Turn to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. It's truly good to be here, to be gathered with God's family. This is the family that we will
spend eternity with. So I hope you like me. This is the family. This is the
family I enjoy being around. And I'm really glad to be here. Let me give you the message briefly. And then, Lord willing, I'll
preach it. In Isaiah 42, here's the message. He shall not fail. He shall not fail. can not fail, He did not fail,
and He will not fail. Now I hope the Lord enables me
to preach this message, but that's the message. That's the message. And now He starts out in this
verse 1, and this is God speaking, Almighty God speaking. And He
says, Behold, and when we hear that, In the Word of God, we
ought to get on the edge of our seat. Something is about to be
said. Something of great importance
is about to be said. And He said, Behold, take notice
of My servant, My servant, whom I uphold, Mine elect, and whom
My soul delighteth. God delights in this way. He
said, my very being delights in Him. I have put my spirit
upon Him. He shall bring forth judgment
or righteousness to the Gentiles. The person spoken of here is
the man, Christ Jesus. He is God the Father's servant
and was glad to be so. You call a man your servant nowadays,
you'll probably get sued. You have to call associates or
something. But he was not ashamed to be called God's servant. His servant. Over in Philippians
2. Let me read this. I've got this mark over here
in Philippians 2. Listen to this. Paul says, Let this mind be in
you which was also 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. He came to serve. He said, I
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my
life a ransom for many. That's why I came, to serve. Not ashamed to be called a servant.
He came to accomplish, not to try, but to accomplish our salvation
by His service. By His service. He came to put
away sin. He came to honor the law, to
satisfy justice, by His service. By His work. That's what He came
to do. He came to magnify the law and
make it honorable. No other person could do that
but Him. He could do it, and He did it.
He did it. He kept the law, every jot and
tittle, perfectly, in thought, word, and deed. If you can't
keep it in thought first, forget the rest. Because God starts
with the thought. God starts with the heart. And
if you can't get that right, you can't get the rest of it
right. And he got that right. He loved God's law. Oh, he said,
I love thy law. Verse Psalm 119, I love thy law.
And he was upheld by his Father. He said, Whom I uphold. The Father
upheld him. He trusted in the Father just
as we trust Him. He trusted God as we trust Him.
He was a real man. Body, soul, and spirit. A real
man. And he trusted Him. And he was approved. Well, this
is my Son. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Which speaks to His perfection.
Because God cannot be well pleased with anything that's not perfect.
It's got to be perfect. And when He says, this is my
Son in whom I am well pleased, that speaks to His absolute perfection. He knew no sin. Though He will
make sin, He knew no sin. Never committed, never thought,
never even thought. I can't comprehend that. I have
learned over the years that as soon as I open this Bible, I'm
in over my head. Just as soon as I open it, I'm
way over my head. And then it says, He said, I'll
put my spirit upon Him. As God, He is Spirit. God is Spirit. He is God. But
as our Mediator, as the man, He had the Holy Spirit without
measure. He had it without measure. And
He says here, He shall bring forth. I tell you, I love the
positiveness of how this starts out. My servant whom I uphold,
He said, in whom my soul delights, I put my spirit upon him. He
shall. That's going to happen. That's
real. We have a real salvation. We
have a real Savior. He shall bring truth. He shall
bring righteousness to us Gentiles. To us Gentiles. To us who are
far off. I never believed in aliens until
I read the Bible. And then I found out we were
it. You were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. I found
out we were the aliens. But not anymore. Not anymore. He brought us right into the
house. He let the dogs in the house. Isn't that amazing? He
did. He did. Our Lord who shall bring judgment or righteousness
to the Gentiles, shall save many. Who is this King of glory? Psalm
24. The Lord of hosts. You know, when we think, when
we think upon our Lord's redemptive work, we ought to think large. We think, and I realize this
about myself, I think way too little of God. We ought to think
large. Large. A number, he said, which
no man could number. Have you ever known? Now look
at the universe. Look at creation. Has God done
anything on a small scale? Has anything ever been done on
a small scale by our God? Absolutely nothing. Nothing. And He shall not cry, nor lift
up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. I read to
you, he made himself of no reputation. The one who rightfully has a
reputation, he didn't make himself of any reputation. He didn't
go out and say, you know who I am? You know, often times he said,
you know what he said most of the time to his disciples when
he healed somebody? Don't tell anybody. Don't tell
anybody. He did not go about the streets
crying and arguing with men. He was not a contentious person.
The Pharisees and the scribes, they all came to Him to combat
Him. He didn't go looking for those
birds. He didn't go looking for them
at all. He didn't get sidetracked. He wasn't campaigning for an
office. He was not a politician. He's the Savior. He's the Savior. He didn't come to prove anything.
Oh, my soul. He did not come to prove anything
to us. He came to save. Not to prove. He came to save. You cannot argue
a man into salvation. He has to be born again. He has
to be born of the Spirit. That's what he has to be. And
our Lord went about His work quietly and confidently. You know why? Because he knew
he was right. If you're right, you don't have
to argue. He was right. He knew he was right. See, he went quietly and confidently
about his father's business. He said, I must be about my father's
business. And he did so. And listen here, verse 3 is,
I hope there's a Bruce Reed. I hope there's a smoking flax
in here tonight. Boy, do I have good news for
you. I've got good news for you. A
bruised reed shall he not break. And the smoking flax shall he
not quench. Put it out. He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth or untruth. He's meek and lowly. You want
to know what God's like? Look to Christ. He's the image
of God. Would you ever think that God
Almighty was meek and lowly? Here's God manifesting the flesh.
This is Him. He's meek and lowly. God's servant
is kind to sinners. Those Pharisees weren't. But
He is. He's a friend of publicans and
sinners. That was a charged level against
Him. This man, he eats with people like you and me. That's a charge. Can you believe that? He's gone
to be a guest to sinners. That's people like me and you.
Can you believe he went to my house? He's a friend of publicans and
sinners. The smoking flax, he'll not put it out. Come to me. Look to Him. He'll not put it
out. He will not break a bruised reed. That reed that's growing up in
the marsh, in the mud, in the muck. That bruised reed that's
hollow, that's empty. He'll not break it. He'll not
break it. Our Lord delights to show mercy
to sinners. I hope there's a sinner in the
house. I know there is. I know there is. He delights
to show mercy to sinners. Sinners are welcome in His presence. You ever notice those who felt
welcome in His presence? It was sinners. It was sinners. A broken heart and a contrite
spirit He will not despise. He will not destroy the least
bit of interest in Him because He's the one who created it. He will not destroy any man's
hope whose hope is in Him. He'll not do it. He'll not do
it. And His work shall be done in
righteousness and truth. There was no sin in any word
He spoke or any work that He done. No sin in it. No sin in it. Perfection. Absolute perfection. And he shall not fail. A man told me one time years
ago, he said, Jesus Christ died for Judas as well as Peter. He
said that to me to my face. Evidently he missed his chapter. There was a pastor that told
me that. He shall not fail. Oh, man. He shall not fail nor
be discouraged. If you knew you'd never fail,
you wouldn't be discouraged, would you? I've owned a business for years.
If I knew I wouldn't fail at it, I'd get up and go to work
every day no matter what was going to happen. Because I knew I wouldn't
fail. When he came into this world,
he knew he would not fail. He knew he would not fail to
redeem. He knew he would not fail to
satisfy God Almighty's justice. And he knew everything about
that justice. He knew what it demanded. He knew he had not
failed. And he didn't get discouraged.
No. He knew he would not fail to
establish a righteousness for his people by his obedience.
He knew that. He knew he would not fail to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He knew that. He knew he would not fail to
take the sting out of death and victory away from the grave.
He shall not fail. He shall not. He shall not fail
to subdue all things to himself. Someday he's going to deliver
up the kingdom to the Father fully intact because he shall
not fail. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail to deliver His people from the curse of the law and the
power of sin. He's able to break the power
of cancelled sin. He's able to do that. He shall
not fail to keep all for whom He died. I'm telling you, on
God's Word, every one of them shall be saved. He shall not
fail. God's the one saying this. God
Almighty here is speaking through Isaiah. Isaiah is writing. God
is speaking. And my servant shall not fail
to do this. It's not an attempt. It's a success
story. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail to magnify the law and make it honorable. In Him, we fulfilled
the law. And it's honored. It is honored. And he shall not fail to raise
his people to full glory and present them faultless before
the presence of his glory. He shall not fail to do that.
Oh my soul. Now, nor be discouraged. Or broken. No. God's servant will not fail
in his work. Therefore he'll not be discouraged.
He'll not quit. He will not quit. Because the
way is too rough. We have a real tendency. We have
a real tendency to quit when things get tough, don't we? We
have a real tendency. But not our Lord. Not God's servant. Not God's servant. He will bear
our iniquities. We can't even begin to phantom
that. He will suffer God's wrath. He will suffer rejection of men.
He will be nailed to a cross. But He will not quit. He will
not say this is enough. No, no, no, no. He will not quit
until he has won the victory. And he's won it. It's settled. The victory's won. And he will set forth righteousness.
He will satisfy God's justice. He will establish righteousness.
And he'll set forth righteousness in the earth. And salvation will
come to us Gentiles. Not just that little nation over
there, but to people out of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation
under heaven. Now who purposed all this? Who purposed all this? It says
in verse 5, Thus saith God the Lord. This is who? He that created
the heavens and stretched them out. He that spread forth the
earth and that which cometh out of it. Who did that? the Son of God. All things were
made by Him and for Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Nothing exists that He did not
make. Nothing. He that giveth breath
unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein. The
One who sent Christ to save is the God of heaven
and earth. And he says here, you'll notice
here, he speaks of his power. You look at the vast universe.
Look at the universe. Look at this earth. Look at all
that is. And he said, I have created all
this. I have the power to do this. I have the power to uphold
my servant and bring all this to pass. I have the power. All things come of God. None
can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? None can
do that. He said, I the Lord have called
thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand. I'll be with
you. I'll be with you. And keep thee. and give thee for a covenant
of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. Our Lord was called
in a righteous manner, consistent, consistent with divine
perfection, consistent with God Himself. There is no sin in the
one whom God called, He is the spotless Lamb of God and there's
no sin in the way He saves sinners. No sin. No sin. And God will be with him. God
promises him. And he believed God perfectly.
That's why he wasn't discouraged. You know why you and I get discouraged?
Unbelief. The very root of our discouragement
is unbelief. But God said, I'll be with you,
I'll hold your hand. You know what? He believed that.
He perfectly believed that. He's not alone. The Lord God
here is saying, I'm not going to leave my servant alone. I'm
going to hold your hand. I'm going to hold your hand. Over here in Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50. He says in verse 6, I gave my
back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord
God will help me. He'll help me. I'm not in this
alone. He will help me. Now there was
a time, there was a space of time, He was forsaken. He says,
the Lord God will help me. And he believed. He believed. He said, He'll help me, therefore,
shall I not be what? Confounded. Therefore have I
set my face like a flint. Why? Because the Lord God will
help me. And I know I shall not be ashamed. When this is over,
when I go to Jerusalem, And I bear the wrath of God and the rejection
of men. I will not be ashamed of my work. Not be ashamed. Right now, he's seated at God's
right hand. Right now. He's not ashamed. You know, the
amazing part of it is, he's not ashamed of me. This is the amazing
part of it. Here's the amazing part of grace.
He's not ashamed. to call them brethren. Not a shame. Years ago, I lost
my job. And I was standing in an unemployment
line for the first time and I was ashamed. And when I stood in
that line, this is back when I was in my early 20s. And I
stood in that line, I was embarrassed. And this is the scripture, or
this scripture I thought of. I'm not, he's not ashamed to
call them brethren. And I thought, I shouldn't be
ashamed to be in this line. I belong in it. Why am I not ashamed? I ought
to be in this line. But my soul, he got on my line.
He got right in line with me. And not ashamed. And I was just
in line with some guy who was unemployed. He got in line with
a bunch of wretches who hate God. and was not ashamed. Isn't that
amazing? That's amazing grace. I tell
you what, when you take the mystery out of the gospel and the amazing
out of grace, you don't have the gospel anymore. You don't
have it anymore. The sum and substance of the
covenant of grace. He said, I give thee for a covenant
of the people. The sum and substance of the covenant of grace is given
to us in, through, and by Jesus Christ Himself. until we know
Him. We know nothing of the covenant
of grace. We don't know it. He's the surety of that covenant.
He's the ratifier of that covenant. He's the mediator of that covenant.
His blood is the blood of that covenant. I have given thee. God didn't give me a piece of
paper and say, here's a contract for me and you. He gave me His
Son. He gave His Son. His Son's the
covenant. his sons of the covenant. And then he also gave him to
be a light. Is he not all things to us? Is he not all things to
us? He gave him to be a light to
us Gentiles. We were sitting in darkness.
Our ancestry, our ancestry is in darkness and left in darkness. And then God gave His Son to
be a light to us Gentiles. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ
that we are illuminated. Does it not say that He has come
and given us an understanding over there in 1 John? That we
may know Him that is true? Until we see Him, we have no
light and we have no understanding of God. Not the God of redemption. Not the God of all grace. Not
at all. He's given him as a covenant
of the people, and he's given him to open blind eyes. There was a time I thought I
could see. There was a time I thought I did see. Made a profession,
and then I realized I didn't see. To open blind eyes. One blind man said, I was blind,
but now I see. He's brought up out of ignorance
as to who God is? It's amazing. Over the years,
you know, I've worked in plants, and somebody will start talking,
when they find out you're a preacher, they start talking about God.
And it is a God that just, boy, it was a bad whittle job. Whittled
them one up, and I'm telling you, it was a bad job. It's evident they've never read
the Scriptures. Evident they don't have a clue who God Almighty
is. Well, I didn't either until He
came and opened blind eyes. And you didn't either. Opened
blind eyes. He brought us out of bigness
as to who God Almighty is, as to who He is, as to who and what
we are. We've learned that through Him.
We've learned that through Him. And He has set, it says here,
and to set the prisoners free. Well, you cannot appreciate this
unless you've been blind and locked up. Tell you what, if
you've ever been blind and locked up, you'll love this one. You
can appreciate it. No man loves, enjoys grace that's
not been guilty. That's for the guilty. You've
got to be guilty. You've got to know what it is
to be bound in prison of sin. or self-righteousness, to really
appreciate God's servant and His work. Set the prisoner free
from his bondage to the law, to ceremonies, to all law. Oral law. I'm not under any of
that to keep from my salvation. He's my salvation. Jesus Christ
Himself. Well, as David said, God has
become my salvation. And those that sit in darkness,
you know, sitting here, suppose is resting. Resting in darkness. Weren't you at rest? I'm not
talking about, it's a false rest, but you weren't looking for Him
when He found you. I found a vendor that sought
me." Now you weren't looking for him. He just stood in the way. He
is the way. To those that sit in darkness,
this describes all men by nature, all of us. Children are wrapped
by nature, even as others. We are born in darkness, sit
in darkness, live in darkness, and if He doesn't save us, we'll
die in darkness and then get cast into outer darkness. But my soul, He came to open
the blind eyes, to set the prisoner free, and those that sit in darkness,
to give them light and to set them free. That's exactly what's happened
to you whom God saved. That's what's happened. And this is the way it is with
us, by nature. Until Christ comes in and takes
over the house. Until the strong man comes in
and takes over, we sit in darkness. Until the Son of Righteousness
arises with healing in His wings, we sit in darkness. I'm the Lord. That's my name. Don't give that to anybody else.
That's my name. and my glory. Don't you give
that to anybody else. He says, will I not give to another.
These are my praise to a graven image. This is not a God speaking.
This is the God speaking. The only God that is speaking. I am the Lord. I am the only
one that is the self-existent God. The eternal God. The unchangeable God. That's
who's speaking. That's who's speaking. And I'm
not going to give my glory to a dumb idol. I'm not going to
give my glory to a statue or to something that's been whittled
out, a piece of wood. And the rest after you took and
burned it and roasted hot dogs on. He said, I'm not going to
give my glory to another, my redemptive glory, my creative
glory, any of my glory. I'm not going to give it to another.
And don't you do it. Don't you do it. Don't say, well,
boy, was I lucky. No, don't you do it. Don't you describe that
to a lucky God. No, I'm the Lord. That's my name. Find out that name and you'll
find out who He is. And He says again, Behold, note this, the
former things are come to pass. They're in verse 9. And new things
do I declare before they spring forth. I reveal them to you.
I tell you of them. Now pay attention, he says, to
this. The things that I spoke of in the past, have they not
come to pass? Did he not tell Abraham that
his seed would go down into Egypt for 400 years? And then after
that, I would bring them out? Did that not happen? Well, no,
dumb, I never did that. No, dumb, I never revealed that
future to you. Now I'm telling you something
new. I'm going to tell you a new thing.
Something glorious. It's concerning the Messiah,
my servant. And these things are going to
come to pass also. They're going to spring forth
like seeds sown in the ground. It's going to spring up at its
appointed time. Christ is going to come. The seed of the woman
is going to come at his appointed time, and when he comes, you're
going to know that it was of me. This one's of me. Did he not say, behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son? Did I not tell you that? Well, when it happens, remember,
I told you. No dumb idol ever did that. And then he said, now sing unto
the Lord. Now we have something to sing about. Sing! That's part of worship. It doesn't replace preaching,
but it's a part of worship. Because singing is praise. It's
praising Him. It's a part of worship. It's
so serious, the words and the songs we sing. It's serious. Sing with understanding. Singing
to the Lord a new song. Oh, because of God's servant
we have much to sing about. And we have a new song. Not the
old idolatrous songs. On a hill far away stood an old
rugged cross. Well, I used to love that song.
But I sure like the way Mike sings it now. Christ of the Cross. We rejoice and worship the Christ
of the Cross. Not an old rugged cross. We rejoice
in the One who nailed that cross. And we rejoice in Him. And in
Him alone. In Him alone. And He said, you let the wilderness
and the cities, let those who dwell in the darkest parts of
the earth, and those who dwell in the cities,
Let them all lift up their voice together and sing praise unto
Him who died for us and washed us from our sins in His blood. And let those who dwell in the
rocks, the poorest of the poor, can't even afford a roof over
their head, they've got to go in a cave. He saves men of all
nationalities, all races, all parts of society, He saves them
all. No matter what part of society
you come from, if God has saved you in Christ, you have a right
to sing with the great congregation. You have a right to do it. You
have a blood-bought right to sing His praises. Now, He said, let them give glory.
I'll wind this up. Let them give glory, honor unto
the Lord and declare His praise. in the islands. Never hold back
his praise. Declare it to the remote part
of the earth. He said go out to the islands
and tell it. You can't be prejudiced and be a gospel preacher. You
can't do it. You can't do it. The Lord shall go forth as a
mighty man. Now listen here. He's going to
go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like
a man of war. He shall cry, yea, roar. He shall prevail against
his enemies. One day God will put to silence
once for all Satan and all his enemies and our enemies. One
day He'll do that. He'll rise up like a mighty man
and He'll put an end to all rebellion. Men just get to rebel for a while.
One day He's going to put an end to it. He's going to roar
like a mighty lion over his prey. It says when Christ rose from
the grave, he led captivity captive, he conquered all principalities
and powers, and everything is put under his feet. Oh, he said, I've a long time
holding my peace. I've been still, refrained myself,
but I'm going to cry now like a travailing woman. I'm going
to destroy and devour at once. I've been long-suffering." You know why he's long-suffering?
For his elect's sake. He's long-suffering for his elect's
sake. But once he takes them out of
the way, he will destroy all things that offend. He will destroy
and devour at once Outside of Christ, God Almighty is a consuming
fire. He is not a merciful God outside
of Christ. He's a God you don't want to
deal with and you don't want to meet. He will destroy and devour at
once in a moment when we think not, there will not be a trace,
not even a trace of sin left one day. One day there won't
even be a trace, not even a trace of sin left. There will be a
new heaven and a new earth. And this won't even come to mind. I'll make waste mountains and
hills and dry up all their herbs and I will make the rivers islands
and I'll dry up the pools. Everything we count as strong
and abiding, He will bring down and dry it up. And there won't
be a blessing left in anything that's hurt. The only blessings
that will be left are those in Christ. But I tell you what,
I think of this today. This also has to happen to me.
I will make waste mountains. I've got to come off that high
mountain. I've got to be brought down off that high mountain.
I can assure you this, nobody thinks more of me than me. And nobody thinks more of you
than you. And you and I have got to be brought off that mountain.
And we've got to be dried up. And then he says here, and I'll
close, verse 16, and I'll bring the blind by way. In his wrath, he always remembers
mercy. His wrath is not out of control.
It's not like us. We get out of control. We start
showing our wrath and anger, we're out of control usually.
But not God. It's an execution of justice.
But in his wrath, he remembers mercy. I will bring the blind
by way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they've not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them." He's not going to forsake his own. He's not going to do that. I'm going to save sinners. That's
what he said. I'm going to save sinners. And
I'm going to save them by way that they didn't even think of.
I'm going to say by way that they did not even know of. A
way that they had never even heard of or saw before the gospel
came to them. You say, my, my, my. I've never seen that before.
How many times have I heard people say that after preaching? How
many times have you heard somebody say, well, I never saw that before.
Well, that's because he said his brain knew by way you didn't
see before. He always does what he says. I'll lead them in paths of righteousness,
His righteousness, that they did not know, not until He revealed
it to them, not until He made it known. The mysteries of the
gospel that was hid from ages shall be made known to them. And I will not forsake them. Is there a smoking flax? Is there
a bruised reed? Listen. I will not forsake them. I will not forsake them. We have
God's Word on that. We have God's Word. I will not,
I will not, I will not forsake you. You can go home and sleep with
that. You can go home... If that will not give you rest,
well, just keep on calling upon Him until He does give you rest. I'll not forsake them. Scripture
says He's able to save to the uttermost them that come unto
God by Him. Now listen, He will not forsake
the work of His hand or the work of His servant. God's servant
is successful. He shall not fail. Okay, Doc.