Pray for me as I attempt to honor
our Savior. Turn with me please to the book
of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah 42. We'll read the first seven verses of
Isaiah 42. Behold My servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in 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 reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he
not quench. he shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged,
till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall
wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord, he that
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. I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness. I will hold thine hand, and will
keep thee. And this is speaking of Christ. 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 this chapter begins
with the three words, Behold My Servant. That's the title
of this message, Behold My Servant. And this is spoken by none other
than God the Father Himself. He instructs the reader to stop
what you're doing and gaze upon this one. And this same word
was spoken by John the Baptist when he saw Christ coming to
him. He said, Behold the Lamb of God. Why should we behold Him? What's
so special about Him? That taketh away the sin of the
world. This word, behold, is also used
in Isaiah 7.14, speaking of the birth of Christ, God's only begotten
Son, where we read, Therefore the Lord Himself, this is not
one of His prophets, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign,
And this sign will be spectacular, something that has never happened
before or since. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. And one more
time in Isaiah, it says, Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. Prudently, this word that we
read here means in a wise, judicious, discreet, or careful manner. The dealings of Christ with both
the Father, the Holy Ghost, and His people are never done in
a haphazard manner. Everything our Lord does, He
does in a precise, planned manner. And He's able to do that unlike
us. We make our plans and they fall
through more times than not, But our Lord is in control of
all things, therefore, everything He has ever planned goes off
without a hitch." Now this word, behold, is found 1,275 times
in our King James Bible. And many of those times when
it's spoken by God the Father or the prophets, it's to alert
us that they're about to announce something spectacular, something
miraculous, such as those verses that we just read. Now we find
this verse of Isaiah 42.1, also quoted in Matthew 12.18, where
it reads slightly different, but it says much the same thing.
Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my
soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him,
and he shall show forth judgment to the Gentiles. God the Father
says, here behold my servant, speaking of Christ. And some
would question and say, how can Christ be called a servant when
the Scriptures clearly teach us that He is equal to the other
two beings of the Godhead, the Father and the Holy Spirit? But
this is speaking of the time that Christ was a flesh and blood
man here on earth. Now, God has had many servants
throughout the ages, but there's never been one like this servant.
There's never been another servant whom God proclaimed, Behold,
this man. Behold, this servant. This servant
accomplished what no other servant could. He brought forth salvation
to his people. He's a servant like no other.
When Christ is called a servant of God, it's speaking, of course,
of his finished work for his people. Turn with me over to
Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. Paul is teaching us how we ought
to prefer others over ourselves and strive to be more like the
Savior. We'll read the first eight verses.
Philippians chapter 2. any consolation in Christ, if
any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. 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,
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. And being found
in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. It says here that He took
on Him the form of a servant. Now, a servant does as he is
instructed by his Master. He is obedient. And so it was
with our Savior. He took on Him the form of a
servant and became obedient like no other servant that we ever
read of. He became obedient unto death. This is the ultimate display
of obedience. The servant unquestionably fulfilling
the will of his master. And as a reward of this unquestioning
obedience, God has now given him a name that is above every
name. that at the name of Jesus, we're
told, every knee should bow and every tongue shall confess. And
what is it that will be confessed? That Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Christ one day became a servant,
but now He is highly exalted, sitting in royal dominion on
the throne of God, ruling all things and upholding all things. And back in our text, in Isaiah
42. It's next said of this servant
of God, whom I uphold, speaking of God the Father, referring
to Christ the Son. Now one of the meanings of uphold
is to elevate, to lift up, to exalt, which is what God our
Father did, as we just read, giving Him a name which is above
every name. But it also means to render aid
to, to support. And this was done by God the
Father when Christ was sweating great drops of blood in agony
in the garden. In Luke 22, speaking of Christ,
we read these words, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this
cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
Thine be done. And there appeared unto Him an
angel from heaven, strengthening Him. An angel was sent by God
the Father to uphold this servant spoken of in this first verse
of Isaiah 42. Then in verse 1 of this same
text, Christ is called by God the Father, mine elect. Now as
we know from numerous scriptures, the elect means chosen. And Christ was a chosen, or appointed,
or preferred above all others. for this task that the Father
gave Him, because no other could accomplish this task. And He
did it with exceeding joy. Therefore, God is highly exalted
in Him. Then in our text, the Father
makes a proclamation about this elect one, in whom my soul delighteth. Now for untold ages, we know
that Christ the Son enjoyed unbroken bliss and fellowship with the
Father and the Spirit. God puts this in language that
we can understand as humans. He said that His soul delights
in His Son. The soul is often referred to
in Scriptures as the innermost being of a man, his heart. And God the Father's heart dearly
loves His Son. He told us so in Matthew 3.17,
it says, And lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." This is only one of a couple
of times that God audibly spoke from heaven. Another time was
during the transfiguration when He told the disciples, This is
my beloved Son, hear ye Him. Now next in verse 1 of our text,
we read, I have put my Spirit upon Him. In Isaiah 61, we find
the Savior making the proclamation in verse 1, "...the Spirit of
the Lord is upon Me." And we know for a fact that this is
speaking of Christ because of what we read in the book of Luke.
In Luke chapter 4, Christ going to the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and reading from this text, and then declaring, this day
is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. The Spirit of God
was given to Christ without measure. There's no limit to the amount
of the Spirit that is to be found in this man, Christ Jesus. As
I was researching this message, I ran across an article by a
Pentecostal preacher, and he made this statement. He said,
the Holy Spirit without measure is available to you too. No,
it's not. Not like it was for Christ. No
other man that we read of, no prophet anywhere in the Scriptures,
is spoken of as having the Spirit without measure. This statement
is true of only one man, the God-man. And John the Baptist
said in the book of John that he saw the Spirit descending
upon Christ and remaining upon Him. The Spirit of God did not
just come down one time and visit Christ, it remained upon Him.
And in the last eight words of this verse 1, Isaiah 42, it tells
us, He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Now, previous
to Christ coming to earth, God consistently showed His hatred
toward Gentile nations. That's us. God routinely allowed
Israel to slaughter thousands of these Gentiles. And sometimes
He used these nations to discipline His children. to bring them into
bondage for a period. But there are some hints given
in the Old Testament that one day the God of all grace was
going to be merciful to these very Gentiles. One such instance
is found in the sixth verse of this chapter 42 that we read.
Speaking of Christ, He said, 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. And we'll look at that verse
shortly a little more in depth. Simeon, we read, when the parents
of our Lord brought him into the temple, he took up the child
Jesus and spoke of this very thing of God being merciful to
the Gentiles. And that must have been astounding
to Mary and Joseph. Because He said, Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine
eyes have seen thy salvation, which I was prepared before the
face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory of thy people Israel. So in verse 1 of our text, we're
introduced to God's servant, Jesus Christ. And in verse 2,
we begin to be told of His character. and of his work. It says, he
shall not cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in
the street. Now when this verse is quoted
in Matthew 12, 19, it reads slightly differently. It says, he shall
not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the
streets. He will not be as the Pharisees
who stood on the corner and prayed loudly for all to see, thinking
that they would be heard for their much speaking. He didn't
sound a trumpet when he healed the sick, the blind, the lame,
and raised the dead. Many of his miracles were done
in silence and in secret. Matthew tells us he will not
strive. He's not going to argue or debate.
He's going to simply state the facts and let the chips fall
where they may. And that's a good way for us
to deal with our enemies. And even when he was standing
in Pilate's judgment hall, he chose not to strive, but rather
he simply told Pilate the truth. For this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Next, in verse
3 of our text, it says, A bruised reed shall he not break, and
smoking flax shall he not quench. Now, I did a lot of reading on
this because these verses are somewhat confusing, or they were
to me. But one writer that I wrote,
he spoke of this and he said, The tenderness of Christ to weak
and ignorant persons is here and in the next clause expressed,
by whom young converts or weak believers seem to be designed,
who are compared to a reed, because they are worthless with respect
to God, whom they cannot profit, and in their view of men who
reckon them as nothing, and in themselves, in their own view,
who judge themselves unworthy of the least mercies, because
they are weak in grace, and especially weak in faith, and have little
hope, but their love is the strongest, and because they are wavering
like a reed tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine,
and shaken with the temptations of Satan and disturbed with many
doubts and fears, like a bruised reed that is squeezed and almost
broken to pieces, so of no use. They're under a sense of sin
and worthlessness, whose spirits are bruised and wounded, and
whose hearts are contrite because of it. These young believers
weaken the faith who Christ promised to not bruise or break, but would
uphold. Further, this verse reads, "...and
the smoking flax shall he not quench." This is in reference
to the lamps of old, the clay lamps that used to be filled
with oil, And as a wick, they used woven flax. And sometimes, as those lamps
began to run out of oil and waver, they began to smoke. There was very little indication
that there was a flame there. And yet, as they say, if there's
smoke, there's fire. And this is picturing a young
believer who had very little faith, but that smoke indicates
that there is some faith there. And our tender Lord promises
not to extinguish that small amount of faith, but rather,
breathe the breath of life on it until it springs into a larger
flame, a stronger faith. This is how our Lord tenderly
deals with newborn babes in the faith. Now in verse 3, the last
line says, He shall bring forth judgment unto truth, or as it
reads in Matthew 12, 20, till He send forth judgment unto victory. And this is a promise that in
the end, our Lord will indeed prevail. That the Son will indeed
be exalted and revered by every man everywhere. For many, sadly,
that will happen in the day of judgment, when their knee will
be made to bow to the Lordship of Christ. But thanks be to God,
there's many, many of us sitting here, for which that has already
taken place, In Chronicles, it describes the
victory of the Savior. It says, Thine, O Lord, is the
greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and
the majesty, for all that is in heaven and in the earth is
Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted
as head above all. The psalm says, O sing unto the
Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right
hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. And Isaiah tells
us that He will swallow up death in victory. And Paul in his writings
to the Corinthians used this word three times. He said, death
is swallowed up in victory. And then he asked the question,
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? And then he says, but thanks
be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ, this servant spoken of in verse 1 of chapter 42 here
in Isaiah. And one more word of encouragement
that we find in 1 John 5 verse 4. It says, for whosoever is
born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Now verse 4 of our text. It says, He shall not fail nor
be discouraged. Our Lord knows how all this is
going to end, where He told us in the book of Revelation how
it's going to end. Therefore, He will not be downcast. As Moses
told the children of Israel, he said, Be strong and of good
courage, fear not, be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God,
He it is that goeth before thee. He will not fail nor forsake
thee. Further, verse 4 reads, he shall
not fail or be discouraged till he hath set judgment in the earth,
and the isles shall wait for his law. Till he set judgment
in the earth. This is what our Lord accomplished
with his death on Golgotha. He tells us as much in John 12,
31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying
what death he should die. And lastly, in verse 4, we read,
"...in the isles shall we wait for his law." This is referring
to those remote places, those little tiny places out in the
Atlantic, the Pacific, all over the world, those remote places
that no one seems to even know exist except maybe the people
that live there. But God promises that there is
no place so remote that He cannot find one of His elect and send
the gospel to them. This is seen, we have helped
actually accomplish this as a body of believers by supporting Cliff
Heller and now Lance, and probably some of the most remote places
on the face of the earth, the jungles of New Guinea. But our
God sees to it that if He had one of His elect in even the
most remote of places, that He will get the gospel to them,
and that itself Then in verse 5 we read, Thus saith God the
Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out, he that
spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he hath
given breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that
walk therein. Here he declares his greatness
in creation, and His power to sustain all things. He didn't
just create this world and walk away and let things evolve. He rules all things and rules
all things well. And then verse 6 of our text,
it says, I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness. This is
speaking again of Christ, His servant. and will hold thine
hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light to the Gentiles." Christ did not take this office
upon himself, a savior and mediator. He was called by the Father to
do this work. This work that required his death
to redeem his people. Our Savior was like Abraham,
who is described in Hebrews 11. It says, By faith Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed, which is what a servant does,
and he went out. Now, as Abraham went into this
place, he later received for an inheritance. So Christ came
into this world, and God his Father gave him this world and
his elect people, especially in this world, as an inheritance. And he received this inheritance
because he obeyed the Father. And that obedience of Christ
now benefits us, his people, the elect. Christ is called a
servant in the first chapter, or the first verse of this chapter,
and we know what a servant does as he is instructed, most times
willingly. So it was with our Savior when
He was called by the Father to do an appointed task. Turn with
me please to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. We'll read the first 10 verses
of this chapter. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for man in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, who
can have compassion on the ignorant and on him that are out of the
way, for that he himself is also compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought,
as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And pay attention to this person.
No man, no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is
called of God as was earned. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, but he that saith unto him, Thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. And he saith also another
place, Thar of the high priest forever, after the order of the
Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered
up prayers and supplication, with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death, was heard, and
that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him, called of God and high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek." Now we're reminded again that no man, including
Christ, takes the honor of being a high priest upon himself. No
man. Verse 4 tells us this. And I'm amazed every time I read
verses 7 and 8 of this chapter, who in the days of His flesh,
when He was walking on the earth, when He had offered up prayer
and supplication with strong crying and tears, what this is
referring to is when He said, Father, if it be possible, Let
this cup pass from me. Yet, not my will, but Thine,
be done." And he was heard, and had he feared. Though he were
a son, we're told in Hebrews, yet learned the obedience by
the things which he suffered. As a human, we need remember
that our Lord was as human as we are. He feared what He knew
He was about to suffer. the physical agony would turn
unimaginable. Crucifixion probably was the
cruelest, or at least among the cruelest of deaths that any man
or woman could die. So as a human, he feared that
pain, but more so, more so he feared this, being
made the very thing that is repulsive to our God, to be made sin. Not to be made a sinner, but
to be made sin. And on top of that, his soul
was about to be made an offering for the sins of his people. Thankfully, we will never know
what it is to suffer the wrath of God. But our Savior, in three
hours on that Roman tree, suffered an eternity's worth of the undiluted
wrath of a furious God in our place, unimaginable terror, unimaginable
suffering. Is it any wonder that He feared?
And the most incredible thing of all is that He didn't have
to do this. He did this willingly. He volunteered
for a mission that he knew would end in his death. Sometimes in
the military, they ask for volunteers. And sometimes those volunteers
know this will be a suicide mission. We're not coming back from this.
But sometimes they do. But Christ knew without a doubt that He would not be coming back
from this mission alive, that He would lay down His life, and
He would offer up His soul. This same God who is repulsed
by the stench of our so-called righteousness, who has made the
very thing that so repulses Him, who has made sin. Next, in verse 6, it says in
our text, back in Isaiah, verse 6, I will hold thine hand and keep
thee, which is what the Father did when he upheld him by sending
an angel to strengthen him that I've already mentioned. And it
says, and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light to
the Gentiles. This word covenant means a formal,
solemn, and binding agreement between two or more parties.
Hebrews talks much about the better covenant that Christ brought
in. But here in our text, in Isaiah, Christ is described as
the covenant. He is the binding agreement which
God hath made between Himself and His chosen people. He is
the mediator, the messenger, the ratifier of the covenant. But further, He is the covenant. We're told through Paul's writings
that all the promises, all the treasures, all the mysteries,
all the blessings of God are hidden in Christ. And He brought
in that better covenant by offering Himself once in order to give
His children and people all the benefits that are to be found
in Him. Then in the last line of verse
6, it tells us He is a light to lighten the Gentiles, which
we've already discussed. But verse 7 goes on to give us
more details as to how he is a light to the Gentiles. It says,
"...to open the blind eyes, eyes which had never seen light before,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and in the setting
darkness out of the prison house. This is an apt description of
the dungeons of old. Many were built underground,
therefore completely black, complete darkness, dampness, mold, mildew. And combined with unimaginable
filthy conditions, it made it hard sometimes to even draw breath.
And we were in such a condition spiritually before our God found
us. This is described in Matthew
4.16. It says, The people which sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. And David had confidence
in God's ability to enlighten his soul when he said, For thou
wilt light my candle. The Lord my God will enlighten
my darkness. This is a terrific picture when
it says, he will bring them out of darkness and the shadow of
death and break their bands asunder is what David tells us. A terrific
picture of a conqueror who takes a city after a battle and goes
into the dungeon and brings out those prisoners of war, his soldiers
that were held captive, breaks their bands asunder and brings
them into the daylight and into freedom. Paul described this
in his letter to the Colossians when he said, of our God, He
delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us
into the kingdom of His dear Son. This is why God bids us
in the first verse of this chapter, behold my servant. Many times when we see things
that are spectacular, things that are just breathtaking, we
use the expression, it was something to behold. I remember the first
time I saw the Rocky Mountains, I thought, these are something
to behold. But nothing we'll ever see in
this life can compare to this mighty servant of God. This is
why we're bidden, behold. my servant, all wisdom, all sanctification,
all glory, all righteousness, all power, all resurrection,
all goodness, All love, all longsuffering, all forbearance, all grace, all
mercy, all of the unsearchable riches of God are found in this
person of Christ. And if there's any hope to be
found, certainly it is to be found here in this mighty servant
of God, the one we're commanded to behold. Like those children
of Israel that were bitten by the fiery serpents, They were
commanded to look upon that brass serpent that Moses had created,
and to live. This is the instruction given
in Isaiah 42 or 45. It says, look unto Me, behold
Me, He says, look unto Me, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else. Several other verses in that
same chapter declare the exclusivity of God as the only one capable
of redeeming lost men and women. And in case the reader doesn't
understand, we read one more time in Isaiah, it says, Remember
the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else.
I am God and there is none like me. What makes you so different,
Lord? This, declaring the end from
the beginning and from ancient times the things which are not
yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure. There's no other being in this
universe that can make that declaration. None. No matter how much so-called
power they think they have. He says, I am the Lord, mighty
to save. Now, hopeless sinner, this is
your hope. If there's any hope to be found,
and there is, it's to be found in this servant. It's to be found in the fact
that our God doesn't just delight to show mercy. We sometimes would
like to show compassion and help to those that we love, but we're
not able. We're helpless to help them.
But our God is not so. He not only has the will to redeem
sinners, He has the ability, thanks to the work of this servant,
that we're told to behold. Our God gets no pleasure from
the death of the wicked. He tells us this in two verses
in Ezekiel. First, it says in Ezekiel 18,
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith
the Lord God, and not that they should return from their ways
and live? And then in Ezekiel 33, He says,
As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn
ye, turn ye from your evil ways. And then he asks, for why will
you die, O house of Israel? Why will you choose to perish
when help is so close at hand? Our God gets no closure, if you
will, no pleasure from condemning men and women to eternal death.
But being a just God and a Savior, He must punish sin whenever and
wherever it is found, even when sin is found on the ears of your
son. But know this, Law Center, He is just and right. If He chooses
to save you or if He chooses to leave you, that's His prerogative. You have no say in the matter.
Men and women would balk at that and say, yes, I do. I can decide
for the Lord. You can decide and make your
decision, but it means nothing when it comes to the righteousness
that is required. You need to be like that publican
and cry, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Paul told Timothy this is the
only hope. He says, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. So if you're able, I would implore
you this day to beg for mercy. And you won't be able to do that
from your heart unless God has begun a good work in you. And
believers, I would encourage you to behold this servant. Behold him through the reading
of God's Word. And behold him through sitting
under the preaching of the Gospel. This servant like no other servant.
Jimmy, come and lead us in a song.