My guilt and despair, Jesus took
on him there, and Calvary covers it all. How blessed, how blessed. Turn with me, if you will, to
Isaiah chapter 42 tonight. Isaiah chapter 42, my text is
verses 1 through 4 of Isaiah 42. The title of my message tonight
is A Command and a Promise. Isaiah was a prophet who lived
more than 700 years before our Lord Jesus was born at Bethlehem. But often Isaiah sounds more
like an apostle than a prophet. As you read the prophecy of Isaiah
when he describes the person and work of our Lord Jesus, you
would almost think you were reading the testimony of a man who was
an eyewitness of those things. He speaks about our Savior's
work in such detail that it cannot possibly be explained except
that this man who lived 700 years before the Lord Jesus came into
this world in our flesh wrote by inspiration of God the Holy
Ghost. We might well call Isaiah the
prophet of redemption. You might well refer to his prophecy
as the gospel of Isaiah. By the providence of God, his
very name, Isaiah, indicates his message. Isaiah means salvation
is of the Lord. Have you found my text? Isaiah
42. Behold my servant whom I uphold. mine elect in whom my soul delighted. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry,
nor lift up his, 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 to truth. He shall not fail. nor be discouraged
till he have set judgment in the earth and the aisles shall
wait for his law. Now in these four verses, the
Lord God calls for us to behold our Savior with confident faith,
assuring us that the Lord Jesus Christ is and will forever be
successful and triumphant in everything he undertakes. as
the servant of Jehovah. With him who is Jehovah's servant,
with him who is Jehovah's servant, failure is an impossibility. It is not possible for Jesus
Christ to fail in anything. Now, let me show you just two
things in these four verses. Hold your Bibles open and we'll
look at them line by line. First, here is God's command. Behold my servant. The Lord God commands us to behold
his son. This is his commandment that
you should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This command is
given indiscriminately. God says to us all, believer
and unbeliever, lost and saved behold my servant behold him
with the eye of faith to behold him is to trust him he says look
unto me look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth
to look to christ is to trust him behold my servant behold
him with admiring heart To behold Him, to look to Him, to behold
the Son of God in His glorious person and work is to admire
Him. If you see Him, if you look on
Him, you admire Him, unto you who believe He is precious, behold
Him. Whatever your need, I promise
you, whatever your soul needs, you will obtain as you behold
the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold him with grateful memory
as the saints and prophets of the Old Testament Looked forward
to the coming of our Redeemer in anticipation with expectation
and faith Let us look back upon him as he revealed to us in scripture
Remembering him and behold him with blessed holy sanctified
memory When God says, behold, my servant, he specifically calls
for us to behold five things concerning him. First, he says,
behold, my servant. Speaking of his great and marvelous
humiliation, the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is God. But this one who is God came
into this world to do the will of God as the servant of God,
taking on himself our nature. Well, Pastor, how do you know
that this is talking about the Lord Jesus? If you read the 12th
chapter of Matthew's Gospel, our Savior quotes directly from
this passage of Scripture and says, I've come to fulfill these
words. So we're not left to guess about
who Jehovah's servant is here. This is our Savior, who is himself
God the Son. in every way equal with the Father,
but He took on Himself the form of man, and took on Himself our
nature and the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." Hold your hands here in Isaiah
and turn to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. The Lord of God took manhood
into union with himself forever as Jehovah's servant. Godhood
and manhood inseparably joined together forever in him. Look
at Philippians 2 verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God. Now, obviously, God has no form. What's this mean? Being in the
form of God, being God, being God. He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. He didn't consider it something
he had to seek to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Just
a couple of pages over. Hebrews chapter 10. Our Lord
Jesus came into this world as Jehovah's servant. He came voluntarily. Voluntarily, he comes to do God's
will because of his great love for us and his great love for
God to glorify the name of the triune God. He came here to fulfill
the Father's will in our salvation and redemption, doing the work
required of required by God for the saving of our souls as our
representative. Look at Hebrews 10 verse five.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he sayeth sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared
me. This is quoted directly from Psalm 40. Our Lord Jesus says,
God's not pleased with sacrifices and offerings, but why did he
require them? because those things pointed
to Christ the one sacrifice and the one offering for sin. A body
hast thou prepared me, verse six, and burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin. Thou hast had no pleasure, no
satisfaction. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above when he said sacrifice
and offering, burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest
not neither has pleasure therein which were offered by the law
then said he lo I come to do thy will O God he taketh away
the first that he may establish the second now watch this what's
God's will what is God's will what's God's will in everything
what's God's will in every age what's God's will everywhere
in the world By the witch will, we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. The will
of God is the making of his elect holy by the doing and dying of
Jesus Christ and the working of his grace in us. Look at verse
11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. Some years ago, I had several
friends who were missionaries in Italy. Two of them I attended
school with, two of the men and their wives. And this was reported
to me by both of them. There was a Catholic priest I
have no idea who he was. They told me his name, but I've
forgotten. He was the only one in all of Italy who was known
for preaching. And he would not just go through
the ceremonies, but he'd get up and actually preach. Kind
of the unheard of in the Catholic church. One day as he was saying
mass, not preaching, but saying mass, he came to this text of
scripture and God struck him like a bolt of lightning. And
he dropped the bread, sat down the wine, and walked out of the
service, pulled off his robes, and began to preach the gospel
of God's free grace. Every man standeth daily, ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, no matter what sacrifice
you offer, which cannot take away sins. But this man, this
one man, this one whom God calls his servant, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering, he hath made it possible for
all his people to be perfected and sanctified. That's not what
it says, is it? By one offering, our Lord Jesus,
by his obedience unto death, hath perfected, made complete
forever, them that are sanctified. Let's go back to Isaiah 42. By
his free, voluntary subjection to the Father, and his obedience
to the Father's will, our Savior also gave us an example to Father. He says, let this mind be in
you. which was also in Christ Jesus.
Oh God, give me this mind. Willingly to subject all things
to your will. Willingly to give all my being
to the cause of the saving of your people for the glory of
your name. Now, our Savior was chosen of
God, secondly, for the work he was to perform. He says, mine
elect, mine elect. The Lord Jesus was not only God's
dear son and his only begotten son, and as such, one with the
father in the essence of his Godhead. But he's also God's
elect in his office capacity as our mediator. What does that
mean? The Lord Jesus, though he voluntarily
stepped forward in the covenant of grace and volunteered to be
our surety, volunteered to perform all righteousness for us, volunteered
to die in our stead, volunteered to do all the Father's will.
He didn't thrust himself into the priesthood. He didn't thrust
himself into this work, but rather he was called and chosen of the
triune God to perform it. God the Father looked upon his
darling son, the God-man mediator, as the only one who could be
a suitable substitute for his people, the only one suitable
to the task, and he chose him to perform it so that the humanity
of our Lord Jesus was chosen, ordained, and sanctified by the
triune God for the purpose of redeeming us. A body, he said,
has now prepared me. I realize that we've got to be
careful here. Our Lord Jesus, in his humanity,
did not exist forever. But in the mind and purpose of
God, his holy humanity, God incarnate, was looked upon by our God and
accepted by our God in all his obedience as that one suitable
sacrifice A body was prepared for him in the everlasting purpose
of God, prepared for him in the womb of the Virgin by God the
Holy Spirit. As God, the God-man, he was set
up and foreordained as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world, he was chosen to be the one mediator between God
and man. the one sacrifice God could justly
accept for the remission of sins. He was chosen to be the head
of an elect race. The hymn writer put it this way,
Christ be my first elect, he said, then chose our souls in
Christ our head before he gave the mountains birth or laid foundations
for the earth. Thus did eternal love begin to
raise us up from death and said, the son of God, Was chosen to
be our substitute our surety and our savior. He was chosen
to be our Substitute surety and savior before ever god made the
world all of this Christ was chosen to be and do from everlasting
Long before his sacred humanity was formed in the womb of the
virgin by the spirit of god before we sinned in our father adam
Christ was chosen and accepted as our savior. Before ever we
broke God's holy law, Christ volunteered to be and was chosen
of God to be our atonement. Long before we became sinners
by the act of rebellion in our father Adam, the Lord Jesus was
chosen and accepted as the Lord our righteousness. Now here's
the third thing. Look back at our text again.
Throughout the time of his humiliation, The Lord Jesus Christ was upheld
and sustained in his work by God the Father. Now I just made
a statement I can't begin to explain. But this is exactly what the
text says. Whom I uphold. What? How can this be? Listen to this, Hebrews chapter
5. in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able
to save him from death and was heard in that he feared. Can this be talking about the
God man? Can this be describing the son
of God, our savior? Indeed, it is so real. His humanity So truly is he one
like us that as a man our Savior required the help of God But the dawn you can't mean that
turned Isaiah chapter 50 Isaiah 50, let's see what it says verse
4 The Lord God hath given me. Our Savior is describing himself
now. He had given me the tongue of the learned. That I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Is this
the God man speaking? Is this Jehovah's Servant speaking?
The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned. that I
as a man may know how to speak the proper word in season to
him that's weary. He wakeneth me morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear as to learn. God speaks to me. God speaks
to me. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear as his servant, described back in Exodus 25, the bond slave. I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. I volunteered for this, but he
opened my ear. Gave my back to the spiders my cheeks to them
that plucked off the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting
all this I voluntarily did For the Lord God Will help me Isn't
that amazing? The Lord God will help me Therefore
shall I not be confounded? Therefore have I set my face
like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed What is
our Savior saying? Our Lord Jesus lived on this
earth as our representative in perfect faith. Bobby Estes, we are justified
by the faith of the Son of God. He lived on this earth in perfect
faith. He said, the Lord God will help
me. I'll not turn back. The Lord
God will help me. I will continue in my work. The
Lord God will help me. Nothing shall stop me from fulfilling
his will. Look at verse 8. He is near that
justifies me. The Lord God justifies me. Who
will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is
my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold,
the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn
me? Isn't that amazing the Apostle Paul uses exactly that same language
in Romans chapter 8 and says this one what we say by faith
in Christ Lo they all all those who would condemn and destroy
Christ all those who would condemn and destroy God's elect They
all shall wax old as a garment the moth shall eat them up In the wilderness of temptation
and in the Garden of Gethsemane. The manhood of Christ was upheld
and strengthened by the triune Jehovah. And though He was necessarily
forsaken by His Father when He was made sin for us upon the
cursed tree, as He sustained all the wrath of God, His humanity
was upheld and helped by His divinity, His human nature by
His divine nature. so that he did not sink beneath
the enormous load of guilt and sin and sorrow and shame. Our Lord Jesus suffered all the
hell of God's wrath for us. All the hell of God's wrath. How do men and women today who have been suffering the fires
of hell in the second death for years. Continue to exist in that
state. How? They are upheld in their
lives in everlasting death, in damnation by the hand of God
to suffer wrath they can never satisfy. And the Lord Jesus,
the God-man, upheld as God pours all the fury of
our hell on him upheld sustained that he might put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself and thereby justify our souls and
satisfy the justice of God these words whom I uphold might be
read another way They might be translated upon whom I lead. In that case, I speak of our
God, the triune Jehovah, and the confidence he placed in Christ,
our surety before the world was that one who first trusted in
Christ. The next line. God, the father
was and is well pleased with his son. Man elect. In whom my soul delighteth. Mine elect, God says, this is
Christ Jesus. In whom my soul delighteth. Read
the eighth chapter of Proverbs and hear how the Lord Jesus speaks
as wisdom and declares that he is the delight of God from everlasting. The Lord God looked upon his
son in this world. as he walked on this earth in
perfect humanity, in perfect obedience to God. You remember,
he came to John the Baptist to be baptized. And John said, Oh,
I can't baptize you. Oh, no, I'm not fit to bend down
and untie your shoes. And the master said, Suffer it
to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, in spite of what Campbellites
all over Kentucky say, Baptism doesn't fulfill any righteousness
You've been baptized and baptized and baptized again, and it won't
wash away your sins and it won't make you righteous but it does
Portray the fulfillment of all righteousness and that's what
we confess and believe is baptism our Lord Jesus died Buried and
rose again and we died and were buried and rose again with him
the fulfilling of all righteousness by his complete obedience unto
death for us and when he made that confession as he was baptized
of John God The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove
lighted upon him and stayed on him And the father spoke from
heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Then in Matthew chapter 17, when
our Lord Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John,
Moses, and Elijah on the map of transfiguration with him,
the Lord God speaks again concerning his dear son, that one there
transfigured, showing forth plainly his resurrection glory that he
would possess after he rose from the dead. The Lord God said,
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The Lord delighted
and was well pleased with him as his son. Let every sinner
Saved by the grace of God, be delighted with Christ. Rest my
soul upon him. Rejoice my heart in him. Surely
he who is God's delight. Ought to be my delight. He who is the object of God's
delight ought to be the object of your delight. Robert Hawker
commenting on this passage of scripture made this observation.
Oh, how much must the redemption of our nature have been upon
the heart of Jehovah from everlasting when he that from all eternity
lay in the bosom of the father is chosen to come forth for the
salvation of his people. And God, the father speaks of
him as loving him with his whole soul for his undertaking. God says, I delight in him. I love him. He's my servant,
the one in whom I delight. Now, look at the work our Savior
came to perform. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. The Gentile nations were held
in darkness, in bondage of ignorance and religious superstition by
Satan until Christ came. And the Lord Jesus gave light
to them that sat in darkness by this preaching of the gospel,
both by his own mouth and by the apostles and by his servants
since then. And he is now gathering his elect
from the four corners of the earth. The Gentiles gathered
to him. How does he bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles? In verse 21, we're told that
he magnified the law and made it honorable. By his obedience
to his demands in death and the satisfaction of its demands in
death or in life, he obeyed and in death satisfied. And he still
brings forth judgment, righteousness to the Gentiles by the preaching
of the gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God under salvation. He says in this, the righteousness
of God is revealed. And then the Lord speaks of our
Savior's qualification. He said, I put my spirit upon
him, anointed with the spirit above measure. Behold also the
voluntary nature of this whole thing. Look at verse two. He
shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in
the streets. In other words, he will never
resist any attempt to harm him. And he will never speak in frustration,
despair, or distress. He will never give an indication
of displeasure with his father's purpose and will. He shall not
cry. You won't hear him lift up his
voice. You won't hear his voice in the
streets as one of lamentation and woe. I repeat what I said
before. Our Savior voluntarily came. He voluntarily lived. He voluntarily
obeyed. He voluntarily died. Now look
at verse three and see the tenderness and compassion of our Redeemer. A bruised reed shall he not break. God's elect, convinced of their
sins, taught what they are, by the revelation of Christ in the
gospel are compared to a bruised reed. A bruised reed. Some of you may remember going
out and getting cane fishing poles. And those cane fishing
poles were pretty good. I remember cutting a few when
I was a boy. But if somehow that thing got messed up and weak
in one spot. It wasn't any good for anything.
It was utterly useless. That's what God does when he
saves a sinner. He bruises you. He causes you
to see that you're utterly useless for anything good. But a bruised
reed, he will never break. And the smoking flax candle wick that's just about
gone. A wick of a lantern looks like
it's just almost blown out in smoke and stinks. But he'll never
quench it. God makes you to be as a stench
in your own nostrils as you are in his by nature. But the bruised
reed he'll not break, the smoking flax he'll not quench, but rather
he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. What? My servant shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. He's going to bring righteousness
and justice, a verdict of righteousness unto truth to your soul. He will pronounce you who confess
your sin righteous and just by his spirit, by the gospel. This
is God's command. Behold, my servant. Now, here's
God's promise concerning his son. He shall not fail. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he has set judgment justice a verdict of righteousness in
the earth and the Isles that is the Gentiles Shall wait for
his law. I want you to see this is exactly
what our our prophets say turn over Matthew chapter 12. This
is our Lord's Statement concerning this this is his interpretation
of it Matthew chapter 12 verse 21 Isaiah says he shall not fail
nor be discouraged till he's established righteousness and
redeemed his people Until those for whom he has established righteousness
are brought to hear his word and believe him For it's written
a generation shall serve him look here tonight in Matthew
12 verse 20 a bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking
flax shall he not quench till he till he send forth judgment. What a strange word unto victory. He he comes by the gospel and
he sends judgment to victory so that we triumph over sin,
death and the hell and over the law and condemnation and curse
of the law by him who is our substitute. and in his name shall
the Gentiles trust. This is God's promise concerning
his son. Whatever our Savior has undertaken
shall be performed. Whatever commission he received
from Jehovah as his servant shall be accomplished. He will perfectly
fulfill all his work. We sometimes get discouraged. I look out here and I think,
our folks only knew what they were missing, what they were
robbing themselves of. This bill will be packed out
on Tuesday night, every Tuesday night. And I sometimes get a
little discouraged. I ought to. Sometimes we are
doubtful concerning the calls of Christ in our generation.
We must be honest and recognize the evil of the day and the judgment
of God in this day. But our fears concerning God's
calls and God's church are all ill-founded. The ark of God is
always safe. The ark of God is always safe. Behold him who is the head of
all things, the director of heaven, earth, and hell. The one upon
whose shoulders God has laid the business of the universe
for the saving of his people. Behold him and be comforted. We may fail. We do fail. We will fail, but he cannot fail. He should accomplish every promise
of God. He shall fulfill every purpose
of God. I believe in the perseverance
of the saints. I believe in the sure perseverance
of every believer, in the perseverance of God's church as a whole. The
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But here is something
indescribably greater. I believe in the final perseverance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not fail, but shall at
last bring the headstone to the corner and finish his work, shouting
grace, grace unto it. You remember what Naomi said
to Ruth when she had been cleaning in Boaz fields and Boaz in her
home with all that grain in her apron? She said, honey, the man
will not rest until he's fulfilled it. He will not rest until he's
done all that the kinsmen can do, and our Redeemer will not
cease to work for us in this world until he's fully accomplished
all the purpose of God in the saving of his people for the
glory of his name. God says he shall not fail. Now we look back at the past
and see what he says about it. He said, I finished the work
thou gavest me to do. I finished all the work of obedience
and the perfect righteousness of my people. And as he hung
upon the cursed tree and suffered all the wrath of God, he said,
it's finished. All the prophecies and all the
types and all the promises of all the Old Testament fulfilled.
The salvation of his people fully accomplished. Iniquity purged,
sin put away, his people redeemed. And the Lord Jesus has fulfilled
all by himself as our servant, as Jehovah's servant and our
savior. Christ has not failed to bear
our sins. He's not failed to satisfy the
infinite wrath and justice of God for our sins. He's not failed
to purge away our sins. He's not failed to crush the
serpent's head. And I'll go a step further. The
Son of God has not failed to do me good as he promised he
would. I speak from experience. And I try to always preach from
experience. I hope never to stand up here
and just rattle off facts to you. I have had, shall we will
verify, had it again last Saturday night, a constant recurring nightmare
for more than 45 years. I can't tell you how many Saturday
nights I awaken terrified. I'm standing here in the pulpit
and I've got nothing to say. Oh God, prevent that. Let me
tell you what I know from God's word and by my experience of
his grace, the son of God, has never failed to meet every need
I've had. Every need. Natural and spiritual. He's never failed to meet every
need. Every need. Every need. Mother Larry hadn't been here
very long. They went out on Lancaster Road.
His mother was with him. And Shelby and I had just a certain
period of time when we'd get things planted and flowers and
things in the garden. And there was a truck come up
the road and just turned slap over right up there at the intersection,
going to take a whole load of plants and flowers and stuff
out to one of the places to sell them, deliver them. And we got
out there and all the stuff out there, just everywhere. And I asked the state trooper,
I said, what are you going to do with that? He said, I'm fixing
to call somebody to bring an inloader out here and get rid
of it. I said, can I get it? He said, if you can get it before
they get out here, I'll call Vance and bring you a truck. And like I
said, it looks like whatever's needed, God just opens the heavens
and here it comes. That's what he does. That's what
he does. He's never failed to supply every need I've ever had,
even down to one of those little flowers I like, marigolds. Even
down to marigolds, just nothing. He supplies it all. He's never
failed. when I thought surely he might
to sustain my soul and comfort my heart and deliver me from
evil. He's never failed to be faithful
to this center. And I'll tell you something else
he's never failed to do. He's never failed, not once,
ever to save any sinner who needed saving. He never failed ever to save
any sinner who needed saving. Listen to this word from Luke
chapter 9 and verse 11 at the conclusion of a day of our Lord's
ministry on this earth. He healed as many as had need
of healing. If you need his grace, you won't
fail to have it. If you don't need it, You'll
go without it. If you need His grace, you'll
not fail to have it. Oh, may God make you as a bruised
reed and a smoking flax in desperate need of Christ our righteousness
and our redemption and give you faith in Him. Amen.