We thought that we wouldn't
have such a struggle with sin. And what we found out is, that's
when the real struggle with sin began. We were friends with sin
before. Now we've got a part of us that
is the enemy of sin. And there's constant conflict
within us. And when we sin, it feels worse
even than it did before. Because now we realize we've
not only sinned against God, our maker, we have sinned against
God, our redeemer. and our head gets brought down
in tears, in grief, and yet we are taught this, even now there
is one at the right hand of the Father, one who has power with
God, and he intercedes in our behalf. And when that scoundrel,
the accuser of the brethren, called the devil, when he comes
before God and he tries to bring our sin into the presence of
God, all that the Lord Jesus has to do is say, Father, see
my hands, see my feet, That sin was on me when I died. And God sends the devil out of
the court, says, you have no place here, you can't accuse.
Oh, what sweet comfort to us, as we want to live as God would
have us live, but we know that we don't. But even now, there
is one who intercedes in our behalf. John calls him the advocate. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous one,
he has power with God and he has power with men. Now again,
the Jesus that I was taught as a kid, he doesn't have much power
with men. I was told that he's trying to
save everybody in the world and just people won't let him. Really? Do you think that you
could stop Jesus Christ from doing anything he wanted to do? He says, all authority in heaven
and earth is given to me. He has power with men. Now I
preach, I wish I had power with people. I say I do, I'd probably
screw everything up. But sometimes I preach and I
think, oh, I wish I could just reach in their hearts and make
this word effective to them. Make them believe it. Make them
see the glory of it. Make them embrace it with all
their hearts and cling to Christ. I can't do that. I can't make
you do anything. But if you belong to the Lord
Jesus Christ, Paul says we were chosen in him before the foundation
of the world. And if you're among that blessed
chosen, the day will come when Jesus Christ will come to you
and he won't just knock on your door and say, can I come in? And when you don't let him in,
go away frustrated. He'll knock on your door for
a while. And it'll prove what a rebel you are that you won't
let him in. But when he wants in, he'll kick down the door. And he will have such power with
you that the one you resisted so long, you will say, thank you for coming
in. All the time he's knocking. All
the time he's sending you preachers and you're resisting. No, I don't
want to come. Go away. Leave me alone. I don't want
anything to do with you. I don't want anything to do with
you. And then the day of grace comes. The appointed time comes.
And he breaks down the door and breaks down your rebellion. And
he walks into your heart, so to speak. And he takes up the
position of the throne and seats himself on the throne of your
heart. And you bow down and worship him and say, thank you, thank
you, thank you. That's power with men. He's the true Israel. He's the
true power of God. Now, it says that this Israel,
we're back in Isaiah 49, and we could go through this
verse by verse. There's just so much that could be brought
out from this, but of course, we're limited on time. But it said He would bring Jacob
back to Him and gather Israel to Himself. Has that ever really been fulfilled
in the nation of Israel? No. Oh, He brought them back
to the land, but as I've pointed out, the
nation itself has never wholeheartedly worshipped the Lord. There's
another Israel, the one Paul calls the Israel of God. It's
also known by the name the church of Jesus Christ, the assembly
of God. That's us who believe Jesus Christ. We are also Israel. You say,
that's strange. Why should the Savior be called Israel and we
be called Israel also? Well, in Jeremiah chapter 23
verse 6, it speaks of the Lord Jesus and His coming and His
saving power. And it says, and this is the
name by which He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Then
you go 10 chapters later in Jeremiah and it speaks of the city of
Jerusalem. I believe it's the city of Jerusalem or the nation
of Israel, whatever. But it's, again, a reference,
a prophetic reference to God's people throughout all ages. And it says, and this is the
name by which she shall be known, the Lord, our righteousness. So united is the Savior with
his people. they have the same name. Now it's a tradition that's falling
somewhat by the wayside in our culture, but in Western culture
anyway, go back as far as you can. You're gonna find that when
two got married, when they're joined together, the wife takes
her husband's name. Bonnie was born Harrison. She's
now Mrs. Terrell. She'd been Mrs. Terrell longer than she was Miss
Harrison. The church is Mrs. Israel. Our Lord is Mr. Israel. We bear
the same name because we've been joined to him. And remember,
God uses marriage set up marriage to show us the relationship between
Christ and the church. And when he brought Eve to Adam, he united them and said, the
two shall be one. That's why we're Israel. And
that's why we look to the true Israel. Now we call Him the Chief
Israel, the true One who has power with God and power with
men. And in Him we have power with
God. Not that we get everything we
ask for. We get everything the Lord asks for. And we have power with men. It's
not a power native to us. I say I have no power with people. And yet I have stood in this
pulpit and preached, and God has been pleased to use that
to open the eyes and hearts of some of his chosen people. Now,
I know the power was not in me. He didn't even work the power
through me. It's just that he enabled me to preach, and then
he added his power to the preaching to make it effective. Well, I'm just going to have to quit
as much as I'd like to keep going. There's so many wonderful things
to say about the Savior here in chapter 49 of Isaiah. Read
it. Look at what God promised him.
I especially like that. It says, is it too small a thing? This is what the Lord says to
Israel Jesus. He says, is it too small a thing
for you just to save Israel and Judah? He said, OK, I'll make
you a light to the Gentiles. I'll give you the nations. It's
all yours. And that's us. I don't know about
you, but I don't think I have any significant Jewish background
in me. Right there in Isaiah, God says
to our Lord Jesus, is the nation Israel too small for you? I'll
give you all the nations. And they are all His. He rules
them. And He has a people from every
kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation. And we here who believe are in
that group. Blessed be Jehovah, God of Israel.