Including me. And if I live another 10 to 15
years, I won't be taller than Frank. I'm shrinking every day. I believe God's given me a message,
a very special message for this congregation. So very special
to me. We've got a long, long history
together. And I thank God for you, and
pray for you, and thank God for his blessings upon you in this
day that he's given you, and your pastor and his leadership.
When I left here the last time, I went home and told Shelby,
and told our congregation, all the churches I visited on that
meeting, Church of the Cottageville, this is sitting there, folks
in KD, all of them doing better than they're ever going to do.
That's fantastic. That's fantastic. It's outstanding.
And Marvin is going to listen to his son sing. I said to him
last night, how good is our God? Saved you by his grace, called
you to preach the gospel, saved all your children, put your son
in the ministry. And he'd sit and listen to it.
Oh, how good, how good. Turn with me, if you will, to
the gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 42. My text will
be verses 18 through 21. And I have a title that I'm certain
will sound a bit strange to you. It's intended to. I want to preach
to you today about a blind and deaf savior. A blind and deaf
savior. Thank God he is blind and he
is deaf. Isaiah chapter 42. I pray that
before you leave here today, you will know him of whom the
prophet here speaks. This entire chapter is all about
our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's begin in verse one, and
I'll be working my way down to our text in verses 18 through
21. Isaiah 42, verse one. The Lord God speaks by his prophet
and says, behold, my servant, Jesus Christ is God's servant. Jehovah's servant, the servant
of the triune God, the God-man, our Savior, came here willingly
to do the will of God as a slave to his master voluntarily. He came as Jehovah's servant
to perform that which was God's will, God's purpose, and God's
commission to him. My servant whom I uphold. Those words will bear a lot of
meditation. He who is God is so really man. He came here, brother Paul, in
our flesh, a real man, needing, requiring, and receiving help. whom I uphold, whom I uphold. Read on. Mine elect, Christ be
my first elect, he said, then chose us in Christ our head. Mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. God delights in him. This is
my well-beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Read on. I put
my spirit upon him. God poured out his spirit on
him above measure. He shall bring forth judgment,
a righteous verdict. He shall bring forth a righteous
verdict to the Gentiles, to his elect, scattered among the four
corners of the earth. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. You're not going
to hear him complaining, griping, or moaning. He goes about his
labor doing what his father sent him to do with determination.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not
quench. Longer said me. Nothing much
more useless than a bruised reed are more persistently annoying
than a smoking flax. that well-described sinners may
to know their need of God's grace. And be assured, he'll never break
the bruised reed. He'll never quench the smoking
flask. Read on. He shall bring forth
judgment to truth. This right verdict of grace and
mercy, this right verdict of righteousness given to people
throughout the world through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, sinners
like you and me, he will bring this right verdict to truth so
that folks will be made to understand that he who is our God is a just
God and the Savior. Now watch these next words. Oh,
I would underscore these four or five times, highlight them,
put a star beside them. He shall not fail. Amen. He shall not fail. Whatever he put his hand to in
the covenant of grace is our surety. Whatever it is he swore
himself to do, whatever it is he pledged himself to do, whatever
it is he came here to do, he shall not fail. He is never a failure, never
a failure and never can be, nor be discouraged. What a remarkable statement. as Jehovah's servant, David,
doing God's work. A real man just like you, upheld
by God's own right hand. Going through all the same struggles
you go through day by day, and indescribably more, he was never
discouraged. How come? He lived by faith perfectly. He believed God. Oh, what an
example for us. He'll not fail nor be discouraged
till he has set judgment, righteousness in the earth. and the isle shall
wait for his law. He came here to bring in everlasting
righteousness and nothing gonna stop him. He's gonna do it. And
he has a people scattered through all the four corners of the earth,
referred to persistently in the Old Testament as the islands
of the sea, Gentile nations, people of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. Verse five, thus saith God the
Lord, He that created the heavens and stretched them out. He that spread forth the earth. You young people in high school,
college, I suppose, way down early in high school, down in
kindergarten, now they got papers that would suggest the foolishness
of evolution. And if you walk out here and
look at these hills and believe in evolution, you're a fool.
That's just, that's just absurd. That's just absurd. If you, if
you can walk out that door and think about how you did it and
believe in evolution, you absolutely lost your mind in unbelief. Our
God created the heavens and the earth. He stretched them out
and he spread out the earth. Just like a, with greater ease,
Then my wife makes the bed. She'll shake the sheets and spread
them down there and it's done. God spread out the earth. Now
watch this. And that which cometh out of it. Providence. Everything that comes to pass
in time. He does for his people. Brother
Mike brought out his message last night. Read the 12th chapter
of Revelation. Satan makes war against the man-child
and against the woman, the church of God. And he is threatening
to destroy us. Let me tell you what the earth
always does for God's church. This will help you, I promise
you. She swallows her up to protect her. There should no evil happen to
the just. Man, don't fret about Obama or Hillary or anybody else.
Don't worry about those folks. Don't worry about those folks.
Don't worry about what laws folks make. Don't worry about it. I'm
talking to me now. Don't be concerned about it,
Don. Quit scratching your head and biting your tongue to keep
from cussing. Quit it. Just quit it. How come? Because
hell itself, opposed with all its might, can only help God's
people. Nothing's going to oppose God's
church. Nothing gonna harm God's church. Read on. Our God is he
that spreads out that which comes out of the earth. He that giveth
breath unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk
therein. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness The triune Jehovah says to Christ the God-man, and
we'll hold thy hand and we'll keep thee, now watch this, and
give thee for a covenant of the people. Christ Jesus himself
is the covenant. God, having given us his son,
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in his son before the world began. Read on. I'll give you a covenant
for the people for a light to the Gentiles, to give light to
them that sat in darkness, to open the blind eyes, to bring
out the prisoners, prisoners from the prison. They are your
prisoners. You bring them out. And them
that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord. That's my name. That's the name
by which he spoke to Pharaoh or spoke to Moses and said, you
go tell Pharaoh and say, uh, God says, let my people go. And
Pharaoh said, who is it? Hang on. You're fixing to find
out. He says, I am the Lord. I am the Lord, the deliverer
of my own. That's my name and my glory. Will I not give to another? Neither
my praise to graven images. Look at verse nine, behold, The
former things are come to pass. That ought to give you confidence
with regard to the future. And new things do I declare before
they spring forth, I tell you of them. Therefore, we read verse
10, sing unto the Lord a new song. and his praise from the
end of the earth. And he says this to the whole
of his church scattered through all God's creation. Ye that go
down to the sea and all that is therein, the isles and the
inhabitants thereof, let the wilderness and the cities thereof
lift up their voice. The villages that Keter doth
inhabit, let the inhabitants of the rock see. the inhabitants
of the rock. He is our rock. We read in Deuteronomy chapter
32, their rock is not like our rock. But since our rock is different,
he who is the God of the whole earth, let the inhabitants of
the rock see. Let them see. We don't. Let them shout from the mount
tops of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the
Lord and declare his praise in the islands. How come? The Lord shall go forth. Goes
forth by the power of his spirit through the preaching of the
gospel. Oh God go forth today. Conquering and to conquer as
a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy. Stir up jealousy. Stir up jealousy. Cause there to be a stirring
among his foes that creates a zealous envy in his foes. He shall stir up jealousy like
a man of war. Folks, come to attack another
country. It's either because that country
has something they wish to possess or because they wish to destroy
the country. The Lord God comes in mighty
grace to sinners and stirs up in you who are his enemies. A zealous envy for his goodness,
grace, and mercy enjoyed by his people that causes you to grit
your teeth because you don't have it. causes you to be stirred
up in greater wrath against him. He does this like a man of war.
He shall cry, yea, roar. He will cry like men going to
war. I've often, in reading history
and being a Southern boy, just in case you didn't know, I've
often thought I would sure like to have been present just once.
and heard those rebels give that screaming cry when they would
assault their enemy. This is exactly what he's talking
about. Like men going to war, assaulting their enemy to terrify
them. He shall roar. He shall prevail
against his enemies. Now this is not talking about
sending folks to hell. He comes to prevail against you
in grace. to prevail over you in conquering
grace, he shall prevail against his enemies. Verse 14. He says,
I've long time holding my peace. I've been still and refrained
myself. Read the latter chapter, the
latter verses of this chapter 22 through 25 and you'll See,
we're talking about specifically to the nation of Israel, but
those things happen to them historically only to be examples of what he
does for us in grace and mercy. Long time, I've been quiet. Held my voice. With Paul Mahan,
read scriptures, all of you folks known him all his life. Paul,
you had just returned home when I met you, just weeks earlier
I did. all your life, as far as you
can tell, God just left you alone. Just lay the reins on his neck
and let him go where he wants to. Let him do what he wants
to. But I did this on purpose. I've
been still and refrained myself now. Now in the time of love
I come. And I'll cry like a travailing
woman. I will destroy and devour at
once everything you thought you were, everything you thought
you wanted, everything you thought you had. I will make waste mountains
and hills. I'll make your soul a wasteland
in a desert. I'll dry up all their herbs and
I will make rivers, islands, and I'll dry up pools so that
you are like a barren, empty wilderness. Nothing in you but
darkness and death and corruption. Verse 16. When I do that, when
I do that, I will bring the blind by a way they knew not. And I will lead them in paths
they have not known. Oh, I can attest to that. These past 49 years, oh, how
God has led me in paths I never dreamed of. Read on. I will make darkness light before
them. Those things that were so confusing,
when God comes in his grace, all of a sudden, the light comes
on. I'll make darkness light before them. And crooked things,
strange. Things that before God saved
Jesus seemed so out of kilter. Strange scenario. I don't see
why I didn't understand it before. And as you walk through this
world and he leads you in the direction he would have you to
go and orders your steps, he makes crooked things straight. So that you look at the hand
of his providence and you look ahead, you just can't see how
this is good. And you look back, so that worked
out all right. That's pretty good. He makes
crooked things straight and you understand his ways. Read on. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. And not forsake them. I'll be
faithful to them. I'll be faithful to them. I'll be faithful to them. I told
our folks at home recently, some time ago, I pulled out some notes
of a sermon I prepared when I was 19 years old for a preacher's
class in school. It was on the faithfulness of
God. And it was good. Man, it's a good sermon. I took
it right out of John Gilbert's Body of Divinity. Man, it's good. It's outstanding. But I didn't
know anything about God's faithfulness. I was just 19 years old. I wouldn't
change a word of the message. But I didn't know a thing about
God's faithfulness. It was just theory. I'll be 66 in a little while.
Let me tell you what I've discovered. God is faithful. He won't forsake
you ever, anywhere, at any time, for any reason. I'll not forsake
you. Read on. They shall be turned
back. They shall be greatly ashamed.
Thank God for making us blush with shame before him. Blush
for our sins as we confess them. They should be ashamed that trust
in graven images. You know what graven images are?
This is how I described throughout the whole book. The work of their
hands. The trust in the work of their
hands. You're here today without Christ.
You have been hearing the gospel of God's grace for weeks and
months and years, and yet you don't believe on the son of God.
I'll tell you why. You trust the works of your hands. You really still think somehow
or other you can, by your own hands, by your own goodness,
by your own merit, attract God's favor to yourself and save yourself. Oh, may God make you ashamed
today and show you your sin and make you to smell the stench
of your righteousness, which are but filthy rags. All right,
look at the 18th verse and hear God's call. The Lord God himself
calls blind sinners to look to him. He calls deaf sinners to
hear him. Hear ye deaf and look ye blind. Strange language, isn't it? Hear
ye deaf and look ye blind. He's describing the nature of
our race. We, by nature, since the sin
and fall of our father Adam, are deaf and blind. We cannot hear anything in a
spiritual sense. Your pastor preaches to you.
You come here by the frank preach and he preaches to you and you
hear these men teaching, the little ones you hear those teachers
teaching you, you can't hear. You can't hear. Oh, you can write,
recite things and write them down and that's good. That's
good. I encourage teaching children to memorize scripture and teach
them doctrine, teach them truth, put those facts in their heads,
but they can't. They can't hear it. They can't
hear it. They can't hear it. They say, well, they won't hear
it. That's right. They won't and they can't. And they can't and they
won't. That's exactly right. Until God comes by His grace
and all of a sudden you hear it. What happened? I can't explain
it, but I understand what you're saying now. I understand. I understand. And you can't see. You can't see. You're blind. You can't see your sin. You can't
see the corruption of your nature. You can't see your depravity.
You can't see the evil of your heart. You can't see Christ.
You can't see the glory of God. You can't see the work of our
Redeemer. You can't see his accomplishments. You can't see God's salvation.
Except you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God,
let alone enter into it. And then one day, you see. You see. I know that sinners must come
to Christ. You must believe on the Son of
God. You must look to Christ. And
I know that somewhere in there, that involves an act of the will,
that involves a choice, that involves a determination, somewhere
in there, somewhere in there. But I'll tell you what I've discovered.
More often than not, if you listen to people, and don't try to put
words in their mouth, if you just listen to them, more often
than not, God's people will come to you and say, I really don't
know when this happened. I don't know exactly how to explain
this, but I want to confess Christ because I believe Him. I trust
Him. You just find yourself irresistibly
drawn to You find yourself by some irresistible charm of grace,
by some irresistible arm of omnipotence, believing on the Son of God. You hear it. You see it. How come? You've been born again.
You've been born again. And all the persuasion in the
world until God gives you life. so that you have hearing ears
and seeing eyes, all the persuasion in the world won't make one iota
of difference. You're still deaf and you're
still blind. And the natural man, the natural
man, I'll just throw this in because it needs throwing in,
the natural man, you who don't know God and the neighbor across
the street and your mother upstairs in the living room and your daddy
downstairs in the den, and your brother in his room and your
sister in her room, the natural man, I'm talking about lost folks,
don't know anything spiritual. And they don't know anything
about anything spiritual. So that if you walk across the
corner over yonder, my GPS on my car, the last one I had took
me down yonder instead of a ride at Herrick and Rowe Grace Church,
it's just right there at the stop sign. said that house on the left is Harrington
Road Grace Church. I don't have any idea who lives
there, but if there's not somebody sitting in here, go over there
and ask them about righteousness. Go over there and ask them about
salvation. Go over there and ask them about
grace. Go over there and ask them about God. Go over there
and ask them about salvation in Christ. Go out there and ask
them what Christ did and why he did it. Go ask them where
he is and what he's doing. And you'll wonder where he got
that. Right? Whenever he goes to church,
he didn't have to go anywhere to church to learn all that ignorance.
It's just part of him. It's just part of him. The natural
man, whatever he thinks about anything spiritual and righteous
and godly is dead wrong. So don't expect anything more
from him. And yet the Lord God calls for you to hear his voice. And he calls you to look on him. He says, I've called. I've stretched
out my hands all the day long. And you've refused. So I'll pour
out my wrath on you because you hated knowledge and you didn't
choose the fear of the Lord. You'll go to hell because you
choose not to believe. And yet he says, whoso hearkeneth
unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear
of evil. Come unto me. Oh may God now call you to see
Christ and hear his voice. He says come unto me. All ye
that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you Come lay your head on my bosom
and be at peace. Come lay your head in my lap
and be at rest. I will give you rest and you'll
be quiet from the fear of evil. That's God's call. Now look at
verse 19. Now remember this whole chapter
is all about our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at these words. The Lord
God is describing his son, the God-man, his servant, our savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, his messenger by the lips of his prophet Isaiah.
Who is blind but my servant? Or who is deaf as my messenger
that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect? and blind as the Lord's servant. Now in the last month, I have
read everything I can get my hands on, on this 19th verse. And you know, almost everybody
tells you that this is talking about somebody other than Christ. And as you read the context,
I try not to publicly argue with Dr. Gill. I argue with him a
lot in private, but I try not to ever do so in public. But
if you read the context, I'd go back and I'd read Gill's commentary
again. I'd say, where'd you get that?
That's just not what we're talking about. This is talking about
Christ. This is talking about our redeemment.
To say otherwise is to take the passage and rip it out of the
context altogether. And the Lord God says he's blind
in death. Is he blind who is our light
and our salvation? Is he blind who directs our path
and guides us in our way? Is he blind of whom it is written
in him dwelleth no darkness at all? Is he blind of whom it is
said thou God seest me? Is he blind that one that Zacharias
saw as the stone with seven eyes? Is he blind? Is he deaf who has
promised it shall come to pass that before they call I will
answer and while they're yet speaking I will hear? Is he deaf
To whom all flesh shall come. That one who bids us come to
the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. He is indeed. Thank God he is. Let me show you how. Number one. Who is blind but my servant?
While he walked on this earth, our dear savior was blind. blind to everything that stood
in his way in the accomplishment of God's will as Jehovah's servant. Blind. In 1801, Great Britain
was at war with the Danes and the Battle of Copenhagen was
a crucial battle. One of the admirals, Hyde Parker,
had given an order If they saw a signal to retreat, all of his
officers were to bring their troops back and retreat. And
one of Horatio Nelson's men saw a signal. He was vice-admiral,
and he said to the vice-admiral Horatio Nelson, he said, I think
Parker has signaled retreat. And Nelson was blind in one eye,
so he picked up the telescope and put it on his blind eye.
And he said, I can't see any signal. And won one of the most decisive
battles in English history at great, great cost of determination. In that same way, our Lord Jesus
Christ, Jehovah's servant, was blind, willfully, deliberately
blind to the obstacles that lay before him. The allurements of
Satan and the wilderness of temptation. We read those temptations. I do, I do. I have never yet
been able to read those temptations and understand how powerful,
Brother Gabe, they must have been. I've never yet entered
into that. They seem so simple to me. And
yet they were allurements that any natural man craves. Things for which men labor and
work and fight wars. And our Lord blind to them. He
was blind to the influence of cherished family and friends
who only wanted his good. You remember the disciples said,
Lord, don't go up to Jerusalem now. They've sought to kill you
there. And he said, we're going up to
Jerusalem. And Thomas said, let's go with
him that we may die with him. His friends tried to influence
him to do what they thought was best for him. And he was blind
to it. Last night, about 1 o'clock,
Shelby kept pressing me. She says, Honey, how long have
you got to work? How long are you going to be
up? I said, Sugar, when I get done. And I said, Honey, please
don't stay up too late. And she wasn't nagging me. She
worries herself to death about my health. And I've just got to turn a deaf
ear to it and be blind to it. How come? I'm God's servant.
I've got something to do for God's glory, for his people.
Our Lord Jesus was blind to the justice that must be satisfied.
He was blind to his own will as a man. I don't make any effort
to try to separate or distinguish our Lord's humanity from his
divinity. I know that his humanity and divinity are permanently,
forever joined together, but somehow in the Garden of Gethsemane,
as he anticipated what he must suffer for us, he said, with
broken heart, with broken heart, he said, nevertheless, not my
will, thy will be done. and he was deaf. Deaf as my messenger
that I sent, the messenger of the covenant, the word of God,
the revelation of God, the unveiling of God, the one who comes, the
sent one of God and brings grace to us, the interpreter, one among
a thousand to show a man his uprightness. As God's messenger,
our Lord Jesus was deaf. Father went about doing his father's
will, accomplishing our salvation. Death to Satan's temptations.
Death to the slanders of men. Death to the praises of men.
Death to the accusations of his accusers. Death to the taunts
and jeers of those who saw him and laughed at him and mocked
him as he hung upon the cursed tree. But there's more than I've
begun to get there yet. Infinitely more. Infinitely more. Our dear Savior, Bless His Holy
Name is still blind and deaf. Who is blind as he that is perfect? And blind as the Lord's servant?
If I read that right, and I know I do, that's talking about Christ
in His glory. having become perfect by the
obedience unto death as our substitute, as the captain of our salvation
and the author of eternal salvation. Who is blind as he that is perfect
and blind as the Lord's servant. Perfect God, perfect man, perfect
sacrifice, perfect prophet, perfect priest, perfect king, perfect
advocate for us in heaven. He who is our perfect Savior
is blind to the sins of his people. Blind to the sins of his people. Turn to Numbers chapter 21. Hold your heads here in Isaiah. Come right back and turn to Numbers
21. In verse 20 of Isaiah 42, this
is what it says, seeing many things, this one who's blind,
seeing many things, but thou observest not. Opening the ears. He's the one who causes folks
to hear, but heareth not. Heareth not. Our savior is blind
to our sins. Now look at numbers. I see 21,
numbers 23, verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel." How can that be? How can that
be? Because Christ's Jehovah's Servant
was manifested to take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. And we're in Him. We're in Him. In Him. And God's delighted with
Him. God's delighted with Him. Oh,
you say, well, Brother Don, that's the way God sees things. It is,
isn't it? It is, isn't it? Now this is going to be a shocker
to folks, not to you good folks here, but other people. It'll
be a shocker to them. The way God sees things, that's
the way they really are. The way God sees things, that's
the way they really are. God says there's no sin in Jonathan
Tate in Christ. You know what that means? You
have no sin. Because he who was made sin for
us suffered all the fury of God's holy wrath and justice and put
away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. Look at the last
verse of our text, verse 21. Verse 21. How can this be? Our Lord sees. He's aware of our sins. He sees
them. He knows about them. He knows
about them. But he doesn't observe them because they're not in the
book. Jeremiah 50, verse 20, he'll look for them. Okay, here's
the book. It'll be judged out of the books.
As a Donald Stewart, There you go. Let's see. I can't find anything here except
perfection and righteousness. Goodness. That's God's Word. Read Jeremiah 50 verse 20. God
said, I'm looking for sin. I can't find any. I'm looking
for iniquity. I can't find it. How can that
be? Cause they're G-O-N-E. Gone. Gone. Cashed behind his back. Buried
in the depth of the sea. Gone. Gone. And he's deaf. He doesn't doesn't hear my grumbling and
griping. You don't hear it. I keep my
mouth shut in front of you. But all is private in my deep
recesses of my mind and heart. He doesn't hear the blasphemy
that arises in my mind. He doesn't hear the filth that
goes on in my heart. He doesn't, he's dead. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord, can you, can you finish? Will not impute sin. How can that be? Look at verse
41. The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. The
Lord is well pleased because he will. Isn't this amazing? You read Isaiah particularly,
you read the prophets, right in the same verse, it speaks
of what's going to happen. And it speaks of what's already,
what already is. He says the Lord, he doesn't,
He doesn't behold. He's blind. He's deaf. That's
present tense. That's present tense. And now
he says, because the Lord is well pleased with his righteousness,
for his righteousness sake, because, because he will, by his obedience
unto death, as the Lord our righteousness, living in perfection, as the
God-man our mediator, as our substitute, he will, magnify
the law and make it honorable. So God is well pleased with me for his righteousness sake. Oh, may God be pleased now to
make you hear his call. Here ye live. Behold ye blind, my servant. Behold him. And go home today
rejoicing to know Christ the Redeemer in whom you live and
move and have your being as one with him. The constant, never varying delight of God. You! Lionel Davis, you! You! Not because you're so good. Not because you're so noble.
The cause of Christ's righteousness. which God says is your righteousness. God's well pleased with you.
All the time. All the time. Believe on the
Son of God and go home with God's smile upon your soul. Amen.