Isaiah chapter 42 opens with
these words. 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 have set judgment in the earth. and the isle 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. 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. I am the Lord, that is
my name, and 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. Sing unto the Lord a new song. and His praise from the end of
the earth. 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 Kedah doth inhabit, let the inhabitants
of the rocks sing. Let them shout from the top of
the mountains. Let them give glory unto the
Lord and declare His praise. in the islands 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
behold my servant behold This, like many of the chapters in
Isaiah's prophecy, is wonderfully rich in Gospel truth. How clearly
does Isaiah set forth the Gospel, how clearly does he set forth
Christ, God's servant before our gaze. How much of the truth
of the Gospel is shown here. the state of man as those who
are blind, as those who sit in darkness in the prison house
and the great saviour that God has sent to deliver the blind,
the prisoner and those that sit in darkness, to bring them light. to bring unto them salvation,
to make the blind eyes see. Behold my servant. What did his blind eyes see when
they're opened? My servant. My servant. Accept the Lord, open your eyes. You will never see Christ, the
Son of God. You will never see God's servant. You will never comprehend. You
may know his name. You may hear him described. You
may hear many preach the gospel and know who Jesus Christ is
in the letter. You may be able to say who he
is and describe him. You may be able to say, well,
he said he was the son of God. You may say that he came into
this world, that he was born, he lived, he died. You may say
He was crucified and rose again. You may know it all in the head
and yet remain blind. You've never beheld Him for yourself. You've never had your blind eyes
open to see Him. You know all about Him but you've
never seen Him. Is that you? What God says in His Gospel.
In power. by His Spirit. Behold My Servant. Look, look all ye ends of the earth,
look unto Christ and be ye saved. Have your eyes open, see I have
sent my son, I have set him forth, I have preached my gospel to
the four corners of the earth. I've set him forth as a savior
for he shall save not just Israel but the Gentiles. He shall call
his people out from amongst the Jews and amongst the Gentiles. 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. Are you a Gentile? Are you a
heathen? Are you a sinner? A rebel before
Almighty God? Are you blind? Are you amongst those that say
you see when you are blind? Those that say you're religious?
Those that say you follow Jesus Christ and you've never beheld
him? Behold my servant. Behold Behold, what a word, behold,
look. Look steadfastly. Look intently. Look continuously. Don't just
glance. Don't just look at Christ once
a week in the meeting. once a day or whenever it might
be whenever you pick up a Bible don't just glance don't just
pass by but behold set your gaze upon him and never take it away Look intently unto the Saviour
every day, every hour, every moment, in every circumstance,
in every trial, in every trouble, in every distress, in every calamity,
in every war, in every disaster, in every illness, in every bereavement,
in every triumph, in every success, whether you abound or whether
you are abased, whatever you are in, whatever your circumstance,
whatever state you're in, behold my servant. look not to yourself, look not
to man, look not to the church, look not to the world around
you, look not to the power and the strength of man, look not
to religion, look not to the form, look not to your prayers,
look not to your righteousness, look not to your good deeds,
behold my servant behold look steadfastly continuously every
day behold how can you behold how can you look to christ every
day how can you see him when he's not here to be seen there
was a day when men saw him He was born in Bethlehem. He was taken by his parents to
Jerusalem. He grew up. He began his ministry. He met the disciples. He met
the fishermen at the lakeside. He called those men to follow
him. He taught. He went up onto the mount where
the people gathered and he taught in that discourse known as the
Sermon on the Mount. Many heard him, many were healed
of their sicknesses. He touched the eyes of the blind,
he touched the ears of the deaf, he made the lame to walk. He
even called out to dead Lazarus in the grave, come forth Lazarus
and Lazarus lived. Many saw him in those days. And many who saw Him in the end
cried out, away with this man, crucify Him. And they pierced
the Son of Glory. They pierced the Prince. They
pierced the Son of God. They nailed Him to the tree.
as the hearts of man have done generation by generation by generation
up to the present day and into the future there's not one man
woman or child on this earth who in their heart has not said
of this man away with him and has not by their sin and by their
rebellion and by their disobedience both towards God and towards
their neighbour, both towards their neighbour and to their
parents and their kinsfolk and to their teachers and to their
employers and their rebellion against all men and their rebellion
against God by their indulgence in sin, they have nailed Christ
to the tree. By your rebellion, You crucified
the Saviour and you never beheld Him. In much the same way, as
those Jews in those days, under whom Christ came, who saw Him
with the eyes of the flesh, said, away with this man and crucified
him. Because though they saw the man,
they never saw the Son of God. who Christ was. They saw but
they did not behold. They heard but they never heard. Some were healed by him and knew
the power of God in the physical realm and still deserted. You say, how can I be held when
he's not here? Well, there were those who were
there who'd never be held. They saw, but they never beheld.
They never saw him for who he was. Because they didn't have
that required to see him, which was faith in their heart within. They could see the external,
they could see the man, but they could not see him for who he
was because God hadn't opened their hearts. They needed faith
to see. And they were in the same state
that you're in if you have no faith. You're at no lesser of
an advantage today than they were. Behold, you say, how can
I by faith? Should God open your eyes by
his gospel and put faith in your heart to see, then you will behold. What brings the faith, what brings
the sight, what brings the new life within, is the gospel. And those in the generation in
which Christ lived upon this earth heard the gospel. and you in your generation two
thousand years hence by the mouths of those that Christ sends and
through whom he speaks by his spirit hear the gospel. It's exactly the same. They needed
to hear His voice by the Spirit of God to have their heart opened,
to have faith enter in and to have their blind eyes opened
that they might see by faith and they heard that and they
saw by the Gospel and you today should Christ send a preacher
your way with His Gospel and the power of that Gospel. If
God uses that gospel to open your eyes and give you faith,
you will see it's the same way. It comes from the same source,
the same saviour, the same servant, the same son of God, the same
means, the gospel. Behold my servant, you're in
exactly the same state, you're as sinful as that generation
were. You have crucified Him as that
generation crucified Him. But you hear the Gospel today
by Christ's preachers whom He sent, just as they heard it in
that day. Just as they heard it from Christ,
just as they heard it from His disciples whom He sent forth.
when Christ was risen and ascended, when he had died, been buried,
laid in the grave, ascended from the grave, risen and then ascended
up into glory so that he was no more on earth. He sent forth
the apostles, they went to Jerusalem, they waited for the coming of
the Spirit of God, the Spirit came down upon them and they
preached the gospel. And on that day of Pentecost
in Jerusalem 3,000 heard and were saved. 3,000 had their blind
eyes opened. And 3,000 though Christ was no
longer present on the earth physically, they beheld God's servant. Just as you, by the gospel, by
the power of God, through faith, if God is pleased to open your
eyes, will behold God's servant. Behold my servant. Only faith can do this, only
faith allowed God's servant to see. Christ saw by faith. When Christ lived as a man in
this earth, and he was no longer in the presence of God the Father,
he beheld his Father by faith. And all Christ's children, his
bride, his people who are brought to behold him and brought to
behold the Father through him, do so. by faith, the same faith,
that faith they have by being united under him, the faith of
the Son of God, the faith of Jesus Christ. for the righteousness
of God is revealed in the gospel that righteousness that gives
it its power it's revealed from faith to faith from the faith
of Christ to the faith of the elect to the faith of the believer
if you see him it's his faith have you got this faith? have
you beheld? you need faith You're not born
with faith. It's not natural to the heart
of men. People speak of putting your
faith in Jesus Christ. You have no faith to put in Jesus
Christ. You're not born with faith. You're
born spiritually blind, spiritually dead. it's not a matter of making
a decision of who you believe or what you believe or what you
should put your natural faith in it's a matter of being given
faith and you cannot have faith except
you have Christ because faith comes by being given new life
as you are born again of the Spirit. And that life is the
life of Christ within. And that faith is the faith of
Christ within. That emanates from his life and
opens your eyes that you may see. Behold my servant. Behold my servant. My servant. Christ is God's servant. God sent him. God chose him. God was in him. God honours him. God sets him forth. God declares
him. God says, hear my son. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him, because God so delights
in His Son. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. He loves His Son. He loves His
Son. And he sent forth his son into
this world to save his people from their sins. And he says
unto this world, behold my son. Naturally, fathers take pride
in their sons, especially when their sons grow up and honour
their parents and work hard. and live uprightly and are a
credit to them. Oh, they love their sons. and
they see in their sons growing up that new generation as the
fathers get older and get weaker and are unable to do those things
they might have longed to do or they've had their time and
they don't have the same opportunities they see in their sons themselves
and they grow up and their sons take that family name and their
sons go forth and achieve many things and they take a pride
in their sons and they say to others look at my son Look how
well he's done, look how well he's doing in school, look how
well he's done at university. Look how my son has grown and
prospered, look at the wife he has, look at the family they
have. Men take pride in their sons and they show them forth,
well God loves his son. He loves his son. He says to
this world, behold my son. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Hear, my son! Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delight. If I love
him, I rejoice in him. He's perfect. My son is righteous. He's honoured me and served me
in all he does. He's my son. He's God's. My servant, my son. And he serves
his God. And he brings glory to his God. Christ, God's servant, is not
man's servant. He's not man's servant. Though
he came to serve others, Though he served men. Though he washed the feet of
the disciples. Though he came and laid down
his life for sinners. Though all his life he came as
that meek and lowly servant. Ultimately he's God's servant. Not first and foremost man's.
He's not some figure that we can call upon to sort out our
every ill whilst in our hearts we still have a hatred for him
his ways and his God. Many have an attitude towards
Jesus Christ or they fashion a Jesus as an idol in a certain
manner. They have this idea of a Jesus
that's there to just hear their every cry and make everything
in this world in their puny little inconsequential life in this
world. They have a Jesus that they just
pray to to make everything right. Oh Jesus, I've got my exams,
help me get through them. I've got this problem in life,
sort it out. I feel a bit sick, heal me. I'm
worried about the finance, give me some more money. They think
he's some sort of Father Christmas that they can just call upon
flippantly to answer every little inconsequential need in this
life. As though this life and its ups
and downs really mattered. whilst they turn a blind eye
to the greater story, the greater picture of eternity, the great
need of their soul, the great need of the depth of sin within
that needs to be cleansed. They turn a blind eye to the
cross and to what Christ suffered that he should deliver his people
from their sins. They turn a blind eye to the
God that Christ served, that sovereign God. the Eternal God,
the Righteous Holy God, before whom they must answer. They bring
Jesus down to their level. Is that you? Do you take of the
things of God? Do you take His Son? Do you take
Jesus? Do you take the Gospel? Do you
take the Law of God and bring it all down to your level? Do
you say, oh I'm going to live life in a certain way and you
take God's law and you bring it to your level and you say,
I'll keep it when you break it every moment but whatever you
do becomes the standard. Do you take the son of God and
bring him down as some friend on your level that you address
as it were with first name terms, Jesus. Never Lord. Never Christ, never with any
sense of how small you are and how great he is. Do you make
him some sort of father Christmas that can help you out in every
trial and trouble? Or do you behold him as God's
servant in whom almighty God's soul delights? the One whom God
upholds, the One who puts His Spirit upon Him, that He should
bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. Do you bow down before
this God, this Saviour, this Servant in awe and wonder that
the Son of God should take upon Himself humanity and walk in
this world in which you live in order that he should lay down
his life. Does it fill you with wonder
that God's son should come to serve his God, to offer himself
as a sacrifice for sin? He came as a priest, God's priest,
called after the order of Melchizedek. He came as a priest. He came
as a king, the king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine.
He came as a sacrifice. He was slain. The body, the bread
was broken. The blood was shed, the wine
was brought forth. And the priest took the bread
and the wine and presented it before the father. and said,
Lord God, I have redeemed my people from their sins. I have ransomed them from the
grave. I have delivered the prisoner
from the prison house. I have shone the light of the
gospel into the darkness. I have caused the bind to see. Behold my servant. My servant, God chose him. My
servant whom I uphold, mine elect. Mine elect, I elected him, I
chose him, I anointed him. This is my son. This is the saviour
of sinners. This is my king, my priest. This is the sacrifice for sinners. This is the propitiation for
their sins. This is my servant. God chose
him. God anointed him. God sent him. God spake by him. God speaks
by him. God sends him. God sends him
today in his gospel. God speaks through him today
by his gospel. God saves by him today through
his gospel. He's God's servant. have you
beheld him? mine elect in whom my soul delighteth
mine elect if you read through the whole of this chapter 42
that word and that fact runs through it Christ is chosen and there is
a people who sat in darkness who are chosen by God in him,
a people whom God has chosen through his Son to redeem them
and to make them to see. This chapter shows us that people
who say they see yet they are blind, that people who have turned
against God, that people who have rebelled And yet it shows a Saviour whom
God has sent unto them and unto the world, to the Jew and to
the Gentile, to deliver a people, His people, His elect, chosen
in Christ from all their sins. This election's at the core of
this chapter. Chosen. Chosen. Chosen of God. There are those
who are chosen, and there are those who are not chosen. There
are those who are righteous, righteous in Christ, and there
are those who are not righteous. There are those who see, who
behold, and there are those who are blind. There are those who
hear, and there are those who are deaf. There are those who
make idols and graven images and bow down before them. And there are those who bow down
before My servant, beholden by faith, the Saviour crucified
for them. Election. Oh praise God that He's chosen
a people to deliver them out of the darkness. that he says,
I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead
them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness
light before them and crooked things straight. These things
will I do unto them and not forsake them. Oh, do you know a God that's
done this for you? And a God, a Savior, who will
never forsake you who will never forsake you one thing you will learn in this
world time and time again from the days of your youth until
the days of your great age are that there are many who make
out to be your friends who will let you down who will turn against
you who will forsake you. One day they're your best friend,
the next day they're your greatest enemy. They come and they go,
they come and they go. But there are those friends you
make that last. Occasionally you make friends
that might last a lifetime. But there are none like this
friend. A friend greater than a brother,
none like this friend. The Lord Jesus Christ, who has
said unto his own, he's chosen, he's elect, I will never forsake
you. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Even when you offend me, I will
not leave thee. nor forsake thee even when you
doubt me even when your heart grows cold even when you turn
against me and let me down, even after I've saved you, even after
I've delivered you from your sin, even after I've washed you
in my blood, even though there will come those days when you
will turn in darkness, when you will take your gaze away from
me and look to the world around you and look to the things of
this world and be cast down and doubt and let me down and act
like I'm not there and act like I've done you wrong even though
you might curse me again even though you might fall into the
greatest of sins again whatever you might do however you may
stumble For it is written that the righteous man falls seven
times, even though you may stumble, like my servant David did. Like that man after my own heart,
that friend of mine, even though David plunged into sin, I never
forsook him, and I will never forsake thee. All whom I have
chosen are mine unto the end. They are my sheep, They are in
my hands and none shall perish. None shall pluck them from my
hands. They're mine. They're mine. These things will
I do for my people and not forsake them. A bruised reed shall he
not break. Do you feel like a bruised reed,
a weak reed, growing up by the riverside and you're bruised
and battered and the wind's broken you and you can't stand by your
own strength? Well this Saviour won't come
and kick you down in your poverty. He won't break you. the smoking
flax shall he not quench when your heart's cold and it's just
like there's just an ebb of a glow of an ember just the weakest
bit of smoke coming from you the fire's all gone the doubts
have come in the heart's grown cold he shall not quench he shall
not quench he shall bring forth judgment unto truth He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. Nothing will discourage this
servant, this Saviour. He may look upon his people. He may look upon his church. He may see trouble in his church. He may see how scattered his
church is and how the wicked one and the world around prevails
and tramples underfoot the gospel and despises his church and his
earth. He may see the doubts and the
fears of his people. He may see the world and the
flesh in his people. He may see how weak their faith
is. He may see the divisions and
the troubles that come in amongst his people, how brother falls
out with brother. He might see all the trouble,
but none of it shall discourage him. He shall not fail. nor be discouraged till he have
set judgment in the earth and the isle shall wait for his law
he's building his church and the gates of hades shall not
prevail against it because he came as a savior he came as a
sacrifice he died for all his people and he wrought an everlasting
effectual perfect salvation and everyone for whom he died shall
hear this gospel shall be given faith and shall behold God's
servant and be saved and be gathered in in that flock, in that kingdom,
in that church, unto salvation forevermore. They will in the
end be gathered around his throne in eternity to come. He shall
not fail. Behold my servant. Behold my
servant. Oh what a servant the Lord Jesus
Christ is. God's servant, he came to serve
his God. He came to fulfill that everlasting
covenant made between God and the Son, the Father and Son and
the Spirit. He fulfilled it all. He serves,
he thinks not of himself but of others. We think of ourselves. Every day we think of ourselves,
don't we? Don't you? Every day it's me,
me, me. I want, I want, I want. Every
day we cross when what we want is crossed or prevented. I want
this, why can't I? Why do you get in my way? How we seek riches, how we seek
pleasure, how we seek food, how we seek comfort, how we seek
wealth, all for me. What self-serving creatures we
are. And where the worst of sin, the
worst of anger, the worst of selfishness emanates, it all
flows from our evil selfish hearts because we want. So much of our
effort and our strength goes into serving ourselves, doesn't
it? So much of your desire, your
strength every day, you wake up in the morning and your thoughts
are on what you're going to get. Not what you're going to do for
others. Not what you're going to do for others. Not what you're
going to do for this neighbor, that neighbor, this brother,
that sister, this mother, that father. Not what you're going
to do for God. Not what you're going to do for
his servant. Where's your heart? Where's your
desire? Where's your love? Esteem your
brother greater than yourself. Serve others, forgive others
even as you have been forgiven. Seek not your own glory, but the glory of Jesus Christ.
Behold my servant. This servant served only God
and only his bride, his people, as he served that God. He served God, he served the
kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall
be added unto you. Take no thought for the morrow.
Take no thought for this and for that. How much effort we
put into earthly cares, but seek God and his kingdom. Behold,
my servant, if your gaze If your faith is fixed on Jesus Christ,
everything else will fall into place. The troubles of this life, the
trials, the tragedy will become nothing when you see your Saviour
crucified in your place. He came to serve and what's the
greatest deed He did on this earth when He came? He laid down
his life for his bride. He gave himself for his church. He gave himself because he loved
her. He loved her who rejected him. He loved that people who hated
him. And he gave himself that he might
save them. Did he give himself for you?
John, in the beginning of his gospel, when Christ comes to
John the Baptist, John there says, John the Baptist there
says, Behold the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of
the world. Behold my servant, behold the Lamb of God. He's
God's Lamb. and his blood cleanseth from
all sin. O sinner, do you feel your sin? Do you know the selfishness of
your heart within? Do you know your rebellion? Do
you know your angry heart? Do you know the pride? Do you
know your sin? Well behold the Lamb of God. whose blood cleanseth from all
sin. All sin. In Luke chapter 9 and elsewhere
in the Gospels we read of the two disciples who were taken
up with Christ to a mount. And they see Christ transfigured
and they see speaking unto Jesus. Elijah and Moses, the Law and
the Prophets either side of him. All those who were prophesied
of the coming of Christ and here in the midst of the Law on one
side and the Prophets on the other, figured by Moses and Elijah,
there's Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour, God's servant. And
as they behold, Moses and Elijah fade from view. and they saw
no man save Jesus only. Their faith beheld no man save
Jesus only. The law faded from view, they
didn't look to the law for salvation, they looked to Christ. The prophets
faded from view because the prophets themselves were pointing to Christ. You may take the law and think
you'll keep it but it won't save you. You might rest in the scriptures
and what they tell you of Christ but all your knowledge of the
scriptures, the prophets, the prophecy won't save you. The prophecies point you to Christ. Behold my servant, you must behold
him. They saw no man. Save Jesus only,
what are you looking at? What do you behold? Where is
your gaze? Faith, God-given faith sees nothing
but God's term. In Hebrews, in the 11th chapter,
we read of this faith. We read of the wonder of this
faith. We read that faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We read that
without faith it is impossible to believe, it is impossible
to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. We read of all those who followed
God by faith. And we read in the beginning
of chapter 12, this exhortation. this call to faith. Wherefore,
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher
of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. O believer, you have a race set
before you, a race in which you're called to run. Look at no man. Save Jesus only. Look unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of faith, who gave himself for you. Behold my servant, mine elect. Behold my servant. Amen.