I'd like to call to your attention
a verse of scripture found in the book of Isaiah chapter 42.
If you turn there, this is one of my favorite chapters in all
the Bible. And if you would turn there,
I'd like to read the first verse, the first verse of Isaiah chapter
42. The prophet says, Behold my servant. The prophet is speaking in the
name of the Lord, speaking with the burden of the Lord, speaking
that which God would have to be said. And he said, 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. Here we find the prophet of God
saying, behold my servant. God saying, behold my servant. Look at my servant. I want you
to see my servant. God has a servant and he wants
us to see him. He would have us to see his servant. Now when we begin to think about
God's servant, We know, of course, that this servant is the Christ. We know that this is the anointed
one of God. We know that this is that one
of whom God has given His Spirit without measure. We know this
is the one that God has sent into the world. Now then, he
says, this is my servant. Now God has one servant that
he has sent into the world to do something for him. God has
sent his servant into the world to do something for God. The
Lord Jesus came into this world to do something for the Father,
to accomplish a work. He came in on a mission to do
something for the Father. Now this one is said to be the
one whom God upholds. He is God's elect servant. All of us are chosen in Him. All those that are saved, all
those that ever will be saved, all those on that glorious morning
that wake up in the presence of God after death on earth will
be those whom God have chosen. And we were chosen in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and this servant God upholds. he upholds this
servant. And we know that what this means
is that he's the one that God holds up. that we're to look
to. He's the one that God holds up
that we're to look to for everlasting life and salvation. He's the
one that God would hold up for us to trust in, for us to believe
in, for us to depend upon. God said, this is my servant,
you behold him. Forget about the preacher forget
about the other church members forget about everybody, but look
at my servant I want you to behold my servant and one of the most
important things you'll ever do in this world is is look at
God's servant is look to him and Behold him and view him now
God says he's mine elect in whom my soul delighted I've got one
in whom my soul delighted Now, I am here this morning to testify
to you that there's only one in whom the soul of God ever
delighted. And that one is His servant.
That one is the matchless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that one that delighted
God Almighty. God said, My soul delights in
Him. And the reason that God delights
in him is because the Lord Jesus was just like he was, or just
like God is. He was perfect. The Lord Jesus
was obedient, and the Lord Jesus always did that which was pleasing
in the sight of the Lord. So Christ is the one chosen by
God, anointed by God, sent by God, to do something in service
to God, the one that God selected to do a work and one that God
delights in for having finished that work. This is God's servant,
the Lord Jesus. Well, now I want you to notice
something here. Christ was sent by God to live
a righteous and holy life as a man. He came into this world. Now what did he come to do? I said he came to do a work for
God. He came to do something for God. And God gave him a work and he
finished that work that God gave him to do. Well what was that
work? He came into the world to live
a righteous and holy life as a man. He came into the world
to glorify God as a man, the way God intended man to do. The way God intended man to live
is the way that the God-man, God's servant, lived in the world. That's the way God intended for
men to live. You know, the Lord Jesus said,
I come to do thy will, O God. I come to do your will. I come
down from heaven not to do my own will, but to do your will. Now if a man is right, his desire
is to do God's will. If a man is going to glorify
God, he must do the will of God from his heart. God would have
men to do his will. And Jesus said, that's what I
come for. I come into the world to do your
will. I come not to do my own, but to do your will. I come to
do your bidding. I come to please you. I come
to honor you. I come to glorify you, as you
would have a man to glorify you. So the Lord Jesus pleased God,
and then when he had done this work for God, he pleased God,
he honored God, he glorified God, he lived a holy life, a
righteous life, then he imputed, that word is charged, reckoned,
he reckoned to the elect to those chosen of God, to those that
were put in Him from the foundation of the world, that holy life,
so God could accept them. Now, that's the work that He
came to do. He came to live a life that God
demands that all live. Men have not lived that life,
but then when Jesus had lived that life, He charged that good
life of His to all the elect that the Father might accept
them and they would be saved. They would be saved. Yes, they're
the ones that believe on the Son of God. Now John the Baptist
said in John 3 and 36, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life. he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." So if
you don't believe on the Son of God this morning, the wrath
of God abides on you. God's wrath abides on you. You're
here, sitting here this morning, and the judgment of God, it's
not a matter of you being on probation. You're not on probation. The judgment of God, the wrath
of God abides on you today. God says you're under the sentence
of wrath. And unless you believe on the
Son of God, you're going to hell. You're going to hell. There's
no escaping the judgment of God, the wrath of God, except you
be in the Son. He that believeth on the Son
of God is saved. He that believeth on the Son
of God has escaped. He that believeth on the Son
is not under condemnation. He that believeth not the Son
of God is under condemnation already. Already is under condemnation. Not something that will happen
in the future. It's that way right now. You die, you go to
hell if you're not in Christ. If your sins are not under the
blood, if his righteous life is not accredited to your account,
then you'll die and go to hell. If you die on your sins, you're
going to be lost forever. Well, that holy life has been
charged, reckoned, imputed to the elect that God may accept
them. And I do not in any way at all
think it's brash. I do not think that it's a blasphemous
thing to say that as I stand here before you this morning
with all my imperfections in a state of nature, with all my
sin as a sinner, a son of Adam in this world, that I stand here
today in Christ as righteous and holy as the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. That's not a brash statement.
That's not a rash statement. That's not a blasphemous statement. I'm telling you, that's what
the Word of God teaches. This righteous life which glorified
God, which calls God to say, my soul delights in Him. That
life has been imputed to the account of believers. And they
stand righteous before God, accepted in the Beloved, holy as the Holy
One. Because we have His holy garments
on, we're as holy as the Holy One. And God is well pleased
for His righteousness sake. Isaiah 42 and 21 says that God
is well pleased for his righteousness sake. Now then, I want us to
think a little bit about this. After Jesus had lived this perfect
life, God's servant, doing something for God, and after he'd lived
this perfect life and imputed it unto the charge of his elect,
then God, being just and absolutely holy, His inflexible justice
demanded that sin be paid for. God hating sin, and God does
indeed hate sin. God must punish sin. He must
punish sin, Him being the God that He is, absolutely holy,
absolutely perfect. And Christ came then and He was
made, M-A-D-E, sin. He was legally, that's the word,
constituted to be sin. The Lord Jesus became sin. He had no sin of His own. But the sins of those that the
Father had given to Him were charged to Him. They were charged
to Him. And you see, He's here to do
something for God. And in order for God to have
a family, in order for the Holy Spirit to have a temple, in order
for Jesus to have a bride, God's got to have somebody do something
for him. What is that something? Somebody
has got somebody who can. Somebody who's in a position
to. Somebody who is able has got to do something about S-I-N. Somebody's got to do something
about sin. And so the Lord Jesus was made
sin for us. He was made sin for us, for the
elect, the people of God. And God's justice and judgment
against sin was completely satisfied when the Lord Jesus was delivered
up to the cross by the hands of wicked men, and when he was
crucified and slain, and when his blood was shed, the justice
of God was completely and entirely satisfied toward all those for
whom he died. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
That's a marvelous thing that the Lord Jesus was able to lay
down his life. And he said no man takes it from
me. He said I lay it down of myself. I lay it down. And he laid it down. And God's
justice was satisfied through Christ's death on Calvary. God
was honored. God was glorified, His law was
fulfilled, His justice, as we said, was satisfied, and God
delighted in what Christ did, and so He raised Him up from
the dead, which gives us proof of the fact that what Jesus Christ
did on that cross, God accepted it in full payment for the sins
of those that believe on Him. God accepted it as full payment
to where now, if you believe on Him, you walk out of this
building this morning with no debt toward God. It's all wiped
out. It's all wiped out. It's been
cast behind its back. The sin is forgiven. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone forever.
And you're out from under the wrath of God. There's no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ, there's
no condemnation, no judgment for those that are in Christ.
Those that believe on Him whom the Father sent has passed from
death unto life. They pass from death, spiritual
death, unto spiritual life. Oh my friend, can you believe
on God's servant? Do you see God's servant? Now
I said that this has got to be somebody who's able to do that.
This servant of God is able. He's able. And the reason he's
able is because he's the God-man. He's the God-man. He's the Christ.
He's the anointed one of God. And John Calvin said that the
very name of Christ, the very name of Christ excludes all merit
of our own. Other words, the Lord Jesus,
when you put Him in the picture, and you mention the name of Christ,
we're talking about God's servant who was able to do something
for God. He was able, my friend, to furnish
the elect of God with a perfect life. and then able to give himself
in death to pay the payment of their sin. He was able to do
all of that. And John Calvin said, as soon
as Christ appears, forget merit, look to God's servant, and behold,
God's servant. Now I read to you this morning
from the fifth chapter or third chapter of the gospel of john
some of the things that john the baptist had to say about
the lord jesus christ and and and this is a marvelous chapter
in a wonderful chapter in some amazing statements here john
chapter three and we see here that uh... the uh... uh... disciples of john they
came to him and john was looked at in verse twenty six is being
a rabbi or a teacher And he certainly was that. But he said, he that
was with you beyond Jordan, speaking of Christ, he said, you've been
bearing witness of him. He said, the same baptizeth,
and all men now come to him. Everybody's coming to the Lord
Jesus. He's coming to Christ. And John
answered and said, John was a wise man spiritually. He had been
tutored and taught by God the Father and by the Spirit of God.
And he said, well, he said, a man can receive nothing. A man can
receive nothing. He recognized that Jesus had
come down from heaven. He said, a man can't receive
anything except to be given to him from heaven. And he said,
you all know, you've been with me. I told you I wasn't the Christ. And I told you that I'm just
sent before him. I told you I wasn't God's servant
in the sense that Jesus is. I told you that I was sent before
him, one to go before him. And then in verse 29 he explains
that Jesus is the one that has the bride and that he's the friend
of the bridegroom, John the Baptist was, and he said, I rejoice greatly
that I've heard his voice. He's God's servant and I've heard
his voice. Therefore, he said, my joy is
fulfilled. My joy is fulfilled. John the
Baptist said, as soon as I heard his voice. As far as I was concerned,
my mission on earth was over with, and I was ready to go on.
I was like old Simeon. He said, just as I saw the Lord's
Christ, I was ready to go. Let thy servant depart in peace.
I'm ready to make it out of here. I've seen my eyes. I've seen
thy salvation. I've seen thy servant. John said,
my joy is fulfilled. I'll never have a greater joy
if I live to be a hundred. I've heard his voice. And when
I've heard his voice, I'll never have a greater joy than that.
And I'll tell you this, once you believe on the Lord Jesus
and behold God's servant, People talk about great experiences
in life. And I've heard people say, oh,
the greatest day of my life was when this happened, or when that
happened, or when something else happened. Well, I want to tell
you this. The greatest day in my life was the day when I heard
the good news of the gospel and was enabled by God to believe
that as if it came from the very mouth of the Lord Jesus. And
it did. It did. When I heard His voice,
my joy is fulfilled. I don't ever expect to have a
high like I had when I heard from the Lord Jesus Christ in
my innermost soul. I don't ever expect to have a
joy like that. And listen to what John said,
and he said that now in verse 30, he said he must increase
and I must decrease. I must decrease. He said, now
it's over. He said, I'm on my way down. He's on his way up. And I believe
that's the way it is in a man's soul when he hears from God and
he sees God's servant and he sees what God's servant has done
for God on the behalf of the elect He says now, He says I'll
take the back seat. I have anything to say other
than that I must decrease and He must increase. The Lord Jesus
must increase. He must be exalted. He must have
the preeminence. He must be the one that we sing
about, the one we pray to, the one we talk about, the one that
we trust in. Listen to verse 31. He that cometh
from above, He's above all. He's above all. Well, wouldn't
you say amen to that? He's talking about Christ, God's
servant. He comes from above, and He's
above all. He that is of the earth is earthly.
John the Baptist said, I'm earthly. I didn't come from heaven. I
was born over there. Elizabeth is my mother. He said,
I'm earthly. I'm earthly. He said, I didn't
come from above. Jesus was born, and His Father
was God. And Jesus was with the Father
before the world began. Jesus came down from heaven,
you see. He's God's servant, he said.
And the man such as myself, John said, he speaks of the earth.
He that cometh from heaven, he says it again, is above all.
He's above all. And so I'm trying to get you
to look at him, God's servant. To look at him. And what he has
seen and heard when he was with the Father is what John means.
He testifies. So what you're hearing come from
the mouth of this one, God's servant, is from God Himself. Now I have verses that I can
read and I won't get to them today, but I will right away,
maybe even next Sunday. But anyway, he said, and no man
receives his testimony. He speaks the words of God, but
no man receives his testimony. No man receives it. Man left
to himself. a hopeless, helpless, condemned
sinner left to himself, apart from the intervention of the
Holy Spirit, apart from the work of the Spirit of God, any soul
will not receive the testimony of God. He will not. God must
intervene. Oh, my soul today, if you just
knew how dependent you were, if your soul ever is saved, how
dependent you are upon the inward working of the Spirit of God,
upon God working in your heart, God doing a work in you. You
see, then you would understand what it is that John's talking
about here. He said that at the very next verse after he says,
and no man receiveth his testimony, he said, and he that hath received
his testimony. What about that, John? What are
you talking about? Well, he's saying that there's some that
have been enabled to receive the testimony. Some have been
enabled to receive the testimony. Somebody did receive it. And
somebody had the arm of the Lord revealed to them. And those that
this has happened to have set to their seal that God is true.
they know god is true they know it they believe the record god
gave of his son which is eternal life he that hath the son hath
life he that hath not the son of god is not life they believe
the record and they've set to their seal god is true god is
true this is god's servant and i believe on it it's settled
for he whom god has sent speaketh the words of god for god giveth
not the spirit by measure unto him now look at verse thirty
five and we're gonna we're gonna Wind this thing up here. Look
at this. John the Baptist says, the Father loveth the Son. He
loves the Son. Well, we already read where the
soul of God delighted in Him. The Father loveth the Son. The
Father had somebody to love. He had somebody to love. Somebody
said, well, don't He love the whole, don't He love everybody
in the world? Well, this scripture says the
Father loves the Son. and we read in the scripture
over and over that the love of God is in Christ Jesus and the
father loveth the son and something else here and hath given and
hath given all things into his hand the father loveth the son
and hath given all things into his hand now I hope that nobody
will be offended I don't think anybody will be here but I'd
like to tell you that God has not given you anything you say
well I always thought God gave me some things well listen to
me the scripture here says that God has given all things into
his hand everything's been given into his hand now what I'm saying
is this and this is important for you to see that the Lord
Jesus, God's servant, He is the channel. He's the founder. He's the source. The Father has
invested everything in Christ. He is the conduit. It's mine. I get it as I am in Him, as I
stand in Him. everything that God gives to
men and women in this world, boys and girls, He gives it to
them as they are in union with His Son. As they believe on His
Son, as they have a standing in Christ, everything that God
has for sinners comes out of the hands of Christ and is given
to them. But this is so important that
you see this. that you do not independently
think, apart from God's servant, Christ, that God's going to give
you anything. God gives all things to Christ
and then Christ gives them to those that the Father has given
to Him. And that's very important to
see that. Now if you're able to see these things this morning
by the Spirit's illumination in the light of the Word of God,
then I believe this morning that we have spent time here that
has been very profitable, and that it's been a useful time.
I wanted to go ahead and talk about some of these things that
God has given specifically to Christ, that we can see clearly
revealed in the 17th chapter of John, at least six or seven
things that the Father has given over unto His Son. He'd give
these things to him. And I'm not going to get into
that this morning. I'm going to close right where
I'm at. And I hope that you have been enabled of God to see this
morning God's servant. God's servant. Behold my servant. Well, let's pray. Father, in
the name of the Lord Jesus, We thank you for that one who has
come, that one who has been faithful to you, and that one who has
been faithful to us. We thank you for that mediator,
that mediator between God and man, that one mediator, that
one who can lay his hand on God and lay his hand on us. that
one through whom we can come and approach into you, approach
into your throne, the throne of grace, the one, Lord, that
stands between us and the pit, us and the judgment that was
due us as sinners. We thank you for Christ, how
we love Him, how we praise Him, how we adore Him. We would love
our Father this morning to see somebody here say, I've seen
the Son, I've seen God's servant today, and I too believe on Him
and have set to my seal that God is true. May you work your
will and purpose in our lives. Accomplish that which is pleasing,
our Father, in your sight. For Jesus Christ's sake I pray,
Amen.