Here we go. Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Verse 4. Verse 4. I'm entitling the message
from the words found there in verse 4. He shall not fail. The Lord Jesus Christ knows nothing,
I mean nothing, of failure. He is an absolute, successful,
victorious Lord and Savior. He knows nothing of defeat. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail in any aspect of His redeeming work or His salvation because
God can't fail. The Lord Jesus Christ is God,
our Savior. Everything He speaks is done. Everything He commands, it stands
fast. Our God knows nothing of defeat,
knows nothing of failure. Everything that God undertakes
for us and for Himself, you can write over it with bold letters. Successful, victorious, complete,
and eternal. Aren't you glad? In all aspects
of His eternal purpose, His eternal decrees, His determination, His
declaration shall be accomplished, shall be done. He works all things
out to the counsel of His own will. Just a few pages over,
we won't turn, but in Isaiah 46, He said, I've spoken it,
I bring it to pass. I purposed it. I will do it. Mark it down. Mark it down. The Lord God our Savior shall
not fail. He can't. He can't. Now we're
failures. We're born failures. But He can't
fail. He can't fail. We're more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. Loved us. Now, let's take
a look at verse 1. Isaiah 42 verse 1, God said,
now you stop, look and listen. Whenever you see the word behold
in scripture, it means to gaze with earnest and intent contemplation. God said, behold my righteous
servant. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. No doubt about that from what
we've just read in Matthew chapter 12. And that's the reference.
And the Lord references right back to this scripture and applies
it to himself, doesn't he? Behold my servant. God said is
the one that I've sent. He is my elect. He said I uphold
him. with His decree, with His purpose,
God the Holy Spirit is upon Him, I put my spirit upon Him, He
shall. Maybe He could. He could bring
salvation. Maybe if you meet certain conditions,
He could really bring salvation. Is that what it says? No. You see our salvation does not
depend upon us. Does it? Our salvation depends
upon Him. Now if it depended upon us, it's
going to fail. By the deeds of the flesh shall no man be justified. Because our salvation depends
upon Him and His faithfulness, it's a sure thing in Him. He
cannot fail. I put my spirit upon Him. He
shall bring forth a just salvation. He is the just God and Savior. That's why it says over here
in Isaiah 45, remember? Look unto me, all the ends of
the earth, I am God, there is no other. He's the only just
God and, thank God, He is the Savior. He saves sinners in such
a way that magnifies His holy justice, honors His holy law,
and yet shows mercy to such folks like we are. He shall bring forth
a just salvation unto sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save
sinners. Paul said, I'm the chief one.
And then it says in verse 2 of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he
shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in
the street." Now the Lord Jesus Christ did in his ministry, his
earthly ministry, he did publicly preach in the countryside, and
in the city, and in the temple. What does this mean here? What's
he talking about here? We see the means the Lord employed
to establish His church. He said, I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail upon it. The Lord did
not demand that the kings of the earth hear His voice, such
as the Roman governor, or the Roman government, or He didn't
call upon Caesar. Now you come down here and you
hear me. But he did preach the gospel, and you know who did
hear him? Let's see if we can find out.
Turn to John chapter 8. John chapter 8. Let's see. Who
did hear him? John chapter 8. Look at verse
47. John 8, 47. You with me? John 8, 47. He that is of God
heareth God's word. Oh. And then he says, you therefore
hear them not, because you're not of God. And the Jews said,
say we not well? Thou art a Samaritan, and you're
a demon-possessed man. They wouldn't hear him. They
wouldn't love him. But I tell you who did, those
that are of God, they heard him. Turn to John chapter 10. John
chapter 10, verse 23, the Lord walked in the temple of Solomon's
port and came to Jews round about and said to them, how long do
you make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us
plainly. He said, I told you. I told you and you believe not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me,
but you believe not. Because you're not one of my
people. You're not one of my elect. You're
not one of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. I and my Father are one. The
Father which gave to me is greater than all. No man can pluck him
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Then
that same religious crowd, they wouldn't hear him, they wouldn't
have him. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Isn't that amazing? They would
not hear, but his sheep do hear. He that is of God, heareth God's
word. Now one day in judgment, Every
knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he's Lord to
the glory of God the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ does not
seek to build up an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom. He told
Pilate, he said, my kingdom is not of this world. His ministry,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was like no other. His ministry was not
to gain the applause and recognition of men, but rather to honor and
to glorify God. Remember He said in John 17,
Father, I finished the work You gave Me to do, and now glorify
Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with
Thee before the world was. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
and does not use and employ means of earthly kings to gain his
goal of salvation of his elect. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God through the pulling down
of strongholds. His sheep will hear his voice."
Look at verse 3, a bruised reed. That poor, humble sinner, that
bruised sinner, shall he not break, rather he will heal them. That smoking flack, that dimly
lit candle, he won't snuff it out. But he shall bring salvation
unto truth, unto truth. Look at verse six and seven,
Isaiah 42. I, the Lord, have called thee
in righteousness. I will hold thy hand. I will
keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people. He is the sacrifice
of the covenant, the surety of the covenant, the savior of the
covenant for the light of the Gentile to open blind eyes. to bring out prisoners from the
prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Now remember, turn to this one, Isaiah 61. We had this a couple
of weeks ago. Isaiah 61. A bruised reed shall
he not break, he's going to heal the brokenhearted. Isaiah 61
verse 1, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he has anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he has sent me to bind
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound. to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn. To appoint unto them that morn
in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified. That's the bottom
line. And all that God does is His glory. Now reading through
the Gospel record of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, I've never
read one occasion when the Lord was sought by a mercy beggar,
when some poor sinner sought mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I've never read one time when the Lord turned a deaf ear. or
turned away from someone who was truly seeking mercy. Everyone that needed healing,
you know what he did? He healed them. That ought to
encourage us to cry out for mercy. Like blind Bartimaeus, he heard
the Lord Jesus was coming by and he cried out, Thou Son of
David, have mercy on me! And they told him his friend
said, shut up, he won't hear you. And he cried out some more.
Thou son of David, have mercy on me." And the Lord stood still. Bartimaeus, what do you need?
I'm blind. Receive your son. The leper that
fell down on his feet and worshipped him said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. And the Lord said, I will be
thou clean. That ought to encourage us to
seek mercy where it's found. To seek mercy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, verse 4, He cannot fail. He cannot fail to show mercy.
He must show mercy. Our God is merciful. He shall
not fail, He shall not be defeated, He shall not be broken, till
He has established salvation, righteousness in the earth. And
we'll wait upon that. We'll wait upon Him. Isn't He
worth waiting upon? That's why David said, wait upon
the Lord. And again I say, wait upon the
Lord. Those far off places, they shall
wait for His word. They shall wait for the good
news of the gospel. That's why the Lord said, go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now what a glorious and comforting
statement is given unto us. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail. He cannot fail to accomplish
all God's purpose in saving His elect. He cannot be frustrated. He cannot be defeated. It said
in Isaiah 53 10, the pleasure of the Lord shall, the pleasure
of the Lord shall What's that word? Prosper in His hand. The pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in His hand. He cannot fail. I want us to
find sweet comfort and rest in the sure promise of our blessed
Savior. He shall not fail. He has not
nor will ever fail or be defeated. We worship the conquering, victorious,
successful Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 6, he went forth conquering
and to conquer. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He can not, never,
no never fail. Now we can't say that about ourselves.
We're failures. Come on now, fess up. We've failed
to honor God. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We are defeated by sin, which
brought great weakness and total depravity upon us. In the flesh,
no man can please God. That's what it says in Romans.
No man can please God. As a matter of fact, the carnal
mind is enmity against God. The Scripture often brings to
remembrance our total lack of ability to please God. to produce
a righteousness to satisfy God, that we might be shut up to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Shut up to Him. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. When
the Lord is pleased to teach us what we are, Thank God He
doesn't leave us there. He gives us eyes to behold Him
who is altogether lovely. It will gladden and rejoice our
heart to know that God has provided for us a perfect remedy, a perfect
Savior. And you know what? He cannot
fail. Call His name Jesus. Why? Savior,
that's what the name means. Call His name Savior. That's
His office. He shall save His people from
their sin. He is what He's called. He is
the Savior of sinners. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with
exceeding joy. He cannot fail to save us and
to keep us and to glorify us in Him. Forever! That's good
news. That's good news. That's the
Savior that I rejoice in. Now, I want to present this truth
in three parts. First of all, what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done, what He has done, what He is doing, and what
He will yet do in which He cannot fail. Did you get that? what
he has done, what he is doing, and what he shall yet do. that
is absolutely successful, complete, victorious, cannot fail. What
has he done? Isaiah here, by inspiration of
God, is looking future about the coming Messiah. Isaiah is
writing here 700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ was manifest
in the flesh. He is looking future about the
coming of the Messiah and God says to Isaiah that The one sin
of God cannot fail. And we are looking back to the
past and say that the Lord Jesus Christ has not failed. That's what this book teaches.
Knows nothing of a failed Savior. A complete victorious Savior. Now, here's several things I
want to mention. What the Lord has done for us. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
fail to fulfill all Scripture. Every type, picture, and promise
in the Old Testament. All the prophets, all the Psalms,
and all things that are written of the Lord Jesus Christ, He
has fulfilled. Luke 24 verse 44 tells us that. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that Passover lamb. Christ is our Passover
that is sacrificed for us. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God that takes away our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that Passover lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of that brazen serpent lifted up. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, those that were bitten with those
fiery serpents looked to that brazen serpent and were healed. That's the picture of Christ
being lifted up. He's a fulfillment of that. He
said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all His people unto Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment
of that smitten rock. Remember Moses leading those
in the wilderness? No water, they became thirsty,
and God said, see that rock? You take your rod and smite it.
And out of that rock came water. And it says that water followed
them. Forty years that water followed them. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the smitten rock. He's smitten and afflicted of
God. And out of Him, out of Christ crucified comes the living water
that a man may drink thereof and never die. You see, every
prophecy concerning His death, the time, the manner, the circumstances
were all written and all fulfilled in His coming, in His doing and
His dying, in His coming, in His living, in His dying, in
His resurrection and in His ascension. He did not fail to accomplish
all things according to God's eternal purpose. You see, He
died for our sin according to the Scripture. He was buried
and raised again the third day. How? According to thus saith
the Lord. You see, failure wasn't an option,
was it? He couldn't fail. Him being delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. How do
we know His work was successful? His resurrection. When He by
Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of God. So the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
all Scripture. He could not fail. He did not
fail. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
did not fail to satisfy God's holy law and justice for us. I pointed that out in the reading
of Isaiah 42 verse 21. The Lord, that is Jehovah, capital
L-O-R-D, is well pleased for His righteousness sake. For whose
righteousness sake? for Christ's righteousness sake.
He will magnify the law. Now the law of God has got to
be honored, got to be magnified, got to be honored. He will magnify
the law and make it honorable for us. Our Lord said in Matthew
5, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill the law
for us. In his life, he obeyed every
precept of that law. Now, not just the Ten. We think
about the Ten, don't we? The Ten Commandments. Now, he
honored that, but that law had 800 precepts. He honored the
law. Not only honored it, he elevated
it, magnified it as a God-man mediator, and he did that for
you. That's the believer's obedience
before that law. His perfect obedience, every
precept of that law. I've kept it. Wait a minute now.
I'm a lawbreaker. Yeah, that's me by nature. But
in my substitute and in my representative and in my federal head, this
center has kept the law. magnified it in Christ Jesus. In his death he satisfied the
penalty of that law. The penalty of that law says
the guilty must die, right? The sinner must die, right? Can
God just sweep that aside? Oh no, he's too holy and just.
You see the Lord Jesus Christ honored the law, every precept
of that law in His life, in His perfect obedience, in His faithfulness
unto death, and in His death He magnified the penalty of that
law. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. That's why He died. Judgment
and guilt of God's people was upon Him. And He exacted the
penalty of our sin with death, and He died. And He redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. You
see, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him in our room and in our stead. And the Lord is satisfied I'm
satisfied, but more importantly, God is satisfied with Christ
and Him crucified. This is God's Lamb that taketh
away our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
fail to make complete, perfect, and definite atonement for our
sin. Is His atonement, His shedding
of His blood, is it a complete and perfect atonement, or is
it an attemptment? Did he attempt to put away sin?
Or, as the scripture said, he appeared once in the end of the
age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Those for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ stood as surety, mediator, representative, and
federal head and substitute, those for whom he died, He redeemed
them with His own blood. He obtained for them eternal
redemption and they cannot perish. The Lord Jesus Christ in His
death didn't make it a possibility. If you meet certain conditions,
it works for you. No. That would make the whole
scheme of salvation dependent upon you instead of dependent
upon Him. God's not going to do that because
it would fail. We would fail. But the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot fail. So much so that God said,
their sin and their iniquity, I don't remember anymore. Why?
He put it away by the sacrifice of himself. I love that. I love
that truth. Would you have a failed atonement?
What good would it do you? You get to the judgment bar and
stand before God and say, well, You know, He paid for most of
my sin. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Trouble. Judgment. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. But in the Lord Jesus Christ
there is therefore right now, right now, sinner, think of it,
right now there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand in Him complete, completely
justified, completely redeemed, completely righteous before God. Aren't you glad that He cannot
fail? here in his love, not that we
love God, but he loved us, and that he sent his son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. I not only need redemption, but
I need something else. In Christ we have all these things.
But I need not only redemption, you know what I need? Righteousness. How do I get righteousness? He
is made unto me wisdom and righteousness. He is the Lord our righteousness. I have no righteousness of my
own. My morality will never do for righteousness. Never. Now, I'm all for morality, but
morality does not justify us. There was nobody straighter,
clean as a hound's tooth, so the old saying goes, than those
old Pharisees. Right? Lord, we preached in your
name. Lord, we've done these many wonderful works. We've even
cast out demons in you, and we did it in your name. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. You see, I must have a perfect,
unfailing redemption, a perfect, unfailing, justifying righteousness. Now here's the scripture. You
remember Romans chapter 4? Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputed righteousness without your deeds. I'm interested in
that. justified freely by His grace. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail to save His people from their sin. Is that right? That's
right. Successful. Victorious. Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly,
this is the second point, Roman numeral 2. Christ shall not fail
in what He is doing right now. Right now. Christ shall not fail
to irresistibly, powerfully call out His elect from the four corners
of the earth, and to make them new creatures in Christ Jesus. Look, right across the page,
if you have the Cambridge I have, Isaiah 43 verse 5 says this,
Fear not, for I am with thee, I will bring thy seed. is elect from the east, gather
thee from the west, I will say to the north, give up, to the
south, keep not back, bring my sons from far, my daughters from
the ends of the earth, everyone that is called by my name, for
I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have
made him, We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. He cannot fail to save His people
and then to call them out of darkness into His marvelous light. He cannot fail. He knows nothing
of failure. He told us to go and preach the
gospel knowing this, I have all power in heaven and earth. He
said, my word will not return to me void. It shall accomplish
all my purpose. Does that sound like something
that's failing? Oh no. Oh no. Something else on what
the Lord is doing right now. He shall not fail to call out
His people. Christ shall not fail to meet
the need and supply the need of every sinner redeemed by His
grace. He meets all our need, singular. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. But of Him are you in Christ,
who of God is made known to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He is all I need. Is He enough? If He's all you've got, you've
got everything. Christ he shall not fail to supply
all our need Thirdly he shall not fail to sustain our soul
and keep us by his grace I Quoted that scripture a moment ago in
Jude chapter Verse 24, where it said, He's able to keep us
from falling and to present us faultless before the presence
of God, glory with exceeding joy. I give my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. Christ shall not fail to save
us and then to keep us by His grace. Do you believe a man can
be saved and then lost again? Not if God saves him. Whatsoever
the Lord does, it shall be forever." Isn't that what the Scriptures
teach? What does eternal life mean when it says, I give them
temporary life? That's no comfort there. I give
them salvation dependent upon what you do. Well, there's no
comfort there. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Now that's comfort. You can't fail. The Lord cannot fail to give
us comfort in every trial. Every trial. Turn back one page.
Comfort, comfort, comfort in every trial. He cannot fail to
comfort us. What does He comfort us with? When our Lord said, when He,
the Holy Spirit, has come, He will comfort you. Now think about
this. The Holy Spirit is called the
Comforter. Right? What does the Holy Spirit comfort
us with? Well, you know, warm, gooey feelings. No, no, no, no, no, no. Feelings
come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is
a word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
What does God the Holy Spirit comfort us with? When He the
Holy Spirit has come, our Lord said, He'll take the things of
mine and show them to you. God the Holy Spirit comforts
us with Christ who cannot fail. Look what it says here in Isaiah
40 verse 1. Comfort you, comfort you, my
people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
crying to her that her warfare is accomplished. Accomplished. What does that mean? He cannot
fail. That her warfare is pardoned. That her iniquity, rather, her
warfare is accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. What
does that sound like? Complete pardon. For she has
received of the Lord's hand double for all her sin. That's our comfort. That's our comfort. When we sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He shall not fail to comfort
us, to sustain us, to supply every need. He shall not fail
to give us grace for every trial. He said, My grace is sufficient.
Here's the last point. The Lord Jesus Christ shall not
fail in what He will yet do for His church. What He has done,
what He is doing, and what He will yet do. He cannot fail. A couple things here. He will
not fail to come again and receive us unto Himself, and there shall
we ever be with the Lord. That's what He promised, right?
Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. In my Father's house, everybody
mentions John 14. I go away to prepare a place for you, and
if I go away, I'll come again and receive you unto Myself that
where I am, there you may be also. He shall not fail to come
again and to receive us. He shall not fail to make a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, You know,
this earth as we know it is going to be burned up. This heaven
and this earth is going to pass away. It's going to be dissolved
and melt with a fervent heat. What about the EPA? You know,
they don't like that stuff. It's got no word in it. He's
going to burn it up and He's going to make a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The Lord shall
not fail to make us and to predestinate us to be just like the Lord Jesus
Christ. A lot of people get upset about
that word predestination. Predestination has to do with
God determining the end of a people. Making and determining them to
be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. We are predestined to be conformed
to the image of Christ. That's what predestination's
all about. God had determined to make a, populate heaven with
a people just like Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Predestination,
that's what Romans 8 teaches. That's the end word of God four
times. Whom he loved, then he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of Christ. That's what it's all about. To
be just like Christ. There was an old brother that
attended here for a number of years. His name was Brother Earl
Blackburn. Listened to Brother Henry Mahan
on TV for years and years and years. And about 1995 or so when Brother Mahan came
and preached here for us one time, Brother Earl Blackburn
showed up in the parking lot and I said, what are you doing
here? He said, I came here to hear some preaching. I want to
hear that Mahan fella preach the gospel. I said, well, he's
a good preacher. He preaches grace, sovereign
grace. Do you believe that? Yes, I do. I sure do. One day,
a year or so after that, I was talking to Brother Earl about
God's grace and his predestinating his people to be just like Christ.
And you know what he told me? I never forgot it. I mentioned
this at his funeral when I preached his funeral several years ago.
He said, Brother Tom, I tell you who believes in predestination. I said, well, who does believe
in predestination? He said, those who are predestinated.
That's who believes in predestination. Those who are ordained to eternal
life, they believe the gospel. Many of you remember our dear
brother, stood by his bedside when he went home to glory, took
his last breath, Graduated, went to be with the Lord. Now, in
closing, how do we know that Christ shall not fail? Well, we just read it. God said
He can. That's enough for me. He said
it. We hear that saying, He said
it and I believe it and that settles it. God said it and that
settles it whether I believe it or not. I do believe it, but
He said it and that settles it. God said He cannot fail. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He set down the right hand of God. The last words of Joshua
said this, of all that God had promised, not one word can fail. Not one. I'm persuaded like Abraham
of all that God had promised, He's able to perform. Now, my
question to you is this, is this the Savior you trust? The one
that cannot fail? There's some counterfeits out
there, be careful. There's some counterfeits out there, This
Savior of God that believers trust is the unfailing Savior. Unfailing in His purpose, it
shall be done. Unfailing in His love, the love
of Christ never fails. He loves us with an everlasting
love. Unfailing in His mercy, it is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed because His compassion, Lamentations 3 verse
22, His compassion is a His compassions, they fail not. How about that? His mercies cannot
fail. Now, it leads me to this conclusion.
Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Thanks be unto God who
has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Now, I want
that statement to stick with you all week. He shall not fail. Christ cannot fail. Christ cannot
fail. You see, what begins in grace
will end in glory. Because He cannot fail.