Now, my desire today is to magnify and exalt our Lord
Jesus Christ. David wrote in the Psalms, Oh,
magnify the Lord with me. Magnify the Lord with me. Let
us exalt his name together. And I tell you, if we can, by
his grace, exalt his name and magnify the Lord, we'll be in
tune with the heavens, because the heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork. We'll be in tune
with the things that are made, because they magnify his name,
they exalt his name. We'll be in tune with the angels,
the angels whom he sent to earth at the birth of Christ said glory
to God. Glory to God. Glory to God in
the highest. The Sephim, I preached last week
from Isaiah 6, they circle the throne and they cry, Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. If we can magnify his name, we'll be in tune with the
prophets. Abraham rejoiced to see his day. To him give all
the prophets witness, and we'll be in tune with the future. and
prepared for heaven's song, because God's given him a name above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,
every tongue will confess he's Lord. I'd say to every preacher,
if I could have for a moment the ear of every preacher, or
every teacher, or every person that speaks for God, I would
say preach Christ. magnify and exalt the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul said in season or out of
season, preach Christ. When you're up or when you're
down, preach Christ. When you're young or when you're
old, preach Christ. When you preach your first sermon
and when you preach your last sermon, preach Christ. When your crowd is small or when
your crowd is large, When men love you or when men hate you,
when you preach to the wise or when you preach to the unwise,
preach Christ. When you're happy or when you're
sad, preach Christ. When you're sick or when you're
well, when you're prepared or when you're unprepared, preach
Christ. When you wish to comfort God's
people or correct them, When you preach to believers or unbelievers,
when you see results or when you don't, preach Christ. The message is always the same.
Paul summed it up, we preach not ourselves, we preach Christ. Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves,
your serpents, for Christ's sake. This man Isaiah, turn to Isaiah
50. This man Isaiah exalted the Lord. I preached about it last week. John said, when he saw the Lord,
when he saw the Lord. Isaiah said, when King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. When he saw the Lord, he spake
of him. From then on, Christ was his
message. If we've seen the Lord, Christ
will be our message. because we can't find a better
message. Isaiah is called by some the
gospel of the Old Testament. Go back just a few pages, Isaiah
45. Hear him here, Isaiah 45. He says, verse 20, Assemble yourselves
and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, Pray to a God that can't say.
Those people have no knowledge. Religious, but ignorant. And
pray to a God that can't say, that can't do what He will do.
Tell ye and bring them near. Ye, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who declares the end from
the beginning? Who declares what's happening
now from ancient times? The end from the beginning. Who
hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there's
no God beside me. I'm a just God, and I'm a Savior. There's no God beside me. There's
none beside me. So look to me. Look to me and
be your Savior. For I'm God. All the ends of
the earth, I'm God. There's none else. I am me. And here in the last verse of
chapter 49, The last phrase in chapter 49, verse 26, "...all
flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour, and thy
Redeemer. I am the Mighty One of Jacob."
Let's see what the Lord says about himself and about us in
verse 1. Now look at this. Thus saith
the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom
I put away? When a man divorced a wife, our
Lord said, For the hardness of your heart, Moses said, Give
her a bill of divorcement. Where is that? Deuteronomy 24.
Deuteronomy 24, verse 1. When a man put away his wife,
he gives her a legal paper. a Bill of Divorcement, declaring
that he hath forsaken her. Deuteronomy 24, verse 1. When
a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass
that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some
uncleanness in her, then let him write her a Bill of Divorcement,
and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. Now,
here in our text, chapter 50, verse 1, the Lord says, Where
is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I put away?
If you have such a paper, show it. I didn't put you away. I didn't send you away. I didn't
forsake you. You have no bill of divorcement.
You have no paper that says, I left you. He said, You left
me. I didn't leave you. When this
man puts away his right, he gives her an official paper, and she
can show it to everybody. He left me. He forsaked me. He put me out. He said, You don't
have that kind of paper. And then he says this, Or which
of my creditors is it to whom I sold you? When a man, back here in these
days of the scriptures, when a man became so heavily in debt,
and could not pay, he would sell his children into slavery to
satisfy the debt. He owed an awesome debt and couldn't
pay it. Then the creditor would take
his children and they would serve as slaves, a service to that
man. And the Lord says, I have no creditors. I don't owe anybody
anything. That's what he's saying. Of which
of my creditors is it to whom I sold you? I have no creditors. I owe no man. But here is the
truth. Watch it now. Behold, for your
iniquities you sold yourselves. You're responsible for your condition. We're responsible for our condition. Don't blame me, God says. Don't
blame anybody but yourself. For your sins you sold yourself
to Satan and slavery. For your own transgressions,
he says, has your mother been put away? I didn't forsake you. The ruin
lies at your door. Look at Isaiah 59. Let that be settled once for
all. This is what the Redeemer is saying to begin this whole
message. Yes, you're forsaken, but I didn't
forsake you. You left me. Isn't that right? Isaiah 59, verse 1, Behold, the
Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot say. His ear is
not heavy, he can't hear. Our Lord can say. He can hear.
He can do what he will. But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. Your sins have hid his face from
you, and he will not hear. We're out of hearing distance,
but we left. He didn't leave us, we left him. And he says in verse 2, further
condemnation, Wherefore when I came, when I came, when did
he come? He came into the world. John
1 says, he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. When
I came, there was no man. He came unto his own, his own
received him not. Lo, I come, he said, in the volume
of the book that's written of me, I come to do thy will, O
God, and I came, and nobody knew me. Nobody believed me. And when I called, come and I'll
give you rest. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often
would I have gathered your children together as a hen doth gather
her brood, but you would not. I called, and no man answered. No man answered. But is my hand shortened at all
that it cannot redeem?" Turn to Romans 3 and listen to Paul
here. It's a fact he was in the well,
and the world knew him not. It's a fact he came to Abraham's
children. They received him not. He came
into his own temple. They didn't know him. Romans 3, verse 3 says, For what if some didn't believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Is God's purpose, does it fail now, the fact that the world
knew him not? I came and nobody knew me. I called and nobody
heard me. Then that means that the faithfulness
of God is without effect. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He said,
is my hand shortened at all that it can't redeem? Have I no power
to deliver? Is anything too hard for God? Let's see. Behold, at my rebuke
I dried up the sea. Israel came, the great host of
God's people that fled from Egypt. And they came and they stood
there before the Red Sea, deep and wide. Awesome! Behind them thundered Pharaoh's
chariots and armies, bent on destruction. And Moses said,
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You can't move the
sea, but He can. I dried up the sea. And Moses
struck his rod upon the sea, and Israel crossed on dry land.
I dried up the sea. Is my hand shortened that it
can't redeem? If my little heavy that I can't
hear, have I no power to deliver? Go to the Red Sea and see the
power of God. And look at the second illustration.
He said, I'll make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stinketh. When was
this? Turn to Exodus 7. Exodus chapter
7. Turn over there, I want you to
read this. You're familiar with that drying up the sea. But he
makes the rivers of no effect. And the fish die and they stink.
And no man has any water to drink. Exodus 7, verse 20. And Moses
and Aaron did so as the Lord commanded. Moses lifted up his
rod and smote the river, the waters that were in the river.
In the sight of Pharaoh, in the sight of his servants, and all
the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the
fish that were in the river died, and the river stank, and the
Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river. There
was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. Does that sound
like a God who can't redeem, who can't deliver? I came, and
they didn't know me. They said, Crucify Him. We'll
not have this man reign over us. I called, and they didn't
hear. Now, is my hand short? Does that
do away with my purpose? Oh, I dried up the sea. I turned
the rivers into a wilderness, and there was no water. And they died of thirst. I clothed
the heavens with blackness. God had that kind of power? Turn
to Exodus 10, let's see. Exodus chapter 10. I clothed
the heavens with blackness. We don't know what darkness is.
I'm going to read you about darkness here. I'm going to read you about
darkness. And the Lord said to Moses, Exodus
10, 21, Exodus 10, 21, The Lord said
to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may
be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness that may
be felt. And Moses stretched forth his
hand toward heaven, And there was a thick darkness in the land
of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither
rose any from his place. Nobody got up from where he was
sitting. He didn't dare for three days. But the children of Israel, God's
chosen people, sons of Jacob, they had light. They don't walk
in darkness. They never do. Every dwelling
had light, the light of God. I made it dark everywhere I wanted
to make it dark, he said. And I made light everywhere I
wanted to make light. I don't apologize for that. That's
the God of heaven and earth. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. I dried up the sea. I turned
the river to blood. I sent darkness that could be
felt. over all the land. The next line,
he said, And I made sackcloth their covering. What? Heaven! I covered the heaven in sackcloth. When was this? Revelation 6.
Will be. Revelation 6. Somebody said,
Well, I wouldn't have wanted to be in Egypt in that darkness,
and I don't want to be in the book of Revelation in this darkness,
either. Listen to Revelation 6, verse 12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth
seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became
black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and
the stars of heaven fell upon the earth as a fig tree casteth
her untimely leaves when she is shaken of a mighty wind. I came and nobody knew me. I
called and nobody heard me. But is my hand short that I can't
redeem? Have I no power to save? Judge ye, judge ye. Verse 4, now here the Lord Jesus
Christ, in the next verses, he magnifies his name and his office. I want you to see this. He magnifies
his office. You know, he'll save whom he
will, he'll quicken whom he will. As the Father hath life in himself,
so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. He'll quicken
whom he will. And here he magnifies his office.
First, the Prophet. Write that out there in your
margin, verse 4, the Prophet. Here's the Prophet. The Lord
God, the Father, hath given me the tongue of the learned. He's
that Prophet. Moses talked about that prophet
over here in Deuteronomy. You want to turn over and look
at it in Deuteronomy 18. He hath given me the tongue of
the learned. That's not me now, that's Christ. I always do those things that
please my Father. The words that I speak are not
my words, they're the words of Him who sent me. Only He can
say that, always. He gave me the tongue of the
learned. Deuteronomy 18, verse 18. Verse 17, the Lord said unto
me, Thou hast well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto me, and I'll put my words
in his mouth. The Lord God hath given me the
tongue of the learned. I'll put my words in his mouth.
He'll speak unto them that which I shall command him. and it shall
come to pass that whosoever will not hearken to my words which
he shall speak, I will require it of him. God spake to our fathers,
but the prophets he hath in these days spoken to us by some." The
Lord Jesus here is saying, I'm the Back to our text, Isaiah
54, the Lord God had given me the tongue of the learned, that
I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.
Are you weary? Come unto me, all ye that labour
in a heavy laden, I give you rest. I have come to preach the
gospel to the poor, he said, to the brokenhearted, to the
captives. He wakeneth morning by morning,
he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Put the word servant, obedient
servant, in your margin by verse 5. The Lord is that prophet.
The Lord is that obedient servant. That obedient servant. The Lord
hath digged mine ear. Now, I wasn't rebellious. I didn't turn away. Turn to Isaiah
42 a moment. The Lord Jesus is called our
prophet, our priest, our king, our branch. Messenger of the
Covenant, here in Isaiah 42.1, he's called my servant. My servant. This is not Christ the Creator. As Creator, this is Christ as
man represented. He's a servant. Listen, Isaiah
42. We'll read it in a moment, but
listen to it. To do the bidding and the will
of the Father. A servant. I came not to be ministered
unto, but to serve, he said. To minister. Give my life. Servant. Watch Isaiah 42. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in
whom my soul delighteth. Who is this? This is Christ.
The Father speaking of Christ. I put my spear upon him without
measure. He'll 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, smoking flags shall he not quench. He's the
friend of sinners, he's the meek and lowly, he shall bring forth
judgment to truth, and he shall not fail, and he shall not be
discouraged, broken. till he has set judgment on this
earth, and the isles shall wait for his law, every continent."
That's Christ's servant. He did that without an army.
He did that without any help or assistance. He did that without
a weapon. He did that by obedience to the
Father's will and submission to the Father's wrath. That's
how he did it. He by himself purged, I say,
servant. Well, what's this verse 5? The Lord hath digged mine ear.
What in the world are you talking about? I was not rebellious. I was willing. I didn't turn
away. He digged my ear. All right. Exodus 21. Exodus 21. There are
servants and there are bondservants. They are slaves, and they are
willing slaves. And this is a willing, loving
bondservant. Verse 5, he's talking about after
seven years, a slave goes free in Israel. But, verse 5, Exodus
21, if a servant shall plainly say, I love my master, I love
my wife and my children. I'll not go out free. I don't
want freedom. This master shall bring him to
the judges. He shall also bring him to the
door, under the doorpost, and his master shall dig his ear,
boy's ear, through with an awl, and he'll serve him forever and
put a ring in his ear. He's my servant. He's not my
servant by constraint. He's my servant by choice. He's
not my servant because he wants to be somewhere else. He's my
servant because he says, I love my master. I love my wife and
children. I choose to be here. And that's
when they, that, there's some old slaves running around there
doing what they're told to do because they can't do otherwise.
But this is a different slave. Servant. My servant. He says, the Lord dig my ear.
I wasn't rebellious. No man takes my life from me.
I lay it to him. Alright, verse 6. Here is the
Lord Jesus, the Lamb slain. The Lamb slain. Verse 6. I gave my back to the smiters.
They scourged Him. Turn to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. I gave my back to
the smiters. Matthew 27, verse 26. Then released he Barabbas unto
them, they said, Give us Barabbas, and crucified Jesus. And when
he had scourged him, a scourging, I'll tell you what a scourging
was. They took a whip, and I'm told that they had pieces
of glass and metal in the end of the strands of leather. And they would tie a man, take
his clothes off, and scourge him, whip him with that whip,
and just tear the skin off. They could not scourge him more
than 40 times, 40 lashes. That was against the law to give
a man more than 40 So they give him forty, save one. That's what
scripture talks about. Forty, save one. Thirty-nine.
Be sure they didn't go over. That's mercy, isn't it? Oh, my. But here it says they scourged
him. They smote his back. Now, keep that Matthew 27 there. And he says, My cheeks to them
that pluck out the hair. They pulled his beard out. Slacked
him in the face. And I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. Now Matthew 27 again, verse 29. And then when they had planted
a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in
his right hand. They bowed the knee before him,
and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit
upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. All right, Isaiah 50. Here is the prophet, the obedient
servant, and the smitten, slain lamb. And verse 7 says, The Lord
God will help me. There's no contradiction here
to his deity. He's a man, a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. The Father will help me, that's
what he said. My Father will help me. I shall not be ashamed,
I shall not fail, my Father will help me. I'll not be confounded,
I'll not be left alone, he'll help me. He prayed in Gethsemane
for help. He prayed on the cross. Therefore I set my face like
a flint. What's that taken from? Turn
to Luke 9, Luke 9. Listen to this. Luke 9, verse Luke 9, verse 51. And it came to pass when the time was
come that he should be received up, that our Lord should go to
Jerusalem, be crucified and slain. He steadfastly set his face to
go to Jerusalem. I set my face like a flint. That's
what he said. And I know I shall not be ashamed.
All right, let me move quickly into these next verses. He is
near that justifieth me. The Father was near in this whole
state of humiliation. The Father was always with him
during all of this suffering and all of this humiliation,
except one time when he cried, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Turned his back on him. But the Father is near that justifieth
me." He justified him from all the false charges they brought
against him. He justified him from all the sins that he bore,
our sins as our substitute. He justified him when he raised
him from the dead. He justified him when he received
him up into glory and sat him down at his right hand. He is
near that justifieth me, so who is going to contend with me?
Let him stand face to face with me. Who is my adversary? Let him come near. Verse 9, Behold
the Lord God, he'll help me. Who is he that shall condemn
me? Lo, they shall all wax old as a garment, the moths shall
eat them up. Now here's the closing verse.
Our Redeemer addresses the sons of men, either in verse 10 or
verse 11. Here's his conclusion. I can
say I'm the prophet. I'm his servant. I'm the Lamb
slain. The Father helps me. I'm not
fabled. All right, the question comes.
Who is among you that fears the Lord? Acknowledged is the Lord
God. Bows before Him. All of you? I can speak for one. This one does. I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. Don't you? There's no want to them to fear
him. I fear the Lord. Secondly, who
is among you that obeys the voice of his servant? Now, who's the
servant? I just told you who the servant was. It's Christ.
Obeys the voice of his servant. His elect, his servant. God spake
to our fathers, but the prophets have spoken to us by his son. Who among you walking in darkness
and has no light? You can't furnish any light.
I fit that. I don't have any light. No light
from within, no light from without. I don't have any light. I'm walking
in the darkness. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. If we say we have no sins, we
make God alive. But if we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us. I have no lie. Then let him
what? Trust in the name of the Lord.
This redeemer. Trust, rest, commitments of trust
in the name of the Lord. What's this name business? Well,
there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. I have given him a name which
is above every name. Whoso shall call on the name
of the Lord." What is this name? His name is his character. His
name is who he is. He's known by his name. Who is?
His name is what he did. I am a Savior, he said. I am
a Redeemer. His name is why he did it. He's
a servant of God, the prophet of God, the priest of God. He's
God's priest. His name is where he is. He's
God, my Savior, Jehovah. So I call on him in that character. He that fears God, he that obeyeth the voice of the servant,
he that walks in darkness, walks in light, let him call on that
name. Trust that name, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide
himself. Jehovah Shalem, our peace. Jehovah
Sidkenu, our righteousness. Let him trust. What is the word
trust? Here it is. Let him stay upon
his God. Let him lie down. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. Let him stay on God, rest, calm
down. Quit moving around. Quit changing
directions. Quit looking for something new.
Quit looking for something that appeases or appeals or satisfies
the flesh. Settle down. Calm down. Come down. Lie down. Rest. Let him stay upon his God. All
right? All right. When is a person safe? That's a good question. When
is a person saved? Well, he's saved when it pleases
the Lord. He said, I have the power to redeem, deliver. He's saved when he sees who Christ
is, the glory of God in the face of Christ. He sees who he is. He tells us who he is. He's saved
when he comes under the authority of who he is. Who, he said, among
you fears him. When he comes under the authority
of Christ, when he fears the Lord, when he obeys the voice
of the Lord, when he can trust Him, trust Him, trust Him, and just sit there,
lie there, stay there, don't move. All right, verse 11. But,
behold, all ye that, you have a fire, you're not You're not
cold. You've got a fire. You kindle
a fire. You've compassed yourself about
with sparks. You're not in darkness. They're just sparks, though.
They're nothing lasting. They're just sparks. You walk in the light of your
fire and in the light of your sparks that you kindle, and it'll
be all right. And one day it won't be all right,
for this shall you have of my hand. You'll lie down in sorrow. the mighty one of Jacob. All
right, let's turn to a closing hymn.