Look with me in the Gospel of
Isaiah chapter 42. The book of Isaiah chapter 42. Back in the first chapter of
this great book, Isaiah begins by saying, Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth. That's how the book begins, and
I hope that God will give us ear to hear today what He has
to say, I know this, God speaks through
His Word. In Romans chapter 10, we read,
and so faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. God speaks through the book.
God has not remained silent. God has spoken. And if God has
spoken, Shall we not hear Him? Oh Lord, open up our ears. Open
up our understanding that we would listen to what You have
to say to us through this book. I want you to hear, I want me
to hear what the Lord has to say to us today. In the book
of Isaiah chapter 42, and in the first four verses, the Lord
speaks to His people. And in speaking to His people,
He speaks to us of the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. He tells us of His great work.
By way of instruction and by way of command, God points us
to His Son, He says first of all in chapter 42 and verse 1,
Behold my servant. This servant is the Son of God.
This servant is the one who is God, a very God, but who came
into the world to save God's people from their sins. Certainly as God, He is equal
with the Father, He is equal with the Son, or He is equal
with the Spirit in every way. But in His office as Mediator,
He came into the world to do the will of the Father. He is
the perfect servant of Jehovah. And God says to us, Behold My
servant. Look to Him, listen to Him, and
learn from Him. Behold Him with the eye of faith. Behold Him in the Scriptures.
Behold Him as the very Redeemer and Savior that you need. Behold
Him in your heart of hearts. He is the servant of God. He
came into the world to do the will of Him that sent Him, which
was to save His people from their sins. May God enable us to look
to Him. And then He says, Behold My servant
whom I uphold. And God did uphold him. In the days of our Lord's earthly
sojourn, He was upheld by the Father. The Father was with Him. The Father never forsook Him
until the Savior died at Calvary, bearing the sins of all of His
people. God didn't allow him to sink.
God upheld him by His mighty power. This expression, Behold,
also means, or this word, Uphold, also means the Father leans on
Him. The Father depends on Him. And we know this, our salvation
rests fully upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God has placed all
the responsibility for redeeming and saving and rescuing His people. He's laid it fully upon His Son,
this One who willingly became the Servant of Jehovah, even
the Lord Jesus Christ. And God leans on Him. All of
the weight of our salvation rests upon Him. It doesn't rest upon
you to any degree. The salvation of sinners is not
dependent upon sinners. It's dependent upon God's own
Son doing the work that God the Father assigned to Him to do
in the covenant of grace. God says, Behold My servant whom
I uphold, mine elect. God chose him. He says, "...in
whom my soul delighteth." This is my beloved son, God says,
in whom I am well pleased. He said, "...I have put my spirit
upon him, and his spirit without measure." He shall bring forth
judgment or justice or righteousness to the Gentiles. How did He bring
forth justice and judgment and righteousness to the Gentiles? Well, it was by coming into this
world. It was by living under the commandments
of the law. It was by dying under its condemnation,
having the sins of His people imputed to Him. He brought forth
justice and judgment and righteousness to the Gentiles in whose stead
He died. He satisfied justice for all
of His people. Then it says in the second verse,
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard
in the streets. He would be meek and lowly. He didn't come to judge the world. He didn't come to speak harshly
to the world. He came that the world of His
elect might be saved. He came to redeem. Oh, the second
time He will come in wrath. He will come in judgment. He
will come then to speak as that great judge upon His throne,
that great white throne judgment. But the first time He came, He
said He didn't come to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved. He came not to cry out, not to
lift up, not to cause His voice to be heard in the streets, but
rather He came to meekly and lowly observe perfect obedience
to God's law, doing what God sent him to do. In the third
verse it says, a bruised reed shall he not break, the smoking
flax shall he not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto
truth. Oh, how tender and loving our
Savior was, how full of compassion A bent reed is worth nothing. A smoking flax is useless. They're of no benefit to anyone.
That's us by nature. We're like Jacob who said to
the Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of your mercies. I'm just
a bent reed, Lord. You can't depend upon me. Nobody
can lean on me. I'm just a bent reed ready to
break. I'm like smoking flax. I don't
give off a bright, illuminating flame of fire. In fact, all I
do is smoke. And I'm sure that the smoke that
comes forth from this poor vessel is an offense to you, oh God. You know how smoke is an offense
to you when you're around the campfire or maybe you're grilling
out and the burgers have a lot of fat in them. They begin to
smoke and the wind blows it in your face. It's so offensive.
Well, that's the way our sins are to God. Oh God, this is the
way I am. I'm a bent reed. I'm smoking
flax. And yet, it is written of the
Savior, He won't break the bruised greed, and He won't quench the
smoking flax. Oh, how compassionate He is to
us, and how full of mercy our Lord Jesus is. And then He says
in verse 4, He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have
said judgment or justice and righteousness in the earth. And
the isles shall wait for his law, for his word. He will be
successful, he cannot fail, he will not fail, and he shall not
fail. You know that the Lord of Glory
cannot possibly be unsuccessful in that which He sets out to
do. He shall not fail. Whatever He goes about, whatever
work He goes about to do, He will finish it. Did not the Savior
Himself say on the cross, it is finished? Did He not say in
the Garden of Gethsemane in that high priestly prayer recorded
in John chapter 17? Did He not say to the Father,
I have finished the work Thou gavest me to do? He shall not
fail. He finished the job of redemption. He finished the job of salvation. He finished the job of reconciliation. He shall not fail. He shall not fail. And this expression,
He shall not fail, includes the idea He will never grow weak
and He'll never grow faint. He shall not fail for lack of
strength. He shall not fail in any way.
He is the mighty God. He doesn't grow weaker as the
years go by, as we do. He is the everlasting God. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art the Lord. And He never loses any strength. He's almighty. He's all powerful. After His resurrection, He said
to His disciples before He gave them the Great Commission, He
said, all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel. He will be, He must
be, He shall be, and He shall forevermore be the successful
Savior. He shall not fail. You see, this is good news for
us because we need an almighty Savior. We need a Savior who
can overcome every obstacle that stands in the way of our salvation. We need somebody who can deal
with our sins. Someone who can deal with Satan.
Someone who can deal with the world. And someone who can deal
with us. And this is the Almighty Savior,
and it is written of Him, God the Father speaks. And I'll tell
you, in this passage of Scripture, God the Father, He's the preacher. If ever there was a sermon you
ought to pay attention to, to give ear to, it's this sermon
because this is God the Father preaching and He's preaching
about, here's His subject, His Son. Let me hear what God says
about His Son. And God says, God the Father.
God the Father says of the Lord Jesus, He shall not fail nor
be disappointed. There shall never be a disappointed
Jesus. He's never disappointed. His
will always comes to pass. He's the Almighty One. It is
written in the Scriptures, whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He
in heaven, in the earth, in the seas, and in all deep places. The Savior was sent to redeem.
to rescue, to reconcile, to render righteous all of those given
to Him in the covenant of grace. And God the Father speaks with
His authority. And God says of His Son, He shall
not fail. So in these first four verses,
the Lord speaks to His church. He speaks to His people. But in the next few verses, verses
5 through 9, God speaks to His Son. This is God speaking to God. God allows us into His council
chambers. This is indeed holy ground. You
remember when the Lord spoke to Moses out of the bush that
burned but was not consumed? The voice said, take off your
shoes. You're standing on the holy ground. And in this passage
of scripture, God the Father speaks to God the Son. Oh, let
us humble ourselves before this Lord. as we're allowed to listen
to what the Father says to the Son. It's like that passage in
John chapter 17. That's the Lord's Prayer. And
we're enabled, we're blessed, we're privileged to enter in
then into the garden and listen as God the Son speaks to the
Father. In this passage of Scripture,
we are privileged to listen to God the Father speak to His Son. He addresses His co-equal and
co-eternal Son. This is God speaking to God. Notice what it says in verse
5. Thus saith God the Lord. And then He gives His qualifications. He speaks to us about Himself.
Why should we listen to this One who speaks? Why should He
have our attention? What right does God have to say
to us, listen up, behold, for this reason, verse 5, thus
saith God the Lord, for He is the One who 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 therein. There
is His qualification. I should give heed to this One
who speaks. You should give heed to this
One who speaks, because He is the One who created the heavens.
The great canopy of the earth, God spoke it into existence. The first heaven, the second
heaven, and the third heaven. The third heaven where God's
very throne is. The second heaven of the moon,
the stars, and the sun, and all of the planets. And the first
heaven, that which we can see all the clouds above us. This
is the one who created the heavens, who stretched them out merely
by the word of His power. He spread forth the earth. He
spake and it was done. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. He spread forth the earth and
that which comes out of it, the grass and all the plants and
all the trees. God brings those things forth
out of the earth and He's the one who gives breath unto the
people upon it. The breath that we have within
us, the liberal breath, the physical breath that we have this morning
as we breathe the air that God so generously and freely and
daily and consistently gives us that we have absolute need
of in order to continue to live. God gives it to us all the time,
all the breath that we need, the breath of life. God breathed
into Adam the breath of life. and man became a living soul.
Why should I listen to this God who speaks? Because He's the
one who gives me breath. He's the one who gives me life.
He brought me into the world. He gave me physical being. In
Him we live and move and have our being. Acts chapter 17, the
Apostle Paul said that. He gives breath unto everybody
who walks upon this earth, to the just and the unjust. When
men curse the name of God, when they blaspheme the name of God,
the very breath that they use to speak so hideously of our
God is the breath that God freely gives them. Why should I listen to this one? Because that breath that is so
vital for me to live, He gives it to me moment by moment through
my life. And He gives spiritual breath.
Spiritual breath. Even as He breathed into Adam
the breath of life and He became a living soul, you and I, we
died. We died in Adam's transgression. We became sinners, dead in trespasses
and sins. And through the proclamation
of the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, this Word
of the Gospel, this Word of God becomes the Word of life. It
becomes breath to us when God drives it into our hearts. It's
a breath of life. He gives us breath. If you breathe this spiritual
air of life and righteousness and salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ, you know in your soul God gave it to you. And our Bible
class this morning is about Ezekiel preaching to the dead, dry, bleached
bones Son of man, can these bones live? Oh, Lord God, thou knowest. If it's up to me, they won't
live. If it's up to my power, they won't live. If it's up to
them, they won't live. Oh, Lord God, thou knowest. And God said, you preach to them.
And Ezekiel, like every other preacher of the gospel, commenced
preaching the word of the Lord. And something started happening. They came together a mighty army,
but still there was no breath. No breath. And then God breathed
spiritual life. Life that doesn't die. into the
soul. Listen, if you've been quickened
by the Spirit of God, the evidence of which is you look to Jesus
Christ alone for all things pertaining to salvation. He'll be your only
hope. He'll be your only righteousness.
You'll look to His blood for the pardon of your sins and to
wash them all away. If you are indeed a true believer
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because God breathed
life into you. Oh, bless the name of God, He
breathed life into us. He didn't leave us in our death.
He didn't leave us in our spiritual sleepiness of death. But He came
through the gospel and He said, I say unto you, live. Oh, blessed
day when God says, live. And I tell you, when He says
to you, live, there's one thing that's going to happen. You're
going to live. You're going to come forth out of the grave.
Just like Lazarus there, he's been dead four days. The Lord
said, roll back the stone of Lazarus' tomb. Martha said, oh
Lord, he's been dead four days. He's already stinking. There's
already the smell of death upon Him. Roll the stone
away. What about the smell of death
upon us? Dead in trespasses and dead in
sins. The smell of death, the smell
of a body as it begins to decay is foul. But what must, what odor must
we give off in our spiritual deadness? No human tongue can express it. No one knows the foulness of
sin and iniquity and transgressions save our God himself. But the Lord said to Lazarus,
Lazarus, come forth. Now what do you think is going
to happen to Lazarus? The Lord didn't say to Lazarus,
Lazarus, if you'll exercise your will, you'll come right out of
there. You'll come to life. What could
Lazarus do? Bless his heart, he's dead. He
needs somebody to do for him. And that's our condition. We
need somebody to do for us. To do for us. He gives breath. The Lord gives breath. And then
notice here in the last statement of verse 5, "...and spirit to
them that walk therein." He gives spirit. He gives understanding.
That's what it is. He gives the ability to reason,
to think, to comprehend. He gives spirit to them that
walk therein. Why should I listen to what God
has to say about His Son? Well, because He's the one that
gave me the ability to listen. And I'm talking about listen
with these ears to the Word of God as it is proclaimed. And
He's the one who gave me a mind and intelligence and reasoning
ability to think about these things. Do you remember what
the Lord said to Israel back in chapter 1 in verse 18? He
said, Come now. Come now. Let us reason together,
saith the Lord. He gave you reasoning ability.
Oh Lord, stop us in our tracks and make us think now. Let us
comprehend. Let us begin to look seriously
into the things of the Lord. He gives Spirit to them that
walk therein. And if He doesn't give you Spirit,
if He doesn't give you understanding, if He doesn't give you a knowledge
of the truth of the Gospel, you'll never have it. He's got to give
it. And I know that God gives in
general an understanding and intelligence to everybody. He gives it in different degrees. There's no question about that.
But whatever intelligence we have, whatever comprehending
powers we have, God has to give them to us. We should listen
to Him because He's the one who gave us the ability to think
right now. and to some degree to understand
what's being said to you. God speaks. God speaks. And He speaks of His Son. And this is what He says concerning
His Son. Actually, what He says directly
to His Son. Look at verse 6. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness." He's not talking to Isaiah. He's talking to this
servant. This one who willingly became
Jehovah's servant. Though equal with God in every
way as I read from Philippians chapter 2 to begin the very service.
Yet he humbled himself to become obedient to the Father's will
of redemption. Now, He was voluntarily obedient,
but it wasn't a reluctant obedience. It was a willing obedience. And
this is what God the Father says. And I'm just going to read these
three verses, 6 and 7 and 8, and then go back to them. And
we'll go as far as we can this morning, which is not going to
be much further, but then we'll finish it up this evening. But listen to what the Lord says
to His Son. 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. Now by what authority does God
say this? By this authority, verse 8, I
am the Lord, That is my name. And why is God going to do all
of this? He says, My glory will I not
give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the
former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare.
Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. We know this passage
is a reference to our Lord Jesus. It's the Father speaking to our
blessed surety and Savior. And we know that from Matthew
chapter 12 verses 14 through 21. And you can read that at
your leisure. These words that the Father speaks
to His Son in Isaiah chapter 42, these words pertain to the
covenant of grace. That covenant that the God of
glory made with Himself in the three persons of the Godhead.
You'll notice, even as you will have noticed, I'm sure as I read
down through here, especially in verse 6, He says, I'll give
thee for a covenant of the people. That which God has in view is
that covenant that He made with His Son pertaining to the salvation
of a multitude which no man can number. This is about that covenant. And when we speak about the covenant
of grace, and you'll remember that in Hebrews chapter 13, the
blood of the Savior is said to be the blood of the everlasting
covenant. As we think about this covenant,
I want you to remember this, God always deals with men through
a covenant. He always deals with men, no
exceptions. He always deals with men through
a covenant. He deals with all men through
the covenant of works. He deals with His elect through
the covenant of grace. The covenant of works was the
first revealed. It was revealed back in Genesis,
the second chapter. It was a covenant conditioned
upon the obedience of Adam. The gist of this covenant was
this, God said to Adam, Basically, obey and live. Disobey and die. That's the gist of the covenant. And we know that Adam was a representative
man. In theological jargon, we call
him the federal head of the human race. When Adam stood before
God, we stood before God. He was the legal representative
of all the people who would ever live on the top side of God's
earth. And he entered into this covenant
with God, and when he disobeyed, he broke the covenant. Because
he was a covenant conditioned upon Adam's obedience. That is, the blessings of the
covenant, physical blessings, were dependent upon Adam being
obedient to God's stipulation not to eat of the fruit that
was forbidden. But when Adam fell, when Adam
ate of that forbidden fruit, not only did he die, but we all
died. There's that covenant of works. And to those who've been given
spiritual understanding and spiritual discernment, you want nothing
to do with that covenant. Because that covenant, the blessings
of it are conditioned upon man's obedience. And I ask you, you
reasonable people, you're well-taught people, you're instructed people,
You're intelligent people. Do you want God to deal with
you on the basis of what you do? Or what you don't do? Is that the way you want God
to deal with you? Do you really want God to reward
you for the things you have actually done yourself? I had a man told
me one time, he said, I just want what's coming to me. You don't even know what you're
saying. He said, I've lived a good life,
preacher. I just want what's coming to
me. And I said, well, the Bible says
there's none that doeth good, no, not one. And that which rightfully
men deserve, if you really want what's coming to you, it's got
to be everlasting destruction. That's not what I want. I don't
want God to look at me and say, now, your salvation, James Ferguson
Byrd, is dependent upon you. I say, Lord, I'll never be saved. There's no hope for me then.
There's no possibility of me ever standing accepted before
God if salvation, if my salvation to any degree whatsoever is conditioned
upon my obedience. It's an impossibility. And it's impossible with you
too. It just can't be that way. Because
we're polluted. And our very best righteousness,
Isaiah says in Isaiah 64 verse 6, is his filthy rags. Filthy
rags. That's the best you can do. He
didn't even describe the worst that we do. He described the
best. The best. Our righteousnesses. are as filthy rags. Here's this
covenant of works. Salvation conditioned upon the
obedience of man. That was the first covenant revealed. But back before that covenant
was made, in fact, before God ever created the heaven and the
earth, there's the everlasting covenant of grace. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Spirit. And really, that one who is the
sum and the substance of that covenant is Christ Himself. Because notice again, it says
there, the Father says in verse 6, and will give thee for a covenant
of the people. I'm giving you as the covenant. You see, He's not only the surety
of the covenant, and the ratifier of the covenant, and the messenger
of the covenant, and the spokesman of the covenant, and the mediator
of the covenant, and everything else about the covenant. He is
the covenant itself. It's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. As so many preachers have said
before me, God put all of His eggs in one basket. Christ Jesus
the Lord. If you've got Him, you've got
everything God can possibly ever give to us. And all of the blessings
of grace and glory are yours through Christ Himself. He's
the covenant. He's the covenant. And all of the blessings that
we enjoy, forgiveness, justification, made the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ, and someday glorification, All these blessings
that we were blessed with in heavenly places before the foundation
of the world, they're the blessings of the covenant. And they're
the blessings that come to us through Jesus Christ the Lord. Who is it that speaks here? It's
God who speaks. God who speaks. And let me give
you this and then I'll quit for this morning. We'll pick this
up again this evening. While it is the Lord Jehovah,
God the Father, who speaks to His Son, He is speaking with
reference or about His people. He is speaking to His Son about
His people. For notice what He says in verse
6. And let me get just a sip of
this not so hot tea now. He says, 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. For whom was this servant given
this commission? For God's people. For God's people. It's obvious that the Father
speaks to the Son regarding the salvation of a specific group
of individuals. And they're referred to as the
people. The people. Who are these? The people. Well, in Psalm 22 and also in
Isaiah 53, they're referred to as being His seed. He shall see
His seed. His generation. His offspring. They are referred to in John
chapter 10 verses 11, 15, 26 and several other verses through
there. They are said to be His sheep.
His sheep. In Ephesians chapter 5, they
are said to be His chosen bride. In John chapter 6 and verse 37,
there is said to be God's gift to him. All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I'll
let no wise cast out. In Ephesians chapter 1, there
is said to be that one is chosen in him before the world began. Who are these? The people. Well,
they're the ones He came to save. For it says in Matthew 1.21,
and we all can quote it, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for
He shall save His people, His people, from their sins. Who are these His people? There
are those who will be made willing to believe Him and rest in Him
and trust Him in the day of His power. Psalm 110 and verse 3. Who are His people? There are
those whom God the Father chose in Jesus Christ before the world
began. Those whom He has loved with
an everlasting love. Those that He predestinated unto
the adoption of sons from eternity by Jesus Christ Himself. Who
are these His people? They're those whom He brings
to believe Him and rest in Him through the quickening work of
the Holy Spirit of Grace. Who are these His people? They're
those who then give Him all the praise and all the glory and
all the thanksgiving for the salvation that He has accomplished
for them and in them. These are the people. these are
His people. His people. May God bless us
with the knowledge of Him. May God bless us with the ears
to hear the voice of the Lord as He speaks through His Word. Let's look at hymn number