I want to bring the message to
you this morning out of Isaiah 42, verses 1 through 4. The title
of the message is this, MY SERVANT SHALL NOT FAIL. Let me read the
first four verses to you as we get started. Now it starts out
with, Behold. That means give great attention
to this because something important is about to be said. And God
says, Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom
my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised wreath shall he not break, and a smoking flask shall
he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
that it is broken, till he hath set judgment in the earth, and
the isle shall wait for his law. Now the person speaking is God
the Father. The person spoken of is God the
Son, Jesus Christ. He is called God's Servant, God's
Elect, and it is said that He shall not fail. Now let's look
at this this morning. Christ is called the Servant.
It is written in Philippians 2 that He took upon Him the form
of a Servant. Jesus Christ came to serve. He
said in Matthew 20, I came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give my life a ransom for many. Now as God's
servant, he served God in righteousness. He is the only man who knew no
sin. Therefore, all his service was
done in righteousness. Everything he did was absolutely
perfect. Every thought, every word, every
action of Jesus Christ was absolute perfection. Now, as God's servant,
he kept God's law perfectly. He's the only man who's ever
lived on this earth that magnified the law and made it honorable. Adam broke the law. Adam dishonored
the law. And we have done the same. But
Jesus Christ kept God's law perfectly. This is so important because
this is the righteousness of his people. It's his perfect
obedience. And then he kept every jot and
tittle of that law. Not one part of it was omitted
by him. Now as God's servant, he perfectly
did God's will in all things. He said, not my will, but thine
be done. He said, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me. And then God the Father called
him, mine elect. The Father chose his son to be
his servant and to be the elect, the first elect. Election is
a Bible truth. It is a Bible doctrine. And it
starts with Jesus Christ, not Israel, not the church, but Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ is the first elect. Now what was he chosen for? What
did God the Father choose him for? First of all, he chose him
in the covenant of grace to be the head of the church. Jesus
Christ is the only head of the church. He chose him to be the
surety in the covenant for a multitude of sinners that God the Father
chose and gave to him before the world began. That's why he's
called the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
He stood as the surety in the covenant of grace, and he stands
as the surety in that covenant of grace. He's responsible to
bring all the children of God home. And he was chosen to be
the mediator. The Scripture says there's one
Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. We cannot
go to God as we are. We need one to stand between
us and God. We need one who can represent
us to God. And Jesus Christ is that one.
He is the only Mediator between God and men. And then He was
chosen to be the sin offering. In the Old Testament, for anyone
to come before God, there was three things necessary. There
had to be a sin offering, a high priest, and the blood. There had to be blood. And we
have all that in Jesus Christ. And then Jesus Christ was chosen
to be the prophet, priest, and king to the church. He's the
prophet. Moses said that God would raise
up a prophet like unto himself. Him shall you hear. Jesus Christ,
as a prophet, is the one who reveals the Father. He said,
no man knows the Father, say the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him. And he's the priest. He's the
high priest of the church. And then He's the King. He's
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Everything is put under
His authority. The Scripture says that He's
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need. I need nothing else other than
Jesus Christ. In Christ, I have all God demands. I have perfect righteousness.
I'm accepted in Christ. In Christ, I have it all. Now
in verse 4, it says, He shall not fail. He shall not fail. We have God's Word on it. that
Jesus Christ cannot, will not, shall not fail. He's no failure. Jesus Christ is no failure. He
came into this world to honor the law. Did He do it? Absolutely. He magnified the
law and He made it honorable. He came into this world to redeem
sinners. Did He redeem sinners? Absolutely. Everyone for whom He died which
is a number, a multitude of people, a number that no man can number.
They shall be saved. He lives, He died for them, and
He lives to see to it that they shall be saved. The Scripture
says He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. If anyone, if anyone perishes
for whom Christ died, then he failed. He failed. Now I want
to point something out here. Jesus Christ is God's servant.
Jesus Christ is God's elect. And Jesus Christ is God incarnate. Jesus Christ is God. When you
go back into the book of Genesis in chapter one, it says, in the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Well, that God
is Jesus Christ. And he came in the flesh. And
Jesus Christ being God cannot fail. If Jesus Christ failed,
if he fails to save all for whom he died, it would be God failing. God would have to deny himself. He would have, God himself would
have to fail. But He's no failure. Jesus Christ
is no failure. When He died on the cross to
redeem sinners, He redeemed sinners. He did not die to make salvation
a possibility. He did not die to make it just
an offer. Jesus Christ died on the cross
to make salvation an absolute. It's an absolute. Here's what
we must understand. Who is Jesus Christ? This is
so important. Who is Jesus Christ? What did
Jesus Christ do? Who did He do it for? And where
is He now? Well, I've already said to you
that Jesus Christ is God. It says in Matthew chapter 2,
Thou shalt call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted means
God with us. Now listen carefully. God the
Father did not send His Son into the world to work out a righteousness,
to suffer the penalty for sin, to die on a cross, to rise from
the grave and go back to glory, and then leave the final results
up to a people that are at enmity with Him. He's not going to leave
it to a people who by nature hate Him. No, no. Salvation, the Scripture says,
salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end. It's all of
God. That's why we say that salvation
is all of grace. It has to be all of grace. Because
there's nothing we can do. There's nothing that a sinner
can do to satisfy God. Because there's nothing we can
do that's perfect. And God said it must be perfect
to be accepted. And Jesus Christ is the only
one who did everything perfectly. And His perfect work is my righteousness. It's my righteousness. But now
I tell you, God's not going to leave the final result of salvation
into the hands of sinful men. God said here in Isaiah 42, He
said, I am the Lord, that's my name, and my glory will I not
give to another. God's glory is who He is, and
God's chief glory is His glory of redemption, the saving of
sinners. And He's not going to give that
to someone else. He's not going to turn that over
to us. Not a law. Now, on Calvary's tree, Jesus
Christ died for sins, and those sins belong to someone. And that
being so, the law is satisfied. The law cannot and will not condemn
for the same sin twice. If Christ died for my sins, then
God's law is satisfied toward me. God's law can't condemn me. There is therefore now, it says
in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who
are in Christ Jesus. How did I get into Christ Jesus?
Here's how I got into Christ Jesus. The Lord God, God the
Father, chose me before the foundation of the world, gave me to His
Son, put me in Jesus Christ. It says in Ephesians chapter
1, that we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the
world. He became my surety, my representative. He became my
all in all. And therefore, therefore, it
says in Ephesians chapter one, he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Now, now as I'm already touching
on this, for whom did he die? Sinners, ungodly. Does that mean everyone? No,
no it does not. It's hard to find a sinner, according
to the Scriptures. According to the description
that the Word of God gives of a sinner, it's hard to find one. Charles Spurgeon said, A sinner
is a sacred thing, for the Holy Spirit hath made him so. It takes
the power of God, the Holy Spirit, to bring a man to the place where
he cries, O wretched man that I am. It takes the power of the
Holy Spirit to make a man or woman cry, God be merciful to
me, the sinner. My friends, if God had not chosen
us, we would never have chosen Him. We love darkness rather
than light. That's what we love. That's what
we, as scripture says, we drink iniquity like water. But God,
God determined that he's going to have a people. And Jesus Christ
is going to redeem those people. And those people are sinners.
They're ungodly. They're lost. And Jesus Christ is going to
bring them home. He's going to bring the sheep home. Now where
is Jesus Christ now? Seated at God's right hand, making
intercession for transgressors. They're interceding for the very
ones He died for. He said in John 17, Father I
pray not for the world, I pray for them Thou hast given me.
He said in another place there in John 17, that Father Thou
hast given, speaking of Himself, Thou hast given me power over
all flesh. that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me." Now, where is Jesus Christ? He's on the throne. Right now,
Jesus Christ is seated on the throne, ruling and reigning over
everything in this world, authorities, principalities, and all powers
being made subject to Him. He's on the throne. And where
is He now? He's in the heart of everyone
who believes. Christ in you is the hope of glory. It's not just
believing some things about Christ, it's being possessed of Christ.
Now I want to close. Jesus Christ is no failure, and
because of that, this sinner can find real hope and real peace
before God. Alright, the Lord bless you.
Till next time.